The Doctrine of Justification Helps Us Understand God in our Life

There are few, if any, Christians that have not experienced the feeling that God has betrayed them or let them down.  At one point, God may seem more like an enemy than a friend.  Questions of "Why?" abound and feelings of "God is unfair" resound. 

One even said, "God it is a wonder you have as many followers as you do by the way you treat some of them."  

As I am slowly going through Romans in my preaching with my church, - I am seeing that the doctrine of justification properly understood resolves ALL - that's right - ALL of those issues.

A person who is genuinely saved, converted, born again MUST FIRST see himself as a rotten, no-good, hell-bound, hell-deserving sinner who can do not one thing to even merit the attention of God, let alone the salvation of God.  

As I tell my church many, many times:  "The gospel is the good news.  But unless you have bad news first then you only have news."

Yes, there is bad news - and oh it is bad.  But far too many people sitting in our pews have never seen themselves like this.  

Almost two years ago I was preaching through the Beatitudes and was on "Blessed are the poor in spirit."  God revealed to me that a person not only sees themselves as poor - destitute - unable to offer anything to God, but also would understand and not be upset at God if He did not save them.  In other words, they see themselves so deserving of hell that there is no argument left in them if God sent them there.

(You do know that EVERY person in Hell will be a believer in the justice, holiness and goodness of God - only too late.)

Oh my....then in such desperation you call on the name of the Lord and true to His promise, "He saves you!!"  He does it, not because of you; but your faith in Jesus. He does for you what not only you could not do for yourself, but was totally understanding of the justice and holiness of God that you were reconciled to the fact that God might not do it at all.

When that happens to a person and God saves them, you have just understood experientially what God is like.  He is a holy and just God; but also a merciful, loving, compassionate and saving God.

Then when life gets tough - kids on drugs, spouse commits adultery, cancer enters the body, .... you name it;  who God is will never be an issue for you.  NONE of these things will send you to hell, but your sin would have.  NONE of these things will last past death, but the consequences of not believing in Jesus would have.

I'm not saying that in those times you don't ask God to help your child get off drugs, or that you don't pray for healing from cancer.  Oh, no.  In fact, God can do those things as well.  But if He doesn't, it NEVER affects who He is in your life.  He is still a just, gracious, holy, compassionate, merciful, loving God because He did the greater thing.  ALL of these others are the lesser things.

One last word, when you do ask for the lesser things and God says "No," or "Later," He still supplies you with "sufficient grace" to get through.  WHAT A GOD.  You can't lose with God - you only lose without Him.

During the Civil War, someone came up to President Lincoln and asked, "Is God on our side or their side?"  Lincoln replied, "All I want to know is whether we are on God's side."  

And "If God be for us, who can be against us?"  "Nothing can separate us from the love of  God."