3
GOD 
"ACQUITS 
THE GUILTY"

What, then, are we to say about Abraham, our ancestor in the natural line? If Abraham was justified by anything he had done, then he has a ground for pride. But he has no such ground before God; for what does Scripture say? "Abraham put his faith in God, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness. Now if a man does a piece of work, his wages are not "counted as a favour; they are paid as a debt. But if without any work to his credit he simply puts his faith in him WHO ACQUITS THE GUILTY, then his faith is indeed "counted as righteousness" (Rom. 4:1-5, N.E.B.).

THE FALL of Adam has entailed great evils for the entire race. Men are born into a world of sin for which they were not originally responsible. Men have no choice concerning where to be born or to live. Man cannot move to another world where sin does not exist. It is not man’s fault that he is born into a world and a state of sin.

Therefore, it appears that it would be quite unjust for God to leave man in his lost condition and under condemnation, without providing a way of escape. But to rescue sinners involves great problems for God, for man, and for the universe. It is not just a matter of forgiving man and glossing over sin. Sin works two evils in the human race: it separates the individual from God, and disorders the life in itself. Both these evils must be overcome in any divine remedy. The death penalty must be removed. Man must be restored to a right relationship to God and to a moral and spiritual state of health.

When interpreting the different aspects of God’s plan of redemption, the Bible uses such terms as justification, born again, reconciliation, righteousness, and sanctification. All these terms describe certain realities of Christian experience. In this chapter we are primarily concerned with the doctrine of justification. The basic meaning of the Greek word translated "to justify" involves a judgment made in conformity with a standard of what is right: just according to the law.

If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked (Deut. 25:1).

To justify in this passage means to pronounce a favorable verdict on the basis of the person’s being proved to be in the right. Condemnation is the opposite judgment. The Bible insists that judges of men must make only righteous judgments.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord (Prov. 17:15).
Woe unto them . . . which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him (Isa. 5:22, 23).

In His judgment of men, God says of Himself: "I will not justify the wicked" (Ex. 23:7).

Three times Job asked the question: How can a man be just before God? (Job 9:2; 15:14; 25:4.) How could man possibly get an acquittal before God in view of the fact that he is a sinner? How could God ever declare man righteous when he is unrighteous? Job could see no way for this to take place.

The issue is this: Can the verdict of condemnation for disobedience and sin be changed, and how? Can God reverse the verdict and still remain righteous in His judgments? And if so, on what basis? Is there any way God can now take the side of the sinner?

The apostle Paul affirmed that God does "acquit the guilty." In this issue it appears that God’s own character is at stake. The reasoning is something like this: According to the Bible, does not justification rest entirely on a man’s moral uprightness, and condemnation on a departure from it? If God acquits the guilty, is He not taking sides with sin rather than with righteousness? Is He not Himself an unjust judge?

The Jews believed that God dealt with men merely according to their own personal obedience to the law. Men were judged and declared righteous because they were righteous. For the most part, the Jew accepted no other way of securing a favorable verdict before God. The judgment of God was based on a standard to be obeyed. Schools of scribes and rabbis were organized to explain the application of the law to every conceivable experience of human life. The Pharisees insisted that God can justify only those who obey the law and not those who break it. If God is a righteous Judge, then like the righteous judges in the courts of the land, He can give acquittal only when man actually deserves it. And to deserve it, man must be righteous and live righteously.

Must not God, therefore, give priority to His law? If so, there is only one thing for God to do: execute the death penalty on all sinners. Or can He make an exception just this once and not count the violation of His law? Granted God has a perfect right to say whether He will or He will not pardon the sinner. He also has the right to say how He will do it. But He cannot now proclaim that in the course of pardoning and restoring sinners, He intends to bypass the principles of justice and righteousness intrinsic to His own character. It is not possible for God to offer a general amnesty for five or ten or twenty billion sinners merely by divine decree, simply for reasons known only to Himself.

God created the universe of a million worlds governed in righteousness. He created His creatures to live in righteousness. He instructed them that any departure from righteousness would be considered rebellion against Him. The penalty would be separation and death. Consequently, when Christ came to the earth He made it quite clear there was to be no tampering with God’s law. In the process of saving sinners, God cannot abrogate His law any more than He can change His character.

Once the sovereignty of the moral law is reduced, so is the sense of sinfulness. God’s plan of redemption is a recognition that sinners are under the condemnation of the law and need to be delivered from it. Any plan that aims to weaken the authority of the law or to obscure the sinfulness of sin must, at the same time, diminish the urgency of the gospel and the need for Christ. to bear the sins of men. Therefore the case for, man as he is, looks hopeless.

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20).

For one thing, obedience to the moral law cannot justify the sinner from sins previously committed. And second, the natural man is not able to obey the spirit of the law, which requires a heart that is in harmony with God. Therefore any appeal to law or to the works of law has to be abandoned. Before the law man cannot deny the charges. He cannot be acquitted.

How Can Man Be Just Before God?

No other truth is given more emphasis in the New Testament than the doctrine of justification. The word in its various adjective, noun, and verb forms is used more than two hundred times. We are dealing with a truth of great importance in relation to man’s salvation and Christian experience. Paul makes frequent use of the word in his interpretation of the doctrine of righteousness by faith.

But we know that no man is ever justified by doing what the law demands, but only through faith in Jesus Christ; so we too have put our faith in Jesus Christ, in order that we might be justified through this faith, and not through deeds dictated by law; for by such deeds, Scripture says, no mortal man shall be justified. (Gal. 2:16, N.E.B.).

This truth is as important as it is simple and intelligible. Men are sinful and estranged from God. They are under condemnation and the penalty of death. In vain do men struggle to free themselves. In vain do men hope for deliverance by self-righteousness and self-dependence. ‘Such men stand in dire need of being acquitted before the bar of God. Therefore, the all-important question raised by Job must be answered: How can a man be just before God? How can the sinner secure a divine verdict in his favor? How can God possibly acquit the guilty and do it with His righteous character and His divine law?

The gospel of righteousness by faith is good news in that it would fain restore all men to God and remove all that comes between the sinner and the Saviour. Thus God has instituted another way of justifying and acquitting the sinner, by an entirely different way than by law: "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

It is important to get away from any technical idea of justification. This doctrine takes seriously the action of the divine Judge in relation to sin. Paul makes this quite clear in the following verses:

For God designed him to be the means of expiating sin by his sacrificial death, effective through faith. God meant by this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had overlooked the sins of the past— to demonstrate his justice now in the present, showing that he is himself just and also justifies any man who puts his faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:25, 26, N.E.B.).

According to this passage God set forth Christ as a sacrifice for two reasons: one, to demonstrate His justice or righteousness; and two, to justify "any man who puts his faith in Jesus." There is a divine and a human side to justification.

In considering the divine side of this truth, Paul asserts that in justifying sinners, God acts in a way that satisfies the principle of justice. Divine justice is met in and through Jesus Christ, not in the sinner. When hope is held out in Scripture that God will acquit the guilty, the promise takes us beyond any effort of man to make recompense to God. Justification depends entirely on what God has done in His Son.

In the provisions of propitiation two things cohere and coalesce: the justice of God and the justification of the ungodly. . . . [This justice of God implied in the expression, "that he might be just"] shows that it is the inherent righteousness of God that cannot be violated on any account and must be vindicated and conserved in the justification of sinners. This shows that the righteousness contemplated in the demonstration in verse 25, as well as in verse 26, is the inherent justice of God.— JOHN MURRAY, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Win. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1959), pp. 118, 119. Used by permission.

Paul speaks in this scripture of the necessity for God to make a demonstration of justice because "he had overlooked the sins of the past." Paul argues that during the ages prior to the coming of Christ, God had actually passed over sin in the sense that He had never exacted the full penalty of the law upon sinners. For 4,000 years previous to the cross He had manifested only long-suffering and forbearance with sin. This left God open to the charge of injustice. God had not executed judgment commensurate with the sins of men. It appeared that God had been satisfied with something less than perfect obedience to the law by relaxing the penalty for transgression of the law. In this way it appeared that God had passed sin by.

