Righteousness by Faith - Explained

Every Christian should know that in order to be saved from the penalty of sin, we have to be clothed with a righteousness that comes only from God. This righteousness does not come from obedience. Rather, Jesus grants this righteousness to us when we become willing to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and our neighbor as our self. True love for God and others fulfills the demands of the law.

The Holy Spirit wants us to look often into the perfect law of God to see how pure love for God and man is expressed. Yes, every born again person knows the problem with sin. We can't fulfill the intent of the law all of the time.

Paul wrote in Rom 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

In other words, born again Christians have two natures that war against each other. Sometimes the carnal nature wins. This happened in king David's case. Sometimes, the spiritual nature wins. Born again Christians understand this warfare. This is why the seal of God is so wonderful.

God's children will be tested to see if they really want their selfish carnal nature removed. When they pass their test, Jesus will fulfill their desire.

The first angel's message demands that we give glory to Jesus. What does this mean? We bring glory to Jesus by exalting the eternal principle of love that He lives by. This is a beautiful point. God is pleased when we keep His law and God is overjoyed when we fulfill the intent of His law through selfless love.

This is the meaning of "Give glory to Him..."

Every Christian should know that in order to be saved from the penalty of sin, we have to be clothed with a righteousness that comes only from God. This righteousness does not come from obedience. Rather, Jesus grants this righteousness to us when we become willing to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and our neighbor as our self. True love for God and others fulfills the demands of the law.

The Holy Spirit wants us to look often into the perfect law of God to see how pure love for God and man is expressed. Yes, every born again person knows the problem with sin. We can't fulfill the intent of the law all of the time.

Paul wrote in Rom 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

In other words, born again Christians have two natures that war against each other. Sometimes the carnal nature wins. This happened in king David's case. Sometimes, the spiritual nature wins. Born again Christians understand this warfare. This is why the seal of God is so wonderful.

God's children will be tested to see if they really want their selfish carnal nature removed. When they pass their test, Jesus will fulfill their desire.

The first angel's message demands that we give glory to Jesus. What does this mean? We bring glory to Jesus by exalting the eternal principle of love that He lives by. This is a beautiful point. God is pleased when we keep His law and God is overjoyed when we fulfill the intent of His law through selfless love.

This is the meaning of "Give glory to Him..."

The Bible says there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:28-29) This promise indicates that if we are in Christ, we are heirs to all that God promised Abraham. So, there cannot be an eschatology where one series of events occur for Christians and another for Jews. Many people say there was no law before the Ten Commandments. However, the fact that sin existed prior to the Ten Commandments proves that there was law in place before the Ten Commandments. Before Adam and Eve sinned, they had a propensity toward righteousness and God's law was written on their hearts. After their fall, they became attracted toward evil. In Earth's last days, Christ will put His laws in the minds and write them on the hearts of the people He has sealed. Today, Christ will impute His righteousness to us if we accept Him and live by faith.

God's ways are best, not because He says so, but because He has demonstrated with His power, love, humility, and suffering that His ways are right. In the days of the Tower of Babel, God separated the land into continents and scattered the people. Also, they spoke different languages so the people were divided.

About the same time, Abraham, through faith chose to follow God's call and go to a land which the Lord was to give him. During the last days, people will need to have faith so they can take a stand for God.

Anyone can be an offspring of Abraham if he or she receives Christ and walks by faith. Abraham's seed will receive the blessings that God promised Abraham. God will give salvation to those who walk in faith and are part of the great multitude He has gathered after the second coming.

God established two covenants with Abraham; a unilateral and a bilateral covenant. A unilateral covenant is one that God issues without consent from the other party, for example, the Ten Commandments. (Interestingly, this is the reason why the box holding the Ten Commandments was called the "Ark of the Covenant.") A bilateral covenant requires the consent of two parties.

God made a unilateral covenant with Abraham - "I will make you into a great nation" and a bilateral covenant - the sign of circumcision.

