JUSTICATON · The best choice concerning salvation is justification through Jesus: “Blessed are...

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J U S T I F I C A T I O NROM A N S 3–4 & G A L AT I A N S 3

The goal is to help children understand the concept of justification through Jesus Christ.

God’s justice (all that is right) demands that injustice (all that is wrong) be punished.

Justification is how a guilty person is declared “not guilty” and how sin is replaced with

righteousness. Sin is the breaking of God’s holy law, and it is a legal debt that cannot be

forgiven without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). Jesus took on Himself the debt that

we owed and bore on the cross the punishment we deserve —He shed the blood required

for our forgiveness. By placing our faith in His sacrifice, we are not judged according to our

sins, but we are justified and declared “not guilty” in the sight of God, who sees only the

righteousness of Christ in us. Through His sacrifice, it is just as if we had never, ever sinned.

GOAL w

Justice: God is completely just in that He is the perfect standard on what is righteous and

what is not; in other words, His righteousness decides how things are supposed to be—the

moral perfection He requires. Anything that falls short of His righteousness is sin.

Justification: The way in which a person is declared right with God. Being justified through

faith in Jesus Christ not only grants forgiveness of sins, but also the perfect righteousness

of Christ.

WORDS

TO KNOW

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2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we

might become the righteousness of God.

Romans 3:28: For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans 4:7: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are

covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

MEMORY

VERSES

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Read Romans 3–4: This lesson deals with an unsettling question, “How can a person be

justified before a perfectly righteous and holy God?” In other words, if His standards demand

absolute perfection concerning His holy law, then who can stand in His judgement? The

answer is no one. All have sinned and fall short (Romans 3:23). There is not one righteous,

no not one! (Romans 3:10). The price for sin is death—But Jesus, who knew no sin, became

sin for us. He died to pay the price for our sins, He was resurrected because His sacrifice was

acceptable to God, and because His sacrifice was accepted, we are justified.

OVERVIEW w

Discuss the two thieves. Both violent criminals, condemned to die; yet, upon death and in

the presence of God, only one would be justified. What makes the difference in the man

who would be declared righteous in the eyes of God?

The Justified Thief:

1. Recognized his sin by confessing it to the Savior who forgives

2. Repented of his sin

3. Personally asked Jesus for mercy and forgiveness

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The Unjustified Thief:

1. Doubted Jesus’ claim as Messiah and forgiver of sins

2. Would not repent

3. Mocked and ridiculed Jesus, and rejected His message of salvation


Would You Rather

Prepare a list of “Would You Rathers.” Mix in both fun and thought-provoking dilemmas,

and most definitely include situations from the lesson. Let the kids take turns sharing their

answers. Sample questions:

1. Would you rather surf on the internet or on the ocean?

2. Would you rather have super-power hearing or be able to see through walls?

3. Would you rather be judged by your own good works or receive full pardon by

trusting Jesus?

4. Would you rather be forgotten or hatefully remembered?

5. Would you rather white water raft or jump out of an airplane with a parachute?

6. Would you rather be the forgiven thief or the rebellious thief?

7. Would you rather be justified by perfectly keeping God’s law or be justified through faith

in Jesus?

8. Would you rather have hiccups for the rest of your life or always feel like you need to sneeze,

but can’t?

The best choice concerning salvation is justification through Jesus: “Blessed are those whose

lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom

the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:7)

PRE-LESSON

ACTIVIT Y

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1. 2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we


When sin entered the world, our relationship with God was broken; yet God in His mercy

was willing to reconcile with mankind. Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice, is the

only solution.

2. Romans 3:28: For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Nothing we do or say can convince God that we are good enough to be declared

righteous, except the blood of Jesus.

3. Romans 4:7: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are


Our worst problem, the curse of sin and death, was solved through Jesus and His death on

the cross.

MEMORY

VERSES

MEANING

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Unpacking Righteousness

You will need: two identical shoeboxes with lids, masking and scotch tape, wrapping

paper, several sheets of construction paper cut up into squares, markers. Before the lesson:

prepare the materials by taping the two boxes together so that their bottoms meet, and the

removable lids are on the outside. Cover the joined boxes and separate lids with wrapping

paper so that the entire structure looks uniform. Take 10-12 squares of construction paper

and write a redeemed quality on each, such as holiness, kindness, righteousness, purity,

selflessness, etc. Place the squares inside one of the boxes and close it with the lid; make a

small dot on the lid so you can remember which side these are on.

