When Will We Be Free From Sin? Romans 6:18

People of faith know that we should do right but we keep on doing wrong. Is there no hope to live a righteous life?

"You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." Romans 6:18

Sin's Chains Have Been Broken

HAVE BEEN
These words are past tense. As far as God is concerned sin is a done deal- the blood of Jesus paid for it and the resurrection proves its power is broken. When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior we are part of something that has happened. We do not sit around hoping it will come but we have already been set free.

SET FREE
This "set free" is something that is established. No longer do we have to obey sin and we are no longer bound by its chains. We are free from the greatest slave master ever.

We cannot make ourselves free but are set free by another. When we come to God through the work of Jesus on our behalf when He died to pay for our sins we are given a new life of freedom from the power and judgment of sin.

HAVE BECOME
This "have become" is another fact expressed in the past tense of certainty. Our experience may be in varying degrees but we are moving forward to greater freedom as we grow in Christ.

SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
Gratitude and love compel us to serve because of what God did for us when Jesus died to pay for our sins. His death broke the power of sin and in his death, we are now able to do the right things we were unable to do outside of Christ.

In our former lives, we could not help but obey sin. But now we may claim the promise that we have been set free from sin and be obedient to God.

To learn more about coming to God to be free from the judgment of sin see my Gospel Blog.

(c) Adron 1/23/14

How To Be a Person Who Does Good Things. Philippians 1:11.

We want to do good things with our lives; we want to be charitable, kind, thoughtful, loving, and more. How do we get these wonderful qualities?

"Filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ- to the glory and praise God." Philippians 1:11 NIV.

Let's look at this inspirational scripture.

RIGHTEOUSNESS

Righteousness is more than just being declared innocent of a crime; it is to be declared pure and holy, as God demands purity and holiness for acceptance. He himself is pure and holy, and to demand less would compromise his holiness, making him guilty and not worthy to rule or judge.

GOOD FRUIT

The fruit of righteousness comes from having righteousness.

BUT

Righteousness is so lofty a state that man can never obtain it. Righteousness before a holy God would require holy righteousness, pure and without any corruption, stain, sin, or blemish. Who could claim that? Paul believed the people in the church could have this fruit, so he prayed for the church in Philippi to have this fruit to the full.

YET IT IS GIVEN

Righteousness is a gift given by God the Father. It comes not by our efforts or merits but by Jesus Christ. None of our efforts or a combination of efforts will earn righteousness.

HOW

Righteousness comes through Jesus Christ. He is the source of our righteousness. He was righteous himself; that is, he was without sin. None who encountered him found sin in his actions, words, or life. Even the Roman Judge said, "I find no guilt in him." (John 18:38). Since Jesus had no sin of his own to die for, he gave his life to pay for our sins as a substitution; this makes righteousness available for us. We receive the righteousness he offers as a gift, and we receive it by faith.

When we have this righteousness through Jesus, we will have the works of Jesus coming through us. The love Jesus had for others will fill us, and we will love others. The gentleness and kindness of Jesus will be ours. The beautiful life he lived will be the life we live.

THE PURPOSE
Righteousness and the fruit of Righteousness are not for our self-promotion but for the glory and praise of God. He gave us right standing before him; he gives the fruit and the blessings that accompany it.  It is right that he gets the glory, and the right thing to do is to praise him.

(c) Adron 9/16/12

What Does It Mean To Believe? Galatians 3:6

What Does It Mean To Believe

People ask us to believe; even God asks us to believe. What is it, and what difference does it make?

"So Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Galatians 3:6 NIV.

BACKGROUND
Abraham received a promise from God that was impossible to humanly fulfill; it required a divine miracle. Despite the impossibility of the promise, Abraham believed God, who esteems Abraham as being right with him.

The word "believe" causes much confusion. To some, it means just holding an idea, an intellectual assent, or opinion. We must have a correct idea of what belief is and why it is important.

BELIEF IS IMPORTANT
The wrong idea of belief means we miss much of what God is trying to say to us about himself and us. Much of what God communicates to us in the Bible is in terms of belief. If we miss what God is saying, we miss more than an interesting message; we miss His blessing, life, and we may miss salvation.

BELIEF IS NOT JUST AN IDEA
Abraham used belief; for him, it was an act. The belief was something he did; as far as Abraham was concerned, God made a promise, and Abraham considered His word good since God can keep the promise because of who God is.

THE RESULTS OF BELIEF
He was credited with righteousness. Credit is to have something given to you ahead of your ability to provide it, like receiving merchandise before you have the money to pay for it. Abraham was given the consideration of being righteous with God before he was righteous.

We all need righteousness. To be righteous with God is to have no sin before God and be accepted by him without judgment. Abraham was given this standing without earning it by any work but by believing God's word.

HOW DO WE BELIEVE
Trust, confidence, and faith help us understand what believing is. It is not just an understanding of a fact; it is a knowing that acts on the truth- like you believe the food is not poisoned, so you eat it, you believe the car will start, so you turn the key, you believe the bridge will hold, so you cross. Believing has to be expressed in action.

The Bible says, "Believing comes from hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God."* Being exposed to God's Word deepens our faith in God; many engage in a daily Bible reading plan for this purpose.

We may have the righteousness that God gives by believing his promise. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." **

*Romans 10:17, ** John 3:16.

To learn more about coming to God, follow this link to my other blog: Click here.

© A.E. Dozat

Is Zeal For God Enough to Go To Heaven?

Some people observe every religious rule and regulation of dogma hoping that strict observance of religious discipline will earn them a place in heaven, but is it enough to get us in heaven?

