“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.” Tit2:11-14
One of
the reasons many preachers fear to preach about the grace of God and the
righteousness of the believer is because they think that doing so will
encourage people to sin. Many of these leaders believe that the way to get
people to live holy is by scaring and condemning them with the law so that they
will be afraid of living in sin. However this is self-defeating. You can never scare people out of sin.
We can
see in the Old Testament that however
much God released His wrath and judgment upon the people for their sins, they
never stopped sinning! It didn’t matter how severe and deadly the
judgment was like in the case of the flood or Sodom and Gomorrah, the people
only paused for a season and resumed with their sinful ways soon after. Indeed
the apostle Paul later said that people only repent when they see the goodness
of God.
“Or do you despise the riches of
His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of
God leads you to repentance?” Rom2:4NKJV
We
should understand that it is the goodness and grace of God that enables us to
repent and begin living a holy life. When people understand faith
righteousness, they are able to receive and experience the grace of God that
empowers them to ‘live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world’ as
Tit2:12 says. Faith righteousness is the key to living a holy life. It is the
key to true holiness.
We are not accepted the way we are to stay the way we are.
We are accepted the way we are so that God by His grace and power will make us
as we ought to be.
When
somebody has faith in the atonement of Jesus, God grants them His own righteousness.
However it doesn’t end there. This faith is a force or power that will always
produce corresponding actions.
Your
faith will always bring into being the substance or evidence of the things you
are believing in your heart. Faith is not just believing something. Faith
actually makes physically real the spiritual thing that you are believing.
This is why Heb11:1 defines it as follows;
“Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
When we
receive the faith righteousness of God, our faith will go ahead to begin
producing this righteousness in our physical lives by the grace of God. This
faith will substantiate (prove) this spiritual righteousness which is not being
seen at the present moment and evidence it in our physical lives through holy
living and victory over temptation and sin.
I know
this is very new to most of us. We rarely hear faith being taught like this but
this is what faith does. God gave us faith to be able to live the divine life
on this physical earth. Faith is the bridge between heavenly realities and our
earthly experiences. By faith we are able to bring into our earthly experience
the heavenly realities and power of the kingdom of heaven. By faith we are able
to reign in life as kings. The apostle James makes it clear that there is
always physical evidence to true faith.
Let us look at what he says;
“Even so faith, if it hath not
works, is dead, being alone.” Jam2:17
Faith
without works is dead faith. It is useless faith. True faith will always
produce actions. There is always work that accompanies faith. Faith can never
be alone. It always produces physical evidence.
“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew
thee my faith by my works.” Jam2:18
Having
‘faith’ without accompanying actions is not really having faith. True faith has
works that prove it. James is saying that ‘I can show my faith by my works’. ‘I
can prove what I believe by how I live’. ‘My believing is producing my living’
“Thou believest that there is
one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou
know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” Jam2:19-20
Note1: This is one of the most
sarcastic scriptures in the entire bible. James says that believing that God
exists is not really faith. Even satan believes that God exists. And yet we
can’t say that satan has faith. Until there is action to back up what you believe,
you don’t really have faith.
Note2: We need to stop defining faith as believing something. The bible
doesn’t define faith as believing something. The bible defines faith as
‘the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen’.
Faith goes beyond believing. Faith proves
what you believe. Faith produces what you believe. Faith is substance and
evidence!! If you believe that you are righteous, faith will prove that by
producing holiness in your thoughts, actions and motives.
“Was not Abraham our father
justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest
thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?”
Jam2:21-22
Heb11:17-19
shows that when God told Abraham to offer up Isaac his son as a sacrifice, Abraham already believed that God was going to resurrect Isaac. As far as He
was concerned, Isaac was already dead and resurrected. How could he do this? How
could Abraham carry out God’s instruction without any struggle or emotional
break down?
