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Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we
might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law:
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Gal 2:16)
Now we know that whatever things the law says, it says to them who
are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of
sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of
God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of
the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: W hom 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; (Rom
3:19-25)
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that works is the reward
not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that works not, but believes
on him that justifies the ungodly, his f aith is counted for righteousness.
(Rom 4:3-5)
Never divorce what you believe doctrinally from God Himself – for your
doctrine IS an extension of the God in whom you are putting your faith.
Some people dig in the Bible for doctrine, and then create God in the
image of what they think they have found – even if they have fashioned
false doctrine. But many more others grow up with, or acquire, a false
picture of God, and then READ IT INTO the Bible. Either way, what you
stand for doctrinally, is the KIND OF GOD you are saying is the one true
God.
For example, if I live under the bondage of legalism, and preach and
teach it, my legalism is a reflection of what I believe God is like. If I live in
license, then the God I think I know is a false God – my false God affirms
my license. Make no mistake, the God I believe in is going to be reflected
in my doctrine, one way or another. And if not in my doctrine, then in my
attitude. And if not in my attitude, then in my disconnection with the Truth.
Now, I have said all of this to try to get across the absolutely essential
of seeing that there is MORE to these Christian doctrines than simply a
lesson in theology. The doctrine of justification by faith tells us about the
nature and character of God, and about what He has done through Christ.
If we see this Truth, we will not only have correct theology, but we will be
set free by the Truth.
Faith is in Christ
Justification by faith could be a bit of a misleading term -- if we aren’t
careful. For many Christians believe that it is OUR FAITH that justifies us.
W hat they mean by that is that, no, we cannot be made righteous by doing
good works. But they believe we can be made righteous by believing – in
other words, Christians assume that our faith is a righteous act performed
by us, which God accepts in place of any of our insufficient righteous
works.
This is error. Our faith is NOT a righteous act. Indeed, faith is the
outcome of seeing I have no righteousness at all. Rather, faith is an act
on our part to put our whole reliance upon the RIGHTEOUS ONE. In short,
the reason our faith gives God place to declare us righteous is NOT
because our faith is righteous. No. Rather, the reason our faith gives God
place to declare us righteous is because HE IS RIGHTEOUS, and our faith
is IN HIM.
In a very real sense, our faith does not save us – despite some Bible
verses that, if taken the wrong way, might seem to say otherwise. No. Our
faith cannot save us. Jesus saves us. But our faith connects us to Him,
and embraces His salvation.
If you were one of those poor souls who went down with the Titanic,
and were floating in the icy waters, about to die, and a lifeboat came
along, would you consider it MERIT on your part to take the hand of the
person who had come to save you? W ould you get into the boat and
expect the person who saved you to thank you for letting him save you?
W ould you expect a reward? W ould you expect merit points for reaching
out your hand and grabbing his before you went under? Surely not. But
then why do we think that putting our faith in Christ is a merit? It is not. It
is simply embracing the free gift of salvation.
W e may not put it down in words quite that way, but most of us go this
route before we learn the Truth. The Truth is, faith is NEVER a merit. It is
the outcome of seeing you have NO MERIT. Faith is the outcome of
realizing that unless there is One who is greater than I, in whom I can
trust, I have no hope.
Note that faith makes boasting impossible. But this is NOT because our
faith is preordained by God, or that our faith is really the outcome of
God’s election. Rather, faith makes boasting impossible, because if our
faith is real, it is the outcome of seeing that we have nothing over which
to boast – not works, or anything else. Real faith is always the by-product
of spiritual bankruptcy.
Now, it is only if we see both our sinful condition, and Christ as our only
hope, that we will even think we need to be justified by faith IN Christ. If I
still think there is something about myself that I can present to God, I will
not get far with God – I probably won’t really grasp the meaning of
justification by faith. I might know the doctrine, but in my experience, I
won’t know the meaning.
So what we see in all of this is that faith is of great value, not because
of the one who has it, but because of the one in whom our faith is placed.
Do you really think your faith would be worth anything if it were NOT in
God? Actually, it would be worse than worth nothing. It would be
destructive.
But back to justification by faith. This Truth tells us that if we put our
faith in Christ – in the finished work of Christ – that our f aith, in the eyes
of God, is counted as the righteousness that we lack. But we are seeing
that this doesn’t mean that our faith IS a righteousness that we generate
up to God – so that God can then, having seen our righteous faith,
declare us righteous. No. Our faith is not a righteousness that we present
to God. Indeed, faith is never a merit of any kind. Rather, our faith is the
outcome of finally seeing that we have NO merits, and the outcome of
finally seeing that we have NO righteousness. Thus, once I see I have NO
righteousness in myself, I relinquish my unrighteousness to Him through
repentance, and then put my faith – my reliance and entire will – in Jesus
Christ. I then receive Christ. And God says, "Because you have received
Christ, I am able to IMPUTE to you all of HIS righteousness."
Can we now see that the utter nonsense and heresy of preaching a
gospel that neglects to convict people of sin, and show them that they are
sinners? You cannot even BEGIN unless you start with the fact that you
are a needy sinner. You might know the doctrine of justification by faith.
But you will not, in your inner man, believe you need to be justified by
faith unless you see you are already NOT righteous.
The only way to come into the knowledge of the Truth – the knowledge
that will set us free into a relationship with Christ – is by seeing Jesus
Christ. If you truly see Jesus Christ – rather than simply know doctrines
ABOUT Him – you will not be able to be a legalist or live in license for
long. Not only will you see you are nothing – because He is all – but you
will be set free by the fact. W hen a person sees Christ, they are no longer
obsessed with themselves – they no longer try to BE righteous. Rather,
they put their faith in Christ FOR righteousness.
W ell, to start with, Jesus Christ died as our substitute for sin. Indeed,
Jesus died for every sin ever committed, or that will be committed, by
every human being. He really was the Lamb of God who took away the sin
of the world. Not some sin, or for some people. No. ALL sin for EVERY
person.
Since the death of Christ paid the price – which was my death – for my
sin, then if I place my faith in Christ, it means that His death legally and
morally pays the full price for my sin. This provides God for a just and
legal reason for forgiving me. By faith, I accept His death as mine. And I
accept His life as mine.
But there is a problem with this – IF this was all there was to salvation -
- that is, IF salvation were merely a new legal classification God imputes
to me because of Christ. THAT would create a problem. Can you see it? If
all there was to salvation was God legally imputing to me the
righteousness of Christ, then what would that do to actually change ME?
Nothing. W hat would it do to truly birth me ANEW ? Nothing. If God merely
imputed to me the righteousness of Christ, what would this do to actually
MAKE me righteous? Nothing.
Now, if you think that the problem between God is man is GOD, then
you might not see what I am getting at. If you think that what Christ
accomplished by His death was to appease the wrath of God so that we
could be set free only from His punishment, then you won’t see what I am
getting at. But the Bible clearly shows that the problem between God and
man is MAN. And Jesus did not die to set us free merely from the
punishment of God. He died to set us f ree from SIN ITSELF. God has no
wrath that needed to be appeased. God did not need to be reconciled to
man. Rather, man needed to be reconciled to God.
I’m not minimizing the Truth of justification by faith alone. No. It is the
Truth. God DOES impute to me the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He
DOES declare me righteous completely independent of anything about
me. He imputes to me the righteousness of Christ based solely on what
Christ has done. But I’m saying that if that was ALL God did, that yes, I
would be LEGALLY forgiven for sin. But I would NOT be free from SIN
ITSELF.
Now, it is here that many err. They will tell you that what you need to
add to justification by faith is works. Or something else that we can
contribute. But this is not the Truth. For if God legally declares us
righteous, then I would submit that legally righteous is what we are in His
eyes. The problem, though, remains. Are we REALLY righteous? If all God
did was to legally declare us righteous, we would not be REALLY
righteous. W e would be the same as we were when we were unsaved. The
only difference would be LEGALLY.
The fact is, you are NOT saved by only the death of Christ. You cannot
be saved without His death, but you are actually saved by His life:
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
(Rom. 5:10)
Christianity is not merely BEING FORGIVEN. No. Christianity is
CHRIST IN US. Christianity is NEW LIFE. You are forgiven, but you are
also BORN AGAIN.
Now things begin to come together. The fact is, God is able to legally
and morally declare us righteous – yes, because Christ died for us as our
substitute, but more so, God is able to legally and morally declare us
righteous because through our death and resurrection IN CHRIST, Christ
is actually IN US. In other words, God doesn’t merely give us a new legal
classification because of Christ. Rather, He gives us Christ Himself.
God could not, and would not, declare people righteous without making
the provision for them to BECOME righteous. W e know that in ourselves
we cannot BECOME righteous. But once Christ is in us, righteousness is
in us – the only true righteousness there is. And we begin a process
whereby we grow to be governed by HIS righteousness.
But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That,
according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Cor.
1:29-31)
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit
is life because of righteousness. (Rom 8:10)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth. (Rom 10:4)
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ,
unto the glory and praise of God. (Phil 1:11)
God does not give us a THING called eternal life. He gives us Christ,
who IS the resurrection and the LIFE. Neither does God gives us a THING
called righteousness. No. He gives us Christ – who is made unto us
righteousness.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech
you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. (2 Cor. 5:20-21)
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection: (Rom 6:4-5)
Jesus said, "I am the Vine and you are the branches." It is the same
Truth. W hen we are saved, we enter INTO Christ – and Christ is in us. He
then IS our life. Paul emphasizes this Truth of oneness with Christ
throughout His epistles:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives
in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the
grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in
vain. (Gal 2:20-21)
You will notice that Paul does not say, "Christ was crucified FOR me."
W ell, he does say that other places. But here he emphasizes the deeper
Truth, that we are crucified W ITH Christ. And that Christ lives in us and
through us. W hen we were saved, we were baptized INTO Christ –
because fully immersed in HIM.
Obedience to God
If you are truly converted to Christ, and have His life in you, then why
don’t you sin? – won’t God’s grace cover you? This is a common question.
Doesn’t unconditional, and once forever forgiveness, mean we can sin all
we want because we are under grace? W ell, Paul ask, and answered that
very question:
W hat shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may
abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein? (Rom 6:1-2)
W hat answer does Paul give to the question, "Are we to continue in sin
because God’s grace will abound?" Does he say, "W e won’t continue in
sin because God will punish us?" No. Does he say, "W e won’t continue in
sin because the law tells us not to sin?" No – although God’s law is holy,
just, and good. Rather, Paul says that there is one reason why we won’t
sin – we are DEAD TO SIN.
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