Faith does the impossible

'Practical Illustrations of Deliverance From Bondage Pt. 2…

'Again, if we have yielded ourselves to be servants of God, we are His servants, or in other words, are instruments of righteousness in His hands.

Read Rom.6:13-16.

Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Rom 6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

 We are not inert, lifeless, senseless instruments, such as the agriculturist uses, which have no voice as to how they shall be used, but living, intelligent instruments, who are permitted to choose their occupation. Nevertheless, the term "instrument" signifies a tool, -- something that is entirely under the control of the artisan.

The difference between us and the tools of the mechanic is that we can choose who shall use us, and at what kind of service we shall be employed; but having made the choice, and yielded ourselves into the hands of the workman, we are to be as completely in his hands as is the tool that has no voice as to how it shall be used.

When we yield to God, we are to be in His hands as clay in the hands of the potter, that He may do with us a He pleases. Our volition lies in choosing whether or not we will let Him work in us that which is good.

This idea of being instruments in the hands of God is a wonderful aid to the victory of faith when it is once fully grasped.

For, notice, what an instrument will do depends entirely upon the person in whose hands it is.

Here, for instance, is a die. It is innocent enough in itself, yet it may be used for the basest purposes, as well as for that which is useful. If it be in the hands of a bad character, it may be used in making counterfeit coin. It certainly will not be used for any good purpose. But if it be in the hands of an upright, virtuous man, it cannot possibly do any harm. Likewise, when we were the servants of Satan, we did no good (Rom. 6:20),  (((Rom 6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. ))))but now that we have yielded ourselves into the hands of God, we know that there is no unrighteousness in Him, and so an instrument in His hands cannot be used for an evil purpose. The yielding to God must be as complete as it was formerly to Satan, for the apostle says:

I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. Rom. 6:19.

The whole secret of overcoming, then, lies in first wholly yielding to God with a sincere desire to do His will; next, in knowing that in our yielding He accepts us as His servants; and then, in retaining that submission to Him and leaving ourselves in His hands.

 Often victory can be gained only by repeating again and again, “O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid; thou hast loosed my bonds.”

This is simply an emphatic way of saying, “O Lord, I have yielded myself into Thy hands as an instrument of righteousness; let Thy will be done, and not the dictates of the flesh.”

But when we can realize the force of that scripture and feel indeed that we are servants of God, immediately will come the thought, “Well, if I am indeed an instrument in the hands of God, He cannot use me to do evil with, nor can he permit me to do evil as long as I remain in His hands. He must keep me if I am kept from evil, because I cannot keep myself.

But He wants to keep me from evil, for He has shown His desire, and also His power to fulfill His desire in giving Himself for me.

Therefore I shall be kept from this evil.”

 All these thoughts may pass through the mind instantly, and then with them must necessarily come a feeling of gladness that we shall be kept from the dreaded evil. That gladness naturally finds expression in thanksgiving to God, and while we are thanking God the enemy retires with his temptation, and the peace of God fills the heart.

Then we find that the joy in believing far outweighs all the joy that comes from indulgence in sin.

All this is a demonstration of Paul's words, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3:31. To “make void” the law is not to abolish it, for no man can abolish the law of God, yet the Psalmist says that it has been made void. Ps. 119:126. To make void the law of God is something more than to claim that it is of no consequence; it is to show by the life that it is considered of no consequence. A man makes the law of God void when he allows it to have no power in his life. In short, to make void the law of God is to break it; but the law itself remains the same whether it is kept or not. Making it void affects only the individual.

Therefore, when the apostle says that we do not make void the law of God by faith, but that, on the contrary, we establish it, he means that faith does not lead to violation of the law but to obedience.

No, we should not say that faith leads to obedience, but that faith itself obeys.

Faith establishes the law in the heart.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for.”

 If the thing hoped for be righteousness, faith establishes it. Instead of faith leading to antinomianism, it is the only thing that is contrary to antinomianism. It matters not how much a person boasts in the law of God; if he rejects or ignores implicit faith in Christ, he is in no better state than the man who directly assails the law.

The man of faith is the only one who truly honors the law of God. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6); with it, all things are possible (Mark 9:23).

Yes, faith does the impossible, and it is just that which God requires us to do.

When Joshua said to Israel, “Ye cannot serve the Lord,” he told the truth, yet it was a fact that God required them to serve Him. It is not within any man's power to do righteousness, even though he wants to (Gal. 5:17)(((Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. )))); therefore, it is a mistake to say that all God wants is for us to do the best we can. He who does no better than that will not do the works of God. No. He must do better than he can do. He must do that which only the power of God working through him can do. It is impossible for a man to walk on water, yet Peter did it when he exercised faith in Jesus.

Since all power in heaven and in earth is in the hands of Christ and this power is at our disposal, even Christ Himself coming to dwell in the heart by faith, there is no room for finding fault with God for requiring us to do the impossible; for “the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Luke 18:27. Therefore we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Heb. 13:6.

Then “who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril, or sword?” “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Rom. 8:35, 37. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(((Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ))))

Christ and His Righteousness -  E. J. Waggoner

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(((Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ))))

Christ's love for us is absolute.  We should never question God's love for us. Those who desire to question the love of God toward mankind should rather ask  this-- whether or not THEY love God.

The criteria people have for God to prove His love is a very selfish one. Give me everything I believe will make me happy and content in life and then I'll believe you love me. The opposite is true as well, if you give me only heartache, pain, and defeat I will believe you don't love me. Forget all about the end game- it's here and now that matters most. The end game calls for me to have FAITH, believing in something unseen, in something unknown.  The end game is asking me to endure all sorts of evil directed at me now, while still believing the end game that is unseen. We're asked to believe that you can control everything, and then to believe that when you choose not to control the evil raining down on us that you are loving and caring, what is that?

Again I say, Christ's love for us is absolute.

There is no doubting the love of God- He has more than proven His love for us. He has revealed the entire plan of salvation to us- we've seen the beginning, witnessed throughout history, the middle, and the end will follow right on through to all that He has revealed. We aren't left in the dark to know how it all will end for us. We know the outcome of life, the end game has been revealed. We have spoilers.  We aren't left to wander aimlessly under the impression that we can't know what the future holds. We have been told. We have been given this gift of foretelling.

And it's Satan's aim to get us to not believe what we've been told, to not believe in the One who has revealed the future to us, to doubt.

How often do we do things with the expectation of being rewarded for our effort?

We go to our jobs with the expectation that we are earning money for that effort.  Most people would stop working if they were not being paid to do so. You go to school with the expectation of gaining knowledge to enable you to live life as an informed human being. You go to a school of higher learning to gain even more knowledge - how frustrating it is when you enter into something with an expectation of a rewarding outcome and it never materializes.  We do the same with our relationships with others, don't we? We become friends with people with the hopes there will be mutually beneficial consideration for one another. We marry in the hopes of having a life long companion.  It's truthful to say then that we spend a lot of our lives with expectations.  When those expectations are unrealized we are filled with disappointment.  However, when those expectations are met, any hard work, any sacrifice we've made towards that expectation is deemed worth it, at least most times. You'll find some parents who have sacrificed everything for their children and are rewarded by their children succeeding in ways they only dreamed and hoped for. Some people suffer through a lot to make a success for themselves and then turn around and say it was ALL worth it, everything they endured.

If people can feel this way about success that is fleeting, if they can feel this sort of emotion towards things that will never endure for death is everyone's promise, then how much more should people be willing to endure to obtain eternal life?

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, nothing, but we can separate ourselves. We can take our love from Him.

We are asked to believe.

We are promised a life we can never fully imagine, it's too wondrous for our minds to entirely comprehend.

Yet there are many people willing to simply throw it all away because they choose not to believe for some misguided reason, thinking it benefits them in this life not to believe.  Fools.

Nothing can separate us from Christ if we believe in Him, nothing!

Satan will truly throw everything he has in his spiritual arsenal at us, and he will never give up, he will never sleep, he will never let an opportunity pass by to get us on his side of eternity- which is the side of limited existence, not unending existence.

