Category: justification

Glorious Freedom #2

Monday, October 6, 2014

“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:22 KJV).

The second verse of Haldor Lillenas’ classic 1917 hymn “Glorious Freedom” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Freedom from all the carnal affections;
Freedom from envy, hatred and strife;
Freedom from vain and worldly ambitions;
Freedom from all that saddened my life!”

Lost people view Christianity as bondage (due to strict denominational oppression) and their own lives as freedom (due to the deceitfulness of their own sinful hearts). Lost people assume they freely think for themselves and freely run their own lives—they succinctly declare that they are “not fettered to ancient texts of superstition and fiction” as we are!

Still, they fail to realize that they are captive, not free; they are slaves to sin, powerless to overcome it. Our Lord plainly declared that in John 8:34-36. Actually, the Pharisees resented Jesus for those words, even going so far as to say they “were never in bondage to any man” (verse 33)—they overlooked the hundreds of passers-by, soldiers who belonged to Israel’s overbearing Roman government! Even today, lost people claim to be free as they walk around wearing chains of sin.

In Christ, we are liberated from fleshly attitudes and likings; envy; hatred; strife (fighting); worthless secular goals; and all the other miserable actions that accompany our Adamic sin nature. After illustrating a horrible (sinful) lifestyle in verses 17-19 of Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul wrote: “[20] But ye have not so learned Christ; [21] If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: [22] That ye put off concerning the former conversation [behavior and lifestyle] the old man [old, Adamic, sin nature], which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; [23] And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; [24] And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” He then delineates grace living in verses 25-32, the eternal life God has for us in Christ. We are free from sin, and, as God’s Word rightly divided renews our minds, we see that everlasting life become evident in ours!

He Took My Sins Away #5

Sunday, August 24, 2014

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:25 KJV).

The chorus of Margaret Jenkins Harris’ classic 1903 hymn “He Took My Sins Away” highlights today’s Scripture.

“He took my sins away, He took my sins away,
And keeps me singing every day!
I’m so glad He took my sins away, He took my sins away.”

When our King James Bible references “propitiation” (today’s Scripture; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10), it means “a fully-satisfying payment for sins;” the Greek word is translated “mercyseat” in Hebrews 9:5. The God of Scripture, once angry with us sinners (Psalm 7:11), is now satisfied because of Jesus’ shed blood. Jesus Christ is the only Person in whom we find mercy before Father God, where we can be spared God’s righteous wrath against our sin, where our sin debt can not only be covered, but completely canceled. “…[T]he blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Not only are we forgiven in Christ, but we are also justified (made right in God’s sight) in Christ (Romans 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Our spiritual debt is not only gone, but we have been given spiritual riches (Romans 8:32; Ephesians 1:3; Colossians 2:10). In banking terminology, we went from “red” (sin, ungodliness), to “0” (forgiveness), to “black” (justification, righteousness). Praise our Lord Jesus Christ for His grace!

Such marvelous Bible truths should make the saint shout and sing from the rooftops! It is often said that Christians should be the happiest people on earth, and yet, many times, Christians frown and sag their heads more than lost people (who do not have God’s acceptance, peace, hope, and love). The Scriptures say that if we learn God’s will (by studying His Word), and we allow the Holy Spirit to use those Scriptures in us, we will naturally begin to sing, rejoice, and be thankful to our Lord in light of such doctrine (Ephesians 5:17-20; Colossians 3:15,16).

He took our sins away! Praise our Lord Jesus Christ! He took our sins away! 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “We are saved by faith, but are we blessed by works?”

He Took My Sins Away #3

Friday, August 22, 2014

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1 KJV).

The third verse of Margaret Jenkins Harris’ classic 1903 hymn “He Took My Sins Away” highlights today’s Scripture.

“No condemnation have I in my heart,
He took my sins away, He took my sins away.
His perfect peace He did to me impart,
He took my sins away.”

Sin produces guilt, and guilt weighs heavy on the sinner’s heart and mind. Many people go to bed at night feeling so horrible because of their actions earlier that day. They beat themselves up over and over—as if the rigid religionists at the local church do not knock them “black-and-blue” enough on Sunday mornings!

Yea, many Christians lay their heads on their pillow wondering if God really loves them, if He really is for them, and if He really has forgiven them in Jesus Christ. They feel so rotten, so “sorry” (?) for their sins, that they promise to change, but despite all the remorse, they wake up the next morning and wind up repeating their mistakes of the previous day. It would behoove them to read and believe the first eight chapters of the book of Romans, and if they would apply those verses by faith, they would literally see a whole new life. They would be released from such misery, self-pity, guilt, and failure.

If you have relied exclusively on the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished crosswork at Calvary for the complete payment for your sins, you are “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). You be loved in Christ! The most important barrier in your life—sin, separation from God—has been dealt with in full. Today’s Scripture says that you are “justified” (made right before God) and you have “peace with God” through Jesus Christ. God is not mad at you, saint, He loves you in Jesus Christ; He has completely paid for your sins, and that sin is hidden in His tomb forever. If God is not bringing them up, why are you? Because of Calvary, we can talk to Him in prayer, and have His peace to enjoy despite our failures.

Yea, He annulled our sin debt….

He Took My Sins Away #1

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 KJV).

The first verse of Margaret Jenkins Harris’ classic 1903 hymn “He Took My Sins Away” highlights today’s Scripture.

“I came to Jesus, weary, worn, and sad.
He took my sins away, He took my sins away.
And now His love has made my heart so glad,
He took my sins away.”

Many of us came to Jesus Christ after several years lost in religion. One day, it finally sank in that years of laboring to fulfill church demands was a faulty system because we sinners could never perform perfectly. Uttering the same prayers dozens of times daily, “holding out until the end,” weekly partaking of a sacrifice that can never take away sins, avoiding “the world’s sins,” being faithful to a church calendar of “holy days,” weekly confessing personal sins to an equally-sinful man, on and on. We discovered that entrusting our very souls to a fallible institution was eternally dangerous!

Weary, ever so exhausted from all that vain religious performance, we gave up “trying to do the best we could” because we knew our “best” would never be good enough. Like the Jews of today’s Scripture who struggled under a most severe system of Law—not only God’s pure law given first to Moses, but also hundreds of other laws Israel’s religious leaders had compiled—we were drained, disappointed, worn out.

We came to Father God by faith in Jesus Christ alone, for only He could provide us with peace with God (Romans 5:1), justification before God (2 Corinthians 5:21), and forgiveness before God (Ephesians 4:32). What our works could never do in a million years, Jesus Christ did at Calvary in just six hours. He died to “put away [our] sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). And now, by faith in Him alone, we can enjoy His love, His peace, and His joy. We can rest in Him, we do not have to worry about where we will go when we die, for we are secure in Him (Romans 8:31-39; 2 Timothy 1:12).

Yes, He cancelled our sin debt….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Were Gentiles saved before our Dispensation of Grace?”

Three On Your Side

Friday, August 15, 2014

“If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b KJV).

Saint, although no one may be at your side, you can rejoice that there will always be three on your side!

  • GOD THE HOLY GHOST IS FOR YOU. Romans 8:26,27: “[26] Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. [27] And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” God the Holy Spirit takes the sound Bible doctrine you have studied and believed, and works in you to cause you to pray more effectively regarding matters that you could not otherwise adequately express in words.
  • GOD THE FATHER IS FOR YOU. Romans 8:31,33: “[31] What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? [33] Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” God the Father looks at Jesus Christ’s blood, and sees it rather than your sins. You are innocent in God’s sight because you are in Christ!
  • GOD THE SON IS FOR YOU. Romans 8:34: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Jesus Christ has taken Father God by the hand and you by the hand, and joined you both together forever. As 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

When you feel alone, like the whole world is against you, like there is no one on your side, when all your friends and “Christian” brethren have left you, Romans chapter 8 says that the three Persons of the Godhead are all for you! All the power that generated creation from nothing, is on our side! Who cares who may leave—or come against—us?! 🙂

At Calvary #4

Friday, June 20, 2014

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9 KJV).

