God’s grace never changes. Our understanding of His grace is what changes. Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel discuss the trials a believer will go through. God has a purpose for the sufferings we endure. He has strength for the journey for whatever we are going through, He gives us substance in our faith. We just need to seek Him, through it all, and the Holy Spirit will give us revelation to believe. We must know God is faithful to His promises. He is who He says He is.

Where’s boasting? It is excluded through faith. Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel read Romans 4:1-3 discussing man’s inability to earn salvation. The law was not made void through the finished work of Christ; God forbid, the law is established by faith. The Apostle Paul preaches justification and how the law teaches the gospel. How was Abraham justified? We cannot glory in anything, but in the finished work of Christ. All Abraham had to do was believe for the promise of the Son, the promise of the land, and he believed in God’s redemption plan. Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel read Romans 4:1-2 discussing falling short of the glory of God. As believers, we can expect that we will fail, but we don’t have to get saved again. We must only repent. Looking at the great model of Abraham, the panel explains faith in human ability, versus faith in the finished work of Christ. Abraham discovered that the flesh can accomplish nothing and has no use, for we can only be justified by faith in Christ and Him crucified.

The law is good if men use it lawfully. Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel discuss law keeping, and the promise that overrides the Mosaic Law. All scripture is God given and profitable. There are benefits to the law. God exposes His nature and His character in the law, with types and shadows pointing to what Christ would be, and what He would come to do. Jesus said, I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.

We cannot work for justification, it is based solely on our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel are studying in Romans chapter three, discussing justification and its misunderstanding by much of the church. It is a legal decree. Justification frees us from the penalty of sin; then, the righteousness of Christ is imputed into us. This is how God has a continued relationship with us, for this is sanctification. When we have faith in Christ, we have eternal security. There is one condition for this eternity spent with Him, which is, a faith that remains anchored in His finished work and nothing else.

If all men are guilty before God, then what is God’s solution? Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel discuss obedience to the faith, which is righteousness without law keeping. Anything God reveals to any human being will be proven in scripture; if it cannot be, then it’s not of God. Justification is a necessity for all. It is a legal declaration, which frees us from the penalty of sin, and gives believers imputed righteousness of Christ. To experience justification, all we need is to believe in the finished work of Christ for our lives.

Where is boasting then? Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel discuss empty boasting and the pride in man that wrongly rises up. How do we make eternity spent with the Lord? We must only place our faith in Christa and His finished work. Everything we receive from God comes freely. We must boast in nothing of our own doing and merit. The Apostle Paul’s teaching on justification is very clear that faith in Christ is the only way we can stay in right relationship with God.

Everything we need was provided us at the Cross of Christ. Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel discuss the penalty of sin being paid for by Christ crucified, and the power of sin being broken at the Cross. Redemption is, entering into Christ’s victory. It is not our victory that brings us freedom from sin, for we cannot fast sin away nor pray sin away. Brother Joseph says, we cannot work sin out of our lives, but we believe sin away. It is not our victory, but Christ’s victory at Calvary. This is where we find true freedom from sin. We must be hidden in Christ, resting in His finished work and that alone.

Justification is not a license to sin. Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel discuss how the believer cannot earn justification. God’s plan is for the entire world, and those who come to Christ through repentance, is forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus. 1st John 1:9 reads, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. While all our sins, past, present, and future are covered through the atonement, we must still deal with sin when it arises, asking the Lord for forgiveness. Correct faith will always cause the believer to reject sin.

The greatest thing that can ever happened to a Christian who is trying to live for God is to have the revelation that you can’t. Today on The Message of The Cross, Pastor Loren Larson and panel discuss the true meaning of justification. Wrong actions, in the life of the believer, often times come because we have a wrong object of faith. Daily, we are faced with issues that self responds to, but we must understand how we are to die to self, and without God we can do nothing. We must not have confidence in our flesh, we are only confident because of our faith in His finished work. Brother Borg reminds us, we must know the depth of our depravity and our need for Him. God will use our failures to give us this revelation.