Month: November 2011

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 27 – Saving Belief – To Know, Love, and Trust Jesus

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Romans 4:9-15 – “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.  How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.  He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.  For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.  For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.  For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.” 

Paul above is using God’s Word in the story of Abraham to put the final dagger in the jewish belief that any of their works merited in part or whole their acceptance before God.  Specifically, an argument that the Jewish readers might have made to Paul at this point was that God commanded God to be circumcised, and thus it was Abraham’s circumcision under the law of God that made him righteous.  So the important question to answer is when was Abraham justified, declared righteous, before God.  Was it before he was circumcised or after.  To put it in a modern day context for the majority of us who do not come from a Jewish background, some Christians mistakenly believe that their baptism contributes to their actual salvation.  So are you saved before baptism or after?  Lets look at the text Paul is referencing about Abraham from Genesis 15.

Genesis 15:1-6 – “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir;your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

If you read on, you’ll find out that this promise of God was made some twenty years before God commanded Abraham and his household to be circumcised in chapter 17 (The sign and seal of Abraham’s faith).  So it was that Abraham’s righteousness was credited to him before any works had been performed.  It was because Abraham believed God, that his obedience followed, not the other way around.

So what does this all mean to us?  It is so tempting to believe that your right standing before God rests on the things you do.  Do you have victory over this sin or that, etc.  This is perpetuated by many self-righteous persons within the church.  This is the burden of the law that no one can bear.  You aren’t perfect, that’s why you need a savior.  One has good reason to question whether he is truly saved if he continues in sin unrepentantly (1 John 3:9), but the opposite is not true.  Just because we might look good on the outside doesn’t mean we truly know and love God.  The world is full of good, moral, churchgoing people who act that way for a myriad of reasons other than saving belief in Jesus Christ our Lord.  My hope is that you will press into your heart that you are righteous because you believe God, not because of anything external that you do, but because you believe God; to know Him, love Him, and trust Him.

You cannot believe God without knowing anything about Him.

You cannot believe God if you reject His character and glory.

You cannot believe God if you do not trust him.

My exhortation is to not evaluate the condition of your faith based solely on those things external, and move the battle for faith inward to ask yourself if you truly believe.  Do not despair if you cannot see much knowledge, love, and trust of God in your heart; God has promised that we can move mountains even with the faith of a tiny mustard seed.  Know that Christ came to set you free and has told you that his yoke is easy and burden light.  Pray earnestly therefore, that God would incline your heart towards Him increasingly.  Seek Him in His Word, daily, not to check off a box, but to grow your knowledge and love for your Savior.  If you believe God; know Him, love Him, and trust Him, then the external outworkings of that belief will come, but just as with Abraham, your belief is what is credited to you as righteousness, nothing else.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Blessed Burden

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Much could be said about the glory of God and its pursuit.  The Westminster Catechism begins with this question – What is the chief and highest end of man?  and gives this answer “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.”  So if to glorify God was agreed to be the highest end of man by a multitude of theologians coming out of the Reformation, and has been held as true over hundreds of years up until the modern day, it’s worth taking some time to understand what that means and looks like.

Perhaps it is the culture we live in, man’s indwelling sin that seeks to rise above God, or simply a limitation of the English word, but most people do not have a good understanding of 3 things:

1)  What is the glory of God?
2)  How do we glorify God?
3)  What empowers us to glorify God?

So, with as much succinctness as possible, I’m going to try to be helpful in answering those questions today.

What is the glory of God?  It is heavy.  Literally.  The word we translate in English as glory, in many separate instances in the original language of Hebrew or Greek is actually a word that describes weightiness.  So it is meant to be something that is felt, that presses on our hearts if you will.  If it is heavy, what is it’s substance?  All of the splendor of the magnificence of God’s character and characteristics.  Simply put, God is awesome.  He alone is worthy of worship.  So what are some of the characteristics of God?  Here are some.

