The †GRACE† you don't deserve.-[PART-2]

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned

Romans 5:12

All have sinned, all fall short of the Holiness required.(Romans 3:23)

Sin entered the world/our human lives by one man(Adam) and sin was defeated and conquered through one man(Romans 5:15) that being Yeshua Ha'Mashiach(Jesus Christ)

We are not all punished because of one mans sin,  we are punished for what Adam brought into Gods perfect creation, the disposition that we all hold on to, and that is we have a right to ourselves and we are our own god. We either realize that we are not our own (Romans 14:8, 1 Corinthians 6:19) and fully surrender to who we ultimately belong to (Christ) or we just continue living in our natural state, our natural disposition which is ultimately selfishness.

Now to fully grasp forgiveness, to understand who Jesus Christ was, His purpose, and why His sacrifice means anything, we first have to understand the need, we need to understand what we are forgiven from right? We say God is a loving God, we say He is fully of mercy, and make no mistake about it.. He is. However at the same time we also say He is a Holy and Pure and a righteous judge.

"The LORD is righteous, For I rebelled against His commandment. Hear now, all peoples, And behold my sorrow; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.- Lamentations 1:18

We see through out the bible that He is completely both. Holy and pure beyond what we could ever comprehend, He is absolutely a God of justice. The question you should be facing is; 

How can a Holy Pure Righteous God look at us with anything but wrath and anger?" and rightfully so! His word says several things about us that should make us understand just how undeserving of Grace we are…

"the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth"

Genesis 8:21

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me."

Psalms 51:5

"[There is] none who does good, No, not one."

Psalm  14:3

"The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:9

"For You [are] not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You."

Psalms 5:4

By our fallen nature we all want what Adam & Eve wanted, and no it's not some fruit from a tree, it's what Satan tempted Eve with back in Genesis 3:4-5.

We want the knowledge of good and Evil, we want to be our own god to decide for ourselves whats right & whats wrong. It's selfishness thats what sin is in a nut shell.

So once again we come to the question;

"How exactly can a righteous God who abhors sin, after all how can God be Holy & Pure/ Righteous if he tolerates Evil, how can He show us mercy? Grace? Love?

remember what Romans 3:23 says..

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:8

"But the Scripture has confined all under sin"

Galatians 3:23

Maybe we can please God by works, earn His Grace & Mercy? a noble concept except for the fact that how can one who is born wretched & Evil a sinner (as the bible plainly states we all are) even begin to do a work that would please a Holy Just & Righteous God? Like the fantastic story "Pilgrims Progress" My iniquities are over my head, they are too heavy for me to carry(Psalm 38:4)

But we are all like an unclean [thing], And all our righteousnesses [are] like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

Isaiah 64:6

So we can't ourselves follow Gods laws and commands because we are wicked and want to be our own god, our works are like filthy disgusting rags in Gods Holy sight and to top it all off we are living in a world that's fleeting and will soon pass away, all it's pleasures are meaningless under the sun(read Ecclesiastes).

Sounds like we are screwed, and WE ARE! this is what I want you to see, more importantly it's what God and His word wants you to see, that on your own BY YOURSELF YOU ARE SCREWED. 

That's not what you want to hear is it? and let's be absolutely honest it's not pleasant sounding, and it drives us crazy that we are not in control. This is not something the world is going to advocate, because the world is a self fulfilling place. The world wants you focused on constantly fixing YOU, selling you empty promises of fulfillment and false ways of ultimately fixing yourself, wether that's by giving into selfish desires or taking pills to mask the suffering and struggle you are in. There's no hope and peace in hiding and masking what you are through pills and self help. Again, the fact is YOU  can't help you.

Once again we are stuck with where does Gods grace come in? how can we be saved from our enemy(ourselves)/our very nature(sin). 

Want to know where Gods grace/mercy comes in? His love and grace you don't deserve? Jeremiah 23:6 says "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" He is our righteousness(LORD here meaning The Lord Jesus Christ) and lets remember Isaiah 53

"But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Grace you don't deserve is God sacrificing the undeserved, the spotless ultimate lamb Yeshua Ha'Mashiach (Jesus Christ).

"Who is the image of the invisible God"

Colossians 1:15

"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

Colossians 2:9

Jesus Christ Himself said if you know Him you know the father, He also said;

 He didn't come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)

Christ came to be a sacrifice and through Christ we not only see the justice of God(His wrath), but we see His mercy and love too. Justice and wrath in the fact that because of our sinfulness it pleased God to sacrifice His son Jesus Christ(Isaiah 53:10), and   mercy and love in the fact that He was willing to cast all our sinfulness onto Him on the cross instead of giving us all what we deserve.

