Where is the Confession by Joe La Bianca

Where is the Confession by Joe La Bianca

Where is the confession of our sin in the gospel? How does one admit they fall short of the glory of God by belief in the cross? It’s built in, for to believe in the Savior is to believe you need saving. When I tell people that all they must do to be saved and to stay saved is to believe the Savior, many love this message, but not a lot of so-called Christians. Read this verse from Paul about works:

Romans 3: 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

So the law silences mouths because all have sinned. We should never open our mouths to say we have obeyed the ten commandments. We fall short of righteousness. The law should make us confess that we are sinners; it should not bolster our pride. We must use the law correctly. The law of Moses and of the heart condemns us and leads us to Jesus for forgiveness. We should never think we fulfill it. That’s what Jesus did.

20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

To uphold God’s law is to agree that we are sinners. It’s to let the law do its job in convincing us we need Jesus. To be a sinner doesn’t mean that you are not a good earthly person. God loves when people obey the rules of society and love each other. You may be among the best people on the planet. To be a sinner means that we fall short of God. God just wants us to admit that we fall short of His glory. When we do this, and then trust in Jesus His only Son, God takes away all our guilt. In fact, believing in Jesus implies that we disbelieve in ourselves. When you trust the cross, you are then one with God, without spot or blemish. You do not fall short of the glory of God when you believe in Jesus as Savior.

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. There is in existence a righteousness from God apart from law.

Did you hear that, Christian? Stop trying to establish your own righteous and by doing so, insulting the righteousness of God. The old covenant subjected us to the pseudo righteousness of law, but the new covenant focuses now and forever on the righteousness of God. Simply put, the righteousness of God is something apart from our obedience to commands, it’s just believing in Jesus as our Savior. That’s when God considers us righteous. That’s when we are given the qualification for Heaven.

22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

When Paul said there is no difference, he meant between the holiest Jew and the most sinful Gentile. There is no difference in God’s eyes. All are sinners. If someone is socially perfect, he is still a sinner to God. Loving our neighbor does not take away our sin. Only faith in Jesus does that. The goodness of God comes by faith in Jesus on the cross. There is no difference between the best person and the worst. We all need Jesus.

24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

The free grace of God justifies every believer. Redemption comes by Jesus. This is because He bought us back from sin and death on the cross. Our lives of obedience could never do that. Jesus is the Way, not our good works. We do not earn salvation for it says right here that it’s free. To enter a life of obedience for salvation denies Jesus!

25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-

God presented Jesus. God made Jesus the sacrifice of atonement. If you confess that you need atonement, then Jesus can profit you. God left the sins committed before Jesus was presented unpunished. God is very fair, and this truth demonstrates this fact. God leaves sins unpunished!! Says so in the Book!! Thank you God for leaving my sins unpunished. Thank you, Jesus, for taking that punishment! I love you so much!! Now, please take my gratitude. It’s all that I can really give.

26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

God is fair right now. He doesn’t punish sin until Jesus is presented. Then after Jesus is presented to you, God invites you to believe. God is a gentleman. God is just in every way. So come alongside the gospel message through faith in Jesus Christ. Be on the right side once the sides are made clear. Don’t reject this good news of complete forgiveness by grace, or God will remember your sins.

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith.

Okay. Here it is. Paul asked, “Where is boasting?” In this simple Christian faith, there is no boasting about who we are and what we do for God. It is excluded because of grace. Boasting is not excluded on the principle of law because law implies commandments and obedience. We can boast about how good we are in the law, but not in grace. Jesus is all about grace not law. Grace is free forgiveness by faith in the Savior. How can anyone boast about that? Obviously they cannot. So Paul is teaching that we are unable to brag that we are good people who deserve to go to Heaven. We can only be thankful that God saved us sinners when He sent His Son to die for us.

28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Paul maintains it. He doesn’t just stop at grace as so many do. Paul upholds the idea that we are made completely innocent by just believing in Jesus apart from the observance of commandments. What do many Christians do? They get saved and leave grace. They get saved and try to keep salvation by works. Many try to support this error by quoting from the book of James. However, James did not understand this message of grace without works. It’s clearly seen in his little book. This is because God did not give the messages of grace to James, John or Peter. He gave it only to Paul. So if you want to understand the Bible you must rightly divide the word of truth. You cannot take verses from just any book and apply it to our grace dispensation. James and his bunch were still following the law. They were in a transitional stage, but now the old is faded away so that the new covenant of just believing can shine forever.

29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

Back then, the Jews thought they were the only children of God. They thought that they were chosen in and of themselves. But they were chosen to bring Jesus into the world. And what did the majority of them do when Jesus finally arrived? They rejected Him and went on believing that they were chosen. Paul says here that God is the God of all, not just one group. The one group was picked for the benefit of the whole. Sadly, the once chosen have become the ones on the outside. Pray that they can turn from unbelief and trust in Jesus the only true Messiah.

30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

See? Everyone is justified by faith, whether Jew or Gentile. We all must come apart from the law. This necessitates a change in the polity of the Jews, for to believe in Jesus is to cease trusting in Moses, commandments, priests, sacrifices, days, months and years!

31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Like I said previously, to uphold God’s law is to agree that we are sinners. It’s to let the law do its job in convincing us we need Jesus. So uphold the law by letting it drive us to Christ. The law says that we are sinners. We need to believe this about ourselves in order to trust in a savior from sin. Jesus is the Savior from sin. Jesus is the Savior from what the law will do to us. The law condemns, Jesus acquits. Where is the confession? Who will admit that they cannot do it, that they are bad? Those who will admit it receive the very goodness of Jesus Christ Himself. We are then qualified to be with God!


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