“Our own obedience condemns us before a Righteous God”
in Christ alone
[John 1:1-18]
1. Only God- the One through whom “all things were made”, in whom “was life”, and “light”- can reverse creation’s death and dissipate the darkness caused by sin.
2. But since that death and darkness are within creation, within man, the Word must become flesh in order to restore it from within. The Creator must enter His own creation, groaning as it is under the burden of alienation from Him.
-Sinclair Ferguson
The very first step that we all should have before anything, is the Fear of God. The “God fearing Christian”, we hear it all the time but what does it really mean to be a “God fearing Christian”? The fear of God is shown two different ways. For the unbeliever, it is the fear of the holy, just wrath that is going to be poured out on all the unrighteousness in this wicked world (check out Romans 1:18-32). As for the believer who has been freed from sin and made righteous by the blood shedding of Christ, the fear of God is the Holiness of God. In R.C. Sprouls “Holiness of God”,(which is an awesome book, go pick it up) chapter two really gives the reader an in depth view of how Holy our God really is. Sproul uses the call of the OT prophet Isaiah, and how Isaiah was left in awe after seeing the Lord. “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people with unclean lips; for I have seen the Lord!(Isaiah 6)”, the Holiness of God took back Isaiah and left him in amazement of how unworthy he was to see the Lord. We like the prophet Isaiah need to realize something very important, the true Holiness of God. We need to realize that God is Powerful in all ways. We need to realize how small we are in front of God. A healthy fear in God show lead us to do all that we can to put a smile on Gods face. It should lead us to an obedience towards Him.
The God fearing Christian is able to see the Glory, Holiness, and Majesty of God which leads to showing us his Love, Mercy and his Grace. Seeing Gods Divine attributes, will help us see the unconditional love that God shows us by sending a sinless mediator to suffer and die for sinful men. Through Jesus Christ we get eternal life with God, the love that God showed us through Christ is amazing. God chose to redeem us, while prior to that conversion, we didn’t want anything to do with God. IF that isn’t amazing love then I don’t know what is. So basically, God is Almighty. He knows no sin and is unable to see sin. We on the other hand are worthless sinners who do nothing else but SIN and deserve Gods wrath on us. But God through Jesus Christ humbled himself and took up the sins of every human so that our sinful past can be erased, that is true love. It just an amazing thing to meditate on the fact that God doesn’t need one tiny thing from us. He is still Holy, Righteous, Powerful, without us. Our lives don’t add anything to His life. But that is amazing, God wants us. God doesn’t need us, yet he wants to love us and does amazing things to bring us to him.
-Kevin
In Christ I am:
Blessed: Ephesians 1:3- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Chosen: Ephesians 1:4- Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
Predestined and Adopted: Ephesians 1:5- In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Accepted: Ephesians 1:6- to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Redeemed and Forgiven: Ephesians 1:7- In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
Enlightened: Ephesians 1:8-9- which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
Given Inheritance: Ephesians 1:11- In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
Assured: Ephesians 1:13-14- In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,to the praise of his glory.
I’ve been reading this book called The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, ill book I totally recommend this book to everyone. Jerry Bridges is an awesome author and again I recommend any of his books. The book encourages the believer to run and strive for holiness. Chapter nine really caught my attention, basically it talks about putting sin to death (Colossians 3:5), and how we as Christians and followers of Christ are responsible for putting sin to death.
Many times we have the intention to put sin to death, but we are confused about what excalty benefits our lives, and what doesn’t. We ask ourselves questions like “Should I be doing this”, “I don’t know if this is good or not”, “Would I be sinning if I do, do this.” So the question is- HOW DO I DISCERN RIGHT FROM WRONG?!. “How do I determine Gods will and develop convictions?” Lucky Jerry Bridges gives us a little simple formula that can help us discern right from wrong and if we are falling into sin. So here goes:
Question 1: Is it helpful- physically, spiritually, and mentally?
Question 2: Does it bring me under its power?
Question 3: Does it hurt others?
Question 4: Does it glorify God?
Hopefully this little formula can help build convictions in your lives and help you discern right from wrong. I strongly urge anyone who is reading this to pick up this book- The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
Grace and Peace
-Kevin
So my Spring Break has been amazing for me so far. I got the opportunity to go to Tuscarora Inn & Conference Center with Youth For Christ and work! Yes I have been doing volunteer working pretty much half of my Spring Break and I wouldn’t change it for anything else. I was blessed and met some pretty awesome friends that really helped encourage me in my walk with Jesus. I love all you guys, you’ve really impacted my life greatly and I thank God for giving me this opportunity to meet all of you. It was just so amazing how in a few days we got so close to each other, helped each other grow in our Faith and our dependence towards God, and last but not least humbled ourselves!
