Getting Right with God
Many of us Christians try to ‘get right with God’ by determining to stop sinning. We do our best to abide by the Ten Commandments. We fast to receive ‘more power to defeat the devil’ and to show God how serious we are about serving Him. We pay our tithes so that the devourer will not come near us. We are taught that if we do these things, God would have mercy on us, answer our prayers, deliver us from generational curses (another story for another day!) and maybe even lighten the load of punishment attached to our sins. We are told that God will not use us unless we bring ourselves up to a standard of holiness.
How wrong it is to believe such doctrine!
Romans 3:20 says: “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Believers in Christ, our good works, no matter how many, can never justify us before God. There are no terms and conditions attached to the blessings of God in the lives of believers.
Romans 5:20 says “Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound.” In essence, the law was given to point out our sin and not as a standard of measurement for righteousness, hence the continuous offering of the blood of bulls and goats as atonement by the ancient Israelites.
The more you try to keep the law, the more you fail at it. No matter how hard we try, there’s always something that leaves us feeling like those men that slunk away when Jesus told them: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” when they tested Him with the woman caught in adultery in John 8.
How then can we be righteous? How can we “turn the other cheek?” How can we repay evil with good? How can we love our neighbours as we do ourselves? How can we be a part of the “glorious church” that Paul talks about in Ephesians 5: 27 – “that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish”?
Our answer is in Romans 7: 17-19 where Paul says just as Adam’s disobedience resulted in condemnation for all of mankind, the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ makes man righteous!
17 "For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one (i.e. Adam), much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous."
Being right with God is not something you work hard to attain. It does not depend on your keeping the law. Neither is it hinged on your good works or lack of it. His righteousness is a gift to believers. FREE.
Recall the story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18 and that of Zacchaeus the tax collector in Luke 19. The young ruler thought that he had been keeping all the commandments since his youth but when Jesus told him to sell off his property and give to the poor, have his treasure in heaven and follow Him, he went away very sorrowful. The rich young ruler could not keep the very first commandment - “You shall have no other gods before Me.” He put his many possessions before God!
Zacchaeus, on the other hand, was a tax collector, one of the worst things a Jew could be in those days when Judea was under Roman occupation. His job was akin to that of a very close family member inviting armed robbers into your home and forcefully removing your valuables from your hiding places for his benefit and that of the robbers. But after his encounter with Jesus, he did what the sin-conscious young ruler could not do. Luke 19:8: Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”
Righteousness is God’s gift to those who believe in Jesus; those who are truly in Him. God is righteous in making sinners righteous. He doesn’t just sweep our sins under the carpet. He made sure to punish our sins in the body of Christ and because He is a just God, He cannot punish our sins twice. He cannot judge sin in us a second time when Jesus has already taken our judgment, curse and punishment. We cannot suffer under the same curse that Jesus has redeemed us from! 2 Corinthians 5:21 sums it up: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
BELIEVERS, WE ARE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS! As a believer in Christ, believing in His finished work - that your sins -past, present and future- are forgiven, that there is no longer any condemnation for you because you are in Christ Jesus, that you are made clean by His grace alone and not because of the good or bad things you do, you become RIGHTEOUS AUTOMATICALLY! Romans 4:5 –“ But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness”
Believing that you are righteous because of Christ’s obedience does not mean that you will not make mistakes as a believer, but because the Lord is the one upholding you with His hand, you will not be utterly cast down. Psalms 37: 23 – 24 says -
23The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with His hand.
When you fall (sin) as a believer, Christ does not turn His back on you, just as you would never turn your back on your child because he lied to you or got a poor grade in a test from playing video games when he should have been studying. This is when he needs you the most. A good parent will look for the root of the problem and to the best of his ability, fix it to make sure the child continues on the right path. How much more our Father heaven who loves us much more than we could ever love our children - He gave His Son up for us! Hebrews 12:10 says he chastens us FOR OUR PROFIT, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
He provides much more grace when we fall! Romans 5:20, “…where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”
Christ in you helps you overcome those sins; those bad thoughts; transforming you into a new person. When you stop using your willpower and depend on Him, you find that those things you tried so hard to do come naturally to you, nothing to do with your own effort, because it is no longer you that live but Christ that lives in you.
