The religious notion that Jesus Christ’s shed blood was insufficient to have fully satisfied God where people’s sins are concerned, thus the continual need for something further required of people to keep God’s justice up to date.
This is “the new sin requires new forgiveness” idea set forth by those who fail to appreciate the accomplishment of Jesus Christ. Well, they will one day stand at the Great White Throne Judgment where the merited righteousness they think they have will be put on display.
People who think they have to keep God’s justice up to date, they will be standing at the Great White Throne Judgment having only their own righteousness to show for themselves, it will be open for inspection.
What a marvelous plan God had for us! God has kept the fingerprints of the guilt-worthy off of the righteousness he designed for the guilt-worthy.
This is a chilling and sobering thought,when self-righteous moralizers harden their hearts and remain impenitent concerning their goodness, they are storing up to themselves wrath to be visited upon them in the day of wrath.
If God thinks what his son did on our behalf, where all of our sin debt is concerned, then we can take God at his word. If God believes it, why can’t we stand with God on what God believes, that is faith.
Those who are bent on satisfying the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, fall into a snare in that they become addicted to the manner in which they satisfy those lusts. People fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts, not only harmful to themselves, but hurtful to others around them.
Choose to serve sin and we can soon become addicted to the manner in which we have chosen to serve sin. We all have that bent towards satisfying the lust of our flesh toward serving ourselves, but God’s sentence on the flesh was not reformation, it was total eradication.
That sentence was carried out when we died with Christ, God had no intention of repairing our old man, no plan to clean it up and make it more presentable, his intention was to kill it. Every believer is standing in the gift degree of righteousness, because believers are placed into God’s son, so that when God views us, he no longer views us in do’s or don’ts.
When we stop focusing on the do’s and cease focusing on the don’ts, the do’s and don’ts become a lot easier. If our life is hid with God in Christ, then how does God view us? God views us in his son, Jesus Christ. So, while we continue to have and will continue to have to contend with the flesh this side of the new body, God no longer sees us in our identity with the flesh.
Our decree of judicial perfection in the eyes of God comes not through Christ’s death for our sins, but through our union with Christ’s resurrection life. If a person believes Christ died for their sins, but does not believe that God’s justice was satisfied, when Christ died for those sins, that person has not believed Christ died for their sins.
There are people out there who believe they can lose their salvation, because they have totally confused their standing in Christ, with their state. Standing - how God views you ‘in Christ’ perfect righteousness! Saints! State - your experience through time on earth.
Standing is what God’s made you to be and what you can never cease to be in his eyes. State has to do with how you are taking advantage or not taking advantage of that God given position that is everlastingly yours by God’s decree.
God has given us a perfect standing in our union with his perfectly righteous son. God has also made provision for us now to have an ever improving state or experience, it is called growth, maturing.
Give up serving self, and that will be the best service to self you could ever give yourself. Why, because you will find true freedom and joy to be the ultimate result, give up serving self and serve others.
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