Turn with me in your Bibles to Romans 8:29-30. How many are thankful for what God is doing in this place? I'm excited about it, I know the Lord is up to something in the next couple of months, you just get ready, God is about to break loose in this church like never before. I'm excited about the things he's doing, you can sense him doing it. How many will continue to be in prayer for this place and for what God has for everyone of our lives?
I want to speak a message to you entitled, "Justified". Romans 8:29-30 says, "For whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called and whom he called, these he also justified and whom he justified, these he also glorified".
Lord, we thank you for what you've done in this place this morning. May we decrease and may you increase and may your word have its way in us this morning, Amen.
Many people who are saved at one point or another struggle with their salvation. They've given their life to Jesus but wonder if they are truly saved. Some who know that they are, wonder why God would ever love and forgive somebody like them. The truth is I look back over my own life and I don't deserve a thing God did for me. There's so many things that I've done, so many places that I've been but I am thankful that I serve a Savior who came to set me free from sin and love me despite myself. How many of you have found that to be true about your own life? I've found that many wonderful, lovely Christians live with fear, doubt and guilt from their past. Many carry a guilt, what I call a deep soul sickness, because they doubt the forgiveness that God has given them and they have yet to embrace the freedom that they can begin to feel in their life because they don't believe they truly deserve to be forgiven.
In Revelations the Bible calls Satan the accuser of the brethren. Brethren implies that we are family, that we're Christians. I want to tell you that I love the family of God, I love this church. It was great to go back home last week and be in the church that I was in, and be with my family and watch my sister get married, and be with people that I grew up with and see that they're still serving Jesus. But I want to tell you, I love what God has done and put together in this church. I love the people of God, I love the friends and the family. There is no place in the world like Harvest Community Church. I love the people of God, I don't get to tell you that enough. You're supposed to tell your family that you love them and I want to tell you again that I love you, I really do, so much. I've watched the enemy accuse and beat on so many of my brothers and sisters. How many of you are tired of the devil? I love seeing people get healed at the altar, I love it when the Lord does a healing work, I love that he's powerful. Sometimes we think we have to grab the devil by both collars and shake him so we can beat the stuffing out of him but I love the power of God. How many have felt the gentleness of the Lord in this place and the devil was just raging against people and he couldn't touch the gentleness of God. I love that, God is so good.
The Bible calls Satan the accuser of the brethren. As a matter of fact in Revelations 12:10-11 it says, "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast out". How many of you are tired of seeing your family beat up by the enemy? He just wants to keep telling them they're no good, that they're not worthy, that they're ugly and stupid, and that they are unforgiven. How many are tired of the devil whispering those things in people's minds? It says this, "And they (our brothers and sisters in Christ) overcame the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony".
I Want to tell you this morning that we are overcomers and conquerers in Jesus because of the power of what Christ did when he saved you and me. I'm tired of the enemy accusing people. God said he gave us all the power through Jesus Christ, the anointed one. His anointing set us free from that voice of the enemy. The word "accuser" is someone who charges us with an offense, like a prosecuter and a persecuter. Satan comes and accuses us of all our wrongs and reminds us of every mistake that we've ever made. The word "accuser" literally means to throw down, no holds barred. Some people right now are in the throwdown of their life with the enemy. It's one thing to get beat up by somebody wearing a glove but it's another thing to get beat up without the gloves.
We've been playing with the devil far too long, he's in a throwdown for people's lives, no holds barred, bare knuckled, ready to just beat on people all the time. Some of us in this place this morning are in the throw down of our life, the enemy has not just been beating on you physically giving you sickness and trying to deal in your family but he's been speaking to your mind just accusing you day and night, whispering and yelling those words of accusation. The truth is that Satan shouts in our hearts and our minds that we're not worthy of what Jesus did, to tell you you're unholy and dirty, foul and corrupt, hateful words that are piercing the souls of men and women everyday.
Some of you have been in the throwdown of the week, satan has been lying to you. Some of the accusations he's said to you are actually true and have merit but there's not one person in this room that's perfect. The enemy will remind you that you did this, you did this and you did that, you felt this way, you were going through this thing, you were having this problem and you blew it. How many in this room blew it at least once this week? Doesn't it feel good to get it off your chest trying to walk around feeling like you've been perfect all week when you haven't been? The truth is you haven't been.
