God knows the motivation that resides in the human heart that underlies all the works that we call good. God knows whether there is a hidden motivation even to ourselves, hidden by our pride nature to look good before others; to appear knowledgeable before others; to somehow elevate self in relation to others; to gain the praise of others.
God knows the motivations of the human heart. Any kind of works at all, even if they appear to be good works in your mind, that are done for the purpose attaining salvation or for the purpose of maintaining salvation, even for the purpose of proving one’s salvation, is a slap in the face of God, who had to provide the gift of salvation, because people’s righteousness would be totally incapable of meriting it.
Our good works must be done solely out of appreciation for what God has already accomplished. It is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. It is the changed thinking that comes as God transforms us by his word. Satan’s ministers of righteousness use the word reform, instead of the word transform, they would appeal to people to reform, God does not make that appeal.
God transforms our thinking by his word, it is only when we come to properly understand God from his perspective concerning ourselves, both before we came to understand Paul’s good news and then what we are and who we are after we have believed Paul’s good news and have been joined to his son.
Then we can be capable if viewing others and relating to others accordingly who are also members of Christ’s body and of his flesh and of his bones. So transformed thinking relates to transform relating as Christ thinking becomes our thinking, that is where we see the love of God. Romans 5:5
The casting of lots was crucial to the atonement in Israel’s program, one of the goats would be the scapegoat and the other goat was to be slain. How would the high priest know which goat was to be slain? God himself would make that determination.
The casting of lots during Israel’s program was not a coin flip or drawing straws, it was God’s prescribed manner of making his will known to people, when it came to important decisions that had to be made in time past.
One of the stones would shine when God was making a selection, so that the High Priest could determine the choice that God had made. This would eliminate such things in that decision making process as politics, nepotism, favoritism, emotion would be out of the way. God would make the decision, the final course of action was being left up to God.
How does God lead today? Could it be that God is having us walk by faith, and NOT by sight, because God knew that Satan will be performing the miraculous in the last days of the age of grace.
Why do you suppose God would refuse to give us neat little things to look at today to determine his presence, his power, his predisposition, his purpose, and his plan? Could it be that God is NOT giving people all these emotion tweaking experiences, because he knows that Satan will come with all manner of lying signs and wonders.
God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness during this age of grace, and he wants us to base our beliefs on doctrine rather than emotion. It is the word of God that does the work of God in the life of the believer during this age of grace.
When we hide that word of God rightly divided in our hearts, we are able to apply the understanding we have gained from that Word to the troubling circumstances when they arrive. In every situation you face, whether it be a troubling situation or not, there is truth from the word of God that can be applied to the situation.
There are people laboring under the false notion that there is capacity in their flesh to be right before God, that is precisely what Israel was doing. Walking after the flesh is not talking about committing sins, but with placing one’s confidence in the capacity of their flesh to provide righteousness through performance.
Those who are IN Jesus Christ, are those who place no confidence in their flesh, but understand that in their flesh dwelleth no good thing. To believe that what you are doing and what you are restraining yourself from doing is the way you are earning your righteous standing with God, you have got to put a lot of confidence in your flesh to do that, religion is doing that.
To be dead to sin, sin has no more effect on you; it can not affect, it can not change your relationship with God, because you are in Christ. Christ was your substitute in a very real sense, God made Christ to be sin for you. Christ took the judgment of the world upon himself, so you are dead to that issue of sin.
In fact, the world is dead to that issue of sin, it is an issue of perfection right now. When you believe what Christ accomplished for you where your sins are concerned, you are as just as you will ever be in the eyes of God at that point, as perfect as you will ever be!
The idea of walking after the flesh is a valid Biblical concept that speaks not to a person’s behavior, but to a person’s belief - not to a person’s manners, but to their mindset. Reckoning yourselves to be dead to sin, does not mean to reckon that you are never going to sin again.
Reckon that you are dead where the sin issue is concerned, reckon yourselves to be alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Savior. Reckoning is simply counting something to be true in your mind. Reckon it to be so, believe it. Salvation is not doing, it is counting what God believes to be true for you and about you, as true for you and about you.
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