Our Sin, His Righteousness (Pt. 4)

 

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

We are sinners saved
by grace. We have not only been
saved from sin, the penalty of sin,
we have been given a new identity
because we are now
IN CHRIST
and
CHRIST IS IN US!

Because of this we are no longer
who we once were!
We have a new lineage,
heritage,
inheritance, family,
and heart!

All of our past, present,
and future debt has been paid
AND
we are given
every spiritual blessing in
CHRIST!!!

It is beyond comprehension!

We are now
S A I N T S,
a new creation,
children of God,
ambassadors of Christ,
members of the body of Christ,
fellow citizens,
suffering servants,
a holy nation,
a people for God’s own
possession,
Israel,
children of Abraham,
brothers and sisters of Christ,
temples of the Holy Spirit,
believers,
friends,
beloved,
followers,
brethren,
beloved children,
disciples,
heirs,
bond-servants of the
Most High God,
witnesses,
soldiers,
hard working farmers,
a kingdom of priests,
aliens and strangers,
the elect,
chosen ones,
and children of light.

We are a new creation.
We have a new heart…
the old is gone the new has come…

God in His mercy,
because of His great love
made a way for us to
be right with Him
through no merit of our own.
Christ took our sin and
gave us His righteousness!

This is often referred to as the
Great Exchange.

Listen to the overflow
of Paul’s heart in Ephesians
as he contemplates
all that God gave to us
in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3-8, 11-12

Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places,
even as he chose us in
him before the foundation
of the world, that we should
be holy and blameless before him.
In love he predestined us
 for adoption as sons
through Jesus Christ, according
to the purpose of his will,
 to the praise of his glorious grace,
with which he has blessed us in
the Beloved. In him we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness
 of our trespasses, according
to the riches of his grace, which
he lavished upon us …
In him we have obtained an inheritance,
having been predestined according to
 the purpose of him who
works all things according
to the counsel of his will,
 so that we who were the first
to hope in Christ might be to
 the praise of his glory.

O Lord,
thank you for the new
life that we have in Christ.
Help us leave the past behind,
put off the old,
put to death the deeds of
the flesh,
and walk forward now
IN CHRIST!
In our new identity!!!
Always remembering that we
are still always in need of grace
from our Lord and Savior.

Lord, we ask you to help us
watch over our hearts
with all diligence
remembering that
from our heart
flows our attitudes,
our words, and our actions.
We want to walk
in Christ,
in His Spirit,
by your grace.

In His hands for His glory,
Laurie

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Our Sin, His Righteousness (Pt. 3)

 

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

We all think like sinners
and will think like sinners
until we are in glory.

God gave up His Son for
wayward, wretched,
and wanton children like us.
He rescued,
redeemed,
reconciled,
and pardoned
our unworthy souls.

And yet we find ourselves
still trying to live on our own
and in our own strength,
going our own ways, and
according to our own will.

Our sin infested flesh
resists the truth and pulls us
to think and live in a way
that seems right to us.
We are inclined to live
by sight or circumstance,
by reason or logic,
by effort or achievement.

Given this bent,
how thankful we can be
that we have been given
Christ’s righteousness!

How needful this is!

We have been saved
from the wrath of God!
He is for us not against us.
We are now in Christ Jesus.
Our identity is in Him.
Even though we still
think like sinners
and will always have to fight
our “bent” towards sin
in thought, word, and deed,
we have the knowledge
that He died for us
and has given us Himself
and His righteousness
to overcome.

IN CHRIST
is our strength.

If we keep this picture
in the forefront of our minds
by God’s grace we can
catch ourselves
and confess our sin
and look to Christ.
We can live like Christ.

It will be a
F I E R C E  F I G H T
but,
understanding our propensity
to think like “a human”
to see things like “a sinner”
is HUGE.
If we keep the truth of the gospel
in front of our eyes
we won’t be so inclined to
go with our flesh.
Knowing the truth
and taking it to heart
we can go forward in the
SPIRIT
and not with our
our unreliable feelings,
our limited perspective,
or our ineffectual efforts.

We can observe our thoughts
and actions to see if they line up
with the truth of the gospel.

Do they
“SAY”
that we believe
and
PUT OUR TRUST
in the reality that
Christ became sin for us?

We will still fail,
yet we have the deep
and abiding
comfort of knowing
that Christ died for our failings.
We can hold on to the truth
that although
He knew our frame,
He still took our sin.

He knows we are weak.
He knows we forget.
He alone is strong.
He alone is the only
One who overcame sin!

For  while we were still weak,
at the right time
Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will scarcely die
for a righteous person-
though perhaps
for a good person
one would dare even to die-
but God shows his love
for us in that while
we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Since, therefore,
we have now been justified
by his blood,
much more shall we be saved
by him from the wrath of God.
Romans 5:6-9

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