JustificationSample

Many Christians live under the fear that they can lose their right standing before God; they assume that even though they are justified, they can eventually become unjustified. This kind of thinking is what produces fear and performative Christianity. But God did not call us to live out a performative faith. God wants us to bask in the joy of a new and eternal relationship with Him fueled by faith. The problem of the church in Galatia was that they felt that what they received by faith must now be kept and perfected by works; that what was received by the Spirit must be sustained by the flesh.
Galatians 3:3 NET
[3] Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?
Obviously, the Apostle was disappointed about the fact that the believers in Galatia, having received justification by faith in Christ, now sought to perfect their justification by human effort (seeking to be circumcised as a validation of their acceptance before God). This sadly is the situation of many believers; they are seeking to further validate their right standing before God by striving to perform. Yes, we must grow in sanctification and obey God, but nothing we will ever do will validate our justification before God apart from our simple faith in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews is one of my best books in the Bible; it is a master piece of theological work. A striking verse in the book is what we are about to ponder on:
Hebrews 10:14 NET
[14] For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy.

This is a breathtaking truth. It should cause your heart to race and make you scream in joy. Here is the gem: by the one sacrifice of Christ, every one who believes in Christ is made perfect before God forever. By Christ's work of redemption, we who believe are made right before God forever, not until our next errors and sin, but forever. There will never be a time when one who has believed in Christ Jesus and has become justified will become unjustified. We are made perfect forever by one offering of Christ. What a gift! What a gospel! You can't believe in this and not want to serve and love Christ.
The reason many struggle to love and serve Christ is because they are trying to earn what should be received as a gift. When we see the all-surpassingly beautiful gift of justification that we have received by faith in Christ, our hearts will be set ablaze with holy fire; a cold heart towards God has never really heard the gospel of God's grace. No one hears the gospel that God has justified him in Christ whose heart will not burn with love-fire.

We must never forget that the same grace that brought the Justification that came to us through faith is the same grace that will keep us in right standing before God till the very end.