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SUNDAY OF THE REFORMATION
4 NOVEMBER 2001 ROMANS 3:19-28 SALEM EV. LUTHERAN CHURCH, MILWAUKEE, WI JOHN L. HOH, JR.
Dear fellow Redeemed, saved by grace alone, through faith alone, taught in Scripture alone: The scene is a courtroom. At one table sits the prosecutor, sitting dressed in the latest fashions. He's smiling, confident of victory. At the other table sit the defendants as they come one by one before the judge. The judge sits on the bench, above everyone. As each defendant's name is called, and each defendant takes the oath, the prosecutor addresses the judge: "Your honor, I wish to address the following accusations against this defendant." And as the prosecutor levels his accusations, each defendant squirms. The charges are all too real and all too true. There is no escaping the verdict or the punishment. Some defendants are not surprised by the charges; others appear surprised, either they didn't feel their crimes were serious or they did not think anyone knew about those indiscretions. What would your reaction be in such a situation and under heavy accusation and grilling by the prosecutor? In today's text we have a courtroom scene. Americans or Europeans did not invent the justice system. Courts and justice have been necessary throughout the history of mankind in sin. And such an analogy fits our standing before God. In today's text we see that each one of us is Justified Freely by His Grace. We will look at how we are Justified, we will look at this being done freely, and we will see that this is given to us by God's grace. In understanding that we are Justified Freely by His Grace, we first need to know what it means to be justified. Justified. That’s one of those ten dollar words we throw around, but how much do we know about being justified? Those of you who do word processing know this word from formatting documents. You can right justify, center justify, left justify, or full justify the document. What you are doing is creating one, or two, even "lines" along an edge of the text. This assures an even margin. So, the aspect of making even is a part of this word. But the word in Greek, dikaiw, actually means to declare innocent. It is a court term. Notice, it doesn't mean "to declare not guilty;" it declares innocence. And how are we declared innocent? Doesn’t this text later say that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God?"
The copyright of the article Justified Freely by His Grace in Lutheranism is owned by John L. Hoh, Jr.. Permission to republish Justified Freely by His Grace in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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