Sermon Central
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The Blessing Of Justification Series
Contributed by Bobby Stults on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Paul lays out a grim picture for humanity and says that there is basically no hope for humanity when left to our own actions and abilities. We fall short every time, we are sinful to the core and there is NOTHING we can do to remove that sin or shake the
However, what we can see a lot in the church today is what I would call, “an easy believism”… They say, “Just believe and all will be well!” but I’m here to tell you that saving faith must be followed up with obedient action!
But this grave disease called ‘easy believism’ is spreading and infecting the pews of most of our churches today! It does NOT require people to live a holy life, but allows them to live as they please! This hurts the witness of the church and destroys the witness of the individual for Christ in this world!
But preacher, you just said that we are justified and the penalty of sin has been removed… so why not live like I want? Scripture tells us that even though we are justified, we don’t have a license to sin; Paul says in
Rom 6:1-2 [NLT] 1Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? 2Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?
So the answer to that question is a definite NO… we do not have a license to live as we please! In fact, we are called to live FOR Christ and live holy lives set apart from the world!
However, what God’s justification DOES for the believer is it gives us a comfort in knowing that when we DO sin… and we ALL fall to temptation and sin! But when we do, we can know that God will NEVER kick us out of His family; we can know that we are secure in Him in our salvation! And in knowing that, we can serve Him without fear of God condemning us!
You see condemnation is the opposite of justification. To condemn someone means to pronounce them GUILTY of a wrong and it holds them accountable to the punishment and penalty of that wrong…
But when we are justified by God thru faith in Christ and God has declared us to be NOT-GUILTY and the punishment and penalty of our sin has been removed… NEVER to be faced again! All because of what Christ has done!
Remember the illustration I used earlier about your mechanic and your car… What if your mechanic had the ability to come to you and say, “I am hereby declaring your old bucket of bolts to be a 2012 Mercedes Benz, free of all defects and problems!” Wouldn’t that be great? KC thinks so… right KC?
But I want you to know that being justified by God is even better than that… you see the Bible tells us that God’s mercies are NEW every morning, and that when we confess our sin, God is willing to forgive us and wipe away all uncleanliness from our hearts!
In other words, it’s like your mechanic being able to say… not only do I declare your old bucket of bolts a new Mercedes Benz, but it is going to be BRAND NEW every day… it will never grow old… it will never break down… it will never disappoint you… How would that sound to you?
Well that is EXACTLY what happens when we come to faith in Christ Jesus and God justifies us! We become a new creation in Christ and that “NEW” never wears off! We are totally secure in Him! Now do you see why it is called the GOOD NEWS?
