So many believers today know that Jesus died for them to save them, but are very much unaware of the full implication of this. A huge step in the right direction towards victory in absolutely every area of our lives is when we really begin to believe what we know:
1Jo 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has in us.
The more we rest in what He has done for us on the Cross, the less we will strive in our own attempts to achieve a victorious life. This is an amazing truth!!
Rom 4:16 says that the way we receive the promises of God is NOT by self-effort and obedience to the Law (:a list of right and wrong behavior to inherit or loose out blessings).
Us, receiving the promises of God in our lives is dependent on us having Faith in the Grace (Unmerited/undeserved Favor) of God towards us.
But Andrew, how does simply believing that help my marriage?
God tells us that His Promises are received by Faith in His Grace. Now, one of God's promises' is that He brought life and life abundantly -that you would experience His Goodness towards you in every area of life.
Your marriage that may not be in an "ideal" place more reflects the work of Satan "to rob, kill and destroy" and is NOT reflecting "life abundantly" therefore still needs to line up to Gods word.
God says that if you are trying in your own strength to fix it, you cant receive Gods Promises, because His promises are not received by mans effort but by Faith in Gods Grace towards you because of Jesus' finished work.
"You mean to say I must just sit back and do nothing, and it will all "just work out"!
No, just make sure that what you do do, has the Love of God (the Good News) fueling it, and for that to happen.... you need to believe (not just know) the full extent of Jesus on Calvary.
This is why:
Scripture says:
1Jo 4:19 We love, because he first loved us.
We must see the "hugeness" of Gods love directed towards you by sending Jesus to take your place of Judgment based on Gods Holy wrath towards all of your sin, and in so doing, completely and forever removing it from Gods sight (Psalm 103) and memory (Jer 31, Heb 8) because of His Righteous acquittal of you.
He would now be UNRIGHTEOUS if He was still holding your sins against you.
When we see this amazingly Good News of His great love towards us, it causes us to love Him, and others.
We love, BECAUSE we know and believe His love for us, even while we were still in sin (unbelievers). It is COMPLETELY unconditional of you! Its ONLY CONDITIONAL of your perfect sacrifice - Jesus!
When you Just Believe the Gospel, the result is Love for others..... included your husband or wife. Even when they "dont deserve it", once you "know AND UNDERSTAND" His love for you - the fruit is Love for others.
Love for others is NOT a work of the flesh (self effort)..... it is a FRUIT that is borne by the Holy spirit living in you,(Gal 5)
His promise is that if we have Faith in His Grace, we will walk in His Promises.
Lets Trust that Sarah (Grace) is able to raise up Isaac (Children of the Promise) (Gal 4:21-31)
Keep living Blessed!!
Andrew
Showing posts with label behavior. Show all posts
Showing posts with label behavior. Show all posts
Friday, January 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Are We Literally Righteous Or Positionally Righteous?
How true. Many believers these days accept we are Righteous because the Bible tells us so: "we are the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus", and then comes the BIG..... "BUT" in the actual outworking whereby many still believe that "yes we are righteous, BUT not really......we still have to maintain that righteousness in order to keep it.
There are No big "Buts" in Gods economy.... God's "yes" is "Yes"!
By Steve McVey
"For years I couldn’t reconcile what I saw taught in the Bible. I read verses that clearly say we are righteous (Romans 5:17, Ephesians 4:24, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, etc.), but struggled with my own inconsistent behavior. So I took this aspect of truth to be only a positional truth. My argument went like this: “We aren’t literally righteous. God only sees us that way. Our position is one of righteousness, but our condition is that we are unrighteous.”
Let’s dissect that argument for a moment. We’ll get rid of the glaring error first — the idea that God only sees us as righteous. Exactly what could this mean? Would one suggest that God sees something that isn’t really there? It reminds me of the arrogant professor who saw the unlearned custodian reading his Bible and sneered, “Do you believe that book as it is?” Without hesitation, the custodian replied, “Do you believe it as it ain’t?” That’s a good question for this matter. Does God see something as it is or as it ain’t?
When we consider the argument that the righteousness of the Christian is positional, but not literal we must be intellectually honest. Romans 5:19 corrects the error of believing that we are only positionally righteous.
For as through the one man’s disobedience, the many were made sinners,even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
This verse very simply presents the truth of our present righteousness in Christ. Paul reminds us that in Adam we were made to be sinners. In the same way, he says, we are now made righteous in Christ. According to principles of biblical hermeneutics, we must be consistent in interpreting scripture. If the last half of this verse means that we are only positionally righteous in Christ, then the first part of the verse must be interpreted to say that we were only positionally sinners in Adam. Were we literally a sinner in Adam or was it only positional? If we were literally sinners then, we are literally righteous now.
