JUSTIFIED BY WHAT?

In “Words We Live By” Brian Burrell tells of an armed robber named Dennis Lee Curtis who was arrested in 1992 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Curtis apparently had scruples about his thievery. In his wallet the police found a sheet of paper on which was written the following code:

“I will not kill anyone unless I have to. I will take cash and food stamps-- no checks. I will rob only at night. I will not wear a mask. I will not rob mini-marts or 7-Eleven stores. If I get chased by cops on foot, I will get away. If chased by vehicle, I will not put the lives of innocent civilians on the line. I will rob only seven months out of the year. I will enjoy robbing from the rich to give to the poor.”

This thief had a sense of morality, but it was flawed. When he stood before the court, he was not judged by the standards he had set for himself but by the higher law of the state.

Likewise, when we stand before God, we will not be judged by the code of morality we have written for ourselves, nor even by what the culture justifies, but by God's perfect law. 

Paul writes, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:23-24 NLT)

Justification is what happens when Christians abandon all those vain attempts to justify themselves before God -- to be seen as "just" in God's eyes through religious and moral practices. It's a time when God's "justifying grace" is experienced and accepted, a time of pardon and forgiveness, of new peace and joy and love. Indeed, we're justified by God's grace through faith. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™, compiled from a variety of sources

#6287

STRUGGLING TO DO GOOD - Part 2 of 2

God did not save us because of our goodness but because of His own kindness and mercy, Thanks to the saving work of Jesus Christ our Savior, God can declare us good. Our goodness is a gift from God. We cannot work for it. We cannot earn it. We do not deserve it.

The Bible calls this work of Christ justification. That’s a big word that simply means God says you are okay because of what Jesus did for you. When you put your trust in Christ, God gives you a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). (It is like starting over; that is why it is called being “born again.”) Then God not only gives you the desire to do good. but also gives you the power to do good.  Philippians 2:13 says, “It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (NKJV, emphasis added). He gives you the desire and the power to do what is right…

By God’s grace and power we are re-created as good people, and then we are given the ability to do good deeds. God works from the inside out, not from the outside in… God solved the problem of my old selfish nature by giving me a new Christlike nature. 

-- Excerpts from “God’s Power to Change Your Life” by Rick Warren

#6055

CONFORMING TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST

There is a change that should be occurring in every Christian’s life right now. It is a progressive change that begins the moment one becomes a Christian and continues until the day one dies. God is in the business of changing Christians to become just like Jesus Christ in character: “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29 NIV). The verse that immediately precedes this verse is one of the most-loved and oft-quoted passages of the Bible: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

Yes, God does work all things together for good. But what is “good”? And what about the qualifying phrase “of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”? Verse 29 answers both of those questions. God’s idea of “good” is to use every circumstance in your life to mold you into the image of His Son. How much difference is there between your character and the character of Jesus Christ? The answer to that question will give you a clue as to how much change you can expect in your life!

God’s sovereign purpose is to change us into the image of His Son. 

-- Robert Jeffress in “Choose Your Attitude, Change Your Life” 

#5971

RIGHT ABOUT WRONG

For me, one of the strongest, deepest, most compelling reasons for believing the Bible is because it has the most accurate explanation for what is wrong with us… I have never run into anything remotely like the Bible when it comes to an accurate fix on what is wrong with the human heart…

The New Testament Church got its definition of sin from the Old Testament, the only written Word of their day. It defines the problem for which the New Testament presents the solution. The Law and the Prophets relentlessly expose the nature of human sin from God’s perspective.

For several years now I have studied the last half of the Old Testament carefully, and from that reading I compiled a huge list of God’s creative descriptions of sin. I’ve boiled the essence of that list into the following descriptive phrases in the language of today:

• Going our own way
• Doing our own thing
• Defiantly resisting authority
• Stubborn disobedience
• Willful rebellion
• Defensive and antagonistic attitudes
• Self-centered focus
• Compulsively competitive nature
• Addiction to control

This analysis of sin… is as powerful in provoking the human conscience today as it was two thousand years ago.