Another type of covenant in the Bible is the blood covenant. This covenant requires the death of one of the parties to the covenant to terminate it. This is the most serious covenant type. Be sure to visit our website at https://www.wake-up.org

God gave Israel at Mt. Sinai a covenant that if Israel obeyed Him, He would make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. However, God demonstrated with Israel that when His people fail, He starts over with a remnant. This is a never ending cycle. Righteousness by faith is not a doctrine, it is an experience. Living by faith is the most difficult experience known to the human race. It is impossible for the carnal heart to live by faith. Revelation 1:6 says that God has made us to be a kingdom and priests. In fact, James sent his epistle to the twelve tribes of Israel scattered throughout the nations. This includes everyone who has chosen to live by faith.

God requires a life for a life and the cities of refuge illustrate God's plans for creating judicial equilibrium. The ten commandments are a covenant between God and His people. This is why the two tablets of stone were stored in the Ark of the Covenant. If the Holy Spirit is leading you, God will lead you into an experience of faith and guide you into all truth. Please go to wake-up.org to study more from God's Word.

Paul says a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. James says a person is justified but what he does and not by faith alone. How are we to understand this apparent conflict? If you are proof text oriented, you can make one text fight against the other; but actually there's a very clear harmony between the two texts when we look beneath the surface and understand that living by faith is an experience, not a one-time event.

The Holy Spirit should be working on our hearts right now, prompting and nagging us about something in our lives that need changing. The nagging is the Spirit bringing guilt in an effort to propel us to resolve it—to make things right with God and those we’ve wronged. Do you hear anything? Are you listening? Or are you cramming so much busyness into your life that the Spirit is muted?

After watching this segment of Righteousness by Faith, you’ll clearly see the harmony between what Paul and James were saying; and you’ll understand how to respond to that spiritual nagging and find a peace in your life that only the Lord can produce!

Please visit our site for more in-depth articles and videos about what God is trying to do to save humanity. You’ll be amazed at the effort God exerts to save you and me!

https://www.wake-up.org

The first lesson in overcoming sin we need to learn is that, unless the victory is accomplished through the Spirit, it is neither permanent nor long-lasting. The problem, you see, is our carnal nature. And if you’ve ever tried to correct a flaw in your own character, you must admit it can’t be accomplished by the exercise of willpower. Willpower is useful and can do much (for 30 days), but it won’t produce a pure heart.

Until you’re willing to pray, “Lord you've got to change my nature because that's where the problem rests. You've got to help me see sin for what it really is rather then rationalize it's just a moment of pleasure. Help me to have the attitude you want me to have.” When we can earnestly pray for this attitude, then, by the power of the Spirit, not by the power of self, those around us begin to see us as a brand new person. It is the spirit that changes us from within.

Now, I'm not saying that the Holy Spirit changes everything at once; this is just one test. There’ll be more transformation to come, hopefully! The valuable lesson about this whole process and what God wants to reveal to us is, it’s HIS power to do the impossible, not ours that makes the change permanent.

Please visit our site for more in-depth articles and videos about what God is trying to do to save you and me!

https://www.wake-up.org

The Bible says, if you are in Christ Jesus then you are Abraham's seed and an heir according to the promise. Why would any Christian today want to be an heir of Abraham? What God promised Abraham was not just a little sliver of land in the eastern part the globe— that wasn't what God had in mind at all. God was not looking to just create one tiny nation and put a few million people in it. There’s more to the story than you may have considered before!

In Romans 7 Paul says, the things I don’t want to do, I do; but the things that I want to do, I don't! Paul realized that when a person is born again he acquires a new nature, and this spiritual nature wars against the carnal nature we’re born with.

