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Biblical truth is often quite beyond human understanding; it does not fit in very well with the way we think as human beings. God knew we would have a problem understanding divine truth so he sent a teacher, God, the Holy Spirit to help us understand what has been written in the pages of the Bible. In John 16:12-15, Jesus explains this to his disciples:

^“12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, because he will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you. ¹⁵ Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you.”

The following was sent out to his subscribers by Jeff Wells, the Senior Pastor at WoodsEdge Community Church in Spring, Texas and explores the beauties and wonders of God’s revelations to mankind.

Startling
August 7, 2019

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
Romans 4:5

This is startling! God justifies the ungodly? What do you mean? That makes no sense.

Yes, God justifies the ungodly. Not the godly – the ungodly. Why doesn’t God justify the godly? Because there are no godly. We’ve all sinned. But because he is full of grace and a merciful God, he will justify the ungodly person who:
Does not work. That is, he does not rely on his works.
But believes in him who justifies the ungodly. That is, he believes in a God who gives grace to sinners.

If we do that – not rely on our good works but rely on a merciful Savior – God will justify us, make us right with him.

But how can God do this? How can he declare ungodly people forgiven and justified? There is only one basis – the cross. Romans 5:6 says, “Christ died for the ungodly.” He paid for our sins and satisfied the justice of God.

I love this verse! Just love it.

This is so contrary to the human mindset of earning it, of performance, of being good enough, of religion. We are all affected by this mindset. It’s inherent in us from the time we are born. Earn it! Be good enough! Measure up!

Do you remember the end of the movie Saving Private Ryan? “I only hope I earned what you did for me.”

That’s the human mindset, and it’s embraced by every religion on the planet, including much of organized Christianity.

But it’s not the gospel. The gospel is not “earn it.” The gospel is the message of grace.

God justifies the ungodly.

© 2019 WoodsEdge Community Church. All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced for any non-commercial use.
http://www.jeffhwells.com/devotionals/

This email was sent by: WoodsEdge Community Church
25333 Gosling Rd
Spring, TX 77389

This is the Gospel, the good news the Church is to share with the world!