  • He is eternal.  He always has been, is, and always will be.
  • He is good.  God is not good from time to time, he is the very essence of good.  Compared to Him no one is good.
  • He is holy.  God’s righteousness makes Him separate.  Compared to God’s holiness our righteousness is like filthy rages.  God is altogether other from man, yet in love He took the form of man to reconcile a people to Himself through Christ.
  • Omnipresent.  We are separate from God, but we exist within Him.  He is everywhere.  In Him we live and move and have our being.  You do not have to look for God, He is with you where you are, wherever you are.
  • Omnipotent.  God is all powerful.  There is nothing beyond the reach of God’s power.  He created all things.  He holds the world, and everything in it together.  There is nothing you could ask of God, that if it is in His will, He could not accomplish.
  • Omniscient.  God knows everything.  He knows you infinitely better than you know yourself.  There are no thoughts hidden from Him, there is no cry from within your heart that goes unheard.
  • God is sovereign.  God is in control of everything.  Good and bad, God is in control.  Blessing or calamity, God is in control.  He works all things according to the counsel of His will, His purpose for His glory, and in some way that only He understands, He can promise us that all things are working towards good for those who love God and have been called according to His purpose.
  • God is faithful.  Men break promises, God is ever faithful.  Men get discouraged and leave, God is ever faithful.  Men see trouble and run, God is ever faithful.
  • God is just.  No evil goes unpunished.  God’s justice was manifested in Christ on the cross.  Every sin that has been committed, is being committed, or will be committed will be punished.  That punishment either rests on Christ, for those who believe on Him, or it will rest on the individual for eternity.
  • God is love.  In this is love, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.  We love imperfectly, God is love perfected, in its very essence.
  • God is immutable – never changing.  God is not like a man, that he should change His mind.  His will flows from His being.  He is perfect, and every action flows from His perfection.  He cannot change, that He should move from perfection to be imperfect.

Can you feel the weight of the glory of God?  Even writing these things out, I have to stop and stand in awe of how great a God we worship.  If God never saved a single person, He would still be worthy of worship because of His glory.  That He DOES save, and shares His glory with us, is a treasure beyond words.

How do we glorify God?  It’s easiest to explain first, how we do not glorify God. You do not “add” to God’s glory.   We cannot add to it, we cannot take anything away.  Many people talking about “glorifying God” almost as if they believe their works in some way make God greater.  We do NOT make the glory of God greater… My encouragement is to read again the attributes of God above.  How are you going to add ANYTHING to Him?  What good, could you possibly add?  If you truly believed your works could “add” to the glory of God, know that it would be infinitely more likely that your efforts, stained by your indwelling sin, would bring dishonor to Him.  God is not served by human hands, as though He needed anything.  He didn’t create us, that we could “give back”.  Greater is he who serves, than is served.  We receive Him, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and respond in gratitude; but let us not be prideful in the work that God has given us to do.  He a

So if we cannot add to the glory of God, how do we glorify Him?  We, who know Christ as our Savior, are messengers.  By grace through Christ, the Holy Spirit works in us to manifest the glory of God outwardly in righteousness.  This is called sanctification.  We bring light to darkness; we offer a glimpse into the glory of God to those who are perishing in their sin, and offer testimonies of reconciliation to Him through the blood of Christ.

Lastly, what empowers us to glorify God?  This is where I really wanted to get to today.  I want you to see how this is all connected from God’s Word.

God has created us to pursue joy.  No one would argue that they desire what they desire because it provides them with joy, right?  Misguided though we all can be, deceived by our own sin, we all pursue that which we believe will give us joy.  This is part of God’s plan for His glory.  God desires your joy.  Not just a little bit, He wants you overflowing with joy.  His commitment to your joy is so great, that He says in Deuteronomy 28:47-48 that if you are not joyful and glad in your heart, he will destroy you!  Before you   Essentially, the whole of your ability to please God as a professing Christian, depends on whether or not you believe one verse of the Bible, Psalm 16:11 – “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  If you believe that, then EVERYTHING that you are asked to do, that brings you more of Christ, will not be burdensome, but a means to pursuing your own joy.

The greatest joy is found in the presence of Jesus Christ, knowing Him in intimate fellowship.  This is the fullness of joy that has flowed eternally between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Words cannot express the joy God has in the fellowship of the Trinity, and that is the joy wants for you.  So to steal a line from my friend John Piper, “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied (joyful) in Him”  We give glory to God by delighting in Him.

How do we delight in Him?  We come into His presence – we see Him.
How do we see more of Christ in our life?  Matthew 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” 
How are we pure in heart?  We rest in the finished work and grace provided by our savior Jesus Christ, and live to Him.  1 Peter 1:22-23 – “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” 

So what is the glory of God?  The weight of the magnificence of His splendor in all of His attributes.  How do we glorify God?  My knowing God and making Him known.  What empowers us to glorify God?  Joy is the fuel for our pursuit of the glory of God in obedient fellowship.  Less of me and my sin is more of Christ.  He must increase and we must decrease for our joy.  As we approach Thanksgiving, my exhortation is to allow the glory of God to press on your heart, and rejoice in thanksgiving for the hope we have in Christ.  The gospel would not be gospel without joy, and there is joy to the uttermost in knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.  Know you’re loved and prayed for.  Be safe in travels, be bold in the Spirit, and may the grace of God be multiplied to you, your family, and friends.

