Romans 1:17 (Amp) says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which 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, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
The "righteousness which God ascribes," comes simply by faith in Jesus Christ, Who has become our righteousness. We read about the righteousness which God ascribes in 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amp), which says, "But it is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God; revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine Plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy, and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from Eternal penalty for sin."
Many of us today, continue to struggle with the thought of being righteous in God's eyes, through Jesus. This is an identity crisis, which holds us back from believing in God's Promises, by faith in Christ Jesus. We keep trying to become what God has already made us to be, because we don't see ourselves like God's Word says we were made by Jesus' Sacrifice. This is what Paul spoke about in the above scripture. We're to grow from the faith we had when we first received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and become what this great salvation made us to be, as new creatures in Christ. This doesn't mean that we don't work on the flesh, but that we don't allow the flesh to dominate our faith. We must renew our minds with God's Word and by faith, begin seeing ourselves as we really are in Christ.
1John 4:17 (Amp) says, "In this union and communion with Him, Love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment with assurance and boldness to face Him, because as He is, so are we in this world." We can't believe or walk in this sort of confidence and boldness, without having faith in God's Word and His Promises. 1Cor. 1:30 says that, "Jesus has become our Consecration, making us pure and holy." Can you accept this part of God's Word by faith and believe that you're already pure and holy?
We read about some of the Promises in 2Corinthians 1:20 (Amp), where the Holy Spirit prompts Paul to write, "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 is Glorified, when we accept His Promises by faith in Jesus and God's Word.
When we don't have faith in God's Promises, then we're limiting God. If you feel unworthy, unholy and impure, then you don't have faith to believe God's Promises to and for yourself. We must accept by faith, what Jesus has already done to provide our righteousness, consecration and redemption. We can't "become righteous." We must accept the Truth that Jesus made us righteous. The people Paul was preaching to, were trying to become righteous through the Law, but Paul said to them in Romans 3:10 (Amp), "As it is written, None is righteous (just and truthful and upright and conscientious), no, not one." He was speaking about those under the Law, as well as those outside the Law.
We can't become righteous, by the works of the flesh, but we must accept our righteous by faith and conform our flesh to our new creation identity in Christ. It sounds prideful and boastful to say, "I'm consecrated, pure and holy." This pure and holy consecration can only be accepted by faith in God's Promises and the Lamb of our Sacrifice. If you place your faith in Him and not yourself, then you will arrive at what Jesus has done. When we try becoming righteous on our own, instead of accepting what Only Jesus Alone could do, then we're being prideful. I'm not talking about what we deserve, but about what He has provided for us, even though we didn't deserve it.
We must believe in who Jesus has made us to be, so we can go from "faith to faith." We must believe in who we are in Him, instead of who we see in the mirror, in order to have faith in His Promises. 1John 3:20 (Amp) says, "Whenever our hearts in tormenting, self-accusation makes us feel guilty and condemn us, for we are in God's hands. For He is Above and Greater than our consciences (our heart), and He knows, perceives and understands everything. Nothing is hidden from God. Instead of allowing the enemy to bring us under condemnation when we sin, we must repent. We must go before God and confess our sin to Him, then receive His forgiveness and don't repeat that sin again.
Jesus came so that we don't just receive our righteousness, but walk in right standing with the Father. We all know when we're doing wrong, because we lived that way for years. We must renew our minds by God's Word, so we can know when the enemy and the world are trying to trick us into unrighteousness again. Some tricks are easily recognizable, while other things are more subtle. Let's not stop at going to Heaven when we die, but heed 1John 1:21 (Amp) which says, "And beloved, if our consciences (our hearts), do not accuse us (if they don't make us feel guilty and condemn us), we have boldness (complete assurance) before God."
If you're living wrong before God, then stop it. You can stand in assurance before God, by believing His Word and allowing it to rule, instead of being ruled by the old man/woman of the flesh. We need to take on our true identity of the new creation being, and let the God of Peace rule in our hearts. Bringing the flesh into subjection to God's Word takes time and takes faith to let God's Word rule over all the emotions of the flesh. Jesus has already taken care of all the new creation person's needs.
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