Christ would see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied..

"At the cross Christ became one with His bride, united to her, being made what she was – sin. Her sin became His. Her transgressions became His as He bore them in His own body on the tree. And in response the wrath of God the Father poured down from the vaults of heaven upon Christ the sacrifice to judge sin in Him, to consume it, to destroy it, to blot it out. As Christ endured the cross, for the joy that was set before Him – as He looked by faith to His Father in hope of the glorious resurrection in righteousness with His people – He endured the full penalty of God’s righteousness, God’s unflinching justice, against all the sin and transgressions of His people. He endured it. He endured the hours of torment, the hours of unspeakable suffering. Why? “For the joy that was set before Him” Hebrews 12:2. At the last, Christ would see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Isaiah 53:11."

self-generated do-good intentions

"This focus on error of approach--of thinking we can earn God's approval by what we do--might seem like a fine distinction, but Scripture could not be more clear or strident. We cannot earn salvation, no one will have bragging rights in heaven, nor will God accept any "works" or "fruit" that come from self-generated do-good intentions.

Human religious energy is NOT something God has any interest in. In fact, since He has made provisions for us to access His very life and power, to choose to live in our own human resources is to reject His grace. His life, received by grace, will result in good works--to be sure. But how we approach God is critically important. Are we hoping in the grace and power of Christ Jesus, or are we hoping to impress God or earn His favor on our own merits? The difference is as wide as heaven and hell."

His righteousness is not you behaving righteously

Mat 6:32-33 "So do not worry saying, 'What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink or wear? For the pagans run after all these these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them!". He is a good Parent! He knows that you need those things! (v33); "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself - each day has enough trouble of it's own"

"Now "His righteousness" is not you "behaving righteously". It is not you earning or being good enough in your righteousness! It is the righteousness that He gave you as a gift! Right standing with God!"

Entirely overlooked in the Christian realm today.

"Today grace is our teacher. Tit 2:11-13, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. IT TEACHES US to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." I want you to notice that "grace" teaches us. Not the Mosaic Law, not the laws of morality and ethics, but grace. These three verses contain one of the most neglected truths of the Bible. No other passage in all of the Word of God so completely summarizes the subject of Christian conduct. Titus 2:11-13 contains three areas of Christian conduct.

(A). Christian living denies "ungodliness and worldly passions." The Christian realm of today teaches that certain acts are ungodly and worldly. That type of teaching is surface and superficial at best, and legalistic and apostate at worse. Simply put, anything done apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit is ungodly, no matter how good it may appear to be. Working in a church can be an ungodly act if it is done apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit. "Ungodly" simply refers to anything that God cannot honor or accept. And He cannot honor or accept anything done apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit. As far as "worldly passions" go, the knowledge of the Word of God is the only thing that can keep them out of the Christian life.

(B). The Christian life should be lived in "self-control, uprightness, and godliness." Again, the knowledge of the Word of God and the filling of the Holy Spirit is the key, not the legalistic teaching of many churches. Morality is not the issue, the controlling ministry of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of Bible doctrine is the real issue.

(C). The Christian life should be lived in the "great expectation of the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ." The knowledge of the Word of God and the filling of the Holy Spirit is the only way to obtain this attitude of "great expectation." and all of this is the product of grace.

There is a lack of emphasis upon that which constitutes true Christian conduct. There is even a greater lack of emphasis upon that which teaches the believer how to live the true Christian life. The fact is, it is the grace of God, the very same grace which brings salvation that teaches us who are saved how to live a life pleasing to God. But this concept has been entirely overlooked in the Christian realm today."

BIDS ME FLY AND GIVES ME WINGS!

"THE LAW COMMANDS AND GIVES ME NEITHER FEET NOR HANDS,
A BETTER THING THAT GRACE BRINGS, IT BIDS ME FLY AND GIVES ME WINGS"

"OPERATION GRACE"

"For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Grace is the plan of God from eternity past, and truth is the doctrine that expresses it in time. This plan of grace is perfect because God is perfect. A perfect plan can only come from a perfect God. A perfect plan excludes anything man can do. Therefore, the plan of God excludes man's merit, man's ability, and man's talent.

