Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY017102A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:09 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today program. 01:13 My name is Jill Morikone, and we are delighted 01:16 that you have taken time from your day 01:18 to spend this time with us. 01:20 Normally, during the Today program, 01:22 we would feature ministries or testimonies 01:25 of what God is doing in other people's lives. 01:28 Now today, we have some of the 3ABN family 01:31 with us here, 01:33 and we're opening up the Word of God 01:35 and sharing I think one of my favorite topics 01:39 that Righteousness by Faith. 01:42 This topic is so needed in the church. 01:46 It's needed in each one of our lives. 01:47 We're going to be sharing 01:49 from our own personal experience 01:50 and from the Word of God 01:52 that we can have assurance of the salvation 01:55 that we can have assurance 01:57 that God is the one by the blood of Jesus 02:00 who justifies us and cleanses us 02:02 and brings us back 02:04 into right standing with the Father. 02:06 We'll talk about imputed righteousness, 02:08 imparted righteousness, 02:09 and the role of works in that whole package as well. 02:12 But right now, 02:14 I want to introduce to you our special guests, 02:16 but they're not really guests, 02:18 just part of the family, Mollie Steenson, 02:20 vice-president and general manager, 02:22 we're so glad to have you here, Mollie. 02:24 Well, thank you. 02:25 It's always a joy 02:26 to be able to break the bread of life 02:28 with my brothers and sisters 02:30 and with the 3ABN viewing family. 02:32 Amen. 02:34 And sitting next to you is Dee Casper. 02:35 And you are evangelism director for UnScene Media. 02:38 And we can say, 02:39 I said 3ABN family at the very beginning 02:41 because we consider you part of the 3ABN family. 02:43 An adopted. That's right. 02:46 And Dee, the ministry of Unseen Media 02:48 is just here on 3ABN's campus, so you're really part of the... 02:52 The team part of the family, 02:53 and we're so glad you're here as well. 02:55 Good to be here. 02:56 So this whole concept of justification by faith, 03:01 I want to read one verse and then we'll jump in. 03:04 Open in scriptures, 03:05 Ephesians 2 03:06 if you have your Bibles, turn there with me. 03:09 Ephesians 2:8-10, 03:13 "For by grace you have been saved 03:16 through faith and that not of yourselves, 03:19 it is the gift of God, 03:22 not of works lest anyone should boast. 03:25 For we are His workmanship 03:28 created in Christ Jesus for good works 03:30 which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." 03:36 And before we go any further on our discussion, 03:38 we really should have a moment of prayer. 03:40 As we open up God's Word, 03:42 it's always important to open and study with prayer. 03:46 And so, Dee, would you pray for us? 03:47 Sure. 03:48 God in heaven, I just thank You for this privilege 03:50 to come into Your presence in prayer. 03:53 And as we open Your Word together 03:54 and discuss this most precious message, 03:57 I just pray that You would bless us 03:59 with insight with discernment, 04:01 and us and the viewers would all be greatly blessed 04:04 by the goodness of God towards man. 04:07 And we ask this now in Jesus name... 04:10 Amen. Amen. 04:11 Amen. 04:12 So going back to that verse, Ephesians 2:8, 04:14 "By grace you have been saved through faith..." 04:16 I think sometimes when we read that, 04:19 we kind of glance over it as in it's hard to accept, 04:23 could we say that? 04:24 It's hard to accept and receive 04:26 that I am actually saved by grace through faith. 04:29 It seems like there has to be something 04:31 I do myself in order to add to that salvation. 04:36 Have you all discovered that in your own lives 04:38 or with other people? 04:39 You know, I think that from... 04:43 when we were really very young, from early childhood, 04:47 we are taught 04:49 that we need to do it ourselves, 04:51 we need to tie our own shoes, we need to comb our own hair, 04:54 we need to feed ourselves, 04:56 we need to justify our own existence. 05:01 We need to always be doing. 05:05 And so we have learned from a very early age 05:09 that we don't get anything unless we work for it, 05:14 and this whole idea, 05:15 this whole concept that there is this for a gift, 05:19 "For by grace you have been saved 05:20 through faith and that not of yourselves, 05:24 it is the gift of God, 05:26 not of works lest any man should boast," 05:28 it goes contrary 05:30 to what we have always been led to believe 05:33 that we have to work 05:35 for the good things that come to us. 05:38 And so I think that is parting parcel 05:42 of what makes it difficult for us 05:44 to actually receive something by faith. 05:48 Yes. What about you, Dee? 05:49 Yeah, it's like an upside down picture 05:53 of how we would assume that it would work 05:55 because many times you feel like 05:57 you need to earn the love, for my family to love me like 06:00 that's just they give me, they ought to, 06:03 but like for other people. 06:04 I just really need to do something to prove 06:06 that I deserve their trust. 06:07 Their love or whatever, 06:09 we can wrestle with this in human relationships, 06:11 and it's just our view of God 06:13 generally is one where we feel 06:14 that we need to do something to make Him happy 06:16 to even consider to accept us, to love us. 06:20 And the Bible says in Romans 5:8 06:22 that God demonstrated His own love for us 06:24 while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. 06:28 Before we did anything right, 06:30 God already showed love to us in giving His Son. 06:33 So it wasn't the Jesus that came to convince 06:35 the Father to love us, 06:36 it was because of God's love that He sent the Son. 06:38 Yes. 06:40 And there was nothing we did to earn or deserve it, 06:42 we can only accept it, we can't improve upon it 06:45 and that's just so contrary to the way 06:47 that we would want to think. 06:49 And it takes a lot of reminders 06:53 I think in the Christian experience to realize, 06:55 this isn't my battle to win, 06:57 it's my battle to accept someone else's victory. 07:00 And knowing that this is God, 07:04 and I can fool you, 07:06 I can fool those around me, you can't fool God. 07:11 And you know how sinful and corrupt you are 07:15 and so, you know, God knows the very worst about me 07:18 and what we have to come, 07:21 what I had to grow 07:22 into a realization of was God knows my very worst, 07:27 He knows the very worst there is to know about me 07:30 and He loves me anyway. 