I can only preach what Jesus shows me….and Jesus in me is striving to open the ears of His people with the good news of His cross
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but what is the message of the cross guys?
The message of the Cross is not: ‘go to heaven’ or ‘go to hell’.
The message of the Cross is a New Creation.
That new creation is already seated in heavenly places in Christ; already forgiven all trespasses; already made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus…..ALREADY!! Not one day if we perform well enough.
The message of the cross is that all have been justified by the blood of Jesus already….but not all believe it….including many Christians!!
I used the picture of Pilgrim casting off his burden at the foot of the cross because this is where the Lord brings the Christian bit by bit. We carry around the “old man” trying so hard to please God until we get exhausted and surrender to the message of the cross.
The Galatian church started off in the Spirit believing the Gospel of grace but the Accuser got to them and convinced them that Justification by faith alone was not enough. They were bewitched to go back to an old covenant mindset where the responsibility to get to heaven or to get into the First resurrection(rapture) rested upon them.
Even though they were sinners of the Gentiles God saved them, washed them and justified them and made them holy –all through the faith of Jesus….It was Jesus’ faith that saved you NOT YOUR OWN.
It was Jesus work that justified you….It was Jesus death that forgave you….It was Jesus resurrection that made you righteous before God. It is God’s salvation…It was always His responsibility to save you BECAUSE YOU COULD NOT SAVE YOURSELF!
And friend EVEN NOW–as a born again Spirit filled Christian you still cannot save yourself! You still are NOT RESPONSIBLE TO BE HOLY OR TO BE RIGHTEOUS OR TO SAVE YOURSELF!! GOD IS!!
Can you hear this????
Let me show you something – Please Lord Jesus…I pray You open the understanding!!
First I want to show you from the New King James Version the truth of what I have said and the error of what is commonly believed–because this version like many have changed the meaning.
Gal 2:16 “….knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” NKJV
On the positive side this version repeats three times that we are not justified by works of the Law…..BUT!! On the negative side it INCORRECTLY STATES that we are justified by faith IN Jesus Christ.
This is what the King James Version says:
Gal 2:16 “…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.” KJV
THIS IS WHERE THE ERROR IS HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT.
The translators believed like most today that salvation is dependent upon us so they changed it to by faith in Jesus…But not so!! We are justified by THE FAITH OF CHRIST JESUS.
I wish I could look you in the eye and say it over and over to you face to face!!
Now get this!!….
Father God knew and still knows that you and I can NEVER JUSTIFY OURSELVES –NOT EVEN BY OUR FAITH IN JESUS.
We imagine that we got saved because we said a sinners prayer…but God set His heart on us before the foundation of the world and drew you to His Son at the right time…the exact time. He granted you repentance and faith towards Jesus by His grace.
It is by or through the faith that belongs to Jesus (which He gets from the Father inside Him)that justifies and saves you.
Jesus Himself can do NOTHING just as you can do nothing!! The Father in Jesus does the doing and the empowering inside Jesus….for your sake. For God the Father so loved you that He gave and continually gives you His son Jesus….
BUT ARE YOU RECEIVING JESUS CONTINUALLY????????
This is the crux of the matter.
Grace is continually flowing from Father who is inside Jesus and from Jesus who is inside us….BUT grace is only received by the weak….by those who know they need it/Him….Not just to get saved 2o years ago…but continuously.
I am not saying you should tell God you need Him every moment….but is is broader than that and more personal at the same time.
God knew that you could never please Him or ever be justified by your own faith in Jesus. God requires PERFECT FAITH…not faith one day and gone the next as is our common experience. God does not want elite believers and lowly believers. No. Instead God gives all believers JESUS Who has all the faith inside that God requires.
Jesus comes into you to live the life before God WITH HIS FAITH!! HALLELUJAH!! do you see it?
Let us continue in Galatians 2
Gal 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave(exchanged) himself for me.
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
In verse 19 Paul tells us that we died to the Law. The Law required that sinners be put to death. God put you to death in Christ on the Cross.
Why? A sinner can never please God. God had a NEW CREATION in mind for you….a new you!
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
What is this NEW CREATION?
It is Gal 2:20!!
“nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave(exchanged) himself for me.”
This is who you are by the faith of Christ Jesus friend. You are Christ living in you by His faith. He gave or exchanged Himself for you!! On the cross and in life now.
1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
WE LIVE THROUGH OR BY HIM – THIS IS OUR REALITY–OUR CONSTANT even if we are unaware of it.
You might imagine that you live separate from Him because He is up in heaven…and that you have to make sure you keep believing in Jesus to the end….Friend He loves you!! He did not leave it up to you to have enough faith!! Instead He came to be HIS FAITH IN YOU….even as He lives AS YOU from day to day.
This is the new creation that you are.
1John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
See that? You would have NO BOLDNESS on the day of judgement if it was up to you having enough faith….BUT because God has seen fit to weld you together as ONE with His Son in your heart that you can stand with head held high in His presence.
This is what the New Creation is friend….
Jesus in you is the hope of Glory….Jesus’ own faith will get you there…in fact He ALREADY HAS according to the Gospel.
Phil 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
You are already seated in heavenly places in Christ.. are you not? You are already joint heirs with Christ to His kingdom.
Then what about all the scary verses that seem to disqualify the believer? Isn’t it up to me to make sure I get there!!
No it is not.
God saved you and will save you.
What He does in us is transforming us and getting us there.
People love to quote “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”…they ram it home UPON you like some fearful weight that you have tried hard to do for years….and failed….BUT THEY DO NOT QUOTE THE FULL THOUGHT….
Phl2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
God is working in you mightily causing you to will and to do….We learn to yield to He that lives in us…that yielding is the OBEDIENCE of faith – but even the yielding we do is coming out from Christ in us.
God is not looking at you as if you are responsible….He knows who you are…He sees Himself in you…the trouble is we do not see Jesus in us and as us…This is the gospel!
You see, it is NEVER just you because in reality you are ONE WITH JESUS through HIS INDWELLING SPIRIT.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
The believer is ONE spirit with Jesus. Christ in you.
Remember YOU DIED…and have already been crucified. The life you now live is Christ living in you….and the life Christ and You as ONE now live is by THE Faith of the One dwelling in you.
Are you confused?
They said to of Jesus “He does all things well”…but Jesus said more than once I can do nothing of myself…and also the works I do the Father does…and the words I speak they are the Father’s words.
What was he MEANING?
UNION!! Two people joined together as one.
Two joined inside the heart – Jesus and you….but you are the one seen outwardly by others…at your best or worst.
You just being you is Christ Jesus being Himself.