It was
because he had true faith in God. He trusted God. He remembered all the
promises that God had made concerning Him and Isaac. The only way for these
promises to come to pass would be for Isaac to be alive. Abraham therefore knew
that He could trust God. His faith was proved by him offering Isaac. In other
words the action of offering Isaac proved that he believed what God had
promised.
He
didn’t struggle with doubt and unbelief because he had faith righteousness. He
knew that it was all about God and not about him. He yielded himself to the
righteousness and grace of God. His faith produced the substance and evidence
of what he believed. Abraham was operating by the grace of God. It why he did
things that were beyond an ordinary person. He wasn’t ordinary, he had faith righteousness!
“And the scripture was fulfilled
which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for
righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by
works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” Jam2:23-24
In a
nutshell, we are saved by grace
though faith apart from works of the law. However saving faith is never without
corresponding actions. When a person truly believes, they act accordingly.
“Likewise also was not Rahab the
harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent
them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without works is dead also.” Jam2:25-26
In the
same way that a body without a spirit is dead, faith without corresponding
actions is dead. It is useless.
We will
study the issue of faith in much more detail in our third lesson.
“Be not deceived: evil
communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not;
for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” 1Cor15
When we
wake up to God’s righteousness, the righteousness which we have been made then
we will quit sinning. Our problem is that we are asleep concerning the
righteousness of God. We are unaware of it. So the scripture tells us; ‘awake to righteousness’
“Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are
we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know
that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he
is. And every man that hath this hope
in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
1Jn3:1-3
If you
are truly born again and filled with the Holy Ghost you will want to live a
holy life and be like God is. This is because we share God’s life. We are God’s
sons.
Holiness
is a fruit of the new man (spirit man) who is righteous and truly holy. This new man is our new nature.
“If ye know that he is
righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.”
1Jn2:29
If we
have been made righteous then we shall do righteousness. Our actions will flow
out from our righteous nature.
“Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin,
because he is born of God.” 1Jn3:9
If
righteousness is in you. Then the righteous incorruptible seed of Jesus Christ will
work its way out. We shall see manifestations of that righteousness in outward
holy behavior and actions. The seed will germinate and produce crop and a
harvest.
Why should we live holy?
1) We live holy because
we are holy.
“Do you not know that the
unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will
inherit the kingdom of God. And such
were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
1Cor6:9-11
When we
are born again God gives us a new nature that is righteous and truly holy. God
our father is a holy and righteous God and we have His nature and life in us.
We share the same DNA.
Many
Christians struggle with the idea of being holy. They don’t believe that they
are already holy. The scripture is very clear, your new spirit is holy.
“And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Eph4:24
Now we need to act the way we are. And we do
this by first of all believing that we are holy. Then our faith will produce
this holiness through the grace of God working in us.
2) We live holy because we love God
“Beloved, now are we the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he
shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every
man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 1Jn3:2-3
God
hates sin, and because we are His children and He dwells in us, we too should
have a hatred for sin. Sin is against God and against us. Because we love God,
we should hate everything that is against Him.
God has
always hated sin. God has never stopped hating sin, He has never stopped being
angry at sin. God is always angry at sin. And He tells us to always be angry at
sin. To never stop being angry at sin.
“Be ye angry, and sin not: let
not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.”
Eph4:26-27
Note1: Many times we have been taught
that this verse is saying that you should never go to bed when you are angry at
somebody. That you can be angry at them during the day but once the sun sets,
then you should forgive them and stop being angry. This is ridiculous. Being
angry at somebody is wrong whether it is during the day or at night. James says
that “…the wrath of man worketh not the
righteousness of God.” Jam1:20.
Anger
and hatred are God given emotions. God is the one that invented anger and
wrath. He gave them to us for a reason and purpose. This purpose is for us to
be able to hate sin and evil. The bible commands us to hate sin and evil (Ps.
97:10; Prov. 8:13; Amos 5:15; Rom. 12:9).
