We
are continuing with our series entitled “Retracing Wesley” as we study together
the Bible’s messages that Methodists consider very important.
John Wesley preached his sermon (#5)
“Justification by Faith” based upon Romans Chapter 4, the letter Paul wrote
which was his industrial strength theology:
Abraham
was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right
with God? If
his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to
boast about. But that was not God’s
way. For
the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous
because of his faith.” When
people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as
righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who
forgives sinners. Romans
4:1-5(NLT)
The idea of “justification” is a pivotal
doctrine to the Christian faith.
Literally the word means “forgiveness of sins”. Wesley thought it was so central to our faith
that he tried in his sermon to answer some very critical and foundational
questions, such as:
·
What does justification mean?
·
Who (or what kind of person) can be
justified?
·
What are the terms (or conditions) to being
justified?
In explaining these Wesley helped us
understand that justification means we are “put-right” or “returned to right
relationship” with God by faith, which is …a sure trust and confidence that Christ
died for ‘my’ sins, that he loved ‘me,’ and gave himself for ‘me.’
So, the main issue centers around the facts
that humans were created in a state of innocence, but fell from that state into
sin, or rebellion against God’s will, and therefore, having been warned
beforehand by God, justly received the punishment of death. They were in need of someone to rescue them –
a savior…because without the relationship for which they were created, there
could be no peace or joy in human existence.
This condition did not hold only to Adam and
Eve; every offspring of this first couple also chose rebellion. Isaiah said we are all like sheep, gone
astray, doing our own thing…unmindful of the Shepherd’s will. Paul simply said all have sinned, falling short
of God’s glory.
This narrative is completely, exclusively
Christian. While most of the world’s
religions have a central or leading figure, only Christianity deals with the
sin problem being addressed with grace.
For instance, atheism, a growing religion
claims there is no sin problem; morality is a matter of what you wish to make
of it.
Most eastern religions (Hindu, Buddhist) shy
away from sin at most, labeling so called “good” or “bad” as simply karma
– the weight, either positively or negatively distant from inner harmony. God is viewed extensively in these
disciplines (if at all) as somewhat incidental compared to how diligently you
work at creating harmony among nature and living beings.
And then there are 1.6 billion Muslims,
adherents of Islam, who understand mankind’s sin nature, and the issue of evil,
however they view God as an angry legalist who requires rigid obedience to
ritual which will be rewarded if you don’t mess up. This “god” rather enjoys annihilating every
infidel.
Christianity alone sees the atoning death of
Jesus Christ as not only the effective remitter of the cost of salvation from
human sin, but also the provider of the grace to become the children of God who
then may love as God loves.
At this point most Christians are nodding
their heads in agreement:
·
Sin is bad --- check!
·
Christ dying for us is good --- check!
·
Justification – forgiveness of sins is
wonderful --- got it!
·
Salvation means heaven --- yup!
Then we get sticky with the question that
begins a lot of arguments:
How does it happen?
How do I get Saved?
The arguments in all of Christendom the past
two millennia have been many, often, and sometimes bloody. But generally they come down on two sides – antinomianism
and Pharisaism or, grace and works.
Consider the chart. On the
left we have “grace” the unearned favor of God.
Antinomianism is grace taken to the perverted extreme.
This is the ancient train of thought which
says there is nothing wrong with whatever I do, because God has already
forgiven me; I can live exactly as I want to, and I still get to go to
heaven. Unitarian Universalists have
this belief.
On the right side of the line is where
Pharisees dwell, the legalists among us who count every nickel and dime to make
sure the tithe is met (on the gross, not the net). Their idea of grace is that you’d better earn
it! You’d better not dance, drink, smoke
or cuss, because, even if God isn’t watching, they are, and they’ll rat you out
in their prayers tonight.
As you can see on the chart, the cross rests
somewhere between these two spurious thoughts.
On the one hand, if no obedience was necessary, meaning the antinomians
were correct, then Jesus would never have said he did not come to discard the
law, but to perfect it.
On the other hand, if the legalist Pharisees
were right, and to be right with God could be achieved by perfectly following
the life of Christ, doing good works and no bad stuff, then Jesus would never
have come to die – his cross would have been unnecessary!
And, as you can also see on the chart,
Wesley, ever the man of the middle way, stands near the foot of the
cross, where pardon became possible for the human condition of sin.
The word “pardon” is exceedingly useful, even
critical to understanding how one becomes justified. There is a difference in court between
exoneration, and pardon. To be exonerated is to be declared
innocent…never guilty; to be pardoned is to be released in spite of being
guilty.
Anthony Ray Hinton is 58 years old. He spent more than half his life in prison
for two murders he didn’t commit. He was
released last year when evidence came to the surface that proved he could not
have committed the crimes. That’s exoneration!
But the word is different for Richard Milhous Nixon
,
37
th P.O.T.U.S.; Mr. Nixon was
pardoned. That’s because he was guilty of abusing the
law he swore to uphold.
Exoneration is innocence recognized; pardon
is guilt forgiven. There isn’t a single
person living or dead who can be exonerated of sin; we can only be pardoned. And pardon is what precedes justification.
To be pardoned, have our sins forgiven by
God, scripture says we must come to God in faith by Christ. This is a matter of understanding two things
about yourself:
1.
It is necessary – the legalists are wrong;
you cannot do enough good stuff for a lifetime or 10 lifetimes to get your sin
forgiven.
2.
Confession – that the antinomian
universalists are wrong; the way you live is important, and therefore you’re
guilty.
The apostle James put it this way:
How
foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is
useless? James 2:20(NLT)
Both James and Paul are pointing to what John
Wesley would call the middle way – a marriage of
grace, (God’s willingness to forgive sin), and works (living a life of
obedience, doing good deeds); this is justification’s greatest reality: we are
saved to serve, forgiven to forgive, and loved in order to love.
Justification by faith – simple and
profoundly overwhelming, that God can not only love someone like me, but truly
forgive and forget my sin.
A STORY THAT MOVES US TO JUSTIFICATION
No one could really say why he ran away. Or perhaps he didn’t, but was kicked out of
his home by his father for something foolish that he said or did. Either way, Paco found himself wandering the
streets of Madrid, Spain with hopes of entering into a profession that would
most likely get him killed – bullfighting. Those who train under a mentor have a good
chance of surviving this profession, but Paco’s memory of his mistakes and
guilt over what happened blindly drove him to this one way street to suicide.
But that was the last thing his father
wanted, which is why he tried something desperate which he desperately hoped
would work. There was little to no
chance that he would be able to find Paco by wandering the streets of Madrid,
so instead he put an advertisement in the local newspaper El Liberal.
The advertisement read,
Paco,
meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday. All is forgiven! Love, Papa.
Paco is such a common name in Spain that when
the father went to the Hotel Montana the next day at noon there were 800 young
men named Paco waiting for their fathers…and waiting for the forgiveness they
never thought was possible!
I want you to place yourself in the position
of Paco right now. No matter how old or
young you may be, every one of us has experienced Paco’s dilemma – estrangement
from the father.
How does that feel?
Is there an emptiness in your life?
Is there a longing to have that hole in the
heart satisfied with the presence of your loving Heavenly Father?
You cannot be exonerated – your
sin is a matter of record.
But you can be pardoned,
forgiven, and adopted by faith if you’ll only take one step towards home.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