Paul goes on to show that in the light of this seeming passing over sin, it became all the more necessary for God to demonstrate His justice by a revelation from the Godhead of Their own judgment on sin. He did this when He sent forth His Son as a propitiation for sin. By this God provided the righteous basis for acquitting the sinner. The implication is that God would not have been just if He had acquitted the guilty sinners without the sacrificial death of Christ.

The passing over did make it necessary for Him to demonstrate His inherent justice and that by showing. . . that justification demands nothing less than the propitiation made in Jesus’ blood.—Ibid., p. 120.

It was never God’s intention to lead men to believe that He had relaxed the claims of law and justice; far from it. That God would perform justice was "witnessed by the law and the prophets" (Rom. 3:21). Throughout the Old Testament the message of divine redemption filled the whole perspective of Israel. But until Christ came God had not provided either the reality of a perfect righteousness for man or carried out a righteous judgment on the sins of men. The law had foreshadowed it, and the prophets had foretold it.

Christ saw His death foreshadowed in the Temple sacrifices, whose blood had streamed for centuries. Every lamb and animal offered, slain under the knife, spoke to Him of the divine purpose for His coming into the world. All the fires of the altars, burning night and day for thousands of years, were waiting for Him, waiting to be fulfilled by the one great sacrifice, the Lamb of God.

Jesus was perfectly familiar with the Old Testament revelations of the majesty of God’s law and the horrible nature of sin. He saw before Him the hour when God would impute to Him the transgressions of men like the sand of the sea for multitude. On the cross Christ stood before God. He assumed the penalty that should have come upon all men in all ages: the sins of those who sleep in the dust of the earth, the sins of generations yet unborn, the sins committed by all kindreds, nations, tongues, and peoples. The cross of Christ is the divine judgment that should have fallen upon men, but is now assumed by all members of the Godhead.

The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross on Calvary was not an accident; it was God’s work. It was God who "set him forth." . . . It is a great public act of God. God has done something here in public on the stage of world history, in order that it might be seen, and looked at, and recorded once and for ever—the most public action that has ever taken place. God thus publicly "set him forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood." —LLOYD-JONES, Romans, p. 97.

No revelation of God exceeds this majestic truth. From the beginning of the world, the sins never to be forgotten by eternal justice, recorded in the books of heaven, had been rolling down like great waves of the ocean towards Calvary. Only Jesus Christ could endure the dimensions of the divine judgment on sin. On the cross He knew that His terrible agony was the righteous judgment of the Godhead. He knew that this judgment must be executed. He voluntarily took this judgment upon Himself on behalf of all members of the Godhead. He knew that there was a final death other than sleep. He thereby confessed to all the universe the meaning of judgment: the separation of the soul from God. In this the death of Jesus stands alone.

The hosts of the redeemed stand here in anticipation, the price of their acquittal paid. The eternal hope of reconciliation with God and restoration to righteousness depended on Him alone. Christ could have refused to bear the divine judgment on sin. Then all would have been lost. What wonder then that such an eternal truth runs through all the Bible!

Christ went to the cross, not because men turned against Him, but because the hand of God was in it. . . .Christ died the death that sinners should have died. . . .He did this by the appointment of the Father. It was the Father’s condemnation of sin that brought the atoning death of Christ, that and His burning will to save men.—LE0N MORRIS, The Cross in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1965), p. 221. Used by permission.

There is just one relief to the guilty soul: the hearing of God from the cross: "Give Me thy sins, receive by faith My righteousness and My justification." No man who is confronted with Jesus Christ as the world’s Redeemer should ever refuse to be saved by the righteousness of Another. There is no middle ground here. There must be no minimizing of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ.

On the cross the sinless Son of God, in love to man and in obedience to the Father, entered submissively into that tragic experience in which sinful men realize all that sin means. He tasted death for every man.—JAMES DENNY, The Christian Doctrine of Reconciliation (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1918), p. 278.

Thus the basis for man’s acquittal and restoration to favor with God is found in the merits of Christ’s righteousness and in His bearing sin’s penalty. The law is honored and the righteous character of God revealed. At no time or place is there the slightest tendency to weaken the authority of God. God’s plan of redemption neither palliates sin nor diminishes the claims of the law of God. The cross satisfies the justice of the Godhead in dealing with the sin problem. An earthly judge has no such provision, nor can he do what God does in giving His Sinless Son that by His life and death He can acquit the guilty.

