10) To Provide The Basis For Our Justification

Christ Suffered and Died . . .

To Provide The Basis For Our Justification

We have now been justified by His blood.

Romans  5:9

[We] are justified by His grace as a gift,

through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:24

We hold that one is justified by faith

apart from works of the law.

Romans 3:28

Being forgiven by God and being justified before God are not the same.  Being forgiven implies that I was found guilty of sin and then my crime was pardoned. Being justified implies that I have been tried and found to be innocent. In other words, the judge would call me, “Not guilty.”

Justifying is a legal act. Justified means 'Just as if you have not sinned'.The ordinary way to be justified in a human court would be to have kept the law. But in the courtroom of God, not one of us can ever claim to have kept His law in entirety. Hence none of us can be justified on the basis of law-keeping.

Then, how could we be justified before God? 

Christ accomplished it for us in two steps:

1) Christ shed His blood to cancel the guilt of our crime. Hence, God offered Himself in our place, as a substitute, to satisfy the punishment for our sins.

2) Christ brought us in right standing with God - gave us His righteousness - based on His work.

So, there was a double exchange that happened at the Cross. Firstly, Jesus paid the price for all sinners by shedding His blood; an act which satisfies God's justice. Secondly, Jesus has brought you in right standing before God; He has justified you based on His work not yours. Thus we can conclude that we are justified freely by God's grace.

Being in such a sinful state, the only way we can be justified is to be justified freely. We can’t purchase it with our good works at all. If it isn’t made free to us, we can’t have it all. So we are justified freely by His grace - His unmerited favor, given to us without regard to what we deserve. It is a giving motivated purely by the giver, and motivated by nothing in the one who receives.

 'There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus' (Romans 8:1).

Lets pray: 

"Dear Father, thank You for Christ Jesus who has given me a right standing before You. He has justified me. I stand 'not guilty' before You because I am now in Christ. I thank You for loving me so much for the double exchange that Christ has done for me on the Cross. I am indeed ashamed of my sin, Father and am thankful for the mercy You have shown me. I thank You for calling me 'righteous' and 'holy' in Your sight. What I could not obtain by my own efforts, You gave it to me by Grace.  All I want to do is love You with all my heart, soul and mind. Please help me to walk with You all the days of my life. In Jesus Name. Amen."

Lets worship: with the song ' No condemnation ' by Don Moen 

The so-far mentioned reasons for why Christ suffered and died can be followed at http://knowing-christ.blogspot.com/:-

9) For the Forgiveness of Our Sin

8) To become a ransom for many

7) To cancel the legal demands of the law against us

6) To show His own love for us

5) To show Grace for sinners

4) To achieve His own resurrection from the dead

3) To learn obedience and be perfected

2) To please His own Heavenly Father

1) To absorb the wrath of God

Be blessed,

Meghna and Ashish

(inspired by 'Fifty reasons why He came to die' by author John Piper)