Will God Accept You With Your Past? (Justification) | Season 06, Episode 3 | Simple Truth Podcast

Does God really accept you with your past? You know what you've done. You know what you can't go back and undo. And sometimes, even if you believe that God has forgiven you, you still feel like you need to do something to make up for your past to prove yourself to God. Maybe deep down you've wondered after everything I've done, can God really look at me and say that I'm right with him? In this episode, we're going to answer three important questions. First, how can God accept someone like me? Second, what about the things in my past that I can't fix? And third, if God accepts me, how should I live now? [music] Welcome to the Simple Truth Podcast. I'm Ted Ross. This is season 6, episode 3. Will God accept you with your past? where we talk about justification. Last episode, we saw that Jesus still forgives what you can't forget. But that raises the next question. If God knows everything that I've done, where do I actually stand with God now? So today, we're going to answer three important questions. Starting with question number one. How can God accept someone like me? In other words, if God knows exactly what I've done, how could he look at me and say that I'm right with him? The answer is not that our guilt was small or that God ignored it. The answer is found in how a perfectly righteous God, how he dealt with our guilt through the blood and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So, let's look at the hard truth in Romans chapter 3, where every one of us has fallen short. But it doesn't stop there. Romans 3:es 21- 26. As a reminder, all Bible verses are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Here in Romans 3:21, we're going to see, "Everyone has sinned, but God freely justifies us through Jesus Christ." Romans 3:21, quote, "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." Verse 22, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference. Verse 23, for all have sinned and falls short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It says, "But now the righteousness of God, the right standing, the right position before God, apart from the law, apart from the law of Moses, the Mosaic law in the Old Testament, which we're going to talk about in more detail, this righteousness is revealed actually being witnessed by the law and the prophets in the Old Testament." So this righteousness of God through the new covenant, this righteousness of God of believing the gospel of being justified by faith, it was foretold in the law, it was foretold in the prophets, it was foretold in the Old Testament. This righteousness is revealed in the new covenant through Jesus Christ. And that righteousness is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. That is you and me, folks. And it says there's no difference for all sinned and we've all fallen short of the glory of God. Then it says being justified that we're justified. Being declared right before God to be acquitted to be declared right before God by his grace, right? By his unearned favor, by his kindness through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That is that word that we learned about in the first episode of this season. that release by paying ransom to be liberated. There's a lot in this scripture. So all of us sinned and God justifies us by grace through Christ. But God is just, right? All through the Old Testament, we see that sin, it must be punished. Correct? We see it throughout the Old Testament. How can God justify us? How could he declare us right? How could he acquit us of our guilt and our sin? How could he do that without contradicting his own justice? And that's what we see in Romans 3:25 and 26. It's through Jesus's blood and through his sacrifice that God paid for our past so that you and I could be right with him. Romans 3:25, whom God set forth, this is Jesus, as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, God's righteousness. Because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed by us. Right? Verse 26. To demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, that is you and me. It says that God set forth Jesus as a propitiation, an atoning sacrifice, a satisfying factor. We discussed this in the previous episode. the means by which sin is forgiven before God. In other words, the shedding of Jesus's blood satisfied God's justice. The penalty and the price Jesus paid on our behalf satisfies God's justice. How can we be declared right before God? How could we be acquitted? Because Jesus paid the price. And all who put their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection in Jesus Christ. All who are participating in the blood and the sacrifice of Jesus by putting their faith in believing on him, we receive that atoning sacrifice. We honor that satisfying factor and it applies to us in our life. It says through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, his right behavior because in his forbearance, in God's patience, he passed over the sins that were previously committed, your sins and my sins to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, his right behavior, that he might be just and the justifier. That's the one who declares a person right. The only person who could declare someone right before God is God. And God is the justifier. He is declaring you and me right before God through that propitiation of the one who has faith in Jesus. When you are called to repent and to believe the gospel, when you are called to put your faith, to trust in, to rely on, to cling on to the death, bound resurrection of Jesus Christ, you're