In class: explain to the students that God removed our guilt and penalty of sin while at the

same time declaring us righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice. Help the students come

up with all kinds of sinful qualities like jealousy, guilt, betrayal, fear, greed, anger, etc., writing

each on a square. Have the students take turns placing these squares in the open box.

When all the sinful qualities are inside, put the lid on the box and pick it up, turning it this

way and that unnoticeably while you recount the crucifixion. When finished, place the box

on the table and open up the end with the redeemed qualities; let the students read them

and marvel at the transformation!

POST-LESSON

ACTIVITY

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Discuss the various ways man seeks justification in his own way, then help the children use

the truth in God’s word to be justified by faith in Jesus.

Begin with the religious rulers during Jesus’ time on earth and how they sought justification

by keeping the law. Explain how the bible teaches that to be guilty of even one broken

commandment is to be guilty of all. Justification through works is an impossible feat. Then

talk about other types of “ justifiers,” such as people who blame others for their shortcomings

(sin); people who worship other gods; people who grew up in Christian homes and think

that is good enough.

TAKE

HOME

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QUESTION & ANSWER

Q1a: What word does the Apostle Paul use to describe

our complete forgiveness of sin?

A1: The Apostle Paul uses the word justification.

Q1b: What are some bad excuses for not doing your

homework?

TN: Let students answer. Even if we have good excuses for not doing our homework, we

should understand that it is our responsibility as students to do this homework; not doing

it only hurts us, as we will not learn the concepts being taught. Excuses do not justify our

lack of student responsibility. The same is true in regard to our faithfulness to God. We will

always have excuses for why we commit sin, but those excuses don’t excuse our behavior in

God’s eyes. It is impossible for us to live perfect, sinless lives. Jesus, the Son of God—the only

man to ever live a perfect, sinless life—offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. When God

accepted His sacrifice on our behalf, our sins were forgiven.

Q2a: What crime were the religious leaders able to find

against Jesus?

A2: None! They could find no crime against Jesus.

Q2b: You broke a big rule, and your parent tells you that

your grounded for a year. Do you plead for mercy?

TN: Even though we know we broke this rule, none of us wants to be grounded for year! We

would offer up suggestions on other ways we could make up for our wrongdoing—extra

chores, no allowance, volunteering our time with charitable organizations—anything to

avoid being grounded for a whole year! Jesus’ punishment was not deserved. He had never

done anything wrong, and yet, He did not protest. He didn’t say a word. Jesus was taking on

the punishment deserved for the sins committed by every single person.

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QUESTION & ANSWERQUESTION & ANSWER

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QUESTION & ANSWER

Q3a: Jesus hung on a cross between who?

A3: Jesus hung on a cross between two thieves.

Q3b: Could Jesus have saved Himself from this

horrible punishment?

TN: Jesus absolutely could have saved Himself. While He was a man during His time on earth,

He was still fully God. He had the power to heal and forgive people of their sins, so He had

the power to work a powerful miracle to save Himself, proving that He was God—but that

wasn’t the purpose of His mission. His purpose here on earth was to free us from the slavery

of sin and death. We deserved the punishment He took on, but because the punishment for

our sins was justified, He did not dispute it; He did not stop it. The punishment was justified

because it is God’s law that death pay for sin.

Q4a: How did the thieves respond to Jesus’ prayer?

A4: One thief became even more resentful and hateful,

and the other wanted peace and forgiveness.

Q4b: To celebrate your birthday, a family member

prepares a meal of all of your favorite foods. Does this

make you feel bad?

TN: No way! That is such a nice thing to do! While this person spent a lot of time and trouble

putting this all together for us, this person did it because they love us and want us to be

happy. People go out of their way to do nice things for us to make us feel special and loved.

While what Jesus went through for us was terrible, He did it because He loves us so much, He

would rather die a horrible death than to be separated from us. His sacrifice is the greatest

display of love we will ever experience. It is hard to think of Jesus’ crucifixion as a beautiful

gesture like a meal of all our favorite things, but it is. When we feel sadness about what He

went through for us, we should take it as an opportunity to remember what put Him in that

position, try to live a life that is pleasing to God, and to thank Him for His amazing sacrifice.

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QUESTION & ANSWER

Q5a: What did the thief ask Jesus?

A5: The thief asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus

entered His kingdom.

Q5b: If the thief would have asked for forgiveness earlier,

would he have still deserved his punishment?

