Monday, March 15
Isaiah 59 presents a startling picture of the problem of sin. Fortunately, the Bible also presents the hope of Redemption.
To begin, the first question is, How many of us have sinned? The Bible is unequivocal: All of us have. Redemption, therefore, cannot be based on lack of sin; it must be based on forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:34). Paul agrees. All have sinned (Romans 3:9-20, 23); so, there can be no distinction on that basis (Romans 3:22). Those who are justified can be judged as just, only because they receive by faith the gift of God’s righteousness through the sacrifice of Christ.
Read Romans 3:21-24. What are these verses telling us about how we are saved? What hope should they give us in the judgment?
Most people think the question in the judgment is: Who has sinned? But that is not a question that needs to be asked, because everyone has sinned. Instead, the question is: Who is forgiven? God is just when He justifies “him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). The deciding factor in the judgment is, Who has received and continues to receive forgiveness by having faith in Jesus?
Now, it is true we are judged by works, but not in the sense that works save us. If so, then faith is made void (Romans 4:14). Instead, our works reveal whether we truly have been saved (James 2:18).
Why can’t works save us, either now or in the judgment? See Romans 3:20, 23.
It is too late for good works, or obedience to the law, to redeem anyone. The purpose of the law in a sinful world isn’t to save but to point out sin. Instead, “faith which worketh by love” (Galatians 5:6), love that is poured into the heart by God’s Spirit (Romans 5:5), demonstrates that a person has living faith in Jesus (see also James 2:26).
Works are an outward expression, the human manifestation of a saving faith. Hence, a true Christian experience is one in which faith is expressed in a daily commitment to the Lord that is revealed by obedience to the law. In the judgment, God uses works as evidence for His creatures, who cannot read thoughts of faith as He can. But for the converted person, only works following conversion, when the life is empowered by Christ and the Holy Spirit, are relevant in the judgment. The preconversion life of sin has already been washed away by the blood of the Lamb (see Romans 6).
