Let's study the word justified, its definition, what it means to us as believers, and what God says about us being justified in His word. Let's first define the word, "Justified, according to the Webster Dictionary, it says to vindicate; to excuse, prove the justice of. Saints, do you realize what this is saying to us? "It is just like it never happened." Once you accept Jesus Christ in your heart, He has vindicated us, excused us for all our sins, past, present and future. Is that good news or what!

You know I have spent years not understanding being justified, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I didn't understand what the word of God was saying to me, concerning me being justified in Him. Out of twenty five years as a believer I spent most of it trying to justify myself, through my own goodness, works and performance. It's great to have goodness before God, but when we are trusting in our own goodness, works and performance, that's what stops God in our lives. We can't trust in our own goodness, or our own holiness, because it will become a big stumbling block in our walk with God. We need to put total trust in God's goodness, not ours. Isaiah 42:8 says, I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another. This is saying that God will not; under any circumstances let any human being get credit, or glory for what He has done, independent of us by grace, on that cross at Calvary. He absolutely will not share His glory with anybody. The truth is if you or I are seeking to be justified by any other means except faith in Jesus Christ, we are deceived. Anytime we add anything to Jesus, we have voided what Jesus did on behalf of us and the entire world.

If anybody thinks they can justify themselves by their own goodness, works or performance, to get God to move in their lives, they are just fooling themselves. It will never happen! All it will do is make that person frustrated, confused, and perhaps even angry when they don't see any changes in their lives. It's deception to believe that we could do anything more, to add to what Jesus Christ has already done for us on Calvary.

Romans 4:5 says, but to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. It says here that if we don't work, but just believe on Jesus Christ and what He did for us, we will be justified and it will be accounted to us as righteousness. God justified us separate from our sins; it was his will to do so. Our justification has absolutely nothing to do with us working to be justified. It says very plainly here that if it is our works, we can not be justified. God is the one who justifies the ungodly, and it is Him alone.

Let's talk about Abraham, in Galatians 3:6 it says, just as Abraham "believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness." It was his faith in God that Abraham was justified and called "a friend of God." He surely wasn't justified by his good works, or how perfect he was. If you read the story about Abraham in Genesis, you would see that He was very imperfect. He tried to say his wife Sarah, was his sister twice, to save his own neck. He slept with Hagar, at the request of Sarah, which He didn't have a problem with that either. He and Sarah ended up with an Ishmael instead of and Isaac. But yet, In Genesis 15:6 it says, He believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Can you believe God still accounted him as righteous, and justified him, even in his imperfectness? The fact is He received righteousness by grace, and was justified by faith. Abraham was blessed because of his great faith in God, not because he did it all right.

It works the same way with us today. There is only one prerequisite that is required. It is our total faith in God. Abraham believed in the goodness of God. The only way for us to partake of our inheritance, or righteousness, or justification is by our great faith in God, also.

The covenant that God made with Abraham would come through Abraham and his seed, Jesus Christ. It was the covenant of Grace, which took place 430 years before the Law of Moses. This covenant between God and Abraham was sealed, never to be added to, or altered or broken. It was a covenant of Grace, not Law. So this must mean there wasn't any outward act of circumcision, or any other prerequisite to right standing with God. Saints! We don't have to work or have any prerequisite either; it's all about our faith in God. Our right standing in God is total faith in what Jesus Christ purchased on that cross at Calvary. Jesus plus something =nothing. Jesus plus nothing =everything. . Abraham was made righteous by the grace of God, a gift of God and the faith of God.

Saints! We need to realize that we are already justified and made righteous by faith, the same faith as Abraham. God never looked at Abraham mistakes, but he honored his heart. He honored his great faith in God. We are totally justified now, through Christ, His accomplishment, His finished work on the cross of Calvary.

God is not looking at our mistakes either, but it says, in John 4:24, he is looking at man through the eyes of the spirit. He is looking at the heart of man, and his great faith toward him, as he did Abraham.

Galatians 3:11, 12 says but that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith." Yet the law is not of faith but the man who does them shall live by them. This is saying very clearly that no one will be justified by our own self righteousness, trusting in our own goodness, or any works, performance. Galatians 2:21 says "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes, (justification comes) through the law, them Christ died in vain.

The church as a whole is preaching self-righteousness, by what you need to do. Preaching that God moves in your life in proportion to our goodness, that Jesus alone is not enough, this is absolutely wrong! The church is not preaching the purity and simplicity of the Gospel of Grace. Grace is not a subject or doctrine; it is a person, Jesus Christ

Romans 3:28 says therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

Under Law: You have to obey to get God's blessings

Under Grace: God blesses you in everything in Jesus Christ, and those blessings empower you to obey.

Saints! We are in right standing with God, through faith in Him

YOU ARE JUSTIFIED NOW!