Humility is something that is very vital in our walk with Christ. Humility was one of the main parts of our trip to Tuscarora, we did various projects to help out the camp and serve the guests that were there. So here is my disclaimer for this blog, just like CJ Mahaney states in his book Humility: True Greatness, “I’m a man pursing humility by the Grace of God. I need everyone of these words as much as you do”.
So why is humility so important in our lives? I think Mark 10:45 sums it up pretty well, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” It’s amazing to reflect upon the fact that Christ came to this wicked world to live as a servant who humbled himself. He who was perfect and sinless in every way (2 Corinthians 5:21), taking up our sins on his back.
So how can we strive for humility in our everyday lives? I believe the best way of doing so is simply setting ourselves and meditating on Gods Holiness and our unworthiness and sinfulness. By doing so we will be seeking for Gods dependence every single day. We will be looking for help from God to change us and mold us into a reflection of Jesus Christ. This is the essence, the beginning, and the starting point of humility. So as we are called to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1-2) who humbled Himself and came to this earth incarnated in Jesus and died for our sins, let us too humble ourselves in everything we do for we are called to do so(Mark 9:35).
Grace and Peace
-Kevin
2 minute freestyle/ encouraging words by Shai Linne urging both non believers and believers to live a lifestyle of repentance, turn from your sins and trust in Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:15-16
15But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I Am Holy.”
“…..please save me from the penalty of my sins. I believe in you Jesus, I believe you died as a substitute for my sins. I believe that you rose from the dead Jesus. I trust you Lord, you’re the only hope I have of ever having my sins forgiven and eternal life……come into my heart Lord and change me”
For all who are saved, this should bring back the most important and happiest day of your life. When the Lord stole your heart and you truly understood what the apostle Paul talked about in his first letter to the Corinthians “But we preach Christ crucified…”(1 Corinthians 1:23). How happy, joyful, and emotional you were at that time knowing that you have received the greatest gift off all time, eternal life through Christ. Knowing that salvation is free and it is surely through faith alone, grace alone, and in Christ alone.
Now lets take things back to right now, examine your life at this very moment. Sure maybe you’ve expanded your biblical knowledge, you know all the ins and outs of the bible. You’ve left your biblical immatureness at the door. Maybe you can even tell me who Abraham’s fathers, brothers, ex-wifes, sisters, best friends, grandsons, sister in laws window washer was for all I know. But with all this knowledge, have you left the most important thing behind at the door too? Have you lost that joy and happiness you had when you accepted the Gospel of Christ? Perhaps you are falling into a little thing called LEGALISM.
So what is this dreaded word that’s sucking out our joy and happiness from the saving grace of God? CJ Mahaney simply puts it like this,”Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God, justification from God, and acceptance from God, through our obedience to God“. So how is showing obedience to God bad? Why are you telling me that my efforts of trying to obey God solely is bad? Well the answer is simply because WE CANNOT OBEY GOD ALONE! Lets take a look at the Old Testament Law, the Law just exposed how sinful we as human beings are from birth. How we cannot achieve forgiveness, justification, or acceptance from God because WE NEVER OBEY HIM! It showed how desperately in need of a substitutionary mediator was needed for us to have a right standing with a Holy God.
We’re unworthy sinners who deserve Gods wrath poured out on us. Legalism brings self-glorification to our lives, instead of giving all the glory to the King of Glory, Jesus Christ who bore our sins on the cross. Who acted as that substitutionary mediator (1 Timothy 2:5) which we desperately needed. When we are living a legalistic lifestyle we tend to try to receive forgiveness from God for example by abstaining from a certain sin that has been hitting our spiritual lives and setting goals for us to reach instead of remembering that amazing love story through Christ Jesus who came to this earth to save humans from their sins. A legalist has simply no joy or happiness because they have forgotten the most important thing. Jerry Bridges could not have worded it any better, “The Gospel is not only the most important message in all of history; it is the ONLY essential message in all of history”. Lets not leave the most important thing at the door, but instead remember it every single day. Lets remember and reflect on the cross, lets rejoice in that fact that we have a mediator that can save us and help us have a right standing with God almighty. Read Galatians 3:1and instead of “O foolish Galatians” insert your name in there and remember that Christ died for the sinner.
Whether you are a new believer, a Christian for 50 years, a pastor, etc. lets never forget the work that Christ did for us. Lets reflect and meditate on the Gospel so we won’t fall into a legalistic lifestyle and bring back that joy. Lets remember the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness of knowing we are Holy in the eyes of God, through one man…Christ Jesus.
Grace and Peace
-Kevin
foryoursoul