Justifying Grace – The Gift of Faith
The Wesleys are helping us with the basics of sin and salvation this week. And I want to remind us today that being convicted of our sinfulness, which we spoke of yesterday, is not enough to be saved. You need to place your faith in Jesus as the one who can save, to receive His justifying grace.
The Power of Christ's Sacrifice
Justifying grace is what you receive when you realise your need for forgiveness of sin, and you throw yourself at Jesus' feet to obtain it. You know you can't get forgiveness by being a better person. You know you can't be pardoned just by confessing. The price for your sin must be paid, and you can't pay it! But you realise the wonderful truth: I don't have to pay for my sin. Jesus did that for me on the cross.
In the moment you believe that, God's grace flows and you are forgiven! Let's listen to some classic words from a Charles Wesley hymn when he discovered this truth: "He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me."
This is from his famous hymn O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.
Faith That Transforms
So when Wesley placed his faith in Jesus alone to forgive him - not his own efforts to be a good person, not his religious observance, but simply Jesus' sacrifice as the basis for His salvation - he burst into song! He realised that the punishment for his sin had been cancelled, and its power broken. He realised that he was no longer imprisoned by sin, but set free! He realised that his foul and awful sin had been washed away by the blood of Jesus, and he was forgiven.
Have you had this moment? Have you received God's forgiveness? Remember, His wooing you isn't enough. Your own conviction of sin isn't enough. Your sins need paying for, and Christ has done that on the cross - but you need to believe for that payment to come through!
That famous verse from Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9 sums it up: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."
He will justify you - in other words, remove the right penalty you should pay for sin - if you believe and receive the gift of His grace.
Grace Sets Free
Friends, don't live in the shadow of your past sin. So many people ask Jesus to wash them clean, but then they beat themselves up for past sins. Listen - His blood can make the foulest clean. If you believe and received His forgiveness, then you are forgiven. Full stop! In fact John Wesley wrote to a lady named Mary Cooke, towards the end of his life, in a letter, and said this: "The forgiveness of God is not like the forgiveness of man. When God forgives sin, he destroys it. He does not stand over the pardoned soul, keeping their former sins in a kind of suspended animation, ready to bring them forth again."
If He doesn't, neither should we!
Celebrate His saving and justifying grace today. And leave your sin where it belongs - in the past.
