The law the cross and the covenant of grace each have dealt with guilt and condemnation. Hope comes when we have come to the cross and learn to live in the grace provided.
GUILTY UNDER THE LAW
Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
God has placed all under the law so that all may be found guilty. It does not matter if you are a wicked man, a “good Joe”, or a performer of the law. Whichever category you find yourself in you are born with a sin nature and by the law of Moses standard you are guilty. Man must see their guilt before they can see their need for a Savior!
Romans 3:10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.“ 13 "Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit"; "The poison of asps is under their lips"; 14 "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.“ 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 D estruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.“ 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
God is holy and the revelation of God the law brings shows that all are sinners. No one was ever able to be a perfect law keeper until Jesus Christ the Son of God came and fulfilled the law. When compared to the holiness of God no man can stand holy before Him. The law exposes the guilt of man.
Romans 7:9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
The law exposes the guilt and bondage of sin. It has never been the role of the law to give life. The law makes sin exceedingly sinful. When man see they are separated from God because of the sin nature they were born with the law has fulfilled it’s purpose.
THE WORK OF THE CROSS; JESUS BORE OUR GUILT AN D PUNISHMENT
Isaiah 53:4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
Jesus bore our grief and sorrows. The punishment of our peace was upon Him! His wounds and bruises were all for our healing. The Father’s wrath was poured out upon Jesus; the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world. Only the power of the cross can build the bridge to bring us out of law and into the covenant of grace.
Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
Jesus came with an intimate revelation of righteousness apart from the law of Moses. God righteousness can only be applied through faith in Jesus Christ and there is no other way to the righteousness of God. We are reconciled back to God by grace through faith that is what it means to be made righteous.
Luke 24:46 Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 "and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem .
Jesus went to the cross so that repentance and remission of sins could be preached in His name! Jesus bore the wrath so we might be reconciled. Repentance is not just being sorry for your sin; repentance is godly sorry with a turning from the sin and toward God.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."
Turning from your sin and surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is what the confession of faith is about. Then Peter told the believer after true repentance there is water baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. This pattern is for every believer is found through out the book of Acts.
GUILTLESS VIA THE FATHER’S JUSTIFICATION
Romans 3:24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Our faith in Jesus is the point of our free justification. We are imputed righteousness and counted as if we have never sinned. Propitiation is Jesus taking the punishment and bearing the wrath for our sins. Sins remission is exclusively found through faith in the blood of Jesus. God is just and the justifier; that is it is a just thing for God to give us righteousness and justify us. The sacrifice of Jesus is so great; it would be unjust if God did not justify one who has exhibited faith in the saving blood of Jesus Christ. We have been declared innocent in the sight of God.
2 Corinthian 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The Father set us up for victory! Jesus who knew no sin became sin so we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Behold the Lamb of God!
Hebrews 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? LIVING WITH A PURGED CONSCIENCE!
A purged conscience comes from the blood of Jesus Christ, offered in sacrifice to God! There is no other source of a purged conscience. We are not called to walk in a sin conscience; put the object of your faith in the eternal work of Christ for your God awareness
1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Jesus Himself bore our sin in His own body of the tree. We come to Jesus we die to the sin nature and we are empowered to live for righteousness. It is by His stripes we were healed. We are now under the care of the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.
LAW CONDEMNS
2 Corinthians 3:9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
THE LAW IS CALLED THE MINISTRY OF CONDEMNATION
READ 2 CORINTHIANS 3:4-18
THE CROSS ENDED CONDEMNATION
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Right now, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus! Oh that we might gain the understanding what it means that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death!!! The law had no power to bring life to sinful flesh. Jesus came that on account of sin and condemned sin in the flesh! We died to sin when we came to Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. He that confesses Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God. Because you are not in the flesh you the believer are called not to walk in the carnal mind. Put off the old man be made new in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man!
NO CONDEMNATION IN GRACE
John 5:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
When do we pass from death unto life so that we do not face judgment? When we hear the words of Jesus and believe that the Father sent Him to save us from our sin.
1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
When we get a revelation of the love of God we may have boldness on the day of judgment. Wow, what a promise. Love has been perfected; it is time to let your soul come in line with the perfected love of God. Because as Jesus is, so are we in this world. The Father spoke from heaven on several occasions in Jesus ministry saying “this is my Beloved Son”. The Father’s desires for you to know you are beloved to such a degree there is no fear of judgment! Powerful!!!
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Where does the condemnation end? At the point of faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus gives you everlasting life. Jesus came that the condemnation may end! Guilt and condemnation has been ended in the greatness of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! More to come…
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