The truth is, those with a sin nature have never needed a license to sin, we do it naturally. Yet, the Christian’s army is the only army that shots it’s wounded. Anytime we condemn the coming shortnesses in others, we need to understand the reality of the fact that we are all in the same boat, we all come short in the righteousness department due to the indwelling sin nature.
A person who is in the gutter, oftentimes realizes the situation they have gotten themselves into, but a person who believes they are in a position to judge someone else: a person who has rationalized away his own short-comings, is one who is falling to recognize the sins of self.
A person who is looking down their nose at someone else, yet they are doing the very same things in another form, no excuse will suffice to pardon them, it is such a shame that so many people today are trusting in their goodness to get them to heaven. Paul wants us to understand that there is no refuge in human goodness.
Judgment based on a righteousness a person can produce for themselves, can only lead to one verdict- GUILTY! God is going to see them as having no need of the saving work of his son. When we put our human hearts under the microscope of God’s truthful judgment, we are going to find out that we need much more than human righteousness to have a perfectly just standing before God.
Put another way, do people think for one moment that God is going to give them a non-wrath-worthy pass; that Jesus Christ need not have died for their sins; that their sins are of such a non-serous nature that they have no need of a Savior in the first place?
The good news from God to us today, is that God is not counting anyone’s sins against them, but Satan, Paul tells us, is working through ministers of righteousness to keep this news hidden from people.
It is a simple message, but very difficult for the pride nature to get past, because people’s pride nature says that if I broke it, I can play a part in fixing it, and we all attempt to do that and religion is there to give us a hand along the way.
We are not to listen to ministers of righteousness telling us sins are still the issue, and they will give people a way to keep that sin issue satisfied on a weekly, daily, monthly, yearly basis.
The good news is what will a person do, when it comes to their taking God at his Word, concerning what Jesus Christ accomplished where their sins are concerned? Ministers of righteousness have been taught to teach what they are teaching, and in so doing, they are dis-serving what was accomplished by Christ.
Just understand, there is no additional sin question in the mind of God when it comes to his forgiveness or his righteous justice, the sin issue has been taken care of. Beware, a clever counterfeit being conducted by good people who have your best interest in mind, they want the best for you, but they will be deceiving, because they themselves have been deceived.
We should be very grateful that we are saved by the faith of Jesus Christ, his faith accomplished our salvation. When it came to the earthly program, God’s glory was magnified through seeing, and the prayer of faith was the catalyst.
Is God utilizing the prayer of faith during this present dispensation of grace that we might see our deliverance? That was God’s earthly kingdom plan, miraculous events, visual events!
However, when we come to understand that that earthly kingdom program is no longer in progress, but on hold, we come to realize that God through his power from on high wants to stabilize every believer today in a completely different way.
We certainly know that God wants us to pray, but when we pray in the Age of Grace, we are to pray with thanksgiving, but are we to pray with thanksgiving that God would do it? Are we to pray with thanksgiving that we are going to get what we are praying for? Not at all.
What is our thanksgiving about then? Trust that God knows what he is doing, and he is going to do it whether we pray or not. God knows precisely what he is going to do. There is a difference in the Age of Grace, it is strength made perfect in weakness, it is not strength made perfect in the elimination of the suffering situation.
Prayer was never given to change God’s perspective of our greater preference, prayer was given to change our perspective of God’s greater purpose. God’s greater purpose was not to strengthen our faith by altering our circumstances.
God’s greater purpose is to allow us to demonstrated our faith as we remain strong in spite of our circumstances. Prayer was never given to bring God into alignment with our wants, prayer was given to bring us into alignment with God’s will.
Our patient endurance through suffering is a way of demonstrating our hope, and when our hope is put on display in the midst of our suffering, that brings glory to God.
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