Well, we had a huge turnout for the last Quest222 main meeting. Thanks for all who were there and for your responsivness to the message! For the message I had the joy of talking about “justification” as part of our ongoing TION series. In that message I quoted Charles Spurgeon and some were asking about that quote, so here it is again…enjoy!
Charles Spurgeon – “I know what the devil will say to you. He will say to you, “You are a sinner!” Tell him you know you are, but that for all that you are justified. He will tell you of the greatness of your sin. Tell him of the greatness of Christ’s righteousness. He will tell you of all your mishaps and your backslidings, of your offences and your wanderings. Tell him, and tell your own conscience, that you know all that, but that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and that, although your sin be great, Christ is quite able to put it all away. Some of you, it seems to me, do not trust in Christ as sinners. You get a mingle-mangle kind of faith. You trust in Christ as though you thought Christ could do something for you, and you could do the rest. I tell you that while you look to yourselves, you do not know what faith means. You must be convinced that there is nothing good in yourselves; you must know that you are sinners, and that in your hearts you are as big and as (dark) sinners as the very worst and vilest, and you must come to Jesus, and leave your fancied righteousnesses, and your pretended goodnesses behind you, and you must take him for everything, and trust in him.”
Now that’s strong stuff – but it brings home the point. Justification is a one-time act of God in which He responds to our repentance and faith by declaring us to be “not guilty” – and as if that weren’t enough – he then sees us as as righteous (or holy) because of our new identification with Jesus. Why is that a big deal?Well it means that we are accepted before God in the same degree and manner as Jesus himself and given the same privileges as Jesus. We have a new identity in Jesus. And check this out – Since Jesus doesn’t change (never becomes more or less holy, or more of less accepted by the Father) our status doesn’t change either. Justification changes how God sees us – it’s no longer based on what we do but on what He has done. That is awesome!
Got any comments? let’s hear them!
Filed under: From the Pastors