07:32 God loves us 07:35 while we were yet sinners, He died for us. 07:37 Yes, yes. 07:39 It's a hard thing to come into the realization of. 07:41 It is. 07:43 I think I was 19 years old before I even understood that, 07:45 even grasped it. 07:47 I'm not even sure I understand it fully now 07:49 but at that point I had the first picture, 07:52 I guess, you could say of it. 07:53 I remember I had been to college 07:55 and came back and I was raised 07:56 in a good Seventh-day Adventist Christian home, 07:59 great parents, very focused on works, 08:03 and it wasn't any fault of them, 08:04 it's how they had been raised. 08:06 And so it was very focused, 08:07 you do this, you act a certain way, 08:10 we don't do this, 08:11 and somehow it merits approval with God. 08:15 And so I remember coming back 08:16 after being at college and I was in church 08:20 and we stood for the closing hymn, 08:22 and it was covered with His life. 08:24 "My life of scarlet, 08:25 my sin and woe covered with His life, 08:28 whiter than snow." 08:30 And I remember I began to cry. 08:33 I had never, in 19 years, 08:36 realized that God sent Jesus 08:41 and His blood could somehow cover that sin. 08:47 It wasn't about how good I could be 08:50 and it was about the blood of Jesus covering 08:53 and justifying me 08:55 and that was the first time I had ever, 08:57 in my whole experience, even seen that. 09:00 So what is justification? 09:03 If I were to say what is justification by faith? 09:06 What would you say? 09:08 In Romans 5:10... 09:11 Let me get just get there. Sure. 09:13 Romans 5:10, 09:16 this is been a helpful picture for me 09:17 to kind of understand how the gospel works 09:20 and what's required for me to be saved. 09:23 So it says, "For if when we were enemies..." 09:25 Meaning if we are in our flesh, we're enemies of God. 09:27 "We were reconciled to God through," what? 09:30 "The death of His Son..." "The death of His Son." 09:32 So reconciliation 09:33 is the kind of the reuniting of two parties at odds, 09:36 it's absolving the death that I have to the Lord. 09:38 It says in another place at Romans 6:23 or 3:23, 09:41 that "The wages of sin is death." 09:43 I think it's 6:23... 09:45 It is 6:23. 09:46 A wage is what I deserve as a result of the works 09:49 that I performed 09:50 and so what I deserve 09:52 according to the life that I have lived is death, 09:54 but God is able to cancel out the death 09:57 that I deserve through the death of His Son, 09:59 that's what reconciles me to God, 10:00 that's what allows me to be justified before Him. 10:03 And it's says, 10:04 "Much more having been reconciled 10:06 we shall be saved by," what? 10:08 "His life." "His life." 10:09 "His life." 10:11 So I don't only need someone to die 10:13 the death that I deserve, 10:14 I also need someone to live a life 10:16 that I haven't lived... 10:17 Nor can I live by myself. 10:20 And so this has been 10:21 really helpful for me to recognize 10:23 that I not only need the death of Jesus 10:25 but I also need the life of Jesus 10:27 to ensure eternal life. 10:28 So this is kind of one of the ways 10:30 I've generally explained it to folks. 10:31 Yeah. Mollie? 10:33 I just wrote down a definition, 10:35 justification by faith and I think that was, 10:38 what is justification by faith? 10:40 It's God's act of removing 10:43 the guilt and penalty of sin 10:47 while at the same time, what the scripture says, 10:50 declaring a sinner righteous 10:54 through Christ atoning sacrifice. 10:56 Yes. 10:58 And the scripture I would use for that 11:00 is that I think the scripture 11:01 that we will probably use a lot today, 11:03 2 Corinthians 5:21. 11:05 Yeah, let me turn that. Yeah. 11:07 2 Corinthians 5:21, 11:10 "For He made Him 11:14 who knew no sin to be sin for us 11:19 that we might become..." 11:20 What, Jill? 11:22 "The righteousness of God in Him." 11:23 "The righteousness of God in Him." 11:26 Now there is a thing, Jill, and I'll just turn to you 11:30 and it's something that you told me, 11:32 so I guess that's why I want to turn to you, 11:35 and it's called double imputation. 11:39 Now I'm going to describe it a little differently 11:42 but what was that double imputation? 11:45 Well, when I look at this verse, 11:46 first of all, it says "He made Him..." 11:48 So you're thinking, 11:49 "Who is He and who is Him," right? 11:50 Those pronouns. Exactly. 11:53 So He, God... God. 11:55 Made Him, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, 11:59 we know Jesus was perfect as you mentioned, Dee, 12:02 He lived the perfect life. 12:04 He was the perfect substitute. 12:06 God made Jesus 12:07 who knew no sin to become sin for us 12:11 that we might become 12:13 the righteousness of God in Him. 12:15 So to me, the double imputation 12:17 there is that my sins are imputed to Christ 12:21 and His righteousness is imputed to me 12:25 or imputed to my account. 12:26 So really, His righteousness comes to me 12:30 and then my sin goes to Jesus. 12:33 Just the word impute basically means to credit 12:36 what someone else has done to the account of someone else, 12:39 just for terminology sakes 12:40 'cause some of these words are kind of nerdy. 12:42 So to impute basically means 12:43 that to attribute the merits of someone else 12:46 to another party. 12:47 Yeah. 12:49 I kind of in the way 12:51 I would describe this is I like fleshed it out 12:54 because sometimes definitions of things 12:57 can be a little heady. 13:00 So I try to bring them down to a level that I understand. 13:03 Righteousness from God 13:05 is credited to the sinners' account... 13:07 Through faith alone without works. 13:10 The sinner has sin... 13:14 now think about this, 13:15 the sinner has sin credited to his account. 13:20 Now just think about you having an account 13:23 and so as the sinner 13:25 you have sinned credited to your account 13:29 until you accept 13:31 the free gift of salvation provided by Christ. 13:35 Now what's accredited to your account? 13:37 Sin. 13:39 So you've got this account, it's all full of sin, 13:41 and you make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. 13:44 Then the sin that was credited to your account is withdrawn 13:50 from your account 13:51 and every bit of it is accredited where? 13:54 It's put into Jesus Christ account. 13:57 Okay, so now all your sin 13:59 has been taken out of your account 14:01 and it has been put in Jesus Christ account, 14:04 but your account isn't just left empty. 14:08 What happens next? 14:10 It says, "That we might be made 14:12 the righteousness of God in Him." 14:14 That's right. 14:15 So that is leaving your account empty of all sin 14:20 but it's filled up with something. 14:22 You know what your account is filled up with? 14:24 The righteousness of God and Christ Jesus. 14:27 So you have all of the sin removed 14:31 when you make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, 14:33 it comes out of your account and righteousness 14:36 is placed in your account, double accreditation. 