being called to believe the report, to believe the good news. And all who receive it, all who have faith in Jesus, God justifies. So, how can God look at you and me and declare us right before God? Well, God declares us all right through faith in Jesus and his blood because of that propitiation. In other words, God does not ignore sin, but through Jesus's blood, he dealt with sin, your sin and my sin, and he remains just while he's justifying, declaring right or acquitting you and me. Justification is a powerful term and it's a powerful word. And this will be a powerful episode because what we're talking about is God declaring us right even though you and I don't deserve it. Which brings us to simple truth number 103. Through Jesus's blood, God declares us justified and right with him. We could never have a right standing with God through the Old Covenant, through the Old Testament law. We needed a redeemer. God doesn't pretend that our sin isn't real. The sin was real. The guilt was real. And Christ fully dealt with it, declaring us justified. So, what exactly does it mean to be justified? Well, let's take a look at it. What's the meaning of justification? What exactly does justification mean? Justification means that you are declared right by God. God looks at you and says, "That person is right. They are all right with me. It also means that you're acquitted, right? Acquitted of the guilt and the condemnation of sin. You're released from it. It's more than a pardon. Justification is such a powerful word in the Greek. It's to be declared guiltless as if we've never sinned at all. Can you believe that, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is more than just a pardon. This is a declaration of guiltlessness. As if we have never sinned before. Not because God pretends we haven't sinned, but because Christ dealt with our sin through his blood and through his sacrifice. Being justified, it changes our standing and our position before God. In other words, where we were standing before, before receiving Christ, before being born again, before having faith in God, before having faith in the gospel, we were condemned as the scriptures describing. We had all these sins before us. We had all of our bad behavior. And that's why it's good news because what's being preached is that all who would repent and believe the gospel will now move from condemnation to acceptance. They are now accepted now declared right before God because that penalty paid for us. That blood and that sacrifice through our Lord Jesus Christ, it justified us. And it's such a powerful term. That's why this season we talk about the blood and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are going one by one around the concepts around the components of what the blood of Jesus did for us. So we're justified through faith in Jesus, not through our own works. Now that we know what justification means, does God wait for us to prove that we've changed before he declares us justified and right with him? Is he waiting for us to get right with him before he declares that? No. Jesus didn't wait for us to repair ourselves to get right with God. He died for us while we were still sinners and that justifies us before God. Let's take a look at Romans 5 verses 8-10. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. It said, "God demonstrates his own love toward us in that we were sinners. We weren't looking for God. We were running around chasing after our desires. We were bound up in our souls. We were following what the devil led us to. And while we were doing those things, for many of us doing very wicked things, okay, I include myself in that list. You may have been doing great things. God bless you. But I know I was doing some terrible things. And while I was doing those terrible things, Christ died for me. That is extremely touching. Right? That's the goodness of God leading me to repentance. When I came to understand the blood and the sacrifice, at first I thought it was crazy. I thought this was mythology. I thought these were things that men made up. But then when I experienced God, I became born again and I was astounded by what I was experiencing. And as I started to read the Bible and my spirit bore witness and I was learning more about that thing that happened to me, I started to come to an understanding and my soul began to understand that I was a sinner and that Christ died for me while I was a sinner. And it says much more than having now been justified. While I was a sinner, Christ died for me. But now I'm justified. I'm declared right before God. I'm acquitted. Not because I'm great. I'm not a great person, but because the propitiation, because Jesus was this atoning sacrifice, this satisfying factor, the means by which I am forgiven and the means by which I am justified, that the father looks at me and says, "Because of what my son has done and because you would believe in that, Ted, you are justified. You were declared right before God. You are acquitted. Wow. Justified by his blood. We shall be saved from wrath through him. We shall be saved from judgment. We shall be saved from condemnation. We shall be saved from God's righteous punishment for sin. Not because we earned it, but because Jesus is fantastic. It says, "For if we were then enemies, we were reconciled to God." That means restored to favor, restored to relationship through the death of his son. You may wonder why at the Simple Truth Podcast we keep obsessing about the gospel, about the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You may wonder why we keep talking about the death of Jesus and his resurrection. We see it throughout