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what God's righteousness looks like God’s righteousness looks like Jesus on the cross. He is Himself right, just, and true. Righteousness is essential to His very being and characterizes all that He does: God is morally and ethically right, and He acts only in keeping with what is right and just. This theme is common throughout all scripture: the judge of all the earth shall do righteousness. Righteousness is what God is. Every expected obligation of God is dimensionally heightened, lengthened, and widened above every physical quality: the backgrounds and foregrounds are rendered in beautiful lifelikeness to His mode of holiness. It is this aspect of holiness that distinguishes God infinitely beyond anything and everything that can be conceived of except that He is God! And this is the consistency that He wants His people to have. By faith to know that our God’s righteousness is not bound to anything that is not perfect.  The word affirms that God is righteous and it assures us that God always conforms to Himself - He faithfully adheres to His own perfections. He acts only and always according to the very highest principle of justice: Himself. God is His own self-existent principle of moral equity, and when He rewards the righteous, He simply acts like Himself from within, uninfluenced by anything that is not Himself. Always in prayer the thoughts of God are so mysterious as I think to come to Him that they seem to turn around and walk away from me. It is understood by me that from my vantage point God is so sovereign, and as such it is His nature and will that constitute the very essence of righteousness to allow me to spiritually envision the absolute moral distance between God and His human creatures. This is His amazing, extraordinary ability to create whatever humbleness I am to be made like Jesus to come boldly before Him in prayer. To encounter God in His holiness is the expression of His righteousness that makes it possible for us to see ourselves as we really are. God’s holiness is His complete and utter uniqueness distinct from all other beings in His infinite and absolute worth and beauty. This overlaps with His righteousness - His unwavering commitment to the highest standard imaginable - namely, His glory. This view is to leave an individual with a deep sense of awe at the greatness of His actions toward us that are in perfect agreement with His holy nature. To be indifferent is impossible for the true believer when confronted by the righteousness of God. He desires from this that our practical lives flow from the vision of the God of righteousness. He opens the veil of heaven to offer a glimpse of how the whole earth is full of His glory. The truth is that there is not and can never be anything outside of the nature of God which can move Him in the least degree. All God’s reasons come from within His uncreated being. Nothing has entered the being of God from eternity, nothing has been removed, and nothing has been changed. It is by God’s righteousness that we come to understand the “amen” response of His people. It is us saying, “now hear this”! God’s righteousness is of such a superlative degree that there is only one attribute   ever raised to the third degree of repetition in scripture. The bible doesn’t simply say that God is holy, or even that He’s holy, holy, but that He is holy, holy, holy. The bible doesn’t say that God is mercy, mercy, mercy or love, love, love or justice, justice, justice or wrath, wrath, wrath, but that He is holy, holy, holy. This is a dimension of God that consumes His very essence, and when it is manifest to us we must have the good sense to be moved. How can we, made in His image, be indifferent to His righteousness?   God’s righteousness is His unswerving faithfulness always to preserve and display the glory of His name. God is ever concerned to glorify Himself in all that He does, and His righteousness tells us just that. It is for this reason man’s “unrighteousness” is described in terms of “not glorifying God as God”. Righteousness consists in glorifying God and nothing less. The law to which men are bound is God’s   law – not a law that is “above Him” but a law that is “within Him.” And this standard, being nothing other than the nature and will of God, is the standard to which the immutable God has bound Himself: He acts always in a way that is consistent with His own perfection. This is a truth about God which we are glad to know. It is one thing to know that God is sovereign and so rules the world by His own will. But it is something more indeed to know that He rules in righteousness. For all the apparent inequities of life, for all the patient favors He shows the wicked, and for all the afflictions that fall upon the righteous, it is necessary indeed that we know that God is just and that He will always do what is right – however difficult it may be for us to see it at a given moment. Or again, it is one thing to know that He is the judge of all the world; it is something much more to know that He judges according to what is right and in a way that is consistent with Himself, that He will not condemn the innocent or clear the guilty. Our God is not whimsical or capricious. He is righteous – immutably righteous. For God to be God, and for us to be God’s election, God must demand of us righteousness. In virtue of this He institutes a moral government in creation, and imposes a just law upon His creatures, with promises of reward for the obedient. And God’s law is the very expression of His own Being. The divine righteousness of God is of such satisfaction as to offer a reformative function – repentance that we may avoid the vindicatory effect - the punishment of sin. God redeeming us will only be so as He can do so righteously. He cannot side-step justice. This is that aspect of God’s righteousness by which He provides righteousness for His offending creatures and Himself makes satisfaction for our unrighteousness.  T he gospel is a revelation of God’s righteousness. The gospel is a revelation of God’s love and grace, and it is also necessarily a message of His righteousness. Amazingly, God is righteous in forgiving sin. This is the beauty of His righteousness. God has not surrendered His just demands. Rather, God sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. In the Lord Jesus we have all that God’s righteousness requires of us. In Jesus, we are righteously forgiven. This is grace whereby through faith his righteous record became ours, and we are justified. And with all that God’s righteousness is, there is yet this one aspect that overwhelms me. God’s “remunerative” righteousness as was spoken in the parable of the pounds. Him knowing that whatever good thing any man doeth, that man shall receive of the Lord. He does not overlook our work and labor of love. It is a curious thing that with God it is a matter of righteousness that He rewards His servants for their faithful service. It is not simply a matter of goodness or kindness but of justice. When we have obeyed and served Him, we have only done what is our purpose. All that we are, we are only “by the grace of God”, and our faithfulness is due only to His working in us. It seems strange that God would view our rewards as a function of His righteous justice. The point here is not that God is obligated to us, simply, but that He has obligated Himself to us by promise. It is in His righteousness to make good His word; by promise God hath made Himself a debtor. It is just with God to pay what He owes, and God owes what He hath promised; and so it is a crown of life which God the righteous Judge will give us at that day. Now, so as not to conflict understanding, God owes us nothing. No primary and original obligation rests upon the Creator, to reward a creature made from nothing, yet He can constitute a secondary and relative obligation. He can promise to reward the creature’s service; and having bound Himself to reward obedience, His own word establishes a species of claim…God by His promise, has made Himself a debtor to men.  