Time with Jesus - Monday, 04 June
2012
Hi all,
Today’s meditation is about
righteousness. 10 I am overwhelmed with
joy in the LORD my God! For He (God) has
dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of
righteousness. Isaiah 61:10 NLT Is
the verse on which the meditation is based and the introduction is about,
justification, sanctification and glorification.
Blessings
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Monday, 04 June 2012
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These devotionals are the intellectual property of
Jim Strickland and copyright protected.
You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes |
©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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THE
ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
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There are several words
used in Theology that were written by theologians for theologians for theological
discussion. Mere mortals look at such words as though scalded by boiling
water. Three of these words are Justification, Sanctification and
Glorification. Why these words are still used, boggles the mind. My suspicion
is that in those days when ordinary men were not given access to the Bible; only
the clergy were permitted to read it! Laymen could never understand it anyway!.
Frankly, I dislike
“gob-stoppers” like these. I think they are a carry-over from those evil
days. So for my own and other people’s benefit, I’d like to attempt to put
what these words mean into plain English.
Justification means to
be made righteous and thus in right standing with God. An easy way to put it
is to look at the word “justify” and its three syllables. - Just; if and I
(y) This is not exactly correct, but it’s adequate for our purpose. I’m not
looking for a definition which is accurate to twenty decimal places.
There is an expression
which was popular among the coal miners of the North East of England. When
they were asked about a measurement they would give an answer and say, Aye,
that’s nigh enough for pit-work. Translated it means that the dimension was
sufficiently accurate for their purposes. You don’t measure a barn door with
a micrometre. All that’s needed is a measuring tape.
Look again at the
syllables and say; “Just as if I”. So when God looks at me, He sees me “just
as if I’d never sinned”! How does that happen? In a way we will never
understand. Jesus suffered and died upon that cross in your place and my
place. Then we traded places. He took all my sinfulness and gave me all His
righteousness. He did so, by covering me with a robe of righteousness. It
doesn’t sound “fair” does it? But God never was and never will be “fair”; it
was His idea.
Now we all know that
salvation is a process. It’s not something that happened on a particular date
and continues indefinitely. In other words we are all in the process of being
“saved”, We have to “overcome” to “persevere” until the end. It’s a paradox.
When we commit our lives to Jesus we receive His salvation and His righteousness.
The only way we can lose it is by deliberate and unrepentant sin. But it can
be lost. So from the date of our initial salvation, (justification) it is necessary
for us to walk day by day in the power of His Holy Spirit. This too is a
process. It’s the process of being sanctified (made holy) by God.
Now here’s a paradox.
For those who persevere to the end, it will be true to say that they were
saved on the day they made that first commitment and were justified. For
those who don’t, it will be the same as if they had never started. From the
date of being justified until the end of life we will be going through the
sanctification process and becoming more and more like Jesus. Growing in
grace and the knowledge of God. Glorification will take place when we receive
our resurrection bodies. At that point we will be like Him in all His glory. Exactly
where God in His wisdom wanted us to be when He began with creation.
Now here’s the best
part. All this will have been achieved, not by our own ability, but by His
love and grace. If we have done anything, it will be nothing more than follow
the instructions of His Holy Spirit. Thus every bit of the process from justification
to glorification will be His doing. I like this enormously. My presence there
will be the consequence of all of what He has done and none of mine.
Jim &
Phyllida Strickland
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12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off
the works of darkness and put on the armour of
light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in
orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in
quarrelling and jealousy. 14 But put
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to
gratify its desires.
Romans
13:12-14 ESV
8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite
value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded
everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that
I could gain Christ 9 and become
one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the
law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making
us right with Himself depends on faith.
Philippians
3:8-9 NLT
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by
faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for
there is no difference:
Romans
3:22 KJV
10 I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For He has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
and draped me in a robe of righteousness.
I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.
Isaiah
61:10 NLT
16 I will come with the mighty deeds of the
Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.
Psalms
71:16 NASB
8 For once you were full of darkness, but
now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!
Ephesians
5:8 NLT
11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of
evil and darkness; instead, expose them.
Ephesians
5:11 NLT
13 But their evil intentions will be exposed
when the light shines on them, 14 for
the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, "Awake, O
sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light." 15
So be careful how you live. Don't live like
fools, but like those who are wise.
Ephesians
5:13-15 NLT
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When first
I came to Jesus, just after I was “saved”,
I started to be bothered about how I
behaved.
Being
“saved” was wonderful. I tried to get things right.
I didn’t know how difficult that I
would find the fight.
“Just give your life to Jesus. He will take
care of you.
That’s all that is required and all you
need to do.”
It sounded
very simple. I thought it was a breeze.
I thought I could be Christian and
live a life of ease!
It only took
a few short weeks for me to realise,
That it was far from easy in anybody’s
eyes.
I don’t
know what persuaded me to keep on keeping on.
But I had burned my bridges; the
former things were gone.
There must
be a solution. Who else has found this out?
My faith began to falter and I began
to doubt.
That’s
when I met a person who’d walked the Christian road.
A man whom I could share with to ease
this heavy load.
And then
he told me something I couldn’t understand.
He said that I was “righteous” the way
the Lord had planned.
I thought
that he was crazy. He wasn’t meaning me.
The thought of being righteous. How
could that ever be?
He said
that being righteous was included in the deal.
That’s how the Father saw me,
regardless how I feel.
I thought
that he was joking. I thought it wasn’t true.
I felt about as righteous as a monkey
in the zoo!
He then
said that salvation was only just the start.
And all of Jesus’ righteousness to me
He would impart!
I didn’t
understand it. He’d saved me from my sin.
But what about the ugliness I found
deep down within?
If He had
made me righteous, how come it didn’t show?
He said I wear it as a robe into which
I must grow.
The
righteousness He’d given me was draped around my frame.
He said that I was wearing it in
Christ my Saviour’s Name.
The Living
God could look at me and see what I’d become.
The picture of perfection acquired
from Christ His Son.
Since He
sees the beginning and also sees the end.
If He saw me as Righteous, on that I
could depend.
I don’t
know how He does it. I have to theorise
And try and have a look at me through
God the Father’s eyes.
I found I
was forgiven for He had paid the price.
That He had been the offering, the perfect
sacrifice.
And we had
traded places so when God looked at me,
The righteousness of Jesus Christ was
all that He could see.
I know it
sounds incredible and too good to be true.
But that is how He looks at me and how
He looks at you
For when
you are a Christian you want that robe to be,
The robe of Christ the Saviour and the
robe of you and me!
Jim Strickland
Written 4th June 2012 |
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