Today, sincere seekers of Christ are absolutely beleaguered with sermons, books, radio messages, and contemporary Christian songs that proclaim the Christian walk as a lifelong struggle toward Christlikeness and personal holiness. Is it any wonder, that Christians who have discovered the wonderful blessedness of resting completely in Christ, seem to be few and far between. It's sad but true, that Christian churches are increasingly filled with people who get completely swept away with the newest teaching that promises to somehow transform their continued failure into a true Christ-like holiness. Therefore, filled with a false hope and a false faith in themselves, these people will NEVER find true rest and security in Christ.
Salvation has absolutely nothing to do with us taking on the likeness of Christ. Salvation is centered on CHRIST taking on the likeness of US! (Romans 8:3)(Philippians 2:7) He, in our likeness, lived a perfect life as an acceptable human being. He alone passed the test. It's only through God's immeasurable love and grace and mercy, that we are given the opportunity to put on the glorious covering of Christ, the robe of acceptability. This precious gift of Christ's covering, is ours only as long as we confess our need for it. We must die completely to any and all hope of ever becoming acceptable to God within ourselves. All of our faith must remain in Christ alone... FOREVER!
We dare not allow even a speck of self centered hope to rise up out of the grave. "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law (through my own ability), then Christ died needlessly." (Gaiatians 2-.18-21)
THIS IS THE TRUTH... The moment our faith shifts to our own potential to become Christ-like and holy, we strip ourselves of the robe of Christ's holiness. (Galatians 5:4) Paul said, that even the simple act of receiving circumcision, obligates us to keep the whole Law, and severs us from Christ, and his grace and mercy. It's not the physical act of circumcision. Paul was circumcised, and Paul was a Christian. Paul is clearly warning us not to let our heart drift from absolute faith in Christ. Our faith can either be in the protection of Christ's perfect holiness, or in the protection of our own potential holiness… BUT NOT BOTH!
A saving faith in Christ, cannot ever be divided! A person who has trusted completely in Christ, and has died completely with him on the cross, simply has no independent life to make holy. As a true Christian, our only hope is to be with Christ when we leave this life, and until then, our only goal should be to glorify only Christ. (Philippians 1:21-24)
However, as we learn to walk in our reborn “spirit”, where our love for God
resides, we do indeed change and become a different kind of person who sins
less. Our complete faith in Christ and his covering, gives us a close and
confident relationship to God, and this close and confident relationship gives us a growing desire to not give place to our dead “flesh".
However, our sinning less is still not holiness. Our sinning less, is
simply the natural result of a close relationship to God. (Romans
8:10)(1Peter 3:18)
AMEN!
... And have a faith-filled 2013
AMEN!
... And have a faith-filled 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment