By His grace may we love Him

2Co_5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him

Our Creator, the One made Flesh, the God made Flesh was MADE SIN for us. Do we comprehend this?  When He took on our Flesh He took on our fallen flesh, the flesh that CAN be tempted to sin, the flesh that can sin.  He was TEMPTED, but He never consented to sin, sin was NEVER conceived in Him.

Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Jesus never sinned.  He was MADE sin for us when He took on OUR sins. He knew NO sin, but He HAD to take OUR sins so we would be free of them! He had to suffer the penalty of sin which is DEATH.

Only the ONE who would not sin, who could sin, but did not sin could save those who do sin. 

He became sin for US.

And He did that so we could be MADE the righteousness of God IN Him!

Jesus was made forever flesh. Jesus was God - and God is a spirit- Jesus God took on Flesh and would no longer be a spirit. I know we talked about that yesterday but  it's just so incredibly amazing that I have to say it again. 

Our Savior gave up SO MUCH! 

As He was called forth from the grave it was in His flesh. No spirit form lifted out of his flesh body because that NEVER HAPPENS TO ANYONE, EVER! He rose from the tomb, His Father raising Him up from the second death, a death that separated Him completely from   His Father, a separation that was final and complete until three days later the Father brought Him back to life.  Jesus did NOT bring Himself back to life.  God the Father raised Him from death to life because He was worthy, He sinned not, He did NOTHING to warrant sin's penalty - separation from the Father.  He suffered in OUR place, all so we could have HIS righteousness- HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

By His grace may we LOVE Him, may we believe in HIM, may we be HIS.

Please, Lord, let us be YOURS now and forever! Not because we are worthy because we are not, but because YOU died so we could LIVE, Your love for us is sooooo overwhelming, so unfathomable to us who love so little, who love so wrongly, who love so incompetently. Please, Lord, please we would be YOURS!

Amen.

Forever Flesh

2Co_5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him

TRUTH!

Christ was made sin and knew no sin all so WE could be given HIS righteousness, the righteousness we wait for through faith.

Sin- the transgressing of the law of God.  Jesus was made a transgressor without transgressing. 

Sin separates us from God. Jesus was separated from the Father God without cause. 

Just imagine the oneness in agreement that Jesus- the begotten Son had with God the Father.  They are both everlasting, both the Beginning and the End, both existing always and ever existing, God with God.  Such closeness! Then One became the declared Son, and the Other the declared Father. There was never a time ever that they were not two agreeing as one.  Then… the Son divested Himself of His Spirit form and took on flesh- and there was now forever a distinct difference in the Father and the begotten Son.  One God remain fully Spirit, the other God put His Spirit form into a body of Flesh- a very DISTINCT difference from a Spirit form taking on the guise of flesh. 

Remember this-

Gen 18:1  And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

Gen 18:2  And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,

Gen 18:8  And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

Gen 18:9  And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.

Gen 18:10  And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.

Gen 18:16  And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

Gen 18:20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

Gen 18:21  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

Gen 18:22  And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

Abraham stood in the presence of the Lord .  The Lord in the guise of a man who took part in a meal.  Yet, He was NOT flesh, nor were the other two with Him, they were angels.

Gen 19:1  And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

Gen 19:2  And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

Two angels, the same two that had continued towards Sodom.  Angels that Lot offered a place to stay, and to wash their feet.  Angels in the guise of men, yet they were NOT flesh.

When Jesus became flesh, when He took on our flesh it wasn't in a guise of flesh but He EMPTIED Himself of that ability to put on a guise of human flesh and entered into real flesh as a babe formed within a womb.  The mysteries of how this happened are for God, but we know the Holy Spirit made it possible.

Forever flesh. Jesus divested Himself of so much! Instead of being able to use His Godhood as a God of Spirit He limited Himself by putting on our flesh. He became dependent upon God the Father, able to do nothing without God the Father. He who created the world and all that is in it, was now fully dependent upon God the Father. When He healed He healed using the power of God.

Joh_5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

The Son can do NOTHING of himself.

More on this tomorrow by the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

Through the Spirit We WAIT for the Hope of Righteousness

Gal_5:5  For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

TRUTH!

We WAIT for the hope of righteousness by faith.

We don't attain righteousness of our own, we WAIT for the HOPE of righteousness by faith, and we do this through the Holy Spirit.

