Tag: Salvation

This is a simplified sermon based on a work by John Wesley

Based on Romans 4:5 – “To the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.”

Introduction

How can a sinful person be made right with God? This is one of the most important questions anyone can ask. Until we’re at peace with God, we can’t have true peace or joy in this life or the next. How can we find peace when our own conscience condemns us, let alone God who knows everything? What real joy can we have while God’s judgment hangs over us?

The Foundation of Justification

Let me explain how this all works:

Originally, humans were made in God’s image – perfect, holy, and pure. We were made to love God completely and live in perfect relationship with Him.

God gave humans a perfect law requiring perfect obedience. We were fully capable of following it.
But humans disobeyed God. Through Adam’s sin, death and separation from God entered the world. This affected all of us – we all inherited this broken relationship with God.

But God loved us so much that He sent Jesus, His only Son, to save us. Jesus became human to represent all of us. He took our sins upon Himself, suffered the punishment we deserved, and died to make things right between us and God.

What is Justification?

Justification is God’s pardon – His forgiveness of our sins. It’s important to understand what this means:

It’s not about making us actually righteous – that’s sanctification, which comes later.
It’s not just about clearing us from Satan’s accusations.
It’s not God pretending we’re righteous when we’re not.

Simply put, justification means God forgives our past sins because of Jesus’ sacrifice. He treats us as if we had never sinned, not because we deserve it, but because Jesus took our punishment.

Who Can Be Justified?

Here’s the amazing part – God justifies the ungodly. Not the good people. Not the almost-perfect people. The ungodly. The sinners. The broken. The ones who know they need help.
This is crucial to understand: You don’t need to become holy before God will accept you. In fact, you can’t. That’s backwards. God accepts you first, then begins making you holy.

How Are We Justified?

There’s only one requirement: faith. But what kind of faith?

It’s more than just believing facts about God.
It’s a deep trust that Christ died for your sins personally.
It’s believing that God loves you and gave Himself for you specifically.

This faith is the only condition for justification. You don’t need to do good works first. You don’t need to clean yourself up first. You just need to trust in what Jesus has done for you.
Why Faith?
You might wonder why God chose faith as the only requirement. One reason is that it completely eliminates human pride. When you come to God by faith:

You must look only at your own sinfulness
You can’t claim any goodness of your own
You must come as a sinner needing mercy
You can only rely on what Jesus has done

If you’re reading this and feeling the weight of your sins, here’s the good news: You’re exactly the kind of person God is looking to save. Don’t try to make yourself better first. Don’t wait until you feel worthy. Come to God just as you are – broken, sinful, and needy. That’s when you’ll find His mercy.

Don’t plead your good works. Don’t plead your sincerity. Don’t even plead your humility. Plead only what Jesus has done for you. If you feel completely unworthy of God, you’re exactly where you need to be to receive His grace. Trust in Jesus Christ right now, and you will be reconciled to God.