14:40 She calls it imputation 14:43 which is the same thing being accredited. 14:46 Amen. Go ahead. 14:48 There's a quote where Ellen White 14:49 kind of summarizes the definition she was asked, 14:51 "What is justification by faith?" 14:54 And she says," 14:56 It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, 14:59 and doing for man that which it is not 15:00 in his power to do for himself. 15:03 And when men see their own nothingness, 15:05 then they are prepared to be clothed 15:06 with the righteousness of Christ." 15:08 It's The Faith I Live By, 111. 15:09 And it was helpful for me to just kind of grasp it, 15:12 it's an acknowledgment 15:13 that I can't do anything for myself. 15:14 Yes. 15:16 I desperately need someone else to do for me 15:17 what I can't do for myself, and when I acknowledge that, 15:20 then I can receive it, right? 15:22 When I'm trying to work for this on my own, 15:24 I can't receive 15:25 what I'm trying to do for myself, 15:27 but when I acknowledge my brokenness, my emptiness, 15:29 my inability to create it, 15:32 then I could be viewed as righteous in God's eyes 15:34 and receive that. 15:36 All of this taking the sin out of your account 15:39 and putting the righteousness of Christ 15:42 into your account, 15:43 you don't do a thing to earn that. 15:45 It is strictly a gift, 15:48 and I'm going to share a little illustration 15:51 that Ron Halverson shared. 15:54 And I just think it's a really good illustration 15:56 because we want to work for what we have and, again, 15:59 that's something we're trying to end up with, 16:01 you know, there are no free lunches, 16:04 if you don't work, you don't eat. 16:05 And there's some validity to that 16:07 but not where the salvation is concerned. 16:10 What Ron Halverson said was, "God bought us a house. 16:16 He purchased you a house. 16:19 Lock, stock, entitled it, that's your salvation. 16:23 And He hands it to get you 16:25 and you keep trying to make payments on it. 16:28 There are no payments, there's nothing you can do, 16:30 there is nothing owed for your salvation, 16:34 for your relationship 16:35 and righteous standing with God, it's free gift. 16:39 So don't try to make payments on it. 16:41 Amen, that's a beautiful illustration. 16:42 You know, I think some time ago for those Sabbath School lesson 16:46 for the Seventh-day Adventist Church 16:48 we studied the Book of Galatians, 16:49 and the Galatian Church, 16:52 remember Paul had worked with them 16:54 and the Judaizers came in and taught them 16:56 that it was not justification by faith alone, 17:00 they had to add some works with it. 17:02 They were taught to be circumcised 17:04 but for us in the church today, 17:05 we would say 17:07 it's justification by faith plus works 17:09 in order to merit salvation. 17:12 And you mentioned, Mollie, 17:13 that we're trained from childhood, 17:15 right, to do things that are in our own fashion 17:17 but I don't think it's just the way we're trained, 17:20 I think that is one of the key things 17:23 that Satan wants to use to derail us in our own journey 17:28 because if we begin to think, 17:30 this is something that I have a part in, 17:33 this is something that I did, 17:35 it pulls us away from that righteous standing 17:38 before the Father. 17:40 I think of a quote here. 17:41 This is Desire of Ages, pages 35 and 36. 17:44 "The principle that man can save himself 17:48 by his own works lies at the foundation 17:51 of every heathen religion." 17:54 And so not only is that something 17:55 that we're trained in from childhood 17:57 but this would be something 17:58 that Satan wants to bring in to our experience. 18:02 So why do you think 18:03 it's so easy for the concept of works 18:06 to creep into our understanding of justification by faith? 18:12 I think there's the sense of achievement 18:13 that we have that we want to feel that, 18:16 you know, particularly for men, 18:17 you know, when if you're working on a project, 18:19 when you're doing something with your hands, 18:20 you want the end product to be there 18:22 to be able to feel content, to feel like, 18:24 "I put in effort and I got something out of it," 18:27 but most of us just in our flesh 18:29 would reject unmerited favor. 18:33 I've had a situation 18:35 where I gave a vehicle of mine to a friend 18:37 when I was going to have a car afterwards, 18:39 and his immediate reaction was actually one of frustration 18:42 and anger, and you think, 18:43 "Why on earth would someone respond in anger 18:44 when you're giving them a car?" 18:46 Because he just felt so unworthy of receiving this 18:49 and what I was doing to myself seemed crazy. 18:52 Why would you do this? 18:53 And he's like, "No, no, no, that's not how this is working. 18:55 Let me tell you..." 18:56 He said about what's going to go down, and said, 18:58 "I'm not leaving with this car. 18:59 God's put this on my heart, it's yours." 19:01 There's that hesitancy that we just, there's no way 19:04 'cause we feel so unworthy that we feel, 19:07 that we have to at least show 19:09 that the sacrifice that was made for us, 19:11 we can at least pay them back somehow 19:13 and so it isn't just a matter of wanting to earn it, 19:15 it's also coming into contact with something 19:17 that's so immensely good beyond what we deserve 19:21 that we had this knee-jerk reaction, 19:23 "Let me show you I'm good for it, 19:24 let me at least wash your car. 19:26 Let me least do this. 19:27 Let me least do that," 19:28 and the gospel doesn't work that way. 19:30 Yes. 19:31 Now the obedience 19:33 that we render to God in response to being saved 19:35 is a thank offering of sorts I guess, 19:38 but it's not a means of wanting to earn His favor, 19:40 earn His love, it's just logical. 19:42 If someone is willing to give me, 19:43 all the least, I can do is respond in love. 19:46 That's all it is, it's just a thank offering. 19:48 And there's another quote 19:50 that alludes to what you mentioned earlier 19:52 in Faith and Works, 24 says, 19:54 "If you would gather together everything 19:56 that is good and holy, noble and lovely in man, 19:59 and then present the subject to the angels of God 20:02 as acting a part in the salvation 20:03 of the human soul or in merit, 20:06 the proposition would be rejected as treason." 20:09 Ooh! 20:11 This is not the way the kingdom of heaven operates 20:13 that man's merits 20:14 are not what bring them in their favor with God. 20:16 It's the sacrifice of Jesus, 20:18 it's the love of God that draws me to Jesus 20:21 not the acts or something else that we do. 20:24 You know, another quote from Sister White is, 20:26 "If Satan can succeed in leading man 20:30 to place value up on his own works 20:33 as works of merit and righteousness, 20:36 he knows that he can overcome him 20:38 with temptation 20:40 and make him his victim and prey." 20:43 And the way we overcome that, she says is, 20:46 "Strike the doorpost 20:48 with the blood of the of Calvary's lamb 20:50 and you're safe" 20:52 is only as the blood is supplied to... 20:54 In her illustration, 20:55 the doorposts and the lintels of your heart, 20:58 do you have that wall of protection 21:01 against the enemy leading you 21:03 into that misconception 21:08 or error in teaching 21:10 that it is by our works or by our own efforts? 