Feb 16, 2012
This edition of Radical Grace Radio is the beginning of a re-release of four programs that began with an episode that goes into Justification and Propitiation.
If I were to take a microphone with me right now out on the
street and ask Christians how important the forgiveness of sins is
to the Christian Faith, I’m certain that nearly all them would
agree that it is most important. But if I were to ask this
same group of Christians how is it that God forgiving sins amounts
to salvation, there would be all kinds of answers. The
problem with many of the answers is that too often what is said is
that salvation comes from either us having cleaned up our act, or
that we’ve quote “believed” unquote, and that these things are the
conditions we must meet in order to stand before the Holy and
Righteous God. On the one hand there are people who teach
that Salvation comes from obeying the law and that obedience is
rewarded by God with Salvation, while on the other hand more
Christians would teach that it’s by faith that we are saved and
that only by believing in Jesus Christ can salvation come to the
sinner.
But both of these definitions amount to the same thing. On
the one hand people who teach Works, called Pelagians, are
obviously teaching that we can manipulate God by obeying his law,
as if we could ever hold our many works over God that he would have
to owe us something in return. But, all too often the
opposite teaching, that we are saved by faith, is stated like
this: If you believe God and believe that Jesus Christ is
Lord and Savior, that’s ALL you have to do to be saved, as if you
can manipulate God by performing the ONE work that God will
accept. But scripture teaches us that no one will be
justified by works before God. So what gives?
The Bible talks about “salvation” in a different way, in terms of
being “justified”. Indeed, the Apostle Paul talks about how
God “Justifies the wicked”. But again, we have to be careful,
because a lot people would say, “oh, I know what Justified
means. “Just as if I’d never sinned”. Well, in this
program, as always, we refuse to talk down to people, but rather
would tell them the truth the way the truth really is. To be
Justified is something more than just forgiveness. Wicked,
constantly sinful people need more than forgiveness to make it to
heaven, and that’s what we’re going to talk about on this edition
of Radical Grace Radio.
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