This past
Sunday, I was sharing a message on the subject of justification. I did not finish sharing some thoughts nor
did I finish my sermon outline. Here are
some overflow thoughts:
A working
definition: Justification means to have
imparted righteousness just as though you have never sinned!
That is a
miracle! It can happen in your life as it did mine. That is what justification
is!
Take note of
these things today:
1.
The source
of justification is God.
2.
The essence
of justification is grace. {Freely}
3.
The means of
justification is faith.
4.
The grounds
of justification is the blood shed by Christ.
5.
The position
of justification is in Christ.
6.
The divine
agent of justification is the Holy Spirit.
7.
The evidence
of justification is work.
Read James1:21-24
Statement of
Truth:
James was not
referring to a work that produced salvation, but a salvation that produced
work!
Martin Luther at
one point in his life hated the book of James.
He was the father of the Protestant movement. He was protesting a religious system that
said if your sprinkle a baby that baby would go to heaven when it dies… NO!
People go to heaven when they die because they trust Jesus Christ not
because a parent commits a child to God but because the child commits himself
to Christ!
We are living in
a generation that really fails to understand the Bible, sin and salvation! Somehow we feel as if we need to go “light”
on the gospel and “light” on sin so we
will fill our churches… Listen: crowds without Christ is not Christianity!
We are before a
holy God who demands righteousness and hear me today: without Christ we are not good, we are bad
off… if we knew how bad off we were it
would flat scare you! But we pastors and
church leaders, God help us, Have been
light on sin to make you fell better and comfortable and the result is you walk in and out of the
services on your way to hell!
Luke 15 tells me
that there is consciousness in hell, I
wonder if anyone is in hell today who ever came to hear a gospel message from a
preacher who would tell the truth and they found out that the only way to God
was to repent – they did not want to so they went and found a liberal preacher
who would preach a belief system that was easy and accommodate their
behavior? And I wonder if when they
died and ended up in hell if they ever wonder if they say to themselves: I wish to God – I wish to God I would have
listened to that gospel preacher! I
think that is one of the worst things about the consciousness of hell.
In Luke 15 you
have Abraham in heaven and there is a man in hell asking for someone to bring
some water and touch his tongue to
relieve the thirst and torment… some
want to say well that is a parable, but I beg your pardon, its not parable. The Bible never uses a proper name in
parables, and Jesus referred to both Lazarus and Abraham – this is a real
story. Abraham said, “I could not bring
you water if I wanted to because I cannot cross this great gulf between us.” Then the person in torment made this urgent
plea: “ I have five brothers would you send someone to them to warn and witness
to them?”
So what about
you? Do you know the grace of God that
brings justification? Are you being a
witness to others to help them know and experience the truth?
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