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He
whose righteousness is faith shall live
Rm1:17 Our access to the Father is through his Son Jesus Christ. It is through faith in the shed blood of Christ we are judged righteous and we have peace with God. Without faith, the gift of God, and grace we are still in trespasses and sin and at enmity with God. If righteousness were only a matter of keeping the law, then there was no need to send Jesus to redeem us and if Christ did not rise from the dead, we are still in our sin and without hope. But Christ did not die in vain and we have been reconciled and given the ministry of reconciliation to bring people to God. It is through faith in Christ we are judged righteous, not by anything we have done, not by works or keeping the law and that is the message we preach. We know from Hebrews eleven that without faith it is impossible to please God. The just shall live by faith. When once we have entered the covenant of grace we are called to live by faith. That means that having been given this gift of faith to experience the freedom of having our sins forgiven, we must learn to live by the spirit of faith and not by the works of the law. By the works of the law no man is justified. We must exercise living faith like our father Abraham who, having a hearing of faith, believed the promises God made to him and responded to those promises in faith. Abraham had access to the Father by faith. Similarly, through faith in Jesus Christ we also have access to the Father and we are filled with joyful trust in God. Then when the trials come, suffering brings patience, patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope and this hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. (Rm5:4-5) According to James this patience is to have its practical results that we are fully developed, complete, with nothing missing. If we learn to find life through faith which began with faith in Christ, at some point we should receive the Blessing of Abraham because we will have learned to exercise the same faith as he did and this is only possible now through being reconciled to the Son, Jesus Christ. The Blessing comes from the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. It is the very Spirit of God and through the righteousness of faith we should receive prosperity, health, and wholeness with no lack and nothing missing. Be people of faith. Learn the scriptures so that you may exercise the confession of faith. Learn from Mark eleven to speak to every mountain of difficulty and to cast them into the sea. Learn from Matthew sixteen to receive the keys of heaven and bind the difficulty and lose the blessing. Finally learn from Abraham how to live by faith, if you do, at some point, you will live in the very Blessing of God. Amen |