Christ bore the penalty for sin, but is no sinner in doing it. He is the spotless Lamb of God. The Father does not consider His Son guilty of sin or meriting condemnation. The fact that Christ bore our sins does not involve Him in the sin itself. On the cross Christ accepted for all members of the Trinity the inevitable end of man’s moral failure and the judgment he deserved.

Christ bought us freedom from the curse of the law by becoming for our sake an accursed thing (Gal. 3:13, N.E.B.).

The expiation for sin was not that someone should be punished, but that sin should be adequately judged by the Trinity within our sinful world and before the universe. That is why Christ became a man in order to die. No member of the Godhead could bear the penalty for man’s sin without taking human nature. For divinity cannot die.

All men, good and evil, die as a consequence of sin. But this is not the penalty for sin that John speaks of as the second death. (See Revelation 20:13, 14.) Only one Man, Jesus Christ, has ever borne the penalty for sin. The manifestation of divine judgment on sin at the cross and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness in place of man’s unrighteousness do not violate justice. They reveal it.

[Christ] revealed the righteousness of the reconciliation of mercy and justice. The reconciliation of mercy and justice did not involve any compromise with sin, or ignore any claim of justice; but by giving to each divine attribute its ordained place, mercy could be exercised in the punishment of sinful, impenitent man without destroying its clemency or forfeiting its compassionate character, and justice could be exercised in forgiving the repenting transgressor without violating its integrity.—Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 260, 261.

What right had Christ to take the captives out of the enemy’s hands? The right of having made a sacrifice that satisfies the principles of justice by which the kingdom of heaven is governed. . . . On the cross of Calvary He paid the redemption price of the race. And thus He gained the right to take the captives from the grasp of the deceiver.—Ibid., pp. 308, 309.

Justification Experienced

Justification has been satisfied in Christ. How far then is the believer involved? Is justification something done for the believer and not in him? Is justification simply a change in one’s standing with God, or does it include a change in the believer’s character?

The gift of God is not to be compared in its effect with that one man’s sin; for the judicial action, following upon the one offence, issued in a verdict of condemnation, but the act of grace, following upon so many misdeeds, issued in a verdict of acquittal (Rom. 5:16, N.E.B.).

If God is on our side, who is against us? Who will be the accuser of God’s chosen ones? It is God who pronounces acquittal; then who can condemn? (chap. 8:31-33).

In these scriptures the emphasis is on God’s declaring a man just, the passing of a favorable verdict. Obviously the believer is not made righteous in the sense that he is no more a sinner. Justification does not restore man to that perfect state as God originally created him. The justified man is still in a sinful state.* As a sinner, the believer is no less deserving of condemnation. Justification does not change the nature of the offense. God does not come to show the sinner that he has not done wrong. He does not proclaim the sinner sinless, for that would be a lie.

* [State of sin—This term has reference to the state into which all men are born and in which they live due to mans lessened capacity to respond perfectly to God. Man lacks the insight into the nature of his own egoism and sinfulness: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9}. This state of sin, the absence of original righteousness darkens the understanding, be it ever so slight; perverts even minutely the operation of the will; makes the conscience unable to discern perfectly between right and wrong.]

Sin does not reign, but it does remain. The Christian is a justified sinner. He brings to God an attitude of complete trust, not in his own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Christ. God regards him as righteous, as though it were really so. The justified man does not believe something about himself which is not true. He knows himself an acquitted sinner. God acquits the guilty, not the righteous. However, the believing sinner is made right with God.

The great work that is wrought for the sinner who is spotted and stained by evil is the work of justification. By Him who speaketh truth he is declared righteous.—Ibid., p. 392.

On what basis, then, does God declare the repentant, believing sinner righteous—as if he had not sinned?

"Abraham put his faith in God, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness." . . . In the same sense David speaks of the happiness of the man whom God "counts" as just, apart from any specific acts of justice. . . . Consequently, he [Abraham] is the father of all who have faith . . . , so that righteousness is "counted" to them. . . . Those words were written, not for Abraham’s sake alone, but for our sake too: it is to be "counted" in the same way to us who have faith in the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; for he was given up to death for our misdeeds, and raised to life to justify us (Rom. 4:3-25, N.E.B.).