The fourth verse of William R. Newell’s classic 1895 hymn “At Calvary” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!”

God gave heaven’s best—Jesus Christ—to save earth’s worst—us, sinful mankind. God’s love for us drove Him to Calvary’s cross: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God’s grace, His unmerited favor toward us, enabled Him to endure Calvary’s cross for us: “…Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9).

We could not meet God’s righteousness in our own strength: we were spiritually poor. Jesus Christ had God’s spiritual wealth—righteousness, majesty, glory, and so on. Today’s Scripture says Jesus Christ “became poor” (“he humbled himself;” Philippians 2:5-8). He became a man, to serve instead of be served (Matthew 20:28), to have our sin imputed to Him (2 Corinthians 5:21), to die as “the just for the unjust” (1 Peter 3:18). When He completely paid our sin debt, He resurrected to give us His righteousness (Romans 4:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

Titus 3:4-6 reminds us: “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;….”

The Apostle John affirmed: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: … Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 3:16a, 4:10). Christ’s finished crosswork at Calvary is now the bridge between God and us.

Iniquity Not Yet Full #8

Monday, May 19, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

It was truly God’s wisdom and grace to take the Devil’s primary human vessel, Saul of Tarsus, and transform him into the Lord Jesus Christ’s chief human instrument. Never in human history had the Creator God of heaven and earth done something so unexpected, drastic, and amazing. He had paused Israel’s program (and delayed His wrath) indefinitely, when nothing but wrath should have instantly fallen on Christ-rejecting mankind! Rather than coming back in wrath, the Lord Jesus Christ returned in Acts chapter 9—in grace, mercy, and peace, to Saul. Rather than whisking off Saul into everlasting hellfire, the Lord Jesus Christ began and revealed a new program, the Dispensation of Grace, and saved him! The man who had imprisoned and killed more Messianic Jews than anyone else at the time, became God’s apostle of the Gentiles (Acts 9:15,16; Romans 11:11).

Saul, now the Apostle Paul, began preaching Jesus Christ as fervently as when he hated and blasphemed Him. The ascended Lord Jesus Christ personally commissioned Paul to preach to all people, every lost Jew and Gentile, “the Gospel of the Grace of God” (Acts 20:24), the very grace of God that saved his wretched soul when he was an undeserving sinner (1 Timothy 1:13-16)! Paul’s Gospel, the good news Jesus Christ revealed exclusively to him on the road to Damascus (Romans 3:9–5:20; Romans 11:11,12; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Galatians 1:11-20; Ephesians 3:1-11; et al.), communicated that God’s grace was being offered to the entire world apart from Israel and her program. Everything that God could do for every lost and dying sinner—forgiveness of sins, justification, new life, deliverance from Satan, a home in heaven, et cetera—was all being offered to the world through Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Timothy 2:3-7; Titus 1:1-3; et al.).

For 2,000 years, God has offered to all people His grace through Calvary’s finished crosswork. While often scorned and rejected, His continued longsuffering keeps His wrath in abeyance….

Heart Service #9

Sunday, May 4, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

Even the great Apostle Paul, as late as 30 years after his salvation, was still attempting to “know [Jesus Christ], and the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). He knew that he was already in Christ, saved unto eternal life, forgiven, justified (made right before God), bound for heaven, and so on (Romans 8:30-39; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Galatians 2:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; et cetera). However, to bring that identity into his daily living experience was difficult.

