Who is Wisdom? (2/3). Knowing Christ and the Power of His Resurrection

Beloved of God, right believing always produces right living. Many who profess Christ are trying to earn what He already paid for in full (RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE GOD, peace, health, freedom from oppression, wholeness, joy, tranquility, the Rapture, even the gifts of the Spirit and eternal life) by trying to obeying the law and doing good things and so make His death meaningless in their lives. 

Beloved, it is impossible to know Christ and the power of His resurrection when one believes that his own credentials of godly living or attempts at being righteous matter to any degree before God. Paul explains to us in Philippians 3 how he was full of such (dead) works before he put in trust in Christ. He counted such credentials which many see as a gain before God as “dung” and as “loss” (“rubbish” in some Bible versions) in order to gain Christ—-

7 "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, ….” Philippians 3. 

The power of Christ’s resurrection includes health, protection, provision, healing, wholeness, wellness, peace and eternal life. Every blessing of God in Christ. As long as one is depending on his own obedience and 70 days fasting to get these blessings from God, that one has been cut off from Christ and so cannot experience the power of His resurrection which is a gift of Grace— undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour—

“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.” Galatians 5:4.

In the same Philippians 3 where Paul counted his own obedience and good works as “dung” to gain Christ is where God’s word counsels us to “Beware of dogs....” aka religious people who go about trying to shove man’s efforts at being godly as the means of attaining godliness down the throats of churchgoers. 

So beloved of God, beware of “pastor" who leads the flock to try to get the blessings of God through their own righteousness, obedience and works like singing on church. Those things are useless when it comes to receiving from God. They are an abomination to Him. Reality is God does not bless, save and deliver because we sang and danced in church and were obedient. Isaiah 64:6 describes such righteous works which anyone can take pride in and presents as the reason why God should bless as A MENSTRUAL RAG IN HIS SIGHT-----

“We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

Not our sins o, but all of people’s obedience and works like 80 days’ fasting which many churchgoers wave about as credentials of godliness and see as why God should bless, save and deliver. They are an abomination to God. Jesus Christ is the ONLY reason why we have life. None of self. All of Christ. That is Christianity.

Beloved, let us beware of the prideful trust in self to keep even an atom of the law which many "men of God" are passing off as Christianity. The teaching is why many churchgoers are dying and suffering today. It has been Satan's doctrine since Eden for the law is the knowledge of good and evil and many are trying to keep it in order to be godly (be like God) thus rejecting God's sacrifice of His own Son Jesus Christ the Tree of Life to make us godly. 

We often wonder why non-believers are not suffering like many Christians. But the reality is calamity befalls them suddenly too. Like the Law of Gravity which does not care if a person believes in it before he splats on the concrete below after leaping from a high building, the law of sin and death does not consider belief in God before executing judgment on the accused who is found guilty. All it knows is that guilt is stamped on anyone whose righteousness is found in anything apart from Christ in whom there is no condemnation—

““There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death. What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin.” Romans‬ ‭8:1-3‬

In Christ we are not under LAW but under GRACE. Notice the JUDICIAL terms— law, condemned? In any court of law, the condemned must face punishment. And the wages of sin is death. The world is like a courtroom. As it is during any legal proceeding, only the defendant that is on trial or is being accused by Satan the prosecutor at law in the court of his conscience is sweating. 

Many among the spectators in the courtroom have worse sins but are still sitting pretty because the Accuser is yet to dial their number and bring charges against them. This is why many churchgoers who are undergoing hard challenges (TRIALS) are baffled that even non-Christians who seem to not give a hoot about God are living seemingly good lives. 

That consciousness of breaking the law and trying to right oneself before God the Righteous Judge which defines many churchgoers, people who do not go to church do not carry it about with them 24/7. So they do not make themselves open to being on trial unlike churchgoers who are constantly conscious of their sins and are constantly doing things to save themselves from the prison of death preceded by earthly ills such as demonic oppression, lack and depression. But eventually, death catches up and happens to ALL who are under law aka not having Christ as their Advocate and Bearer of sins but depending on their own obedience and 80 days fasting to get God the Righteous Judge to dismiss their trial and save them from the judgment of death. This is why the world keeps on wondering —

“Why do bad things happen to good people?” 