For your joy,
Adam

Faith Without Works is Dead

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I want to break for a day from covering Romans to hopefully encourage you as believers in Christ.  In my own life I have past sins, current struggles, and the knowledge that this life that I live as a Christian will not be easy.  I consider the exhortation given us in Hebrews 12:1-2 – “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”  When I look to Jesus, who endured the cross for a joy that was set before Him, I remember His warning to believers.  John 15:18-20 – “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” 

So it would seem that life as a Christian is hard, at least that was the expectation given to us by Jesus.  This life we live is not a sprint but a marathon requiring endurance.  We have indwelling sin (Rom 7:20) that we battle against; we have a world that hates us if we follow Christ; we have the expectation of persecution; we have disease, suffering, and death as consequences of sin entering the world; and we have spiritual forces of evil against us (Eph 6:12) and an enemy in Satan that seeks to devour us (1 Pet 5:8).  It should not at all be surprising then, that there will be times when you struggle to find or even remember your joy in Christ.  I could go on, but I will stop, lest you become discouraged before you are encouraged!

With the above being a fairly accurate picture of what we should expect as Christians from scripture, how do we remain encouraged?  How do we maintain joy in the Treasure set before us, eternity with Christ?  When I find myself wanting for the joy of my salvation, I remember a very simple command of Jesus.  Matthew 6:33 – “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”  and I ask myself, “How have I been pursuing the kingdom of God and his righteousness”?  More often than not, my lack of joy is due to my failure in one or both parts of Christ’s command in Matthew 6:33.

My question for you today is this:  Is your faith active?  How are you seeking to expand the kingdom of God?  How are you pursuing His righteousness in your life?  Many people think of “faith” as static – a set of facts to believe, and they think of Christianity as a set of personal tasks like going to church, avoiding certain “egregious” sins, and doing a good deed now and then.  What I want you to know and challenge you with, is that if you saved, then you have been saved by God for a purpose.  People who take issue with God’s sovereignty over salvation often ask me (convinced they’ve “caught” me), “well if God is sovereign and He’s going to save whoever He’s going to save, then why should I pray for people’s salvation and evangelize?”  I say, God is sovereign over salvation, Yes and Amen, and as believers we are the means by which God intends to save, your prayers are the means by which God will move dead hearts to life.  You were not saved to sit around in a monastery thankful you have been “saved”, waiting out your days in isolation.  God has plans for you.  Ephesians 2:8-10 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  (bolded by me for emphasis).  Further, we are told in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ,God making his appeal through us.”  (bolded by me for emphasis). 

What I want you to hear is that God has gifted each of you uniquely, that He might reconcile others to Himself through you.  God never gave a command to a subset of Christians to minister and spread the gospel, but to all Christians.  My exhortation is to consider what others say you are good at and what you enjoy doing, and employ those gifts in ministry.  Don’t wait.  Some of you may feel when you serve and minister that you are woefully inadequate… you are, so am I, so are we all, yet God will still use you.  God is not limited by our imperfections, but the unwillingness of our hearts.  The grace of God through Jesus Christ manifested and preached by you, will be healing to yourself and others. For the joy set before you, put your faith in action.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 26 – Abraham Believed God

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So this last week, we wrapped up Romans 3.  For those of you keeping track, we’ve had 25 messages covering those 3 chapters.  So it’s taken us about 2.5 months to get through 3 chapters.  If you’re looking ahead you may notice that Romans is 16 chapters long, do a little math and figure that we’re on pace to wrap up our study of Romans in the beginning of October next year.  Now, if we did take that long, I assure you, it would be time well spent, however, that is not my plan.  I’m going to start speeding things up a bit, with the exception of Romans 5 and Romans 9.  There’s just no way to do those chapters justice without taking some time there.  I want these emails to be encouraging, and not burdensome, so brevity may win out over lengthy exposition in some cases.
That said my encouragement to you, is to dig into Romans yourself during this time if you are able to do so.  If you read 2 chapters of Romans a day on average, you could make it through the entire book in 8 days.  If you committed yourself to that task for a month, you would have almost ready Romans all the way through, 4 times.  If you committed to start today, by the end of the year, you would have read through all of Romans 6 times.  What a treasure that would be to have the gospel saturating your heart in that way.  What a blessing that would be to your own life and others.
With all that said, let’s start into Romans 4.  Here Paul is continuing his argument that we are justified (declared righteous) by God through faith, not works.  He is appealing to the faith of Abraham, as an example to us of how our faith is credited to us as righteousness.
Romans 4:1-8 – “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say?”Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:  “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  Notice it doesn’t say Abraham believed in God, it says he believed God.  Big difference.  Especially when in James 2:19 we are told – “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”  Faith is not believing in God, faith is believing God.  Meaning, faith is not simply a passive intellectual acknowledgment to God’s existence, what He has done on the cross through Christ, or even right thoughts about the character and nature of God.  Satan has seen God face to face and Satan saw Christ crucified and risen.  Knowledge of God, is not faith.  Our enemy, would love nothing more than for people to coast by in their “faith”, never truly trusting God, never praying for God to give them faith to believe, to die to themselves and follow Him.  Faith is heart consuming, life altering, believing God.  In Genesis 15, Abraham believed God and did exactly what God told Him to do, which was trusting and believing in God.
Many people get mixed up with the book of James, when it is said that we are justified by works.  Some people are even afraid to preach through James because they believe it’s confusing.  Some may even see what James has to say about being justified with works as a contradiction to what Paul is saying here, so let’s go ahead and clear that up right now.  James 2:21-24 – “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.  You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” 