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-24 NKJV) 

-- Adapted from “Follow Me: Experience the Loving Leadership of Jesus” by Jan David Hettinga

#5909

OUR HOPE IS IN CHRIST

Romans 5 begins with these words: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through who we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (vv. 1-2). Paul then explains that the result of experiencing the grace of God is that “we rejoice in the hope of the glory God” (v. 2). For a Christian, no situation is completely hopeless. Christians have hope in Christ…

Many people have hope, but they have not based it on anything solid. It is an artificial, pump-yourself-up hope. And many people base their hope on the wrong things: the stock market, their good looks, a big salary, a nice job, a good family, [the next election]. But all those things are temporary and can be taken away. When they disappear, so does hope. And joy is impossible without hope.

By contrast, Christians have a reason to be positive. We can rejoice because we rejoice in hope. In Romans 12:12 Paul reminds us, “Be joyful in hope.” Paul is talking about our hope in Christ. The hope we have in Christ is the reason we can rejoice, even in difficult situations. 

-- Rick Warren in “God’s Power to Change Your Life”

#5820

JUSTIFIED BY WHAT?

“Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by His blood, effective through faith.”  (Romans 3:23-26 NRSV)

We all automatically gravitate toward the assumption that we are justified by our level of sanctification, and when this posture is adopted it inevitably focuses our attention not on Christ but on the adequacy of our own obedience. We start each day with our personal security resting not on the accepting love of God and the sacrifice of Christ but on our present feelings or recent achievements in the Christian life. Since these arguments will not quiet the human conscience, we are inevitably moved either to discouragement and apathy or to a self-righteousness which falsifies the record to achieve a sense of peace. 

-- Richard Lovelace in “Dynamics of Spiritual Life”

#5724

THE WRATH OF GOD

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23 NLT)

God's wrath is not capricious anger, like some divine rage that erupts occasionally. Wrath is the holiness of God yearning for the wholeness of creation. Wrath is goodness offended by evil, compassionate love recoiling at hatred. Wrath stands over against sin, condemning it and ultimately destroying it… All can be made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

-- Richard and Julia Wilke in “DISCIPLE: Remember Who You Are”

#5515

FORGIVE OUR SINS

Forgive them all, O Lord:
our sins of omission and our sins of commission;
the sins of our youth and the sins of our riper years;
the sins of our souls and the sins of our bodies;
our secret and our more open sins;
our sins of ignorance and surprise,
and our more deliberate and presumptuous sin;
the sins we have done to please ourselves
and the sins we have done to please others;
the sins we know and remember,
and the sins we have forgotten;
the sins we have striven to hide from others
and the sins by which we have made others offend;
forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all for His sake,
who died for our sins and rose for our justification,
and now stands at Thy right hand to make intercession for us,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
-- John Wesley, quoted in “Witness for Christ” by Harold K. Bates 

#5390

PUT RIGHT WITH GOD

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”  (Romans 5:1-2 NIV)

“Justify” or “put right” alludes to a courtroom where a person is acquitted, pronounced free to go, no charges. It suggests alignment, being in right relationship. That is, the relation to God is made right. Justification is rectification. God in Christ gives us access to undeserved favor and therefore to peace with God. Christ’s work, through faith, moves us from wrath to peace and to our hope of one day sharing the glory of God (Romans 5:2).

What Paul is saying is astounding. Christ’s death is literally God’s love. Not God loving us because of who we are; rather, God loving us in spite of who we are -- sinners, powerless to do what is right, enemies of God. Nothing about us merits God’s love. Yet, “God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Now we can boast. We can boast of Jesus (Romans 5:11). 

-- Richard and Julia Wilke in “DISCIPLE: Remember Who You Are”

#5318

GROWING IN GRACE

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.”  (2 Peter 3:18 ESV)

John Wesley saw all of life lived in the context of grace. He explained it in terms of the stages of grace in which we live. First, we experience prevenient grace. This grace seeks us before we know it. Gives us the ability to have faith, creates within us spiritual discontent. Prevenient grace prepares, prompts, and prods us until we experience [justifying grace] -- the saving grace of God. Then saving grace forgives us, gives us a fresh start, turns us in the right direction, and gives us an eternal destiny. And finally, Wesley speaks of sanctifying grace, that grace in which we live the rest of our lives. The grace that seeks to make us whole and holy. Wesley challenged us to always be growing in grace. 

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!”

#4956

SHARING THE GOOD NEWS

Isaiah said, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’" (Isaiah 52:7)

Christians who can't or won't share their faith with others may be in a crisis of faith of their own. The question is whether they believe in the efficacy of the gospel -- the gospel which justified so that we don't need to earn our status before God or vie for position with others; the gospel which gives shape and purpose to live, making us other-directed rather than self-centered; the gospel of peace which reconciles broken relationships and builds community; the gospel of justice which advocates for the poor and the marginalized. This is good news. So how can one keep from sharing it? 