21:13 So how do you think, we talked about 21:15 how it's easy to slip into that 21:17 but how do we even recognize that? 21:19 You know, what if someone saying, 21:20 "I think, I believe I'm justified by faith." 21:23 How do we know 21:24 if we're starting to slip into justification by works? 21:27 How do you recognize that? 21:29 I think if you have a compulsion 21:31 to wanting to do lots of things, 21:37 trying to phrase this in a way that doesn't negate the fact 21:39 that we do respond in loving obedience 21:40 to the sacrifice we've already received. 21:42 Good, and we want to make sure 21:43 we get to that before we're done here. 21:44 That's right. 21:46 But I think that if you find yourself 21:47 being overly concerned with the... 21:48 Let me phrase it this way, 21:50 if you find yourself overly concerned 21:51 about how other people live, 21:53 you know, the deeds that they do, 21:55 the acts that they have, 21:56 is probably a reflection of the compulsion 21:58 in your own heart to think the same way. 22:00 So it makes sense, 22:01 you find yourself looking down on other people 22:02 because of their acts 22:04 that you're better than them or whatever. 22:06 It's probably evidence 22:07 that you're placing a higher emphasis 22:08 upon human merit and effort 22:11 than receiving the grace of God and understanding 22:13 that we're working 22:14 through a process of sanctification, 22:16 that it's a process not a purchase, right? 22:19 Yes. Sanctification is a process. 22:20 If we have the mindset 22:22 that we must attain by our own efforts 22:25 to a certain standard of holiness 22:27 before we can be justified and forgiven, 22:29 then we must look to ourselves to make it. 22:33 Our focus is inward and not outward, 22:37 but when we're looking at God, 22:39 then we become God-absorbed and not self-absorbed. 22:43 And we can become so self-absorbed 22:45 trying to attain ourselves, 22:50 then we're looking totally to ourselves 22:52 and not to God. 22:53 Amen, I like both... Which is dangerous. 22:55 Yes, absolutely. 22:57 I think works-oriented religion is self-absorbed 23:01 where faith-oriented is God absorbed. 23:03 Works-oriented tries harder, 23:06 faith-oriented learns to surrender. 23:10 Works-oriented turns inward, 23:12 my own character of virtues or my flaws. 23:16 And faith-oriented turns to Jesus by beholding, 23:20 we become change. 23:22 In Revelation 3:20, 23:24 there's a message that God gives 23:26 to the last age church... 23:27 That is in a slumbering state, 23:29 they think they have it together, 23:30 they think they're doing well, 23:32 but this is how God responds to them. 23:34 Revelation 3? Yeah. 23:35 Revelation 3 and actually verse 17. 23:38 Okay. 23:39 "Because you say, 23:40 'I am rich, have become wealthy, 23:42 and have need of nothing, 23:44 and do not know that you are wretched, 23:45 miserable, poor, blind, and naked." 23:48 There's a problem here, and so He says in verse 18, 23:51 "I counsel you to buy for Me gold refined in the fire, 23:54 a faith that works by love, 23:56 that you may be rich and white garments 23:57 that righteousness of Christ that you may be clothed..." 23:59 Amen. 24:01 "That the shame of your nakedness 24:02 may not be revealed..." 24:03 and thirdly, 24:05 "And anoint your eyes with eye salve 24:06 that you may see." 24:07 We desperately need spiritual discernment 24:09 to see our own condition. 24:10 Regardless of where we are in a Christian experience, 24:12 it doesn't matter, 24:14 we can never be self distrustful enough, right? 24:17 We can never be in a condition where we think 24:21 we have things figured out or that we've arrived. 24:24 We're desperately and always dependent upon Jesus 24:27 for righteousness, to know our true condition, 24:30 and I think that's something 24:32 that we can't lose sight of but apparently 24:33 the Church in today time does lose sight of. 24:35 They don't realize they're in this condition. 24:37 They need this encounter 24:39 with the gospel to open their eyes to the fact 24:41 that they have that condition 24:42 because they're not seeing it for themselves. 24:44 Amen. 24:45 So how are we justified? 24:47 We touched on that briefly and you talked, Dee, about, 24:49 I forget the word you used whether it was accept, 24:52 I think that was the word used. 24:53 But how are we justifying, 24:55 we talk some about the blood of Jesus as well 24:57 but explain to me this process. 24:59 Like has someone receive justification? 25:00 Absolutely. 25:01 That what was achieved, but how receive it? 25:03 Yes, how can we receive it. 25:04 The first thing is we have to have an encounter 25:05 with the cross. 25:07 We need to see our brokenness, 25:08 we need to see our sinfulness 25:10 and understand the loveliness of the Savior. 25:11 Jesus says, "If I be lifted up will draw all men to myself..." 25:15 In Jeremiah 31, He says that, 25:17 "I have loved you with an everlasting love 25:18 therefore with loving kindness, I have drawn you to myself." 25:21 The cross is meant to do this. 25:23 So when people have an encounter with the Gospel, 25:25 there's a logical response to that, 25:28 I'm giving you my life, broken, enfeeble that may be, 25:32 I'm asking you even to take my heart 25:34 because I can't fully give it. 25:35 That's right. 25:37 Recognizing our need and giving God permission 25:38 to be Lord and Savior of our lives and going all in, 25:42 when we declare Christ as our Savior and confess that, 25:45 it says in Romans 10, 25:46 you know, if we confess that He is Lord, 25:48 when we confess this, 25:50 we're viewed in that moment as righteous 25:52 before God in the all looking universe 25:54 when we accept Christ 25:55 as our Savior in our righteousness. 25:58 Okay. 25:59 I've got two scriptures here on justification, 26:02 so I'll start with Romans 8:33, 26:04 "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? 26:08 It is God who" does what? Justifies. 26:10 It is God who justifies. That's right. 26:12 God Himself is the one who justifies us. 26:15 No one else could justify us. 26:19 It's God we have sinned against 26:21 and it's God who has to justify us. 26:24 God is the great judge of the universe. 26:28 We come into His court as guilty sinners, 26:31 but we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 26:33 to our amazement, 26:35 we hear God say, 26:37 "All who believe are justified from all things." 