I really can’t improve on the words of the catechism: “God justifies, or accounts righteous, penitent sinners who confess faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Even with the conviction that salvation is a process more than it is an event, I want to be clear that there is a point at which everything changes, when we confess our faith in Jesus Christ and God accounts us righteous based on his, not our, merits.
Sometimes this occurs in a dramatic altar call where we come forward at church to profess our faith. Other times, like in the case of Paul, it comes dramatically but unexpectedly. Other times it can creep up, and one day you realize that your doubts have been replaced by trust and your craving to meet God has been transformed into a craving to live for him.
I have often heard it stated that the measure of a church is not in decisions, but in disciples.
While it is true that the decision to confess our sin and follow Christ is only one step in the journey, we can’t lose sight of the fact that it is an essential step. It’s when the potential becomes actual, and the desire for eternal life becomes that new life that was desired.
God first wakens in us a desire for his righteousness, then he honors our penitence by accounting us righteous, then he shapes us into righteous people. That’s the journey. That’s salvation.
– Rev. Mark Fleming
This is part of a sermon/reading series in July-August, 2024, looking at some core Christian beliefs, along with distinctive emphases of the Methodist branch of Christianity.
The daily readings are my own, but they are loosely based on the topics covered in the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church. The column at the right contains the questions from the catechism and the sources it lists.
You can find the full catechism and other information about the Global Methodist Church at globalmethodist.org.
I invite you to join us for worship and other church gatherings at China Methodist Church and Forest Park Methodist Church.
Respectful conversation is welcome. Use the comment section at the end of this post.
From the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church:
19. How can we escape the wrath of God?
God justifies, or accounts righteous, penitent sinners who confess faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Romans 3:21-30 [All have sinned; justification is by faith apart from works of the law] Read it here
Romans 4:6-8 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”
Romans 5:6-11 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Ephesians 1:7-14 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s gracethat he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 2:3-7 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 5:5-10 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)and find out what pleases the Lord.
Colossians 3:5-17 [Put to death the earthly nature and let the peace of Christ rule in your heart] Read it here
1 Thessalonians 5:8-10 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
Confession of Faith IX* We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works or merit, but that penitent sinners are justified or accounted righteous before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe regeneration is the renewal of man in righteousness through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature and experience newness of life. By this new birth the believer becomes reconciled to God and is enabled to serve him with the will and the affections. We believe, although we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to depart from grace and fall into sin; and we may even then, by the grace of God, be renewed in righteousness.
55. How does God lead us to repentance?
God’s convincing grace awakens in us a desire to flee the wrath to come and enables us to begin to fear God and work righteousness.
Hosea 6:1 “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.
Micah 4:1-2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Habakkuk 2:4 “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness…”
Zechariah 8:20-23 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come,and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’”
John 16:8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment…
Ephesians 2:4-5 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 … yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.
Book of Doctrines and Discipline Paragraph 102 Read it here