-- from the Leadership Network, first published in "Christian Century", 11/20/02

#4874

NOW THAT’S GOOD NEWS

“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the LORD, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day -- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”  (2 Timothy 4:8 NIV)

Nothing can compare with all that is ours in Christ when we find salvation. Forgiveness. Justification. Adoption. Eternal life. What a glorious life the Gospel offers to those who are searching for purpose and meaning or to those who have found that materialism and sensual pleasure are not the answer to the deepest yearnings of the heart.

The crowning glory of salvation is promised when we enter into the presence of the King. We have a home in heaven reserved for us and awards that await us. No wonder the Gospel is “good news.”

-- Billy Graham


#4768

OUR SALVATION

“Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)

Christian faith is not only an assent to the whole gospel of Christ, but also a full reliance on the blood of Christ; a trust in the merits of His life, death, and resurrection; a recumbency upon Him as our atonement and our life, as given for us, and living in us; and, in consequence hereof, a closing with Him, and cleaving to Him, as our “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,” or, in one word, our salvation.

-- John Wesley, from his sermon entitled “Salvation by Faith”


#4577

NEW LIFE IN CHRIST

“There is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  (Romans 3:22b–24)

The process of salvation involves a change in us that we call conversion. Conversion is a turning around, leaving one orientation for another. It may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual and cumulative. But in any case it's a new beginning. Following Jesus' words to Nicodemus, "You must be born anew" (John 3:7 RSV), we speak of this conversion as rebirth, new life in Christ, or regeneration.

Following Paul and Luther, John Wesley called this process justification. Justification is what happens when Christians abandon all those vain attempts to justify themselves before God, to be seen as "just" in God's eyes through religious and moral practices. It's a time when God's "justifying grace" is experienced and accepted, a time of pardon and forgiveness, of new peace and joy and love. Indeed, we're justified by God's grace through faith.

Justification is also a time of repentance -- turning away from behaviors rooted in sin and toward actions that express God's love. In this conversion we can expect to receive assurance of our present salvation through the Holy Spirit "bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16).

-- George Koehler in “United Methodist Member's Handbook, Revised” (Discipleship Resources, 2006)

#4561

ASH WEDNESDAY: SIN, REPENTANCE AND ETERNAL LIFE

“Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions… But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.”  (Romans 6:12,22)

Apparently, some of the early Christians interpreted the new freedom that Paul talked about in a way that permitted them to do whatever they wished -- as long as they said they had faith. Paul practically accuses them of deliberately sinning in order to see how much grace God will bestow to counteract the sin. He asks, “Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1)

The apostle quickly answers his own question. “By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?” (Romans 6:2) While the Christian is free of the ceremonial laws, there is no freedom for immorality or license. Such attitude and behaviors are inappropriate to the new life in Christ, just as they were to the old covenant. Sins are still acts to be avoided, dangers to be fought.

Paul maintains that justification has cleared the decks of a Christian’s past sins; these are no longer held against the faithful. But he has no sympathy for the notion that Christians are therefore free to do anything. Sin is still sin. Morality is still morality. God expects the best of those who claim the promise. 

-- William Carter in “Good News for God’s People: A Study of Romans” published by Abington Press


#4539

PROCURING FREEDOM FOR US

“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.”  (Acts 13:38-39 NIV)

Become like Christ, since Christ has become like us… He has become inferior to make us superior; He has become poor to enrich us by His poverty; He has taken the condition of slave to procure freedom for us; He has come on earth to bring us to heaven; He has been tempted to see us triumph; He has been dishonored to cover us with glory; He has died to save us; He has ascended to heaven to draw us to Himself; we who lie prostrate because of falling into sin.

-- Gregory of Nazianzus from the “Sermon I: On Easter” in “The Paschal Mystery”

#4371

CHEAP GRACE

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian ‘conception’ of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be itself sufficient to secure remission of sins… In such a church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace, therefore, amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the incarnation of the Word of God...

Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolations of His grace! That is what we mean by ‘cheap grace’, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grave is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace which we bestow upon ourselves…

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer in “The Cost of Discipleship”

#4094