February 2015 Spirit Food

This month, let’s focus on Jesus’ Resurrection.

Romans 4:25 – “who [Jesus] was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised for our justification”.

Most Christians understand John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,

but have everlasting life.”

The Bible tells us that Christ was delivered up for our sins and raised from the dead for our justification. You may already know why Jesus died for our sins, but do you know the significance of God raising Him from the dead?

Understand that God is a just God. When he gave mankind laws in the Old Testament, He did so to bring to their knowledge what sin was, as without the law, there cannot be a transgression of the law. Prior to that time, the people were living under grace while roaming in the desert; with God showing Himself as a cloud during the day (to shield them from the burning desert sun), and a pillar of fire at night (to keep them from the drastic cold temperature change). Remember, not one person is recorded in the Bible as dying during that time.

Once God gave them “the law” we refer to as the Ten Commandments, and the people starting violating them, they died. As the Bible states in Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death …”

Well, God came to understand that under the Old Covenant/Testament, it proved to be impossible for mankind to keep His laws, therefore, He provided mankind with a way to cover his sin for a period of time; thus, the animal sacrifices. God allowed mankind to cover his past sins for a period of time (year after year), until He could send His Only Begotten Son Jesus (with pure blood, untainted by sin), to redeem mankind.

See, even in the garden after Adam committed high treason (against God his creator) by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God killed an animal (shedding its blood), to cover Adam’s sin. Then covered Adam and Eve with animal skin; as Adam and Eve had lost their “glory” covering, and understood themselves to be naked.

I’ve shared all that to go into the significance of God raising Jesus from the dead. When God allowed mankind to “cover sin” with the blood of animal sacrifices (for a specified period of time) under the Old Covenant, He understood that he needed to have blood shed that was not tainted by sin. This is where He implemented the plan to send Jesus to earth, to be born of a virgin, being impregnated by seed from the Holy Spirit (Himself). Medical science has come to understand today that none of the mother’s blood enters the baby’s body during pregnancy. Therefore, Jesus’ blood was not sin tainted.

The significance of God raising Jesus from the dead, was that after God had expelled all of His wrath upon Jesus on the cross (taking our place), for all of mankind’s sin (past, present and future), he was still alive, as he was innocent. He had accepted to go to the cross on our behalf, to redeem mankind.

We are no longer under the old covenant. We are now under the New Covenant. And in this new covenant, God says in Hebrews 8:12 – “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

He desires to be our Father! To:

Lead us—“I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts.” (Hebrews 8:10) These are the laws of faith, love and liberty to guide you in everything you do. It is a spontaneous, dynamic, active and intimate way to be led by God.

Work miracles for us—“I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Hebrews 8:10) The phrase “I will be their God” denotes a miracle-working God. So if you are sick and God says, “I will be your God,” get ready for healing! If you are poor and God says, “I will be your God,” get ready for His supply!

Cause us to know Him effortlessly—“…all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.” (Hebrews 8:11) The Greek word for “know” here is eido. It means to know intuitively without effort. This means that you will know God easily.

The clause that makes it all happen: Hebrews 8:12 - “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” The words “no more” in the Greek carry a strong double-negative sense. So God is saying, “I will never, by no means, remember your sins!”

This is His grace towards us in the New Covenant! The more you believe this in your heart, the more you will see those blessings fulfilled in your life. When you realize how much God has forgiven you and remembers your sins no more, the more you will come to know Him and comprehend how much He loves you. His ways and His will for you will become intimately close, and it will be intuitively without effort.

When you accepted Jesus as the Lord of your life, you were made to be the righteousness of God because of what Jesus did on the cross to redeem you! Jesus accepted the sin of all mankind (by faith) and took the punishment of God to redeem you and I, so we could take His righteousness by faith and receive our adoption and inheritance as His child!

Romans 10:6 – “…the righteousness of faith speaks …

Every time you confess, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ”, God the Father is pleased. When you confess that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, it reminds Him of what His Son has done for you to become righteous.

By making you righteous, God is showing Himself righteous—“to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus”. (Romans 3:26)

Each time Jesus hears you confess, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ,” it brings much pleasure to His heart too, because you are laying hold of what He suffered and died to give you.

The Holy Spirit, who now indwells you (He came to live inside you, alongside your spirit … remember, you are a spirit being, you have a soul, and you live in a body), to convict you of righteousness (John 16:10), also rejoices when you confess, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.” He is pleased when you flow with Him.

The delight of the Godhead is not the only thing you gain when you declare, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.” The Bible tells us that when you “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…all these things shall be added to you”. (Matthew 6:33)

Whether it is food, clothing or other necessities in life, “all these things” will be added to you. They will not just be given to you, but added to you as your inheritance when you seek first His righteousness.

You don’t need to use your faith for every single need in life. You just need to use your faith for one thing—to believe that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, and it will cause all the blessings you seek to come after you and overtake you!

Those whom have accepted Jesus as Lord, have a promise from Our Father In Heaven: It’s in Hebrews 8:12 – “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

If you were to do a study on the lives of Abraham, Moses and David in the Old Testament, you would read how Abraham lied twice about his wife Sarah. He told Pharaoh, and later, King Abimelech, that she was his sister to protect his own life. Moses killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew, and hid the body in the sand (lots of sand out in the desert). David committed adultery with Bathsheba and later arranged for her husband to be killed in battle. Yet, their sins were not recorded in Hebrews 11, only their deeds done in faith!

If you read Hebrews 11, which was written after the cross of Jesus, you will notice that there is no record of their sins or failures. Yet, their life stories tell us that they were far from perfect.

God is showing us that He does not record your sins or failures today. Instead, He records your faith confessions and deeds done in response to what His Son has done for you. Every time you sin, every time you waver in your faith, God does not record it. But every time you believe Him and respond in faith, He records it! That should not make you want to sin more. It should free you to love God more!

So don’t be conscious of your failures. Yes, we all occasionally “miss the mark”. But if God Himself does not remember them, why dwell on them? Recognize you “missed it”, thank God for His grace, mercy and favor, and “press-on” doing His plan for your life here on this earth! Be conscious instead of your righteousness in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), and you will reign in life! (Romans 5:17)