Is There A Moral Delete Button?
Word processors have a delete button. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a delete program that would erase all the dumb things we said on Facebook or Twitter. All the false claims we made. All the angry retorts and grumpy reposts. We are told that everything we have ever posted is indelible, kept somewhere in cyber space to be used against us. For ever and ever and ever, amen. Grim thought.
What about all our moral failings? Our sins? Is there any way to erase them? All the lies we told, the petty thievery we engaged in, the lustful thoughts, the proud assertions, the deceitful comments, the angry words, the gossip, the jealousy, the gluttony, the laziness, the false accusations, the immorality, the covetousness, the denial of God, the swear words, and on and on it goes.
Well, in this series on celebrating redemption we come to justification. Deleting all sin is exactly what justification is all about. We have come to clean slate territory!
Unfortunately, the world’s religions teach some kind of justification through doing good works. Commonly, we are told if your good works outweigh your bad deeds you will be saved. But that is a passing grade of only 51%. That’s not even good enough for grade school! Outweighing the bad we’ve done doesn’t cancel that the record of our sins. Not even a human judge would render judgement on that basis.
God tells us that if we fail in any point we have broken the integrity of the moral law. “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10, KJV). Why? Because guilt in one point shows the state of the sinner’s heart, his propensity to transgress, his pride. “The Bible tells us that “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). All we do is tainted. Would we eat tainted meat? No, well we shouldn’t be satisfied with what seems to us a little moral taint.
But hold on, is there any remedy? The good news is that, “righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice…at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26, selections).
God is the Judge of all the earth. He has determined right and wrong. We stand before him, guilty of breaking his moral law [which he established for our good] and thus we are doomed to hell. But God in mercy works to forgive us. He cannot by a mere fiat statement forgive us and still be true to his character as a just judge. A punishment must be enacted on our behalf before we can be forgiven. A debt must be paid. This is where Jesus came in. He voluntarily took our place, bore the punishment for our sins upon his body on the cross. Then when we put our faith in the blood Jesus shed for our sins, God accepts his atonement on our behalf and justifies or forgives us. This radical justification is completely due to God’s grace demonstrated in the covenant made between the Father and the Son.
In justification, the righteousness of Christ is credited to our account. Our sins are blotted out. God declares us righteous for Christ’s sake. If we put our faith in Christ, God looks at us and sees not our sinfulness but the righteousness of Christ. We stand robed in the righteousness of the perfect one!
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). “Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16). “Hew saved us through the washing of rebirth…so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5,7).
No wonder Martin Luther was transformed when he discovered the truth of JUSTIFICATION. No wonder the Protestant
Reformation broke out with formerly enslaved men and women shouting for joy at their freedom from bondage to an impossible works righteousness.
Are you justified? Put on then “the breastplate of righteousness”—the righteousness of Christ. Stand in Him and be free and forgiven! As Wesley’s hymn declares:
No condemnation now I dread,
I am my Lord’s and He is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head.
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
And clothed in righteousness divine.
Amazing love how can it be?
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