Our obedience and service that He righteously demands of us and that He graciously enables us to give Him put otherwise, is God rewarding us, His servants, for the very thing that He has purchased and freely provided. The truth of God’s righteousness is a startling one for us. But when this righteousness is wedded to His grace, it is a joyful truth indeed. Even the heavens declare His righteousness. And by His Son we might become the righteousness of God right now as Jesus stands before Him. This very moment if we are in Christ, we are righteous, meaning we are seen by God as just, innocent, and right. There is no measurement to God’s righteousness. The cross of Calvary accomplished a just salvation, for all who will receive it. But we also know that only those whom God has chosen—the “elect”—will repent and trust in the death of Christ on their behalf. This raises another question related to divine righteousness. After understanding the teaching of the doctrine of divine election, how does God’s righteousness and His justice reconcile. Should God stand before the bar of human judgment? God is righteous in that He has condemned all, and in Christ, those who are justified have been punished and then raised to newness of life. God is also righteous for judging all those who refuse to accept His offer of salvation in Christ. God would be unjust only if He set aside justice rather than fulfilling it in Christ, whether by His sacrificial death at His first coming or by His judging the unbelieving world at His second coming.   Divine grace, the grace by which God reaches out to save men from their sins, is meted out not on the basis of men’s merits but in spite of men’s sin. Grace is sovereignly bestowed. God would be unjust only if He withheld blessings from men which they deserved. Since God is free to bestow unmerited blessings on any sinner He may choose, God is not unrighteous in saving some of the worst sinners, while choosing not to save other sinners. God does not owe salvation to anyone, and thus He is not unjust in saving some and choosing not to save others.   If sin is the manifestation of our unrighteousness and we can be saved only through a righteousness not our own—the righteousness of Christ—then the ultimate sin is self-righteousness. Jesus did not reject sinners who came to him for mercy and salvation; he rejects those who were too righteous in their own eyes to need grace.   No one is too lost to save; there are only those too good to save.   If we are among those who have acknowledged our sin and trusted in the righteousness of Christ for our salvation, the righteousness of God is one of the great and comforting truths we should embrace. By the law is the knowledge of sin, and thus every mouth is stopped, and the whole world is brought in guilty before God. But notwithstanding this, there is a righteousness; a righteousness which meets the case of the unrighteous in every part; a righteousness which can reverse even the verdict of the law against the unrighteous; a righteousness on the footing of which we can stand with boldness in the presence of the holy God without either shame or fear. It is the righteousness of God. It is divine. It is called the righteousness of God because it is a righteousness provided by Him; a righteousness which was conceived by Him, set on foot, and carried out in every part by Him entirely, and by Him alone; a righteousness in the providing of which we had nothing to do, even in thought or in desire, far less in execution; a righteousness the origin and accomplishment of which are wholly and purely God’s, not man’s at all. Again, it is called the righteousness of God because it is a righteousness founded on the sufferings of the Son of God. What God’s righteousness looks like…it is the only begotten flesh that has suffered and provided such a compensation for our unrighteousness. God’s righteousness is so divinely situated that it pushes our faith to a divinely accepted blessing. A faith which can leave no room for doubt on our part at all. Yet it is not our faith that is our righteousness. It is a righteousness which passes over to us, and becomes available for us, by believing in Him whose righteousness it is; that is, by receiving the Father’s testimony concerning Jesus Christ. It is by believing that we are identified with Him, so that His doing becomes our doing in in the eye of God and in the eye of the law; His suffering becomes our suffering; His fulfilling of the law becomes our fulfilling of the law; His obedience to the Father’s will is our obedience to the Father’s will. Such is the position into which we are brought, by being made, in believing, one with Him. Thus “the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ,” is presented to us, that in believing on Him He may become ours. Righteousness is here laid down at our feet. It is there, whether we receive it or not. It is there, whether we believe it or not—whether we reject it or receive it.  A righteousness that is most amply sufficient to meet our case were we the very guiltiest on whom the sun has ever shone. This is God’s righteousness. On this righteousness the feet of every faithful from the beginning have stood; of this righteousness every prophet has spoken; to this righteousness every type has borne witness; and this righteousness every sacrifice has set forth. It is even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference. If we be lost, it will be not that there was no righteousness, not that we refused to complete a righteousness which had been begun, but that we rejected the righteousness which was completed, and which was so presented to us by God Himself. Here is what the essence of a blessing is concerning what God’s righteousness looks like: the fitness of the righteousness for the sinner, and the fitness of the sinner for the righteousness have no difference. This is God’s righteous declaration of not guilty. All are equally fit or equally unfit, equally qualified or equally unqualified, for “all have sinned;” and it is this that brings down all to the same level, and down to this level it is that the righteousness comes. God’s righteousness is an effective work of God that cannot be limited to a mere declaration, for it includes the entire creation and not just the individual. What God declares becomes a reality as represents the unleashing of His power in an active way. God’s declaration of righteousness over us is not temporary – it is eternal. The effective work of the Spirit is part and parcel of the righteousness of God.   