Some say that the verse teaches that we will be made righteous when we get to heaven. Does that mean that a person doesn’t become a sinner until he gets to hell? We were sinners for one simple reason — we were in Adam. Now are righteous because we have been placed into Christ.
Let’s don’t resist the truth! God says we are righteous because we are in Christ. It is a literal truth. That doesn’t mean we always act that way. How we act and who we are may not always coincide. Sometimes I act like a child even though I was born in 1954. Identity isn’t determined by our behavior, but by our birth. Occasionally my wife, Melanie, has even called me a big baby. But I know it’s not true! I have my birth certificate to prove it!"
Gos Blessed you!!
Andrew
There are No big "Buts" in Gods economy.... God's "yes" is "Yes"!
By Steve McVey
"For years I couldn’t reconcile what I saw taught in the Bible. I read verses that clearly say we are righteous (Romans 5:17, Ephesians 4:24, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, etc.), but struggled with my own inconsistent behavior. So I took this aspect of truth to be only a positional truth. My argument went like this: “We aren’t literally righteous. God only sees us that way. Our position is one of righteousness, but our condition is that we are unrighteous.”
Let’s dissect that argument for a moment. We’ll get rid of the glaring error first — the idea that God only sees us as righteous. Exactly what could this mean? Would one suggest that God sees something that isn’t really there? It reminds me of the arrogant professor who saw the unlearned custodian reading his Bible and sneered, “Do you believe that book as it is?” Without hesitation, the custodian replied, “Do you believe it as it ain’t?” That’s a good question for this matter. Does God see something as it is or as it ain’t?
When we consider the argument that the righteousness of the Christian is positional, but not literal we must be intellectually honest. Romans 5:19 corrects the error of believing that we are only positionally righteous.
For as through the one man’s disobedience, the many were made sinners,even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
This verse very simply presents the truth of our present righteousness in Christ. Paul reminds us that in Adam we were made to be sinners. In the same way, he says, we are now made righteous in Christ. According to principles of biblical hermeneutics, we must be consistent in interpreting scripture. If the last half of this verse means that we are only positionally righteous in Christ, then the first part of the verse must be interpreted to say that we were only positionally sinners in Adam. Were we literally a sinner in Adam or was it only positional? If we were literally sinners then, we are literally righteous now.
Some say that the verse teaches that we will be made righteous when we get to heaven. Does that mean that a person doesn’t become a sinner until he gets to hell? We were sinners for one simple reason — we were in Adam. Now are righteous because we have been placed into Christ.
Let’s don’t resist the truth! God says we are righteous because we are in Christ. It is a literal truth. That doesn’t mean we always act that way. How we act and who we are may not always coincide. Sometimes I act like a child even though I was born in 1954. Identity isn’t determined by our behavior, but by our birth. Occasionally my wife, Melanie, has even called me a big baby. But I know it’s not true! I have my birth certificate to prove it!"
Gos Blessed you!!
Andrew
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Walking in the Light
I came accross this article by a guy called Andre vd Merwe. Its brilliant, this passage certainly has been used over time to get Christians to focus on the wrong thing:
Walking in the Light
[1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin (NKJV)].
Walking in the light as God is in the light, is a result of God giving us his righteousness – John is talking about our position here, not our behaviour. Our position in Christ is eternally secured the day we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. From that day on we walk “in the light”.
What is “light”? Jesus said “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) Thus Jesus is light. When we are born again we are IN Christ (1 Cor 1:30, Eph 2:10), and therefore we are IN the light. Also because we are IN the light, we also become the light. [Eph 5:8 you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light]. Jesus also says we are the light of the world. [Matt 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden]. As He was (and still is) the light, so we have become as He is.
Most of the arguments against the Grace message come from the book of John. Most legalists that read this book see it as a book that tells us what we are supposed to do, instead of reading it in the correct context: The book of John was written by John to his “little children” who had just come out from under the false teachings of Gnostics. John was by no means trying to tell them to “DO THIS!” or “DO THAT!” No he was telling them how secure they were in Christ, assuring them of their eternal salvation.
[1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth]. This verse makes it even more clear – we can not say that we have fellowship with God (in other words that we have been born again) if we walk in darkness (which means we are not actually born again), because then we would be lying. In simple English: You cannot say you are a Christian if you have not been born again!!
[2 Cor 6:14 For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?] Did you see how these things are contrasted with each other? Righteousness vs. lawlessness, light vs. darkness, Christ (anointed) vs. Belial (worthless) & believer vs. unbeliever.