This perfect plan may simply be called, "Operation Grace." God's plan is declared in time through Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is simply the explanation of His plan categorically so that it can be understood, absorbed, and then applied. Therefore, when we know Bible doctrine, or when we know what the Word of God teaches, then and only then can we relax as a Christian and utilize the grace of God"

Robert H. Kreger

LETS CONTEND !!

"You have got to keep contending because if you don't contend then the vast majority of the church worldwide if it doesn't have prophets and apostles and evangelists and teacher/pastors contending, passionate, overcoming their own disappointments, their own cynicism, their own skepticism and unbelief - pushing through the demonic lies, if you don't have leaders like that then the church will gladly settle quickly to sermonettes on a Sunday and dead religious rituals and laws and superstition and guilt and doctrines of demons!"

forgiven, once-and-for-all !!

"Knowing and believing that all of our sins (past, present, and future) have been completely forgiven through the blood of the Lamb is the doorway through which every child of God must walk before he can begin to truly understand the amazing grace of God. Trying to teach a Christian that he has a new identity in Christ, that the Holy Spirit now actually lives in him, and that his Heavenly Father loves and accepts him unconditionally will make little sense without him first believing that the sin issue between himself and God is over.

Perhaps no other aspect of our salvation in Christ has been so confusing, paralyzing, and even divisive within the body of Christ as the forgiveness of our sins. How tragic that one of the most glorious and foundational truths of the gospel has deteriorated into a perplexing doctrine that many Christians would prefer to argue was an incomplete work of our Savior rather than one that is actually "finished" (John 19:30).

Why the confusion on something so elementary and crucial to our salvation? Your enemy, the father of lies, does not want you to know and believe that you have been forgiven, once-and-for-all. Since he cannot alter your eternal destiny if you are in Christ, then he will do all he can to deceive you into thinking that your behavior is to be the primary focus of your life."

To Sin Boldly ??

Terry Rayburn from "grace for Life", did this. I thought this was so good i decided to put it on my blog too...


"Below I've quoted part of Martin Luther's famous letter he wrote to Melanchton in 1521.

One phrase in it has been sometimes translated, "Sin boldly", and some have called Luther an antinomian (against the law, or lawless) because of it.

But this is a slander that all true preachers of the Gospel of Grace may be occasionally subject to.

Luther loved the law of God, as all who are born again do.

But Luther also knew we could never keep the law with the perfection required by God, and so he "recklessly" pounded home the great truth of Grace, by which Christ on the cross paid for all of our sins.

How many of them?

All.

Past sins.

Present sins.

Future sins.

"Should we sin then that Grace would abound," Paul asked on behalf of his imaginary audience.

"Of course not, you ignoramuses;" he responds to his own question, "don't you know you've died to sin and been born again? You love Jesus now, and hate your sins. What a dumb question!" --VERY loose paraphrase :)

And yet, when we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father. And so there is NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And we can crawl in His lap and rest, and this resting will help us to walk in His Spirit...free.



If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin.

God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.

We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter [2 Peter 3:13] are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign.

It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? -- Martin Luther

an extreme grace message !!

"People say we preach an extreme grace message - it is because they have never heard the law in all it's true spirituality.

To look at someone with lust in your eyes and your heart - you have committed adultery and you should be stoned. Literal adultery! If you hate someone without cause then you have murdered them! That is the true spirituality of the law!

They have heard a compromised watered down and diluted law. That is why they can mix this compromise law with a compromised grace and mix them together. If you preach the extremes of grace - that is no more extreme than the law! Everyone with a brain will know you cannot mix them together ever again! As extreme as law is - grace is a scandal! It is so wonderful and complete!"

Rob

Passion for God?

"You will never generate passion for God by trying to generate passion for God!

Passion for God is a fruit - a response - a result to something else! It is a response to the glory of the New Covenant that He loves you unconditionally and He sees you blameless without accusation and you are the righteousness of God permamently and none of your sins can dilute your righteousness because your righteousness is not based on your obedience - your holiness or your performance but on the obedience of the One Man - Jesus Christ! You are always righteous no matter how many mess-ups or mistakes you make! You stand up and say "I thank You that I am the righteousness of God and you have no accusation, condemnation and I am blameless in Your sight because of Jesus Christ! You love me!".

Rob Rufus

you have died to sin, believe it!

“Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).

