FEB 6

Romans 5:6-9
Memorise Romans 5:9
“…being now justified by his blood…”

Recall the last time you did something wrong. Did you try to make excuses for it? Perhaps you did not complete your homework, and you tried to justify yourself to your teacher by saying that you had no time. Or perhaps you got into a fight with your sibling, and you tried to justify yourself to your parents by saying that it was your sibling who started the fight. Most of the time though, you will still be punished, for you did wrong, and error can never be justified with mere words or excuses!

How comforting it is, then, to know that when it comes to our salvation, we do not need to justify ourselves before God. Indeed, if we had to, we would most certainly fall short, for we are guilty of every single sin that we commit! Instead, we who come to Jesus for salvation are “justified by his blood”. The word “justify” here means to declare or to regard as just, innocent or righteous. Through the shed blood of Christ on the cross of Calvary, we have been declared innocent in the sight of God. We are pardoned of all our sins and accepted as righteous before Him. The righteousness of Jesus now covers us, such that as we stand before God, He no longer sees our sins, but sees the perfect sinlessness of Christ.

When that happens, it is like our slates are wiped clean before God. We are now forever saved from the wrath of God and will never be sent to hell, for we are now perfectly righteous in the sight of God! This is a precious gift that is freely given to us. We certainly did not deserve this, for we were all sinners, enemies of God. It is only through the unconditional love of God that He chose to commend His love toward us in sending His only begotten Son to come to die for our sins.

There is therefore no reason at all for us to boast or to be proud of our salvation, for it is entirely through the grace of God and through Christ’s sacrifice! Dear teen, you must thank the Lord daily for His wondrous gift of salvation, that you have been “saved from wrath through him”. This great doctrine of the gospel – the justification of a sinner by the blood of Jesus, will ground you and cause you to enjoy peace with God, and be strong to labour for the Lord. May you also not take His grace and forgiveness for granted, but instead strive to lead a pure and blameless life.

Thought: Salvation is in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone.
Prayer: Lord, I thank Thee, that through Thy grace, I can be justified.