26:42 In one declaration God has cleared us 26:46 of every charge against us 26:48 since it is God Himself who has justified us. 26:52 "Who can lay any charge against us?" 26:55 And that's the Scripture that we just read. 26:57 Also Romans 3:24, 27:00 "Being justified freely by His grace 27:04 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 27:07 So God is our justifier. Amen. 27:10 Based on what? 27:12 His Son accomplished for us, rode out for us at Calvary. 27:17 Can we read the next verse of the Romans 3? 27:19 You read 24 but 25, 27:21 "Whom God set forth as a propitiation 27:23 by His blood, through faith, 27:26 to demonstrate His righteousness 27:28 because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins 27:31 that were previously committed 27:33 to demonstrate at the present time 27:35 His righteousness 27:36 that He might be just and the justifier of the one 27:40 who has faith in Jesus." 27:42 Amen and amen. Amen. 27:43 I love that propitiation 27:45 and the Greek meaning mercy seat, 27:47 and you think about the covering 27:48 over the Ark of the Covenant and at the Day of Atonement, 27:51 remember the blood was sprinkled there, 27:53 and God's blood covers us, covers that sin. 27:58 And we stand before the Father as if we had never sinned. 28:02 What is the difference between 28:04 justification by faith and forgiveness? 28:07 Is it the same theological concept 28:11 or are they slightly different? 28:15 In my mind, I'm viewing them 28:17 as similar aspects of one transaction. 28:20 Okay, good. 28:21 And I can stand to be corrected in this, 28:23 but whenever I confess my sins to Jesus, 28:25 it says in 1 John 1:9 28:27 that when I confess my sins 28:29 he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 28:32 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 28:35 which would cause us to be viewed as justified 28:37 in the sight of God. 28:39 So that's the best way I could explain it 28:40 in the same fashion. 28:43 Amen. 28:44 I think, Mollie, and I know you want to jump in here. 28:47 To me forgiveness cleanses the wrong doing, right? 28:52 And to me justification not only takes away 28:54 the wrong doing, 28:55 it credits to us the righteousness of Christ. 28:57 So in my mind, 28:59 and I stand to be corrected on this too, 29:01 but justification almost takes it one step farther, 29:04 kind of like if you were had an F 29:06 on a test and you thought, 29:07 "Oh, I got an F on the test." 29:09 And the teacher said, "I'll erase the F." 29:11 That's forgiveness, right? 29:12 You no longer have an F on the test 29:14 but if they replaced it with an A plus, 29:17 to me that's justification, 29:18 the righteousness being credited to your account. 29:22 Mollie, go ahead. 29:23 If we confess our sins, 29:25 okay, confession, you know what confession is? 29:27 I did it. 29:30 That's what confession is. Yes. 29:31 "Yeah, I did it," that mean, you're sorry for it, 29:34 doesn't mean 29:35 you're God to forgive you actually, 29:38 you just confess it. 29:40 If we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness 29:44 He will forgive us but it goes on to say, 29:47 "If we confess our sins, 29:49 He's faithful and just to forgive us." 29:50 Yes. 29:52 But this cleansing process, this justification process, 29:57 that's when you repent 30:01 and when you repent you turn from it 30:04 and then when you turn from it, 30:05 you are cleansed from all unrighteousness. 30:08 And so to me 30:09 that's the difference in forgiveness, 30:12 and justification is the condition of your heart. 30:15 And who gives you the heart of repentance? 30:17 Now it's God that gives you that heart of repentance. 30:18 That's right. 30:20 And if we know that we have sinned 30:21 and we don't have a heart of repentance 30:23 because sometimes we just don't, 30:25 we do something 30:26 and we're just not sorry we did it, 30:28 but we know we should be, then you ask God, 30:31 "Oh, God, give me a heart of repentance," 30:33 because as long as there is that unrepented sin 30:37 in your life, what does sin do? 30:39 It separates from God. Yeah. 30:41 And I want us to look at... 30:43 and we're talking about righteousness by faith, 30:45 can we look at King David? 30:47 Please. 30:48 I want to look at King David, 30:50 and that's in Psalms 32. 30:54 Psalms 32, and we're going to look at King David. 30:59 And King David 31:02 is... 31:05 Right before this Nathan has... 31:09 Remember the prophet Nathan, 31:11 he came to King David 31:13 and he described this situation in the kingdom 31:18 where this rich man had a whole lot of lambs 31:23 and this one man only had one little lamb. 31:26 And, you know what the rich man did? 31:29 He had company coming 31:31 and he needed a lamb to feed the company 31:36 with and instead of taking one of his many, 31:39 you know, what he did? 31:41 He went and took 31:43 that poor man's one little lamb and King, 31:46 and this is the scenario 31:49 that the Prophet Nathan was explaining to King David. 31:53 And you know what King David said? 31:55 "Who is there? Bring me that man." 31:57 And Nathan said, "Thou heart the man..." 32:00 Remember the sin of King David with Bathsheba? 32:05 All right, 32:06 so now is King David guilty of great sin? 32:11 So I want to still look now in Psalms 32. 32:15 This is right after 32:16 King David's sordid affair with Bathsheba. 32:19 I want to begin reading in verse 3. 32:23 We're going great verses 3-5, 32:25 and then jump back up to 1 and 2. 32:28 Verse three says, "When I kept silent, 32:31 my bones grew old 32:33 through my groaning all the day long. 32:37 For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me..." 32:40 You Know what he was? 32:42 He was under conviction, 32:44 not condemnation but he was under conviction. 32:49 "My vitality turned into the drought of summer, 32:53 I acknowledged my sin to you." 32:56 What did that mean? 32:57 He not just acknowledged it, he repented. 33:02 "And my iniquity, I have not hidden. 33:05 I said I will confess my transgressions to You, Lord, 33:09 and You for gave the iniquity of my sin." 33:12 Now look in verses 1 and 2. 33:15 "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, 33:18 whose sin is covered, 33:20 blessed is the man to whom the Lord 33:22 does not impute" what? 33:24 Iniquity. 33:25 We're talking about imputing, 33:27 ascribing, assigning, crediting. 33:31 "Who does not impute iniquity 33:33 and in whose spirit there is no deceit." 33:36 Not only 33:38 was the King David repent 33:43 and was forgiven but he was justified. 33:46 This was called 33:48 one of the first examples in the Old Testament, 33:53 a process that this whole program, 33:56 the title of this program, 33:58 it's called righteousness by faith. 34:01 How did King David receive this righteousness? 