
The reason we are forgiven through the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross was that He was able to pay the penalty of our sin. All our sins had been paid in full with His life. As a result, God was able to declare us righteous before God. Declaring us righteous before God is called justification. Romans 5:11 says, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice that we are justified (declared righteous) by our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is not through our good works. As we have mentioned in our previous daily devotion, our Lord Jesus had done it all for us. He has given us everything we need to be forgiven of our sin and be reconciled with our Heavenly Father. We just need to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ to receive our forgiveness.
When our Lord Jesus declared us righteous before our Heavenly Father, it was not temporary, but it was permanent because our justification was not based on our good works or performance, but it was based on our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reason that there is no forgiveness of sin without faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. As Christians, we cannot say that I am saved because I go to church, pray every day, or give money to the church. We are saved by our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ alone. Every time we sin and ask God for forgiveness, God immediately forgives us, and our Lord Jesus Christ justified our sin right away. When a criminal finishes his time in prison and pays everything that he owes, according to the court judge, he is set free, and anything that he has done in the past has been forgiven.
Just as the criminal was forgiven, we, too, are forgiven by our Lord Jesus Christ, only we are not the one who was sentenced to death on the cross, but our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus bore all the penalty of our sin so that we could be declared righteous before God by our faith in Him.
Ask yourself these questions: What is justification? How did God justify me? Why is believing in Jesus is an important part of my justification?
Write down all the worries that you are facing today and lift them up to God.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, thank you for justifying my sin through my Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for forgiving all my past sins. I am righteous before you not because of what I have done but because of what you have done for me. May you please help me to continue to trust in you and grow in my relationship with you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Comments