Oswald Chambers on Justification by Faith

The following is actually from the devotional for October 28th. I read it on that day but didn't get a chance to post it till now.

When I read this, I had to scratch my head a bit. The wording is so precise and tight that it had my head swimming a bit -- I get up at 4:30 a.m. and do my reading at about 4:55.

It betrayed to me my warped view of justification and helped me to see it in its clarity. It's all of God, none of me. I'm not saved by believing, I realize I am saved (when I believe). It's a matter of faith and assurance that only comes by obedience. Salvation is from a sovereign God, from first to last and not of myself. It's not even "my faith", even that comes from the Lord.

Anyway, here's what I read. May it bless you as it did me:

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Romans 5:10

I am not saved by believing; I realize I am saved by believing. It is not repentance that saves me, repentance is the sign that I realize what God has done in Christ Jesus. The danger is to put the emphasis on the effect instead of on the cause. It is my obedience that puts me right with God, my consecration. Never! I am put right with God because prior to all, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals I can accept, instantly the stupendous Atonement of Jesus Christ rushes me into a right relationship with God; and by the supernatural miracle of God's grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, not because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings it with a breaking, all-over light, and I know, though I do not know how, that I am saved.

The salvation of God does not stand on human logic, it stands on the sacrificial Death of Jesus. We can be born again because of the Atonement of Our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creatures, not by their repentance or their belief, but by the marvellous work of God in Christ Jesus which is prior to all experience. The impregnable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We have not to work out these things ourselves; they have been worked out by the Atonement. The supernatural becomes natural by the miracle of God; there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done - "It is finished."