God was dealing with Pastor Ralph this morning that we can't live this life on our own, he had no idea what my message was about. How many of you have been trying to live for Jesus all week and you couldn't do it in your own strength anyway. You can't, it's impossible, that's why Jesus lives in us and works through us and is there for us. Today many people are living with a persecution complex because they've been assaulted day and night by the enemy and I want to declare to you today that you don't need to put up with that any longer. You don't need to listen to him, you don't need to believe what he's saying, you don't need to internalize it and take it.
Justification, we've been justified, it's a legal term. It describes what Christ has done for us and the truth is that Jesus Christ has done a deep abiding work in what he did for us on the cross and when we accept him as our Savior it's powerful. There are 3 things that Jesus does for us. Number one, he forgives us of our sins. How many of you today have ever sinned in all your life? How many know Jesus as your Savior and you know that you've been forgiven? He comes and he sets us free when we confess our sins.
The second thing Jesus does is remove all guilt from our lives, both as an accusation that we're guilty even if there is fact that we've done something wrong and as a feeling of remorse so we don't have to live in that guilt and shame all our life. Listen, I am not proud of the things that I've done in my life. There are things I?ve done that I've been ashamed of but God came and changed me and the reason why I can stand before you today and preach about the love and power of God is because everyday I don't have to struggle inside with the fact that I blew it. I gave my life to Jesus and the truth is I am no longer guilty, he forgave me.
Here's the third thing that Jesus does, he removes all the guilt and then he declares us righteous. No judge can do that. Righteous means this, that there is not a stain or a spot on the record, It's as if nothing ever happened. Back to Bethel Park, PA there was one time in my life when I really got into trouble with the police. After church I thought we were headed to the Pizza Hut and some of my friends had seen the movie "Stand by Me" and they decided they wanted to play mailbox baseball. I'm 18 years old, they thought it would be fun to hit the neighborhood right by the police station. How many know that teenagers are not the brightest in all the world? So they drove down the street hitting mailboxes right after church on Sunday night because we were good Christian boys and girls. I didn't go to jail but I did help pay a fine and the truth is if for some reason I were arrested in Bethel Park today they could probably go back in the computer systems and find my record. Listen, when you and I sin and God declares us righteous, there is no more record.
I want you to remember this, the Bible says that love keeps no record of wrongs. The reason we can stand justified when the enemy begins to accuse us and we remember what we've done is because God has no record of it anymore if you've given your life to Jesus. When we ask for forgiveness, the Bible says in Psalms 103:12 , "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us". You'll never find your sin again. When the enemy sits there and is blasting in your brain, you need to understand that If you have asked for forgiveness and God has set you free that you no longer have to put up with the accusation because he has made us righteous, we are free. The enemy has no legal claim against us when we belong to Jesus. I want to tell you, Christian, that we need to grasp that because everyday the enemy is trying to stake legal claim in your life and in my life. He's got no business coming back for it because it doesn't belong to Him. If you are a Christian you are no longer condemned and you are free and forgiven.
Romans 8:1-2 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death". That means the enemy may want to drag me down, he may want to destroy my life by reminding me of everything bad that I've ever done but the truth is If I'm living for Jesus he has nothing that makes any difference. There's no condemnation if you walk after the spirit. The truth is you can be not guilty but If you decide to break the law you can be guilty again. How many know we need to keep living in the spirit and not in the flesh? We need to make sure we don't give the enemy any ammo.
The Bible lists several ways that we can know we are justified in Christ. Some of you have been getting beat up by the enemy left and right. What God wants you to know this morning is that you can be free from dealing with that. God wants you to be able to walk not only in spiritual wholeness but in the natural, in your emotions, mind and thoughts with the truth about what God's word says about you.
The first thing that we need to do to make sure we cultivate a life of living not guilty is to realize that we are justified by our faith, that when the enemy comes in we have put our trust in God. Romans 5:1-2 says, "Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God".
Listen, how many of you today believe that what Jesus did on the cross is for you? The first step toward living in that freedom and not living in guilt and not allowing that voice to disrupt you everyday is to know that you have put your trust and your hope in God. Galatians 3:11 says, "That no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith". This faith deals with what we believe and we're justified when we trust in God and when we receive his forgiveness and live what we believe. Our faith in God produces his righteousness in us that we are not guilty, that there is no stain, that there is no record, that there is nothing the enemy can ever hold against us. I want you to hear me, some of you have been in that battle but you overcome that in faith by trusting what God's word says about you.