Under a constant barrage of spiritual evil we only have hope in clinging to Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, our God, our High Priest, our King.

Truly we are servants to the one we choose to obey.  And if we are not obeying Christ then we are obeying Satan, there is no other option, it's one or the other and one offers love the other evil. While a person might wrongly believe they are choosing their own side by not picking a side, whenever we choose our own side we are in effect saying we are our own creator, and when we say that we are choosing the side of the one who wants you to believe that you are your own creator.

All of it has been explained in the Word of God.

Please Lord, let us be Your servants! We choose You even if that means suffering beyond our wildest imaginings. You are our ALL in ALL.

You can't shut off Satan's surveillance.

Truth. Faith is the substance of THINGS HOPED FOR. Faith is the evidence of THINGS NOT SEEN. (Heb.11:1)

Can we see our victory over sin? Can we? Aren't we all too often prone to listening to the unseen evil seducer who tries to convince us that there is no hope in us, we who are constant sinners, constant rebels, constantly doing that which we don't want to- WANT to- do?

That's right- we don't WANT to...want sin.  We find ourselves wanting sin and because we have that want of it, we in turn are led to believe that we have no hope against something we find ourselves wanting. Because we tell ourselves (listening to the evil seducer of mankind) that the wanting to sin proves that we aren't God's, because if we wanted to be God's we wouldn't even want to sin.  He yells at us that we are evil, pure evil, we are hopelessly caught up in our evil ways. The web of desire is so strong, the snare so tight we have little hope of ever getting free.  He makes the cycle a vicious one and truly it is a cycle. We sin, we feel guilty, we ask for forgiveness, we sin again, we feel guilty, we ask for forgiveness… we sin...we sin...we sin… the guilt grows and all the while Satan is right there whispering to us that we are too entrenched in our sinful ways to ever hope we can be God's. He wants us to DESPAIR of ever being Christ's, of ever believing that we, as sinners, can truly be forgiven.  Satan wants us to believe that we must attain some measure of righteousness all on our own, only then when we've managed to lose our wanting to sin can we be Christ's. Satan is a tempter, he knows our every weakness and he will exploit every single one of them. He wants us to believe that even the act of being tempted is SIN!  He does! He wants us to believe that being tempted is SIN, as if Jesus when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness could ever have been guilty!  Was Jesus hungry when Satan tempted Him to change that stone into bread? We know He'd been fasting, so was He hungry? Did He desire to eat?  Tell me this… would it have been a temptation at all if Jesus wasn't hungry?  To tempt the man who has just consumed a five course meal- with a plateful of food would have very little affect, right? But to tempt a starving man with a plateful of food would be a REAL temptation!  A TEMPTATION. Satan wants us to believe that every single temptation we face is really us sinning. But the truth is, the temptation IS NOT the sin! The sin comes when we are drawn away by the temptation.  Satan will NOT stop tempting us! He tempted Christ while He was hanging on the cross!

Luk 23:35  And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
Luk 23:36  And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,
Luk 23:37  And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

Save thyself.

Could He have saved Himself?

Betrayed into the hands of the soldiers--

Mat 26:50  And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
Mat 26:51  And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.
Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Mat 26:53  Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

Yes, He could have saved Himself.

He didn't …

Mat 26:54  But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
Mat 26:55  In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
Mat 26:56  But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

We will be tempted, that won't go away. Temptation to sin will never disappear and just when you think you've conquered a sin it will return and bite you even harder, or another temptation will rise up different from the one you've managed to subdue by the grace of God.

We have to own up to this! We have to get it straight in our heads! We have to realize that we will always be tempted and we are tempted if it's something we don't want in some fashion.

Satan truly is the enemy with super eavesdropping spy abilities. He's watching our every move and looking for the tiniest of signals that might indicate he can use something to tempt us to sin. He won't stop. You can't shut off Satan's surveillance.  

Remember this…

Joh_17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

As long as we are in this world we are going to be subjected to Satan's surveillance, his scrutiny. Jesus prayed that we should be kept by God the Father from evil. 

Going back to what I started out to say, 'Can we see our victory over sin? Can we?'  Our victory only comes by our faith in Christ to redeem us. Our victory only comes to us UNSEEN. Our victory only comes to us by being HOPED FOR.

If we expect to see ourselves perfect in this world, without even the slightest temptation, we will be lost as time goes by and we are caught up in temptation believing that even the temptation itself is sin. If we expect to despair, to live without true hope, without real hope in Christ to save us, then we are lost.

We won't SEE our faith- it's UNSEEN!

1Jn_5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

1Co_15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our faith, our belief in our LORD JESUS CHRIST! Believing! Hoping!


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'Deliverance from bondage'   -  Christ and His Righteousness-  E. G. Waggoner-


'Practical Illustrations of Deliverance From Bondage  Pt 1….



Now let us take some illustrations of THE POWER OF FAITH TO DELIVER FROM BONDAGE. We will quote Luke 13:10-17:



And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in nowise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath-day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath-day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? and ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed; and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.



We may pass by the carping of the hypocritical ruler, to consider the miracle. The woman was bound; WE THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH, HAVE BEEN ALL OUR LIFE-TIME SUBJECT TO BONDAGE. Satan had bound the woman; Satan has also set snares for our feet and has brought us into captivity. She could in nowise lift up herself; our iniquities have taken hold of us, so that we are not able to look up. Ps. 40:12. With a word and a touch Jesus set the woman free from her infirmities; we have the same merciful High Priest now in the heavens, who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and the same word will deliver us from evil.



Psa 40:12  For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.



For what purpose were the miracles of healing recorded, which were performed by Jesus? John tells us. It was not simply to show that He can heal disease but to show His power over sin. See Matt. 9:2-8.



Mat 9:2  And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

Mat 9:3  And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

Mat 9:4  And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

Mat 9:5  For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

Mat 9:6  But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

Mat 9:7  And he arose, and departed to his house.

Mat 9:8  But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.



But John says:



And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. John 20:30, 31.



So we see that they are recorded simply as object lessons of Christ's love, of His willingness to relieve, and of His power over the works of Satan, no matter whether in the body or in the soul. One more miracle must suffice in this connection. It is the one recorded in the third chapter of Acts. I shall not quote the entire account but ask the reader to follow it carefully with his Bible.



Peter and John saw at the gate of the temple a man over forty years old, who had been lame from his birth. He had never walked. He was begging, and Peter felt prompted by the Spirit to give him something better than silver or gold. Said he, “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” Verses 6-8.



This notable miracle on one whom all had seen caused a wonderful excitement among the people, and when Peter saw their astonishment, he proceeded to tell how the wonder had been performed, saying:



Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus; whom ye delivered up,...and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And HIS NAME THROUGH FAITH IN HIS NAME HATH MADE THIS MAN STRONG, whom ye see and know; yea, THE FAITH WHICH IS BY HIM hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Verses 12-16.



Now make the application. “The man was lame from his mother's womb,” unable to help himself. He would gladly have walked, but he could not. We likewise can all say, with David, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin  did my mother conceive me." Ps 51:5 As a consequence, we are by nature so weak that we cannot do the things that we would. As each year of the man's life increased his inability to walk, by increasing the weight of his body while his limbs grew no stronger, so the repeated practice of sin, as we grow older, strengthens its power over us. It was an utter impossibility for that man to walk; yet the Name of Christ through faith in it gave him perfect soundness and freedom from his infirmity. So we, THROUGH THE FAITH WHICH IS BY HIM, MAY BE MADE WHOLE, and enabled to do the thing which hitherto has been impossible. For the things with are IMPOSSIBLE with man are possible with God. He is the Creator. "To them that have no might He increaseth strength." One of the wonders of faith, as shown in the cases of the ancient worthies, is that they "out of weakness were made strong."



By these instances we have seen how God delivers from bondage those who trust in Him. Now let us consider the knowledge of how freedom is maintained.



