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The Church justifying Sin.

In justification, our sin and guilt are removed and we are covered by Christ’s obedience, enabling God to declare us righteous in His sight. If we are in Christ, our sins will never be held against us on the day of judgment. In Christ, we are truly free of condemnation.

Sin conceived in the heart and brought to fruition behind closed doors or in the confines of our mind cannot escape the God who created each of us and who calls His children to be holy as He is holy.

When reading Jeremiah 23, it becomes apparent that God brought much-needed correction to those who were shepherds over the people of Israel and those who were prophets not sent or directed by God. The Lord prophesied through Jeremiah of the coming Messiah, the Righteous Branch who would come from the line of David (Jeremiah 23:1-8).

Jeremiah continued to speak for the Lord to the people of Israel, instructing them not to listen to the words of the prophets who filled them with vain hopes and who despised the word of the Lord (Jeremiah 23:16,17).

He made it clear to the people that He did not send those prophets, nor did He speak to them as they were not proclaiming what God would have them to hear, which was a call to repentance and to return to God (Jeremiah 23:21,22).

We then come to the verse in Jeremiah 23:24, “‘Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the LORD.” The words of the prophets, according to God, were in their hearts before they were ever spoken.

They were prophesying the deceit of their own hearts (Jeremiah 23:26), and this was not hidden from God. We know that God knows what is in men, and we see this revealed to us in the Gospel of John (2:25). We know that from the beginning, nothing can be hidden from God and that even sin done in secret is known by God.

Justification refers to God’s act of declaring a sinner righteous based on faith in Jesus Christ. It involves both the removal of guilt (sin) and the imputation of righteousness.

When we trust in Jesus as our Savior, God credits us with Christ’s righteousness. Our sins are placed on Christ, who bore the divine judgment for them on the cross. As a result, we become the righteousness of God in Christ .

In other words, justification is not about making sin acceptable or justifying sinful behavior. Instead, it is about God’s gracious declaration that we are righteous because of our faith in Jesus.

The Role of Law:

The existence of law is crucial for understanding justification. God’s revealed will (the Law) creates the foundation for concepts like law-breaking, guilt, court, judgment, and justification.

Paul emphasizes the importance of the Law in Romans. He states that through the Law, we gain knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).

However, apart from the Law, God’s righteousness has been manifested (Romans 3:21).

The Law highlights our need for a Savior and points us to Christ, who fulfilled the Law on our behalf

Justification by Faith Alone:

Justification is not about excusing sin or allowing sinful behavior to continue. Instead, it is a legal declaration that changes our status before God.

The German church historically misunderstood justification, using it as cover for sinners to continue sinning. However, true justification by faith alone transforms the sinner, leading to a life marked by righteousness .

Justification is God’s gracious act of declaring sinners righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. It does not justify sin itself but rather provides a way for sinners to be reconciled to God.

A half century ago A.W. Tozer preached these words: “This is the day of excusing sin instead of purging sin. An entire school of thought has developed justifying sin within the church and trying to prove that sin is perfectly normal, and therefore acceptable.”

If this was true back then, how much more so is it today? Indeed, we find examples of the church embracing sin instead of rebuking sin on a regular basis. And tragically, many of these churches take great pride in their affirmation and endorsement of known sin.

Consider this headline found in today’s press: “US Anglican church ordains lesbian bishop”. The article opens with these words: “A 56-year-old lesbian was ordained as a bishop by the Episcopal church on Saturday, reigniting an issue that has caused bitter divisions in the Anglican movement worldwide. Mary Glasspool became only the second openly gay bishop to be consecrated by the Episcopal Church – the governing Anglican body in the United States – after Gene Robinson was ordained in 2003.”

So how in the world can an entire denomination get things so wrong here? How can they simply throw out the clear teachings of Scripture on all this? There would be many reasons, but most have to do with embracing the homosexual agenda – hook, line and sinker – while rejecting the Bible as God’s authoritative word to us.

These so-called Christians have simply bought every myth being perpetrated by the radical homosexual lobby. There are many such myths, but one of the most often repeated ones is the idea that people are born homosexual. And amazingly some Christians have completely bought into this.

Thus they claim that “Homosexuality is a gift from God” or “God made me this way, so how can it be wrong?” As one example, a group of leaders and lecturers at one Melbourne theological institution wrote, “We believe God has made some people homosexual.”

A simple response is that God has not made anyone to be sinful. But because we live in a fallen world, everyone is born with a depraved and fallen nature. So even if certain people feel a same-sex attraction from a very young age, this does not make God the author of that attraction. It is a result of living in a fallen world.

Moreover, if God made people to be sinners (be it homosexuality or any other kind of sin), how can God then condemn such sin? It is simply not fair for God to condemn homosexuals or murderers or adulterers if God made them that way.

But people tend to argue from their experience back to Scripture, instead of letting Scripture be the judge of experience. Thus even if we concede with some that they may have felt same-sex desire for as long as they can remember, that still does not mean God made them that way.

Nor does it mean that such desires are therefore acceptable. As psychologists Jones and Yarhouse put it, “The Christian church has never taught that all our desires come from God, has never taught that all our desires are good, and has never taught that every desire, even every good desire, ought to be fulfilled. A heterosexual man’s lust for a woman who is not his wife does not come from God and is not a good desire, and should not be indulged.”

“The truth is, sexual behaviour is not compulsory. It is always a choice. We all must resist our sexual urges at times. And while it’s not desirable, some do so for their entire lives and never have sex. That’s possible for people with any sexual desire.

After all, if I honestly believe that I’ve been born with heterosexual desires, am I required to engage in heterosexual acts? Am I not capable of controlling my sexual desires and remaining celibate? If you claim that I am not, then you have also made the absurd contention that no one in the history of the world has ever been morally responsible for any sexual crime, including rape, incest, and child molestation.”

The US Episcopalians should know better. But instead they have chosen to reject God and his word and have instead embraced the lies of the homosexual lobby. The Apostle Paul spoke about this situation 2000 years ago: “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (Rom 1:24-25).