No one is good but God. Christ says so. Only in Christ do we stand acquitted in this legal battle that is spiritual warfare— see this expounded for us in Romans 3– 

“ But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”

But during legal trials such as unemployment, barrenness, lack, disease and such in our warfare, many turn to their human effort at obedience and 70 days fasting and “approach the bench” to present the same “menstrual rag” sacrifices to God the Righteous Judge in exchange for Acceptance and Acquittal. That is as ridiculous as a guilty criminal expecting a judge to dismiss his crimes and judgment because he also did some good things like feeding the poor and washing church toilet and leading praise and worship.

In any earthly court of law, to approach the judge directly with your own argument in your trial means you have turned your back on your advocate/lawyer and have become your own defense. 

Beloved, to “approach the bench” in the court of law that is the conscience aka to approach and attempt to present God the Righteous Judge with our own obedience, 70 days fasting or whatever righteous act that one produces in exchange for His salvation from the “death-row” of sins, addiction, poverty, lack of peace and every earthly ill, that is THE testament to turning one’s back on Jesus Christ whom God Himself provided as our Advocate and atonement for our entire lifetime of sins. For such, their guilt remains and the guilty must be punished.

In the court of law that is their conscience, so many religious folk trust themselves as their own righteousness and see their obedience as why Satan is not putting them on trial. Such are like spectators in a courtroom. all having done things that can land them in prison (all have sinned) but are still sitting pretty in their smug self-righteousness in the courtroom, until Satan the accuser dials their number and brings charges against them, for all have sinned…

Apart from Christ in whom we stand righteous before God, Satan can bring charges against one and put one on trials of life. The one who starts to fast for 70 days and presents his obedience and singing in church to God the Righteous  Judge as why he should be saved from his trial, that one is already condemned. To such, God is not Father. To such He is Judge. The Righteous Judge. So punishment must follow. Only in Christ Jesus are we made righteous in His sight and get to escape the wrath/punishment that is death—

“And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! 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.” Romans‬ ‭5:9‬ ‭

In essence, anyone who depends on anything but the blood of Jesus to become anything before God, that one is under Law and is already paying the wages of  sin which is DEATH. Now Bible “death” is not just falling down and breathing one’s last. It is translated from the Greek word “Thanatos” and has the following interpretations:

— the misery of the soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body in hell

— the miserable state of the wicked dead in hell

— in the widest sense, death comprising all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God and blessed in him on earth, to be followed by wretchedness in hell

Death under LAW is a process which begins here on earth and culminates in the second death in hell— the same death that Adam who lived for over 900 years died. Just like the tree, the stone aka the law/letter gives the knowledge of good and evil and kills. Also like the tree, this death is not necessarily breathing one’s last. See Genesis 2:17 (YLT) - 

“and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it -- dying thou dost die.'"

Psalms 90:4 says of God— “A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by,"; 

Moses wrote the above concerning God's view of the life of man under law or God’s wrath. Adam did not drop dead physically immediately after his death sentence came into effect; he had kids and died at almost 1,000 years aka one day gone by in the sight of God before physical death happened. But the life he lived was far from what he freely enjoyed in Eden. It is a picture of the life which many who are trying to be godly (be like God) by human effort at attaining godliness - by being under the law — are living today. See Genesis 3:17-

17 “And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

Acts of sin, demonic oppression, lack, stupid mistakes, sickness, depression and a lifestyle of sin and decadence that leads to a downward spiral to utter rottenness and decay of morality in man — these are all are symptoms of death. They are associated with the death that man was destined to die for his sins. A death that Christ died for all. To know or experience the power of His resurrection which puts an end to death and all of its symptoms entails forsaking all useless “menstrual rag” efforts at being righteous and trusting Christ alone as our Source of Life and Godliness.

Only in Christ our Advocate  ALONE are we children of God and ETERNALLY SAVED FROM SIN AND DEATH so By God's grace, to escape the wrath or punishment of the Righteous Judge,  let us follow God's word's counsel as reflected in Paul's own statement for every trial------ 

9 "and be completely united with him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith. 10 All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection," Philippians 3. 

The power of His resurrection includes fantastic marriages, protection, provision, healing, wholeness, wellness, peace and eternal life in Christ Jesus. Every blessing of God. Beware of "pastor" who leads the flock to try to get the blessing through their own righteousness, obedience and works like 70 days fasting and singing on church. Those things are useless when it comes to receiving from God— like a menstrual rag in His sight. They are an abomination to Him. Jesus Christ is the ONLY reason why we have life. None of self. All of Christ. That is Christianity.