Righteousness is the manner by which the promise of inheritance is acquired and put into practice.   Righteousness is a journey of increasing maturity in godliness that enables access to resources of God which we haven’t experienced as yet.  R ighteousness opens up for us a lifestyle of awesome deeds that will touch the ends of the earth. This is the outcome of righteousness we are waiting for and eagerly expecting.   God’s righteousness, therefore, is both just and holy. The righteousness of God, Himself, is the righteousness that saves, and in salvation God freely extends, to sinful humanity, both justice and holiness—the justice and holiness of our very God.   However, this righteousness must be explained, as well as proclaimed, must be seen as well as heard, and must be demonstrated as well as argued. It must be revealed and understood before it can be received. Let’s enlarge upon this truth. The righteousness of God is embodied in Christ. We receive righteousness by receiving him. The question, however, is how? How is the righteousness of God revealed in Jesus? Christ’s redeeming death was the glorious manifestation of God’s own righteousness. God revealed His justice through the propitiatory act of the cross by which we are reclaimed from sin and death. Christ’s shed blood, his substitutionary, sacrificial death, deals with human sin, guilt, and condemnation. The cross reveals the justice of God by meeting the demands or requirements of the broken law. And this revelation of righteousness at the cross is fundamental. It is a demonstration of the inherent justice of God. Also, the equally fundamental truth that the life that Jesus lived also reveals God’s righteousness. Christ was obedient not only “unto death” but throughout his life. He revealed the righteousness, the holiness, the very character of God, in his everyday living. His obedience in its totality reveals God’s righteousness and, therefore, is the source of human righteousness.   The righteousness of God is both judicial and moral. Justice and holiness are revealed in Jesus, through His life and His death. Note the kind of faith that enables sinful human beings to receive God’s saving righteousness. A constant faith, from faith to faith, a faith from first to last, through faith from beginning to end. We are learning of a faith that includes much more than intellectual assent. We are learning of a faith that goes beyond knowledge. A faith that is submissive, dependent, trusting. This faith transcends knowledge, evidence, argument, and understanding, but yet it does not dispense with any of these. Do not be deceived…this righteousness does not change the nature…it changes the status. Imputed righteousness gives justification, imparted righteousness initializes sanctification. There is a future element in our experience of righteousness that will set the final seal on God’s people. It is the third angel’s message becoming in reality the message of righteousness by faith. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

let us pray Let us pray. Now let us consider the answer to our prayer. God answers yes to give us confidence. He answers no to avert error. He withholds an answer to help us grow in faith through Him and to assume our own responsibility of making our own decisions using the truths we've learned. But sometimes God wants to use our prayer to bring us to a right place to know that prayer itself is a means of grace. He will expose us to what is right for us. Prayer is our response to the grace we receive from God’s Word. So, the answer is found in these questions; how are we to know what God’s answer means and is God’s answer sufficient? The answer is grace. Trusting in God’s grace is allowing His love and power to flow through us to inform our free will and our intentions of His purpose. Whatever comes from God is divine. Grace activates us according to the principles of God. With grace sin has no dominion over us for we are not under the law, but under grace, not under the law of sin and death, but under the law of the spirit of life, which is in Christ Jesus. Under grace is all about what Jesus has already done and our having faith in the finished works of Jesus Christ. We thank God for giving us the ability to do something which is humanly impossible for us to do. It is only by God's grace that we who remain faithful can experience eternal life, and it is only by God's gifted faith that we have gifted faith the ability to live for the Lord. There is this great plague that is inflicting deathly harm upon the world…the plague of sin. And it is ravaging the souls of many whom Christ died for. Except for the blessings of an all-powerful, all- knowing, and supremely loving Deity all would succumb to the devastation of inherited affliction of the flood of ungodliness…the very sorrowfulness of the grave. If not for grace…the “favor of God” which is His divine kindness, His act of true compassion toward undeserving human recipients. And it is because we cannot save ourselves that we are wholly dependent upon God’s grace and faith. For by grace we are saved through faith. We have the promise of life as we by grace and through faith are in Jesus Christ. It is this faith that gives us access to grace. We, as beneficiaries of Christ, believe that God’s grace gives us the ability, the strength to do something we are humanly incapable of doing. We can cease to sin altogether. We must come to understand the incredible and supernatural resources of heaven that broadens our path to salvation. We are the spectacle of why and how God determined and purposed this drama to secure eternity for His election. God delights in us. He supplies us with His favor or grace and faith totally at His initiative and only because of His love for us. God’s love is the greatest gift. God loves us because it is in His character to love. He does it because He wants to. Grace existed before ever we came to be. Grace is God’s part. Faith is that measure of first accepting and knowing who He is by His word and being a the formula positive response to what God has already provided by grace – the power of choice. In other words, faith is our positive response to God’s grace, and our faith only appropriates what God has already provided for us. Therefore, faith in Jesus is our part in the drama. Grace and faith work together, and they must be in balance. Understand the formula. Grace is the power not to sin and the faith in and of Jesus justifies us to be the righteousness of God. This qualifies us as the children of God and the faith given us works by love to the keeping of every word of God. The grace of God and the faith of Jesus brings us to the worthiness of all acceptation. By faith we are of God's elect, and by grace is our acknowledging of the truth after godliness. Our every doing in life, every communication, every thought is by faith. This is the effectual grace, the effectual calling applied to those whom God has determined to save, the elect, and, in God's timing, overcomes all resistance to obeying God. We come to reason through the teaching of the Spirit that the offer of salvation through grace does not act