How Can the Guilty Be Justified?

When a person or group does something that "decent people" consider to be offensive, the natural outcry may call for the punishment of the offender. The child who is caught with his hand in the cookie jar before supper may be destined for the proverbial "woodshed." But is there always punishment for the offender?

On the other hand, we suppose that it is always proper to reward the person or group which does the right thing. They deserve it, we say, because they are good. But is that the way it always works out in God’s plan?

In Romans 3:23, God says "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." That calls for condemnation. Right? Before you answer, go back to 3:21, 22: "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested . . . Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all who believe: . . ."

Couple that with 3:24-26: "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation [satisfaction] through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission [cancellation, removal] of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

From these verses we learn that God justifies the guilty by grace, through faith in the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ shed His blood for the remission of our sins to satisfy God’s demand for condemnation of the guilty. So, God is just in demanding the death penalty for sin, but is also the justifier of the guilty who trust His Son as their redeemer and Savior.

To demonstrate His satisfaction with the sacrifice of Christ, God raised Him from the dead. Through that death and resurrection, God can, and does, forgive the believing sinner. This will work for you. Remember, this process is for all who "have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Admit your guilt before God, recognize that the atoning work of Christ was for you, and turn to Him today, trusting Him as your Savior.

This is God’s only means of justifying the guilty.