WHAT CAN THE RIGHTEOUS DO BY JULIE COHICK

Psalm 11:1-7   " In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain  ?  For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do ?  The LORD is in HIS Holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven:  HIS eyes behold, HIS eyelids try, the children of men.  The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence HIS soul hateth.  Upon the wicked HE shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest:  this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness;  HIS countenance doth behold the upright. "

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WHO DOES NOT HAVE A "SIN RECORD" BY ABALONEKID

" For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of GOD; " Romans 3:23

Originally shared by Abalone Kid

WHO DOES NOT HAVE A "SIN RECORD" ? 
Sin has been passed down through all the generations of mankind and we, Adam’s descendants, have inherited a sin nature and both spiritual and physical death from him. Romans 5:12 tells us that through Adam sin entered the world, and so death was passed on to all men because all have sinned and in Rom 6:23  God informs us that  “the wages of sin is death”  (Separation from a Holy God (spiritual) in life and if one dies in their sins, an eternal conscious death after a physical death (lost sinners die TWICE!) decreed at The Great White Throne Judgment Seat of Christ at the end of His 1000 year reign over earth and before He makes a new heaven and earth without any trace of sin nor Satan any more.

Through Adam, the inherent inclination to sin entered the human race, and human beings became sinners by nature. When Adam sinned, his inner nature was transformed by his sin of rebellion (disobedience), bringing to him spiritual death and depravity which would be passed on to all who came after him. We are sinners not because we sin; rather, we sin because we are sinners. This passed-on depravity is known as inherited sin. Just as we inherit physical characteristics from our parents, we inherit our sinful natures from Adam. King David lamented this condition of fallen human nature in Psalm 51:5: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

God used the principle of imputation to benefit mankind when He imputed the sin of believers to the account of Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for that sin—death—on the cross. Imputing our sins to Jesus, God treated Him as if He were a sinner, though He was not, and had Him die for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2). It is important to understand that sin was imputed to Him, but He did not inherit it from Adam. He bore the penalty for sin, but He never became a sinner. His pure and perfect nature was untouched by sin. He was treated as though He were guilty of all the sins ever committed by the human race, even though He committed none. In exchange, God imputed the righteousness of Christ to believers and credited our accounts with His righteousness, just as God had credited our sins to Christ’s account:

2 Corinthians 5:
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Thankfully, inherited sin, imputed sin, and personal sin have all been crucified on the cross of Jesus, and now by faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” Ephesians 1:7

UNLIMITED ATONEMENT: THE CROSS OF CHRIST MOST HEAVY WITH ALL HUMANS SINS 

1 John 2:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (Unlimited Atonement)

Every sin of every human being born under the sun Christ died for that the judgment of God on sin He should pay for with His sinless blood being Emmanuel, God with us, in sinless perfection in human form.

THE CROSS OF CHRIST KEEPS A BLAZE TO LIGHT THE WAY TO ALL SINNERS AND TO "WHOSOEVER WILL COME" IS THE DOORWAY TO EVERLASTING LIFE WITH GOD & FAMILY OF GOD.

Romans 6:
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

WE PRESS ON IN CHRIST (Not Yet Sinless; Living In Christ By The Active Power Of The Holy Spirit;  One Day At The Moment When Christ Calls Us Up,  Glory Is Ours (SINLESS) ... Always!) 

Philippians 3:
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Chaim, least

PHOTO: Aliaksei Sherakov (google )
Text:  Abalone Kid

FROM ARK BUILDER TO ALTER BUILDER - ANSWERS FROM THE BOOK DEVOTIONAL

“And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” (Genesis 8:20-21)

Noah did two very interesting things when he came out of the Ark:

1. He built an altar
2. He made offerings to the Lord

“Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” (Genesis 6:22)

As we see in Hebrews 11:7, Noah was a man of faith. He carefully obeyed all of the instructions that God gave him and he built the Ark to the exact specifications that the Lord told him. But we see in the first two actions that Noah performed after disembarking from the Ark a subtle difference. These two actions were voluntary, God had not given him instructions to do them.