overpoweringly in a purely cause-effect, deterministic method, but rather in an influence-and-response fashion that can be both freely accepted and freely denied because of the choice that God graces us with. This choice is the act of drawing, it is an act of power, yet not of force; God’s grace in the drawing of unwilling, makes willing in the day of His power: He enlightens our understanding that bows the will, gives an heart of flesh, allured by the power of His grace, and engages the soul to come to Christ, and give up itself to Him; He draws with lovingkindness. This drawing, though it supposes power and influence, yet not force but coaction as does music to the ear, love to the heart, and pleasure to the mind. Adam and Eve were free to choose between right and wrong. We are able, as a result of the grace of God through Jesus Christ, to choose to turn from sin to righteousness and believe on Jesus Christ who draws all of humanity to himself. In this view, God's dispensation of grace to us, the will of man, which was formerly both adverse and averse to God, and unable to obey, can now choose to obey through the work of Christ; and although God's grace is a strong initial catalyst to effect salvation, it is not irresistible but may be ultimately resisted and rejected by a human being. Herein is the sovereignty of God bound up; God can allow individuals to accept or reject His grace and yet remain sovereign. Sufficient grace does not become efficacious or effective from the cooperation of the human will, but because of the purpose of God. Without it we remain in a state of depravity. Without it we have not the capability to believe or to repent. God's election does not depend upon any human response. The Word and will of God awakens us from the death of sin, enlightens and renews us. What a purpose that the preaching of the word by which faih comes is a means of grace by which God offers salvation. The outward call to salvation given to all who hear the gospel becomes an inward work by the Holy Spirit. And by faith we embrace the grace offered and conveyed by it. Once inwardly revived, we freely follow God and His ways as not only the obligatory but the preferable good, and so that special restoring grace is always effective as the outward working of the Holy Spirit converts the life. This is the confirmation that those whom God effectually calls necessarily come to full salvation. Of course, this confirmation depends upon the faith that when God elected certain individuals for His purpose of salvation, He knew who would respond and obey, according to the foreknowledge of God as the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. We must not be so familiar with the word of God that we take for granted what God purposes it to say. God inspires profound truth to be declared through reasoning with Him by the Spirit. Being saved by grace through faith, does not say one or the other. Salvation is not dependent on grace alone. If it were, everyone would be saved and going to heaven, for God’s grace that brings salvation has appeared to all men. He has already given the gift of salvation to everyone through Jesus. Now, it is predicated upon the individual to receive what was done by faith. It is essential that we understand what the spirit says rather than simply consider the words. The purpose of God must be distinctly understood in the light of the predestination and the election. Predestination is God's sovereign ordaining, while election is the specific purpose of God choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And yet, both refer to God’s grace decreed for eternal life. Predestination is the broader grace of which faith in His election is the sealed sum. In the counsel of determination, God’s eternal decree, by which He compacted with Himself was what He willed to become of each person. Election implies eternal life. Predestination is according to purpose. It is God’s plan taking place. God saw us unperfect and wrote it in His book when as yet there was none of us. Eternal wisdom formed the plan, and by God’s power the structure was brought forth. How can this be described being so far out of sight of our sense? He who saw our substance when it was unfashioned sees it now that it is fashioned. Every person has existed in the mind of God eternally. This does not negate the paradoxical truth that He holds of choices and forked paths before us. He tests us. He calls to us and awaits our response. But it is true that He has ordained our lives. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. The question is: how do we come to know what the works are that God prepared in advance for us to do? The answer is that we must abide in Christ and that makes us a reality in the mind of God. God the Father is a spirit. He sees spiritually beyond what is and on to what will be. For Him to think is to create. He sees us in nothingness and His thoughts toward us create a substance full of potential. He shapes and brings life to it. Now, with your patience let’s return to reason with what the spirit says rather than simply consider the words as stated earlier. Most believe that in order to be saved, people need to ask God to forgive them of their sins, but that isn’t what the bible teaches. The bible states that Jesus was the propitiating atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Jesus didn’t just die for those he knew would accept him; he died for every sinner who has ever lived on this earth. And he died before they, you or I ever committed a single sin…his death was in reality accomplished before any of us were. Here is a radical truth that even some of you may frown at. Sin is not an issue with God! Because He knows the sufficiency of His grace and He knows our faith in His word to confess our sins. Does not the scripture read, “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.” Because of the name of Jesus, the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the heavenly ministry of Jesus…the sins of the entire world…God does His part; He gives us grace to receive the truth by faith and make it a reality in our life. We are to be convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment. We can sum these up in the receiving of Jesus Christ sending the Holy Spirit to convict us of lacking faith in him. We must have faith to trust God’s grace. Do we believe that God wants to save us? Grace can reverse the deep effects of sin. Our response to grace is faith in Jesus. It is this faith that carries us to salvation. It’s the gift of God, not a work we do. Jesus says, “thy faith hath saved thee.” But it is according to God’s own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. He provides faith through grace for us to be brought from death to life. It’s the work of God alone that we can receive His grace through faith. God gives the grace, the faith, and the salvation. This is His purpose…what did we do. So, why does God give both grace and faith? That none of us may boast. That is grace from God to keep us from pride. God knows the human tendency for pride. Salvation is a divine work of God that cannot be earned through any human actions. It can’t be passed down from our parents as some believe. If we had anything to do with our salvation, we