JUSTIFIED: THE FINISHED WORK

In case you're wondering, breaking free from legalism doesn't mean you stop reading your Bible, praying, or sharing the gospel. If you and I want to grow in our faith, we need to take advantage of the tools God gives us in these important spiritual pursuits. The issue is our motive and our understanding of what it means to be saved by grace.

Remember what happened the day you first repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ? Romans 3:26 says that, in that moment, you were justified, or declared righteous, before God.

That word justified is important. It refers to your status before God. When you put your faith in Jesus, God, the judge, hands down the verdict that you are righteous. He transfers the perfect, sinless record of Jesus to you.

This is amazing grace at its most amazing. In the moment that you first believed, your past sin didn't cease to exist. You hadn't done any good work that could somehow make up for your disobedience.

Yet God completely and totally forgave you. He not only wiped the record of your sin away, he credited the righteousness of His Son to you.

SANCTIFIED: THE ONGOING WORK

However, the power of the gospel doesn't end when we're justified. When God declares a sinner righteous, He immediately begins the process of making that sinner more like His Son. Through the work of His Spirit, through the power of His word and fellowship with other believers, God peels away our desires for sin, renews our minds, and changes our lives. This ongoing work is what we call "sanctification."

Sanctification is a process-the process of becoming more like Christ, of growing in holiness. This process begins the instant you are converted and will not end until you meet Jesus face-to-face.

Sanctification is about our own choices and behavior. It involves work. Empowered by God's Spirit, we strive. We fight sin. We study Scripture and pray, even when we don't feel like it. We flee temptation. We press on; we run hard in the pursuit of holiness. And as we become more and more sanctified, the power of the gospel conforms us more and more closely, with ever-increasing clarity, to the image of Jesus Christ.

DON'T CONFUSE THE TWO

Do you have a clear grasp of what justification and sanctification are?

Without understanding the distinction between the two, you will be vulnerable to legalism. I encourage you to understand these theological terms, not so you can impress your friends, but because understanding the differences between justification and sanctification is vital to defeating legalism.

Nearly every man and woman I've met who has struggled with legalism has had a faulty understanding of how justification and sanctification are related to each other, and how they're distinct. We must distinguish between justifying grace and sanctifying grace, but never separate them.

At the risk of repeating myself, let me line them up next to each other so you can clearly see the differences between them:

Justification is being declared righteous. Sanctification is being made righteous- being conformed to the image of Christ.

Justification is our position before God.
Sanctification is our practice.
You don't practice justification!
It happens once for all, upon conversion.

Justification is objective - Christ's work for us.
Sanctification is subjective - Christ's work within us.

Justification is immediate and complete upon conversion. You will never, be more justified than you are the first moment you trust in the Person and finished work of Christ.

Sanctification is a process. You will be more sanctified as you continue in grace-motivated obedience.

William Plumer sums it up well when he writes,

Justification is an act. It is not a work, or a series of acts. It is not progressive. The weakest believer and the strongest saint are alike equally justified. Justification admits no degrees. A man is either wholly justified or wholly condemned in the sight of God.

THE LEGALIST'S MISTAKE

So do you see the distinction? Now... here's the mistake the legalist makes. He confuses his own ongoing participation in the process of sanctification with God's finished work in justification.

In other words, he thinks that godly practices and good works somehow contribute to his justification. But God's Word is clear when it says, "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law..." (Romans 3:20). None of us earn God's approval and love by our good works. None of us can add to the finished, complete work of Jesus on the cross. He paid the price of our sins. He satisfied God's wrath.

Our participation in the process of sanctification comes only after we've been totally accepted and made right before God through faith in Jesus. So yes, we work hard at obeying God's word. We read our Bibles. We pray. We meditate on Scripture. We memorize Scripture. We share the gospel. We serve in our church. We fast. God commands us in His Word to do many things, and our obedience is both pleasing to Him and brings His blessing to our lives.

But not one of these good spiritual activities adds to our justification. We're never "more saved" or "more loved" by God. Our work is motivated by the grace God has poured out in our lives.

PUT DOWN YOUR PLATES

The mistake of a legalistic plate spinner like Stuart is that he substitutes sanctification for justification. "Our greatest temptation and mistake," writes Sinclair Ferguson, "is to try to smuggle character into God's work of grace."

The legalist allows his performance of spiritual duties to become his preoccupation and a source of self-righteous pride. In doing so, he unwittingly walks away from the main thing-the gospel.

I know the temptation to legalism. That's why, when I complete my daily devotions and close my Bible, I make a point of reminding myself that Jesus' work, not mine, is the basis of my forgiveness and acceptance by God.

"Lord, I ask for Your grace and strength as I seek to serve You today," I pray. "I thank You that all Your blessings flow to me from Your Son's work on my behalf. I am justified by Your grace alone. None of my efforts to obey You and grow in sanctification add to Your finished work at the cross."

What joy the gospel gives me. I can approach the throne of God with confidence. Not because I've done a good job at my spiritual duties, but because I'm clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

God wants you to have this same confidence. He's not impressed with your spinning plates. So renounce all self-righteousness. Make your boast the achievement and work of your substitute and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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