This is not a contradiction, James is saying the exact same thing as Paul.  The faith Paul is describing is not a passive faith in God, but an active believing God and trusting His Word to us.  This is the same faith described by James.  What can you say then about the intersection of faith and works?  Can the person who is declared righteous through faith in the shed blood of Christ continue in unrighteousness?  NO!  Can’t you see that all unrighteousness is rooted in unbelief of God and His Word?  It is a lack of belief that Christ is a treasure above anything the world might offer, and He has reconciled us to God.  This is why later in Romans 14, Paul says “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”  If you believe God, then your life will follow that belief, and you will walk in obedience to Him, trusting Him.

Lets get a picture going… Let’s say that you have a rough day, and you fall into sin, and let out some of your frustration on a waiter.  I know none of you reading this have ever allowed your frustrations to overflow to an unrelated party… but assuming you did, let’s continue.   Now, you go off to the bathroom to wash up before the food arrives, and come back very thirsty.  Your good friend you’re eating with tells you that while you were in the bathroom, he witnessed your waiter spit into the tasty beverage that’s now in front of you.  You are really thirsty, so what do you do?  If you believe your friend, you will not drink it.  If you do not believe your friend, you will.  Don’t you see how actions manifest your belief?  Either way, your actions are evidencing your belief.  Either drinking or not drinking.  You cannot separate faith and works.  True faith will always result in works that manifest that belief.  God has given us the entire Bible, His Word to us, and we will either believe Him, and follow after Him, or we will not.  Our actions will give witness to whether or not we believe God.  Make no mistake though, Abraham was not credited as righteous because he believed in God, but because he believed God, and his actions followed that belief.  There is a faith that saves and a “faith” that is useless that cannot save.  One results in heart and life change by the Spirit of God, the other in mere head knowledge about God and an unregenerate heart.

We are not saved by our works.  We are not saved by our faith + works.  We are saved because we believe God.  We are saved by faith alone.   Our lawless deeds are forgiven, our sins past, present, and future are covered in Christ’s blood – blessed are we whom the Lord will not count our sin against us.  We believe that God has sent His only Son, Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sin, that He was buried, that He was raised on the 3rd day by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that we who trust in Him have been reconciled to God – declared righteous by our faith.  Now, let our light so shine before the world, that they will see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.  As we die to ourselves daily to follow after Christ, believing Him, let the world marvel at how great a surpassing treasure we have in Christ, even amidst struggles, loss, and suffering.  Pray earnestly for the faith that saves.  Encourage others daily, to not only believe in God and the gospel, but encourage them to greater faith through God’s promises in His Word to believe God and live out the gospel.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 25 – The Law of Faith

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Romans 3:23-31 – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.  Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.”