We do this...

Eph_4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

We put on the NEW MAN, the new man after God is created in RIGHTEOUSNESS and true HOLINESS. And this righteousness, this true holiness is only through the Holy Spirit, not something we create, not something we manufacture, not something we produce. We are made new through CHRIST, we do NOT make ourselves new.

Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him

Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Col 3:12  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Col 3:14  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

Col 3:15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Col 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Col 3:17  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

All by the Lord Jesus!

We must believe, truly believe.

Gal_3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Through belief we wait, we hope, and that through the Holy Spirit.

All by HIS grace and mercy! All by HIS righteousness the righteousness we wait for!

In Christ's love!

Amen.

We cannot ever earn salvation

Php_3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith

When we keep the law, when we do right we are being righteous, of this there can be no doubt. However, that righteousness is NOT the righteousness of God.  Our actions are not God's actions. Our righteous actions cannot save us. What saves us is our FAITH in our Savior.  You CANNOT have faith in our Savior and continue WILLFULLY, UNREPENTANTLY in sin- which is the breaking of the law.  You may continue on in sin, your flesh nature warring with your spirit. You may have weaknesses you are striving to overcome and gain victory over. If your heart is NOT breaking over these sins, if you are NOT struggling to overcome these sins through our Lord, then are you truly repentant of them? 

We read of Esau who sought  repentance..

Heb_12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Was Esau pained by what he'd done? Only the results of what he'd done, he was pained by the results, not by his own causing of those results. He didn't see His own sin fully, he allowed himself to be blind to his own sins.  We desire blindness because we want to continue in our sins. We can seek repentance all we want but unless we desire TRUTH, unvarnished truth, then the repentance we are seeking is really us asking God to overlook our sins, to excuse them, NOT forgive them. 

Jesus had to spill His life's blood to PAY the penalty for our sins.  God cannot overlook our sins!  By accepting our Savior and HIS righteousness, we are placing ourselves in His hands, and HE is using HIS righteousness, His blood to cover our sins. 

We cannot be found with our own righteousness and believe that our ACTIONS whatever they may be will gain us salvation. We must have our SAVIOR'S righteousness and count HIS righteousness as OURS.

We are saved through HIM, not through ourselves!

Please Father God, please bless us, help us, keep us in YOU AND YOUR righteousness. We have NO righteousness! 

We will do right things, but that will not earn us salvation.  We will live as our Savior would have us live, but that will not earn us salvation.  We can NEVER earn salvation. We must accept Christ's righteousness, Christ's salvation!

Please, Lord, save us! We know there is nothing we can do but believe in You. We know that we would do as You taught us to do, all through YOU and the HOLY SPIRIT.  You've given us YOUR laws, you have given us YOUR WORDS and we would know them, and do them through YOU!

Bless us, Lord, bless us!

Forgive us!

Keep us forever in YOU.

Amen.

Will you LOVE our Savior's appearing?

2Ti 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Imagine, a crown of righteousness.  A crown handed to you by the Savior Himself.  Here we read of an apostle stating that there is a CROWN of righteousness laid up for him. A crown of RIGHTEOUSNESS waiting for Him.  He won't be wearing that crown going to meet the Lord in the air, but rather that crown will be given to him on the day of the Lord's second coming. The crown of righteousness can only be given to us by Christ because it is HIS righteousness to give to those who believe in His salvation. To those who believe in His righteousness that crown will be a reality.  They won't see their Savior and hold up their own righteousness in any way, shape or form. They will be trusting in Christ's righteousness, KNOWING beyond any doubt it is through HIS righteousness, not their own they are saved.

We truly have to believe this just as Paul believed this.  He wasn't counting on his own righteousness to save Himself, but Christ's righteousness to save him. We do NOT save ourselves. 

Yes, we have to work out our own salvation and that is trusting in Christ our righteousness. We have to trust in Him, in His goodness, not our own. We must hold fast to Christ and do all we can to grow in Christ, by following HIS will. Letting Christ be our King, letting Christ be our Leader, letting Christ guide us in ALL we do, this is so important.

We have to live for our Savior, our Lord, and long for His appearing!  We must long for the appearing of Christ as we would long for a cherished loved one because He is the most cherished loved one of all!

By HIS GRACE!

Amen!

Through God and our Savior's Righteousness

2Pe_1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ

THROUGH the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God AND our Savior Jesus Christ, we obtain precious FAITH!

