Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by [the] faith of Jesus Christ to all and on all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (Rom 3:20-24, AKJV – emphasis added)
I have often thought what a frail bunch of people we must be in the eyes of God, but there is hope for we read that, “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Yes, we are saved by the “faith OF Jesus Christ” and when our Father sees each of us, He sees His own Son alive and well in us. The older I get the less faith I have in and of myself. I know that I am a sinner saved by His life being lived out within me. If it was up to me to please God, I would be toast. Paul’s letter to the Romans addresses this issue so well.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Rom 5:10, AKJV)
Many of us who know we are sinners have wrestled with the question, “What did God ever see in me that He has chosen me for salvation?” What did and does He see? He sees the life of His very own Son. It is HIS life working in us that saves us and that has happened by His grace alone and never by our own works or us being good enough. Each one of us is a walking miracle. Paul wrote,
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:29-31, AKJV)
God fore-knew us as sinners, but by His mighty power and outstretched arm He saved us by the death and the life of His own Son working in each of us, individually. He has done this not because of any goodness in us, but by the goodness and grace of His own Son who loves each of us and abides in us.
I would like to finish with this quote from Austin-Sparks who understood all this so well.
With God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment. (Luke 1:37 AMP)
It seems that when the Lord Jesus chose His twelve disciples there was, at the back of the choice and back of the purpose of having a company of men always with Him – the intention of showing and expressing what the character of the Firstborn is so far as relationship to other members of the Family is concerned. To put that in another way: if we study the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in relation to His own when He was here on the earth, we have a good example of what family characteristics are in the thought of the Father. For instance, take the imperfections, the shortcomings, the weaknesses of the twelve and see what the attitude of the Lord Jesus was toward them. The Holy Spirit takes no pains to cover up those faults and those flaws. There is no attempt made whatever to present those menas an ideal group. Their picture is painted true to life and all the difficult lines are there – the bad and the good – and nothing unpleasant is hidden from view. None of the lines are taken out of their faces. They are all clearly seen. The Lord Jesus was not dealing with an easy company, but a company which might often have provoked despair. But one thing was characteristic of Him in relation to a difficult handful, and that was His faith for them.
What faith the Lord Jesus had for those men! It was not that He had faith in them, neither was it that He had faith for them because of what He saw in them; but He had infinite faith in the Father for them. His attitude was: “Well, nothing is impossible with God. Here are these men; they are difficult and they could easily be My despair; they never seem to understand what I say! They always seem to get the wrong interpretation; they always seem to miss the point. When I say a thing they get it from an altogether wrong angle; they are utterly materialistic in their outlook, in their expectation and in their desires. They never see far beyond this world and their own personal interests. They seem totally incapable of getting a spiritual conception. And yet the Father can do wonders with a handful of men like that; nothing is impossible.” http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002866.html
Our Father in heaven has faith in His Son working in each of us by the miracle of salvation. We are saved by Jesus Christ’s life in us. What a joy it is for me to be getting to know Him through His working in each of you.
Love in Christ,
Michael
A Wilderness Voice 
The more I live, the more I know I am who I am only because of God’s patience and mercy. If there has been any growth in me, it’s because I have the most excellent Teacher who will repeat the lessons countless times for this really bad student who has chosen to drop out of the course so many times. And yet, even as I try to drown out His voice in foolish rebellion and despair that He can get something good out of me, He continues to pursue me with goodness and mercy.
My life is a testimony of His faithfulness. The only difference between me and the lost is that I know my heart is desperately deceitful and wicked. I know I am sick with an incurable wound. I know there is nothing I can do without Him, and I don’t even want to try anymore. I know I am absolutely bankrupt spiritually. I think we all need to have many Oh wretched me moments, lest we begin to think we are something in ourselves.
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😂 Yep, read that today and was so encouraged! Wonderful to see it again and again and again…Love it when the Spirit has you post, Michael.
Have you read the latest edited book at TAS “The Exceeding Greatness of His Power”? ch 5 – Power by Grace amplifies this thought even more:
Quote:
“Oh, you and I have yet to come into a really adequate apprehension of the grace of God in relation to sin and our sinfulness. You see, here it is in this letter to the Ephesians. Before the apostle gets to this word about the exceeding greatness of His power, he says, “which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (v.6). The old version says, “made us accepted”. The word ‘accepted’ is ‘freely bestowed’. Accepted… is that not grace? Accepted in the Beloved. There is the heart and wonder of the gospel of the grace of God. We can all believe and understand that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is beloved of God. That does not want much straining after; there is not much difficulty about that. He certainly is God’s well-beloved Son. He stands before His Father without the suggestion or hint of a doubt or a reservation. His acceptance by the Father is full and utter. There is no shadow between them. They are one in a oneness so utter that there is nothing like it anywhere, and do you see what this says – that that belovedness of the Lord Jesus to the Father is transferred to you and to me. We inherit it in Christ; it is ours. Exactly the same position held by Him with the Father is given to us. Oh, how can that be? That defeats all our attempts at understanding and explaining. Freely bestowed, accepted in the beloved One, so that what He is to the Father we are in Him. What the Father is to Him, He is to us in Him.