This and ONLY this is an amazing Grace….a Grace you DONT DESERVE!

All glory to God for His righteousness, His Holiness, His Mercy and Love!

Gods grace, when we ultimately understand it, drives us to want to please Him.

This is a good thing , but it's absolutely insulting when we put "us pleasing Him" above His Grace. Our performance above His sacrifice does nothing but place us above HIM, and it becomes about what we do not what He did.

"Souls are not made sweet by taking [ill tempers] out, but by putting something in - a great Love, a new Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Christ, the Spirit of Christ, interpenetrating ours, sweetens, purifies, transforms all. This can only eradicate what is wrong, renovate and regenerate, and rehabilitate the inner man. 

Will-power does not change men. Time does not change men. Christ does. Therefore "Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." "

Henry Drummond

Repent or Perish

In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins . . .

—Ephesians 1:7

Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.-(My Utmost For His Highest Nov.20th)

Your Salvation does not come free. God does not just simply forgive, God is just and He is Holy, God doesn't merely forgive you because He is love. God isn't a big hippy in the sky

who is required to forgive you because all he knows is "love".

You can not earn salvation and Gods love, you are fallen

fallible man, you are horrible, you are wicked and the only

thing you deserve is GODS righteous just wrath, the only

thing you deserve is eternal punishment. Your salvation is

NOT FREE! the wrath and anger of our just God was poured

out onto God in the flesh Christ Jesus, only through the sacrificial lamb are you forgiven. It is only free in the sense

that you did nothing to deserve or earn such forgiveness,

and there is nothing you can do.

Christ was sacrificed, He accepted the cup, accepted the Fathers will.

"O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me;

nevertheless, not as I will, but as YOU will."

Matthew 26:39

He took the wrath of God that you deserve, paid the price

so you could be made clean. otherwise God couldn't even

look upon you.. because you're filthy and sinful in His eyes.

You can not humanize God, you can't put him in a little box

and make Him who you want Him to be,

You can't simply ignore that God is not just love,

He is also a God of wrath and isn't oblivious to open rebellion. You can't say God will just simply forgive me

because He loves me, there was nothing simple and easy

with Christ shedding His blood for you on the cross.

I have finished the work which You

have given Me to do —John 17:4

The death of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment in history of the very mind and intent of God. There is no place for seeing Jesus Christ as a martyr. His death was not something that happened to Him— something that might have been prevented. His death was the very reason He came.

Never build your case for forgiveness on the idea that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. That contradicts the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. It makes the Cross unnecessary, and the redemption “much ado about nothing.” God forgives sin only because of the death of Christ. God could forgive people in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted as Savior because of His death. “We see Jesus . . . for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor . . .” (Hebrews 2:9). The greatest note of triumph ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ— “It is finished!” (John 19:30). That is the final word in the redemption of humankind.

Anything that lessens or completely obliterates the holiness of God, through a false view of His love, contradicts the truth of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. Never allow yourself to believe that Jesus Christ stands with us, and against God, out of pity and compassion, or that He became a curse for us out of sympathy for us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by divine decree. Our part in realizing the tremendous meaning of His curse is the conviction of sin. Conviction is given to us as a gift of shame and repentance; it is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the sin in people, and Calvary is the measure of His hatred.

(My Utmost For His Highest Nov.21st)

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins

Ephesians 2:1

Repent or Perish

But unless you repent you will all likewise perish

Luke 13:3

Oblivious to Sin

Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD's anger.

Zephaniah 2:3

Sometimes when we are seeking to be righteous we fall into

a place of self righteousness, which can lead to a very selfish

"proud" attitude and a judgmental demeanor.

Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him;

But the just shall live by faith.

Habakkuk 2:4

We (as followers of Christ) are called to be humble,

however this also can lead to a problem, As some mistake

the meaning of humble. Or maybe rather then mistake the meaning,

people let humbleness lead them down a path of a "Woe is me"

attitude. By the way just for the record I struggle with the following at times myself, I in NO way mean to elude that I am perfect.

I just see so many of us that hang on to the fact that we are all sinners,

and yes indeed this is true, but so many of us ignore seeking righteousness,

as if the fact that we are forgiven allows us to be oblivious of our sins,

oblivious to the fact that sin ANGERS GOD...Oblivious to what is right and what is wrong. How many have the attitude that "Yup..I'm a sinner, freely admit it, Christ saved me from them" and then therefore do not even seek to allow Christ to work through them and change their behavior, do not repent when they do sin because they do not think they need too, and don't even seek righteousness that can be found in Christ.

