The Blacksmith's Declaration: You Are Justified by Pastor Jeremy Collins

Galatians 1:6-10, 2:15-21, 3:1-14

This past Sunday, Pastor Jeremy preached about Justification, a foundational truth of Christian belief. Justification is about being declared righteous before God. Imagine a courtroom where we stand undeniably guilty of sin. The judge, who is perfectly "just,"  knows our guilt, and so do we. Justice demands the penalty for sin, which is death. Yet, in a stunning turn, the judge declares us righteous. The punishment we rightly deserve is no longer held against us. The crucial question then arises: how can a just God do this?

The answer lies in Substitution. Just as a willing individual might step in to bear the penalty for our crime, setting us free, Jesus Christ himself took the full punishment for our sins. This core concept, Justification by Faith Alone, is a consistent thread throughout the Bible.

To understand the importance of this truth, Pastor Jeremy pointed to Galatians 1, where the Apostle Paul vehemently condemns anyone who preaches a gospel different from the one centered on Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice. In Paul's time, a group called the Judaizers insisted that salvation required not only faith in Jesus but also adherence to Jewish laws and traditions. Paul firmly countered this, arguing that righteousness cannot be earned through human effort or by following the law. If it were, God's entire plan of salvation would have been different. The liberating truth is that Jesus has accomplished everything necessary for our salvation; we contribute nothing to this saving work. Therefore, God's declaration that we are righteous is not based on anything we do but solely on His gracious work, a work that can never be undone.

However, the reality is that even after being justified, we still grapple with sin. Pastor Jeremy addressed this directly, offering an illustration: 

Picture a Blacksmith's Shop. The Blacksmith takes a broken, impure piece of iron from the scrap heap and plunges it into red-hot coals. The iron glows red, purified and yielded to its core. The Blacksmith removes it, holds it up, and declares, "Perfect!" To an observer, this might seem perplexing. But the Blacksmith, who chose this discarded piece for redemption and restoration, knows his power to transform the piece, no matter its moments of resistance. The Blacksmith's declaration of "perfect" marks the beginning of the work needed to bring that perfection into reality. Similarly, God declares us perfect in Christ, not because our sin instantly vanishes, but because He has chosen to redeem and restore us, and this declaration initiates His ongoing work of transformation in our lives.

In a world that often champions self-reliance and earning our way, the concept of Justification by faith alone can be challenging to embrace fully. Truly being a Christian means recognizing our complete dependence on Christ's finished work. By placing our faith in Christ alone, we are declared justified and credited with His perfect righteousness. Even though we still sin, God sees us as perfect in Christ. Hence, our assurance of salvation is based on Christ's merit, not ours. This is the tension of the "already but not yet" – we are declared righteous now, and God continues His work in us.

Pastor Jeremy concluded by urging us to fully trust and rest in Christ's righteousness, knowing that God Himself declares you justified through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. To delve deeper into this vital doctrine and hear the full message, be sure to listen to the full sermon by clicking the link below.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(Eph 2:10)