would think to take credit about what we had accomplished. Since salvation is a work of God alone, we by faith can boast about God alone. Please get this…from the beginning, God knew of the fall that would bring separation. He purposed this to secure eternity for those who would come to Him. God had a plan to bring creation back to Himself and that was through Jesus. Jesus came to live the perfect life that we couldn’t and then died the death that only we deserved, but that’s not all of it. Jesus rose, defeating death, so that we too would experience resurrection of life. The Word of God made grace possible and by that Word God made salvation possible through faith. God, in His providence, extends both grace and faith to us. Without grace, faith cannot function; and without faith, grace cannot be retained. Grace is the power, faith is the “on” switch within our spirit that enables us to receive grace. Faith is essential for us to see and to know God. Without this faith in its continual growth the righteousness of God cannot be unveiled. Without this we would have no life. That’s why faith is the underlying basis of our relationship with God, and the means by which we can apprehend God’s grace. There is this divinely powerful truth that sets us free from the penalty and the power of sin: by our faith in the grace of Christ’s death. Application of this grace and truth of the cross by faith each day gives us the putting on of Christ. His mind, his doing. This is the way by God’s grace we overcome sin in our sanctification. Having the mind of Christ gives us the heart of the humility of Christ making it possible to have true faith required to receive God’s grace for God giveth grace to the humble. This is God safeguarding eternity. Faith acts on the truth of God’s word and this shows the effect of grace in the life. Grace and faith are pictured in God’s hand reaching down to touch us and we reach upward to take hold of Him. And it is as we envision God’s hand of grace and our hand of faith joining together to form an interlocking handshake that our divine relationship and friendship is complete and inseparable. Consider how faith so pleases God. Faith is so powerful that it can give conditional exception to our standing with God. How so? Believing what God says to us is true; even if we don’t see it happen right away. But there is a word written with purpose. The experience of the repentant thief is a perfect illustration of the biblical truth that salvation is a gift of God’s grace that we receive through faith and not by works. The repentant thief had already received a death sentence for his wrongdoing. All we know about his sin is that the scriptures call him a thief and a criminal. This sin, according to the world, deserved death. However, according to Jesus, it was forgivable. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is proof that God will show grace and forgive the sins of all those who have faith in Him, even in their last moment. Whatever goodness faith sees, it sees as the fruit of grace. Eternal destiny changed by a faith that recognized Jesus as the Savior. Our faith is the demand we place on the power of God. Our faith is the receiver of grace; it is the receiver of the power of God. Our faith is ours when we believe and act on the Word of God. Just reach out and touch the H, I, M. Grace will in no way excuse sin. God will by no means clear the guilty. Every one shall die for his own iniquity. God reserveth wrath for his enemies. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. It was Jesus who by the grace of God should taste death for every man. What an amazing thought! Jesus Christ, our perfect and sinless substitute, tasted death for everyone. The bible even says how he did it: by God’s grace. It was God’s love, compassion, and mercy for us that not only sent Jesus to the cross but enabled him to endure it. Jesus was no helpless victim of hatred or persecution. He voluntarily surrendered himself. This was purposed in the grace of God. To embrace this truth, the idea that everyone could be saved based upon grace must be received by faith by the individual. This grace and this saving faith express God’s omnipotent plan for our lives, purposed to bring glory to His name through Christ Jesus. Faith is the act of our soul that turns away from our own insufficiency to the free and all-sufficient resources of God’s grace. The grace in God’s plan is so purposed that no one is required to work to earn it. And our faith is the mark of being chosen for God’s election. We are found in the favor of God for our salvation is through faith, not as a cause or condition of salvation, or as what adds anything to the blessing itself; but it is the way, or means, or instrument, which God has appointed, has purposed, for the receiving and enjoying it, that so it might appear to be all of grace; and this faith is not the produce of our free will and power, but it is the free gift of God...it is not of our desiring nor of our deserving, nor of our performing, but is of the free grace of God. Faith fueled by grace authenticates our obedience to God. By it we understand God’s call and our identity. Grace is highlighted through our faith. Both are of our divine Father in heaven, and sacrificial offering of our Savior Jesus Christ. Hearing and discerning which voices speak wisdom and truth for God today requires a grace that overarches the source of our faith. There will be storms, hardships, trials, persecutions. By faith in the grace of God’s promise we take courage to endure. God’s grace is not an abstract concept or a thing. God’s grace is a person. Jesus Christ is God’s grace personified. When God lived in the tabernacle in the wilderness, the people saw His glory by the things He did. At that time, God tabernacled in a man-made tent, the sanctuary. The second time God comes to dwell among His people, He comes in a tent/tabernacle/temple that is not made with human hands. He comes in the fleshly body as Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus referred to his body as “this temple”. Our dwelling in tents in the wilderness was the shadow of our bodies. So Jesus came in the true temple and he was “full of grace” and truth. From his fullness we have all received grace. God appeared to us as Jesus, in a temple that was foreshadowed by the tent or tabernacle in the Old Testament. In this new tent, unlike the old tabernacle that had the law on table to stones, this new tabernacle or body prepared Christ was completely filled with God’s grace. Jesus was walking around as the face of God’s grace and his flesh was simply a “covering” that was put on that grace so that it could take shape that is physically visible. The bible says this; for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. This is a reference to Jesus whom John describes as God’s only son who left heaven and came to earth, full of grace and truth, and from his grace we have each received grace and God’s blessings. Jesus is the grace that saves us as our faith is in Him. We see Jesus in his grace as God sees the faith that is in us. To enlarge…without grace, there would be no salvation, considering our flagrant disobedience against God’s sovereignty over us within His purpose. We need to