Romans 1:17 says, "For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written the just shall live by faith". We are justified because we take God at his word. How many of you would rather take God at his word than the devil at his word? The reason we do it is because we trust what God says is true and what he says is right, instead of accepting Satan's accusations and lies. Why is it that we as believers are far more prone to listen to that voice in our head and in our heart that tells us we are no good and we are wrong than to trust the word of God that speaks the truth?
I want to encourage you Christian, by faith put your trust in Christ, to know that his word is for you. Instead of accepting Satan's slurs and accusations we accept the promise of all that God has for us with salvation. The Bible says that we do this from faith to faith. What does faith to faith mean? That means that every time those voices start talking, every time those feelings start welling up, every time that discouragement comes in, every time that feeling of worthlesness comes in, every time that feeling of hopelesness comes in, from faith to faith we trust God. That means we make that choice and that decision every time to believe his word, from faith to faith. Tell your brothers and sisters to keep the faith, we need to cheer them on.
The next way that we're justified is by grace. Titus 3:4-7 says this, "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he pured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by his grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life". Grace is the favor of God that is undeserved and unearned.
This morning someone asked me how I'm doing. How many of you have found out my standard answer? I'm blessed. Why? The blessing is the favor of God. How many of you walk in the favor and the blessing of the Lord? The truth is we do, we just have to live like it. God has already given us his favor and his blessing, even when it doesn't feel like we're living in the blessing of God, the truth is we are living in the blessing of God.
I want to tell you that by his grace he saved me. A few years back before I became a preacher, my life was pretty messed up. It was confused, I was making the wrong choices, I was doing the wrong things but God still loved me. It was great to go back home and be able to preach. Sitting in the congregation on Sunday night was my 7th grade teacher who put me more in the hallway than in her classroom. Eleanor Williamson, she is a saint of God. In her first year teaching she should have run screaming from the schoolhouse. She used to look at me and say, "Marvin, I know I had to put you in the hall because you keep disrupting this class but God has a plan for you and he loves you. So help me I'm going to be a part of making sure that you get what he's got for your life". So here I am last Sunday night preaching, been in the ministry 17 years and there's Eleanor Williamson. She was smiling, "I told you God had a plan for you. I wasn't going to give up on you, God had a plan for your life. You were like demon possessed in 7th grade but glory to God". She's going in front of the Assemblies of God this week for an interview to get her ministers license.
The truth is this, Jesus loved me even when I was messing up. He put people in my path to care for me. It's by his grace that I'm saved, I didn't deserve any of it. I look at the enemy beating on other people and sometimes the enemy is right, you don't deserve it, but even though I didn't deserve it, Jesus came and did it. Saved by grace, justified by his grace. We're guilty, we're wrong and God reaches out to us gently, powerfully, in the midst of our vulnerability, he wonderfully saves us. It's by faith that we receive his grace and then he begins to do three things for us. 1st Corinthians 6:11 says, "And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God". His grace is enough. When I was 20 years old and making stupid decisions his grace was still there reaching out.
Church, I pray that we will never forget the grace of God that comes and touches us. The truth is sometimes you're looking at your kids, sometimes you're looking at your friends and they're all messing up. Instead of criticizing them, remember you've been there and here comes the grace of God that begins to wash up the mess that I made and begins to set me apart because of his goodness and his grace. I'm so thankful for Jesus, for the grace of God that comes and touches. I want to tell you, the enemy is beating on so many people right now, and the reason as your pastor why I don't have a problem counseling and dealing with people is because God counseled me through a lot of things and still is. When God comes in, the grace of God is so wonderful. People like Miss Williamson who gave that same grace to me. We become justified not because we deserve it but because God wants to do it. Listen, I am blessed because I have been justified, I've been washed and set apart. I made a mess, I couldn't clean my own self up. How many of you are thankful for God the Father? How many of you parents had to clean up your own kids after they made a mess? But we were washed. He made us holy.
