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Justification
Part 4 - Matthew 4 Our Need for Obedience[1]
This fall we’re talking about this thing, JUSTIFICATION = how you, a sinner, can stand before God and God say to you, “You are righteous. You are perfect. And you deserve to live forever in heaven with me.”
Let’s read the story of the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4.
Jesus goes to the desert and he is alone with no shelter, surrounded by wild animals, no food for 40 days, starving to death, exhausted and weak. And the devil comes to Jesus to tempt him.
Now the devil and Jesus knew that God had promised the kingdom of heaven and the world to Jesus but the way to earn it was for Jesus to go to the cross. And the devil comes to Jesus and says, “I can give you what you want and I can give it to you without you having to go through all that pain and suffering and death. Just say no to God and yes to me, say yes to disobedience and I will give you what you want.” And Jesus looks at the devil and says, “No.”
And Jesus’ obedience leads him down a road of rejection, and loneliness, and betrayal, and death on a cross. Why would Jesus do that?
How good does God expect you to be? How good do you have to be to get into heaven? What is God’s standard for you?
Totally, completely good. Perfect! God made us to love him and other people perfectly.
Can anyone be good enough to save themselves and get to heaven?
No! Everyone has sinned. All we deserve is God’s judgment.
What did Jesus have to do to save us?
He had to die on the cross to take our punishment for our sins. BUT what if all Jesus did was come and die for us? Could he have just died as an innocent baby for all our sins? What else does Jesus have to do for you to save you?
He also has to live for you. You also need Jesus to live a life of perfect obedience for you. Because we should but don’t. He loved God and others perfectly FOR us. You have to earn heaven. It’s Jesus who earns it for you!
Are you saved by good works and obedience?
Yes! Just not by your obedience and good works. You’re saved by Jesus’ obedience and good works. Jesus gets what we deserve for our disobedience and we get what Jesus deserves for his obedience.
What then is the point of our obedience? Why do we obey if our obedience doesn’t save us?
Our obedience shows we really do believe in Jesus. Our obedience will never be perfect but even us trying to obey and messing up, even our imperfect obedience shows we really do believe in Jesus.
What must you do to be saved?
You must believe in Jesus as your Savior!
What are some good things to tell others about Jesus?
No one is so good that you don’t need Jesus as Savior.
No one is so bad that you can’t have Jesus as Savior.
You just have to believe in Jesus, that he lived for you and died for you.
What is something we just learned that we can: 1) praise God for and 2) ask God for?
[1] Kevin DeYoung, The Biggest Story Bible Storybook, Chapter 56, The Sin That Wasn’t, Matthew 4 296-298.