The text states that the righteousness of Christ is imputed or reckoned to the believer. Abraham’s standing before God was changed from condemnation to justification. God no longer imputed sin to him. God put Christ’s righteousness to his account. So God declares all believers righteous by virtue of their relationship to Christ, who kept the law perfectly for them. The verdict of acquittal is reckoned to them because Christ paid the penalty for sin. God no longer deals with men as under the law, but as they are in relation to Christ.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (chap. 8:1).

Acquittal by the imputed righteousness of Christ is not some fictional transaction. God truly does proclaim the believer free from condemnation. God does treat him as if he had not sinned. What is central is the worth of Christ’s obedience and sacrifice. By the merits of Christ the believer’s status and life are changed.

From the human side, God requires the response of faith. What change does genuine faith involve in the justified man? To begin with, faith constitutes the believer’s right attitude. This very attitude of faith makes him right, with God at the center of his life. The believer has been won back to God. When God sees that kind of trust in Christ’s righteousness, He reckons him as righteous. By faith the believer has already entered upon the way of righteousness.

Faith desires Christ’s life of righteousness as his own. He wants what Christ is, and not his own righteousness. He is united with Christ. He is now the adopted child in the family of God. Thus justification by faith actually involves the believer in the life of Christ. A righteous life must follow as the only true witness to being acquitted before God. This will appear in life, in conduct, and in character. The Christian has set this goal before himself and has purposed in his heart to live like Christ. Faith never leaves the believer with the idea that nothing needs to be done.

Christ through the Holy Spirit is forever putting Himself forth as the power of God unto salvation. He who commits himself to Christ opens himself to receive this divine life and becomes a partaker of it. The life for which faith hungers is bestowed, not as a reward for obedience, but as the free gift of God.

The sinner who through faith is right with God is certainly not made perfect in holiness, but the power which alone can make him perfect is already really and vitally operative in him. And it is operative in him only in and through his faith.—DENNY, op. cit., p. 292.

Justification is not automatic. It involves a reciprocity between God and man. Thus justification anticipates sanctification. Justification has been satisfied and completed by Christ, but it does not mean once justified always justified, nor once saved always saved. A man can apostatize from the faith.

Not for a moment does justification allow carelessness with sin or with salvation. The gospel requires that we understand the righteousness of Christ, that we study and believe God’s answer to the sin problem, that we share in God’s hatred of sin. There is no mechanical, automatic bringing of sinful men into the kingdom of God. All willful disobedience is apostasy from God. Justification never ignores the demand for a righteous life. It is the gateway to a life in Christ.

It is a complete mistake to ascribe to Paul the idea of salvation as a process that is ended. When a man is declared righteous, he enters the service of righteousness, becoming, so to speak, its property; his faith in God’s righteousness is obedience, and leads to disobedience. . . .The gift of righteousness brings the believer into the custody of this power. . . . It is righteousness which gives admission to the state of sanctification. It takes command of the whole of life as the victor over unrighteousness and sin The righteousness of God" carries with it the conviction that at the very moment of justification the believer is admitted into the status of righteousness in the new life: Justification is the means whereby he is brought under the creative power of the righteousness of God.—GOTTFRIED QUELL AND GOTTLOB SCHRENK, Righteousness, pp. 52-54.

Furthermore, true faith is never mere intellectual assent to Christ and His righteousness. Intellectual assent moves in an area of unreality. The saving power of the gospel is not based on religious information and agreement with it. Faith is an active, energizing, dynamic power by virtue of being united with the living Christ. In this way the Christian experiences the spiritual and moral reality that belongs to Christ. It is a reality that is beyond man’s ability to achieve. Morally perfect, man is not; but he has entered upon that way. He has chosen that type of life.

However, when we speak of new life from God, we are dealing with the new birth, with regeneration rather than justification. If we are to retain the Biblical use of these terms, then it is advisable not to make justification and regeneration the same thing. In Christian experience they both may occur at the same time. The moment a man is justified he is also born again. In experience they belong together. Justification and regeneration are two sides of the same coin. We discuss them separately in order better to be able to understand the different aspects of the plan of redemption.