We have seen that we by nature are all servants of sin and Satan, and that as soon as we submit to Christ, we become loosed from Satan's power.

Says Paul: "know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Rom. 6:16.

So we become the servants of Christ. Indeed, the very act of loosing us from the power of sin, in answer to our faith, proves God's acceptance of us as His servants.

We become, indeed, the bond-servants of Christ; but he who is the Lord's servant is a free man, for we are called unto liberty (Gal. 5:13) and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Cor. 3:17)

 (((Gal 5:13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. ))))

(((2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ))))

And now comes the conflict again.

Satan is NOT disposed to give up his slave so readily. He comes, armed with the lash of fierce temptation, to drive us again to his service.

We know by sad experience that he is more powerful than we are, and that unaided we cannot resist him.

But we dread his power, and cry for help.

Then we call to mind that WE ARE NOT Satan's servants any longer.

We have submitted ourselves to God, and therefore He accepted us as his servants.

So we can say with the Psalmist, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bonds." Ps 116:16.

But the fact that God has loosed the bonds that Satan had thrown around us-- AND HE HAS DONE THIS IF WE BELIEVE THAT HE HAS -- is evidence that God will protect us, for He cares for His own, and we have the assurance that He that has begun a good work in us "will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil 1:6. And in this confidence we are strong to resist.

Christ and His Righteousness -  E. G. Waggoner

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Our faith, our belief in our LORD JESUS CHRIST! Believing! Hoping!

Deliverance From Bondage

'Practical Illustrations of Deliverance From Bondage  Pt 1….

Now let us take some illustrations of the power of faith to deliver from bondage. We will quote Luke 13:10-17:

And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in nowise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath-day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath-day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? and ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed; and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

We may pass by the carping of the hypocritical ruler, to consider the miracle. The woman was bound; we, through fear of death, have been all our life-time subject to bondage. Satan had bound the woman; Satan has also set snares for our feet and has brought us into captivity. She could in nowise lift up herself; our iniquities have taken hold of us, so that we are not able to look up. Ps. 40:12. With a word and a touch Jesus set the woman free from her infirmities; we have the same merciful High Priest now in the heavens, who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and the same word will deliver us from evil.

Psa 40:12  For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

For what purpose were the miracles of healing recorded, which were performed by Jesus? John tells us. It was not simply to show that He can heal disease but to show His power over sin. See Matt. 9:2-8.

Mat 9:2  And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

Mat 9:3  And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

Mat 9:4  And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

Mat 9:5  For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

Mat 9:6  But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

Mat 9:7  And he arose, and departed to his house.

Mat 9:8  But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

But John says:

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. John 20:30, 31.

So we see that they are recorded simply as object lessons of Christ's love, of His willingness to relieve, and of His power over the works of Satan, no matter whether in the body or in the soul. One more miracle must suffice in this connection. It is the one recorded in the third chapter of Acts. I shall not quote the entire account but ask the reader to follow it carefully with his Bible.

Peter and John saw at the gate of the temple a man over forty years old, who had been lame from his birth. He had never walked. He was begging, and Peter felt prompted by the Spirit to give him something better than silver or gold. Said he, “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” Verses 6-8.

This notable miracle on one whom all had seen caused a wonderful excitement among the people, and when Peter saw their astonishment, he proceeded to tell how the wonder had been performed, saying:

Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus; whom ye delivered up,...and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know; yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Verses 12-16.

Now make the application. “The man was lame from his mother's womb,” unable to help himself. He would gladly have walked, but he could not. We likewise can all say, with David, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin  did my mother conceive me." Ps 51:5 As a consequence, we are by nature so weak that we cannot do the things that we would. As each year of the man's life increased his inability to walk, by increasing the weight of his body while his limbs grew no stronger, so the repeated practice of sin, as we grow older, strengthens its power over us. It was an utter impossibility for that man to walk; yet the Name of Christ through faith in it gave him perfect soundness and freedom from his infirmity. So we, through the faith which is by Him, may be made whole, and enabled to do the thing which hitherto has been impossible. For the things with are impossible with man are possible with God. He is the Creator. "To them that have no might He increaseth strength." One of the wonders of faith, as shown in the cases of the ancient worthies, is that they "out of weakness were made strong."

By these instances we have seen how God delivers from bondage those who trust in Him. Now let us consider the knowledge of how freedom is maintained.

We have seen that we by nature are all servants of sin and Satan, and that as soon as we submit to Christ, we become loosed from Satan's power. Says Paul: "know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Rom. 6:16. So we become the servants of Christ. Indeed, the very act of loosing us from the power of sin, in answer to our faith, proves God's acceptance of us as His servants. We become, indeed, the bond-servants of Christ; but he who is the Lord's servant is a free man, for we are called unto liberty (Gal. 5:13) and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Cor. 3:17)

And now comes the conflict again. Satan is not disposed to give up his slave so readily. He comes, armed with the lash of fierce temptation, to drive us again to his service. We know by sad experience that he is more powerful than we are, and that unaided we cannot resist him. But we dread his power, and cry for help. Then we call to mind that we are not Satan's servants any longer. We have submitted ourselves to God, and therefore He accepted us as his servants. So we can say with the Psalmist, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bonds." Ps 116:16. But the fact that God has loosed the bonds that Satan had thrown around us- and He has done this if we believe that He has-- is evidence that God will protect us, for He cares for His own, and we have the assurance that He that has begun a good work in us "will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil 1:6. And in this confidence we are strong to resist.

Christ and His Righteousness -  E. G. Waggoner

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Not spared the ravages of our spiritual war

'Bond Servants and Freemen

The power of faith in bringing victory may be shown by another line of Scripture texts, which are exceedingly practical. In the first place, let it be understood that the sinner is a slave. Christ said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34. Paul also says, putting himself in the place of an unrenewed man, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Rom. 7:14. A man who is sold is a slave; therefore, the man who is sold under sin is the slave of sin. Peter brings to view the same fact, when, speaking of corrupt, false teachers, he says, “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” 2 Peter 2:19.

The prominent characteristic of the slave is that he cannot do as he pleases, but is bound to perform the will of another, no matter how irksome it may be. Paul thus proves the truth of his saying that he, as a carnal man, was the slave of sin. “For that which I do I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” “Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do.” Rom. 7:15, 17-19.

The fact that sin controls proves that a man is a slave, and although everyone that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin, the slavery becomes unendurable when the sinner has had a glimpse of freedom and longs for it, yet cannot break the chains which bind him to sin. The impossibility for the unrenewed man to do even the good that he would like to do has been shown already from Rom. 8:7, 8 and Gal. 5:17.

(((Rom 8:7  because the mind of the flesh is enmity towards God; for it is not being subjected to the Law of God, for neither can it be.
Rom 8:8  And those being in the flesh are not able to please God.

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do))))

How many people have in their own experience proved the truth of these scriptures. How many have resolved and resolved again and yet their sincerest resolutions have proved in the face of temptation as weak as water. They had no might, and they did not know what to do, and, unfortunately, their eyes were not upon God so much as upon themselves and the enemy. Their experience was one of constant struggle against sin, it is true, but of constant defeat as well.

Call you this a true Christian experience? There are some who imagine that it is. Why, then, did the apostle, in the anguish of his soul, cry out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Rom. 7:24. Is a true Christian experiencing a body of death so terrible that the soul is constrained to cry for deliverance? Nay, verily.

Again, who is it that, in answer to this earnest appeal, reveals himself as a deliverer? Says the apostle, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In another place he says of Christ:

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage. Heb. 2:14, 15.

Again, Christ thus proclaims His own mission: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Isa. 61:1.

What this bondage and captivity are has already been shown. It is the bondage of sin--the slavery of being compelled to sin, even against the will, by the power of inherited and acquired evil propensities and habits. Does Christ deliver from a true Christian experience? No, indeed. Then the bondage of sin, of which the apostle complains in the seventh of Romans, is not the experience of a child of God, but of the servant of sin. It is to deliver men from this captivity that Christ came, not to deliver us, during this life, from warfare and struggles, but from defeat; to enable us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, so that we could give thanks unto the Father “who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,” through whose blood we have redemption.

How is this deliverance effected? By the Son of God. Says Christ, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:31, 32, 36. This freedom comes to everyone that believeth, for to them that believe on His name, He gives the “power to become the sons of God.” The freedom from condemnation comes to them who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1), and we put on Christ by faith (Gal. 3:26, 27). It is by faith that Christ dwells in our hearts.

(((Gal 3:26  for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27  For as many as were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ. ))))

--Christ and His Righteousness  E.G. Waggoner

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My thoughts-

Read this again--  ' It is to deliver men from this captivity that Christ came, not to deliver us, during this life, from warfare and struggles, but from defeat; to enable us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, so that we could give thanks unto the Father “who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,” through whose blood we have redemption'

We are NOT going to be delivered during THIS life from WARFARE and STRUGGLES.

We are actually admonished to put on ARMOR.  Why would we be told to put on armor if we were in no need of it? If we weren't going to be in a war there would be no need for armor.  If we weren't going to fight why give us a sword? If we weren't going to have to be protected, why have a helmet on, why bother with a shield, or a breastplate, and who needs to have our loins girt and our feet shod with special footwear? We would have NO need of any armor at all if this life was supposed to be carefree and easy. 

We are to deny self, we are to take up our crosses.  What sort of cross? A real wooden cross? Do we all need to have one of those to carry around?  This life is a fight! This life is WAR.  So to think that we would have an easy life, sin free and carefree is to have our thoughts askew.

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Be strong in ourselves?  NO.
Be strong in the LORD? YES!
Be strong in our own power, by our own will? NO.
Be strong in the power of the LORD and His will? YES!

Truth.
Righteousness.
Peace.
Faith.
Salvation.
Spirit (Word of God).
Praying in the Spirit.

That's our armor right there.  That is what we fight with in this spiritual war.  

Are you warring? Are you fighting? Are you struggling constantly?

You can NEVER be defeated as long as you claim Christ Jesus as your Savior. 

You can be beaten black and blue (spiritually bruised and bloody within an inch of your spiritual life), but you cannot be killed spiritually as long as you accept Christ as your Savior- He keeps you spiritually alive!

We make a grave error if we believe that we aren't supposed to be in a war, a real war, a very real spiritual war.

We are NOT going to be delivered from the spiritual war, not in this life.  But we can be clothed with spiritual armor- Christ's armor.

Faith - in God

'The Victory of Faith

The Bible says that “the just shall live by faith.” The righteousness of God is “revealed from faith to faith.” Rom. 1:17. Nothing can better illustrate the working of faith than some of the examples that are recorded for our learning, “that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Rom. 15:4. We will take, first, a notable event recorded in the twentieth chapter of 2 Chronicles. Let the reader follow the running comment with his Bible.

“It came to pass after this, also, that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.” Verses 1, 2.

This great host caused the king and the people to fear, but they took the wise course of gathering together, “to ask help of the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.” Verses 3, 4. Then follows the prayer of Jehoshaphat, as leader of the congregation, and it is worth special study, since it was a prayer of faith and contained within itself the beginning of victory:

And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest thou not over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Verses 5, 6.

That was an excellent beginning of a prayer. It starts with a recognition of God in heaven. So the model prayer begins, “Our Father who art in heaven.” What does this signify? That God, as God in heaven, is Creator. It carries with it the recognition of His power over all the kingdoms of the world and of the powers of darkness; the fact that He is in heaven, the Creator, show that in His hand there is power and might, so that none is able to withstand Him. Why, the man who can begin his prayer in the hour of need with such a recognition of God's power, has victory already on his side. For, notice, Jehoshaphat not only declared his faith in God's wondrous power, but he claimed God's strength as his own, saying, “Art not thou our God?” He fulfilled the Scripture requirement, “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Jehoshaphat then proceeded to recount how the Lord had established them in that land, and how, although He had not suffered them to invade Moab and Ammon, those nations had come to cast them out of their God- given inheritance. Verses 7-11. And then he concluded, “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon thee.” Verse 12. It is nothing with the Lord to help, whether with many or with them that have no power (2 Chron. 14:11), and since the eyes of the Lord run to and from throughout the earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is entire towards Him (2 Chron. 16:9), it well becomes those who are in need to trust Him alone. This position of Jehoshaphat and his people was in keeping with the apostolic injunction, “Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith.” Heb 12:2. He is the beginning and the end, and all power in heaven and earth is in His hands.

Now what was the result? the prophet of the Lord came in the power of the Holy Spirit, “and he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.” Verse 15.

And then came the command to go forth in the morning to meet the enemy, and they should see the salvation of the Lord, for He would be with them. Now comes the most important part:

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth forever. Verses 20, 21.

Surely, this was a strange way to go out to battle. Few armies have ever gone to battle with such a vanguard. But what was the result?

And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch-tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. Verses 22- 24.

If there have been few armies that have gone to battle with such a vanguard as did the army of Jehoshaphat, it is equally certain that few armies have been rewarded by such a signal victory. And it may not be amiss to study a little into the philosophy of the victory of faith, as illustrated in this instance. When the enemy, who had been confident in their superior numbers, heard the Israelites coming out that morning, singing and shouting, what must they have concluded? Nothing else but that the Israelites had received reinforcements and were so strengthened that it would be useless to try to oppose them. Also a panic seized them, and each one looked upon his neighbor as an enemy.

And were they not correct in their conclusion, that Israel had received reinforcements? Indeed they were, for the record says, “When they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir.” The host of the Lord, in whom Jehoshaphat and his people trusted, fought for them. They had reinforcements and doubtless if their eyes could have been opened to see them, they would have seen, as did the servant ot Elisha on one occasion, that they that were with them were more in number than the enemy.

But the point which should be specially noticed is that it was when Israel began to sing and to praise that the Lord set ambushments against the enemy. What does that signify? It signifies that their faith was real. The promise of God was considered as good as the actual accomplishment. So they believed in the Lord, or, more literally, they built upon the Lord, and thus they were established, or built up. Thus they proved the truth of the words, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4.

Let us now apply this illustration in a case of conflict against sin. Here comes a strong temptation to do a thing known to be wrong. We have often proved to our sorrow the strength of the temptation, because it has vanquished us, so that we know that we have no might against it. But now our eyes are upon the Lord, who has told us to come with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So we begin to pray to God for help. And we pray to the God that is revealed to us in the Bible as the Creator of heaven and earth. We begin, not with a mournful statement of our weakness, but with a joyful acknowledgment of God's mighty power. That being settled, we can venture to state our difficulty and our weakness. If we state our weakness first and our discouraging situation, we are placing ourselves before God. In that case Satan will magnify the difficulty and throw his darkness around us so that we can see nothing else but our weakness, and so, although our cries and pleading may be fervent and agonizing, they will be in vain, because they will lack the essential element of believing that God is and that He is all that He has revealed Himself to be. But when we start with a recognition of God's power, then we can safely state our weakness, for then we are simply placing our weakness by the side of His power, and the contrast tends to beget courage.

Then, as we pray, the promise of God comes to our mind, brought there by the Holy Spirit. It may be that we can think of no special promise that exactly fits the case, but we can remember that “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), and that He “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal. 1:4), and we may know that this carried with it every promise, for “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Rom. 8:32.

Then we remember that God can speak of those things that are not as though they were. That is, if God gives a promise, it is as good as fulfilled already. And so, knowing that our deliverance from evil is according to the will of God (Gal. 1:4), we count the victory as already ours and begin to thank God for His “exceeding great and precious promises.” As our faith grasps these promises and makes them real, we cannot help praising God for His wonderful love, and while we are doing this, our minds are wholly taken from evil and the victory is ours. The Lord Jesus sets ambushments against the enemy. Our ascription of praise shows to Satan that we have obtained reinforcements, and as he has tested the power of the help that is granted to us, he knows that he can do nothing on that occasion, and so he leaves us. This illustrates the force of the apostle's injunction: Be careful for nothing [that is, do not worry about anything]; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Phil. 4:6.'

