See Christ our Ark in the story of Noah.

Believers, as the righteousness of God in Christ, having Christ as our righteousness and none of ours from the law, God sees us as righteous through and through. Now this doesn’t mean that we are perfect in deeds; we will fall and fail sometimes, but remember when Noah and his family were in the ark? No matter how many times they stumbled or fell as a result of the flood and winds raging outside, they always fell and got back up INSIDE the ark, never OUTSIDE. Not a single person was cast out of the ark and into the flood with the condemned for whatever reason; and after the flood subsided, all who put their trust in the Lord were saved.

Today, we are in Christ Jesus, the real Ark of God. Like Noah, we didn’t just decide to seek salvation in our Ark that is Christ. God drew us as He drew Noah. Christ says in John 6:44- “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him [giving him the desire to come to Me]; and I will raise him up [from the dead] on the last day.”

See the MSG version: "Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End."

We can sing “I have decided to follow Jesus” all we want but it definitely was not by our smarts, efforts or good sense that we are in Him or remain steadfast in Him:) Our Abba Father drew us to Christ. Christ keeps us and leads us on the path of righteousness. Nothing to do with human effort. On our own, without the Lord our Shepherd, going astray was our lot. When we realize this - how wholly dependent the sheep is on the Shepherd- it becomes difficult for us to judge people who are yet to receive their invite to the Lord’s table or even shake our heads at people who are still struggling with their sins. Instead, we pray to our Abba Father to touch their hearts too.

Like Noah and his family inside the ark, our Saviour will never cast us out when we fall, as it is written in John 6:37- “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” Believers, the one who comes to Jesus is looking for salvation, including from acts of sin. Christ saves from sins. Matt. 1:21 says of Him:

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

But many false preachers out there make you believe that Christ will cast you out into the drowning world when you sin or mess things up and you have to save yourself from your sins. Our Saviour will never cast us out to drown with the condemned world outside; no matter how many times we fall, there is no condemnation for us in Him, as it is written in Romans 8:1- “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Let’s take our blessed brains to church. Why would Christ bestow the gift of no condemnation to we His people if we do not have sins? Why would a person who scored 100% on a test need Christ's 100%? The gift is for those who, of themselves, don’t have it all together. None of us do and none of us can ever do, "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands..." says Romans 3:20. Christ holds it all together for all who believe.

Bear in mind that believers in Christ are those who are made righteous by His obedience and not their puny efforts at law-keeping. Many profess Christ but do not believe that they are made righteous by His obedience. Such expect that they will be cut off from Christ our Ark and left to drown in the flood (problems) of the world if they do not do their best to obey the Ten Commandments and do certain things to secure their right-standing with God. But this is how to get cut off from Christ according Galatians 5:4-

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."

Believers, trying to get right with God through works of the law is a testament to rejecting the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have. Romans 4:25 says: "Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!"

Those who think that their own righteousness from obeying the law is what makes them right with God reject Christ and deny His resurrection. Believers, let's not be found here. Romans 5:19 shows us how we are put right with God- "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

At the cross, there was a righteous exchange. God punished our entire lifetime of sins in the body of Christ to make us righteous. See 2 Corinthians 5:21- "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Christ had no sins of His own. He became sin for us so that we who have no righteousness of our own might become righteous. With His gift of righteousness comes no condemnation. His "neither do I condemn you" is what makes us "go and sin no more."

Law-keeping and doing good things can neither make any righteous before God nor save from His wrath. While the world around us is drowning from God’s wrath, by grace, we who are in Christ are saved from God’s wrath by the blood of Jesus. See Romans 5:9-

“...For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God.”

This is the Good News. We are made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ and not our own obedience to the law, which no one can accomplish. Because it is His righteousness and not ours, the way to “lose your salvation” is to claw your way out of the ark and jump into the flood aka stop believing that our Saviour Jesus Christ gave Himself to save you.

But does this mean that we can continue to wallow in sin? Certainly not! Grace swallows up sin. Only through the abundance of grace and God’s gift of righteousness in Christ, not the law, do we live in triumph over sin. Romans 5:17 says “For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ.”

But many are still trying to get right with God by their own power to obey the law; the very law that religious (yet beloved of God) people are trying to keep makes sin have dominion over them- Romans 6:14 says:

“For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace.”

Somehow, many in the church have this verse backwards, saying grace is a license to sin. No, friend. Grace is the gospel of Christ and the power of God to salvation, even salvation from sins. Paul had this to say in Romans 1:16-

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.””

But the law is not of faith! The one who is trying to keep the law to get right with God has no faith! And without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Count yourself blessed and in good company if you have ever been falsely accused of saying that it is okay to sin because of grace: Paul too was falsely accused of saying this. See Romans 3:7-8: “And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned.”

Believe Right and you will Live Right.