Romans chapter 7—with which we can all identify—explains how Paul would return to old, sinful thinking patterns. Sin would defeat him every time because he thought he had to perform in religion and make himself holy before God (the same thinking patterns he had before he met Jesus Christ; Philippians 3:4-6). Essentially, Paul, a saved man, was acting like a lost man because he was thinking like a lost man (instead of thinking like a Christian). He needed to realize that Christ’s resurrection life, not his performance, was the Christian life!

Romans 12:1,2 explain how our Christian lives operate: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Like Paul, we have to learn that we, in Christ, are already holy before God, already justified, sanctified, forgiven, redeemed, and so on. The grace doctrines found in his epistles must be studied, to the end that they correct our thinking, remind us of who we are in Christ, so that we can then walk in that identity.

Only God’s grace had saved Paul from the penalty of sin (eternal hellfire), so only God’s grace could save Paul from the power of sin (daily failures)….

Bible Study 102 #6

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

The only verse that tells you to study the Bible also tells you how to understand the Bible!

While Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, et cetera were justified (had a right standing before God), nothing in Scripture indicates they knew of Calvary’s crosswork (thousands of years yet future, and God had not revealed that information yet). God’s good news to Adam and Eve was that He shed animal blood to cover their sins (Genesis 3:21), His good news to Noah was to build an ark to escape His wrath (Genesis chapter 6; Hebrews 11:7), and His good news to Abraham was that He would make of him a great nation in the earth (Genesis 12:1-3; Hebrews 11:8-10). Romans 4:1-8 explains these Old Testament saints simply believed what limited information God revealed to them, and He imputed (credited) Christ’s righteousness and (future) crosswork to them (Romans 3:25).

How can we Gentiles get Christ’s righteousness at Calvary credited to us? We find the answer in the good news God has revealed to us through Paul (Romans 11:13; 1 Timothy 1:8-16; 1 Timothy 2:4-7; Titus 1:1-3)! The Gospel of the Grace of God (two verses worth memorizing): “For I [Paul] delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). This is the Gospel by which we must be saved in this the Dispensation of Grace (dispensational Bible study shows us Matthew 19:17, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, 1 John 1:9, et cetera, are Israel’s salvation verses, and have nothing to do with us).

As taught in the mystery program revealed through Paul, we Gentiles can now enjoy God’s salvation, everything that God can do for us through Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork, without us having to do anything but trust it alone, because we can do nothing for Him anyway….

Bible Study 102 #4

Sunday, March 9, 2014

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

The only verse that tells you to study the Bible also tells you how to understand the Bible!

God’s will for man is two-fold: firstly, the Lord Jesus Christ wants to save man from his sins and Satan’s policy of evil (1 Timothy 2:4a), and, secondly, He wants to educate man about His original plan for him (1 Timothy 2:4b). “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

While a full comprehension of dispensational Bible study is not necessary for salvation from sins, where to find in Scripture God’s current plan of salvation is absolutely critical. For example, we do not find the Gospel of Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork declared in the Old Testament. Calvary’s crosswork was definitely prophesied (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, et cetera), but the benefits Israel received from it were not fully revealed until after it happened (Hebrews 10:10; 1 Peter 1:19; et al.). Moreover, until Paul’s ministry, God did not reveal what Calvary meant for us Gentiles (1 Timothy 2:5-7; Titus 1:2,3; 1 John 2:2; et al.). Unless we “rightly divide the word of truth” as today’s Scripture instructs, we overlook these doctrinal differences, and we do not recognize where in Scripture we find God’s message of salvation for us Gentiles.

God’s good news to us Gentiles today is that He is offering His grace in Christ to us, without any works on our part. The Gospel of the Grace of God, first committed to the Apostle Paul’s trust, is “Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). If we Gentiles are to have a right standing before God (justification unto eternal life, eternity in heaven, et cetera), God expects us to believe and trust that message. Once we trust that Gospel, and that Gospel alone, then we can study the Bible to grow spiritually, to “come to the knowledge of the truth,” to learn why God saved us….