Note2: This verse is not talking
about being angry with somebody. It is talking about being angry at sin and
hating sin. This is why it begins by saying that ‘Be ye angry, and sin not’. If you look at the context, you will see
that this passage is dealing with our new nature and its freedom from sin. And
giving us reason to reject the old nature and never give space for satan and sin
in our lives.
Paul is
commanding us to have a righteous anger which is not sin. In Mark3:5 Jesus got
angry without sinning and we should too. This scripture is speaking of a
righteous anger which is not directed at people but at sin and evil. We need to
keep this righteous indignation and anger always stirred up
Note3: The phrase “let not the sun go down upon your wrath” is
a figure of speech. It means that don't ever let your anger take a rest or go
to sleep. We as Christians should never get to the place where we look at sin
passively and where sin is okay. We should always hate sin and be angry at
evil. This is how God is. He is always angry. This should be the attitude of a
righteous and godly person. Be always angry!
3) We live holy because living
holy glorifies God.
“Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven.” Mat5:16
When we
live holy lives, our light shines before men. Notice that our light is supposed
to shine before men and not before God. Our holy living impresses other people
and gives a good testimony to other people. However, as far as God is
concerned, we always relate to Him on the basis of the finished work of the
Cross and not on the basis of our good works. Our light shines before men. This
he says will glorify our Father who is in heaven. When you live a holy life, you glorify God.
4) We live holy because we love people
Sin
hurts people. There is no such thing as a private or personal sin. You can’t
name a sin that doesn’t hurt people. Love is the fulfillment of the law because
love doesn’t work any will towards its neighbor.
“Love worketh no ill to his
neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom13:10
5) We live holy because living
holy is wise. Living in sin is stupid!
By
wisdom we understand that sin is pleasurable for a season but its end is death.
We understand that there are consequences to sin. A sinful life is destructive.
It destroys our body, mind and emotions. It destroys our relationships with
other people. Sin is stupid! All the stuff we struggle with, all the problems that we have are the result of sin. Either a direct or indirect result of the sins we are committing or a direct or indirect result of the sins other people are committing. Sin has consequences;
What are the consequences of sin?
1) Sin
enslaves.
“For sin shall not have dominion
over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we
sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye
not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to
whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
Rom6:14-16
Sin is
addictive after the flesh. Every sin has some kind of temporal pleasure that is
addictive. For a season it feels good. If we choose to live in sin and not
repent, satan uses that sin and temporal pleasure to enslave us. It brings
bondage into our lives.
“They answered him, We be
Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall
be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin.” Jn8:33-34
Sin is
a seed sown that brings a harvest. And that harvest is bondage. Stay away from
sin.
2) Sin
defiles the conscience
“For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having
not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written
in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
mean while accusing or else excusing one another” Rom2:14-15
When
you sin it affects your conscience. When
somebody who willfully transgresses a command or law doesn’t willfully repent
it bothers and defiles their conscience. They feel pain and guilt for
what they have done. Such a person should immediately repent and receive
forgiveness and cleansing from God for what they have done. This cleanses the
conscience from the shame and guilt. This is why John advises us to confess our
sins when we commit them;
“If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his
word is not in us.” 1Jn1:8-10
Notice that
he also says that when we confess our sins God will not only forgive us but
will also cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He cleanses us from the shame
and guilt in our conscience when we repent.
“Now the end of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain
jangling…This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the
prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good
warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away
concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom
I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”
1Tim1:5-6,18-20
We are
supposed to serve God out of a good conscience. When we sin our conscience
condemns us and we feel bad. When we repent, our conscience is purged by the righteousness
of God that is already in us. So that with a good conscience we are able to
have faith toward God.
“Let every person be subject to
the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God's
appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. So the
person who resists such authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who
resist will incur judgment…Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not
only because of the wrath of the authorities but also because of your
conscience.” Rom13:1-5
Paul
tells us to obey the laws of the land and to be subject to the government for conscience’s
sake. So that our conscience will not condemn us because we are breaking the
laws of the land.