understand grace specifically as seen against the backdrop of God's justice, that is, what God is fully and absolutely justified in doing to us. Without it, there would be no calling, no justification, no Holy Spirit given, and no sanctification—let alone, no salvation. We could go as far as to say that there would be no creation! In short, in terms of our salvation, grace is the key element in God's entire purpose. Therefore, at this point in our lives, we must have the determined mindset to live the rest of our lives by faith, submitting to God to fulfill our part in His purpose for us. To complete our course, we will find as we live it that God's grace is supporting and filling our needs all along the way. From beginning to end, our salvation is by means of divine benevolence, gifting by God. In no way is grace given because God is obligated, compelled, forced, or duty bound to us to do so. He gives grace freely, not by constraint. All He truly owes us is the death we have earned through sin. He gives grace because that is the way He is; it is His character. He gives it because of what He is working out in His purpose. God, the Author, would not contradict Himself by suddenly giving approval of any work of faith as a means of salvation. Grace, a merciful gift, preceded our having faith in Him. Without His gift of grace, we would never have godly faith, the faith, in the first place. Faith, our trust in God, is a fruit of the grace God freely gives. Our calling and election by God preceded even the slightest fragment of saving knowledge of God and thus our having faith in Him. Therefore, we could not possibly earn any grace of God, even as Jacob could not. As a vivid illustration for us, God deliberately chose to do this to show us that we couldn’t possibly do any works pertaining to salvation. An overwhelming nugget of truth may be gleaned from this gift of God. Because God is revealing here His purposed pattern which He determined to call those He has chosen to save at this time, then it shows that our personal calling and election into His spiritual creation is in no way random but very specific. When was Jeremiah sanctified and ordained? David’s substance was not hidden. And what of John the Baptist? Works have an entirely different purpose than that of saving us. Works are the fruit derived from God's grace. Even though the grace of God is the foundation for good works, they, by themselves, do not and cannot earn us grace. The grace of God enables our works to do spiritual things. Essentially grace is an intervention into the course of our lives. Our calling is an act of God's grace, a gifting completely apart from any merit on our part. We tend to think of grace primarily in regard to justification and the forgiveness of sin, but that is far, far too limiting. Our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is a faith connection that supplies us with a continuous flow of grace, powers, forgiveness, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and more through God's loving concern. He is not supplying our every desire but our every need as His spiritual creation of each of us moves toward His purposed conclusion. Again, remember that, for this truth to be more fully appreciated, it must be understood that God does not owe us one tiny jot or tittle of it. Just as surely as the manna physically appeared to the unconverted Israelites every morning except Sabbath in the wilderness and the cloud was in the sky by day and a pillar of fire by night, God is supplying our every need in relation to His salvation and purpose. It is all freely given toward His glorification and His purpose of creating us to fill a position, a place in His eternity. May it be our prayer that we have seen a firm definition of and foundation for appreciating the importance of grace and faith to our salvation. Without either, there would be no salvation to give hope to our lives in Christ. Along the way, through God's creation of us into the image of Christ, His giving of God has laid His hand upon our life, and He is going to use grace and faith becomes the source of power that enables us to overcome and glorify God. us for His eternal purposes. Our faith gives us the full realization that grace has already taken care of everything that concerns us. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

troubled in Spirit The many agitations that will befall us will so completely and utterly trouble our peace because of the discerned unknowns. It will not be the heart that is troubled, it will be the spirit. If not for the hope of faith in the fact that God has made a suitable revelation of Himself to us and that He expects us to give attention to it, it would seem that the finite mind must confront subjects of unknown circumstances, but we are never without the doctrine to relinquish being overcomers in every circumstance if we are positive. Confronted with such subjects, we should ever be in quietude of holy reverence, as was Moses before the burning bush, and ever impressed with the futility of dependence upon mere human opinion, as well as of the disastrous consequences which such dependence on humanity may induce. In the simplest of terms, God has spoken of Himself, and of things infinite and eternal. The bible is that message and while we cannot originate any similar truth, we, though finite, is privileged by the gracious illumination of the Spirit to receive, with some degree of understanding, the revelation concerning things which are infinite. And herein is where the troubling in the spirit is announced…there are issues involved in such a contemplation of the events today which are too vast for the finite mind to fathom, and no intelligent, reverent person will be alarmed to discover the boundaries of the finite mind. When standing on the border between the finite and the infinite, between time and eternity, between the perfect, irresistible will of God and the impotent, perverted will of man, between sovereign grace and hell-deserving sin, who among us is too proud to exclaim that there are some things which I just do not understand. What troubles me in spirit is not that I don’t know the future, but I discern the forfeiture of so many who could be saved. The Lord does know and so He is troubled in spirit. There are some among us whom God must remove before the introduction of the mystery doctrine of the cross. This mystery is the invitation for believers to reflect on and unite with the willingness of their Creator to suffer the worst degradation imaginable. There will be this break, this hard line in history, in truth, where direct intervention will show the personal revelation of the Creator in the lives of His chosen beings. This event is reckoned as the most important of all events for God’s people in the final time. You and me, in this continuing divine revelation, continuously claiming the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and passing on the truth of the greatest-ever happening…the "mystery of faith" and the "mysteries" of the life, death and resurrection in Christ. In this context mystery means "not fully knowing" and "not capable of being fully known" by human reason. It does not mean "cannot be known" or "not ever to be fully understood or revealed." But