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Christ as personal Savior, you are
already nowjustified!
Where Most Jump the Track
But right here is where so many go
off into error. They simply do not
understand biblical terms. "Justi–
fied" does not refer to the future- it
has to do only with your guilty past!
This term "justified" does not mean
"saved," as we shall now see.
It
does
not mean the gift of life.
lt
means
the gift of acquittal of past guilt! It
means the penalty of past sins has
been paid in full, by Christ, for you!
The law stood over you.
It
claimed your life- you were under
it.
It
took Christ's life in payment
instead of yours. The penalty stands
paid! You are no longer under the
law.
It
no longer has claim over
your life! You are now under
grace- undeserved pardon. You are
pardoned from paying the penalty,
since Jesus Christ paid it for you!
This is not your works. It is Christ's
sacrifi.ce. You are now acquitted–
justified-the slate is wiped clean of
a guilty past!
In other words, the barrier be–
tween you and God has now been
removed by the fact that Christ paid
your penalty in your stead, and you
now accept Him as your personal
Savior. You are now, by Christ's
sacrifice, given contact with God–
reconciled to Him!
Saved
by
Hls Oeath?
So, continue in Romans 5:9: "Much
more then, being now justified by
his blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through him."
·
Notice it! You are already justi–
fied. The past is squared up- the
penalty paid-the contact with God
made. But are you already saved?
Look at it!
lt
says, "We
sha/1 be
saved." Not that we already · are
saved.
It
says "being now justified"
but it does not say "being now
saved."
Jt
says we shall be-yes, in
the future- saved. That is still fu–
ture!
Now here comes a surprise. No–
tice verse 10: "For if, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son. .. ." Here,
again, we were reconciled-past
tense. Not by your works-by
The
PLAIN TRUTH June/July 1978
Christ's deatb. When you have truty
repented, forsaken your way, sought
God, accepted Christ as Savior and
His death as payment for your past
sins, you have been, already, recon–
ciled. So the wording here is that we
were reconciled-past tense-to God
by the death of His Son.
What was accomplished by Jesus'
death? It paid the penalty, it wiped
out your guilty past, justified you of
your guilt, reconciled you to God.
But did it save you? Did it? Wait–
don't just say yes. See with your
own eyes what your Bible says!
It says, continuing in verse 10:
" ... much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by his life."
Can you believe your own eyes?
There it is, in your own Bible!
Already reconciled by Christ's
death, "we shall be saved' '- that is
future tense. Not yet saved-but we
shall be- in the future- saved. Now
are you going to be saved by
Christ's death? Can death ·impart
Iife?
There is no stronger law in
science than the law of biogenesis,
which says life comes only from life.
Death cannot impart life.
Now how shall we- in the future–
be saved? By Chrisfs death? No!
Notice! Read it! "We shall be saved
by his life"!
After Christ died, God raised
Him back to Life. We are saved by
His resurrection-by Hís lífe- by a
living Savior! Read J Corinthians
15: 14-23.
What Do You Mean–
"Not Under the Law" ?
Now where do you stand? You are
making progress. You now have real
hope. You have repented, you have
sought God, forsaken your way,
turned to God's way, as defined in
His law and all through Hís Word.
You have accepted Jesus Christ as
personal Savíor and His shed blood
for remission of sins. You are now
reconciled to God. You are justified
of- forgiven - your guilty past. You
are out from under the penalty of
broken law.
Now, we read the question:
"What shall we say then? Shall we
continue in sin, that grace
~ay
abound?" (Rom. 6:
1.)
You are now
under grace- undeserved pardon!
You deserved only death. You
didn't earn forgiveness-pardon
from the death penalty. You re–
ceived it by grace through Jesus
Christ.
Now, shall you continue in sin–
that is, continue transgressing the
law? The answer is "God forbíd"
(Rom. 6:2).
You were under the law when the
law stood over you, claimíng íts
penalty. Christ paid the penalty and
satísfied the claims of the law, and
when you accepted Him as Savíor
you were no Ionger under the law,
but under grace. Now does that
mean you are not under obligation
to obey the law-that you have ti–
cense to sin, to break the law? Re–
member sin is the transgression of
the law.
Now read thís in your Bible!
"What then? Shall we sin [that is,
according to the Bible definition,
"Shall we break the law"], because
we are not under the law, but under
grace? God forbid. Know ye not,
that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, hís servants ye are
to whom ye obey ; whether of sin
[breaking the law] unto death [pen–
alty for disobedience to God's law],
or of obedíence unto righteous–
ness?" (Rom. 6: 15-16.)
There ít is! We must not return to
rebellion agaínst God's inexorable
Iaw of love- His right way of life. l f
we do, we are again under the law–
again automatically sentenced to
death! Jesus Christ did not die to
gíve you license to continue in law
breaking. When you accept, by His
grace, remission ofsíns, ít ís only for
sins that are past! You cannot ob–
taín in advance remissíon of all the
lawlessness you míght delíberately
commit in the future.
Read that in your Bible: " . .. for
the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God"
(Rom. 3:25).
We have remíssíon ofsins that are
past-not license to break the law in
the future.
But does that mean you must live
a perfect life from that moment?
You would fi.nd that quite ímpos–
síble. You must never again return
(Continued on page 39)
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