EXISTENTIAL RIGHTEOUSNESS (3)
(…continued from part two…)
3) The good deeds of fallen man emanates from the spirit of wiliness. He only wants to satisfy his diablerie of his conscience. A make-believe heart of philanthropy is the shenanigan connivance of Satanism. It is believed that the leaders of the occult and of religions tell the adherents to engage in generous alms giving; believing that it will make up for the evil deeds of their dark lives. Is it not an insulting act trying to please God, still steeped in the incorrigibility of ones satanic heart? “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” [Galatians 6:7]. The word ‘mocked’ is the Greek mukterizo (mïk-tee-riy’-zō): ‘to make mouths at, i.e. ridicule.’ And the good news is that this righteousness can be regained. If it is an impossibility Jesus would not have told Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” [John 3:16]; seeing it is a mark of showing faith –in the name and the finished work of Jesus, the Saviour— that gives man eternal life.
When you read a verse like Romans 1:17“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith;” the preposition ‘therein’ makes you want to ask, “where?” So, to understand the ‘where?’ we must go back to the preceding 16th verse, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Justification, salvation, righteousness and holiness are all products of faith, never by works of our brows, or by the exhibition of our intellectualism.
“Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works” [Romans 4:6], has ‘imputeth’ as logizomai (lo-ǰiy’-zo-mai), meaning: ‘to take an inventory, i.e. estimate.’ The Greek word for ‘work’ is ergon (er’-ğon): ‘1. work (as an effort or occupation). 2. (by implication) an act.’ We think we can calculate the value of our active deeds in terms of righteousness. How wrong can we be! The attainment of righteousness must receive the sacrificial terms of Genesis 3:21 “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” God decided to array man; it was not the other way round. The born again person has been taken back to the Garden of Eden, washed in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ; then the clothing of righteousness was worn on him. “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” [Philippians 3:9].
What does the law do? “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” [2Corinthians 3:6]. The legality of the Old Testamentary letter points to death; but the grace of God that comes by the reason of the ignition of scriptural faith gives life, the life eternal of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
One needs to understand this perfect life. It is the Greek zoe (zō-ee’): ‘God’s kind of undying life’. Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This verse teaches what God put into the making of Adam. The “breath,” nshamah (nesh-aw-maw’), found in this verse means: ‘1. a puff. 2. (by extensions) a wind. 3. an angry or vital breath. 4. divine inspiration. 5. intellect. 6. (concretely) an animal.’ And ‘life’ chay (chah’-ee) is: ‘1. alive. 2. (hence) raw (flesh). 3. fresh (plant, water, year), strong. 4. (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively.’ The Hebraic study of nshamah chaiyim is the plural of lives. God breathed two lives: the animalistic and the intellectual lives. At the commission of the original sin that felled man, the whole of mankind died in Adam –spiritually. The only antidote to this fall is to get born again i.e. receive the Lord Jesus as one’s own Lord and Saviour.
Everyone is born into sin. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” [Psalm 51:5]. So, when the prayer of salvation is said with all of one’s heart, God goes back to the Garden of Eden to resuscitate the life of a born again. To get born again, the Holy Spirit returns into the purified spirit –to remain there eternally. The existential righteousness known of the created Adam is what returns to the regenerated soul. This is the reason why you cannot be afraid to lose the spirit of soteriological regeneration. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!
Get born again by saying this simple prayer.
“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!”
(…to be continued…)
read part 2 here
You will get part 4 here
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