John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Romans 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
The people under the Law had to do many things, in order to inherit the Blessing. The Law was only for the Hebrew people and those of us who were never under the Law, weren't included or qualified to have a relationship with God. Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law and says in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them." Man is no longer required by ability or works, to inherit the Blessing of Abraham, but only needs faith in God's Grace that is already done. We're not required any longer to fulfill laws, rituals and traditions, but now, by faith, we simply trust that Jesus has already done all that needs to be done.
Many have misunderstood the use of our faith. Faith isn't trying to get God to do something, but faith is trusting in what He has already done. When we were saved, He didn't have to send Jesus to the cross again. We only had to put faith in what Jesus had done two-thousand years ago. This is the true use of faith. Faith isn't prompting God to do something, but is trust in what is already made available to us by Grace.
We've developed faith in and for being saved, but the other things Jesus did for us, have escaped us. We keep "trying to be healed," by observing certain things in our lives, in order to deserve healing. This is what Grace is all about. Grace is giving us things we don't have to work for or deserve and trusting in God's Goodness that He's already provided for us, just like He did for our salvation.
We certainly did nothing to deserve being made God's children and we certainly didn't deserve cleansing and forgiveness. It was all by faith in God's Grace. In Romans 4:16, Paul tells us that, "Inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith that it might be by Grace." Only by having faith in God's Grace, will we end up with results in our Christian walk. The harder we work and do, in order to "deserve" it, the farther we get from receiving it.
Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel-a righteousness that God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith. As it is written, that Man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith." By faith in Jesus, we are now just and upright in God's eyes. It's not by anything we have done or deserved, but by having faith in what He has done through Jesus.
Many consider it prideful when you suggest you're justified and righteous. Some even consider it is blasphemous. We continue looking at our lives and works as falling short of what we think righteousness is. The only way to be righteous before God, is by faith in His Grace that He has now ascribed. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "A righteousness that God has ascribed." This is the only righteousness that God will accept and recognize. God sees our efforts of trying to be righteous, as filthy rags. This is only trying to be righteous by our ow efforts and denying the righteousness that Jesus came and died for, on our behalf.
When we do works, in order to be righteous, we deny what God has ascribed and accepted as right standing with Him. All that God has for us, is already been done and made available to us by faith in His Grace. We can't work our way into healing, anymore than we can work our way into being saved. You can't live good enough to deserve salvation, because it it by Grace through faith. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith."
Theologians have debated and discussed this for centuries, but God's Word is Truth and Spirit. We can change the way we read God's Word and believe it means something different, but we can't change it's Truth. Jesus completely did away with sin and the sin-nature. When Jesus paid the Price for sin, He also did away with the effects of sin in our earthly bodies, which was sickness and despair. Healing, redemption, deliverance and Life through God, are all part of our salvation and must be received by faith in the same Grace that brought about the new birth or new creation man/woman. Jesus didn't leave any part of our redemption to chance, but He redeemed us completely. That is all by the Grace of God and must be received by faith in the entire death and resurrection of Jesus.
Many in today's Church have established their own laws that we must follow, in order to be in a place where we can received what God has Promised. By observing these man-made laws, we've turned from Grace and depended once again, on our own selves. Once a promise has been fulfilled, it's no longer a promise, but a truth. If you tell your child, "We'll go fishing next Saturday," then you've made a promise and your child will look forward to that coming to pass. When Saturday arrives and you take that child fishing, then it's not a promise anymore, but a fact or truth. You don't have to look forward to it any longer, because you are enjoying the fulfillment of the promise.
The things of God has Promised to us, are all "Yes and Amen (So be it) in Christ Jesus," according to 2Corinthians 1:18-19 (Amplified) which says, "As surely as God is trustworthy and faithful and means what He says, our speech and message to you have not been Yes that might mean no. For the Son of God Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, by myself, Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, But in Him is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, They all find their Yes answer in Him, Christ, for this reason we also utter the Amen, so be it, to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
God receives Glory, when we simply receive His Promises as "Yes and So be it," by faith in Jesus. They are Promises to the unsaved, but are Truth and fact to those of us who are saved and in His Grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment