JUSTIFICATION

         
          So far, we've looked at the first four steps in the Biblical Order of Salvation -
     ELECTION, THE CALL, REGENERATION, AND CONVERSION.

          The next step is JUSTIFICATION.

     Justification is a right legal standing in God's eyes.
     It is the instantaneous legal act of God in which He:
     1) Thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as
          belonging to us and
     2) Declares us to be righteous in His sight because of Jesus' atonement on the
         cross for us.

          Because we broke His law, we were guilty before God, but Jesus' death paid the
     price for our (His people)sins.

          God put our (believers) sins on the sinless Jesus and imputed His righteousness to us,
     making us just in His eyes.
          "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we
     might become the righteousness of God"  (2 Corinthians 5:21).

         
          We are justified by faith, which is a gift from God.
     "...yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in
     Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith
     in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified"
     Galatians 2:16).

          "So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified
     by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus
     you are all sons of God, through faith" (Galatians 3:24).

           Every one of God's children has been declared not guilty because of Jesus' atonement
     for them on the cross.

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