Introduction:
A lady said to me some time ago: “I think it is great presumption for a person to say he/she is saved.” I asked her if she was saved. “I belong to a church,” she said. I asked, “But are you saved?” “I believe it would be presumption in me to say that I am saved.” How sad!
Thesis: From Romans 5:1-11 let’s talk about the relationship between justification by faith and assurance of salvation.
For instances:
I. There is just one way to know we are saved: TO KNOW WE ARE JUSTIFIED. Rom. 5:1-2.
Sin makes us guilty and under condemnation. This is what keeps us out of heaven.
God removes our guilt by justifying (forgiving) us. Romans 3:28: For we maintain that a man is justified (= forgiven according to Romans 4:7-8) by faith apart from observing the law.
1. Justification is a legal term. It refers to standing before a judge in a courtroom and hearing the judge's declaration: "NO PENALTY FOR YOU!"
2. When we know that God the heavenly Judge is saying to us -- "No penalty for you!" -- then we can know we are saved.
II. There is just one way for a SINNER to be justified: BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. Rom. 5:9.
A. There is another way to be justified: never do anything wrong! A totally innocent person is justified by his works, i.e., because he is 100% good.
B. But what about a sinner? Can God justify (declare "No penalty for you!") even a sinner? YES! Rom. 4:5: to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
C. But how--on what basis--can God justify sinners? Not because they are 100% good (i.e., works), but because they are 100% forgiven through the blood of Christ.
D. Thus the blood of Christ is absolutely basic for grace, for justification, and for assurance.
1. What was Jesus doing on the cross? Paying the penalty for our sins! Thus He is our redemption (Rom. 3:24) and our propitiation (Rom. 3:25).
2. So if we are under His blood, our sins are covered; they are "hidden" from God's sight. When God looks at us, He does not see our sins! Therefore He can say, "No penalty for you!" Rom. 8:1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
3. The blood of Christ is the "robe of righteousness" in Isa. 61:10: I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
III. There is just one way to be under His blood: BY FAITH. Rom. 5:1.
A. Justifying faith includes two elements.
1. ASSENT: believing that certain things are true. John 20:31: But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
TRUST: believing in Jesus as our Savior. John 3:16
B. But here is the question: What does it MEAN to be “justified by faith”? What does faith have to do with our being under the blood of Christ? We begin to be justified, i.e., we initially come under the blood of Jesus, BY FAITH.
1. Takes place in baptism: Acts 2:38 "by faith" is not the same as "as soon as we have faith."
2. But even in baptism, the main thing God looks for is FAITH. Col. 2:12: having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
3. Because we believe God’s Word about the significance of Christ’s death, and because we trust God’s promise that Christ’s death satisfies God’s wrath that our own sins deserve, in that moment of baptism God cancels the debt of penalty that we owe to him as the result of our sins.
C. We continue to be justified, i.e., we continually stay under the blood of Jesus, BY FAITH.
1. Here is the lesson every Christian needs to learn: after baptism we STAY justified, i.e., we remain in a state of forgiveness, through our continuing trust in Christ's blood.
2. Why is this lesson so difficult to learn? Why is this basic truth, that we as Christians continue to be justified by our faith in Christ, so hard to accept? Because many (especially in the Church of Christ) have fallen prey to three crucial errors:
(a) The error of thinking that baptism is for the forgiveness of PAST sins only.
-- It was taught by Alexander Campbell and continues to be taught and believed in many Churches of Christ “When one believes in God and the atoning sacrifice of Christ, repents of all past sins, confesses that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and submits to the waters of baptism, the blood of Christ cleanses all past sins” (Winston Temple, “Grace and Law in Man’s Salvation,” Gospel Advocate, September 1993, p. 22).
(b) The error of thinking that every sin we commit as Christians separates us from the grace of God and sends us back into a state of lostness.
-- After baptism we are forgiven (justified) only until we commit another sin, at which time we become lost again.
-- Every sin thus is equivalent to apostasy or falling from grace.
(c) The error of thinking that, after sinning, the only way for the baptized person to be forgiven and saved again is to go through the ritual of 1 John 1:9 (or some ritual such as the Lord’s Supper).
-- This is a serious misinterpretation of 1 John 1:9, however. This verse does NOT refer to the specific confession of a specific sin as a condition for the forgiveness of that sin. It refers rather to the ongoing confession THAT we are sinners and stand in continual need of the cleansing blood of Christ. Read 1 John 1:9
-- The key to understanding 1 John 1:9 is vv. 8 and 10, with which v. 9 is contrasted. Read 1 John 1:8-10.
-- In the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14), the Pharisee represents the mentality of 1 John 1:8, 10; and the Tax Collector represents the mentality of 1 John 1:9.
This whole way of thinking is contrary to the fact that we are justified by faith. When we are baptized, we are baptized into a continuing relationship with Christ (Gal. 3:26-27: You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ), and we stay in this relationship as long as we continue to trust the forgiving power of His blood--even when we sin (1 Pet. 1:5: (we) through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time). Individual sins cannot be equated with apostasy.
So when we sin, it is no big deal. Heaven forbid! Jesus told the woman caught in adultery in John 8:11: go, and sin no more. Someone has said that the modern day interpretation is Go, and mourn no sin. No, that is not what we are talking about. When David sinned with Bathsheba and Nathan confronted him, we find David mourning over his sin. Psalm 51:10 and 12 tells us: Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
If constantly a problem, may need to obey the words of James 5:16: confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
But the main point of this is that we do continue in a state of forgiveness 24/7 by continuing to acknowledge our need for it and by continuing to trust in Christ’s saving death for us.
IV. There is Just One Way to Have Peace, Joy and Rest: By Trusting in Jesus (Romans 5:1, 11)
A. A key idea is that when you are under Jesus' blood, it is not just SINS that are forgiven, but YOU YOURSELF are a forgiven person.
B. Assurance depends on being free from GUILT, even though we are not yet free from sin itself. We want to be, and some day will be, free from both; but while we are working on the sin, God has already taken away the guilt through Christ's blood. We are 100% forgiven, even though we are not yet 100% good. This gives us rest.
A. This is not rest from work, since the faith that justifies is a faith that works: James 2:18: I will show you my faith by what I do.
B. It is rest from worry about our salvation and eternal life. Such rest is the essence of assurance of salvation. Romans 5:11 calls it rejoicing. Resting and rejoicing.
C. This concept of rest appears in many of our old hymns:
“Resting in my Savior as my all in all: standing on the promises of God!”
“Perfect submission, all is at rest. I in my Savior am happy and blest!”
“A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way.”
“Jesus is calling the weary to rest – calling today, calling today.”
“There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God.”
“I’ve anchored my soul in the haven of rest.”
“Come every soul by sin oppressed . . . , and He will surely give you rest.”
words of another song: Are You Washed in the Blood? #330- Make mention of 2nd stanza: Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Do you rest each moment in the Crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