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My thoughts-

Rom 1:17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Rom 1:17  for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; even as it has been written, "But the just shall live by faith."

Living by faith.

Living by belief.

We can choose to live without any faith, without any belief in God. We can choose to believe we did not have a creator and are in no need of a redeemer.  These are choices we can make, and choices people really do make.  They think their minds are too superior to succumb to a fantasy. They think to believe in a creator would mean there was an awful being who created this awful world and there is nothing good in that creator. They think that the creator should have simply made a perfect world to begin with, or wiped sin out before it ever took root, they believe that there had to be a better way than what exists.  There are many schools of thought out there about God- existing and not existing and these thoughts are permitted because we have that power of choice. 

A person who has no belief in a Creator and a Redeemer from the evil of the world, somehow believes themselves to be free to live as they please, having to answer to no one but themselves.  They fully expect that the life they live is all there is and there is nothing more. They live in a state of misplaced hope believing that somehow mankind will straighten itself out and become a good thing. All evil will stop through man made intervention, through a slow process of man evolving from their barbarian heritage. In fact they'll point to history and show its horrors and the very slow progress of man evolving from animalistic chaos to where we are today with our laws, our justice, our prisons and such as we seek to contain the evil and not let it run rampant among us. They fully believe that one day something will happen that will create a perfect world to live in.  Or, they believe things are what they are and it's pure survival of the fittest/smartest and it will stay that way forever without end.

These people offer no hope for any sort of real perfection in people or life, just a matter of survival- that is life. And in surviving getting as much happiness as you can while you are surviving because that's it. The end.  No more.

They would rather have no faith- no belief in the evidence not seen, no substance of things hoped for yet unseen.  They demand to see, not letting history as its own witness stand as a testimony to the truth in God's word.  They demand to see, and yet refuse to believe the testimony of those who saw.  They want their own 'Road to Damascus' experience, their own 'parting of the sea', their own finger to touch the holes in the palms of our Savior's hand.   These do NOT want to believe as if believing some how makes them weak, and easily duped.

The world is filled with unbelievers.
The world is filled with false believers.

Satan would have us all doubt.

And once more I have to say that one of my favorite scriptures is the following-

Mar 9:15  And at once all the crowd seeing Him were greatly amazed. And running up, they greeted Him.
Mar 9:16  And He questioned the scribes, What are you arguing with them?
Mar 9:17  And one answered out of the crowd, saying, Teacher, I brought my son to You, having a dumb spirit.
Mar 9:18  And wherever it seizes him, it dashes him; and he foams and gnashes his teeth. And he wastes away. And I told Your disciples, that they might expel it. And they were not able.
Mar 9:19  And answering them, He said, O unbelieving generation! How long will I be with you? How long shall I endure you? Bring him to Me.
Mar 9:20  And they brought him to Him. And seeing Him, the spirit immediately convulsed him. And falling on the ground, he wallowed, foaming.
Mar 9:21  And He questioned his father, How long a time is it while this has happened to him? And he said, From childhood.
Mar 9:22  And often it threw him both into fire and into water, that it might destroy him. But if You are able to do anything, help us, having pity on us.
Mar 9:23  And Jesus said to him, If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the ones believing.
Mar 9:24  And immediately crying out, the father of the child said with tears, Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!

I BELIEVE! HELP MY UNBELIEF!

Jesus said-  O UNBELIEVING generation! 
Jesus continued- How long will I be with you?
And yet more- How long shall I endure you?

These were those who were witnessing the miracles, the many, many miracles of Jesus. These were those who were allowed to see first hand as the inexplicable occurred. They watched as those who had been sick or maimed since birth be healed completely!  They saw it happen! People they knew all their lives who had been blind, never seeing- were given sight!  People who could never walk were able to run! They watched this first hand and they still DOUBTED!   Much like those who witnessed the miracles of Moses turning from their awe in witnessing and experiencing the miracles first hand to complaining and no longer believing.  We sit back and shake our heads unable to imagine how these people could doubt after  SEEING firsthand, yet they did.

We are called to believe. 

The disciples were called to believe and yet with this kind of evil spirit they weren't able to cast it out, they weren't able to heal and the man wanted his son healed. They tried, the disciples tried to fix the boy. They didn't understand why they couldn't heal him as they had others.  They stood there as their Savior who had given them the power to heal said those words, 'O unbelieving generation how long will I be with you? How long shall I endure you?'   He told them they were UNBELIEVING!  The very ones who were given power to heal and cast out demons, they believed but…  did they?   This demon didn't come out easily like they expected, like they were used to the demons doing. They were confused. They thought they believed.

Jesus then told them this…

Mar 9:28  And He entering into a house, His disciples questioned Him privately, Why were we not able to cast it out?
Mar 9:29  And He said to them, This kind can go out by nothing except by prayer and fasting.

They needed to PRAY and to FAST.   They needed to pray and what is prayer? It is belief, pure belief in the power of GOD. Fasting, what is fasting? Fasting is denying self.

We are called to believe.

Jesus asked the Father of the boy if he believed, and the father responded- He believed.  He believed if that's what it would take he would believe, and right away he added-  Help thou my UNBELIEF.  He asked Jesus to help his unbelieving. He knew that Jesus was the source of his ability to believe and we too have to recognize that Jesus is our source of believing.

We need to choose to believe.  We have the evidence of history and a lot of it. We have to believe, we have to have faith. And may our Savior help all of our UNBELIEF!

Please Lord… Please heavenly Father, Creator, Redeemer...please help our unbelief.

Delivered to Christ

'Acceptance With God

Many people hesitate to make a start to serve the Lord, because they fear that God will not accept them, and thousands who have been professed followers of Christ for years are still doubting their acceptance with God. For the benefit of such I write, and I would not bewilder their minds with speculations, but will endeavor to give them the simple assurances of God's word.

“Will the Lord receive me?” I reply by another question: Will a man receive that which he has bought? If you go to the store and make a purchase, will you receive the goods when they are delivered? Of course you will; there is no room for any question about it. The fact that you bought the goods and paid your money for them is sufficient proof, not only that you are willing, but that you are anxious, to receive them. If you did not want them, you would not have bought them. Moreover, the more you paid for them the more anxious you are to receive them. If the price that you paid was great and you had almost given your life to earn it, then there can be no question but that you will accept the purchase when it is delivered. Your great anxiety is lest there should be some failure to deliver it.

Now let us apply this simple, natural illustration to the case of the sinner coming to Christ. In the first place, He has bought us. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20.

The price that was paid for us was His own blood--His life. Paul said to the elders of Ephesus: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28. “For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation [manner of life] received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:18, 19. He “gave himself for us.” Titus 2:14. He “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” Gal. 1:4.

He bought not a certain class, but the whole world of sinners. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son.” John 3:16. Jesus said, “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:51. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:6, 8.

The price paid was infinite, therefore, we know that He very much desired that which He bought. He had His heart set on obtaining it. He could not be satisfied without it. See Phil. 2:6-8; Heb 12:2; Isa. 53:11.

(((Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Isa 53:11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. ))))

“But I am not worthy.” That means that you are not worth the price paid and therefore you fear to come lest Christ will repudiate the purchase. Now you might have some fear on that score if the bargain were not sealed and the price were not already paid. If He should refuse to accept you on the ground that you are not worth the price, He would not only lose you but also the amount paid. Even though the goods for which you have paid are not worth what you gave for them, you yourself would not be so foolish as to throw them away. You would rather get some return for your money than get nothing.

But, further, you have nothing to do with the question of worth. When Christ was on earth in the interest of the purchase, He “needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man.” John 2:25. He made the purchase with his eyes open, and He knew the exact value of that which He bought. He is not at all disappointed when you come to Him and He finds that you are worthless. You have not to worry over the question of worth. If He, with His perfect knowledge of the case, was satisfied to make the bargain, you should be the last one to complain.