scripture. Here's yet another one of them. You and I were enemies and yet God reconciled us. And how did he reconcile us? Through the death of our Lord Jesus. It says, "If we were enemies, we were then reconciled through the death of his son. We were restored to favor. restored to relationship. Much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. This is such a blessed scripture because it describes this idea that we were in such a bad state and yet God reached out. Do you think that God only accepts you after somehow you proved you changed? That you somehow need to get your life right before God will accept you? Not at all. Christ died for us while you and me were sinners. Many of us weren't even thinking about God. We were chasing after our own desires. We were trying to get ahead in this world. His blood gives you that position. His blood gives you that status. You don't have to make yourself right for God to accept you. You need to believe in his son. Believe in the death of his son, his resurrection. You need to submit yourself to his lordship. And that blood, that precious blood of Jesus Christ, that sacrifice he did at the cross for us. It gives us a position, a right standing with God. Not because we're perfect, but because he's perfect. and he had a perfect sacrifice. And all who would believe and receive that gift are received into the kingdom and are declared right with the father. So if Christ's blood is enough, what about the things in my past that I can't undo or make right? I've done some terrible things. You may have yourself. And that leads us to question number two. What about the things in my past I can't fix? We've done things, some things we can never reverse even if we tried. In other words, I know Jesus died for me, but don't I still have to make up for my past somehow? Maybe through guilt or maybe by doing enough good in this world or maybe by continuing to punish myself for what happened. Well, in Acts 13, we're going to answer this one directly. Acts 13 38 and 39. Here we're going to see you cannot repair your position with God through good works or by trying to obey the Old Testament law. You and I are made right with God by one thing. It's through faith in Jesus and his sacrifice. Acts 13:38. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man, that's Jesus Christ, is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. Verse 39. And by him everyone who believes is justified. There's that word again. From all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now, we're really getting into it. We're not just talking about you being justified. We're creating a contrast between the new covenant and the old covenant, which is extremely important. Too often Christians, they receive Jesus. They're born again. They're born from above. They have faith in God and then they start submitting themselves under practices in the old covenant. Practices that are not taught in the New Testament. So we start submitting ourselves to rules and to regulations and we start to create these laws or we take laws from the Old Testament with which we start to try to justify ourselves or we try to lift ourselves up. We try to judge others and judge ourselves as righteous based on these rules. When as we see here with Paul that in the new covenant is through the preaching of the Lord Jesus through his death and resurrection the forgiveness of sins is ministered and everyone who believes in that death and resurrection is justified and not only justified justified by things that the law of Moses in the old covenant could never justify us from. It says, "Through this man is preached, through this man is proclaimed. Through this man is announced to you the forgiveness of sins and by him everyone who believes to believe is to trust in to rely on to have confidence in everyone that's you and me who's putting a trust in this gospel who's putting who's relying on Jesus who's placing confidence in what his blood and his sacrifice has done for us. We are justified. We are declared right before God. We are acquitted before God. And it says from which you cannot be justified by the law of Moses. The law of Moses is God's old covenant rules and his requirements. So what about that part of my past that I can't undo or make right? Remember this was our question. There are things that you and I have done in our past and we're not able to undo it. We're not able to make right for it. What about those things? Christ justifies you. He justifies you where the law or your own efforts never could. So there are things in your past that you feel that you can't undo or make right. And you're going to need to have faith that the blood of Jesus Christ declares you right. Even if you can't undo it, even if you can't go back and make it right, you're going to put your faith in that blood and you're going to receive that gift. You're going to believe in the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice, the satisfying factor, the means by which God forgives you and justifies you. Because the law of Moses, our own efforts, our own good works, our own behaviors could never justify us from those things. We need the gospel. We need the blood of Jesus. And in doing so, we are declared right and we are acquitted as if we have never sinned before God. That is what the Bible says. So, you may ask, if I do enough good works, maybe it'll at least make up some of the difference, right? I'm a good person. I could do good things. Maybe I could start kind of adding a little bit to what God has done. Maybe I could take the death, burial, and resurrection, maybe add some of my good works to it. It's like icing on the cake. Or maybe it's like whipped cream on top of a sundae, right? Well, Romans 4 verses 4-5. If justification, being declared right or acquitted before God, was earned by works, then it would become wages. You do something and you get paid for it. Not grace. Instead, God justifies the ungodly, that's you and me, by grace through faith. Romans 4:4. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Now to him who works, who him who labors, who says, I'm going to I, you know, sure, God, yeah, sure, he justifies, but I'm going to get out and do some really good works. God's going to be really impressed with me. He's going to look and say, there's no one else like this in the kingdom. That Ted is so extra special, so I'm going to start working for it. If the person who works, they're thinking of it as being counted as payment or reward for the work that they did. And it's not grace. It's not God's unearned favor. It's not God's kindness. And that's what we're looking for. We're not going to be justified by our actions. We're going to be justified by God's unearned favor and by his kindness. For a person pursuing wages, trying to earn their way into justification, it's not grace, it's debt. It means it's something owed. Payment due. If justification comes as a reward for our good works, then you and I could say we deserved it. We go to God and say, "God, thank you for all these things you're doing for me. I know I deserve them." Not the right attitude before God. None of us deserve it. We're like our righteousness, it says in the book of Isaiah, is like filthy rags before God. We're not right before him. What makes us right before him? He loves us. He cares for us. He died for us. He wants to have a relationship for us. And he delivers and purges us. He converts us. That's what he loves about us. When we start conforming to the image of his son, when we start transforming and becoming the people he called us to be, then we can have a closer and more intimate relationship with him. We can't earn our way into justification. That divide is way too far. We can't even come close to reaching across to make that happen. God doesn't want us to try to do that. God wants us to receive it with humility, with thankfulness, to thank him for his grace and for his mercy. Then he wants us to submit ourselves and to do good works. And we're going to talk about that in a moment. We do good works because his grace has changed us. We do good works because we love him. We love him who loved us first. Right? It says, "But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly. To him who doesn't try to seek this as a reward, who simply receives God's unearned favor and his kindness, right? For that person, they have faith. They have faith in God who justifies the ungodly, that's us. And his faith is counted for righteousness. That means that good works, they are payment for justification. Those who trust in Christ, we're righteous by our faith. We receive that gift and we put our trust in God. We put our faith in God. We put our confidence in God and that trust, that faith, that confidence, God looks at us and says that person is righteous. Much as our father, our spiritual father Abraham was righteous because Abraham believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness. The New Testament over and over again is not describing a list of rules and good works you must do. The New Testament is describing faith. It's describing those who believe. You may remember all throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that Jesus upbraided his disciples not because they didn't keep a certain set of laws or they didn't follow certain regulations. Jesus upbraided or rebuked them because of their doubt and their unbelief. This is about faith, folks. This is about receiving God's grace. This is about trusting and relying on God, putting our confidence in God and through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what justifies us. Can enough good years make up for my bad years? Maybe if I have, you know, 20 bad years, maybe I have 21 good years, you know, it's more than 51%. Maybe it does it. No, justification is not wages for self-improvement. If I improve myself enough, God looks at me and goes, "You finally are justified." We can never do that. We can never make enough. We can never get enough repayment, enough reward. Justification comes through faith. It comes through placing our confidence in, trusting in, relying on God, and thanking the father that Jesus died for our sins. He was buried and he rose again on the third day. Thank God. Your best years, they can't pay for your worst years. Same for me. So, if the law, if our own actions, if our own doings, if our own behavior can't make us right with God, what was it supposed to do? It's a really important question. For some of you, this topic may be completely brand new. all throughout the New Testament. Yet quite often in churches, we don't always talk about it because there's an assumption that if we're saying, "Well, wait a second, the Old Covenant, the Old Testament law, if we don't follow all the principles of that law, then that mean we're going to have bed. We're all going to run around and do all sorts of things." But clearly what we're describing in the New Testament is that while we may not be following the Old Covenant law, what we do follow in the New Testament is we're led by God's spirit. And what we see is that those who were led by the spirit, they don't fulfill the desires of the flesh. They're not chasing after all the things that the laws were trying to prevent everybody from doing. Galatians 3 verses 22-2. Here we see