WHO WILL BE JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD?
I
recently asked a local religious leader who would be justified before
God at the judgment seat of Christ [JOHN
5:21-22]? To
which he replied, "I believe all good people will be in heaven."
To which I said, "What is the basis or root cause of goodness?"
The religious man thought that the standard to which we would gain
eternal heaven was “based upon how many goods works we produced."
This man, like most religious lost people have no concept what God
Almighty requires [GALATIANS
3:10]. Because
God is Holy and all men sinful, the best we can produce will never
satisfy His demand [ISAIAH
64:6]. The
scriptures plainly and powerfully proclaim that, "there is
none good, no not one" [ROMANS
3:9-12].
Certainly,
any thinking person would see that creature merit and righteousness
is excluded in the scheme of God's salvation. The only way any
guilty sinner can be justified before God is to have a perfect
justifying righteousness provided by God Himself without any
contribution from the sinner [ROMANS
4:1-7]. This
indeed is the good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Salvation is based upon His performance not ours [PSALM
57:2]. No wonder
the apostle said, "Yea
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and
be found in Him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith" [PHILIPPIANS
3:8-9].
If any man thinks that he is justified before God by his good works, he is tragically and dreadfully mistaken [II TIMOTHY 1:9; TITUS 3:5]. What a horrible rebuke of the effectual, substitutionary sacrifice and perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, to entertain thoughts of self-glory, self-righteousness and self-salvation [PHILIPPIANS 2:6-9; LUKE 16:15]. Paul made this very argument to the Galatians church. "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" [GALATIANS 2:21].
The Lord Jesus Christ alone is all any sinner needs to stand in God's presence justified [JUDE 24; COLOSSIANS 1:19-22; ROMANS 8:1]. Those in Christ by sovereign adoption, effectual calling, powerful regeneration and saving faith have no other hope [II THESSALONIANS 2:13-16] nor ground on which to stand [ACTS 4:12; ISAIAH 28:16]. Some might ask, "Is the Lord Jesus Christ enough?" If the Lord Jesus Christ is all you have, God says that is enough [JOHN 1:16; COLOSSIANS 2:9-10 & 3:11]!
-Gospel report by preacher Tom Harding
If any man thinks that he is justified before God by his good works, he is tragically and dreadfully mistaken [II TIMOTHY 1:9; TITUS 3:5]. What a horrible rebuke of the effectual, substitutionary sacrifice and perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, to entertain thoughts of self-glory, self-righteousness and self-salvation [PHILIPPIANS 2:6-9; LUKE 16:15]. Paul made this very argument to the Galatians church. "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" [GALATIANS 2:21].
The Lord Jesus Christ alone is all any sinner needs to stand in God's presence justified [JUDE 24; COLOSSIANS 1:19-22; ROMANS 8:1]. Those in Christ by sovereign adoption, effectual calling, powerful regeneration and saving faith have no other hope [II THESSALONIANS 2:13-16] nor ground on which to stand [ACTS 4:12; ISAIAH 28:16]. Some might ask, "Is the Lord Jesus Christ enough?" If the Lord Jesus Christ is all you have, God says that is enough [JOHN 1:16; COLOSSIANS 2:9-10 & 3:11]!
-Gospel report by preacher Tom Harding
Zebulon
Grace church of Pikeville, Kentucky USA
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