Christianity Oasis Forum

[saint701]

Blessings!

Good Morning Christianity Oasis, All...,

I mentioned the name of D.M. Lloyd Jones in the message I posted a few days ago. I consider the man to be the most influential teacher that I ever had. And it is for that reason I highly recommend all those that read this search him out and read all of his writings, especially his 8 book exposition of the Book of Romans and his exposition of the Book of Ephesians.

Now to today's topic, Romans Chapter 5. Verse 1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

First of all..., what is justification? And why must it come by faith? Generally speaking justification is the act of God declaring one to be righteous in His eyes, free from sin, the guilt that is associated with it, and any punishment that may have been meted out or any punishment that may be meted out in the future as a consequence of that sin. An example of punishment we are currently receiving might be the feeling that the weight of the world is resting on our shoulders, that a consequence of some moral failure on our part such as adultery. An example of future punishment might be the reward of continual disbelief in God and that punishment might be hell fire. The remedy for all punishment handed out to us by God is repentance through faith in what God has done on our behalf by raising Christ Jesus from the dead. Thus we are justified by faith only. Jesus has paid the price for all of our sins, past present, and future by bearing them in His own body on the Cross. Thus it is written, if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. All unrighteousness is the disbelief that God is or the disbelief that God is eager to forgive us and keep us close to Him. Our work of salvation is meted out to us by God through our faith in Him raising Christ Jesus from the dead and being baptized. We have no other work to do for salvation than to continually believe that it is God through His work in Christ Jesus that saves us from damnation. Not withstanding, if we allow feelings of condemnation to break our belief in the work of God on our behalf, our remedy is to repent by confessing our sins to God.

The result of our confession of faith in God, that is, our belief that He raised Christ Jesus from the dead, is peace with Him. We understand that He is no longer angry at us, that His peace with us is not only temporal but eternal. Thus it is through our faith in the work of God on our behalf that we are justified by Him and the avenue through which His peace comes to us. Let us always remember that our salvation is God's work and that His promise to us is that He will perform it to the end. Our job is to keep believing that He will never fail us or forsake us.


Blessings!
Love, IN Christ Jesus, Saint701.