Grace Reigns Through Righteousness::The Gospel of Grace with Kim Balogh

 

 

 

 

 

Romans 5: 21 tells us that grace (undeserved mercy and favor from God)  reigns (basileuō-to govern, rule, to exercise the highest influence, to control, through righteousness (dikaiosynē the condition acceptable to God which is virtue: integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting)and this righteousness is A GIFT from God (Romans 5: 17 )

A gift cannot be earned or it is no longer a gift but rather a WORK. (to toil and labor in order to achieve)

Now let us learn a little more about righteousness according to scripture. First of all Jesus tells us in John 16:8-10 that the Holy Spirit’s job is to is to reprove (elegchō conviction to bring to the light, to exposeto find fault with, correct, to call to account, show one his fault, to chasten)  and in Matthew 6:33  Jesus tells us to seek righteousness. In other words seek God’s free gift of virtue and purity which comes by salvation, the blood covenant of Jesus Christ.

 

Romans1:5 tells us that righteousness is received by faith. In other words we are to believe if we are truly saved that we are righteous because of Jesus and not our own works of righteousness.

 

Romans 3:21,22 says that the righteousness of God comes to God’s elect WITHOUT THE DEEDS OF THE LAW or in other words without any works. We cannot earn kudos with God. Nothing can win his approval except Jesus’ blood..NOTHING! This righteousness is received by having faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God and nothing else.

 

Romans 23 tell us that FAITH IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST for the remission of sins makes us righteous before God. That alone is the requirement for righteousness…virtue and purity …..with God.

 “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,” Romans 4:6

Romans 4:13,22 says that righteousnss is IMPUTED (logizomai-ACCREDITED TO ONES ACCOUNT) THROUGH FAITH IN Jesus Christ’s blood alone without the works of the law.

 

Romans 5:17-21 says that Abundance of Grace and the gift of righteousness comes unto God’s elect (all in Christ)unto JUSTIFICATION which means the act of God declaring men free from guilt and acceptable to him and that this gift of righteousness reigns (rules and governs) the elect in life.  

 

Romans 6:16 says that those who yield their bodies to God’s Holy Spirit for his use are his servants but those who use their bodies for wicked purposes (SELF: passions, lusts desires of every kind) are not his servants.

 

 Romans 8:4, 10 says that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit. Those who have Christ living in them.  

 

Romans 10:3 says that those who are going about to establish their own righteousness (trying to be accepted by God through works of the law)HAVE NOT submitted to the righteousness of God which comes by having  faith in the blood of Jesus.

Romans 10:4,10 says that CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW for everyone who believe in the heart or spirit born again (trusts in,clings to, relies upon Jesus the Savior)

 

1 Corinthians says AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS ….SIN NOT…DON’T SIN BY REJECTING HIS RIGHTEOSUNESS AND TRYING TO GET YOUR OWN. Jesus BECAME SIN so that we could be righteous IN HIM

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

 Peter 2:24 tells us to be DEAD TO SIN …and alive to righteousness. Sin does not reign in us any more…..grace reigns through righteousness!

1John 2:29 says that if we are really born of God we will do righteousness. In other words if you are righteous by faith in Jesus Christ you will live like it. How? By the same Spirit in you that raised Christ from the dead. Not by trying to keep the law but by walking as the Holy Spirit leads and guides you. As you pray for his help he will do his job. That is why he is called “the helper”

“So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Hebrews 13:6

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”  John 14:26

Justified and made Righteous

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do the scriptures teach us about being justified and made righteous by God? This seems to be a confusing subject for many Christians but if we look at scripture within its whole context and don’t isolate a verse and build a doctrine out of it according to our own person bias we can find the answer.

The bible says that we are justified by 1-THE BLOOD 2- BY GRACE  3-BY BEING CALLED 4 -BY the Faith of Christ   5- In the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Holy Spirit 6 – BY WORKS.

Let’s take a look at each of them individually and then see how they all work together.

1. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him Romans 5:9

First of all justification becomes available by the blood of the lamb shed for an atonement for sins.

2. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24

Then through this atonement Jesus brought propitiation which is appeasement of God’s wrath for sin and thus God now by his Grace (undeserved mercy of the sacrifice of his Son)  justifies all who  receive the atonement provided by Jesus Christ.

3 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Romans 8:30

Those who receive this atonement are those predestinated and called into this Grace.

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will Ephesians 1:5.

4.  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith OF Jesus Christ, even we have believed IN Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith OF Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 2:16

Those predestined and called into this Grace are justified by THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST.  Notice that we are not justified by our faith but by the faith of Jesus Christ.  It is his faith, his illumination of truth into our hearts that saves.

5. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

Justification comes in the name of Jesus (in the Son’s name not our own reconnaissance ) and by the “Spirit of God which makes us born again, made into new creatures in Christ, translated from darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son.)

6. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. James 2:24

Justification is made evident by works which always accompany those having received the Faith of Jesus Christ.  If anyone says he has faith in Christ but walks in darkness according to the bible, he/she is a liar.

In conclusion, JUSTIFICATION (Made right with God) comes by the blood of Jesus making atonement for sin which appeases God’s wrath and provides his GRACE (undeserved mercy and favor) to those predestined to be adopted into God’s family and have been called from darkness into light in the name of Jesus (by his authority ) which makes one born of God by the Holy Spirit and made into the new creature in Christ, having been delivered from the power of the evil one and who now walk in the Spirit, (the same power that raised Christ from the dead)  created unto Good works which God has ordained for each of his elect to perform according to the power (Holy Spirit that works within the new born again spirit or heart)

The Purpose of the Law

 

The law was given by God in order to reveal the evil of sin. The law was never meant to justify but was only given in preparation of the promised redemption that was to come and eventually in the fullness of time was accomplished through Jesus Christ the Son of God. Indeed,the law today is still used for this very purpose; to convince man of his sin and need for a Savior.

