Reference: Romans 3:19,20,28
There may be many people in the worldtoday that knows what it means to be justified in the sight of God, but just toknow what it means does in no wise prove that an individual is justified bythat knowledge. Being justified in God's sight simply means that a person isdeclared to be in a righteous standing with God. All true born again christiansare justified in God's sight, because God himself is the one that justifies thebeliever. The common teaching in the church world today concerning how a personis justified is that a person is justified when they confess belief in Christaccepting him as their own personal Lord and Saviour.
The reason why the average person believeshe or she is justified by a simple confession in Christ is because the Biblesays we are justified by faith in him. We most certainly are justified by faithin him, but hardly anyone knows what it truly means to be justified by faith inChrist as the word of God reveals it.
Just about everybody has taken for grantedthat to be justified by means of faith simply means that all one has to do isto confess belief on Christ and accept him as their own personal Saviour, butfriend I want to let you know that Justification is absolutely not achieved inthis manner as you think. In our text found in the third chapter of the book ofRomans we are told that by the law there shall no flesh be justified in God'ssight. Now I would say that the average person knows that the law will notjustify them meaning that a person cannot try keeping the law and to expect Godto justify them by their effort. There are many people that may know andbelieve this, but yet they are being deceived and the reason for this isbecause they are void of the truth as to how God justifies a person throughfaith as his word reveals it.
There are thousands of preachers in theworld today teaching that the law will not justify a person (which is of coursevery true) but yet this does not prove that they are teaching the revealedtruth of the matter as revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since God's wordvery plainly reveals the fact that the law will not justify a person in hissight then the average preacher and Bible teacher has been led to believe thatjustification is accomplished at the time when a person accepts Christ as Lordand Saviour at the beginning of their conversion.
The common belief today is that a personis justified by a simple belief on Christ in a split second of time and afterthat a person must struggle to live a righteous life to the best of theirability through and by the help of the Holy Ghost in their life. There are manyvaried teachings concerning the many different subjects that the Bible reveals,but basically all confessing Christians today believe the same thing concerningthe accepting of Christ as Lord and Saviour.
There are many today teaching that after aperson accepts Christ as Lord and Saviour, (believing that they are justifiedby doing this) then one must keep the law of the Ten Commandments. They are ledto believe that they are already justified and that their law keeping hasnothing to with justifying them in the sight of God. They are led to believethat they must keep the law, because the Bible reveals that sin is thetransgression of the law. This is of course very true, but what they aretotally ignorant of is the fact that they have not been justified as theythink, because justification by faith is not achieved by a mere confession onChrist and accepting him as Lord and Saviour. As far as the law is concerned itwill be kept and obeyed, but the observing of those laws trying to keep themafter a confession is made on Christ is not the righteousness of God that isrevealed in the gospel as stated in Romans1:17.
God's righteousness, which we absolutelymust submit ourselves to as stated in Romans3:25 and also in Romans 10:3-6; means that wemust submit ourselves to his revealed word of truth and obey it. Just believingthat one is justified by simply accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour and thentry living a life pleasing to God is absolutely not the righteousness that thegospel reveals. True justification is brought about as we receive and walk inthe light of the revealed truth. We are plainly told in I John 1:6-7 that if we walkin the light as he (Christ) is in the light, we have fellowship one withanother, and the blood of Christ will cleanse us from all sin....
This cleansing from sin is our beingsanctified which is the same as being justified. We can't be just in the eyesof God until we have been totally cleansed. When we have been cleansed then weare in God's sight just as if we never sinned. As a person is being justifiedby the faith of Christ, which is the same as saying being justified by the wordof God which is Christ, the law will automatically be established as so statedin Romans 3:31.
Paul tells us in Romans 3:21 that God'srighteousness is now revealed without the law. What this simply means is thatChrist came and revealed a way that far surpasses the keeping of the law. Atrue christian does not observe and keep the law by using it as a guide, butyet this law will be perfectly established in their life. The reason whytoday's law keepers will not accept this as being the truth is simply becauseof what the fourth commandment says about keeping the seventh or Sabbath dayholy. When a person looks at the fourth commandment and says that it must bekept and observed like the children of Israel did, then they are proven to belaw keepers and completely by-passing the revealed truth of the gospel that isthe justifier of the believer. Paul plainly tells us in Romans 10:5 that Mosesdescribes the righteousness of the law, that the man which doeth those thingsshall live by them.
Any time a person teaches that the fourthcommandment must be obeyed and goes to the Old Testament for the precepts thatgoverns it, then that person is living by the law and according to the word ofGod that law will not justify nobody. We are told in Galatians 3:10 that as many asare of the works of the law are under the curse. A person is proven to be underthe works of the law by their stressing all emphesis on the keeping of the lawand especially the fourth commandment, which is the Sabbath day.
A true born again christian will live alife that surpasses law keeping. The life that a true christian lives is livedby the faith of Christ. Paul tells us that the life he now lived in the fleshwas by the faith of the Son of God. This life is experienced by every bornagain child of God. The christian lives his life and they know that to sin isto disobey what the law says not to do. The true christian does not break thelaw, but they do not use the law as their guide line like the law keepers dotoday by stressing all emphesis on what the law says.
A true christian is free from sin's powerand they are not to indulge in it's influence. God's righteousness is withoutthe law meaning that the true christian does not live in them trying to obeythem. This life must be experienced before you can understand what thedifference is between the righteousness of God and of the law. Obedience to therevealed truth leads us in this life....