Christ - Creator.

 Col 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, 

Col 1:2  To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Col 1:3  We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 

Col 1:4  Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 

Col 1:5  For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 

Col 1:6  Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: 

Col 1:7  As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; 

Col 1:8  Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. 

Col 1:9  For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to 

DESIRE THAT YE MIGHT BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL IN ALL WISDOM AND SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING

(((We need and can be filled with the KNOWLEDGE of CHRIST'S WILL - being given all wisdom and spiritual understand towards this end- knowing His will))))

Col 1:10  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 

(((Walking worthy of the LORD. Fruitful in good work. Gaining knowledge of God.))))

Col 1:11  Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; 

(((Spiritually strengthened with all we need- by HIS glorious power, giving us PATIENCE, LONGSUFFERING while being filled with JOY!))))

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 

(((Thanking GOD the Father who made our spiritual INHERITANCE from CHRIST possible))))

Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 

Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 

(((Delivered from SATAN, given to CHRIST for His Kingdom. REDEEMED by CHRIST through HIS BLOOD, HIS DEATH- FORGIVEN of our SINS!))))

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 

(((CHRIST JESUS- the image of GOD the Father- invisible to us.

CHRIST JESUS- the firstborn of every creature.  Holding the position of importance a firstborn holds, but not only the firstborn power position but the power over all created, firstborn over all firstborn.))))

Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 

(((CHRIST CREATED ALL THINGS. Christ our CREATOR.  All created by Him and FOR Him!))))

Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 

(((CHRIST before ALL things, CHRIST - by HIM ALL THINGS ARE.))))

Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 

(((CHRIST the HEAD of the body.

CHRIST the HEAD of His people.

CHRIST the beginning.

CHRIST the first risen from the decreed death - God forsakened.

CHRIST truly greater than all things.))))

Gods Power, Not Ours.

 Inward truth. 

It is so much more important for us to have truth inwardly than to appear to be truth followers and not be from the heart.  

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 

Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. 

We can't let our own heart deceive us. We have to pray that God creates a clean heart in us, because we cannot do it for ourselves.

Psa_51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Eze 11:19  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh

Eze 36:25  Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 

Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 

Eze 36:27  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 

God does all this FOR US we have to LET HIM, and we have to LET HIM daily. We can choose at any moment to stop letting God work in us, we mustn't do that. We must learn to surrender always, recognizing all glory belongs to God!

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Romans 3:22 even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.

Within and Without. 

This righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, is unto, literally into, and upon all them that believe. Man's own righteousness, which is of the law, is only on the outside. Matt. 23:27, 28.  

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 

Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 

But God desires truth in the inward parts. Ps. 51:6. 

Psa 51:6  Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 

"These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart." Deut. 6:6. 

And so the promise of the new covenant is, "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." Jer. 31:33.

He does it, because it is impossible for man to do it. The most that men can do is to make a fair show in the flesh, to gain the applause of their fellow men. God puts his glorious righteousness in the heart.

But he does more than that, he covers men with it. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." Isa. 51:10.

"He will beautify the meek with salvation." Ps. 149:4. 

Clothed with this glorious dress, which is not merely an outward covering, but the manifestation of that which is within, God's people may go forth, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun; and terrible as an army with banners."

Keep the Faith Given to You.

 Keep the faith.

Romans 3:22 even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.

(Excerpt)

"By Faith of Jesus Christ." 

In another place Paul expresses his desire when the Lord comes to be found "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." Phil. 3:9.

Here again we have "the faith of Christ." 

Still further, it is said of the saints, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. 

God is faithful (1 Cor. 1:9) and Christ is faithful, for "he abideth faithful." 2 Tim. 2:13. 

God deals to every one a measure of faith. Rom. 12:3; Eph. 2:8.

1Co 1:9  God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 

2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. 

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God

He imparts to us his own faithfulness. 

This he does by giving us himself. 

So that we do not have to get righteousness which we ourselves manufacture; but to make the matter doubly sure, the Lord imparts to us in himself the faith by which we appropriate his righteousness. 