For, most wonderful truth of all, He bought you for the very reason that you were not worthy. His practiced eye saw in you great possibilities, and He bought you, not for what you were then or are now worth, but for what He could make of you. He says, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake.” Isa. 43:25. We have no righteousness, therefore He bought us, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Says Paul, “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” Col. 2:9, 10. Here is the whole process:

We all...were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might show us the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We are to be “to the praise of the glory of his grace.” This we could not be if we were originally worth all He paid for us. There would in that case be no glory to Him in the transaction. He could not, in the ages to come, show in us the riches of His grace. But when He takes us, worth nothing, and at the last presents us faultless before the throne, it will be to His everlasting glory. And then there will not be any to ascribe worthiness to themselves. Throughout eternity, the sanctified hosts will unite in saying to Christ, “Thou art worthy...for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests.” “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” Rev. 5:9, 10, 12.

Surely all doubt as to acceptance with God ought to be set at rest. But it is not. The evil heart of unbelief still suggests doubts. “I believe all this, but--.'” There, stop right there. If you believed you wouldn't say “but.” When people add “but” to the statement that they believe, they really mean, “I believe, but I don't believe.” But you continue, “Perhaps you are right, but hear me out. What I was going to say is, I believe the Scripture statements that you have quoted, but the Bible says that if we are children of God we shall have the witness of the Spirit and will have the witness in ourselves, and I don't feel any such witness. Therefore, I can't believe that I am Christ's. I believe His word, but I haven't the witness.” I understand your difficulty. Let me see if it cannot be removed.

As to your being Christ's, you yourself can settle that. You have seen what He gave for you. Now the question is, have you delivered yourself to Him? If you have, you may be sure that He has accepted you. If you are not His, it is solely because you have refused to deliver to Him that which He has bought. You are defrauding Him. He says, “All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” Rom. 10:21. He begs you to give Him that which He has bought and paid for, yet you refuse and charge Him with not being willing to receive you. But if from the heart you have yielded yourself to Him to be His child, you may be assured that He has received you. Now as to your believing His words, yet doubting if He accepts you, because you don't feel the witness in your heart, I still insist that you don't believe. If you did, you would have the witness. Listen to His word, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” 1 John 5:10. To believe in the Son is simply to believe His word and the record concerning Him.

And “he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.” You can't have the witness until you believe, and as soon as you do believe, you have the witness. How is that? Because your belief in God's word is the witness. God says so.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Heb 11:1.

If you should hear God say with an audible voice that you are His child, you would consider that sufficient witness. Well, when God speaks in His word, it is the same as though He spoke with an audible voice, and your faith is the evidence that you hear and believe.

This is so important a matter that it is worth careful consideration. Let us read a little more of the record. First, we read that we are “all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:26. This is a positive confirmation of what I said concerning our unbelief in the witness. Our faith makes us children of God. But how do we obtain this faith? “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom. 10:17. But how can we obtain faith in God's word? Just believe that God cannot lie. You would hardly call God a liar to His face, but that is just what you do if you don't believe His word. All you have to do to believe is to believe. “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” Rom. 10:8-11.

All this is in harmony with the record given through Paul. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” Rom. 8:16, 17. This Spirit which witnesses with our spirit is the Comforter that Jesus promised. John 14:16. And we know that Its witness is true, for It is the “Spirit of truth.” Now how does It bear witness? By bringing to our remembrance the Word which has been recorded. It inspired those words (1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Peter 1:21), and, therefore, when It brings them to our remembrance, it is the same as though It were speaking them directly to us. It presents to our mind the record, a part of which we have quoted. We know that the record is true, for God cannot lie. We bid Satan be gone with his false witness against God, and we believe that record, but if we believe the record, we know that we are children of God, and we cry, “Abba, Father.” And then the glorious truth breaks more fully upon the soul. The repetition of the words makes it a reality to us. He is our Father; we are His children. What joy the thought gives! So we see that the witness which we have in ourselves is not a simple impression or an emotion. God does not ask us to trust so unreliable a witness as our feeling. He who trusts his own heart is a fool, the Scripture says. But the witness that we are to trust is the unchangeable word of God, and this witness we may have through the Spirit, in our own hearts. “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”

This assurance does not warrant us in relaxing our diligence and settling down contentedly, as though we had gained perfection. We must remember that Christ accepts us not for our sake but for His own sake, not because we are perfect but that in Him we may go on unto perfection. He blesses us not because we have been so good that we have deserved a blessing but in order that in the strength of the blessing we may turn away from our iniquities. Acts 3:26. To everyone that believes in Christ, the power--right or privilege--is given to become the sons of God. John 1:12, margin. It is by the “exceeding great and precious promises” of God through Christ that we are “made partakers of the Divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:4.

Let us consider briefly the practical application of some of these scriptures.

E.G. Waggoner - Christ Our Righteousness

(((BY the grace of God we will continue with that tomorrow… but first…))))


*******

My thoughts-

'As to your being Christ's, you yourself can settle that. You have seen what He gave for you. Now the question is, have you delivered yourself to Him? If you have, you may be sure that He has accepted you. If you are not His, it is solely because you have refused to deliver to Him that which He has bought. You are defrauding Him.' --

Delivering ourselves to Christ. Surrendering ourselves to Christ.

This brings to mind once more this lovely little poem-

I brought my broken toys to God
With tears for Him to mend.
I knew that I could trust Him,
Because He was my friend.
But instead of leaving Him,
In peace to work alone,
I stayed around and tried to help,
In ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back,
And cried,"How could you be so slow?"
"My child," he said, "what could I do,
you never did let go." ----Unknown

This holds true for ourselves as well as any problems we may have. If we do NOT give Christ ourselves and let go of ourselves so He can mend us,  how can we expect Him to work in us?

If we are constantly living our lives on a day in and day out basis judging ourselves and saying- this sinful action of mine keeps me from Christ,  then in truth we are saying- if we are good enough then we would be Christ's.

It's true, sin separates us from God.  When we sin we are committing an action that will separate us from God.  If we are Christ's, if we have delivered ourselves to Christ, then we can know that we can seek forgiveness from Him and He will give it to us, He will forgive us. He knows our every weakness and promises to help us.

We will never be worthy, but we can belong to Christ.

A daily deliverance.  We are to ask God daily to deliver to us our DAILY bread, our DAILY sustenance and that's what Christ is for us, a DAILY Sustenance.  If we are to pray for God to 'give us this day our daily bread'  then we are to pray DAILY.  We receive the Daily Bread from God. When we are asking for our Daily Bread we are asking to be sustained by God, delivering ourselves into His hands to be sustained, kept spiritually alive in Him.

All our lives we are going to be constantly immersed in the spiritual battle waging on around us, it will never end until Christ's return for us, His people.

The battle rages on because there is no such thing as 'once saved, always saved.'  Satan will continually war after us knowing that there exists a possibility to stop us from receiving our Daily Bread, a possibility of stopping us from delivering ourselves to Christ and Christ's salvation, Christ's righteousness.

A constant surrendering, this is our part. A constant fearing of God- recognizing God's authority over us. A constant keeping of God's commandments- of living as Christ as revealed we are supposed to live.  A constant seeking of forgiveness for falling short of keeping God's commandments fully.  We will never reach a place where we can say we don't need to ask for Christ's forgiveness any longer, not until sin is wiped away once and for all. We will never reach a place where we can say we have lived righteousness, we've kept all the commandments, and we are good.

We will have days where we have found we've kept God's commandments as fully as we know how- just as the man in the Bible could say this-

Luk 18:18  And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Luk 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
Luk 18:20  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Luk 18:21  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

The man said- 'All these have I kept from my youth up.' 

The man believed he kept God's commandments.  But Jesus revealed to him that he did not, not really, not fully.

