Liberty from Guilt and Condemnation

Do you realize how rare it is to hear the gospel preached at a funeral?

Even preachers who believe the gospel often leave people with the impression that people are saved because they lived a good life or did the best they could.

We must remember that no one will ever be right with God by keeping the law, but through the Law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). The law of God, as it is expounded in the life of Jesus and in his teachings, nails every single one of us to the wall.

This takes us to the next section, Romans 3:21-26.

What does it mean to be justified?

Luke 10:29 points us in the right direction. This man did not want to change his way of living; he wanted Jesus to let him off the hook. He follows the pattern of our first parents who shift the blame in order to excuse themselves--justify themselves (Genesis 3:12-13).

Women's sins are often very subtle compared to men's (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28), so a sign of spiritual maturity in a woman is a growing sense of the depravity of her own heart.

What is expiation? What is propitiation?

The essence of modernism is: "You're a good person, and you can be better; follow the example of Jesus."

But the biblical gospel deals with humans as totally depraved creatures and centers on the gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ died as our substitute, shedding his own blood for our sins.