"For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." Romans 10: 2-4, NIV.

ZEAL
The Bible passage above speaks of a particular people but the point applies to all. These people were famous for their strict observance of the teaching of Moses and the Prophets, interpreting the scriptures with such strictness to guarantee that they did not fail to keep all the hundreds of laws they perceived.

RIGHTEOUSNESS
They knew they needed righteousness as the grounds upon which they may stand before a holy and just God to have his acceptance, favor, and entrance into heaven.

RELATIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Paul the Apostle points out that their zeal was without knowledge. On the surface, this looks backward since they knew the hundreds of laws and interpretations of those laws. The knowledge Paul referred to is not head knowledge of religion and traditions but heart knowledge that comes from knowing and experiencing God. This second type of knowledge is superior since it is the knowledge that comes from a relationship with God. Without a relationship with God, the only other option is to establish righteousness based on strict observation of rules. This man-made righteousness is not sufficient to cover sins.

The problem with having zeal without knowledge is that you may miss the point. In this case a relationship with God and our hope of salvation, it is a big point. How tragic to spend a life observing every little rule and discovering God had something else in mind- something better.

THE SOURCE

Righteousness given by God

The point of the laws and teachings of the scriptures is not the laws and teachings for if righteousness could be earned there would not have been a need for Christ; it is the person of Christ who alone fulfilled all God's requirements. Instead of earning righteousness, we may receive righteousness as a gift.

Jesus is the righteousness of God and God offers the righteousness of Jesus to us.

THE CATCH
God asks only that we believe. No one is successful at keeping all laws but we may have righteousness with God because of what Jesus did. Instead of doing works we believe and thereby receive his righteousness on our behalf.

© Adron 6/7/12

What Can Help Worry, From The Bible. Psalm 55:22

God Loves You

This short post will give encouragement to those who struggle with worry

***

What can we do when our worries are so heavy upon us that we just don’t know where to turn?

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” Pslam 55:22, NIV.

It seems like our worries come with companions: it is not a care but cares, it is plural. We are invited to cast them all upon the Lord, not just a few- but all.  No matter how many we toss into his hand he is able and willing to take them all.

CAST
This verse starts out with the word, "Cast."  It speaks of throwing something high and far away.  It pictures a fisherman who is casting a hook far across the water with just a flick of the wrist.  It is easy to cast our cares upon the Lord, no matter how heavy they are.  A prayer of faith and the humble attitude of surrender to Him is all it takes.

Our problem with casting our cares upon the Lord is that we sometimes pray and give something to the Lord saying, "I will let God work it out and I won’t worry about it anymore," but only a little while later we pull it back pick it up and start to worry all over it again. We need to give our worries to the Lord over and over and over.

SUSTAIN
God doesn’t promise to take our problems away, He does promise to "sustain" us.  He will go through it with us as a friend; with God we can keep going.  He won’t leave us alone.  We may feel like God has left us but we know he is there.

FALL
He will "never let the righteous fall." We may think we fell and we may experience tragedy in our lives, but He is there holding us. We might not understand the losses we experience but He has a purpose in them.  We may experience personal disaster and the days may be gloomy but that is not the end.  We have a secure hope and future in the Lord.

RIGHTEOUS
Who can say they are "righteous?"  We can’t make ourselves "righteous;" it is the work of God.  He makes us righteous through what Jesus did on the cross.  Righteousness, salvation, and eternal life come only when we receive Jesus as our Savior.

If you have not cast your heartaches and worries on the Lord then pray and trust Him to sustain you. If you have not trusted Jesus as your Savior then confess to Him your sin and receive his offer of salvation then you may be assured of Heaven because,

If you want to know more about coming to God follow this link: visit my other blog.

(c) Adron Dozat

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Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I sincerely hope this post is helpful and an encouragement.  For more like this see the most popular post in the left sidebar, or use the search box above.  

Adron




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How Can Your Sins Be Cleansed? 2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV

We want our sins to be clean before God, so we say prayers, attend services, fast, etc. but do we have any assurance of cleanness?

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.

God does not weigh our sins against counterbalancing “good deeds” and judge us based on the greater of the two. Sin deeply grieves God, who is so holy that the only payment is absolute death and eternal banishment from Him. But God does something about our sin we could never do; we can’t pay the price for sin but God puts our sin on one who did not have sin of his own to pay for.

RIGHTEOUSNESS
God freely gives what no man can ever earn- His righteousness. It is complete and satisfies the judgment of God against sin. God's righteousness is so far above any human righteousness that there is no comparison. Man’s righteousness only dresses up sin, but God's righteousness purifies as if sin never occurred.

SIN
Whatever God does is done perfectly. The fact that God put my sins on Jesus, and gives righteousness is a done deal; it is perfect and can’t be improved upon. We can rest, even rejoice, and celebrate that God has done what we never could do.

HIM
It is all because of Jesus. The pronoun "Him" is used twice, making the point.
     * In him we are offered righteousness.
     * In him we are given salvation. In him we have blessings.
     * In him we live. Why would anybody want to not be "in him?"
     * If you are not in him you am in your sin and will face judgment.
If you trust Jesus for salvation then you are are in him.

MIGHT
The word “might” means that the possibility now exists where it was not before but an action is required. You will have righteousness if you receive the salvation God offers through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus.

SALVATION
Salvation is free because Jesus paid a great price on the cross; salvation is not cheap because it cost Jesus everything. To learn more about salvation see my other blog.

(c)Adron Dozat