Even though you are dead to sin, sin's strong appeal may still cause you to struggle with feeling that you are more alive to sin than you are to Christ. But Romans 6:1-11 teaches us that what is true of the Lord Jesus Christ is true of us in terms of our relationship to sin and death. God the Father allowed His Son to "be sin" in order that all the sins of the world--past, present and future--would fall on Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). When He died on the cross, our sins were on Him. But when He rose from the grave, there was no sin on Him. When He ascended to the Father, there was no sin on Him. And today, as He sits at the Father's right hand, there is no sin on Him. Since we are seated in the heavenlies in Christ, we too have died to sin.

Christ already died to sin, and because you are in Him, you have died to sin too. Sin is still strong and appealing, but your relationship with sin has ended. I've met many Christians who are still trying to die to sin, and their lives are miserable and fruitless as a result because they are struggling to do something that has already been done. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death" (Romans 8:2).

Romans 6:11 summarizes what we are to believe about our relationship to sin because of our position in Christ. It doesn't matter whether you feel dead to sin or not; you are to consider it so because it is so. People wrongly wonder, "What experience must I have in order for this to be true?" The only necessary experience is that of Christ on the cross, which has already happened. When we choose to believe what is true about ourselves and sin, and walk on the basis of what we believe, our right relationship with sin will work out in our experience. But as long as we put our experience before our belief, we will never fully know the freedom that Christ purchased for us on the cross.

Lord, teach me not always to believe what I feel about my relationship to sin, but to believe the truth that I am dead to it.”

Neil Anderson

Making the word of God UNEFFECTIVE through your traditions

THIS IS GOOD STUFF !!

"A recent Barna Survey reveals that for the first time, most Americans now depend upon their own logic, tradition, or experience to formulate beliefs. Few actually take the Word of God as the basis of their beliefs. The result is what Jesus spoke about in Mark 7:13:

"Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition."

Most Christians today aren't aware that their "old-time religion" is polluted with many traditions that void the power of God's Word. While there are plenty of "man-made" traditions that are harmful, it comes as a complete shock to most believers that there are traditions instituted by God that can make His Word of no effect.

After you pick yourself up off the floor from that statement, let me explain. The Old Testament way of relating to God is not the same as the New Testament way of having a relationship with God. The Old Testament was legalistic and based on your performance. The New Testament, on the other hand, is a covenant of grace based on acceptance of what Jesus did. Because of that, there is a huge difference between the way people approached God under the Old and the way they should now approach Him under the New.

The book of Hebrews was written specifically to contrast this and to show us how to approach God through a new and living way. I have spent decades meditating on this book, and especially Hebrews chapter 10:16-23, which I believe summarizes the whole book of Hebrews.

Those verses read,

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering."

Under the Old Covenant, a sacrifice had to be offered every time a sin was committed. Then, once a year on the day of atonement, a sacrifice was made by the high priest for everyone and everything just in case something was missed. However, all these sacrifices were just types and shadows of the ultimate sacrifice that was to come (Heb. 9:8-12 and 24-28).

Yet today, the Old Covenant thinking is still prevalent in the body of Christ. Average Christians have been taught, and believe, that the sins they committed before they were born again were all forgiven the moment they were saved. But they believe the sins they commit after their salvation all have to come under the blood and be confessed, one by one."

Andrew Wommack

What determines what you believe?

"Over the last forty years of teaching the Bible, I have learned some interesting things about how Christians determine what they believe. Unfortunately, one of the things I've learned is that many Christians never let the Bible get in the way of what they believe."

Andrew Wommack

i cling to him...

"Paul said in Galatians 2:20 that “the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.” (KJV, emphasis added) When your faith seems weak, don’t worry about it. What else can we expect of ourselves? Thank God, Jesus has enough faith that if we’ll simply cling to Him, everything is going to work out just fine. Live by His faith. That’s a lot easier than trying to muster up your own."

that's what i love about the message of grace. It stirs me to cling to Him more and more. why? because as i learn about the grace of my God, i am shown just how wonderful, kind, loving, generous, patient and easy to please really He is...and so i cling to him

We ARE already dead to sin, sir!

"I can remember if I think back what I heard in the church when it came to the sin issue is Rom 3:23, 1 John 1:8 and 9.... but never and hardly ever heard them preach on Rom 6 ........which speaks about that we are dead to sin and that we have now risen to new life, that we are united together in His likeness in His death and we shall now live in the likeness of His resurrection."