Luk 18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Luk 18:23  And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
Luk 18:24  And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

The man lacked one thing-- the love of the law that tells us that we are love others before we love ourselves, the love that we are to have that says to love God first and foremost. 

The man thought he was keeping the commandments, but the truth was he was keeping it in form not in heart. His loving God and having no other gods before God- did not stop him from making money his god. The man's riches meant more to him than God.

So yes, we can say we've had a great day, we've been able to keep all God's commandments, but the truth is, are we keeping the heart of the commandments that is so much broader than the clipped formality of what is written? 

We are forever dependent upon our Savior, our Redeemer, our Creator and we have to stop believing that we can be good enough, and start asking ourselves if we have surrendered to Christ today, in all things.  Have we surrendered? Have we delivered ourselves to Christ Jesus?  Have we given Him what He bought with such a high, high price?

Here we are, Lord! We are YOURS! We are imperfect, but You knew that when You died for us. We only seek to be YOURS, please know us, accept us, take us as Yours. Forgive us when we commit any act that will separate us from You and keep us in You by Your power, Your love, Your righteousness!

Christ Alone Saves

'The Lord Our Righteousness

The question, then, is, How may the righteousness that is necessary in order that one may enter that city, be obtained?

To answer this question is the great work of the gospel. Let us first have an object lesson on justification or the imparting of righteousness. The fact may help us to a better understanding of the theory. The example is given in Luke 18:9-14 in these words:

And He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others; Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

This was given to show how we may not, and how we may, attain to righteousness.

The Pharisees are not extinct; there are many in these days who expect to gain righteousness by their own good deeds. They trust in themselves that they are righteous. They do not always so openly boast of their goodness, but they show in other ways that they are trusting to their own righteousness. Perhaps the spirit of the Pharisee--the spirit which would recount to God one's own good deeds as a reason for favor--is found as frequently as anywhere else among those professed Christians who feel the most bowed down on account of their sins. They know that they have sinned, and they feel condemned. They mourn over their sinful state and deplore their weakness. Their testimonies never rise above this level. Often they refrain for very shame from speaking in the social meeting, and often they do not dare approach God in prayer. After having sinned to a greater degree than usual, they refrain from prayer for some time, until the vivid sense of their failure has passed away or until they imagine that they have made up for it by special good behavior. Of what is this a manifestation? Of that Pharisaic spirit that would flaunt its own righteousness in the face of God; that will not come before Him unless it can lean on the false prop of its own fancied goodness. They want to be able to say to the Lord, “See how good I have been for the past few days; you surely will accept me now.”

But what is the result? The man who trusted in his own righteousness had none, while the man who prayed, in heart-felt contrition, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” went down to his house a righteous man. Christ says that he went justified; that is, made righteous.

Notice that the publican did something more than bewail his sinfulness; he asked for mercy.

What is mercy? It is unmerited favor. It is the disposition to treat a man better than he deserves. Now the Word of Inspiration says of God, “as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.” Ps. 103:11. That is, the measure by which God treats us better than we deserve when we humbly come to Him, is the distance between earth and the highest heaven. And in what respect does He treat us better than we deserve? In taking our sins away from us, for the next verse says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” With this agree the words of the beloved disciple, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

For a further statement of the mercy of God, and of how it is manifested, read Micah 7:18,19, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast their sins into the depths of the sea.” Let us now read the direct Scripture statement of how righteousness is bestowed.

The apostle Paul, having proved that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, so that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight, proceeds to say that we are “justified [made righteous] freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.” Rom. 3:24-26.

“Being made righteous freely.” How else could it be? Since the best efforts of a sinful man have not the least effect toward producing righteousness, it is evident that the only way it can come to him is as a gift. That righteousness is a gift is plainly stated by Paul in Rom. 5:17: “For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ.” It is because righteousness is a gift that eternal life, which is the reward of righteousness, is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christ has been set forth by God as the One through whom forgiveness of sins is to be obtained; and this forgiveness consists simply in the declaration of His righteousness (which is the righteousness of God) for their remission. God, “who is rich in mercy” (Eph. 2:4) and who delights in it, puts His own righteousness on the sinner who believes in Jesus, as a substitute for his sins. Surely, this is a profitable exchange for the sinner, and it is no loss to God, for He is infinite in holiness and the supply can never be diminished.

The scripture that we have just been considering (Rom. 3:24- 26) is but another statement of verses 21, 22, following the declaration that by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be made righteous. The apostle adds, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnesssed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” God puts His righteousness upon the believer. He covers him with it, so that his sin no more appears. Then the forgiven one can exclaim with the prophet:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

Isa. 61:10. But what about “the righteousness of God without the law”? How does that accord with the statement that the law is the righteousness of God, and that outside of its requirements there is no righteousness? There is no contradiction here. The law is not ignored by this process. Note carefully: Who gave the law? Christ. How did He speak it? “As one having authority,” even as God. The law sprang from Him the same as from the Father and is simply a declaration of the righteousness of His character. Therefore the righteousness which comes by the faith of Jesus Christ is the same righteousness that is epitomized in the law, and this is further proved by the fact that it is “witnessed by the law.”

Let the reader try to picture the scene. Here stands the law as the swift witness against the sinner. It cannot change, and it will not call a sinner a righteous man. The convicted sinner tries again and again to obtain righteousness from the law, but it resists all his advances. It cannot be bribed by any amount of penance or professedly good deeds. But here stands Christ, “full of grace” as well as of truth, calling the sinner to Him. At last the sinner, weary of the vain struggle to get righteousness from the law, listens to the voice of Christ and flees to His outstretched arms. Hiding in Christ, he is covered with His righteousness, and now behold! he has obtained, through faith in Christ, that for which he has been vainly striving. He has the righteousness which the law requires, and it is the genuine article, because he obtained it from the Source of Righteousness, from the very place whence the law came. And the law witnesses to the genuineness of this righteousness. It says that so long as the man retains that, it will go into court and defend him against all accusers. It will witness to the fact that he is a righteous man. With the righteousness which is “through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9), Paul was sure that he would stand secure in the day of Christ.

There is in the transaction no ground for finding fault. God is just and at the same time the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead. He is equal with the Father in every attribute. Consequently the redemption that is in Him--the ability to buy back lost man--is infinite. Man's rebellion is against the Son as much as against the Father, since both are one. Therefore, when Christ “gave Himself for our sins,” it was the King suffering for the rebellious subjects--the One injured passing by, overlooking, the offense of the offender. No skeptic will deny that any man has the right and privilege of pardoning any offense committed against himself; then why cavil when God exercises the same right? Surely if He wishes to pardon the injury done Himself, He has the right, and more because He vindicates the integrity of His law by submitting in His own Person to the penalty which was due the sinner. “But the innocent suffered for the guilty.” True, but the innocent Sufferer “gave himself” voluntarily, in order that He might in justice to His government do what His love prompted, namely, pass by the injury done to Himself as the Ruler of the universe.

Now read God's own statement of His own Name--a statement given in the face of one of the worst cases of contempt ever shown Him:

And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long- suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. Ex. 34:5-7.

This is God's name. It is the character in which He reveals Himself to man, the light in which He wishes men to regard Him. But what of the declaration that He “will by no means clear the guilty”? That is perfectly in keeping with His longsuffering, abundant goodness and His passing by the transgression of His people. It is true that God will by no means clear the guilty. He could not do that and still be a just God. But He does something which is far better. He removes the guilt, so that the one formerly guilty does not need to be cleared--he is justified and counted as though he never had sinned.

Let no one cavil over the expression, “putting on righteousness,” as though such a thing were hypocrisy. Some, with a singular lack of appreciation of the value of the gift of righteousness, have said that they did not want righteousness that was “put on,” but that they wanted only that righteousness which comes from the life, thus depreciating the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe. We agree with their idea insofar as it is a protest against hypocrisy, a form of godliness without the power, but we would have the reader bear this thought in mind: It makes a vast deal of difference who puts the righteousness on. If we attempt to put it on ourselves, then we really get on nothing but a filthy garment, no matter how beautiful it may look to us, but when Christ clothes us with it, it is not to be despised nor rejected. Mark the expression in Isaiah: “He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” The righteousness with which Christ covers us is righteousness that meets the approval of God, and if God is satisfied with it, surely men ought not to try to find anything better.