You find that for years you had such a terrible temper but today, people say what a calm soul you are. You find that you are able to let the driver of that brakeless trailer that smashed into your car off the hook with a simple “be more careful next time,” because you received so much grace that the money is not an issue plus it would cost you less time and energy if you fixed the damage by yourself.
You find that you’ve overcome addiction and bad behaviour without knowing how or when exactly the change occurred - and the thought of these things disgust you now. You find that you no longer have to cut corners in order to meet financial obligations because you have your daily manna in Jesus Christ the Bread of Life, who blesses you according to His riches in glory.
You tithe not because you are afraid that something bad will happen to you if you don’t but because you just feel led to give and you give happily too. You find that telling people about God’s love and salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ used to be a huge chore, even embarrassing, but today, people have to try to shut you up! You do all of these things and much more, yet not you, because according to Philippians 2:13, ”it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
This is my personal testimony by His grace! With Jesus, you don’t Give to Get, you Get to Give and you love every bit of it!
Jesus used the analogy of the shepherd and his sheep many times in His teachings. We are the sheep and He is the Shepherd. He leads us, feeds us, takes care of our lambs, cleans up our messes, in short, He does everything for us.
In ancient Israel, God judged the people based on their high priest. If he was good, and offered sacrifices that were acceptable to God, the whole nation was accepted. They would be blessed for the year ahead with every blessing. If they were bad, it didn't matter; they would still be accepted. But, if the high priest was bad and didn't offer the right sacrifices, even if the people were good, the whole nation was rejected.
God sees us the way He sees our High Priest – our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we believe! Human understanding says it is illogical to think that you are still righteous when you sin. But believers in Christ, the bible tells us in 1 John 4:17 that “as He is, so we are in this world,” and not because of our good works or lack of it.
What’s more, we received the gift of the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith and not because we obeyed the Law of Moses. So why do we think we need to continue in our victory by works? No one is justified by the law in the sight of God. (Galatians 3).
The bible calls believers “the temple of God.” Remember what Jesus did in the temple when he saw that some people had turned it into a market place. You can stop trying to do it on your own and rely on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, to clear out all those sinful desires and fill you (the temple of our Lord) with His righteousness. Even if you are a fool, you will not go astray. Isaiah 35.
To all reading this, bear in mind that being a believer in Christ goes beyond ticking the ‘Christian’ box on official documents or going to church on Sunday out of a sense of duty. There are “Believers in Christ” and then there are the “Unbelieving Professors of Christ.” Think of these as a butterfly (a believer) and a pig (an unbelieving ‘Christian’).
If a butterfly falls into mud or dirt, it does not feel comfortable in that environment. It wants to get out. It hates the mud and dirt not because it is a neat butterfly that does its best to not get dirty, but because it is WIRED to hate dirt. Just as being in the dirt doesn't make the butterfly stop being a butterfly, falling as a new creation in Christ does not make you lose your gift of righteousness. Rather, God gives you grace (WIRES YOU) to want to get out of the dirt and helps you get out of it too.
A pig on the other hand, loves the mud and feels no remorse for wallowing it. These are the ‘Christians’ that Jude spoke about in the Bible. Jude 1:4 – “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” These are people who say that because God treats us with undeserved grace, it is okay to be immoral. Jude describes them as “spots in our love feasts” and as “sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.”
Some also say preaching the grace of God is giving people a license to sin. Paul spoke of these in Romans 3:7, those who went about with slanderous reports that Paul was preaching to the people “Let us do evil that good may come out of it.” According to the bible, the condemnation of this group is just! Under the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, sin will no longer have dominion over you. Romans 6:14 – “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
When God says sin will not have dominion over you because you are under grace, you’d better believe it. He cannot lie. Bear in mind that under grace, you get the good that you do not deserve and you don’t get the punishment that you deserve, not because God has gone soft but because Jesus took our place!
Relying on our efforts to attain righteousness before God is futile because apart from Christ, we can do nothing – John 15:5. May God bless you as you let go and let Him in Jesus’ name. Amen!
PS: You can google ‘Joseph Prince’ and listen to anyone of his sermons on Youtube for more teachings on the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord guide you as He leads us in His grace and love in Jesus’ name. Amen.
How wrong it is to believe such doctrine!