Written in the hearts of mankind is the moral law of God.

 ‎”Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;”

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Romans 2:14

BUT  according to Romans 7,man is unable to obey the law in its entirety. He knows in his conscience what is good and what is right but because of his sin nature he cannot obey it. Rather than bringing life the law brought death.

“Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Romans 7:12-14

Although the law in itself is holy and just, the law cannot justify sinners because it has only power to convict the sinner of his sin. Since all men have sinned ,all men are guilty before God and are worthy of death BUT his great mercy while we were yet sinners and his enemies, dead in sins, God has given his Son as a propitiation (appeasements of God’s wrath for sin) for all who have received his free gift of righteousness. In other words Jesus Christ died in the place of sinners, taking God’s wrath against sin on himself.

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:24,25

The law is spiritual but man is carnal, sold under sin. Carnal unsaved men are slaves to sin and obey the dictates of the sinful nature even though the conscience knows right from wrong. If the carnal man ignores the conscience repeatedly he will eventually become so hard that he simply cannot without God’s miraculous intervention, receive Christ.

No good dwells in the carnal man because he is corrupt in his mind, will, body and emotions. All his being is tarnished by the fall of Adam whose disobedience came upon all men producing death, both in the natural and spiritually. The only way to be justified by God is through receiving through saving faith the atonement provided by Jesus Christ. The just for the unjust. Won’t you receive Jesus Christ today and be saved from sin and death?

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. ” 1 Peter 3:18

Blessings brethren !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTPNue0-ZI

GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST

For the law (nomos) was given by Moses, but grace(charis) and truth(aletheia) came by Jesus Christ.

THE OLD COVENANT (OF THE LAW) WAS EXCHANGED FOR THE NEW COVENANT (Grace and Truth). The Law OF GOD was given BY MOSES AND THEN Jesus was given BY GOD

LAW -Nomos-a law or rule producing a state approved of God, a precept or injunction,

GRACE- charis-merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues

TRUTH- alētheiawhat is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth-of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly, what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14 1:14
Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth” Colossians 1:6

“Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.’ 2 John 1:3

Truth is now a person and not a codified law. Instead of the written code we have been given by God the person of Jesus Christ who is truth personified. Jesus was the seed promised in Genesis to Adam and Eve. The law was given to reveal the evil of the sin nature and the inability to obey it. God set up the temple sacrifices of animals as a temporary covering for sin because man has never been able to keep God’s law because of the Adamic sin nature Galatians 3:19 says “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, UNTIL the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.”

Under this “new and living” way we can now go straight to Jesus as our mediator instead of the temple sacrifices for sins. That is why Jesus said…”Ye shall KNOW the truth(Jesus ) and the TRUTH (Jesus )shall set you free. And if the Son shall set you free then you shall be free indeed.” JOHN 8:36

” And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” John 1:16-18

 

THE LAW OF LIFE AND LIBERTY IN JESUS CHRIST

 

THE LAW OF LIFE AND LIBERTY IN JESUS CHRIST

The New Testament has replaced the codified system of Mosaic Law. Differing from the Old, the greater Law of love and freedom is now SHED ABROAD in our new born again hearts (Jeremiah 31.31)

The old Mosaic Law binds us and the new law of Jesus Christ Liberates us. That is why the new law is both perfect and free. True freedom means we now can joyfully by grace imparted to us by the Holy Spirit’s endowment do what is pleasing to God.

The Spirit of LIFE and liberty in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin death. The perfect law of liberty is the law of GOD’S love which has been shed abroad in the hearts of those who are born again of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of LIFE and liberty is a higher law because the law keeper who is JESUS CHRIST Himself lives in us, through us, upon us, by his Holy Spirit which he sent and poured out on the day of Pentecost which was the Ancient Jewish Celebration of the Law given to Moses on MT. Sinai. In other words God replaced the Mosaic Law with life in the Sprit, that is what the event in the book of Acts was all about!

When we become Christians by receiving the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we are now made free from obligatory rituals and duties and we are also made free from the law of sin and death.

The redemption makes it now possible for us to experience LIFE and LIBERTY and no more bondage that obligation and duty to rules and regulations bring. We receive instead, Love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. As we continue to look into this Law of Liberty, our born again spirit will desire the things of God. No more will we desire to live in sin and play in the devil’s playground.

We will not want to continue to live in sin but will instead be transformed day by day, into the perfect man God wants us to be (the fullness of the stature of the measure of Jesus Christ)

But this work will not be completed in its entirely until we have received our new bodies. As long as we live in the sinful body which is corrupt after the flesh we will always be in a battle and that is why we must yield to the spirit who is at work in us. Brethren this sanctification is both immediate as well as on going. When you become born again the seed of God’s living word is planted in your heart and with his grace through his word and the eternal Spirit it will grow and you will become more and more like Jesus!

Jesus says in his word, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you FREE, you will be free indeed” Jn. 8:34-36

Paul says “that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty.” 2 Cor. 3:17

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us FREE. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love” Gal. 5:1,13

As you spend time in prayer and in God’s word and with mature Christians you will grow and be a vessel in which God can move through to bless others.

Blessing brethren!

“He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17)