The Devotional - 095 - Are you Justified

A Thought for the Day – 095 – Are you Justified

 

Proverbs 22: 20 – Ever go to a banquet and run into someone who has had a bit too much to drink or eat? If you have said no to this question; then you do not know a “winebibber”. Even though these folks may seem funny or polite; God has said, do not mingle with them for the reward of their activity is poverty. These gluttons of wine and food are an abomination to God.

 

Comments and challenges

I always start out thinking that this will be just a short devotional, but that is not always the case; yesterday was a short one; who knows what today will produce?

We recently have shared or devoted our thoughts in justification and sanctification of those folks who are “in Christ” but what about those who are not? Most of this sharing has focused on “faith” and faith is certainly one of the most important doctrines in the Holy Bible. Faith it central subject in Justification: “Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” Acts 16:31 “you and your household” completes the verse but not the context that incorporates this moment in time. Acts 16:25-34.

I don’t know about you, but have you ever heard all of the whining over this portion of scripture? How is it that the Philippian jailer and his family; or for that matter all those Philippians that the apostle Paul writes to in his epistle later in his ministry are saved. These seem so devoted to the LORD Jesus. How is it that my family is not saved, how is it that I am the only one out of the other thirty five in our overall family that is saved?

Let’s take a brief look at the context of Acts 16:25-34. Have you ever been in a great earthquake? If your answer is no like mine, then we really do not know the conditions surrounding the Philippian people. Some of us have witnessed being in a tornado and the destruction to one community and not the other, so it is with an earthquake. Some areas are heavily damaged and others are not. Well this is just a brief on some of the surrounding conditions when terror strikes and events like earthquakes hit.

The first thing we see is that God uses these events in people’s lives to reveal His glory. The glory of God is to reveal His love, yes I said love! Love for the unsaved Philippian jailer, the men in the jail and love for the unsaved people at Philippi including the immediate family of the jailer. Many of whom over the course of rebuilding their city heard the message of the gospel as it spread through the city and believed. Like tornadoes, earthquakes are no small event Romans 8:22.

With all of the opposition growing against Paul and Silas the devil thought his anger was sufficient to destroy the message of the gospel, but God is greater. The one thing that we should always remember is that when people come to be saved as those in Philippi, Satan become very aggressive and it is sometimes necessary at move on as Paul and Silas did. But the church of Jesus Christ was established in this city and as it turns out it is church called the “faithful” church in Revelation 3:7-13.

You see it is events like earthquakes and severe storms that can bring “one or several; even a whole community to believe in the Gospel of God, but do not be naïve or simply afraid to think this through. It does not a take a traumatic event to know and believe the gospel of God. All it takes is… now as Charles Stanley would say: “NOW WATCH THIS! “Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and you will be SAVED” This is justification! Or we could say this is the faith that God is looking for in you and me.

Our sins are removed in the death and resurrection of the LORD Jesus Christ. Note this: we are to put off those things that are seemingly lawful to do in today’s human earthquake of sin and to put on the love of God. You cannot do this without Christ, it is His Righteousness in His resurrection from the grave that God is pleased with and if you do not have His Righteousness abiding in you, you are dead to God; but on the other side of that, you are humanly alive to SIN, SATAN and HUMAN DEATH, which is eternity without God. 2 Peter 1:16-17

There is this song I love to sing: “Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine; we’ll understand it… Oh by and by!” and this is called “Sanctificating faith” Coming attractions, so don’t go away.