We Christians often display our truncated theology on bumper stickers. Like this one: ("Christians aren’t perfect … just forgiven") Seen on a t-shirt design: Are we just forgiven? Is that the only difference? We get to go free, our sins erased and nothing more? Consider how much more than forgiven we are: “The voice that spells forgiveness will say: ‘You may go: you have been let off the penalty which your sin deserves.’ But the verdict which means acceptance [justification] will say: ‘You may come; you who are welcome to all my love and my presence.’ “ —Sir...

"Justification is being counted by God as righteous with the perfect obedience and righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to my account." - 2006 Desiring God national conference, Tim Keller speaking on "The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World" SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Justification is …", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2009/03/10/justification-is/" });

"Before you can ever make a clean and unamended confession of your sin, you have to first begin by confessing your righteousness. It’s not just your sin that separates you from God; your righteousness does as well. Because, when you are convinced you are righteous, you don’t seek the forgiving, rescuing, and restoring mercy that can be found only in Jesus Christ." (p. 22) “Grace is for the willing and we only become willing when we confess not only the gravity of our sin, but our inability to deliver ourselves from it. Then our willingness opens to us all the sustenance...

C.J. Mahaney preaches: SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The precious privilege of adopted sons and daughters before our “Abba, Father”", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2008/07/06/the-precious-privilege-of-adopted-sons-and-daughters-before-our-abba-father/" });

“Our only hope for living the radical demands of the Christian life is that God is totally for us now and forever. Therefore, God has not ordained that living the Christian life should be the basis of our hope that God is for us. That basis is the death and righteousness of Christ, counted as ours through faith alone. On the cross Christ endured for us all the punishment required of us because of our sin. And in order that God, as our Father, might be completely for us and not against us forever, Christ has performed for us, in his perfect obedience to God, all that God required of us...

“You might think that you are unworthy to have such a great gift as union with Christ. Remember, however, Christ shed his precious blood to redeem you. That precious blood will enable you to miraculously advance in holiness through your union with Christ. Union with Christ is not a privilege you earn by your sincere obedience, or by your own attempts at holiness. Your union with Christ is not a reward of your own good works. Rather, union with Christ is a privilege that God gives to every Christian when they first become a Christian! Right when you enter into the Kingdom of God, you also enter...

By its nature, saving faith loves God and delights in God as the sum of all that could ever satisfy the soul. —John Piper, Future Grace , p. 252. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Saving faith delights in God", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2008/04/24/saving-faith-delights-in-god/" });

Today at Cornerstone School of Ministry we are studying perhaps the most important paragraph in all the Bible. It’s truths are so compellingly beautiful I can hardly contain myself; teaching God’s Word ignites my soul. Romans 3:21-26 is the paragraph in view, and verse 20 sets the stage. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Romans 3:20-26", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2008/04/17/romans-320-26/" });

He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews 9:26) SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Jesus has appeared once for all", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2008/04/15/jesus-has-appeared-once-for-all/" });

 How great the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure. His love and just wrath mingled in the greatest event in history, the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. This is what God did in Christ: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ...