Wayne's World...3Dec07

I want to continue to look at grace.
Now it’s so sad that whenever you preach grace you have to state the obvious. Were not advocating sin. Sin is wrong. God hates sin, and we should hate sin too. God wants a holy people, set aside for Him.
God wants us to shine like stars in a crooked and perverse generation. Gods wants to put his Glory on display for all to see, through us. At the end of Romans 5 it says where sin increases, Gods grace increases. 6:1 then says so what shall we say, should we go on sinning so that sin may increase?
It says “by no means””not al all” “God forbid” “may it never be”
What we are saying is that avoiding sin, and hating sin, comes from him working in us, more than it does from us doing it “we are being transformed from glory to glory”. We cannot be holy without his help. If we try do all that god wants, we will fall short, unless we allow him to do it through us. It’s the process of transforming our minds, until our spirits dominate our flesh. That’s why it says in Galatians,

Galatians 5v16
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (NIV)
16I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.(NKJ)

At the foundation of the grace message is the essential understanding of righteousness.
Righteousness, has become a bit of a religious cliché’, and there is a lot of misunderstanding about the topic.
So what does righteousness mean? In the NIV bible in the glossary of terms, righteousness is described as.
“The state of being perfect…without sin”…this is an excellent definition, in layman’s terms, it this. Being right with God.”
It's important to see here that this is a state. It's a position. It's also a permanent position. We do not loose our righteousness every time we sin. We are righteous through what Jesus did on the cross, if we have appropriated His death on the cross.
“Righteousness” and its counterpart “righteous” appear 540 and 520 times in the verses of the bible. In contrast “faith” and “faithful” are only used 348 and 328 times. This means that there are 1.5 times as many scriptures about righteousness as there are about faith. Righteousness is important.
Romans 1v17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

So how do we get righteous?
First of all it’s from God through faith, as this scripture says.
Righteousness is the condition of being in right relationship with God.
Righteousness can only come through total faith and dependence on God.
There is no other way to get Righteousness, it’s only through faith.
There is nothing we can add to our faith to have Righteousness.
Romans 11:6 “and if by grace then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Righteousness you see is a free gift through faith, by god’s grace. You can’t have one or the other, you can’t mix works with grace. Its grace and grace alone.
Works are the result of God working in me. They are God’s works.
Philipians 2v13for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for [His] good pleasure.

Many say that’s well and fine for becoming a Christian, but once you are a Christian; you have to work on your righteousness. My beloved, how does this make sense? You see righteousness is a complete state. It’s a state of perfection. You cannot be more or less righteous. We have the very righteousness of Christ, its perfect righteousness, so how can we grow it?
He has made us perfect forever:
Hebrews 10:10-
10By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all.] 11And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 15But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 16"This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," 17[then He adds,] "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." 18Now where there is remission of these, [there is] no longer an offering for sin. 19Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21and [having] a High Priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of [our] hope without wavering, for He who promised [is] faithful. 24And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

We have been made perfect, forever. Perfect means perfect. If it broke, and we lost our righteousness, there would have to be a sacrifice again…Jesus cannot be sacrificed again, it was one sacrifice for all forever! If we do sin and we will, we have a mediator, Jesus Christ who stands in our defense and is interceding for us. We will need to repent but we will not loose our righteousness, it’s in a perfect state.
Imagine every time you sinned you lost your righteousness? If you broke the speed limit and had an accident, you would go to hell, coz you cannot approach God without righteousness. Remember that god sees all sin the same. So if you had committed adultery and were driving home and died in a car crash, would you go to heaven. Yes, your righteous..forever…God sees all sin as sin.
You say you can’t preach this, if you do, people will sin. No we will not coz grace teaches us to say no.
Here is a revelation for you .People sin under law and people sin under grace.
I was in a church that preaches law, and there were those who had affairs, those who were drug addicts and alcoholics, there were men addicted to internet pornography. But law was preached, so preaching that you must be good, our you will loose your right standing with God, and come under his wrath, was not enough to constrain anyone.
We preach grace, why?
Titus 2v11
11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself [His] own special people, zealous for good works.

Look at what grace does…
Teaches us to say no to ungodliness
No to worldly passions
To live self controlled lives
To live upright lives

All this it does while we wait for the appearing of Jesus.

He as redeemed and purified us (he has done it). And he has made us want to do what is right. The new covenant written on our hearts. Then Phil 2:13 he works in us to act and to will according to his good purpose.
Praise Jesus, forever amen.

This all comes through grace. Understanding that we are loved and accepted by God, we can freely approach him, with full confidence and no condemnation. Praise Jesus for this covenant.
If we live in this it will destroy all depression, sickness, discouragement. It will stop us from looking for fulfillment and attention is dangerous areas. Like sexual relationships and drugs. A deepening revelation of his great love and acceptance will change us.
Love and acceptance is a better motivator that fear and reward.
If we understand this, truly understand this, we will reign In life.
Romans 5v17
17For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

There is so much more we can talk about in all this, we will look at it more and more, as time goes on.
now this, if you believe in Jesus, and have faith in him, you are righteous. Perfect. Forever.
Live in the power and confidence of this truth.