Our conscience is not bad or evil. We just have to bring it
under the Word and the Truth. If we repent and our conscience still condemns us
then we should tell it to shut up! There is therefore now no condemnation for us.
Read
1Cor10:23-33
3) Sin
hardens the heart and leads to deception
“Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.” Heb3:12-13
Known,
habitual, unrepented sin hardens one’s heart. Sin will literally cause one to
self-destruct through making bad decisions because they are deceived and not in
their right senses. This is what happened to Pharaoh;
“And I will harden Pharaoh's
heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh,
and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they
did so.” Ex14:4
At first Pharaoh
hardened his heart towards God and refused to let Israel go even after God sent
plagues and judged them with a heavy hand. Eventually God gave Pharaoh his
desire by hardening his heart to a point of no return. Pharaoh ended up
pursuing Israel into the parted sea where he perished with his armies.
If Pharaoh
hadn’t hardened his heart, he would have known better than to pursue Israel in
the midst of all the signs and wonders that he saw. Including fire by night and
the cloud by day and the parting of the red sea.
The
same thing happened to Samson in Judges16:6-20.
Delilah asked him over and over again to tell her the secret of his great
strength and every time he told her, she made him drunk and bound him accordingly
and even called in the Philistines to kill him. However Samson wasn’t able to
put two and two together and figure out that this woman was trying to trap him.
He couldn’t even wonder who invited or let the Philistines come into where he
was that easily.
How
could Samson be so stupid and not see that this woman was going to kill him?
Couldn’t he figure out that she was trying to find his weakness so that she would
expose him to his enemies? Eventually because of his stupidity the philistines bound him, blinded him and enslaved him.
This is what sin does to people. Sin binds people, blinds them and enslaves them. Sin makes
you less than what God wants you to be.
While
God will never leave you nor forsake you, sin will make you feel like He did.
While God will never be your enemy, sin will make you feel like He is.
God’s Holiness is on your side
“Rejoice in the LORD, ye
righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” Psa97:12
We the
righteous are told to rejoice and give thanks when we think of the holiness of
God. This verse comes as a shock to most of us. Our reaction at the remembrance
of the holiness of God is fear and dread.
Every time somebody makes a
statement about God being a holy God, many of us react with fear and dread. We are
afraid of hearing about the holiness of God.
This is because many of us do
not believe that we are righteous and holy as God is. We do not believe that we
are the righteousness of God. We do not believe that Jesus is our righteousness
and our holiness. We think that God’s holiness is against us. That God’s
holiness judges and condemns us. We think that God finds fault with us. This shouldn’t
be. All of this just shows that we have not understood faith righteousness and
received it. We are still pursuing our own righteousness which is of the law.
The
Cross of Jesus Christ has met all the claims of God’s holiness towards us. It
has thoroughly removed our sins from His sight.
"...but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Heb9:26
Jesus appeared to put away sin.
Sin has been put away. The lamb who takes away all the sins of the world has
taken away all our sins.
“The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world.” Jn1:29
All the
claims of holy God have been perfectly met at the Cross by the perfect lamb, Jesus Christ.
In the
Cross God’s love for us and hatred for sin are both perfectly manifested. Mercy
and justice embrace at the Cross. God didn’t spare His own Son. He had to
satisfy His wrath and His love.
Now we
can give thanks for God’s holiness because His holiness is on our side. By it
He provided for us an eternal salvation.
We are no longer transgressors of
this holiness. We are now in agreement and in line with this holiness. Listen,
you are in agreement and in line with God’s holiness. You are on the same side!
God finds no fault in me! God finds no fault in you! God
finds no fault in us! Now we can live holy, without
fear or doubt or condemnation. Go ahead, live holy. Glorify God. This is faith
righteousness.
“Mercy and truth are met
together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring
out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the LORD
shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness
shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.” Psa85:10-13
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