Aug 15
22
The Justification of life
What a glorious work is the work of God’s effectual call. In John 5: 25 the Lord said, “Verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.” To believe on Christ is nothing less than being raised from the dead. It is to be given a full, free, and complete justification from the sins which bound us in this death to the righteous privilege of walking in the newness of life. There is nothing that the dead can do for themselves. For them to live one with the power and right to make it come to pass must command them to come out of the tomb.
Death is not an unfortunate accident but the just condemnation of God. “By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5: 12) He is the prisoner of justice and judgment, he is the prisoner of the god of this world, and he is a prisoner of his own evil nature. The raising of this man then is not a matter of will or decision but the satisfaction of the law and justice of God. He is a prisoner by God’s just decree and must by a just decree be again set free. “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”
The effectual calling of God’s elect is not so much owing to argument and unknown facts as it is to the just decree of God to set them free. This free justification of grace was accomplished over two thousand years ago on Calvary’s cross. It is this same justification of grace set before men from Genesis to Malachi. (see Romans 3:24-26 ) Hear the truth of this doctrine by the words of the Holy Ghost himself, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly place in Christ Jesus: That (in order that) in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus, for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast.” Darvin Pruitt
Justification and sanctification always come together
Let us never forget, that although justification and sanctification are two different things, they always come together. Many try and separate them. They speak of those who know Christ as Saviour, and those who know Him as Saviour and Lord. The Bible makes no such distinction. All who know Him as Saviour also know Him as Lord. Justification is what Christ does for us. Sanctification is what Christ does in us. Sanctification is the necessary consequence of justification.
Remember the teaching of our Lord, that he who is forgiven much (justification) loves much (sanctification) Luke 7:40-47. According to this, the evidence of having been forgiven is loving much. If God’s work of sanctification is absent in somebody’s life, you can be sure that God’s work of justification is absent also. Todd Nibert.
Eternal Justification
Chris Cunningham
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
Perhaps you have heard the “Doctrine of Eternal Justification” either denied or defended. The arguments for and against this formally established doctrine are a tribute to man’s uncanny natural ability to complicate the plain truth of God.
Of course justification is eternal. Justification is God considering a sinner to be sinless. How long has God considered His sheep to be sinless? We are sinless in Christ, and we have been in Christ since “before the foundation of the world,” according to our text. God has revealed Himself as the eternal, immutable God. We cannot consider Him, in light of scripture, as having changed His mind regarding His people, having considered them as guilty for a time and then as just, once Christ died. How does the eternal, immutable God consider something so “for a time
Some say that to speak of the eternal aspect of justification is blasphemous because (they say) it makes void the work of Christ on the cross. This is like saying our eternal election makes void the work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit in time. It is simply an unscriptural objection.
Abraham was justified long before Christ ever died (Rom 4). How? Did God sweep his sins under a rug until Christ came and died for him? No, God forgave him his sins on the basis of the eternal efficacy of Christ’s precious blood. Did the fact that Abraham was justified before God before Christ died, make His sin-atoning death unnecessary? Foolishness!
By not limiting God in His eternal estimation of us in Christ, are we diminishing the glory of the cross, an event that took place in time? Of course not! We do not trust a temporal event, but a timeless Person. It is Christ that died! Yet, we glory all the more in His death when we acknowledge the eternal benefits of it.
The basis of our justification is Christ in His redemptive work on the cross at Calvary. His precious blood is the price of our redemption. This being an event that took place in time in no way necessitates that God’s estimation of us changed in time. God was not waiting to see if Christ would indeed redeem us and reserving judgment concerning our condition before Him until He died. Because of what Christ did for me, the God Who declares the end from the beginning (Is 46:10), has declared me just, holy, sinless in Christ from the beginning. Praise Him, for His eternal grace in Christ Jesus, the slain Lamb!
Justification by Faith
It has been said that a church either stands or falls by the blessed truth of justification by faith and their view of it, and their stand on it. Faith is the opposite of works, faith is not doing but believing, faith has to do with resting in Christ and His obedience and His righteousness.
Faith is the means of our justification. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Faith receives the truth of the gospel the merits of Christ. Faith receives the doing and dieing of the Lord Jesus Christ. “We conclude that a man is justified without the deeds of the law” (Rom. 3:28).
Faith is not its own object; those who have been given faith do not look to their faith but to Christ who is the object of their faith. We know there is no merit in our faith but in our Savior. Christ is faiths object and it is based on knowledge. “For whosever shall call on the Lord shall be saved. How then can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher” (Rom. 10:13-14).
Faith is based on God’s word, it is believing with the heart. Faith is based on trust, on commitment. We don’t trust our faith we trust the Lord Jesus. We don’t trust our feelings, we trust our Master who lived for us as our representative before God, and who died as our substitute bearing our sin away to a place where God doesn’t see it. We don’t trust our knowledge or our intellect, we trust Him who has infinite knowledge of us.
Oh, what comfort in knowing He knows us, that all is open and naked with him and that even though He knows us as we are our Justification is sure and secure, because it is what He did for us. We change, but not Him, our faith sometimes is so weak and feeble but He is our strength. Listen, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the Faith Of Christ” (Gal. 2:16). Don Bell.
Grace +works=trouble
In Paul’s writings to the church at Galatia; he mentions at least twice the fact that there were false preachers ‘troubling’ them and causing the Apostle much anguish of heart as well (chapter 5). Let it be known that when you want to trouble the elect of God, the redeemed and chosen believer of grace, just add some works to the gospel and trouble you will get.
The true preacher of the grace of God desires to speak peace and comfort to the church of His calling, not make trouble for the very blood bought people of the Lord’s choosing. Let the world have its trouble, we want peace of heart, soul and mind every time we come together to hear and worship the Lord our God.
The believer will not stand (nor will the messenger who brings the truth) for such sermons as ‘Christ plus anything.’ NO! We will plainly, simply and clearly speak of THE Christ and HIS work, plus nothing and minus nothing. I get trouble every work week; I want to be at peace with His people. To do so I must Preach Christ and Him crucified….nothing more, nothing less and nothing else. Drew Dietz.
What does it mean to be “of the works of the law?”
Todd Nibert
So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Galatians 3:9-10)
What does it mean to be “of the works of the law?” The word “of” refers to origin. If I am of the works of the law I trace the origin of my salvation to something I have done. Just what that something is varies according to who you are talking to. Some would say it is obedience to the law. Others would say it is your sincerity. Still, others would say it is your will that decides whether to accept or reject God’s offer of salvation. Whatever form it takes, it is still something you must do before you can be saved. Salvation is the end, the pay back, for the works that you perform. But those who are “of truth” (Gal 3:9), trace the origin of their salvation to God himself. What we do does not end in salvation. We begin in salvation. Our works find their origin in God himself (Eph. 2:8-10). All who are of the works of the law are under God’s curse! All who are “of faith” are “blessed with faithful Abraham.”