To those who feel or felt burned by their church (regardless of what church or denomination it is) by all the burdens put on you to do your part, this message is for you:
It is finished. Christ was crucified for your sins. It is fully by God's grace. There is nothing you can do, no matter how small part of yourself, to earn that. Not a whiff of law nor act of obedience on your part. Grace is not only God's unmerited favor for you, by what Christ did, but it is also to you. That is the Gospel. That is the Good News. It is for you. And to you.
Christ paid for your sins to win forgiveness for all of you, not contingent on anything you do on your part, not even faith. He didn't just provide forgiveness for you at the cross, but He also provide forgiveness to you, when it is given to you to believe and receive what He has done.
Rejoice and be glad what He did for you and to you. It is finished. You are forgiven. It is true today as it is yesterday. It is true even in your moments of despair as in when it is in you feeling high. God's word stands and remains objectively true whether we feel high or low. And His word says God loves you so much that He gave Christ for us and to us, when we were sinners.
He didn't die for you hypothetically. He died for you truly. It isn't contingent on how well we keep God's law, much less man-made laws. Christ kept God's law for us. He did it all that He may be our substitute in our place to suffer God's wrath for our sins.
We are free from needing to keep God's law (much less man-made laws) to find assurance that only Christ can give. Look to Him and Him alone, and He will give you peace. His peace.
Whatever you do out of faith, in obedience to God's law or as good works, God accepts not because we are less sinners. But He accepts them because He sees Christ in you.
That's right. Christ's righteousness is imputed to you. He sees you as righteous not by what you do. But what Christ did for you and to you. It isn't earned. Not before you receive Him, nor after you receive Him.
Hope in Him alone. His love for you in the most sacrificial terms is real, not merely hypothetical. Nor contingent on what you do.
Cast all your burdens and cares unto Him, for He who paid for your sins also rose again for you to have hope, and He promises to be with you always. Look to that promise you have in Him, where there is forgiveness, righteousness imputed unto you by His merits (not yours), and justification.
You truly are justified children of God. Christ made sure of that when He kept God's law perfectly and died in our place as the unblemished Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
He freely desires to justify you, not by anything you do. When you believe with repentant hearts what He did for you, you have that justification He won for. It is legal declaration that you are right with Him, even though you were and are sinners. It is given to you from outside yourself through His word that declares to you God no longer sees you as sinners worthy of death but sees Christ in you and by Him, you are justified.
He truly justifies you. And it is all because He loves you and desires to give you grace, peace and mercy unto you.
Rest in His love that He provides in Christ crucified and resurrected for you. There's your hope, there's your peace, there's your assurance. Look nowhere else for that.
Here we stand.
Great stuff brother
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