How is God able to call someone righteous who is not righteous from a practical perspective? God’s ability to do so and remain just himself, came by way of the faith of his son, Jesus Christ.
Christ had faith in the will of the Father, and because of Christ’s faith in the Father’s will, he was faithful to do the Father’s will. So it was ultimately Christ’s faith that allowed God’s justice to remain intact, as God declares an unrighteous believer to be righteous.
You see, apart from Christ’s faith and his faithfulness to carry out the Father’s will based on that faith, there would not be anyone perfectly righteous to whom God could join a believing sinner. Just as Christ never doubted the will of the Father, the Father never doubted the faith and faithfulness of his son.
It was God’s plan to use the faith and its resultant faithfulness of the son of God in the ultimate glorification of human-kind who would take him at his word, the union of believers to Christ is that which allows God to remain just when he credits those with the righteousness of his son.
We do not need outside the Word of Truth instruction, there are people who like to draw other people aside and say, “God’s given me a word for you.” They are stepped in the enthusiasm of ignorance, if God’s Word is complete, then God has not reserved further instruction for you that is going to come through visual evidences that you could call a God-thing.
Are we to study the Word of God as though it were a hodge-podge assortment of instructions that are all the same for all the people of all the ages? Some people study it that way, and then wonder why they can not make sense of it.
Cafeteria Christianity, each group placing on their plate the portion, or portions of Scripture that appeal most to them. “We want this, but we will ignore that.” “We will take one of these, but we will leave the others off our plate.” But we can not pick and choose whatever doctrine suits our appetites, as though it is left up to us to sere ourselves.
We have to allow God to tell us in the Word, the portions of that Word that are specifically written about and directly apply to us. If you read the words “ye men of Israel,” “ye men of Judaea” do not take from the table of that nation and put that instruction on your plate. You are not the nation Israel. You are not under the law, they were. You are under grace!
Allow God to tell you in his Word the identity of those he is instructing, and discover the distinctions he’s defined in the economies that he’s designed, and then get on board with what God is doing today and join him in it.
You see, there is one basic principle we can apply to every situation in our life, will Christ be magnified in my choice, and if he’s magnified equally in A or B have at it. Enjoy it and God will enjoy your enjoyment of it, but if Christ will be magnified no matter the choice, then it is simply a matter of personal preference.
The fact is that God does not speak through the avenue of feelings, nor does he give visual evidences through the use of signs as he did with the nation Israel in time past. Every believer wants God to pleased with the decisions that believer makes, but God has given us the freedom to make our own choices in light of the application of relative Scriptural principle when it comes to making them.
Does God have a particular direction he wants every believer to somehow discover, when it comes to every detail and every area of direction that believer might take? Or, does God want believers to apply Scripture where Scripture can be applied, and where no Scriptural principle can be applied, to make the choices that we desire, and then take responsibility for choices we made?
God is not saying “Choose A, but you will first have to discover that choice A is the choice that I want you to make before you choose it! Pray and I will give you a feeling of peace, or watch closely and I will provide you a sign so that you can make my choice, your choice!” That is how people are operating with God today.
If God has to give any person a sign in connection with the direction, or course that believer might take, then God’s Word to the human race is not complete, and we must pray and with for God to speak further truth that he has not revealed in his written Word. God speaks through the avenue of his written Word, and the apostle Paul tells us that God’s Word to us is complete, Colossians 1:25.
No comments:
Post a Comment