Sin very much so angers God, so much so that Christ suffered

and paid the price for it,as I've quoted before..

DO NOT think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.

I DID NOT come to destroy but to fulfill.

Matthew 5:17

Christ was the only one who actually followed the Law perfectly,

and He came to be the sacrifice for US because we could

not and can not follow the LAW(without him), this everyone indeed agrees with...BUT Christ's forgiveness doesn't give us FREEDOM to sin..

This I feel really needs to be explained. I'm a horrible person, I'm a sinner,

this I recognize with a remorseful disposition "For the things I wish to do, those things I do not do, but the things I wish not to do, those I do"

I HATE my sins, I seek not Self-righteousness... BUT the righteousness that is found in Christ Jesus, I seek to live by his words as there is nothing else to even remotely live for, "Whom have I in heaven but you? and earth has nothing I desire besides you"

However it is in this seeking of righteousness that I must REMAIN humble as not to think I could ever save myself or to think that which I seek to do makes me better then anyone else.

Forgiven for being the failures that we are....yes indeed,

this however doesn't mean we blind ourselves into thinking

sin is ok, or that we do not warn those about the damaging

life of sin. If I do not seek to be humble in dealing justly with others,

you better believe the holy spirit will convict me of my own doings,

it is in this inward self examination of just how corrupt I am,

that without Christ... without His sacrifice, which led to Gods forgiveness, just how unworthy I'd be of any sort of relationship with Him, other then of course His wrath and anger...

If there be ground for you to trust, as you do, in your own righteousness, then all that Christ did to purchase salvation, and all that God did from the fall of man to prepare the way for it, is in vain.

Consider what greater folly could you have devised to charge upon God than this, that all those things were done so needlessly; when, instead of all this, He might only have called you forth, and committed the business to you, which you think you can do so easily.

-Jonathan Edwards

Does forgiveness mean we shouldn't realize what we are forgiven from?

If we should realize this fact, then why don't more of us know the Ten Commandments? many ignore them saying "We don't have to follow them"

indeed we are saved by Grace not works, but the fact is we have broken the law wether we think we have or not, otherwise Christ wouldn't of had to die for us. Shouldn't we know them, not for salvation purposes but to realize how fallen we are? NOT so we can "feel bad" or walk around saying "Woe is me"

but so we can see how amazing His forgiveness really is, So we can see

just how undeserving of His grace we are.

1."You shall have no other gods before Me.

2.You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

3.You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,

for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

4.Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5.Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

6.You shall not murder.

7.You shall not commit adultery.

8.You shall not steal.

9.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10.You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

Some might say; "gods? Idols? i've never done such a thing"

really? anything can be an idol, and anything can become your god,

for anything you put above God hence becomes your god..

I.E Money,Cars,Yourself,Music,Tv,Movies,Video Games ect...ect..

remember the man who came to Jesus in Matthew 19?

He said he has kept all the commandments since he was young(Liar)

and then jesus said;

"If you want to be perfect, go, give all you have to the poor,

and come follow me."

Did the man do it? who knows, all it says is he was very sorrowful,

because he had great wealth, if He wouldn't follow Jesus because he loved

His money more, he essentially broke the first/second commandment.

Even still some might say; "I've never murdered or committed Adultery!"

Really? Jesus said in Matthew;

You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.

But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.

Matthew 5:21-22

Hmm..Ever been angry with someone for no reason? had a bad day

and you chew someone out...just because? or whatever the case may be..

guess what? Christ says then you have broken the 6th Commandment.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:27-28

Who can say they have never lusted after someone before? If you have,

and YOU HAVE...then you also have broken the 7th commandment...

What is my point? my point is we all have sinned and fall short of Grace,

anyone who claims to be without sin is a liar and the truth is not in him.

There is no justification in sinning, there is no work you can do,

there is no mountain you can climb that will ever make you deserving of anything other then the wrath of GOD...

It's like what Paul Washer said in the video I posted on Facebook, Many people ask why do bad things happen to good people? When the question should be, Why does any good ever happen at all? For we are not "good people" and any good that we receive is more blessing and love that none of us deserve in the first place, for we are wicked.

Therefore humble yourselves under Gods mighty hand, and realize the price

has been paid for YOU, someone had to suffer for what YOU DID...and you will NEVER deserve that kind of love...