We Are Justified By Faith -- Not Works

As part of my on-going effort to get people to read the Bible for themselves, this morning I'm pasting a few scriptures.  Drop a search for "Jesus Christ" in Bible Gateway and a beautiful string of verses hang there like a dangling Christmas lights on a doorway. I love Paul's letter to the Romans so much. Not just because it is a passionate plea to a world gone mad with power, but because Paul's aim was to make the Gospel -- the Good News -- clear, simple, and poignant! Notice that we are "justified freely by his grace" and "justified through faith."  

Romans 3:22This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,

Romans 3:24all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.Romans 5:1[ Peace and Hope ] Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,Romans 5:11Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.Romans 5:15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

"Through faith" is the first action in the first verse. Righteousness does NOT come by any other means. Not by being a good person. Not by being in the right church. Not by being right about your opinions. Righteousness comes only "through faith in Jesus Christ." Period. Why is it so important to understand this? Because IF we fill in the blank here with anything else other than "through faith in Jesus Christ" then we are now "self-righteous." It's that simple. Only by believing in the completed work of Christ on the cross do we become complete and righteous in God's sight.

WE are all "justified FREELY by his grace." Notice this gift from God is a FREE gift. We did not -- nor can we EVER -- do anything to make it not free. At least in God's mind. In God's plan this is a free gift. But so often we get our wires crossed and begin to believe it is somehow not completely free. Most often this is the result of false teaching from a church leader. He may take the handful of verses in the Bible that mention "works" and build a case for a different gospel than the one laid out clearly by Paul to the Romans and found in the entire scope of the Bible. One must study the ENTIRE topic of grace and salvation in scripture, not just a select few verses. And one must NEVER blindly trust someone to do your thinking for you just because they are "smart" or "charismatic."

Read the scriptures! Really read them. We often make this way too complicated. And we often exalt men to positions of power over ourselves to become a mediator for us. Then we let them read the Bible and "teach" us what it means. And then we "oooo" and we "ahhhh" and we quote the wise man and honor him. And the man becomes a "scholar" and he writes a book and we clap and spread the "I follow Apollos" gospel. Meanwhile the mortar in the wall we have built between clergy and laity is setting up good a hard. Soon we won't need to read the Bible at all. And if we ever do we will be sure to ask Apollos if we got it right.

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So I challenge and even dare you to go back up and read these verses from Romans. Then read the entire chapter five and six and seven and eight. Ask God to enlighten your understanding of the Gospel. Then believe that He will.

Do you know that God wants to set you free in your mind? Free to come close to Him. To know Him as He loves you. But not just a knowing in your mind that you are His--He longs for you to FEEL His loving-kindness toward you. To rest in His arms. To be satisfied in Him. Nothing in all the universe satisfies like feeling the true love of God and knowing He did all this to save us when we were yet helpless and lost. His love is everything we long for. And now it is free. And when we accept this truth that we are justified freely by His grace -- I mean really and truly believe in the finished work of Christ -- there is but one result -- works. It's that simple. Now there's no longer any need for legalism.