Many people want to treat faith as empty; something that is mere passive head knowledge.  They say, “I believe that Jesus died for my sins, so I’m saved”.  That is their “faith”.  They hold fast to a confession made long ago, perhaps as a child, and point to the verse in Romans 10:9 for assurance – “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  What did Jesus say in response to such people?  Luke 6:46-49 – “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:  he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.  But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” 

Now in Romans 1-3:20, Paul has painstakenly rebutted every argument that would seek to deny man’s accountability before God as a sinner.  He has well established our just condemnation before a Righteous and Holy God.  Now he is turning to offer hope for those who would believe, by preaching salvation through faith alone in Christ alone.  This was very different from what the Jewish readers of Paul’s day had been taught.  The Jewish holy men, had taught that righteousness came through adherance to the laws of God given through Moses.  In Romans 3:23-31 above, Paul is answering the next question he expects any Jewish reader to ask, “What about all of the laws of God?”  “If we are not saved through upholding them, does this mean we are setting them aside altogether?”  No, he answers, the law points to the righteousness of Christ, and we uphold the law as we follow after Christ.  Further, regarding the law we are told in Galatians 5:14  – “the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”    Hear Christ’s response about the law in Matthew 22:36-40 – “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  (Note that reference to the Law and the Prophets simply refers to all of the writings of the Old Testament)

Christ fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law – perfectly.  Many people want to treat the grace of God as license to live free to sin.  That is a very shallow view of faith, and one that cannot save you.  No, just as the Jews sought righteousness under the law, we are to seek our righteousness under the law of faith.  Saving faith is much more than passive intellectual assent to facts about Jesus – it is a complete union with Christ, both in His death to sin and life to righteousness.  This is the law we are held to, this is the law that Paul describes in Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Further, our unity with Christ by faith is manifested through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Christ Himself, through our faith.  Ephesians 1:13 – “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

My exhortation today, is to ask yourself one question:  What does my heart’s affections and life goals say about my faith and unity with Christ?  The good news of the gospel, that the righteousness required of us, that we all have fallen short of, was fulfilled in Christ and available to us through faith in Him.  Are you subject to the law of faith, or are you satisfied with mere head knowledge about Christ?  We are free, but let us continue to hold fast to our faith.  True faith is living, active, moving forward.  Let us not be numbered as those spoken of in Hebrews 10:26-27 – “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

My encouragement to you today comes immediately after the verse above from Hebrews 10:35-39 –  “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.  For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

I will say it again, you are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.  Keep running the race set before you by God, knowing that there is laid up for you a crown of righteousness in Christ.  Know you’re prayed for.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 24 – Right with God

/ adamrenken / Leave a comment
Romans 3:23-26 – “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

From the beginning, man has sought to be right with God.  Even atheism, in a sense, is an attempt at this in that how they right themselves with God in that they seek to avoid accountability by denying He exists.  So it is true of every person, whatever their beliefs, that inwardly there is this question that must be answered – “What must I do to be right with God?”

You know, a lot of people speak about various religions in the world, but really there are only two.  You have the religion of man’s achievement or of God’s achievement.  Every other religion, apart from Christianity seeks to be right with God through their own achievement.  The Pharisees, the “Holy” men in Jesus’s day sought to become right with God based on their own achievement and Jesus rebuked them.  In Matthew 5:20 Jesus tells the thousands who had come to hear Him, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   What has man to offer God?  What sacrifice could he give that was not given to Him by God?  Psalm 50:7-10 – “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you.  I am God, your God.  Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.  I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.  For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.  I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.”   If you were to work your whole life for righteousness, what credit would that be to you?  Where does your strength come from?  Whose air do you breathe?  Acts 17:24-25 – “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” 

It has been revealed throughout God’s revelation in His Word that from the beginning salvation was not about man’s achievement but God’s achievement.  It was foreshadowed in the Law and the Prophets, and manifested in Christ.  Hear Jesus’s words in Luke 24:44-47 – “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” 
Look to the Old Testament (Law and the Prophets and Psalms) and see.  God told Abraham to number the stars if he could, and promised that his offspring would be the same.  Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.  Later God called on Abraham to sacrifice His only son, Isaac.  When asked by Isaac where the sacrifice was, Abraham replied “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”  (Gen 22:8)  Later God responds to Abraham’s faith, Gen 22:12-14 – “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.” 
Abraham did not know who the name Jesus, but He believed the promise of God and believed that God would provide the sacrifice.  We too, if we would be right with God, should not look to ourselves, but to Jesus, who was the fulfillment of all of the promises of God, the once and final sacrifice for our sin.  2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Not our righteousness, but the righteousness of God.  Not our achievement, Christ’s achievement.  This is gospel.  In the old testament, no sacrifice atoned for a single sin, but those who gave them believed God’s promise to provide a sacrifice and their sacrifice was one of symbol and thanksgiving of their belief.  Now we all, believing and trusting the promises of God fulfillled in Christ offer up a sacrifice of obedience, not to inherit a righteousness apart from Christ, but from thanksgiving and a symbol that He is in us.
My exhortation today comes as way of reminder – if you would be right with God, make your heart wholly united with Christ and believe on Him.  He is just and the justifier of all who believe Him.
Grace and Peace,
Adam