Justification (and peace and acceptance) by faith – audio sermon

The Bible teaches that Christians are “justified by faith” just as was the first Jewish patriarch, Abraham.

Before the law of Moses was written, God declared Abraham righteous for his faith (and resultant obedience) and made a promise of acceptance and blessings to him in which Christians under the New Covenant enter into by faith as well.

The Christian life is to be a delicate balance of conditions of heart. Martin Luther once offered his doctor’s cap to whoever could reconcile seemingly contradicting passages from the Epistle of James and Paul’s Romans epistle. James seemed to say “works” were required, and Paul seemed to say they were not required.

This sermon describes in outline a whole dynamic into which God hopes people will enter. It is called His “rest” (Heb 4). The short answer is God does expect works but not as a point of law. Rather He expects a fire will ignite in the heart of the believer who loves Him, has His same Spirit, and their works will be the outflow of a son or daughter through Christ.

As James said in 2:14-17 (see above), proof of real faith is that works and obedience do follow.

Additionally, although it has also been written we are “no longer under law, but under grace,” (Rom 6:14) Paul said the law of God is actually upheld.

Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

Rom 7:12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

The answer to the need to keep the law is supported in a number of passages but most poingantly stated in Romans 8:4 …

Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Thus you can add these two seeming paradoxes – 1) faith alone or faith plus works, and 2) not under law but law remains intact – to a list of paradoxes of what is actually a spiritual life for those with the same Spirit as Jesus.

(Other paradoxes include we find life by dying to our self life, whoever would be the greatest in Christ’s kingdom will be the servant of all, we love those who hate us, and etc.(!)

The bottom line in the lesson at hand is that God loves us, has made a way to Him by opening up to all people who will believe and obey the same covenant provision He did to Abraham.

He also calls us to learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly in heart (Mt 11:29,30). His grace buys us the space to learn to walk according to His Spirit as sons and daughters through adoption. It is not to sanction sin wholesale without expecting our hearts to abhor sin, and learn to not sin by Him (Rom 6).

This message is to those who want to know the groundwork upon which we stand – faith, always faith – while they learn of God’s great free will love offering He gave in Jesus Christ so that “mercy could triumph over judgment” (James 2:13).

Lord bless you.