34:06 You know, God ascribed to him 34:09 that he was a man after God's own heart, 34:13 was he a guilty sinner? 34:15 But you know what King David was? 34:17 He was quick to repent. Yes. 34:19 And in that repentance, in that forgiveness, 34:23 in that justification, 34:26 he became righteous in the sight of God. 34:29 In the Old Testament, 34:31 we see glimpses of righteousness by faith 34:34 of the New Covenant. 34:35 This is not a New Testament idea, 34:37 and this is why I like that we did this. 34:38 And specifically, later, in the Old Testament, 34:41 God is referring to one of the kings 34:43 I believe and He says that, 34:44 "You have not been like my servant David, 34:46 who walked in obedience continually." 34:48 And you think is, 34:50 you know, Alzheimer's a divine affliction 34:51 like how could you say that about David? 34:54 Well, in Jeremiah 31, 34:56 there is the allusion to the New Covenant. 34:58 I'm going to use 35:00 the account in Hebrews that's quoting Jeremiah 31, 35:03 so this is from Hebrews 8, 35:06 beginning in verse 8. 35:10 Hebrews 8:8 35:12 because finding fault with the people God says, 35:14 "Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, 35:16 and I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel 35:18 and with the House of Judah. 35:20 Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers," 35:22 where they said, 35:23 all that the Lord has said we're going to do. 35:26 That was a problem the covenant, 35:27 the self-righteousness 35:28 and self-confidence in the people. 35:30 That was... Excuse me a second. 35:31 That was when the law was given at Mount Sinai? 35:33 Exodus 19 and 24, three times that people say, 35:36 "All that the Lord has said, we will do," 35:39 in response to being giving the Law of God. 35:41 They spent 400 years in a pagan, 35:43 appeasement based religion that God asked for things, 35:46 we do what God asks, 35:48 and then He'll look upon us with favor, right? 35:49 That's Babylonian type thinking. 35:51 Yes. 35:52 And so He says, 35:54 but finding fault with the people he says, 35:55 "I'll make a new covenant with a house of Israel, 35:56 with the house of Judah..." 35:58 Hebrews 8:9. 35:59 "Not according to the covenant 36:01 that I made with their fathers in the day 36:02 that I took them by the hand 36:03 to lead them out of the land of Egypt 36:05 because they did not continue in my covenant, 36:07 and I disregarded them, says the Lord." 36:09 Verse 10, 36:11 "For this is the covenant 36:12 that I will make with the house of Israel 36:13 after those days, says the Lord, 36:15 I will put My laws in their mind 36:17 and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, 36:20 and they shall be My people." 36:22 When we sin and fall, we don't think 36:24 the God will view us as His anymore, 36:27 but yet when we come in an encounter 36:28 with the new covenant, 36:29 He says that's not how I view you, you're mine. 36:32 "None of them shall teach his neighbor, 36:34 and none his brother, saying, 36:35 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, 36:37 from the least of them to the greatest of them." 36:39 But I love verse 12, 36:40 "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, 36:43 their lack of unrighteousness, 36:45 their unfaithfulness to the covenant, 36:47 and their sins and their lawless deeds 36:49 I will remember no more." 36:52 And that's exactly the way 36:55 the God refers to King David later, 36:57 I think it's in the 1 or 2 Chronicles 36:59 that I don't remember David doing those things. 37:02 David walked in righteousness, why? 37:04 Because Christ walks in righteousness 37:06 and he was counted as righteous as Christ himself. 37:09 Because he allowed Christ to be his righteousness. 37:12 That transaction 37:13 we talked about and 2 Corinthians 5:21 37:15 became a reality in David's experience. 37:18 And I think it's very good news for us 37:19 that when we come into encounter with the Gospel 37:22 and we make Jesus our righteousness, 37:24 not only does he justify us 37:26 but according to the new covenant, 37:28 He's also promised to sanctify us. 37:30 And sanctification begins at the process of conversion, 37:33 but it continues. 37:35 And this is where we get in the terminology, 37:36 I think we talked about 37:38 before of imputed and imparted righteousness. 37:40 Thank you. 37:41 What's the difference between the two? 37:43 So imputed righteousness is that you're deemed 37:46 and declared as righteous 37:48 in the sight of God and that happens in a moment. 37:51 Imparted righteousness is someone delivering to you 37:55 the righteousness of Jesus, 37:57 and this is kind of what's referred to 37:58 in Romans 5:10 that we talked about 38:00 before that you're reconciled by His death 38:03 but you're saved by His life. 38:05 Yes. 38:06 You're viewed as right by the death of Jesus. 38:08 Your righteousness is imputed to you by Christ. 38:12 But then He begins to impart Christ's life to you 38:15 through your experience as you grow, 38:17 as you read, as you pray, as you serve God, 38:19 as you yield your life to Him 38:21 and surrender your day to day decisions to Him, 38:23 He begins imparting to you the righteousness, 38:25 the very righteousness of Jesus. 38:27 And the way that I explain it to people 38:28 is basically 38:30 that God declares you righteous while He makes you righteous. 38:34 I love that. 38:35 And Ellen White phrases it this way, 38:36 "The righteousness by which we are imputed, 38:39 by which we are justified is imputed. 38:41 The righteousness 38:43 by which we are sanctified is imparted." 38:45 The first is our title to heaven, 38:48 the second is our fitness for heaven. 38:50 That's right. 38:51 So you're viewed as righteous while He makes your righteous. 38:54 And this is how 38:56 one can have assurance of salvation. 38:57 And this doesn't mean you just throw in the towel, 38:59 and don't do anything in your experience. 39:00 Of course not. 39:01 No genuinely converted person is going to be idle. 39:04 It's not possible, right? 39:06 It's God who works in you both too will 39:08 and to do of His good pleasure. 39:10 If God works in you to want Him to desire Him and follow Him, 39:14 He's going to work in you to do the right things. 39:17 The process is going to be dormant. 39:18 So we shouldn't fear the word rest 39:20 in the Christian experience, 39:21 we're resting in Christ's righteousness, 39:23 but it doesn't mean you stop doing things 39:24 on behalf of God out of love to God. 39:28 I think it's a beautiful premise, 39:29 you can actually know that you're right with God 39:31 while He's transforming your character, 39:33 and Jesus kind of alluded to this and the blade, 39:35 the kernel, and the ear, 39:37 you know, His parable the blade, 39:38 the kernel, and the ear. 39:40 You wouldn't expect a little shoot 39:43 to have a full year of corn on it, 39:44 that would be unreasonable. 