Righteousness, Liberty & Faith! (And a Rebuke)

Liberty

Ga 5:1 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

What most of Christianity will tell you is that the liberty spoken of by the apostle Paul is the freedom to do the right thing. That's false. Everyone already has the liberty to do right. The liberty that Paul speaks of is exactly the oposite, it is the freedom from having to do the right thing to please God and inherit eternal life. Paul did not have to wash his hands anymore before he ate. He could eat all the pork chops and bacon he desired. He could eat shrimp or lobster. He could shave his beard or grow it. He didn't have to keep Sabbaths anymore. He didn't keep feast days or any one day holier than another. The disiplined life of religious ceremonies and ordinances, he was free from. Infact, all the righteousness that he obtained through his religion or doing the things that he knew to be right (deeds of the law), Paul called dung, as far as getting to God was concerned. That is liberty to me. All that religious stuff that he used to, he didn't have to do anymore. It was stripped away. He didn't have to work for his salvation anymore. He was free from dead works to serve the living God. If any person is free from having to do righteous deeds in order to earn salvation, it sure brings a sense of peace and liberty. You no longer have the burden of trying to live good enough to make it in. You are truly free to just praise, glorify and worship God, free of all hypocrisy.

Righteousness & Faith

What all of religion and most of Christianity has wrong is that righteousness doesn't come by the law, it comes by faith. If a person were justified by doing the right thing and living a, "Christian life", then Christ died in vain. Either a person is deemed worthy to get to heaven by doing the right thing, or a person is deemed worthy by Christ's work for them on the cross. Either you do it or Jesus did it. It cannot be both.

Another thing modern Christianity gets wrong is that God's goal for the Christian is a state of faith itself, not works. Faith does produce works, no doubt about it, but it is not the goal, it is the evidence. If good works were the ultimate goal, God would not have sent His Son to die in our place. God doesn't need our good works. God spoke through Belaam's ass. What God's ultimate goal is a relationship built on faith. He desires a family that trusts Him, even when it is totally outside their reality. Nothing glorifies God more then when His children believe what He promised. And God promised that righteousness comes by faith. When we believe on the Jesus Christ with all our heart, God imputes to our account the righteousness of Jesus Christ, freely without any works of righteousness on our part. This takes faith though. Herein lies a problem for modern Christianity. Many people today believe in God. The problem is, they don't believe Him. Imputed righteousness is an area where most don't believe God because it is strictly in God's reality. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed to us in the books of reckoning only. This is not my reality, but I believe God in this regard because He is faithful who promised. I am reckoning on His righteousness because it is my only hope. I have no other. I have no confidence in the way I have lived to get me to heaven. None.

Ro 4:20 He (Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Ro 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
Ro 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Ro 4:23 ¶ Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Ro 4:24 BUT FOR US ALSO, TO WHOM IT SHALL BE IMPUTED, IF WE BELIEVE ON HIM THAT RAISED UP JESUS OUR LORD FROM THE DEAD;


This gives me a lot of liberty. Knowing that I am saved because I have all the righteousness needed to get to heaven. I would be stupid to wonder if I'm saved when I am as righteous as Jesus Christ.

2Co 5:21 For he (GOD) hath made him (JESUS) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him

REBUKE

When viewing in context the wonderful and awesome works of God, all the while keeping in mind that we aren't saved by our own righteousness, isn't it is ridiculous to think that God is so overwhelmingly pleased with all our bible reading, our wonderful, "church attendance" and our "disciplined devotional" time. Doesn't it pale in comparison to what Jesus suffered on the cross because of our filthy sin? I wish it were not true, but we are so encumbered by our own measly works, that we have lost sight of Christ and His work. Instead of encouraging one another and exhorting each other to stay believing and to keep our focus and confidence on Jesus and His finished work on the cross, we are delving into weak and beggarly elements of how to improve our, "Christian life". When we loose sight of the mighty works of the LORD God Almighty and focus on our measly works of righteousness... What does that say about us? Are we not self-centered? Are we not self-righteous? When we lose sight of the fact that...

2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;

What joy that verse gives me! God was in Christ... Just that thought alone is mind staggering! God was in Christ and HE DIED... for stinking, filthy me and you. The God who made the heavens and the earth with His spoken word, came to this earth and died in our place and all we can focus on is whether our Christian lives are up to standard. How pathetic. How dare we turn people's focus from Christ to dwell on how to live the, "deeper Christian life". Instead of asking, "Is all your faith and confidence in Christ? Is all your hope in His righteousness and not your own?", we ask, "Did you read your bible enough? Did you have devotionals everyday? Are you loving enough? Are you humble enough? Are you disciplined enough? Did you confess enough? Are you living Christian enough? Are you doing enough?" Such meaningless dribble. No wonder nobody is getting saved in our church meetings these days. No wonder lives aren't being transformed or people freed from the bondage of sin. If the emphasis was on the right thing, on Christ, you would suddenly see joy in peoples faces again. You would see lives change and the power would then be of God and no flesh would glory in His presence. God does not work in principles and rudiments. God's power is manifested in the preaching of the cross. Christ crucified.