that the law, the law of the old covenant, the law of Moses, it showed everyone was trapped under sin and unable to make themselves right with God. The law helped prepare the way for justification through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Right? Galatians 3:22. But the scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. It says, "But the scripture has confined the Old Testament. It has shown us that we were shut in. We were imprisoned. It exposed and declared that we were all trapped under sin and unable to free ourselves because all the rules in the law simply showed that we weren't able to keep them. We all tried, right? The Jews, they tried. All throughout the Old Testament, people tried to keep these rules, tried to keep these standards and they fell short. And so they had sacrifices and so they had all these things and they would ask for forgiveness. They would do all these different rules and different ordinances and different practices and different rituals because quite clearly as the book of Hebrews said we were not going to be justified through those Old Testament practices. So the Old Testament shows that we are trapped under sin and unable to free ourselves that the promise by faith those who trust those who believe those who have confidence in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. It says, "But before faith came, before this new covenant, before Jesus came and preached, repent and believe the gospel, we were kept under guard by the law." To be kept under guard means we were held in custody. We were kept under watch. It says kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. The law is a tutor, a school master, a guardian as we're going to see. And it was there to help teach and instruct us to help prepare the way for Jesus Christ. The law was there and we were kept under guard by it. And we were kept for what? For the faith that would come after to be revealed. If the law shows me my sin, could it also make me right with God? If I'm really disciplined and I can follow a lot of rules, if I can create a lot of rules, I can come before God and say, "God, look at me. Look how good I was today. I did A. I did B. I did C. I ate my vegetables and I drank my water and I got my exercise and I did all these things and I didn't lust. I didn't steal and I didn't I didn't murder and I didn't do all these things. Right? Look at me, God. I'm a great person. Right? You're going to receive me. I'm justified before you. These things do not make us right with God. The law exposes us as under sin and as unable to free ourselves. We should not come to God with the list of rules and ordinances that we believe that we've met or followed. We should come to him with faith. We should come to him believing. We should come to him with the promise of faith in Jesus Christ. And that is what justifies us. Galatians 3:24, it shows us that the law served as a tutor to lead us to Christ. Now that faith has come, aka the new covenant. We're justified through faith, not by following or practicing the works of the Old Testament law. Galatians 3:24. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. The law was our tutor. That's a guardian, right? Uh often now when we think of a tutor, we think of someone who maybe helps us with our homework. A tutor at this time was a very different relationship. A tutor would often be living with you. A tutor would be a mentor. A tutor is so much more than someone who maybe just helps you study or helps you with your homework. A tutor becomes a guardian who actually directs a child very intimately, very directly up until maturity. So the law was a tutor was like a guardian to direct us until we reached a form of maturity. And it says it was a tutor to bring us to Jesus Christ to faith in the gospel that we might be justified declared right before God acquitted by faith. Right? There's this word justified. Again, you may not have guessed that when we're talking about justification, we were going to spend a lot of time not only talking about being justified by the blood of Jesus Christ and by his sacrifice, but all throughout the New Testament, it explains that our justification does not come through the works of the law. Does not come through the thou shalt not does not come from us telling ourselves, here's six things I won't do today and God will receive me because I did not do these six things. It's scripture is very clear. We are to believe. We are to trust in. We're to place our confidence in the work that Jesus did. And then as we do that, we are then to have good works and good behavior placed in that confidence. It says, "But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." To be no longer under means we're no longer following. We're no longer under the Mosaic law. It had a temporary role as a guardian. And that guardian was to lead people to Jesus Christ. That is the fulfillment. If the Old Testament law didn't justify us, well then what was it for? Well, as we saw here, the Old Testament law, the law of Moses, right, all the thou shalt not and the commandments in the Old Testament, it exposed our need for Jesus Christ where we are justified not by works, but by faith, not by good works or by obedience to Old Testament rules. The law revealed that you and I need more than better behavior. That if we behave well enough, somehow we'll be received. It showed us through the law that what we needed was a savior. Without Jesus, we can try to be a good person. We could try to do good works only to still fall short and reveal to us that we need much more than a list of rules. Right standing with God is not something that you or I can earn. It is something we must receive as a gift by faith. That means simple truth number 104. A right standing with God is received by faith, not earned. Let's be clear. This doesn't mean that works do not matter. Quite clearly, when you receive the gospel, when you believe the gospel, God starts converting you and calling you to bear fruit, to do good works, it means that your works and your behavior can never purchase your justification. You are declared right and acquitted without those works. You do that by believing the gospel. But that raises an important question. If I'm justified by faith and not by my performance every day, why should I obey God? If I'm justified before God, why should I ever obey him? Why obedience still matters? I'm justified by faith, so why should I obey God? It's a question I have heard, folks. A question I've thought of myself, and here's some of the answers. Justification by faith does not make obedience optional. In fact, obedience to God is fundamental to fulfilling your purpose in life. And honestly, living a happy and a fulfilling life. There's a scripture in the Old Testament. It says that the way of the transgressor is hard. You do not do not want a hard life. We want a great life. We want a life where we are fully pleasing to God. So while we may be justified by faith, by believing the gospel, it is only proper is the next step as we are justified to start walking in that grace to start obeying God and doing his will, fulfilling our purpose and living a happy, fulfilled and blessed life. You don't obey God to earn God's acceptance. You obey because his grace has given you a new life, right? As one of his own. It's such a wonderful blessing and a wonderful privilege. Since you're accepted by God by his grace through faith, go out and live a new life of faith and obedience to God. Go live out your purpose. So, if works, they don't justify us, what should guide the way you and I live? Paul answers this in Galatians chapter 2 by showing us that the person who is justified by faith now lives by faith for Jesus Christ. Galatians 2, we're going to look at verses 16 as well as verses 19 and 20. We see here that we're justified by faith and then we live a new life by faith in Jesus. Galatians 2:16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. Verse 19, for I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. Verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. If good works don't make me right, what should guide how I live? The life that we live is by faith in the son of God as led by God's Holy Spirit. Right? We receive justification. And as we received it, we die. We crucify ourselves with Christ. Our old man, the lust of the flesh, our old way of living, our old habits, our old behaviors, we crucify them so that we can walk in the new life. A life in which we are being conformed into the image of his son. A life in which we have a close relationship with God. Where we pray and we praise God and we read his word and we walk in power and we fulfill our purpose and we're a blessing to others. Where we prosper and we're in good health as our soul prospers. Where we have all the blessings of Abraham. We're blessed going in, we're blessed going out. That's what God calls us to do. So justification is not the end of it. It is simply the start of a relationship with God and a new way to live. In other words, the blood of Jesus declares us right and acquits us. And that's step one. And then we move into step two, 3, four, five, six, and seven. We receive this justification. We receive the fact that the blood of Jesus Christ has acquitted us and declares us right with God. And then we obey God. And then we go do God's will knowing that we're justified. So what changes when we're justified? Question number three, if God accepts me, how should I live? Now, praise God. Romans 5 verses 1-2, we see here that because we're justified by faith, we have peace with God and should trust in his grace instead of trying to earn his acceptance. It's Romans 5:1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, there's that word justified. Again, I'll tell you what, folks, a little side comment here. Hopefully, after this message, hopefully after this episode, you'll be seeing these words as you read your Bible on your own, and you'll say, "Right, justified." I remember what that is. That means to be declared right. That means to be acquitted. And as you read it, you'll understand what it means, and you can start applying it in what you do. So Romans 5:1, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." says, "Therefore, having been justified, declared right before God, acquitted by faith, by trusting, by believing, by having confidence in God, what specifically? The death bound resurrection, right? That was our propitiation." And Jesus in Mark 1 came, his first message coming out of the wilderness said, "Repent and believe the gospel." In Mark chapter 16, Jesus says, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Right? It's about the death burial and resurrection. The death burial and resurrection is the most important message, the central message of the entire Bible. The Old Testament was foreshadowing it. Even at the fall of Adam, God prophesied that there would be a seed and that seed would bruise Satan's head and Satan would bruise his heel. All from Genesis to Revelation, it's all about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, right? And so, trust, belief, confidence in God. We have peace with God. That's harmony. We have wholeness. We have a restoration of our relationship. In our next episode, in this season, we're going to