We do not obtain faith through our own righteousness! 

If we have to rely on our own righteousness we are LOST.

When we take hold of our Savior's righteousness we can claim faith through HIM, we have HIS faith, a sin conquering faith. We conquer through HIM and no other. HE is our LEADER, our KING and we must be willing to follow Him through all of life, every part of life. We can NEVER shut our King out of our lives, not ever. 

Most of us in this world today do not live life under allegiance to a king. And those who do live under kings today do not live under kings that take them into battles, like kings of old.

Our King, Jesus, leads us into battle daily.  We must swear our loyalty to Him, we must choose to serve Him, we must follow Him everywhere and anywhere He would have us go. We must do all He commands that we do. We must live as He demands, we must do all this and know that as He lead us from heaven through the Holy Spirit here on earth that one day He will return to call us to meet Him in the air and return to heaven with Him.

He is our KING, and we are His subjects, subjects He loves as His children, subjects He DIED to save.

Please, Lord, please let us realize You are our King, that it is YOUR righteousness that gives us the faith we need.  Help us to be YOURS, wholly YOURS as we fight the spiritual battle here and now. A spiritual battle that engages us daily.  By YOUR GRACE and LOVE, always!

How much of our lives are spent living for this world?

Do you have your own righteousness? Seriously. Do you have your own righteousness? What do I mean by righteousness? I mean this-

Webster's 1828 Dictionary has this to say-

'Righteousness

RIGHTEOUSNESS, n. ri'chusness.

1. Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. Righteousness, as used in Scripture and theology, in which it is chiefly used, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call justice, honesty and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true religion.

2. Applied to God, the perfection or holiness of his nature; exact rectitude; faithfulness.

3. The active and passive obedience of Christ, by which the law of God is fulfilled. Dan 9.

4. Justice; equity between man and man. Luke 1.

5. The cause of our justification.'

Do you have your OWN holiness? Your own perfection? 

There is something that mankind calls good, and another thing mankind calls bad,  they call things right and they call things wrong.  They believe if they hurt no one and live by a personal code of conduct that they are righteous, but the truth of the matter is, ANY good, ANY right things we do matter not at all if they are done out of anything but LOVE. If we do good so we can be called good, if we do right so we can be called right, it means nothing in the grand scheme of things because all that goodness, all that right doing is being done out of a selfish heart, a proud heart, a heart that wants to be able to say to itself and perhaps others that it is a good heart- and therefore the person having that good heart is a good person.  The glory for which that heart seeks can be ignored because they are a good person and if it takes a selfish heart to be a good person to others, what harm is there in that? All the harm in ...well, eternity.  I could have said all the harm in the world, but it's not this world we want to live for, is it?

How much of our lives are spent living for this world?  All of it some would say, not believing a person could live for any other sort of world.  We take great stock in being able to say this is our home and we need to take pride it in.  If Aliens from outer space were to invade us we'd quickly rise up and defend our earthly home. If people from other countries degrade our country, then pride for our home country rises up. We can whittle that down to people from our hometowns having hometown pride, because people value their roots, right?   Yet the deepest roots of people going back hundreds maybe thousands of years in a single home town, mean very little in the grand scheme of things.

Satan wants us to take pride in anything and everything of this world, of this life, but let me ask you- what did Jesus take pride in of this world?  Jesus, prideful? Never.  However, Jesus did speak longingly and at great lengths about things, what sort of things? HEAVENLY THINGS.  His entire message was a HEAVENLY message. The gospel He brought to us was a HEAVENLY gospel, the gospel of the Kingdom of God, the gospel of the grace of our Savior whose sole purpose in taking on flesh and divesting Himself of His completely spiritual essence was to give all of us a chance to experience the kingdom of heaven. 

Heaven is NOT guaranteed to anyone! Too many believe they have an automated free pass to heaven upon death, but this isn't true! If it were true, why did Jesus, why did our God, Jesus, take on flesh and die for us?

Rom 10:3  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

We can't be ignorant of God's righteousness!  We have to constantly believe in GOD'S righteousness!  And God's righteousness tells us our pride should be in HEAVEN where GOD DWELLS, where our SAVIOR DWELLS.  By the Holy Spirit may we live in HIM now and forever-   more tomorrow by the grace of JESUS our LORD.

Amen!