these mysteries bring us to the poignant concept of the time of our salvation. We acknowledge the leap of faith over the chasm of the unknown necessary to achieve the personal relationship with the Savior that fulfills the resurrection promise. It is that one moment on the cross that pivots God’s people to all that which is purposed. It creates that bright line on the continuum of history. There is hope that we can know, and it requires of us a total investment of body and soul and it asks of God, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to move actively in that same body and soul. This is the process of our conversion to belief, which leads to eternal life, represented by the image of the man on the cross, who was labeled with a mocking sign. We are to have, when found in Christ, an indicative love. It must be understood that this is a spiritual attitude love. It is a spiritual attitude love that is minus mental attitude sins. The greatest of all grace appeals, the final invitation to salvation sounds in the love that brought Him from heaven’s glory to this earth. Christ fulfilled in us is our love for one another, we provide for each other what He had provided for those that were with him. This kind of love will be a sign to all people that we are his final generation. Each movement in Israel historically had had its peculiar identifying sign. The sign that one was related to Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant was circumcision. The sign that one was related to Moses and the Mosaic law was the observance of the Sabbath. The sign that one related to John the Baptist and his message concerning the coming Messiah was water baptism and repentance. Christ gives us an identifying sign. It is not an external sign that could easily be imposed but an inner sign that requires a transformation. The sign is mutual love. This deeply moves an inner peace that is not troubled by turmoil on the outside. Our burden is over things yet to come. My distress is not focused merely on the tragedies that are, but rather, my spirit must grasp the reality of the betrayals to be committed against our blessed Savior. We must comprehend the ugliness expressed when redeemed souls turn against the very One who redeemed us. When we realize that any word, action, or expression that is against His holy nature is a betrayal of our Lord, then we will know the reality of a troubled spirit. Some people lack a clear understanding of how reasoning/revelation/inspiration works. Their self views weaken their confidence in the very truths that would strengthen their faith in the word of God. God’s people, seeking to help others, find their spirit troubled when others have difficulty finding certainty in the word only because these seek to satisfy the self rather than the head and the heart. There is an authority who longs to respond with His side of the story. God never wanted men and women to be without certainty regarding the purpose of life. Especially during the unparalleled stress of the last days, He made certain that we could know the truth. Truth carries its own authority because truth appeals to and satisfies our concern for objective certainty and subjective certitude—the linking of the head and heart. We are to always consider the weight of evidence. It must be to God’s people a living reality. God’s people are troubled in spirit when those who claim to worship in truth do not honor the truth. The move that the enemy puts forth among God’s people is always the conflict over truth. God’s position is that truth needs no defense, it simply needs to be seen and demonstrated. The enemy appeals to the self-centered heart to raise doubt, causing hesitancy and postponement of a spiritual commitment. For this reason, tampering with truth in any way, casting unwarranted shadows over what may not be totally clear, is an immoral act. Openness of mind will separate facts from opinions. Faith is in jeopardy if one sets limits to research, fearing that new discoveries may unsettle faith. One’s faith also is in jeopardy when human reason or feelings are permitted to set the limits of faith. Truth must be honored at all costs. When someone models his or her words against truth for their own framing, the motive to it is from self which bespeaks a desperate depth of wickedness into which one falls. Being troubled in spirit by the trouble is a circumstance fight. The enemy is after our faith. We’re troubled, but not troubled means the circumstances may be dark, but we still have our faith. Man will never learn to live in peace on this Earth. Persecution in the last days will be because of the name of Jesus. The world doesn’t mind if you pray; just don't mention that name. We can be in favor of religion, but leave out Jesus’ name. Is that not true? There is no absolute standard of right and wrong. If there is no absolute standard, the moral anchor is gone. Think what the sins of the world have done unto people. Experiencing betrayal by someone we love is painful. Betrayal destroys trust, injures love and leaves an indelible scar on one’s heart. It may be forgiven, but the pain is enduring and it troubles the spirit. There is a troubled spirit that is sinful and we should seek to overcome it by trusting the promises of Jesus. And there is a troubled spirit that is not sinful, because Jesus had it, and it has a place in the life of his followers. There is disquiet of heart without sin. There is an agitation of soul without sin. There is a kind of troubled turmoil in the spirit that is not owing to sin. The sinful troubled soul is owing to unbelief. For that reason Jesus tells us: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe. . . believe.” But the holy troubled soul is owing to love. Jesus isn’t only troubled by the prospect of his own agony. Not sinful turmoil that comes from lack of trust in the promises of God, but holy turmoil that comes from love for someone who is about to destroy himself and defame God. This gives us continual sorrow and great heaviness. We are made miserable by this holy disquiet. The same faith in God that dispels sinful turmoil, keeps holy turmoil in its proper bounds. It doesn’t overwhelm us. Let this cup pass from us. Jesus moved forward with God’s plan for His life. We can move through times of suffering and anguish and answer God’s higher calling as well. Prayer is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal. No troubled spirit can last with prayer. We have only to ask our friend Jesus. He chose us and appointed us. The bible warned that there will be unspeakable darkness and a great falling away in the last days before Christ returns, but most of us probably never thought we would live to see a day of moral decay quite like this. In the natural, we are on the weaker side; but in the spiritual, we are already more than conquerors. The greatest tool we have to keep our hearts from being flooded with chaos and trouble is His Word. If we believe the bible is the revealed Word of God given to us to show us how to keep our eyes on Christ, then we should not only read it often, but hide His Word in our hearts. The greatest defense against anything that unsaddles our spirit is His Word because it is through His Word that our minds are renewed and settled