Declared Righteous: Understanding Justification by Faith

We boast about the reality that since we have been justified, our sufferings are transformed. That they no longer just take from us. In fact, they don't take anything anymore. We boast in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces. And we know that because suffering is what produced our salvation. Suffering is what produced our forgiveness. Suffering is what provided the opportunity to be declared righteous and to experience the fullness of justification. Suffering doesn't take from followers anymore. It produces something. And the first thing it produces is perseverance. [01:09:23] (49 seconds)  #SufferingProducesPerseverance

Suffering takes nothing from you. It produces something. Perseverance. Perseverance produces character. Character produces hope. And praise God Almighty, that hope shall not put us to shame. You won't be ashamed of the process, I promise. The the outcome may not be everything we hope for, but you'll walk away with your head red hot. That much I can guarantee you. And and as followers, hope doesn't put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit last two weeks ago, whom God has given us. [01:15:10] (38 seconds)  #PerseveranceBuildsHope

Can you look at the cross like Abraham looked at the stars? Can you look at a savior and be like, oh, I believe that. I get oh, I I believe that. I could trust that. Right. Then what you have to do next is confess with your mouth that he must be Lord, and you will be declared righteous. The justification process will be complete in your life. You'll be that person who has come all the way through the due process of God. You are justified. You can stand before God in a just state, because justice has been served. [01:01:46] (41 seconds)  #BelieveAndStandRighteous

To the one who doesn't work, but trust you, just trust God who this is the full and final product of due process. Justification where God declares righteous to sitter while he's still yet in a sitting state. You're not declared not guilty. You're justified. And justification is the sovereign act of God where he declares righteous. You've been declared the verdict has been rendered. You're righteous, not innocent, not not guilty, righteous. And you'll see how much that matters in just a second. Who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited. [00:53:26] (41 seconds)  #SovereignJustification

It is a sovereign act of God, and he declares something about a sinner while they're still yet dead in their trespasses. It's the declaration of God, like when he spoke, let there be, and then there was, so he declares righteous and explosively life, resurrection life erupts in a person. And today, we're gonna look at the concepts of justification because as you'll see, understanding what happens there can truly set you free to live the life that God has for you. [00:39:05] (34 seconds)  #ResurrectionLifeErupts

You know you're going to heaven, now get out there and live like it. This isn't false hope. This is real hope. Spirit of God's in you. He's your deposit. He's your guarantee. Remember? You stand to lose nothing to live for Christ. Nothing. The loss comes when we're not living for Christ. Because justification is a sovereign act of God whereby he declares righteous a sinner while he's still yet in a sinning state. And communion is that ever present reminder of the perseverance of Jesus Christ, who for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning shame, and then sat down the right hand of the father. [01:15:48] (45 seconds)  #LiveLikeYoureSaved

Because what you did is you took 100 of your dollars and you transferred it to somebody. For what reason? To purchase something. Exactly. That's what God just did. Took his endless supply of righteousness, looked at Abraham because he literally just looked in the sky and said, oh, oh, I I can believe that, which is insane. I know, but he didn't do anything. And in that moment, God's like, put a $100 in his account. Correct. That's what happens the moment you're saved. I don't see any of you crying. Right? It's transactional. [00:51:20] (42 seconds)  #TransactionalGrace

And perseverance is the willingness to do exactly what God told you to do for as long as you have to do it until he does what only he can do. You just keep doing exactly what you know you're supposed to do until God does what only he can do. And that's what suffering produces within us. It's this willingness to to stick to it, hang in there, because God's gonna show up. And sometimes, God shows up in the midst of the event and it gets altered. But ultimately, it's gonna be altered at your death. Because he's gonna show up and do what only he can do. [01:10:11] (38 seconds)  #PerseveranceUntilGodActs

Because we know it cannot take glory from me. It cannot take the promise from me. It can't take heaven for me. It can't change God's verdict for me. I'm gonna keep doing and we know we look at the cross. We know the suffering has produced so much for us that we begin to believe that. But that perseverance produces something too and that's called character. Character is the ability to be transformed and conformed into the likeness of Christ. You think about Christ and his sufferings and the character that he displayed. [01:11:04] (30 seconds)  #SufferingShapesCharacter

You're trying to connect with people emotionally in a way that just biblically, it's not true. And secondarily, they're not gonna buy into it. They know what they've done. Oh, you're not guilty. I don't buy that. No. The Bible never declares you anything other than righteous. And this is a very, very, very different status and standing before God. And it's imperative that we understand those things. So we're gonna look at Romans chapter four, Romans chapter three and Romans chapter five. [00:44:15] (30 seconds)  #BiblicalNotEmotional

And you must begin to comprehend that, that he was declared righteous, declared righteous. He wasn't declared not guilty. And you know what's crazy? In chapter 16 is when he tries to give his wife away to Pharaoh. And still we're reading about him, Paul's writing two thousand years after Abraham lived. And he's still the model of how someone goes from unrighteous to righteous through belief, and that transaction unleashes something. Now, to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift, are they? No, they're an obligation. [00:52:01] (39 seconds)  #FaithUnleashesTransformation

It is ultimately much like that. Okay? It is the due process of God whereby he is able to declare righteous a sinner while they're still yet in their sinning state. And there are so many similarities to it, and I think you can ultimately begin to get your head around what it means to be justified, what it means to be declared righteous. Because they literally are, it's called juridical. Okay? Juridical terms, forensic terms, legal terminology. Most of the terminology in the New Testament about being saved and salvation is not emotional language, it's legal language. [00:42:01] (40 seconds)  #JuridicalSalvation

And here he is 90 years of age, his wife is 80 and they still don't have a child. And so, I don't think he's like disappointed in God, I think he's just discouraged that I'm 90. In Romans chapter four, Paul goes on to say that, with his body as good as dead, he still believed God. So in chapter 15, he starts praying to God and say, you know what, at this point, everything I have is gonna go to Eliezer of Damascus. He's kin, but he's not child. [00:48:46] (31 seconds)  #AbrahamBelievedAt90

Well, we're in a series of messages that is looking systematically at the theological concept of salvation. Okay? It would be included in books that are focused primarily on systematic theology. Okay? And of systematic theology, salvation, so teriology is the official name of it, is one of the categories that's covered in a systematic way in a systematic theology book. And the reason we're doing this is not just to give you information, although in the absence of the information understanding what happens at the moment of salvation, [00:37:09] (36 seconds)  #StudyingSoteriology

When there's two minutes left and we gotta make a stop and you were the guy who kept running over to get extra water during the summer, we can't count on you because you're not willing to suffer. If you're not willing to suffer, you prove that you're not willing to persevere. If you can't persevere, we can't trust you. We don't need you. So if you're gonna quit eventually, quit immediately. Go. Far less embarrassing. Be a about it. But if you're willing to do whatever it is you gotta do for as long as you gotta do it till God shows up and does what only he can do, then something's gonna happen to you. [01:13:51] (35 seconds)  #WillingToSuffer