“I am JUSTIFIED by God”

“Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but
through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed
in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and
not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
(Galatians 2:16)

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

I think that in order to unpack this truth we must first define the word in the language in which it was written (Greek).  Justified (dikaioō) means to judge, declare, pronounce, righteous and therefore acceptable. It is most noteworthy that (dikaioō) is in the passive voice, meaning the subject is the recipient of the action.  

To be “justified by God” means that GOD is the Judge and is the only One who righteously judges and declares if a person is justified.  People who are justified by God are ones who realize their inability to ever be good enough to be accepted by God, and as a result of that realization, they put faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross, in His resurrection from the dead, and in His ascension to sit at the right hand of the Father.  These people are the ones whom GOD declares to be righteous and acceptable to Him, and accordingly fit to receive the pardon of their sins and eternal life. 

“God justifies the believing man,
not for the worthiness of his belief,
but for the worthiness
of Him in whom he believes” (Hooker).

Nothing of me – ALL God through Jesus Christ.

As we further unpack the full impact of being justified by God, we can’t ignore the battle that takes place between our ears sometimes.  We are legally justified by God through Christ, but there isn’t a person alive who doesn’t struggle with “feeling” acceptable to God.  

As followers of Jesus, we are perfect positionally, but in practice we still struggle against our sin nature.  Simply put, we mess up on the daily.  When we do, between our own self-condemning thoughts and the whispers of the enemy of our souls, we can find ourselves thinking (or even saying out loud) that we are such losers, or that if we were truly believers, we wouldn’t have made the sinful choice we did.  We lose hope.  We get discouraged.  We find our joy seeping right out of us.

When those times happen, that’s the time to realign your heart and mind away from “feelings” who are “me-centered” (and yes, self-condemnation is “me-centered”, i.e., look at my sin) and toward “fact” (look at what JESUS did!!).  

FACT  
GOD has declared me righteous and acceptable; 
and therefore, there is no condemnation for me because 
I am in Christ.  There is NO condemnation.  
Zero.  None.  Zip.  Nada.  Zilch.   

Think with me.  When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He would have been physically exhausted, hungry, thirsty.  Satan wanted Jesus to focus on His “feelings”.  Satan knew Jesus would have been hungry after 40 days in the wilderness, so what did he do?  He hit him where it hurt – he tempted Him to go with “feelings” and turn stones into bread.  But remember what Jesus did?  He quoted Scripture back to him. (“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’”, (Matthew 5:4).  

So let’s follow what Jesus modeled so perfectly for us.  When we are tempted to buy the lies that tell us we are messed up and worthless, let’s refocus away from “self” and toward “JESUS”.  God declared me righteous and acceptable because I am in JESUS.  There is no condemnation for me because I am in JESUS.  After that declaration of truth, repent of what you did that caused this “feeling of condemnation” and by the power of the Spirit, choose differently next time.  

I am JUSTIFIED by God.
There is NO CONDEMNATION
because I am IN CHRIST.  

Now that’s worth praising our God and our Savior, right?!!  Stop and pray, right now.  Thank GOD for sacrificing His Son so you could be acceptable in His sight.  Thank JESUS for the work of the cross.  Thank the SPIRIT that is within you, teaching you, guiding you, and reminding you of God’s truth as you grow to be more like Jesus.  

Next week we will take a look at what being reconciled to God means.  I hope you will join me!