39:46 And but that does not mean 39:48 that that kernel isn't what it should be 39:49 at that stage of development, 39:51 but you're not going to stay there. 39:53 You're going to be continually growing 39:54 when you take the sun, right, 39:56 when you take the gifts and mercies of God 39:57 from the sun, from the rain, the soil around you, 40:00 you're going to be growing 40:01 and blossoming in your experience. 40:04 But just because you're here does not mean 40:05 that you're not saved 40:07 and it does not mean that you're not good enough 40:09 just because you don't have an ear or corn yet, 40:12 a shoot wouldn't but it will 40:14 if it continues to abide in the things 40:15 that God has provided. 40:17 And God is just as pleased with you... 40:19 At that stage 40:20 as He is when you have this full ear of corn. 40:22 Now tell me again that quote, you said 1 Chronicles, 40:26 and it was he walked upright before God all of his days... 40:30 That was what's alluded to, yes, in the 1 or 2 Chronicles, 40:32 I forget which... 40:34 Because to me that is so significant 40:36 because God is no respecter of persons and, Dee, 40:40 do you know what that is saying? 40:42 That God views you as though you have walked uprightly 40:47 before Him all your days. 40:49 See I realize 40:51 that when we make Jesus Christ the Lord of our life 40:53 and that blood is applied 40:55 to the doorpost in the lintels of our heart 40:57 and when God looks at us, 40:58 He looks at us through the mercy seat, 41:03 the way God sees us as though we have never sinned, 41:08 that's how God views you as though you had never sinned. 41:12 Dee, he also views us 41:15 as though we had walked uprightly 41:17 before Him all the days of our life. 41:20 That to me is just so encouraging, 41:22 but we have to accept that by faith 41:25 and it's not about works, all of this is the gift of God, 41:30 something He's freely given unmerited by us. 41:34 You know, I say this sometimes, if somebody came and asked me, 41:39 "Mollie, what must I do to be saved?" 41:41 The only thing I could tell them is, 41:43 "You're too late. 41:45 It's already all been done. 41:47 All we have to do is accept that free gift." 41:53 We have to make that choice and we have to accept that. 41:55 I love that imputed righteousness, 41:57 the whole concept of righteousness by faith, 42:00 what God wants to do in our life, 42:01 how he credits his righteousness 42:03 to our account, 42:05 and it doesn't stop there 42:06 and I want to spend a few more moments, 42:08 you had opened up that as it were, Dee, 42:10 but I want to spend a few more moments on that 42:12 because the imparted righteousness 42:14 is Christ working in me, 42:16 both to will and to do of His good pleasure. 42:18 So it's not just, 42:20 "Okay, He covers me with his righteous white robe, 42:23 and then I hang back and take a nap." 42:25 No. 42:26 Then God by the power of His Spirit lives in me 42:31 and transforms my life into the image of Jesus. 42:34 Go ahead, Dee. 42:36 That reference is 1 Kings 14:18. 42:38 Oh, good. 42:39 "And toward the kingdom away from the House of David 42:41 and gave it to you 42:42 and yet you have not been as my servant David 42:44 who kept my commandments, 42:46 who followed me with all his heart to do 42:48 only what was right in My eyes." 42:52 And that's 1 Kings 14:8. 42:54 So how do we grow in imparted righteousness? 42:57 We've been talking about the imputed 42:58 where Christ credits it to my account 43:01 and I'm justified before the Father, 43:03 but what about this imparted righteousness? 43:06 And we're not talking about righteousness by works, 43:09 this is an entirely different concept 43:11 because it's God who's doing the work in me, 43:14 it's not me gritting my teeth 43:15 or not me trying harder, God's the one working. 43:18 So how do we allow Him to do that work in us? 43:20 So in Ezekiel 36, beginning around verse 24, 43:25 God has a problem, 43:26 the nation of Israel were meant to be the living, 43:28 breathing example of how awesome Jesus was, 43:32 and there were a horrible example. 43:34 And He begins at 22 by saying that, 43:36 you know, "I'm not going to do this for your sake, 43:38 O house of Israel, 43:39 but for My holy name's sake 43:40 which you profaned among the nations 43:42 wherever you went." 43:43 And then He says, 43:44 "I will sanctify my great name," how? 43:46 And He says, 43:47 "The people will know that I'm the Lord God 43:49 when I'm hallowed in you before their eyes." 43:51 And then He walks through how that happens. 43:53 He says, "I'll take you from within among the nations..." 43:55 Verse 24, " 43:56 and gather you out of all countries 43:57 and bring you into your own land. 43:59 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, 44:01 I'll cleanse you, and you should be clean. 44:03 I'll cleanse you from all your filthiness, 44:04 from all your idols, 44:06 all the things you run to escape 44:07 from responsibility to God." 44:09 He says, "I will give you a new heart 44:11 and put a new spirit within you. 44:13 I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh 44:15 and give you a heart of flesh." 44:17 "I will put my spirit within you 44:19 and cause you to walk at my statutes 44:21 and you will keep my judgments and do them." 44:25 So God has promised to do the heavy lifting, 44:27 there's actually 10 44:28 "I Will" statements in Ezekiel 36 44:30 of transforming our lives. 44:32 And His "I Wills" 44:33 are in direct response to the failed 44:35 "I Wills" of the people, the "We wills" of the people. 44:38 From Exodus 19? Yeah, Exodus 19 and 24. 44:42 But the "I Wills" of God are dependent 44:44 upon your "I will." 44:45 Good. 44:46 I'm choosing, I will relinquish my desire 44:51 to earn God's favor with my deeds. 44:53 I will cease running from the conviction of God 44:56 in my experience. 44:57 I will cease living for myself, right? 45:00 The "I wills," we have to surrender to God 45:03 for this process to work, it's like an operating table, 45:05 there's no restraints, there's no anesthesia, 45:08 you can get off the table any time you want. 45:10 We have to stay abiding in Christ 45:12 for this process to happen. 45:14 If you're trying this in your own strength 45:16 or you don't recognize your need of God, 45:19 this transformation can't happen. 45:21 We have to yield and surrender to the process 45:22 that God wants to do in our lives. 45:24 Amen. 45:25 John 15. 45:27 When you mentioned that, 45:28 it reminds me of that that abiding process, 45:30 let's take a look at that real quick 45:32 and then we'll have a final question 45:33 before we go to our news break. 