THE WAY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Romans 3:21-26

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s message, we were reminded of how all mankind is in a state of hopelessness left to their own devices. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and this makes everyone an enemy of the Lord who despises sin and will bring the full measure of His wrath and judgment on His opposition.

No one can stand when under the punishment of God.

But as we also learned yesterday, God didn’t wish for this to be the end game for His people, not for the Jew or the Gentile. He so loved the world that He made a way for any sinner to escape His admonition and damnation by sending His Son Jesus, the unblemished Lamb, to be an atoning, substitutionary sacrifice. To be pardoned by God, all a person needs to do is believe in Jesus as Savior and they will be saved, washed clean by Jesus’ shed blood and ushered into eternal life after worldly life ends.

There’s a rather fancy word for this process of pardon through faith in Jesus. It’s called justification. Simply put, you can always remember the meaning of this process by thinking of it this way:

Jesus made me “just-as-if-I-had” never sinned.  

This is the root essence of being justified which comes from receiving justification.

Indeed, Jesus is the One who justifies. He is also the One who leads us to live in righteousness.

We know this because the scriptures tell us. Righteousness is given to us through faith in Jesus Christ when we believe in Him and commit to be like Him. Jesus lived a perfect life and we could have no greater role model to shape our lives after.

Want to know how to live in a way that is pleasing to God?

Look at the life of Jesus and then live your life as He did. For this is the way to righteousness.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com