Later on, Paul makes an interesting statement that I didn't understand for many years; he says, whatever is not of faith is sin. What does that mean? I think there's a simple explanation now that I understand something about righteousness by faith. Here is what it means: if whatever you do is not motivated out of the Spirit-lead faith experience—it’s garbage. Paul is saying, if what you do isn’t motivated by a faith experience, it’s useless!

Please visit our site for more in-depth articles and videos about what God is trying to do to save humanity. You’ll be amazed at the effort God exerts to save you and me!

https://www.wake-up.org

John describes four angels standing on the four corners of the earth. The ancients believed that the earth was flat and demons lived beneath the earth. The four angels were holding back the four winds until a seal was placed on the servants the prophets. After these servants (the 144,000) were sealed, then the four winds were released and the Great Tribulation begins. The Bible distinguishes between the 144,000 and the great multitude surrounding God's throne.

The mystery of God is that anybody can be saved if he or she is willing to live by faith. There will be disasters on earth during the first four trumpets. Like the trumpets between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, the trumpets provided a warning that mercy was about to end.

God will pour out His Spirit on the 144,000 servants first - this is the reason they are called first fruits. God will give them, along with those who choose to live by faith during the Great Tribulation, an incomparable gift. He will remove their carnal nature so they will no longer have a need for an intercessor. What a wonderful event!

When a person is willing to live by faith, he or she recognizes God's sovereignty and omniscience. Living this life, if we find ourselves in a predicament, James says to count it all joy. The Bible says that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. However, there will be two judgments - the judgment of the living and the judgment of the dead.

People will not vote in Heaven because God is a dictator - the most benevolent dictator you will ever know. He will never ask you to do something that he hasn't prepared you to do. He understands our unique DNA.

The only question necessary in the judgment is did the person live by faith and does he have the covering of Christ's righteousness. Christ will hold up the life of the person before the heavenly court, remove the covering of His righteousness and show why He gave his righteousness to that person. He will show how that person lived by faith.

Living by faith is a challenge because God's ways are often undecipherable in the short term. He may do something today that may take 10,000 years to understand. In the long term, His ways are always proven to be best.

Those living during the Great Tribulation will judge themselves, because it would be unfair for God to judge an uncompleted life. The first group to be judged during the Great Tribulation will be the 144,000. These are the first fruits and judgment begins at the house of God.

The promise that God makes for those who choose Him during the Great Tribulation is that He will write His laws on their hearts. Through this, the mystery of God is accomplished. Christ in you!

Through His covenant with Abraham, God has promised the land and eternal life to all of Abraham's offspring. This promise extends to all those who will live by faith. The Holy Spirit guides us into a life lived by faith. God has promised to pour His Spirit on all people. His servants will be scattered throughout the world with a common thread that they have chosen to live by faith. They will be part of every religious system and the Holy Spirit will lead them to proclaim the first angel's message.

Because of the disastrous events on Earth, the religions of the word, in conjunction with the political powers, will establish religious laws attempting to appease God. God's servants will be proclaiming that people should worship God and this will be in opposition to the world's laws. People will be unable to get to Heaven through works and legalism. Living by faith is the only way that a person will be saved.

The choice to walk by faith will be critical during the last days of Earth's history. The Bible predicts the devil will appear claiming to be God at various locations around the Earth. This could deceive the very elect. God sees man's suffering and heartache and His patience is wearing thin. His wrath and judgments will be apparent in the seven trumpets and seven bowls. God has sealed the book of Daniel until the final generation needs the blueprint of prophecy to understand the prophetic events of Revelation. God will reveal that each of the seven religious systems in the world are false. God will give the Holy Spirit and support a body of people that will take a stand and follow the Spirit. The removal of the religious systems will create a new group of people who love truth. These people who hold to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus may die for their belief. God will allow people to die for the cause of Christ, but He knows how many martyrs that will allow the greatest number of people to be saved.

Living by faith means that whatever God has in mind for me is OK. Righteousness by faith is all about the spiritual, mental, and physical struggle because that is what it means to be touched by Jesus.