Something has happened. There has been some power at work somewhere to bring that about, seeing what we are by nature and in ourselves, and you tell me that knowing myself as I do, that is true at this very moment. Then I have misread the Bible if it is not. “Hath made us” – is not going to make us, but hath made us. It is already done. He has done something over this question of sin in you and in me. He has done something about it, with all the power that was required to do it. He has exercised that power; it was done in the Cross. Oh, wonderful gospel, true beyond our power really to grasp, almost beyond our power to believe! Power working through grace, and it is just grace, and that is all there is about it. Marvellous grace, unspeakable grace, that what the Lord Jesus, the Son of God is to His Father, I am, you are, in Him. That is something about which to go and tell the world, that is the good news, the gospel, of the grace of God.”
(End quote)
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/006221.html
2 Corinthians 13:14(ESV)
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.“
XO, Judi
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Thanks, Judi. May He cover you with His grace and love as well.
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I’m not a poet, but one Saturday afternoon some years ago, Father gave me this…
I Come to Offer My Life
Father, I come to You to offer my life ─ me.
It is only then that I see –
─ there is nothing there to give…
Nothing of worth…
Nothing that the King of the universe could possibly see of worth…or want…
…and yet…
You… want… me…
He made me…
Am I my own, to do with as I want ?
No, He… made me…
How can I have anything to give Him, when He… made me…
Doubly, I belong to Him…
─ First, He made me for Himself,
─ And then, when I ignored Him and went my own way…
…He bought me back…to…
…Himself…
How could it be so ?
That the King of the universe could possibly want something worthless…
…And then I see…
He loves me… He made me…
He knew from the beginning what I would be… and still He made me !
And even though I see nothing that He could possibly want…
…He sees…the possibility of …
…Himself…
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GB, thanks for sharing this. He knew each of us from the foundation of the world. When the “godhead” took council and said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness,” Christ fully knew what it would cost Him to bring this to pass. They knew us in all our imperfections and sins, yet, they saw it would be worth it all. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” “But where sin increased, grace did multiply all the more.”
Yes, we have been reconciled by Jesus’ death on the cross, but we are saved by His life and His love working in us… saved from our old bankrupt selves and Satan’s power over us. Without His life and love working in us, what a terrible existence this would be.
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“we are saved by the “faith OF Jesus Christ” and when our Father sees each of us, He sees His own Son alive and well in us. The older I get the less faith I have in and of myself. I know that I am a sinner saved by His life being lived out within me. If it was up to me to please God, I would be toast.”
… Hi Michael, this (above quote) describes my experience exactly. About the time we left the ‘system church’ I began to see that it is Christ’s faith that saves us and changes us, and indeed “the older I get, the less faith I have in and of myself” ! Sometimes it worries me – and then I stop and realize that He knows what He is doing – thankfully !
The other day I was listening to someone go on at length about how wonderful it was to “accept Jesus Christ as Savior” hmmm, well its much more wonderful that He accepts us poor sinners, draws us to Himself, and makes us sons and daughters of the Living God !
Blessings in Him, Gordon H.
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GB, your poem reminded me of the book of Hosea, which touches my heart so deeply every time I read it. In many senses I am like Gomer, the unfaithful wife. I’m a far cry from what I am meant to be, and sometimes the high calling I’m aware we have as Christians convicts me but doesn’t quite get me on my knees in absolute surrender and repentance. God has bought me back so many times, and every time I come back to the Father it feels like this time I won’t leave again… And then I slowly begin the process of backsliding or losing my first love, but I am more aware than ever that if I will ultimately stay home and a true servant of the King, it’s because He is faithful and will not let me go. He may fiercely have to deal with me sometimes, like a lion devouring my rebellious spirit, He may give me the silent treatment when I am not listening, but He will never leave me nor forsake me. He may tear me up but then He will heal me, because He’s a doctor curing an incurable wound which is very deep inside. Ultimately I have come to the realization that I have no greater need than to be in my Father’s arms. Psalm 131 is a reminder that every personal ambition loses its appeal when I can just rest, like a weaned child in Abba.
May the Lord give you more Christ-exalting writings!
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Thanks Carina, I think in many ways we are all the same. Maybe the only difference is that some trust Father and many (or most) do not. Whenever someone says to me “what do you know?” my thought is – “not much, but I know that He is Life and I am not!” …blessings, Gordon
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That is the spirit’s work. Excellent.
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Like you, Michael, I grow increasingly aware of my shortcomings as the years go by. Yet, through the grace of God, I grow increasingly aware that I am not “worthless” as I once thought. Rather, Christ’s death on the cross gave me life, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have value in His sight.
May God continue to bless and protect you. ❤
With love,
A.
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Yes, Anna, you are precious in His sight no matter what message evil men have said by their words and actions… you are His precious daughter.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1Cor 6:19-20, ESV)
The priceless blood of the Son of God was spilled for you and that makes YOU priceless, too, dear Anna. Thanks for staying in touch.
Michael ❤
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I love the cute picture you posted, Michael! 😍
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Watching local wildlife takes my thoughts off this crazy world and helps me focus on our Lord who made them. Focusing on God’s creation is a catharsis for me.
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…” (Rom 1:20, ESV)
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I, also, love the wildlife — even when they eat my flowers! Of course, the flowers are God’s, and He gave them as food for the deer…
Blessings!
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Yes, Louise, as far as the deer are concerned if it doesn’t have an 8 foot high fence around it, it is FOOD! But like you, I love to watch them even when they are eating the lower leaves and branches off our fruit trees (I gave up on flowers 🙂
Would you send me the URL of your photography site again? I lost it when my computer crashed a while back.
Blessings back to you and yous!
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