Romans 3:20 says: “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Believers in Christ, our good works, no matter how many, can never justify us before God. There are no terms and conditions attached to the blessings of God in the lives of believers.
Romans 5:20 says “Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound.” In essence, the law was given to point out our sin and not as a standard of measurement for righteousness, hence the continuous offering of the blood of bulls and goats as atonement by the ancient Israelites.
The more you try to keep the law, the more you fail at it. No matter how hard we try, there’s always something that leaves us feeling like those men that slunk away when Jesus told them: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” when they tested Him with the woman caught in adultery in John 8.
How then can we be righteous? How can we “turn the other cheek?” How can we repay evil with good? How can we love our neighbours as we do ourselves? How can we be a part of the “glorious church” that Paul talks about in Ephesians 5: 27 – “that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish”?
Our answer is in Romans 7: 17-19 where Paul says just as Adam’s disobedience resulted in condemnation for all of mankind, the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ makes man righteous!
17 "For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one (i.e. Adam), much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous."
Being right with God is not something you work hard to attain. It does not depend on your keeping the law. Neither is it hinged on your good works or lack of it. His righteousness is a gift to believers. FREE.
Recall the story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18 and that of Zacchaeus the tax collector in Luke 19. The young ruler thought that he had been keeping all the commandments since his youth but when Jesus told him to sell off his property and give to the poor, have his treasure in heaven and follow Him, he went away very sorrowful. The rich young ruler could not keep the very first commandment - “You shall have no other gods before Me.” He put his many possessions before God!
Zacchaeus, on the other hand, was a tax collector, one of the worst things a Jew could be in those days when Judea was under Roman occupation. His job was akin to that of a very close family member inviting armed robbers into your home and forcefully removing your valuables from your hiding places for his benefit and that of the robbers. But after his encounter with Jesus, he did what the sin-conscious young ruler could not do. Luke 19:8: Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”
Righteousness is God’s gift to those who believe in Jesus; those who are truly in Him. God is righteous in making sinners righteous. He doesn’t just sweep our sins under the carpet. He made sure to punish our sins in the body of Christ and because He is a just God, He cannot punish our sins twice. He cannot judge sin in us a second time when Jesus has already taken our judgment, curse and punishment. We cannot suffer under the same curse that Jesus has redeemed us from! 2 Corinthians 5:21 sums it up: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
BELIEVERS, WE ARE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS! As a believer in Christ, believing in His finished work - that your sins -past, present and future- are forgiven, that there is no longer any condemnation for you because you are in Christ Jesus, that you are made clean by His grace alone and not because of the good or bad things you do, you become RIGHTEOUS AUTOMATICALLY! Romans 4:5 –“ But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness”
Believing that you are righteous because of Christ’s obedience does not mean that you will not make mistakes as a believer, but because the Lord is the one upholding you with His hand, you will not be utterly cast down. Psalms 37: 23 – 24 says -
23The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with His hand.
When you fall (sin) as a believer, Christ does not turn His back on you, just as you would never turn your back on your child because he lied to you or got a poor grade in a test from playing video games when he should have been studying. This is when he needs you the most. A good parent will look for the root of the problem and to the best of his ability, fix it to make sure the child continues on the right path. How much more our Father heaven who loves us much more than we could ever love our children - He gave His Son up for us! Hebrews 12:10 says he chastens us FOR OUR PROFIT, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
He provides much more grace when we fall! Romans 5:20, “…where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”
Christ in you helps you overcome those sins; those bad thoughts; transforming you into a new person. When you stop using your willpower and depend on Him, you find that those things you tried so hard to do come naturally to you, nothing to do with your own effort, because it is no longer you that live but Christ that lives in you.
You find that for years you had such a terrible temper but today, people say what a calm soul you are. You find that you are able to let the driver of that brakeless trailer that smashed into your car off the hook with a simple “be more careful next time,” because you received so much grace that the money is not an issue plus it would cost you less time and energy if you fixed the damage by yourself.
You find that you’ve overcome addiction and bad behaviour without knowing how or when exactly the change occurred - and the thought of these things disgust you now. You find that you no longer have to cut corners in order to meet financial obligations because you have your daily manna in Jesus Christ the Bread of Life, who blesses you according to His riches in glory.
You tithe not because you are afraid that something bad will happen to you if you don’t but because you just feel led to give and you give happily too. You find that telling people about God’s love and salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ used to be a huge chore, even embarrassing, but today, people have to try to shut you up! You do all of these things and much more, yet not you, because according to Philippians 2:13, ”it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
This is my personal testimony by His grace! With Jesus, you don’t Give to Get, you Get to Give and you love every bit of it!
Jesus used the analogy of the shepherd and his sheep many times in His teachings. We are the sheep and He is the Shepherd. He leads us, feeds us, takes care of our lambs, cleans up our messes, in short, He does everything for us.
In ancient Israel, God judged the people based on their high priest. If he was good, and offered sacrifices that were acceptable to God, the whole nation was accepted. They would be blessed for the year ahead with every blessing. If they were bad, it didn't matter; they would still be accepted. But, if the high priest was bad and didn't offer the right sacrifices, even if the people were good, the whole nation was rejected.
God sees us the way He sees our High Priest – our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we believe! Human understanding says it is illogical to think that you are still righteous when you sin. But believers in Christ, the bible tells us in 1 John 4:17 that “as He is, so we are in this world,” and not because of our good works or lack of it.
What’s more, we received the gift of the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith and not because we obeyed the Law of Moses. So why do we think we need to continue in our victory by works? No one is justified by the law in the sight of God. (Galatians 3).
The bible calls believers “the temple of God.” Remember what Jesus did in the temple when he saw that some people had turned it into a market place. You can stop trying to do it on your own and rely on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, to clear out all those sinful desires and fill you (the temple of our Lord) with His righteousness. Even if you are a fool, you will not go astray. Isaiah 35.
To all reading this, bear in mind that being a believer in Christ goes beyond ticking the ‘Christian’ box on official documents or going to church on Sunday out of a sense of duty. There are “Believers in Christ” and then there are the “Unbelieving Professors of Christ.” Think of these as a butterfly (a believer) and a pig (an unbelieving ‘Christian’).
If a butterfly falls into mud or dirt, it does not feel comfortable in that environment. It wants to get out. It hates the mud and dirt not because it is a neat butterfly that does its best to not get dirty, but because it is WIRED to hate dirt. Just as being in the dirt doesn't make the butterfly stop being a butterfly, falling as a new creation in Christ does not make you lose your gift of righteousness. Rather, God gives you grace (WIRES YOU) to want to get out of the dirt and helps you get out of it too.
A pig on the other hand, loves the mud and feels no remorse for wallowing it. These are the ‘Christians’ that Jude spoke about in the Bible. Jude 1:4 – “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” These are people who say that because God treats us with undeserved grace, it is okay to be immoral. Jude describes them as “spots in our love feasts” and as “sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.”
Some also say preaching the grace of God is giving people a license to sin. Paul spoke of these in Romans 3:7, those who went about with slanderous reports that Paul was preaching to the people “Let us do evil that good may come out of it.” According to the bible, the condemnation of this group is just! Under the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, sin will no longer have dominion over you. Romans 6:14 – “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
When God says sin will not have dominion over you because you are under grace, you’d better believe it. He cannot lie. Bear in mind that under grace, you get the good that you do not deserve and you don’t get the punishment that you deserve, not because God has gone soft but because Jesus took our place!
Relying on our efforts to attain righteousness before God is futile because apart from Christ, we can do nothing – John 15:5. May God bless you as you let go and let Him in Jesus’ name. Amen!
PS: You can google ‘Joseph Prince’ and listen to anyone of his sermons on Youtube for more teachings on the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord guide you as He leads us in His grace and love in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God bless you for your testimonies. I wonder why apart from Pastor Joseph Prince, no other renowned preacher is talking about God's grace? As a matter of fact, you are the 3rd believer I am learning of, in all my years of christianity, that is embracing this grace that has been made available.
ReplyDeleteHi, Emeka! God bless you too! Great to hear from you. It takes God's grace to see, understand and embrace His grace. Someone very close to me described my talking about His grace as blasphemy whenever I brought it up! I tried very hard to make them see the point but things just got tense, so I let it go and asked our Saviour to touch his heart. Today, he acts like he introduced me to the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
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