The next way that we're justified is by our words. It is no surprise that one of the first things God works on is our mouth. The accuser of the brethren loves to use our own words against us. Matthew 12:37 says, "By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned". On Wednesday night we were singing this song, "Oh be careful little mouth what you say, Oh be careful little mouth what you say, for the father up above is looking down in love, oh be careful little mouth what you say". Have you ever noticed that your own family members are great lawyers? "But dad, you said..." How many know many times they're right? Everybody is a lawyer. How come you want to shoot all the lawyers but then you act like one? I don't get it. Many times the enemy has tried to make me eat my own words even after preaching. How many know we just need to be real? Get real because the truth is our words do us in a lot but we're justified. We must use our words carefully so Satan can't use them against us.
I want to encourage you, Christian, because words reveal our character and those who are no longer guilty should no longer speak like a criminal or talk like they're guilty. I'm blessed, I'm not the same man that I was when I was 20 and making dumb decisions, doing dumb things. So I don't talk like that guy anymore though every once in awhile he tries to come out. How many know the old man always wants to show up? People ask me how I'm doing. I say I'm blessed because I am blessed. Everything in my life may not feel blessed, but I am. Everyone of us has trouble, everyone of us goes through things, everyone of us is going to have some things go on that we're not really excited about.
The enemy can just sit there and tell you you're no good and you can begin to confess that all the time. I don't want the enemy to have any of my words. We had a saying back at the ranch, "Quit using my words". Because any time the kids would do something wrong and I'd call them on it "But you said..." and they'd say, "Uncle Marvin, quit using my words". So I want to use God's words and begin to confess them. The enemy can beat me, you can tell me what you think you want to tell me, what you think I should hear and who you think I am but the truth is I know what God's word says I am, so I'm going to begin to declare it, I'm going to speak it and by faith I'm going to say what the word says and I'm going to live it because it's true.
Next, we're justified by our works. You say we're saved by grace through faith, not by works but those who are found not guilty must now live a life that is not guilty. James 2:21-24 says, "Was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works his faith was made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled which says Abraham believed God and it was credited to Him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only".
What does that mean? That means that you live not guilty. The reason why so many Christians are having a hard time with the enemy speaking words is because they're living a guilty man's life. If you're not speeding and a police officer pulls you over, you're not having a panic attack. But if you've been speeding and the lights go on and he pulls you over then you have reason to panic because you know you were wrong. The other day one of the Jupiter Police had great mercy on me. I was driving along doing 40 mph in a 25 mph zone. The cop just stood out in the middle of the road with his radar gun, didn't even need his car, just told me to pull over. He showed mercy, he gave me a warning but when he pulled me over he asked me if I knew I was speeding. I told him I knew I was speeding but I wasn't paying attention because I was talking, I'm guilty, I have no excuse". The reason I got a warning is because I didn't look at him and say "I wasn't speeding". Why argue? Some of you have been going 40 mph in a 25 in life and trying to justify what you're doing instead of living clean in the Lord. I'm justified by my works. The truth is if you're living right the enemy can't say anything. My record is clean, I'm not doing nothing.
The last way that we're justified is by his blood. Romans 5:9 says, "Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him". We're justified because Christ paid the price. The reason why when the devil is bashing on you and you come to Jesus and you feel such peace and love from Him is because Jesus is looking at the page saying, "There isn't anything there, you've been forgiven, washed in the blood of the lamb". His blood has set us free, that same grace of God. How many of you are thankful today for the blood of Jesus? I want us to remember that we're justified because he paid the price. When I show up at Busch Gardens with my kids, my kids do not hesitate to ride the rides. Why? Because dad paid the price. They don't hesitate to run through the park like they own the place because dad paid the price. When the enemy keeps coming up and telling you that you don't deserve this, you shouldn't have this, how dare you walk in forgiveness, how dare you not have turmoil everyday, you should be living everyday feeling guilty, feeling bad about yourself all the time. Some of you when you have a good day, you feel bad about having a good day. But the truth is this, when the enemy comes in I don't have to worry when he asks, "What right do you have?" I can say, "Because Dad paid the price and I'm clean".
I want to encourage you if the enemy has been beating on you, you've been justified because your father, your Savior has already paid the price and you're justified to live your life free, whole, and happy. Happiness doesn't come from anything else, you are happy because of Jesus. Some of you don't even know what happiness is anymore because you've been living with turmoil everyday. The truth is you are justified to live free because Christ paid the price and that's God's word for you today, you're whole and clean, in Jesus name.
