Righteousness is a gift, not a due, and we are blessed who receive it.
The people of God - OT and NT have always become His people through the footsteps of faith.
God's law brings wrath. God's morals bring wrath. God's instructions brings wrath. God's truth brings wrath.
This is why Paul later asks the question - so is the law of God bad? (No, we are bad)
Salvation is God giving life to the dead and creating new things that did not exist before.
Romans 4:25 is the only place, (to my knowledge) that Paul talks about the resurrection of Christ in relation to our justification.
We have peace, we who have been justified through the footsteps of faith, through Jesus Christ. We have peace. As long as Jesus died and rose again is the length to which you will have peace with God.
The holies of holies was a place of grace. Christ gave us access to that place.
We rejoice in our sufferings, not because of our sufferings.
Hope can sometimes put people to shame - imagine if the flood never came for Noah. But our hope will never put us to shame because we have the Holy Spirit - the downpayment - the morning light - which is the security for the dawn of Christ's return.
Jesus died for us as sinners.
God justifies sinners. God doesn't justify the righteous - he actually saves sinners. That blows my mind. He saves us as we are in our wretched state. Amazing.
He didn't make his enemies become his trusted friends and then reconcile with them. No, while we were still fighting a war against him, he reconciled us, by sacrificing his own son. We were reconciled while we were still on the other side.
Now that we are on His side, how much more shall we saved by Jesus life!!!! Rejoice with me my brothers and sisters. We are truly blessed indeed!!!
The idea of salvation presented in the scripture isn't as much a story of individual 'personal relationships with Jesus Christ' that saves individuals from hell, but more God's redemption of a people - from all nations - and Him fixing the larger problem of sin that our representative Adam brought into the world. The 'yous' that you see in scripture are often referring to 'you all' - as in the church Paul is writing to, a group of people, etc… Very rarely do we see the focus on 'a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.'
The law of God came to increase sin, for where there is no law there is no sin, but all men still died as a result of sin, so the law revealed the sin that was seen in latter part of the principle of "sin leads to death.' People still transgressed, without the law, and died without the law. The law is a tutor to lead us to Christ.
How can we who died to sin still live in it?
We were saved that we might too walk in newness of life.
HOW DO WE CONSIDER OURSELVES DEAD TO SIN AND LIVE TO GOD IN CHRIST JESUS?
We DO NO say, 'I'm considering myself dead to sin.'
We DO NOT tell each other 'you need to consider yourself dead to sin.'
We DO say, 'I am dead to sin!'
We DO tell each other, 'You are dead to sin!'
We proclaim it, remind it, rejoice over it - that we are as dead to sin as dead as Christ was in the ground. And we are alive to God as alive as Jesus is right now sitting at the right hand of God.'
We don't sit on the fence reminding ourselves that we are considering something. We land in the grave with Christ, and rise with Christ.
Because of this…how dead we are, how alive we are, in Christ, therefore… stop presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. How? Just stop. It's not difficult.
How do you stop stealing an Oreo Packet in the Gas Station? You take it out wherever you stuffed it in your clothes, you put it back on the rack, and you walk out, without the oreo packet stuffed in your clothes! No one is holding you at gun point here.
How do you stop gossiping? You talk about the weather instead. You physically, with your hands if necessary! you physically shut your mouth and don't speak! Just don't talk. Or talk about your shoes.
How do you stop from having sex or going to far with your boyfriend or girlfriend? You don't let your body lie in a horizontal position on a bed or couch, but you keep your body vertical instead. You don't let your arms and hands remove pieces of your clothing. You use your hands to keep your clothing tucked in! You don't let your hands wander, you shove them in your pockets, not their pockets, YOUR POCKETS.
These physical actions that keep your physical body members from sin are not HARD TO DO. You are, as I type, dead to these sins. So STOP DOING THEM. Be sensible. If being alone and having some alcohol has lead to places you regret….then don't pick up the glass of alcohol and drink it, and don't walk or drive or enter a place where you will be alone!
Sin will not have dominion of you, for we are not under law but grace.
We are not free from law in the sense that law is no longer here, as if its been erased from the universe.
Rather the law/requirements of God have been fulfilled in Jesus, thus our righteousness is found in Jesus, who fulfilled the law.
So we are not under law....why? Because we are under grace - we have out righteousness apart from the law.
So we are free from the law - for we do not need the law to become righteous nor to be saved.
But the law of God still exists! For it comes from God - and He reigns eternally, His truths of what is right and good will always be right and good and true and wise. So the law - what is right according to God himself - will never fade away.
And the christian now? We are not under the dominion of the law, for we are under grace - the righteousness and saving love and grace of God shown to us in the work of Jesus.
So what do we do with the law? We proclaim it as wisdom of how to love and live and give and work, and proclaim it so sinners will be reminded of their sin to drive them to Jesus. All of these requirements have been met and they no longer over us as if I needed to follow them to obtain righteousness, NO, for I am righteous apart from the law, a righteous revealed from faith - in Jesus Christ.
WHAT FRUIT WERE YOU GETTING AT THAT TIME FROM THE THINGS OF WHICH YOU ARE NOW ASHAMED? For the end of those things is death. - Here is a practical reason to stop sinning. The fruit of your sin IS NOT GOOD. The fruit of building your house on sand (NOT FOLLOWING JESUS' TEACHINGS), leads to destruction!
Do you want to live a life that has a solid foundation? That foundation is not Jesus (at least in this parable) - the foundation of not being destroyed in life is obedience to God. His way of righteousness - through Christ - that we may wak in newness of life. The law being written on our heart and the Spirit himself causing us to walk in His statutes. The fruit of the Spirit being produced in us, love joy peace patience etc… His way - this is the solid way to live. This fruit - we have in Christ - The Spirit in us - He makes us like Jesus - our sanctification - we actually become like him in our hearts, minds, and actions.
To God be the glory! Great things He has done!
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