talk about reconciliation. Talks about bring us back. It talks about this harmony, this wholeness with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. through whom also we have access by faith by that trust by that confidence by that confidence in God into this grace into God's unearned favor into God's kindness in which we stand we remain established and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Do you feel like you have to prove to God that you belong? I understand that feeling. Do you feel like you have to prove something to God? You have to make up maybe for the past, some kind of bad behavior or some kind of weaknesses that you still feel that you have. Tell your soul that you're justified. You're justified by faith. You're not justified by some good work, by some behavior, by some action. God accepts you. God accepts you. God declares you right. God acquits you. It doesn't mean he's going to put up with the same bad behavior over and over again, but you're accepted. You're declared right. You're acquitted. And you're at peace with God. There's not one thing you could do more to make God look at you and say, "Okay, now now we're cool. Now we're at peace. You're justified." That blood of Jesus was the propitiation. It was the atoning sacrifice. It was the satisfying factor. There's not one more thing that could be done to declare you right before God. So believe that. Tell your soul to believe that. Remind yourself of that. Reread some of the scriptures in this episode to remind yourself of it. It's found right there in your Bible and in my Bible. And then once you believe it, go obey God. Go repent of what he's trying to get you to repent from. Go walk in that power and fulfill your purpose. So justification, it changes where you and I stand with God, right? I have peace with God and I stand established in grace, right? In his unearned favor, in his kindness. But if I'm no longer trying to earn his acceptance, does that grace change the way that I should live? Let's take a look. Romans 6:es 1-4. Grace doesn't mean we should keep living in sin. Right? Through Christ, we are called to leave the old life behind and to walk in a new life in Christ. Romans 6:1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul was describing in Romans chapter 5 that while we were in sin, there was all this grace poured out. So, shall we continue falling short? Shall we continue in bad habits and terrible behaviors where we're hurting ourselves and hurting others? Verse two, certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Verse three, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. There's a lot in this verse to unpack, but let's get into it. What shall we say? Shall we continue? Shall we remain? Shall we persist? Shall we keep going in sin and falling short of God's standards? Shall we do it so that grace may abound? No. How shall we who died to sin, right, live any longer in it? In simple truth season 2, we talk about water baptism, right? How do you who are baptized into Christ Jesus who went under you know who died with him to that's what it represents then came up out of the water in newness of life it says as we were buried with him in baptism into his death that just as Jesus was raised from the dead we're raised from the dead so that we could walk in newness of life right what is water baptism but it's a representation of the putting to death of our old life putting to death our old man so that we could walk in newness of life If God already accepts me, what should change in the way that I live? Well, grace doesn't leave you in your old life. God's grace, he loves you. He died for you. And he didn't die for you to stay stuck, to stay stuck in that old life of yours. He died for you so that you could be empowered to live a new life. So, we don't obey God to make him accept us. But being accepted by God through grace compels us to a new way of living. Early in this episode, I talked about, you know, it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. As we start to gain an understanding, we do things that we our desires of our flesh, we like and we have sat certain kind of satisfaction. It's very temporary and it's very destructive. But we have these desires and they feel somewhat satisfied when we sin and then we start hungering after them again. It's really a vicious cycle. It's no good thing in sin, folks. We have these old desires and then we come to a knowledge of God and then we start to understand how much God loved us and how much he did and sacrifice for us when we weren't even thinking about him and then it starts to convert us. We start to feel convicted and we start to change and we start to lay down some of these things in our old life. Some things are easy to lay down, some things are harder to lay down and God continues to convict us. And so it even describes the Holy Spirit that the spirit comes to convince us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment as Jesus said. And so such a powerful thing as God starting to convict and lead us. He's leading us into a new life. He's leading us into new lists of life. He's leading us into a new way of living. And we do this because God is great. And God wants us to become our best through him. Through him. So justification doesn't give us permission to stay where we were. Justification gives us power. It gives us a new life to walk which will bear fruit and have good works. Titus 3 verses 4-8. God saves and justifies us by grace. Then he calls us to do good things. Right? Titus 3:4. But when the kindness and the love of God our savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Verse 7. that