But we will carry the figure a step further and that will relieve the matter of all difficulty. Zech. 3:1-5 furnishes the solution. It reads thus:

“And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee; is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair miter upon his head. So they set a fair miter upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.”

Notice in the above account that the taking away of the filthy garments is the same as causing the iniquity to pass from the person. And so we find that when Christ covers us with the robe of His own righteousness, He does not furnish a cloak for sin but takes the sin away. And this shows that the forgiveness of sins is something more than a mere form, something more than a mere entry in the books of record in heaven, to the effect that the sin has been canceled. The forgiveness of sins is a reality; it is something tangible, something that vitally affects the individual. It actually clears him from guilt, and if he is cleared from guilt, is justified, made righteous, he has certainly undergone a radical change. He is, indeed, another person, for he obtained this righteousness for the remission of sins, in Christ. It was obtained only by putting on Christ. But “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” 2 Cor. 5:17. And so the full and free forgiveness of sins carries with it that wonderful and miraculous change known as the new birth, for a man cannot become a new creature except by a new birth. This is the same as having a new, or a clean, heart.

The new heart is a heart that loves righteousness and hates sin. It is a heart of willingness to be led into the paths of righteousness. It is such a heart as the Lord wished Israel to have when he said, “O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!” Deut. 5:29. In short, it is a heart free from the love of sin as well as from the guilt of sin. But what makes a man sincerely desire the forgiveness of his sins? It is simply his hatred of them and his desire for righteousness, which hatred and desire have been enkindled by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit strives with all men. It comes as a reprover. When its voice of reproof is regarded, then it at once assumes the office of comforter. The same submissive, yielding disposition that leads the person to accept the reproof of the Spirit, will also lead him to follow the teachings of the Spirit, and Paul says that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Rom. 8:14.

Again, what brings justification or the forgiveness of sins? It is faith, for Paul says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:1. The righteousness of God is given unto and put upon everyone that believeth. Rom. 3:22. But this same exercise of faith makes the person a child of God; for, says the apostle Paul again, “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:26.

The fact that everyone whose sins are forgiven is at once a child of God is shown in Paul's letter to Titus. He first brings to view the wicked condition in which we once were and then says (Titus 3:4-7):

But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward men appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Note that it is by being justified by His grace that we are made heirs. We have already learned from Rom. 3:24, 25 that this justification by His grace is through our faith in Christ, but Gal. 3:26 tells us that faith in Christ Jesus makes us children of God; therefore, we know that whoever has been justified by God's grace-- has been forgiven--is a child and an heir of God.

This shows that there is no ground for the idea that a person must go through a sort of probation and attain to a certain degree of holiness before God will accept him as His child. He receives us just as we are. It is not for our goodness that He loves us but because of our need. He receives us, not for the sake of anything that He sees in us but for His own sake and for what He knows that His Divine power can make of us. It is only when we realize the wonderful exaltation and holiness of God and the fact that He comes to us in our sinful and degraded condition to adopt us into His family that we can appreciate the force of the apostle's exclamation, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” 1 John 3:1. Everyone upon whom this honor has been bestowed will purify himself, even as He is pure.

God does not adopt us as His children because we are good but in order that He may make us good. Says Paul, “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loves us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us [made us alive] together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Eph. 2:4-7. And then he adds, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Verses 8-10. This passage shows that God loved us while we were yet dead in sins. He gives us His Spirit to make us alive in Christ, and the same Spirit marks our adoption into the Divine family, and He thus adopts us that, as new creatures in Christ, we may do the good works which God has ordained.'

Christ and His Righteousness    E.G. Waggoner

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My thoughts-

We have before us a right way and a wrong way to live- all defined in the Ten Commandments, the Spiritual law from God the Father and God the Son. 

When man chose to disobey God they destroyed their ability to keep the Moral Law. By making a selfish choice man chose to divorce themselves from the ONLY One who could keep them righteous.  There is NO righteousness apart from God, none! 

Born with no natural ability to keep the moral law, mankind was left to make a choice.  Mankind had the ability to choose to align themselves with God or align themselves with the enemy of God, the one who introduced separation from God under the pretext that God was being hateful in His love.  God allowed that Being to separate himself from Him, He could not force the union because force is selfish.  God gives all of mankind this same choice- to join with Him or join with the champion of separation from God- Satan. 

Now, when we make the choice to join with God we have to comprehend that the choice we are making is to be at one with God- aligned with God fully- understanding that God is all in all and God is righteousness.  When we choose God, we have to comprehend first and foremost that HE ALONE is righteous and the ONLY way for us to obtain any sort of righteousness is to be GIVEN that righteousness, it isn't something we can manufacture on our own, it's impossible. And we have to comprehend that this is an UNENDING, a FOREVER realization. We can't accept God's salvation, God's righteousness one day and then believe that our own actions will make us righteous the next day. 

If we choose to align with God then we are agreeing that all God tells us is good, we are agreeing that His ways are righteous. We are given multiple examples of His ways. We are given a set in stone sum of what God's righteousness is right there in His moral Ten Commandments, His Ten Moral Laws. We are allowed to know what God is, we are told that if we LOVE God we will keep His Commandments.  Why is this, if our keeping those commandments gives us no righteousness? Do we keep the Ten Commandments to obtain righteousness, or do we keep them because we LOVE the One who gave them to us, the One who gave us His righteousness in those Ten Moral Commandments?

When we fall short of keeping those Ten Moral Laws because we have no natural inclination to keep them,  when we recognize our failure to show our love to the One who has Created us, and Saved us, the One in whom exists Love,  then there is a God given, Holy Spirit induced sorrow for our failing.  That sorrow, that comprehension, serves to remind us that we have no righteousness of our own, that only by accepting CHRIST as our righteousness and allowing HIM and HIS righteousness to take from us that which we cannot remove for ourselves, can we have any real hope.

Daily we must choose Christ. Daily our filthy garments must be removed by Christ and replaced with the white robe of His Righteousness. Daily we must realize our need of being clothed by Christ. We can't pull on a single garment of righteousness. We can't tell ourselves that we keep the ten moral laws, as if each law is another layer of righteousness.  We can only give all glory, all praise, all honor to God for allowing us to live in His righteousness.  Keeping the Ten Commandments reveals our attempt, our desire,  to SHOW our love to God and His righteousness which alone saves us.

Keeping the Ten Commandments does not save us, no law saves us, only GOD can save us through JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD and SAVIOR.   We read this…

Rev_12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Rev_14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Satan is angry with God's Chosen, God's church. Satan wars with the remnant of the seed of God's people.  God's people, this remnant will KEEP the COMMANDMENTS of GOD and HAVE the TESTIMONY of JESUS CHRIST.

Satan can recognize God's people because their love of God will have them desiring to keep God's moral laws. They will have Jesus Christ's testimony- Salvation is found in HIM.

The patience of the saints- those who ARE GOD'S- they that KEEP the COMMANDMENTS of GOD and the FAITH of JESUS. 

We can't help but seek to follow God's will IF we love HIM. 

Do we fail?  Often.  Do we think our inability to keep perfectly the commandments of God damns us? Only if we think our ability to keep the commandments saves us.  Christ saves us!  Christ alone saves us!

Why does God say if we love Him we will keep the commandments? Because He KNOWS our love for Him if it is REALLY REAL, by HIS GRACE, will have us desiring to live life as He has deemed RIGHTEOUS and that is found in His Commandments.

Please LORD, help us to LOVE YOU, TRUST YOU, have FAITH IN YOU TO SAVE US, AND GIVE US ALL WE NEED TO LIVE IN YOU, TO LOVE YOU.

In His love always! In him and only in Him!