Devotions

The strongest feature of true, saving faith is a desire to draw closer to him. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18, NKJV).

Why did Jesus suffer and die? Why did he provide justification for us? Why is his perfect righteousness accounted to us? It was that he might bring us to God. It’s all about intimate fellowship with the Father.

When Adam sinned, he lost the most precious thing any man or woman could possess: intimacy with God. Sin drove Adam away from closeness with the Father, and he actually hid from God’s presence. Ever since, whenever man sins, he has a tendency to run and hide just as his forefather Adam did.

The reason God so hates sin is because it robs us of his fellowship. He created us for intimacy with him, and he so yearned for our fellowship that he sent his own Son to die on a cross, to justify us and tear down the walls that blocked that intimacy from taking place.

The power of justification is that it made a way back to God’s original purpose in creating man: fellowship with the Father.

This present world is full of evil, slander, satanic lies, seductions, guilt, fear, condemnation; all of it is designed by Satan to keep us feeling unworthy to come into God’s presence. The devil would have us hide as Adam did to keep us from intimacy with God.

We have been delivered from all that. We have a right to God’s presence, an invitation to his throne, because we stand with a perfect righteousness before him. God invites us to the throne of grace because he accepts us as being holy in Christ. Our sin is under the blood, forgiven, and now we have a right into his holiness.

Beloved, Jesus did not die just to take you to paradise. He died so that every day you could live in beautiful, close fellowship with the Father.

Paul did not speak of having faith until he had lost all confidence in his flesh. He took all his education, self-confidence, abilities, doctrines and zeal and cast them aside. He spoke of faith only after he had said, “I cannot trust my flesh.” The same is true for us.

Before anyone is capable of true faith, he must come to a sense of how lost, helpless and utterly hopeless he is. We do not have saving faith until we come to the end of believing that someone or something other than Jesus can save us.

Saving, justifying faith involves submitting your life to Christ with all your heart. It includes a repentance that says, “Jesus, I have got nothing to offer you. I come to submit to your lordship!”

In Romans 10:9, Paul characterizes saving faith as believing with your heart and confessing with your mouth. He is saying that faith is more than merely giving mental assent. Rather, it is submitting your whole life to him with all your heart.

In Acts 8:37, Philip said to the eunuch, “If you believe with all your heart …”, and the eunuch replied, “I believe…” This was not simply a mental “yes” to Jesus; he really believed with all his heart, and he was saved.

In contrast, Simon Magus believed Peter’s preaching, yet he had only a temporary faith because his heart was not in it. Indeed, multitudes of people in Jesus’s day believed temporarily in the name of Christ, but Jesus would not commit himself to them because he knew their hearts were not fully committed (see John 2:23-24).

So, you ask, who is truly justified by faith? It is the one who knows he is lost and helpless, and he has tried everything and failed. Now he commits his whole life into the Lord’s hands with all his heart, mind, soul and strength. He cries out, “Lord, I am yours! You are my only hope.” He is saved!

Let me give you the heart of the true grace message: It is not a permissive gospel but one that teaches holiness!

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13, NKJV).

According to Paul, we are not walking in grace until we have broken from worldly corruptions. Unless we are endeavoring through the power of the Holy Spirit to lead godly and righteous lives, looking for the Lord’s coming in our every waking moment, we do not know God’s grace.

Many Christians want forgiveness, but that is all. They do not want to be delivered from this present world because they love it. They are attached to their sins, not wanting to give up the pleasures of this earth. So they cling to a doctrine that says, “I can live as I please as long as I say that I believe.”

They do not want to hear about obedience, repentance, self- denial, picking up their cross, taking on the yoke or burden of Christ. They simply want to be excused on Judgment Day and to have all their iniquities overlooked. They expect Jesus to open up the pearly gates, put his arms around them, and lead them down a golden street to their reserved mansion, even though they have never broken from the spirit of this world!

Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). We are to break from this world completely and be conformed to Christ alone!

Jesus justifies us through faith for a purpose. It is to embolden and empower us to resist the devil and overcome the world. “[Jesus Christ] gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4).

My friend Eric had a very hard childhood. His father told him repeatedly, “You’re no good, and you’ll never amount to anything.” 

As Eric grew older he turned to drugs. “I was a terrible addict,” he says. “I mixed together all kinds of things that could have killed me. I was even terrible at being an addict. My needle would break, or I would be short of cash to feed my habit. I felt like a total failure.”

Eric’s life became a complete mess. His addiction drained him of every penny, so he decided to rob a convenience store to buy more drugs. He pulled out a gun and shouted, “Everybody up against the wall!” The store was so crowded that all the people couldn’t fit against the wall. Confused, Eric ran away.

In despair, Eric eventually resolved to shoot himself with the shotgun he had used for the attempted robbery. However, he dropped the gun, and it misfired, wounding him in the side. As Eric drove himself to the hospital, he thought, “I’m such a miserable failure I can’t even kill myself.” After being treated for his wound, Eric walked the streets in total despair. Deep down, he cried out to God, “Are you there at all? Is there any reason for me to keep living?”

Eric heard a voice say, “I’m sending you a love letter.” Somehow Eric knew it was the voice of Jesus. As he sat on a curb with rainwater trickling along the gutter under his legs, he noticed a small booklet floating toward him. Picking it up, he saw that it was a tract entitled, “There is Hope for the Drug Addicted.”

The tract was published by a group called Victory Outreach. Eric found their address, went to them and gave his life to Jesus. Soon he was delivered from his addiction. He gave up every habit, including his belief that he was destined to be a failure. Jesus made Eric a new creature in every way.

This young man had thought his life was over, but it had just begun. He had been blind to the resurrection life that Jesus had been planning for him all along. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, ESV).