The prodigal son was not only pardoned and forgiven by the father. In returning to the father the estrangement was removed. He began a new life. He re-established the right relationship. He was right with his father in heart and mind. Man does not remain in the "far country" trying to change his life before returning to the Father’s house. Neither does he return home without any intention to change his life. Otherwise the estrangement would continue as before. It is not possible to experience justification and acquittal without returning to God with the whole of one’s being. So justification means both to declare right and to be set right. The spiritual life begins with justification and regeneration.

The apostle James made clear the nature of the involvement when the Christian is justified.

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. . . . But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness (James 2:18-23).

James wrote in part to correct the antinomian abuse of the doctrine of justification by faith, the error of supposing that because we are not justified by works, we are not bound to perform them. It is that error of supposing that one can be under grace without honoring that grace. Let the believer show what the tenor of his life is once he is justified. Let the proof of his justification be manifest in a life of good works.

The question has been asked: How much of Christ and His righteousness must be received in order to be saved? Can the believer stop with the doctrine of justification complete in Christ? The safer question would be: How much of Christ and His work of redemption may one reject or ignore, and yet escape eternal loss? A limited or false conception of Christ’s redeeming work can lead to deception. Justification is simply the beginning, not the whole, of the Christian way. Christ does not stop with justification. There is much that follows.

Justification through Christ is sure to everyone who believes. To discover personally that God acquits the guilty is the greatest reason for security, joy, and peace. God has in mind that the believer should never move from under it, from now until eternity, and should go on to perfection.

Justification, the acquitting of the guilty, requires not that God later should dredge the depths of the sea for our sins and bring them up against us. Every word that we have spoken is recorded as well as every deed that we have done. One must know that in the ages to come they will not arise and call us cursed and condemn us. Justification makes sure that our sins are truly forgiven, that the redeeming power of God will restore us to righteousness. Justification affirms that our sins will not any more be imputed to us. The crown of righteousness means that the worst sinner redeemed will be able to look round the universe and see no trace of the evil that he has done. All this, justification anticipates.

It is a natural question to ask how God could possibly have accomplished this in and through His Son, who was called upon to make such a sacrifice. The idea that some people have of a good-natured but weak, doting heavenly Father who cannot find it in His heart to administer the death penalty is not the scriptural teaching on justification. This universe would not be worth living in if there was not a righteous God upon the throne of the universe. Sin would obtain the upper hand and righteousness be put to everlasting confusion in all the universe.

License to continue sinning and to break God’s law is not part of God’s character or His government. A terrible judgment on sin is revealed at the cross of Calvary. God does not acquit the guilty in a light and careless fashion. He answers Job’s question by manifesting the principles of His character and His righteousness. Let justification be so understood and so experienced that Christians may look God in the face and have His righteousness on their side forever.

Let us understand what God did in Christ. Let us see Christ fulfilling the law and the will of God in His life. Let us watch Him write the law and the justice of God in letters of gold across the sky and in our hearts and lives. As the sinner beholds this wondrous gift in Jesus Christ, let him realize that upon this ground alone the eternal Judge justifies the repentant sinner.

Let not men believe for one moment that men are justified and stay justified regardless of how they live. Let no man believe he can play fast and loose with the righteousness of God and use the cross of Christ as a city of refuge every time he sins. The idea that Christ shed His blood in order that man can be indifferent about his sins and careless about his obedience to God’s commandments cannot be charged to Him who said:

"I am not come to destroy [the law], but to fulfil [it]" (Matt. 5:17). Justification never leads to a life of sin. It is the beginning of a new life in Christ, a restoration to the image of God. Within the heart and mind of the Christian who has experienced justification there is a response of gratitude, love, and obedience that proves that the marvelous grace and mercy of God have not come to him in vain. The idea of justification leading to sinful living and disobedience to the law of God is everywhere contradicted in the Bible. Justification has never been lightly bestowed. It is one of the most costly things in all the world. With justification come holiness and obedience. No man is ever justified except by the cross of Christ. But no man is ever justified who is not now being sanctified.