1 John 1:7 (our key verse) says the blood cleanses from EVERY sin, and that pretty much means EVERY sin. In the original Greek language the word that was used for “cleanses” was katharizo?. This literally means to “continually cleanse”. So if we make a mistake, the blood removes it completely, and this happens day & night without ceasing. If you believe you can “walk in the light” based on your own obedience, why then would you need the blood to continually cleanse you? Because now you are doing it all yourself! No, we walk “in the light” because we have been given the righteousness of God as a free gift. I say again, John is talking about our position in Christ and not about our external behaviour. Here are some more verses to explain this:
[Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord;]
[Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 And the nations of those who are saved will walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour into it].
Yes when we look at our behaviour we will clearly see that we make mistakes every day and that we don’t necessarily walk in the light in our actions, but that is because our minds have not been fully renewed yet. Until the day we die, there will always be some area in our lives that we will need to bring under submission of the authority of God, whether it be thought patterns, habits, or whatever. The point is that we don’t do these things to earn God’s approval, but they happen spontaneously as a result of us falling more in love with Jesus and becoming more and more aware of how wonderfully we have been saved: [Phil 2:12 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling] (which actually means to “consider with awe and wonder”). It doesn’t say work AT your salvation, because Jesus has already done it all. But when you work something out, it means you figure it out for yourself.
Until the day we go to be with the Lord, we will always be able to improve our external behaviour and bring it more in line with our perfect position IN Christ. But until that day, God has already provided MORE THAN enough Grace to cover any mistakes we may make along the way: [Rom 5:20b But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound].
There is nothing wrong with living moral lives, but we should not use our ability to live moral as the measure/standard of our relationship with God."
God Blessed you!!
Walking in the Light
[1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin (NKJV)].
Walking in the light as God is in the light, is a result of God giving us his righteousness – John is talking about our position here, not our behaviour. Our position in Christ is eternally secured the day we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. From that day on we walk “in the light”.
What is “light”? Jesus said “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) Thus Jesus is light. When we are born again we are IN Christ (1 Cor 1:30, Eph 2:10), and therefore we are IN the light. Also because we are IN the light, we also become the light. [Eph 5:8 you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light]. Jesus also says we are the light of the world. [Matt 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden]. As He was (and still is) the light, so we have become as He is.
Most of the arguments against the Grace message come from the book of John. Most legalists that read this book see it as a book that tells us what we are supposed to do, instead of reading it in the correct context: The book of John was written by John to his “little children” who had just come out from under the false teachings of Gnostics. John was by no means trying to tell them to “DO THIS!” or “DO THAT!” No he was telling them how secure they were in Christ, assuring them of their eternal salvation.
[1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth]. This verse makes it even more clear – we can not say that we have fellowship with God (in other words that we have been born again) if we walk in darkness (which means we are not actually born again), because then we would be lying. In simple English: You cannot say you are a Christian if you have not been born again!!
[2 Cor 6:14 For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?] Did you see how these things are contrasted with each other? Righteousness vs. lawlessness, light vs. darkness, Christ (anointed) vs. Belial (worthless) & believer vs. unbeliever.
1 John 1:7 (our key verse) says the blood cleanses from EVERY sin, and that pretty much means EVERY sin. In the original Greek language the word that was used for “cleanses” was katharizo?. This literally means to “continually cleanse”. So if we make a mistake, the blood removes it completely, and this happens day & night without ceasing. If you believe you can “walk in the light” based on your own obedience, why then would you need the blood to continually cleanse you? Because now you are doing it all yourself! No, we walk “in the light” because we have been given the righteousness of God as a free gift. I say again, John is talking about our position in Christ and not about our external behaviour. Here are some more verses to explain this:
[Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord;]
[Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 And the nations of those who are saved will walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour into it].
Yes when we look at our behaviour we will clearly see that we make mistakes every day and that we don’t necessarily walk in the light in our actions, but that is because our minds have not been fully renewed yet. Until the day we die, there will always be some area in our lives that we will need to bring under submission of the authority of God, whether it be thought patterns, habits, or whatever. The point is that we don’t do these things to earn God’s approval, but they happen spontaneously as a result of us falling more in love with Jesus and becoming more and more aware of how wonderfully we have been saved: [Phil 2:12 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling] (which actually means to “consider with awe and wonder”). It doesn’t say work AT your salvation, because Jesus has already done it all. But when you work something out, it means you figure it out for yourself.
Until the day we go to be with the Lord, we will always be able to improve our external behaviour and bring it more in line with our perfect position IN Christ. But until that day, God has already provided MORE THAN enough Grace to cover any mistakes we may make along the way: [Rom 5:20b But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound].
There is nothing wrong with living moral lives, but we should not use our ability to live moral as the measure/standard of our relationship with God."
God Blessed you!!
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