It is very telling about what kind of a person Noah was that his first priority was to tend to the things of God. After spending  a year aboard the Ark, it would seem that the first  step would be to set about building shelters to live in and providing for all of the necessities of survival in a new, desolate world. But Noah would not build a place to live in before he built a place to worship God. This time, God gives no blueprint of what His altar should look like, nor does He even encourage Noah to build an altar at all. It is the heart filled with gratitude toward God’s saving grace that is compelled out of pure thanksgiving to honor the Lord of Heaven in such a way. What a contrast between Noah and the world that he had been born into: those who perished in the Flood had failed to acknowledge God at any time or in any way and here we see that Noah put God above all else!

Secondly, Noah made burnt-offerings unto the Lord of one each of the clean animals from the Ark. As one in seven days were a Sabbath dedicated to the Lord, one in seven of these clean animals would be given to the Lord, as well. We are told in verse 21 that Noah’s offerings were a “sweet savour” to the Lord, that is, God accepted his offerings. Like the altar that Noah built, we learn in the Book of Leviticus that a “burnt-offering” is characterized as a voluntary offering, not a required offering (Leviticus 1:3). Although the burnt-offering is voluntary, it speaks of atonement for the one making the offering. In Noah’s actions we see his voluntary recognition of his own sin and his need for atoning sacrifice.

Then we read something rather peculiar in verse 21: “…The Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” It seems that God’s diagnosis of the heart of man did not change after the Flood from what it had been before the Flood (Genesis 6:5). So what had changed? The difference was a recognition of sin on the part of man. We can only speculate, but Noah had likely made offerings unto God even before the Flood. But now, after God has judged the entire world, Noah’s offerings to God take on a whole new meaning.

Noah’s burnt-offerings to God represent how man will ultimately be reconciled to God. These “sweet savour” offerings point to the “Sweet Savour” offering that alone can make full remission of the sins of man possible (Ephesians 5:2). Man is still sinful with a heart filled with evil imaginations, but if we will voluntarily acknowledge our sins to Him and accept the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ as payment for those sins, we can receive God’s mercy and grace rather than His judgment.

To Jesus Christ goes all glory. In service to Him,

Loren

loren@answersfromthebook.org

[This post was originally published October 30, 2009]

**All Scripture quotations in this post are taken from the King James Version (KJV) Bible

[If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ or you are not certain where you are headed when this life ends, I invite you to read the article “Am I Going To Heaven?“]

GRACE - DAILY DEVOTIONAL BY OUR DAILY BREAD

Read: Colossians 4:2–6
Bible in a Year: Psalms 68–69; Romans 8:1–21

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.—Colossians 4:6

The US Masters Golf Tournament began in 1934, and since then only three players have won it two years in a row. On April 10, 2016, it appeared that twenty-two-year-old Jordan Spieth would become the fourth. But he faltered on the last nine holes and finished in a tie for second. Despite his disappointing loss, Spieth was gracious toward tournament champion Danny Willett, congratulating him on his victory and on the birth of his first child, something “more important than golf.”

Writing in The New York Times, Karen Krouse said, “It takes grace to see the big picture so soon after having to sit through a trophy ceremony and watch someone else have his photograph taken.” Krouse continued, “Spieth’s ball-striking was off all week, but his character emerged unscathed.”

Paul urged the followers of Jesus in Colossae to “be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col. 4:5–6).

As those who have freely received God’s grace, it is our privilege and calling to demonstrate it in every situation of life—win or lose. —David C. McCasland

Dear Lord, help me by Your Spirit to be gracious and kind to others and to represent You well.

Gracious words are always the right words.

INSIGHT: The grace we have received in Jesus is part of His mission. John’s gospel declares, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . We have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:14, 16-17). He came “full of grace and truth” to bring us “grace in place of grace already given.” This emphasis on grace in the coming of Jesus was in direct contrast to the law of Moses that had become a heavy burden to the people of Israel. By fulfilling that law, Jesus provided us not only with the grace of salvation, but He also gave us what we need to live every day in Him.

How does knowing we have freely received God’s grace challenge us to show grace to others?

For more on demonstrating grace, listen to Discover the Word: discovertheword.org/Grace1229. Bill Crowder