Description
Receiving Undeserved Gifts: Understanding Justification by Faith
In this episode, we explore Romans 5:1 and discuss the… (visit YouTube for more)
Transcript
Talk about receiving gifts we don’t deserve. Romans 5 chapter 1. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
There’s quite a lot in that verse and it’s one of our fundamentals of faith. We hang on to this because it helps us to understand what it is to be saved.
So first of all, we have this faith element. Without faith, it’s impossible to please God. What is faith? Faith is reaching out to God, sometimes saying, I don’t even know if you’re there God, but I choose to put my trust in you. That’s faith.
And because of that faith, because we’re putting faith in Jesus Christ, we get this thing called justification. Justification means that we are put into a legal position before God. Where we have no blame. So whatever we might have done, whatever sins we might have committed, or yet to be committed, they are wiped clean off our slate. Having faith in Christ, being called by Him, leads us into this position of justification.
And many of us will say, well, I know that, of course I know that. That’s what my faith is all about. That’s what being a Christian is all about. But where does that lead us?
It leads us into something that we forget is truly remarkable: that position of peace with God. Peace with God might be a phrase that rolls off our tongue, but that was hard fought, hard earned by Jesus Christ.
Entering into peace with God before Christ arrived on the scene, God showed that it was basically impossible. There were all these rules that the Israelites had to follow under the previous covenant in order to be made righteous so that they could be just before God. And they couldn’t do it.
And because of that, God’s wrath fell on them. And God’s wrath would fall on us, if it weren’t for the fact that Jesus had achieved this peace, that Jesus had made it possible for us to be justified by faith.
It’s so important that we understand the magnitude of this. Because of our sins, we should be blotted out of history. Yet we aren’t. Jesus Christ made it possible for us to be justified. And peace with God is amazing. We should try not to forget that.