Thus the faith of Christ must bring the righteousness of God, because the possession of that faith is the possession of the Lord himself. 

This faith is dealt to every man, even as Christ gave himself to every man.

Do you ask what then can prevent every man from being saved? The answer is, Nothing, except the fact that all men will not keep the faith. If all would keep all that God gives them, all would be saved.

Perfect Law.

 

The righteousness of God.

Nothing can compare to the righteousness of God, nothing.

Jesus the One who lived the law perfectly.

 

How do I know this?  Because Jesus was without sin. To be without sin means to have kept the law perfectly because sin is the transgressing of the law. To be without sin is to have never transgressed the law of God. 

The law of God is a heart law, so far beyond the mere letter of the law. Jesus explained that truth fully when He walked the earth in human flesh. He explained that our thoughts alone can be sinful- is it any wonder there is no human besides our Savior who hasn't sinned? 

The righteousness of God is the perfection of His law in the flesh, kept from the heart perfectly. 

All glory to God! All praise and honor unto Him!

(Excerpt) 

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.

The Righteousness of God. 

While there is no chance for the despiser of God's law to evade its claims under cover of the expression, "the righteousness of God apart from the law," there is also no need for the lover of that law to fear that the preaching of righteousness by faith will tend to bring in a spurious righteousness. 

Such is guarded against by the statement that the righteousness must be witnessed by the law, and further by the statement that this righteousness which is manifested apart from the law is the righteousness of God. No one need fear that he will be wrong if he has that righteousness! 

To seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness is the one thing required of us in this life. Matt 6:33.

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 

Moses Wrote About Christ.

Moses. You know who Moses is, most people with even a little Bible knowledge know who Moses is. It helps that there have been movies about Moses- exposing those who watch them to this Biblical figure. Moses - the giver of the Ten Commandments given to Him to bring to the people by God. Moses- the one who God parted the Red Sea for.  Moses- used by God for God's purposes. Moses- as a baby taken in by Egyptian royalty- grown to a man who chose to abandon the riches and power of Egypt to embrace his heritage as a  Hebrew. Moses- the leader of the freed Hebrew slaves for forty years in the wilderness.  

You know Moses.

Moses wrote about Jesus Christ our Savior.  Thousands of years before Christ was born, Moses wrote of Him. From the beginning, God determined we would be His if we choose to be His, by the grace of His Son through His sacrifice!

Joh 5:46  For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 

Gen. 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. 

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 

Deu 18:16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 

Deu 18:17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 

Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 

Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 

(Excerpt)

The Grand Conclusion Romans 3:19-22

19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.

Witnessed by the Prophets

When Peter preached Christ to Cornelius and his family, he said, "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." Acts 10:43.  

The prophets preached the same gospel that the apostles did. See 1 Peter 1:12. 

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. 

There is but one foundation, and that is "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." Eph.  2:20.

This also suggests another thought about "witnessed by the law." It is not simply that the righteousness which is manifested in Christ is approved by the law, but it is proclaimed in the law. In the portion of Scripture specifically known as "the law," the portion written by Moses, Christ is preached. 

Moses was a prophet, and therefore he testified of Christ the same, "for he wrote of me." John 5:46. 

Joh 5:46  For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 

More than this, the very giving of the law itself was a promise and an assurance of Christ. This will appear when we come to the fifth chapter of Romans.

We Must Let Christ Live In Us.

 The law reveals a standard of right, but does not give righteousness.

The law that says you shouldn't steal, doesn't make someone who doesn't steal, righteous. The law is telling you that not stealing is the right thing to do. The law is information of a right standard. If you don't steal you've kept a right standard. If you keep a right standard that is a good thing to do, but, because of our sinful nature we could never keep the right standard perfectly- it's impossible for us on our own to be righteous, a mere thought we might have is more than enough to reveal our unrighteousness.

There is only one righteous and because Jesus Christ died for us to give us HIS righteousness, we can be one with God again. Christ's righteousness alone is our righteousness. 

*

(Excerpt)

Righteousness Without the Law. 

