Made right

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If we walk in faith for what Jesus has done for us then we are at peace. No condemning or critical judgement made against us will stand. We have been acquitted and stand in a glorious robe that glows and exudes peace with God. This robe is the robe of righteousness that Jesus gives us as we enter the door (He is the door). Nothing the accuser throws at us will be heard in heaven. We can flick it off! If God is happy, we should be happy. He has made us right with Him. Now, to walk with Him!

Today an American friend of mine called Chelle and I embark on a journey up into the highlands here in Nepal. We go bearing gifts for children but also plan to take Jesus to an isolated village. He is the good news! He is the deliverer! Amen!

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvSmYLreRso&si=KJ6C_CABJzWn_WYV

Faith alone

“But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.”Romans‬ ‭4‬:‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

““Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”Romans‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Abraham figures heavily in this chapter; and David’s Psalm 32:1,2 are used I. Verse 7,8 of Romans chapter 4. Abraham lived before the Law and David lived inside the Law. Abraham is therefore the Father of faith as he walked with God in faith. Although circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign of the covenant between him and God, he did not know the Law, this came through Moses. David was after Moses.

In verse 9, chapter 4 of Romans, Paul says ‘faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness’. Abraham is an example to us Gentiles. Abraham was called by God out of Iraq as his chosen ‘father of a multitude’. When he was called he was 75 and did not have the promised son until he was 100. He had 25 years to develop his faith and trust that this God would indeed keep His promise.

Abrahm did not know Jesus, yet Jesus was in his seed. Jesus offers us salvation through faith alone. His sacrifice was enough and there is nothing we can add to it. We must walk in faith that He is enough and love Him and those around us. The works we do will be motivated by Him, not us. This is a call to total surrender. Amen!

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6QuvvQCijTc&si=jnyB0xT_q2nuuupd

The lamb

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I can say that obeying the law did not free me from the uncleaness I felt within; however, accepting Jesus as my saviour and way to freedom did. I could not earn my salvation, I still cannot, even though I constantly feel obligated to try. I keep falling back down from the wall of self-righteousness to repentance and belief that Jesus was and is enough.

Only Jesus is pure and undefiled. There is no pride in Him. He said, ‘learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart’ (Matt 11:29). We who are prideful cannot understand this and may even scorn this. Jesus was without sin. He constantly humbled Himself. Read the gospels and see. Jesus was alien to us sinful humans. He stayed pure and undefiled. He was the the pure lamb of God sacrificed for us sinners so that we to, by faith, can be imputed with His righteousness.

Jesus Jesus Jesus

Righteous righteous righteous

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lCurAnLiwiY&si=J9wLEtEDW_ATkNmA

The alternative

“Do the riches of his extraordinary kindness make you take him for granted and despise him? Haven’t you experienced how kind and understanding he has been to you? Don’t mistake his tolerance for acceptance. Do you realize that all the wealth of his extravagant kindness is meant to melt your heart and lead you into repentance?”Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬ ‭TPT‬‬

This chapter is written to Jews in Rome. Paul is scathing in his attack on their self-righteousness. This reminds me of what it was like to be a Catholic. We believed we were right with God because we were Catholics. This chapter dismantles such arrogance. Self-righteousness slaps Jesus in the face and rejects His sacrifice as not enough. How dare we assume our own righteousness can be acceptable to God. If we live by the Law then we are judged by the perfect law, not our own. The law reveals sin. 

Without Jesus’ sacrifice we are under the wrath of God’s judgement. I do not want that option. I, rather, want the deliverance Jesus gave me and His goodness and righteousness. God’s wrath ends in eternal death in hellfire. No thanks!

Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and that life in abundance”(Jn 10:10). He also said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but through Me!”(Jn 14:6). This is serious folks! 

Roman’s 4:6 says ‘He will repay each one according to his works’. He sees the hidden things not just the Facebook image. He judges for all the hidden whispers, the dark sins that no one sees. The alternative is repentance and total trust in Jesus as saviour and Lord. He is the only alternative. Trust Him today! Amen!

Clothed

“This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith!” Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬ ‭TPT‬‬

We all crave righteousness, we either manufacture our own or walk in faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. It is so easy to stoop to manufacture, as our old sin nature would love this; it enables sin to stay alive in our lives.

Accepting death to sin and the sin nature requires faith in Jesus and a willingness to yield our lusts and greed to the cross. We have so entrenched our lusts around food and drink we are reluctant to part with them. We boast about our love and addiction to coffee, to various foods, this further entrenches them. We boast about our addictions to shoes and handbags, clothes. Our houses bulge with the accumulation of our greed. One bad storm or fire and they are all gone. Then we sit in the ashes and weep.

Lusts and greed prevent us from seeing and doing what the Lord had planned. His ways are better than ours. When we stand before the Lord we will appear naked, knowing that we have clothed ourselves in less that the blood of Jesus. That garment is the only one that will suffice.

“We are convinced that even if these bodies we live in are folded up at death like tents, we will still have a God-built home that no human hands have built, which will last forever in the heavenly realm.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬ ‭TPT‬‬

May we come back to Him in repentance and choose faith in Him and His commission as all we need. Amen!

Free

“He himself carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we would be dead to sin and live for righteousness. Our instant healing flowed from his wounding.”1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭24‬ ‭TPT‬‬

For us mortals the sin nature is the problem. Whilst, for us who believe Jesus is our saviour, the legal truth is sin was defeated by Jesus, nonetheless, we battle with sin in our flesh wanting resurrection, daily. Why does this happen? Because we foolishly believe it is up to me to be holy. Wrong! It is faith in what Jesus has done that makes us holy; He imputes His holiness to us. We must live by faith in the finished work of the cross, this is called walking in the Spirit.

We do not need to defeat sin, it has already been done, we need to walk in trust and faith that Jesus did the work for us. Jesus took on sin and paid the penalty for that sin, He died, however, when He rose again He defeated the power of sin. Sin has no dominion over me unless I give it authority to do so.

What does Romans 5:1 say?

“Our faith in Jesus transfers God’s righteousness to us and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us “.

Romans 8:1,2 says:

“So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One. For the “law” of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the “law” of sin and death.” Amen!!!

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Life-giving

“This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith!”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Continual catches me. It was not just a once off righteousness given to me, it is a continual, ever flowing stream. Thank You Jesus! It was a perfect righteousness! Yes! No flaws as in my own righteousness.

 Next it moves us from just receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. In other words, this righteousness Jesus gave us is full of power, just as His word is full of power. Hebrews 4:12 tells us: 

“For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy, like a two-mouthed sword. It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone and marrow meet! It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts.”

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We are right with God not through an old agreement, a long lost will. No, we are right with God through life-giving faith. The faith God gives us is alive and full of power. Amen!