into His perfect peace. That’s why God called His people to put His Word in their hearts and to imprint it into their minds. We will pass through the deep waters of personal bitterness...take hold of God. God is at work to accomplish His purpose in Israel; He will bring about His highest purposes… The troubled spirit is brought on by the love we have for those near to us. Those who say they live in covenant with Him. What of these who suppress any truth of God…stubborness of heart. As these show agitation in refusing the truth it devastates the unity of the people of God. These are not conscious of their spiritual poverty. And when those who are troubled in spirit seek to hide the remorse, the despair that so burdens their heart, they are denying the Holy Spirit. It was this change by God to example for us the truth of reality shown in Jesus that our communication with others would be of sound witness. God is a Spirit, and a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have said the Son of God. Being troubled in spirit is preparatory to the closing up of all earthly scenes. God has a record of this and that is sufficient. In this last time God’s purpose is for His people to weep deep inside for those who compromise the attachment with truth. We will suffer together in the chaos of the turmoil of love — in its appointed bounds.   We seldom use the term turmoil to describe a kind of love. But the thoughts of our hearts are sunken. We can only do this when the foundations for our thresholds are built on truth, purity of heart, goodwill towards others and honesty towards ourselves. A troubled spirit, combined with our faith, gives us a stronger relationship with Jesus and prepares us to last. We find wholeness in Jesus Christ. Divine wisdom shepherds us in the path of Divine will. We are approaching unto the we are in the valley mountain, but as of now, we are in the valley. Foreboding trials and troubles are out there. Thank God for gracing us with an intense peace and calm within. We are not feared for ourself, but for those we love whom the enemy is surrounding. We pray for the re-encountering of a right relationship in the remembrance that we have a purpose and calling as a stand-in figure for Christ. The end is here. A compassionate and loving God asks us to look beyond ourselves. We are called to begin at the end…where God says it is done. That is to be our faith. This troubled spirit helps us to transcend self. We grow in our experience to a greater awareness in responding to others. We are in the sanctuary of a troubled soul. Reason has full power and dominion over the will and the will governs the sensual faculties constrained to be serviceable to good as we are held in obedience to God’s will. Sin causes the will to be disordered and to break loose from its obedience to God. It is on a violent course, and this troubles the spirit as it frames waywardness in justification, or excuses, or concealment. Reason lacking in the people of God is seduced thereby. It remains dispirited in power. And by judgment is so blinded that it cannot discern what it ought. This troubling in spirit finds it necessary for fasting, meditation, and prayer, being not only just, but expediate for the soul. This stirs up and strengthens the forces of reason: faith, prayer, and grace. This disposes the soul of God’s people to make familiar conference with God for the many others cared for. Prayer is the speech of our soul unto God and meditation is the speech of God to the soul. We render our employment of the sabbath days always to begin and end with God while we pause in the midst to comfort our consciences one with another. This is how God’s people are familied…made sweeter than honey as being drawn from many flowers. If we fail to present ourselves to speak face to face we fail in faith. How can we think to praise God with the tongue that deserts truth. Be troubled in spirit regarding the corruption of our nature consisting of love and dread in the trembling for the souls being lost. Our inward anguish cast our thoughts upon the Savior. What love moved him to choose death for me. In all the necessities and tribulations of this life, in Christ we have an assured hope and confidence. Our troubled spirits may find comfort in the sanctuary. Not a location or place; not confined within walls or defined by them. It's a spiritualized state of consciousness reached through prayer. Within the sanctuary of spiritual understanding we find immunity from sin and from the impositions of the world. Here we have spiritual recourse to meet any problem that may confront us and the means of resolving it. It is the secret place of the Most High. It is the understanding of our relationship to Christ as His spiritual expression of himself. In the sanctuary we discover the truth of our individuality as God's image. God has a purpose in troubling our spirits. It is for us to plead God's allness! His all- power, His ever-present love, His nearness, supremacy, oneness, and infinitude. How heartening it is to realize that every troubling thought, each trial can actually cause us to gain the understanding of our perfect state as God's spiritual image and likeness. It is as we take these troubling spirits to the sanctuary that we then understand their end. We take refuge in truth. We will see that the operation of divine principle is irresistible. We will learn that the demise of evil is inevitable because evil has no foundation in truth to support it, no life to sustain it, and no law through which to act. Because underived from God, evil is a nonentity; it's never a person or a group of persons. How is it that God has purposed a called election? God knows us only as we truly are. God's knowing of our faith preserves it. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

OnlineBibleCourse: Deepen your search for truth in the bible and learn about Christ. Sounds of Manna -Hymn 10 - Jesus Paid It All Play Video Free books! Play Video Be Transformed Play Video The Truth Watch Now Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Close DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED ARE EXTRACTS, EXCERPTS, OR COMPILATIONS AND ARE NOT COPYEDITED. MANY WORKS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ARE USED. THERE IS NO AUTHOR HERE…IT IS A COMPILATION FOR YOUR LEARNING Schedule Learn at your own pace. Grade your own quizzes. No schedule. No deadline. Contact He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone , and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. Revelation 2:17 KJV Online Bible Courses No Cost *New Blog Entries Added Weekly* Bible Prophecy Charts & Maps Learn where we are in the stream of time Bible Helpful Links From reputable sources About About White Stone Bible Study Online/OnlineBibleCourse Have you had questions about the Bible? Perhaps you just want to know more about the life of Jesus or how to become a better person. Or, rather, you have come here to learn more about prophecy and the events that are coming upon this earth. Well, put on your seatbelt, because you are about to have a bumpy ride; these studies may cause you to question long-held church traditions that might make you ponder and wonder...

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