having been justified by his grace, we should become hes according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying and these things I want to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. Okay. So it says, "But when the kindness and the love of God our savior toward us appeared, right? Not by the works of righteousness that we've done." Paul is writing to Titus, "But according to his mercy, he saved us, according to God's mercy, not because of the works we did." In verse 7, it says that having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs of eternal life. And he says, "This is a faithful saying, and these things I want to affirm constantly. I want to remind you over and over again that those who have believed in God, those who believe the gospel, those who have faith and those who put their trust and those who have confidence in the death burial resurrection, they should be careful. They should be mindful to maintain good works. That is good, honorable deeds and actions. We should do good things. We should show what's happening on our inside. We should show the transformation and the sanctification that's happening inside of us outwardly. And we show it in love. We show it through kind acts. We show it through good deeds. We show it through being a blessing to other people. We show it through obeying God and helping and edifying and building up brothers and sisters and ministering and being a witness to what God has done in our lives. If I don't have to earn God's acceptance, why should I do good? You may ask yourself that question. Well, you don't earn grace by doing good, but grace does change how you live. justification. It changes where we stand. And the grace and the love of God changes how we live. We do good not to earn God's acceptance, you could say, but because his mercy has saved us, right? God's goodness compels us to do good things. God's nature is being put in us. We're conforming into the image of his son, and then we're compelled to do good things for others and to bear fruit. Which brings us to simple truth number 105. Being justified doesn't mean staying the same. So being right with God, it doesn't mean staying the same. Grace gives us peace with God, a new life to walk in, and good works which are done by the Holy Spirit because we have received God's love. And we want to deepen our relationship with God. So let's get practical. What does it mean for me this week? What should I do now? Okay, God has declared me right with him. Scripture after scripture, we see we're declared right. We're acquitted. Not because that we fixed our own past or we earned his acceptance. But it's done so through faith in Jesus Christ, specifically his blood and his sacrifice. That's what justified us. I now know that I need to stop trying to earn what God has already given me through Christ. Live at peace with God and stand in his grace. Remain established. Remain firm in it. And third, obey God. Not trying to prove myself to God, but walking in the new life that God has called me to do. But if you're still stuck trying to prove yourself to God, what can you do about it this week? Well, it's what we call the stand in grace 7-day challenge. Day one, notice where you're trying to prove yourself. Notice something in which you're trying to justify yourself or maybe make up for sins in the past or trying to earn yourself or kind of find more favor with God through some of your actions. Identify one area where you still feel the need to earn God's acceptance or to prove yourself. Days 2 through 7, remember what God has said. This is always a faithful one every week. Remember, remind yourself what God has said. When you feel pressure to prove yourself, take a pause and read Romans 5:es 1 and two. Say to yourself, I have been justified by faith. I have peace with God now and I stand in his grace. Remind yourself of these things. Remind yourself of what God has said. Days 3 through 7, stop earning and start trusting. Stop measuring God's acceptance by today's performance. On a day you do well, thank God. On a day where you run into stumbling and you fall and you have an issue, confess your sin before God. Repent and pray and seek his face and pursue him. All the meanwhile knowing that you've been declared right. You've been acquitted not because of your performance today, but because of what Jesus has done. It's a great thing. It's a wonderful thing. Stand in grace and obey what God is showing you to do next. Paul describes it as running a race. You run a race by trying to win a prize and you discipline yourself like a runner where you lay aside things that are trying to slow you down so that you could run the race with energy, with focus, with purpose. That is what you were called to do. And if you stumble along that race, you get back up and you keep running because you're running that race to win. You're not running that race to barely get across the finish line. You're a Christian. You are running that race to win. And God will be right there with you supporting and strengthening you to do it. God bless you. God bless you as you receive the gospel, as you believe the fact that you are justified. You are declared right and acquitted not by your own works, but by the blood and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And don't miss our next episode. Jesus didn't just make us right with God. He also brought us back to God. So what does that even mean? You're going to find out next episode. Watch the video on the screen for more practical Bible teaching that answers the questions you're asking. And subscribe for more simple, biblical, and essential truth. [music]