Beyond Reasonable Doubt

Romans 3:23-24

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You ever served on jury duty? I think back to when I was summoned and selected to serve on the jury. And I think back to the instructions that the judge gave to us. And he said, your job is not to determine if the defendant is guilty. Your job is to determine if the prosecution has successfully proven him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And he may very well be guilty. But if they have not proven that beyond a reasonable doubt, you have to find him not guilty.

That’s a pretty good picture, pretty good illustration, of what the Bible calls justification. We know God’s standard for us. He is a holy, holy, holy God. And He demands that we be holy, holy, holy. And we know that we have fallen short of the standard. As Paul writes in Romans 3:23.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

We know we are guilty. But the very next verse reads

and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24)

That word, justified, it means to be declared not guilty. We know what we’ve done, what we’ve said. But Jesus took those sins upon himself on the cross and died there. Through faith in him, we are declared to be not guilty. He has taken the punishment for our sins. And so there is no more punishment to be carried out on us. You can know that no matter what your sins are, no matter how many. You are forgiven in Christ Jesus and declared to be not guilty. May God bless us as we live lives of thanks and praise. Amen.