TN: Yes. The fact is that we sin, and all sins have consequences. When we accept Jesus as

our Savior and acknowledge that His sacrifice on the cross bought our forgiveness, we are

saved from the eternal consequences of sin. This means that, even though we sin, we will

live forever in Heaven with God. God will help us to deal with the earthly consequences of

our sin, but He does not wave them away. As Christians, we try to live our lives as Jesus did,

but we will always fall short. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, God sees us as justified despite our

shortcomings. The man in this story stole something, or many somethings, and got caught,

and for that, he faced a serious punishment. While our sins are forgiven, being a Christian is

not the equivalent of having an eternal “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

Q6a: Would God see the thief’s sin?

A6: No, God would only see the righteousness of Jesus.

Q6b: Instead of being punished for cheating on a test,

you are rewarded with a trip to an amusement park.

How would you feel?

TN: More than likely, we would think it’s too good to be true. We’d be waiting to find out that

in order to get the trip we’d have to clean the school’s bathrooms for a month or something

equally gross or labor-intensive. We often view Christ’s sacrifice in the same way. We often

wonder, “Nothing we do will be held against us? Really?” Yes, really! We will never deserve

the promise of eternity in Heaven with God, but God did not make a bad choice; God is not

a fool. Because of this fact, when we find ourselves in Heaven, standing before the throne of

God, we can finally thank Him for thinking us worthy of such mercy and grace.

QUESTION & ANSWER

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QUESTION & ANSWER

Q7a: Why did Jesus face God’s anger?

A7: Jesus faced God’s anger so that we could be children

of God.

Q7b: After being grounded for a month, what do

you think you would enjoy the most about your

regained freedom?

TN: Maybe it’s being able to visit friends, or play video games—whatever it is, it feels good

to be able to do things again. Looking back on life before we accepted Jesus as our Savior

may not resemble life when grounded, but the freedom He provided us is so much better

and deeper. Jesus did so much for us. He provided us with a model by which to try to live

our lives. He freed us from the cycle of sin and death. He restored our relationship with our

loving Father, God. He made us—sinners all—justified in the eyes of our just and perfect

Creator. He is truly worthy of our praise!

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MEMORY

VERSES

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BIG IDEA w

CLOSING

PRAYER

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2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we


Romans 3:28: For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. )

Romans 4:7: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are


No matter what we do, we are “not guilty” in the eyes of God because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for providing for us a way to be justified—to be declared guiltless

and righteous—before God. Thank You for taking our place and dying on the cross. You who

were without sin, took our sin for us. Amen.


LESSON TRANSCRIPT

God is perfect, completely holy, and also just. Anything

that falls short of His perfection—His righteousness—is sin.

His judgment is so precise, that to be guilty of breaking

even one of His commandments is to be guilty of

breaking all. Nothing we can offer by way of gifts or good

behavior can fix what sin has broken; we are altogether

hopeless. But we will soon see that God is as merciful as

He is just, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died

for us. The Apostle Paul uses the word justification to

describe this amazing and complete forgiveness of sin.

But it came with a great price…

The religious leaders could not find any crime against

Jesus; even so, they bound Him and delivered Him over

to be killed, and the mob, filled with the hatred of their

own rebellion, demanded He be crucified. The perfect

Messiah stood mocked, blasphemed, spit upon, beaten,

and falsely accused—yet He stood quietly prepared to

give His life for the very people who despised Him.

As He hung between two thieves, the people continued

to abuse and cast insults. “Save yourself,” they cried,

“Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God!”

But even with all the pain and abuse thrown at Him, the

worst rejection would not be from these enemies of God;

it would come from being forsaken by His own Father,

who could not look on the sins that He was about to bear.

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LESSON TRANSCRIPT


LESSON TRANSCRIPTLESSON TRANSCRIPT

“Please forgive them,” Jesus prayed, “for they know not

what they do.” The offer and plea of forgiveness reached

the ears of the two criminals. For one criminal, the offer

fueled even more resentment and hatred, but for the

other, it sparked a desire for peace and forgiveness. “Do

you not fear God?” the remorseful criminal rebuked the

first. “We are both condemned and about to suffer what

we deserve; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he turned to Jesus, the sorrow of his own sin

moving him to repentance, “Please Lord, remember me

when you come into your kingdom.” In that moment,

the cries of the angry mob seemed to fade between the

broken man and his Savior, and mercy was freely given.

In the sight of God, he would be justified. God would not

see his sin, but would instead see the righteousness of

Jesus, made possible by His great sacrifice. Jesus said

to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me

in paradise.”

Jesus died so that we could live; He faced God’s anger

against sin so that we could once again be children of

God; and He paid the necessary price so that we could

be set free from the slavery of sin and death. By faith in

Jesus we are eternally justified--no longer enemies of

God, but instead, His precious children.

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JUSTICATON · The best choice concerning salvation is justification through Jesus: “Blessed are...

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