"Know-so Salvation" - A message from Pastor Rick

Good morning church,

Since we are still unable to meet together as a body, I thought I would write and share a message of faith and  blessing.

The New Covenant is a contract that God happily binds Himself to. Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out Jesus said. We come to Him as sinners and He makes us saints.

 Jesus wants us to know that we are saved; that we have passed from death to life; that no condemnation awaits us; that we are accepted in the beloved. Know-so salvation sounds like arrogance...but nothing could be further from the truth. Know-so salvation is the gift of God. Simply hoping to be saved is contrary to the gospel of Christ, because salvation then depends on you and your righteousness and not entirely on His person and work.. And Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. We are to repent from trusting anything but the blood of Christ to save and sanctify us. The blood of Jesus Christ His son, alone cleanses us from all sin.

When you know you are saved and forgiven for everything you have ever done, the Holy Spirit enables you to love and serve and stay clear of sin.

When our salvation rests totally on Christ and His work on our behalf, we have saving faith, know-so salvation and we will want to share the gospel with others and see them set free from false gospels that glorify men and organizations over Christ.

Here is a message from a friend Secundus on righteousness

RIGHTEOUSNESS

"But now the righteousness from God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness that it is a righteousness that comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe."  Romans 3:21-22

What is this "Righteousness that comes from God"?  It is the very righteousness of Jesus Christ himself!  It is HIS righteous obedience which is credited to US, just as OUR DISOBEDIENCE was credited to HIM. 

Mankind was separated from God by two impossible barriers: Sin and the Law.  Sin separates us from God, but the Law, too, was a barrier.  Only ABSOLUTE PERFECT OBEDIENCE to the Law could possibly ever save someone...and that is something that mankind, weakened by the flesh, could not do. 

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:2-4

What good would it do to forgive us of our sins if we then had to perfectly obey the Law?  We would only fall into sin AGAIN, unable to perfectly fulfill the Law.  Therefore, God removed BOTH of these barriers between us and himself through Christ.

Christ died for our sins, paying the penalty due to us for our disobedience.  He was the final and perfect sacrifice for sins, dealing ONCE AND FOR ALL with the sins of humanity.  But he also PERFECTLY OBEYED THE LAW during his life on this earth.  When he presented himself to the Father as the Satisfaction and Propitiation for our sins, he also presented himself as the One who FULFILLED the Law.  That is why Jesus said, "I did not come to abolish the Law, but to FULFILL it!"  He fulfilled the Law FOR US. 

Justification is the act by which the Father accepted the Sacrifice of Christ as the Satisfaction of Divine Justice against our sins in our stead, counting OUR sins as having been PAID IN FULL by the death of Christ.  And at the same time, he credits US with the PERFECT OBEDIENCE which Jesus Christ fulfilled on earth.

Therefore, we are not just declared "Forgiven", we are declared HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS...not with our OWN righteousness, but with a righteousness that comes from God and is by faith in Jesus Christ.

Now our obedience to God is NOT under the Law--because the Law has been fulfilled by Christ.  Now we are FREE to obey God out of LOVE AND GRATITUDE, not out of fear or obligation. We know that we CANNOT perfectly obey the Law as Jesus Christ did...but we are no longer under the judgment of the Law, because it has been fulfilled. We are free to obey God out of LOVE...not because we MUST. Grace takes the "have to" out of obedience and turns it into "WANT TO"!

A Divine Exchange happened in heaven!  Jesus took our sins upon himself and bore in himself the penalty due those sins.  And he gave to us HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS so that we might receive the reward of HIS obedience, not the penalty of our own disobedience. 

Our righteousness does not come from ourselves, and is not based upon our own ability to obey perfectly.  Our righteousness comes from heaven, a gift of God that was purchased and accomplished by Jesus Christ.  Now we do not obey IN ORDER TO BE accepted by God...we obey BECAUSE WE ARE accepted by God! We are no longer slaves, but children. 

Our relationship with God is NOT based upon our obedience, rather, our obedience is based upon our relationship with God!

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

"And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having cancelled the written code which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross." Colossians 2:13-14”

Rick here again. Let me close this message with a hymn.

https://youtu.be/71xjtTFL3D0

Agape,

Rick