Since because of man's weak and fallen condition no one can get righteousness out of the law, it is evident that if any man ever has righteousness he must get it from some other source than the law. If left to themselves and the law, men would truly be in a deplorable condition. But here is hope. The righteousness of God without the law or apart from the law, is manifested. This reveals to man a way of salvation.

Righteousness "Manifested." Where? 

Why, of course where it most needs to be manifested, in people, that is, in a certain class described in the next verse. But it does not originate in them. The Scriptures have already shown us that no righteousness can come from man. The righteousness of God is manifested in Jesus Christ. He himself said through the prophet David: "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest." Ps.  40:8, 9.

"Witnessed by the Law." 

Let no one imagine that in the gospel he can ignore the law of God. 

The righteousness of God which is manifested apart from the law, is witnessed by the law. It is such righteousness as the law witnesses to, and commends. It must be so, because it is the righteousness which Christ revealed; and that came from the law, which was in his heart. So, although the law of God has no righteousness to impart to any man, it does not cease to be the standard of righteousness. There can be no righteousness that does not stand the test of the law. The law of God must put its seal of approval upon every one who enters heaven. (End Excerpt)

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Christ in us- is Christ's righteousness in us- we must choose to let Christ live in us.

God Alone Is Good.

 Meekness-

'It's enduring injury with patience and without resentment. The Holy Spirit enables us to produce meekness a necessary attitude for understanding God's word.'  (Bibletools Online)

Let's think about this statement for a moment. Meekness- something we have come to believe means being timid, reserved, more of a scaredy cat lacking bravado, a mouse in comparison to a lion. Yet Jesus was none of those things. Jesus wasn't timid, reserved, afraid, and still He was meek and our example of being meek. When we read the Bibletools.org definition and it states - meekness is ENDURING INJURY WITH PATIENCE AND WITHOUT RESENTMENT, this opens up a whole new insight into what it means to be meek. 

Enduring- when we think of enduring we automatically imagine putting up with something that is unpleasant. We endure sitting through a long, boring, monotonous speech. We endure the pain of childbirth. We endure our long work days. We endure sickness and injury.  What sort of injury did Jesus endure? He was never physically injured until a day before His crucifixion.  The injuries He endured were those of His heart. He was also abused verbally with words that struck deep chords of agony in His being. Emotional, mental pain from the refusal of so many to comprehend His real reason for taking on flesh tore at the heart of our Savior. 

Jesus' love overrode any resentment- any lingering anger felt in righteousness for the blatant wrongs all around Him. Jesus' righteous indignation was a reality- He overthrew the moneychanger's tables at the temple, but that anger was not resentment. Jesus' heart broke for the hard-hearted sinners, as it still breaks today over those who are determined to remain lost to Him. 

Jesus is the brightest example of enduring injury of any kind with patience and without resentment. Jesus NEVER felt slighted in the way we are constantly feeling our pride injured. It happens to us on a daily basis. A simple glance given to us that seems somehow offensive is enough to make us take up mental arms to defend our pricked pride. No, it really doesn't take much and we are setting up defenses for ourselves. We take such great stock in ourselves having the right to an existence without any interference in what we perceive is our path to rightful contentment with the world around us. The trouble is, that perception is different for everyone and then it comes down to trying to determine who has the real right over another's right? To say we all need to get along when what I think is the path to getting along is different than yours is to have to make a determination over whose path is that right path to getting along. You say that's where compromise comes in, and there again we have to determine who needs to compromise what, again making the idea of right subjective to personal beliefs of each other. It's one of those circular arguments in this sin-filled world. 

We hold fast to our SELF and SELF is so easily and quickly injured. 

Have you ever hurt someone (not physically, I'm not going there) only to see them take that hurt without retaliating? You can tell you've hurt them, they wince, or their expression has it written all over that you've just inflicted pain- downcast eyes, lack of any visible smile and maybe actual turned down lips- you know what I'm talking about. That expressionless expression, that void of expression is its own expression.  You've hurt someone and yet they say nothing, inwardly they are writhing in the pain you've caused them. They grow sad over the hurt you've caused and still they aren't angry at you, just hurt by you.  They endured the injury you've inflicted and often that is worse to you than if they had been provoked to anger by your wounding them. 