45:35 John 15, 45:36 I think is one of my favorite scriptures 45:41 in the Book of John. 45:42 John 15:1, "I am the true vine..." 45:46 Jesus speaking. 45:47 "And My Father is the vinedresser. 45:49 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, 45:51 He takes away. 45:53 And every branch that bears fruit He prunes 45:55 or purges that it may bear more fruit." 45:59 Verse four, "Abide in Me, and I in you. 46:01 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 46:03 unless it abides in the vine, 46:05 neither can you unless you abide in Me. 46:08 I am the vine, you are the branches. 46:10 He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, 46:13 for without Me you can do nothing." 46:15 So the whole concept is we cannot earn favor, 46:19 we cannot earn righteousness, 46:21 we cannot become more like Jesus, 46:23 it's a process of abiding, it's a process of surrender, 46:27 letting that life giving sap as it will flow 46:30 into each one of us and transform us 46:32 into the image of Jesus. 46:34 You know, in verse three, 46:35 the one that was, that we skipped... 46:36 He actually says, "You are already clean." 46:38 Good. 46:39 "Because of the word that I have spoken to you." 46:41 But then He is telling them stay abiding in me 46:43 so that I can bear fruit through you. 46:45 It's kind of a solution 46:47 I think of I'm viewing you as righteous 46:48 while I make your righteous. 46:50 So they're already justified at this point. 46:51 Right. They're already clean? 46:53 But I'm working through this process 46:54 of transforming you, right? 46:57 Anyway it's kind of what I see in the text, 46:58 it's kind of a neat illusion 47:00 of what we've already talked about. 47:01 I love it. And I like verse two. 47:03 Good. 47:04 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, 47:06 He takes away..." 47:07 That means he prunes it. Yes. 47:09 He prunes it, takes it away. 47:11 "And every branch that bears fruit..." 47:14 What's he do? 47:16 He prunes that it may bear more fruit. 47:19 And what this tells me is 47:22 oh, we all want to be fruit bearers 47:23 in the kingdom of God. 47:25 Don't you want to bear much fruit 47:27 that you pruned if you do 47:29 and you're pruned if you don't. 47:30 And so either way you're going to be pruned 47:32 but that pruning is a good thing. 47:34 Whom the Lord loves He chastens, 47:36 and all of those impurities that... 47:38 How many of you want all the dross to be 47:42 as the fire is turned up under you, 47:44 the dross comes to the surface, 47:46 and we will walk with clean hands 47:49 and a pure heart 47:50 into the very presence of Almighty God 47:52 as we submit 47:54 and allow God to do that process, 47:58 that sanctification process in us. 48:00 So final question before our newsbreak, 48:02 how does a proper understanding of justification by faith, 48:06 how does that change the way we live? 48:10 I think it seizes you 48:11 to keep to stop living for yourself 48:13 because you recognize that there's nothing good 48:15 I can do apart from abiding in God, 48:18 I have nothing to offer God but me. 48:20 That's it. 48:21 That what I do only He can will and do through me. 48:25 And I think that it allows this... 48:28 It brings forth this continual sobriety 48:31 and the sense of humility 48:33 that I think the Christian experience 48:34 should have. 48:35 What do you mean by sobriety? 48:37 You recognize that, "My life matters, 48:39 that the way I live my life matters 48:41 because I'm an ambassador on behalf of God, 48:43 God's being judged by the actions that I take," 48:45 which is what David refers to in Psalm 31, 48:47 "That you may be found justified 48:49 when you speak," 48:50 right when you speak and... 48:52 I forgot what he says, but when you are judged, 48:54 I mean if you are righteous when you are judged, 48:56 God Himself was judged by what David did. 48:58 So I just think that you live differently, 49:00 it changes the way you think, 49:02 it changes the way that you operate, 49:03 and you recognize your continual need 49:04 and independence upon God. 49:06 Amen. That's absolutely right. 49:08 Instead of looking to yourself for any good thing, 49:12 you look to God, you surrender to God. 49:14 And it's so much easier 49:16 when you're not striving to be good on your own 49:20 but you're totally dependent on His work in you. 49:24 I know I didn't think that I had a chance 49:30 because I know myself so well 49:31 but when I realized as I surrender 49:34 and commit and submit my life to the Lord, 49:36 He takes me just as I am, and this sanctification process 49:41 other than me being surrendered to Him, 49:44 I can't do it on my own, 49:45 He's the only one that can do it. 49:47 Amen, absolutely. 49:50 For me, I think it would be Romans 5. 49:53 Romans 5:1 says what? 49:54 "Therefore being justified by faith..." 49:57 Let me not misquote it here and I actually find Romans 5, 50:01 "Having been justified by faith 50:03 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 50:08 And to me, it's interesting. 50:09 It does not say the peace of God. 50:11 You know, Philippians 4:7 says, "Be anxious for nothing, 50:14 but in everything by prayer and supplication 50:15 with thanksgiving 50:17 let your requests be made known to God. 50:18 And the peace of God..." 50:20 So God wants to give us peace, but this says peace with God, 50:23 in other words, 50:24 we are reconciled back to the Father. 50:27 Sin brings guilt, sin brings fear, 50:30 sin brings separation from the Father 50:32 but because Jesus was the perfect example, 50:35 the perfect life, the perfect death for our sins, 50:40 we can be reconciled again to the Father. 50:42 And to me that's the most beautiful blessing 50:46 of justification by faith, righteousness by faith 50:49 is that we can be brought back into the unity 50:52 into harmony with God the Father, 50:54 and that we can have peace in this life. 50:57 And it goes on. 50:58 We have full access, we can stand before the Father, 51:02 we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God, 51:04 and praise the Lord for what He wants to do 51:07 in our lives and through us. 51:09 So I hope and pray... 51:11 We'll be back in a moment with some closing thoughts. 51:13 But I hope and pray that the program Today 51:15 has been a blessing in your life, 51:18 that you might have felt your whole life, 51:20 "I can never be good enough. 51:22 I'm not sure what I have to do in order to merit 51:26 some sort of favor with God." 51:27 The Lord Jesus loves you, He died for you. 51:30 And today, 51:32 if you accept Him as your Savior, 51:33 if you ask Him into your heart, He will not only forgive, 51:37 He will justify you, 51:38 He will credit His righteousness 51:40 to your account, 51:42 and then He will work in you His character 51:46 by the power of the Holy Spirit. 51:48 We'll take a break and be right back. |
Revised 2018-03-15