The Apostle Paul reminds us that “All HAVE sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).  I again emphasize that this Truth was written in PAST tense–“we HAVE sinned.”  This important fact must be factored in when determining how true Christians live their lives in these latter days.  Paul goes on to say that through God’s grace true saints WERE (at some point in the past) JUSTIFIED.  The words, “Being justified” (vs 24) is a present-perfect conjunction meaning that one is NOW justified, meaning that one was justified at a point in the PAST.  Another way of saying it is, “having been justified” (earlier).  The following verses prove this very important fact.  Justification means to have all of one’s PAST sins forgiven because of God’s grace (unearned favor).  Because of God’s grace, Christ died so that all of a salvation seeker’s PAST SINS could be forgiven at a point in time.  Therefore the expression, “being justified” perfectly describes the true saint who, having been (earlier) justified, is walking in righteousness and holiness that is necessary for salvation to be awarded as Paul tells us in Romans 5:21 and 6:22.  If he continues to sin his justification is nullified.  This is proved in Romans 2:13 where Paul states that only those who obey the Law “shall be (remain) justified” (in the future).  These are the true sons of God (Rom. 8:14).  Therefore, a particular manner of life must take place between the moment of justification and end of present life.  Obviously that manner of life involves obedience to God’s Law.

Paul tells us that “God has set forth (Jesus) to be the propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His (Jesus’) righteousness for the REMISSION OF ALL PAST SINS ….” (vs 25).  Notice that Jesus died so that the true God seeker can have all of his PAST SINS removed at a specific moment in time.  That moment in time is called CONVERSION.  Read A Moment in Time.  Key word–Moment.  This series proves that, at a particular moment in time, God justifies a true penitent by forgiving and removing all of his past sins, leaving him HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS–without sin.  All of his sins (transgressions of God’s Law–1 Jn. 3:4) are forgiven and forgotten.  In the eyes of God, when one is justified, one’s past sins NEVER HAPPENED.  At that point God sees the saint as holy, righteous and without sin–perfect.  The question then becomes: NOW WHAT?  This is the point where Satan steps in and lures God’s new child into one of his (Satan’s) counterfeit Catholic/Protestant churches.  This trick is easily done because the victim has never heard God’s Truth and has never studied His “fine print.”  He has heard only the perverted gospel preached by Satan’s false prophets who lead his false churches world-wide.  His servants are heard on radio and seen on television 24/7/365 declaring his false “truths” to the Biblically-ignorant masses who, knowing neither God nor His Word, believe what they are being told.  Back to NOW WHAT?

The answer to the NOW WHAT question depends on who is asked.  The typical churchite “knows” that, having been justified (cleansed of all PAST sins), he can now sin and get away with it.  As one lady said after having her accumulated sins removed, “Well, I’m good for another week.”  Others confess, repent, etc. on a daily basis.  A friend once told me he “saved them (sins) up” and got rid of them all at one time.  He did not say how many he accumulates before making the sin dump.  According to this universal church theological “truth,” church sinners have only one responsibility–not to stop sinning, but to repent of each sin.  From this “truth” was born the sin-repent cycle addressed earlier in this series.  How can God put up with this Satanic heresy?  According to sinners saved by grace, God’s GRACE blinds Him to what they do.  According to church doctrine, neither He nor Jesus is concerned about sin, in that Adam MAKES them sin and Jesus MAKES their sins go away.  As a preacher said, “God can’t see through the (Christ’s) blood.”  Another preacher said that trying not to sin is a waste of time, that church people are “nothing more than a society of sinners.”  And Satan smiles.

Concerning the universally popular “God’s grace makes sin irrelevant” theory, the Apostle Jude (4) wrote that certain ungodly men had crept into the church and had “turned the GRACE of our Lord into lasciviousness (a LISCENCE TO SIN), thereby denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”  These men taught that grace made sin irrelevant for church people.  It seems that Adam made sin inevitable.  However, by approving sin church people deny the lordship of God and Christ over their lives.  But they still have a god who directs their lives.  His name is Satan.  Just as the Serpent of Eden became Adam and Eve’s lord/god, their spiritual descendants have embraced him as the lord of their lives.  They have indeed “denied the Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ” lordship over their lives.”

However, if the one answering the NOW WHAT question is a true Christian, his answer will contradict the one given by the sinner saved by grace.  This person will say that once justification (total forgiveness of all past sins) has taken place, the saint (“holy one”) must keep sin out of his life.  He must “overcome” Satan’s “fiery darts” of temptation (Rev. 3:21/ Eph. 6:16) and “walk as He walked” during this lifetime (1 Jn. 2:6) by “purifying himself” (1 Jn. 3:3) by continuously “washing (himself) with the water that is the Word” (of God)–Eph. 5:26 until he “comes to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).  Then, according to Jesus, he must remain in that spiritual condition for the rest of his life (Mat. 10:22).  Admittedly, this is difficult because the world, including the church world, hates the true saint, hates the light he bears and therefore hates the One who gave the light–God.  Jesus told the apostles and all true believers/Law-keepers that the world would come against them, hate them, despise them and reject them.  Those of the world, including the worldly church, will do everything in Satan’s power to keep God’s remnant from walking in holiness and influencing others to follow their example.  L.J.