Choose Faith!

Finding Acceptance

Yes, those are mustard seeds; a representation from scripture of faith.

Justification – all of us were (and are) on an equal standing with God before He rescued us. I remember how we were imprisoned by sin SO THAT he could show His great mercy to us.

Our justification is a gift to us from God. Once again, the “universe” is equalized. We are once again on an equal playing field. Only now this equal field has nothing whatsoever to do with us. It is only because of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice that we are justified before God.

We are justified as a gift by His grace.

1. As a gift

2. By His grace

See? Nothing to do with us.

He is the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So what is our part? Have faith! (Rom 3:26)

We cannot justify ourselves, so we are wasting our energies to try to perform properly to gain anything from Him.

Either we accept His justification or we are NOT justified (made right with God).

When we try to justify ourselves, we lose our “rest” in Him. We are spinning our wheels with NO result – to no purpose – to no end.

I’d rather rest in His justification just as I have trusted in His grace. And this is done through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Sanctification – we are set apart, set aside. We belong to God as His people.

God is looking for “a people” to call His own – a precious possession.

We are His by His doing, not our own.

Just as we cannot justify ourselves, neither can we set ourselves apart. We would once again be striving and performing if we tried to sanctify ourselves. We must allow ourselves to be sanctified through faith.

Grace through faith.

Justification through faith.

Sanctification through faith.

Notice a theme? We must have faith!

Where do we get faith? That is also given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We have nothing that we have not been given. He gave us a measure of faith with salvation.

We acquire more faith by hearing His Word. Our part is in the hearing of the Word. We must read, and hear His Words to gain a greater measure of faith.