Still, is taking the hurt and being filled with obvious sadness truly enduring with patience? Is the sadness another form of resenting how you were treated? Jesus did not go moping about with His heart broken, though He'd have every right to. Jesus had moments of great sadness but He kept on with His purpose not letting what had to be overwhelming emotional anguish - crush His spirit. He kept on because he was living for the FATHER, and not for Himself. He endured with patience and without resentment because He kept the Father's will in His mind first and foremost. He did NOT focus on personal injury. He did NOT focus on the Father being injured. He focused on the will of the Father which is the salvation of mankind- the salvation from sin and this sin-filled, sin-wrecked world.

*

Tozer had this to say about meekness-  

'Artificiality is one curse that will drop away the moment we kneel at Jesus' feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness. Then we will not care what people think of us so long as God is pleased. Then _what we are_ will be everything; what we appear will take its place far down the scale of interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing of which to be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other than we are.

The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and pretense. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of Christ.'

Surrendering ourselves to Christ's meekness, to Christ's way of living. Christ lived to please the Father in all things, this was His first and foremost goal. In all He did, Christ pleased God.  Christ did NOT seek to please Himself, if He had, then He would have called those ten thousand angels and saved Himself from the torture He was soon to endure. Christ is our example of SELFLESSNESS.  Christ did NOT care what people thought of Him, not at all in any way. His only thought was of the Father's view of Him.  

Tozer saying- 'Then what we are…'   Means just that, what we are rather than what others perception of us may be. We get so caught up in the perception of others. I don't want this or that person thinking this or that about me. How many of our actions are governed by considering what others may think of us? We are taught really young to BEHAVE. Have any of you ever heard the words- "You're in public, stop behaving that way?" Or, "You don't behave like that in public."  Maybe at home you were allowed more leeway to act goofy or such, but once you stepped out into public there was a different standard of public behavior expected. Embarrassing yourself, or others by unconventional behavior is frowned upon. We are taught to care a lot about the thoughts of others, and being acceptable to them.  I am NOT advocating acting out in bizarre ways just to free yourself from caring what others think. The point I'm trying to make is how we've been trained to care about what others think and some do so to the point of obsessing over themselves and caring more about what others think than what GOD thinks. Some care too much about what others think (I'm guilty). When I read that WHAT WE ARE as OPPOSED to what we appear should mean more to us if we belong to Christ, I must take this to heart, I must contemplate this.  What we are… are we God's? This is what we need to be asking ourselves every time we get caught up in thinking about how we appear to others. How do I appear to God? Am I God's? I need these words tattooed on my mind to be triggered whenever my thoughts turn to how others are perceiving me. What OTHER'S think should not matter! If I am God's that should be my standard of being, of appearing, of existing. What am I? GOD'S!  What do others think of me? WHO CARES IF I AM GOD'S. 

Tozer says- 'Apart from sin we have nothing of which to be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other than we are.'

Wanting to be prettier, skinnier, more outgoing, a better speaker… wanting mySELF to shine, this truly is an evil desire because the focus is on SELF and off of God.  If my focus is on God and not myself it is placed in the right way. Even if I say I want to be kinder, nicer, once more I am focusing on SELF and self taking the credit for being those things. GOD in our lives as our main focus will be those things for us, through us, as long as we are NOT bent on ultimately taking credit for being good. GOD ALONE IS GOOD.

Luk_18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

GOD!

Tozer says- 'The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and pretense. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of Christ.'

This is TRUTH, GOD'S TRUTH.  Enduring injury, insult, suffering all things the world has ready to give us over and over again, enduring this with GOD in us, allows for no resentment, but rather allows PATIENCE. With GOD'S goodness our sole focus, self disappears into meekness, the meekness of Christ.

God be our all in all, so that we are not considered, only You. Let the Holy Spirit fill us with You.