“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

This week, we will take a look at two doctrinal truths that are intertwined: Justification and Regeneration. Justification is a term basically meaning “a return to right standing and the removal of wrath.” It is often a legal term, meaning the punishment of an offense is removed and the accused stands justified before the court. Growing up, I remember learning the saying that Christ justifies me in His blood so that when God looks at me its JUST-IF-I’D (justified) never done the sin.

Regeneration is rebirth. The word “generate” means to make something new. So, when we are REgenerated, we are remade, rebirthed. I am sure that you’ve heard the church term “being born again”. This comes from John 3 when Jesus tells Nicodemus that for him to enter heaven he must be born again- born of both water (natural birth) and spirit (spiritual birth). The justification Christ gives us through His atoning work on the cross makes it possible for us to be reborn. The three concepts are intertwined and you cannot have one without the others.  

Today, I want to focus on justification. I love today’s passage because it so clearly lays out for us the justification of Christ over all those who believe. There are a few key points that I want to draw our attention to. First, we are justified by faith. It is not by good works or by good standing. We are justified completely and solely on the faith we have in Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that “anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom 10:13) and that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10:9). It is through that confession and faith in Jesus that we are justified.

Secondly, justification in Christ means that we have peace with God. Let that sink in a bit. Peace with God means removal of wrath. Peace means unity, friendship, connection, and communion. Peace with God means that we are removed from the dominion of darkness and transferred into the dominion of His perfect peace. We are His allies once again, meant to spend forever by His side.  

And thirdly, through the justification of Christ, we gain access through Christ into the grace of God! And furthermore, we can boast in the hope of the glory of God. This means that we now have access to the grace of God for all situations in this life. We have His unmerited favor on our lives and His grace is sufficient for us in all circumstances. But even more than that, we now have access to the hope of the glory of God to come- Heaven! We can look forward to a day when He will wipe away every tear and when death, sickness, and hurting are no more! Praise God and hallelujah!

So, what does this mean for you and me practically today? For starters it means that you can stop striving to be good enough to earn heaven. Too many in this world believe that in the end Jesus will place our deeds on an epic scale and weigh them out. As if having enough good deeds to outweigh the bad ones will somehow be enough. But that just isn’t the way it works. Even one sin is a breaking of God’s law. And just like you only need to murder one person to gain life in prison, you only need to break one law, sin one sin, to earn spiritual life in hell.  

But praise God, He made a way for our sins to be completely washed clean. In the justification of Christ it’s not about the deeds we have done. If it were, we would all be doomed! Instead, it’s about what HE did and the righteousness that He infers to us in His name and through His power and authority. Christ took on our sin so that we can take on His righteousness and stand before God righteous and without guilt.  

We can stop striving to be enough out of a fear or pressure to earn God’s love. If you choose to follow Christ, you have the fullness of His love bestowed on you from the moment you say “yes!” You become clean and righteous, like one who has no sin, before the God of the universe. This doesn’t mean we will never struggle with sin. It just means that we are no longer slaves to it. We are no longer defined by our sin. We are no longer under its power. We are instead righteous because HE is righteous.  

And in that we can pursue good works because we were made for them (Eph 2:10) instead of pursuing good things from a place of selfish motive, hoping to earn the favor of God. When we live in the justification of Christ, it frees us up to be truly GOOD- goodness pursued for selfish means is never truly good after all. Now, however, when our salvation is not resting in our performance, we are freed to pursue the good things God created us for, to fulfill our deepest calling, and to bring glory to our King! We no longer have to be bound by fear, shame, or guilt! Praise God!

Christ’s justification for us also means that we receive the grace of God to sustain us through every hard and difficult thing we will endure this side of heaven. As Christ spoke to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, His grace is always sufficient for us. It will see us through. It will hold us up. It will nurture our souls when we are parched in this land. As we sojourn in this world, awaiting our glorious welcoming into the eternal kingdom of God, we can be comforted by His grace in all things, knowing that God works in and through the hard things of this world to conform us into the image of Christ. (Rom 8:28-29).

And finally, as we walk through our lives, we can know that this is not the end. Our story doesn’t end here and there is more to come. This life is just a vapor that is here one day and gone the next. For the believer, we have the hope of eternity by Christ’s side. My husband often says, “For the believer, this is as close to hell as you’ll ever get.” What a promise!  

But this promise should also draw us to our neighbors who don’t know Christ. Because without the atonement, justification, and regeneration of Christ- they do not have the hope we do. The second half of what my husband often says is, “However, for the unbeliever, this life is as close to heaven as they will ever get.” That should sink our souls and hurt. We should mourn that. And as people who have been forgiven so much, we should be constantly on mission to draw others to Christ. We should be screaming it with our lives and our mouths- proclaiming the free gift of peace with God to anyone who wishes to have it.  

‍

Jesus,  

I praise You for what You have done. Praise You for Your good, good works. Thank You for the justification that You purchased on my behalf. Let me not grow comfortable or apathetic to it. Teach me what it looks like to share this amazing truth with others. Teach me what it means to live and speak in a way that draws people to the truth of Your great love. I want to be Your mouthpiece to those around me. Show me what that looks like.  

In the name of Jesus Christ I pray,

Amen

‍