Justified By Grace, Not Works

Focus: Titus 3:5-7 - KJV

5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6. Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Romans 3:27-28

The beauty of the work of salvation done by Christ for mankind is that no other man had a hand in it to say that the justification he has is by his works or deeds. Truth is, all of our righteousness is like filthy rags before God. Each of us was present in Adam at the time he did the evil in the Garden of Eden and therefore we are as guilty as he is. The sacrifice of Christ was a complete total package of justification by His grace, going directly to the foundation of the problem to pay the ransom for the sin we committed. Hence, it is rather senseless for any to boast that his salvation was for his good works. It is the justification we have by the grace in Christ Jesus that has made us joint heirs with Him with the hope to live eternally.

The testimony about the gentile Cornelius was that he was full of good moral works. Yet, there was something critical that made it impossible for him to become joint heir with Christ. He was yet to receive salvation by the grace in Jesus Christ. Until Peter was invited to minister Christ to him and his household, they did not have the new birth that cleared the way for the Holy Spirit to rest on them. Saul of Tarsus, like many others today who assume they are doing great works to defend God by dealing with His ‘enemies’, would have assumed they had salvation, in their folly. But Saul did not get to receive eternal life until Ananias came to properly introduce him to the grace available in Christ Jesus.

It is important for us all to realize that there is an opportunity to live eternally. Such is made possible not by the abundance of good works we do of our own but first by the grace we receive unto salvation in Christ Jesus; and then by continuing to live by His good works for the rest of our lives on earth. No one has the ability to make himself heir of salvation. It is bestowed by the grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore be humble and sober to acknowledge the rock of our salvation, through whom we are heirs of God unto eternal life.

Please pray:

I thank you, Lord for making me a part of your family and an inheritor of your wellbeing. Let the grace I have in Christ work for me to the very end so that I may never forfeit eternal life, in Jesus’ name. Make me an example of the beneficiary of the grace unto salvation unto all men that all may come to the realization of your grace indeed in Jesus’ name. Make this day the beginning of the manifest glory of being your heir unto eternal life, in Jesus’ name.

Please share with others. God bless you.