Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Matt 7:21
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Rom 7:24
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Blessed is the man who knows himself to be "wretched", and is therefore left with no other option except to believe on him who God has sent. This is the man who has "burned his bridges" behind him in coming to the Lord; the man who has sold all (i.e. forsaken all), and for him there is no coming back and nothing to come back to.
In Romans 7 the "wretched man" was trying to please God on his own power: on the ground of the "old creation", the ground where man is DEAD in sin...
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Why does Jesus say that???
...rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20
These men were rejoicing... NOT BECAUSE THEIR NAMES WERE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN... but because the spirits were subject to them when they used Jesus' name. That was the cause of their rejoicing! They may have had a gift FROM the Spirit, but they lacked the fruit OF the Spirit!
Proving again that any of the "many wonderful works" being done to please God except the one and only wonderful work of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, remains under His wrath.
The New (creation) has come and is present in every born again Christian. God no longer looks on the "old creation" or "old man" that was filled with sin. He already judged sin and crucified it at the cross, with Jesus representing the Last Adam. God now looks upon the "new man: The Resurrected Christ", and the "new creation He puts IN Christ" because of ones faith.
It's all done by faith and not by dead works which we do. God's Grace is appropriated through faith, through hearing. Faith in Christ does it all... causing us to see our sins, cry out to God, repent of our sin, fly to Christ and obey Him!
When will "professing Christians" learn that God is already appeased, satisfied and pleased?? He took care of the "Sin" question which kept man from being in union with Him at the cross.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. Matt 17:5
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 6:29
The only "WORK" that God will recognize is the "workings of faith". It is only by "faith" whereby one becomes justified and placed in right standing with God, crucified with Christ, born again, and placed "IN" Christ to reap all of the promises given to the new testament saints.
Picture this: "Sin (disobedience) is what seperated man from God in the first place. Therefore man without Christ is only good for and deserving of hell. No matter what a man does, so long as he remains an old creature, he cannot please God! The only way a man can please God is to BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, at which time God takes and crucifies him with His Son."
It is because of sin that man was crucified with Christ in the first place, therefore how can that man please God through his old Adamic life??? He cannot!
What MUST be realized is that the very death that emancipates us as Christians from the bondage of sin is the very same working of faith that also emancipates us from the law as well and from serving the letter of the law.
The moment we seek to please God in our own might is the same moment we place ourselves under the law. "Grace" does not operate under the law, sin and death does!
To be delivered from sin and death is to be delivered from the law as well. Another way to put it is: To be crucified with Christ is to be delivered from the law of sin and death.
The only "LAW" that counts today is THIS NEW TESTAMENT LAW: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!"
It is in the Keeping of Faith whereby one does the will of God. This is ALL that is required of us: "BELIEVE"!!! God will do the rest! Our strength to continue to keep operating by the faith of the new creature comes by the Holy Spirit who places us IN Christ and makes us alive to Him and to obeying His words.
Those who have been (spiritually) born again understand that it is finished and over, and they have gladly entered into their rest, knowing that soon this world will pass away, Jesus will quickly appear and usher in a new one (as promised) and they will receive new and glorified bodies like His own and reign with Him in it.
It is important to realize that We in and of ourselves can do nothing to please God! It takes "Another" to do that: "It Takes God Himself".
Once we (the old creation) have been convinced that we are sinners through and through who Christ came to save, and who can do absolutely nothing in our own power to please God; being fully convinced that it (the righteousness that comes by faith) is not in us to obey God's law or please Him, then the law will have acted as our schoolteacher in bringing us to Christ to be saved!
There are countless "self-professing Christians" out there today UNDER LAW who have never seen themselves as totally wretched, nor admitted they are sinners through and through and about to face God's judgement. These are the same ones that are mentioned in Matthew 7 above.
So the morale of this month's newsletter is to make sure that you have had a revelation of yourself as a hopeless and lost sinner, unable to lift one finger to save yourself. Upon seeing yourself as God knows you to be will then cause you to fly to Christ and be saved.
Until this admission of our own total wretchedness, our utter helplessness, and our complete worthlessness in ourselves is fully realized, we will only continue to "PLAY" religion (the religion of always trying to please God).
Until we truly HEAR/UNDERSTAND the word of God we will never SEE ourselves in any other light but "good"... at least "good enough" that we; of all people, certainly don't need to sell all and come and follow Jesus. (That's just for... "sinners".)
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
May every blessing in Christ be yours,
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 6:28-29
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matt 7:22-23
Because....
In other words: "It Is Finished!" This means that the old creation; as far as God is concerned, is finished as well.
Anything that "WE" (in our own power) do to try and please God will only end up being another dead work, and under His curse.
He is well pleased by, with, through and in His Son alone. We MUST come to rest in that knowledge.
The scriptures are CLEAR...
It is in our being placed "IN Christ" through faith whereby we become crucified with Christ, thus depart from Adam and the curse of sin and spiritual death associated with all of Adam's decendants, and made alive through becoming placed in Jesus and the blessing of righteousness and eternal life.
Now - If a man is dead to sin , he is likewise dead to pleasing God.
Simply stated: Grace is something "God" does freely for us (and has through the sacrifice of His Son), while "law" is something that "we" try and accomplish for God. Evidently those who "work" to please God do not believe that "IT IS FINISHED!"
This doesn't mean that we are free to ignore the law but it does mean the law whereby one receives Grace for their actions (stemming from faith) and the law whereby one receives sin and death for their actions (stemming from unbelief), are two entirely different things.
This is the Father's will! This is the Law - the Law of Grace!! Anything being done other than that to save us is under the old creation's curse of sin and death, because it is being done in darkness and falls under the unforgiveable sin of "Unbelief".
We all need to have God (in the way that only He can do) show us our true condition before Him, then we will realize how decrepid we really are and how necessary it is to have this old man (old creation) crucified with Christ, before it can be made anew.
Until then We will never realize our one desperate need of having to sell all and fly to Christ to be saved, thus gaining, "Purity, Righteousness and to become set as a Jewel in His victory crown".
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Gal 2:19-21 ***
Biff
