Justification by Faith – Youth STS Lesson 232

“Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.”

Romans 4:7 (Memory Verse)

Introduction

In our last study, Youth STS Lesson 231: The Sinfulness of All Men, we saw that no one can be made righteous by keeping the law. This lesson now shows us the way God makes a sinner righteous.

Justification by faith refers to a state in which an individual, having received pardon after repentance, is set free from sin. When justified, God covers a person’s sins and makes him stand righteous as if he had never committed sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord, cleanses him from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:9).

Justification is obtained by faith in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross at Calvary. This takes place the moment one confesses Christ as his Lord and Saviour. Justification makes us see the great love of God towards us. He is not only willing to forgive sinners, but also to reinstate them to their lost glorious state. In this lesson, we shall see how God justified Abraham through faith.

Question 1: What is faith and what is its importance?

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is believing God and His promises to do what He has said in His word (Genesis 15:16). It is trusting God and doing whatever He wants us to do in all situations. It is essential to receiving from God. “But without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6).

ABRAHAM OBTAINED JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH

Romans 4:1-12; Genesis 15:6; Romans 5:18; 3:30; Isaiah 53:11; Galatians 3:8

“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God” (Romans 4:1,2).

God called Abraham from his land of nativity. He was called from serving the idols which his fathers served in Ur of Mesopotamia. “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac” (Joshua 24:2-3).

God promised him, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). Abraham obeyed promptly and did as God commanded. When God called him, he was not yet a righteous man until when “…he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). This is what Paul the apostle expressed rhetorically in verse one: “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?”

Question 2: How did Abraham receive justification?

Abraham responded positively to the divine invitation to come out of his country and family into an unknown land. This was a mark of repentance and faith in God. He was willing to leave his way of sin for the way of righteousness. Immediately God revealed to him the benefits of such transformation of life, he quickly embraced it without doubting or questioning. He had his sins forgiven and blotted out.

Many years later, David, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote of the blessedness of Abraham’s experience. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psalm 32:1,2). If you have proper understanding like David, you will show appreciation of the justification experience. In our text, we learn the following:

1. “Transgression is forgiven”: this is the very first step to justification. It comes when a sinner obeys God’s call to repentance by realising his sinful state, confessing and forsaking his sins and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
2. “Whose sin is covered”: after taking the first step, God on His part does not only forgive, but also cleanses and covers the confessed sins. In other words, He declares the sinner a righteous person. “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). This simply means, God is no longer seeing him as someone who has ever sinned.
3. “Whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity”: this means that God no longer reckons with his past sins.
4. “In whose spirit there is no guile”: he is transformed by righteousness to desist from longing for sins. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).

Question 3: Can a sinning youth obtain justification today?

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). From the Scripture, it is possible for a sinning youth to obtain justification by faith.

Years later, the generation of Israel misunderstood the concept of justification by faith. They did not hold on to this divinely established fact of the faith of Abraham. Their focus was on the works of the law. They thought it was through personal effort and labour they could be justified. They misplaced their priority on deeds like fasting, praying, paying of tithes and carnal observances like washing of hands, pots, plates, etc. (Hebrews 9:10; Mark 7:8).

“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:4,5). Like Abraham, a youth can obtain justification as part of the seed of Abraham through faith. The main reason the children of Israel were confused about justification is the law of circumcision. They failed to understand that Abraham was given the law years after God called him. It was only a sign and a seal of righteousness, which came while he was still uncircumcised (verse 10).

In our day, Christian youths can obtain justification not by the deeds of self-righteousness such as being morally upright, singing in the choir, leading others or doing some other good deeds. They must be born again for a real experience of justification.

ABRAHAM OBTAINED THE PROMISE OF HEIR BY FAITH

Romans 4:13-15; Genesis 35:12; Exodus 6:7,8

“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith” (verse 13).

Question 4: Describe an heir in your own words.

An heir is someone who is expected to inherit an asset, fortune, possession or property from its former holder. Abraham was made an heir by God to inherit the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey for him and his seed. However, the promise of being an heir made to Abraham and his seed was not through obedience to the law but through righteousness by faith in God.

Therefore, to be made an heir of the promises of God today, we cannot earn it just by compliance with the law. This is because keeping the law does not give a youth power over sin. However, when a youth receives Christ, he gets the power to live above sin and obey the law of God. Being made an heir of God requires faith in Christ. “For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 4:14; 8:17).

ABRAHAM’S OFFSPRING: HEIR OF PROMISE BY FAITH

Romans 4:16-25; Genesis 28:4,14; Deuteronomy 30:6; Galatians 3:16; Hebrews 6:13-15,17,18

God in His infinite knowledge knows that His promise would not be exhausted with Abraham. The reason being that Abraham is mortal. No matter how long he lives, he would die. So, God gave him a sure promise. “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16).

God made His promise sure that Abraham’s seeds will be heirs of the Promised Land and of salvation. “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise” (Hebrews 6:13-15).

God sealed His promise with an oath. “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:17,18).

This was the covenant God remembered when Abraham’s seeds were in bondage and under oppression in Egypt, and He made a way to deliver them. “And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for a heritage: I am the LORD” (Exodus 6:7,8).

Question 5: Answer Yes or No.

1. In the Old Testament, only the children of Israel were the seed of Abraham.
2. In the new dispensation, all who believe in Christ are seeds of Abraham.
3. Today, only the children of Israel are beneficiaries of God’s promises to Abraham.
4. Born again believers, irrespective of race, are entitled to the promises of God to Abraham.

The Bible reveals that believers in Christ are not only heirs of earthly promises, but also that which is heavenly. God’s covenant to us in Christ is better than that in Abraham. Also, the promise in Abraham pointed to Jesus Christ the Saviour, the Reconciler, the Redeemer, the Justifier, and the promised Son. And the Bible says, our covenant with God in Him is “a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6).