Clothed in fragile flesh we have no choice but to comprehend the great limits to our fleshy existence. Even the healthiest of the healthy, has flesh that is frail. The many perils to our flesh we face is a stark and constant reminder of our creaturehood. We have no say so in the flesh we are given. We have no say in our basic appearance, our height, our eye color, hair color and so on. Sure, you can alter most of that, but your basic bone structure cannot be changed shy of a lot of plastic surgery.
We are born with great disadvantages- from the get go babies are given tests and eye drops, and at a few months they are given vaccinations to prevent various diseases. We are weak creatures and to recognize this is to acknowledge that there is One who is not a weak creature but rather a Creator. And the Creator did not want us to be weak, we chose to become weak when we decided we didn't need the Creator in our lives. We thought we could exist without our Creator- we were wrong. None of us exist with our being created.
The lost are those who choose to be Creatures without a Creator, those who decide they'd much rather live life separated from God.
We only find salvation from our lost existence by choosing to live our lives connected to the Creator, we are connect to Him through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
We will NEVER be able to go it on our own, not ever. We will NEVER attain a place where our own righteousness exists without Christ's righteousness. Unless we only want to wear our filthy rags of self-righteousness and pretend they are something they aren't, and never will be.
The amazing truth of salvation is just that SALVATION. We need SAVING from the sin that was instrumental in our living sin-filled lives. We need to realize that we were NOT meant to be this way, that sin corrupted us into these beings of frail flesh, and that eternal, perfect flesh will be found only in being saved, only in eternal life- a promise for our FUTURE. This life isn't all there is, it just isn't and what agonizing horror it is to realize many simply do NOT want their eternal life in Christ, they don't want the future promise to be realized in their lives.
Heb_9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
We must determine to know Christ and in that knowing we rely upon His righteousness in all things.
Excerpt- EJ Waggoner-
(The righteousness of God- The First View.)
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit should convince the world of sin and of righteousness. John 16:8.
This is the revelation of the righteousness of God in the gospel.
"Where no law is, there is no transgression." Rom. 4:15.
Sin can not be known except by the law. Rom. 7:7.
Therefore it follows that the Spirit convicts of sin by making known the law of God.
The first view of the righteousness of God has the effect of making a man feel his sinfulness, just as we feel our littleness when gazing upon a lofty mountain. And as the grandeur of the great mountains grows upon us, so God's righteousness which is "like the great mountains" (Ps. 36:6) appears greater the more we look at it. Therefore he who looks continually at the righteousness of God, must continually acknowledge his own sinfulness.
The Second, Deeper View.
Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God.
And "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:17. God does not reveal his righteousness in the gospel in order to cause us to cower before him because of our unrighteousness, but that we may take it and live by it. We are unrighteous, and God wishes us to realize it, in order that we may be willing to receive his perfect righteousness. It is a revelation of love; for his righteousness is his law, and his law is love. 1 John 5:3.
So "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. If when the preaching of the gospel reveals to us the law of God, we reject it and find fault with it because it condemns our course, we are simply saying that we do not desire that God should put his own righteousness upon us.
We are born with great disadvantages- from the get go babies are given tests and eye drops, and at a few months they are given vaccinations to prevent various diseases. We are weak creatures and to recognize this is to acknowledge that there is One who is not a weak creature but rather a Creator. And the Creator did not want us to be weak, we chose to become weak when we decided we didn't need the Creator in our lives. We thought we could exist without our Creator- we were wrong. None of us exist with our being created.
The lost are those who choose to be Creatures without a Creator, those who decide they'd much rather live life separated from God.
We only find salvation from our lost existence by choosing to live our lives connected to the Creator, we are connect to Him through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
We will NEVER be able to go it on our own, not ever. We will NEVER attain a place where our own righteousness exists without Christ's righteousness. Unless we only want to wear our filthy rags of self-righteousness and pretend they are something they aren't, and never will be.
The amazing truth of salvation is just that SALVATION. We need SAVING from the sin that was instrumental in our living sin-filled lives. We need to realize that we were NOT meant to be this way, that sin corrupted us into these beings of frail flesh, and that eternal, perfect flesh will be found only in being saved, only in eternal life- a promise for our FUTURE. This life isn't all there is, it just isn't and what agonizing horror it is to realize many simply do NOT want their eternal life in Christ, they don't want the future promise to be realized in their lives.
Heb_9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
We must determine to know Christ and in that knowing we rely upon His righteousness in all things.
Excerpt- EJ Waggoner-
(The righteousness of God- The First View.)
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit should convince the world of sin and of righteousness. John 16:8.
This is the revelation of the righteousness of God in the gospel.
"Where no law is, there is no transgression." Rom. 4:15.
Sin can not be known except by the law. Rom. 7:7.
Therefore it follows that the Spirit convicts of sin by making known the law of God.
The first view of the righteousness of God has the effect of making a man feel his sinfulness, just as we feel our littleness when gazing upon a lofty mountain. And as the grandeur of the great mountains grows upon us, so God's righteousness which is "like the great mountains" (Ps. 36:6) appears greater the more we look at it. Therefore he who looks continually at the righteousness of God, must continually acknowledge his own sinfulness.
The Second, Deeper View.
Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God.
And "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:17. God does not reveal his righteousness in the gospel in order to cause us to cower before him because of our unrighteousness, but that we may take it and live by it. We are unrighteous, and God wishes us to realize it, in order that we may be willing to receive his perfect righteousness. It is a revelation of love; for his righteousness is his law, and his law is love. 1 John 5:3.
So "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. If when the preaching of the gospel reveals to us the law of God, we reject it and find fault with it because it condemns our course, we are simply saying that we do not desire that God should put his own righteousness upon us.