Justification Of Faith

By Odon Bulamba (31 January 2003)

Each country on this earth has a department of Justice, why? To keep the law and protect the people. Once the law is written it must be applied, but law that is written but not applied is a dead law. For God it is the same thing. We are going to look at Justification of faith.

Romans 5:1 says, since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.

If you are saved then you are justified by faith and not by works or knowledge. Many people on this earth think that to have faith is to have something material, like going to a shop and buying things. Then you get people who ask themselves, how can I have faith and how will I know if my faith is big or small? Sometimes people doubt their faith, so before being justified by faith you have to know what is faith? What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

A student will not waste his time studying knowing that he will fail his exam. Students don’t know what questions are in their exams, this is why they study because by studying they are assured of knowing the answers, but a student who doesn’t study will start eating his pen. A student must prepare for his exams, but the one who doesn’t prepare will start to doubt, will I pass or fail? These students lack assurance in what they do.

Faith is the same; it is to be sure of what we hope, it means to prepare for something that will soon be here, it is something personal. One day at primary school I fell sick and was unable to sit my tests, so I told my mum to sit it for me. My mum said that I was sick and that she could never sit my tests, but when the time came for me to be healed only then was I to sit my tests.

It is the same thing with faith, nobody will find faith for you or nobody will get you ready to meet Jesus Christ, whether you are white or black, rich or poor nobody will get you ready. Each Christian is called to know what faith is, so are you sure of what you hope for? Are you sure of what is coming soon? Are you sure that one day the Bible will come true? If you are ready you will sit the exam without doubt.

Faith grows with trials; if your faith is not tested it will not grow. Temptations or trials are what we call our exams.

Every exam has a time limit whether you are blind or lame. With justification of faith it is the same thing. If you can’t speak or hear this is your problem because God also has a limited time, this is why He asks us to prepare ourselves so our faith can grow.

Habakkuk 2:2-3-4 says and the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4Behold, his soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

The time for God to fulfill everything is not here yet, this is why He asks us to wait and trust in Him even if it seems a long time, wait patiently and it will be fulfilled.

In my country I had many houses and good things, but one day I left it all and had to go to the desert. I have never felt heat so intense before. You would swallow 100 flies while talking and the dust was unbelievable, this was a very hard life. I started asking God why He sent me here because this life was too hard, and sometimes I cried. We lived like this for 9 or 10 years. Do you know what God said? “Be patient.

Then I started asking God, when? Tomorrow? Next week? Next year? No! After this we then had to live as our ancestors did, chopping wood etc but later I understood that this was like justification by faith. God has a time and He will tell you to be patient until the end, it’s not just about suffering but being patient with everything around you. One day I went to the hospital to visit people with Aids, and you know that human beings view Aids as an impure sickness but for God Aids is nothing only sin is impure.

When I looked at a man with Aids he became furious and angry, so because he suffered from Aids he lost control and said things he shouldn’t have. Because of suffering some Christians complain to God and abuse those around them, some Christians even lose the faith. The righteous will live by faith but if you are not justified you will not live by faith. Many people say they are righteous when they have enemies, if you don’t live by faith ask yourself, am I righteous or not?

After Jesus’ resurrection He appeared to His disciples who had been fishing all night but caught nothing. So Jesus told them to cast their nets on the right not the left, and they caught a big catch. Peter was an experienced fisherman but his experience was nothing for Jesus, so Peter obeyed the Lord by casting His net on the right side. This is something that Christians lack today; we will not get anything without obedience. How many fish did Peter catch? 153. In Hebrew these numbers mean, “I am the Lord”. Jesus wanted to prove that He was the Lord.

How many times does the Bible speak about goats on the left and sheep on the right? Goats and sheep have nearly the same features, so what is the difference? There are many differences. These two animals represent two categories of Christians. When Jesus says go right the sheep obey and go right, but when Jesus tells the goats to go right they go left and disobey.

There are also the 5 foolish virgins who weren’t justified by faith because they didn’t know what they believed in, and they didn’t know the exact time, and this cost them dearly.

In Romans 10:17 it says that faith comes by hearing the word of God. The origin of faith is the Word of God and if you have the source of faith with you it must grow. What are you going to say if your child doesn’t grow? Is my child eating? I know a mum who was pregnant for 2 years and when she walked it was like carrying a car, this is not normal. The mother went to see a sorcerer for help and the sorcerer asked the pregnant mother who was her husband? The sorcerer then put her baby inside her husband’s stomach as a pay back for what he had done. This is happening on earth today and people believe it, but when you tell someone about Jesus Christ it becomes impossible to believe because they don’t want their faith to grow in Jesus Christ.