The term “much more” is used 19 times in the New Testament and five of those times it is used in Romans Chapter 5. This is a term that has great significance each time the writers used it as it indicates something much greater than whatever we were reading just before this term is used. I will not go into all the places this is found as that would take up too much time but I will look at that term in Romans 5:9 & 10.

This term is used in verse 9 so lets look at what verse 8 says that would cause the writer of Romans, which is Paul, to say that something more than what verse 8 says is going to happen. Verse 8 says that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. That is a pretty significant event I would say and yet the beginning of verse 9 says even though that was a great event, and of course it was a major event, something will happen beyond that. It says that we are now justified by His blood, and note that is past tense, it is saying the same thing as Romans 5:1 which states also that we are justified by faith (His faith).

The last part of verse 1 says what happened when we were justified. That is when peace came. When we were justified the peace of God was ours. In essence what it is saying is that it is through His death (blood) that we have peace with God. The “much more” of verse 9 is saying that we will be saved from His wrath through Him. There are a number of different meanings that can be attached to the word wrath here but one of them is punishment. It is saying that we will not have to face God’s punishment because He justified us through the shedding of His blood. I think we are beginning to see the picture of the “much more” of this verse.

In verse 10 the term is used again in much the same way and it is saying we were reconciled through the death of His Son (blood), “much more”, since we are already reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Now we can begin to see where the peace came from and where grace came from. Peace came through His shed blood when Jesus died because that is where we were justified. Grace came to us when He resurrected because it is by His life we are saved.

How can we know that God is no longer angry with us? The only proof you need is to know Jesus died. If you believe Jesus died then you can rest assured that you are at peace with Him and He is at peace with you. When you realize you have been justified by His death (blood) you can know that you have peace with God. When you were reconciled to God there is no more anger towards you by God. If God has given His Son to pour out His wrath upon, for the sins of the whole world, “much more” being reconciled through that death we shall be saved by His life. That amazing grace is what saves us. For by grace are you saved, and not of yourselves, it (grace) is the gift of God.

Romans 1:16 & 17 tells us pretty well what the Gospel is. We see in the latter part of verse 17 that it says the just shall live by faith. The question I have been asking myself over the past few months is am I living by faith. What does it mean to live by faith? What I am seeing as I read more about this is that there is an opposite of living by faith. When you can see what this is, it will make it simpler to understand what living by faith really is.

The opposite of living by faith is living under the law. I know we have all heard in times past, especially in our religious upbringings, that living by faith was determined by your level of success either in ministry, financially, health or any other external circumstance that would show whether you were living by faith or not. However, according to Paul, you are only living by faith if you are not under the law. If you are under the law you are not living by faith. Paul said in Galatians 3:12 that “the law is NOT of faith”.

I think we should ask ourselves the question if we are living by faith or under law? Do we trust in what we do or don’t do to gain God’s favor? Do we believe our works are an important part of obtaining favor with God? Do we believe we can do anything by our own works to gain or keep anything as it pertains to our redemption? If we are looking at any of these things to be blessed of God then we are under law. If you think God is going to give you any kind of blessing because of your good deeds or works, then you are still under law and are not walking by faith. If you believe you are going to be punished by God because of your deeds or works you are not walking by faith but are still under law.

If you believe that in spite of your works or deeds the Lord is not going to punish you, then you are walking by faith. If you believe that the punishment was taken for you by Jesus Christ at the cross then you are walking by faith. If you believe that all these things are yours because of the obedience of one Man Christ Jesus, then you are walking by faith. This one man’s obedience and this one man’s faith purchased your redemption. You cannot walk by faith and not see this. If you do not see this then you are still under law.

Now we must look at Whose faith it is talking about. If all the punishment due us was taken at the cross and all transgressions were taken as well. If the sin of the world was taken away at the cross and without any part played by us for this awesome thing called redemption to come into effect, then Who had the faith for this to happen? The faith we are talking about is of course the faith OF Jesus Christ. My faith had nothing to do with my redemption. It was Jesus that had faith to complete this whole plan apart from us having any involvement.

So when the verse says “the just shall live by faith” it is not talking about our faith. It is simply saying those that know they are just will walk according to what Jesus did for us and that through His faith and not mine. When you begin to see that is not your faith that determines your redemption but that it is determined because Jesus had faith to accomplish all this at the cross, it takes on a whole new meaning and you can begin to see that redemption is not by your works or deeds but by the faith OF the Son of God.

In yesterday’s blog I talked about Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. We saw that Paul played no part whatsoever in his conversion but it was totally a work of the Lord. He did not have to seek Him or submit to Him or pray or anything else that we have been told we must do to be converted.

Let me ask a question. If Paul’s’ conversion had absolutely nothing to do with himself, should not the rest of the world be afforded the same privilege? If he received His knowledge of redemption through no part of his own to play, should not everyone else be the same? Why should we have to almost beg and plead and believe to be redeemed, or so we were told, if Paul didn’t have to? We have seen it is pretty clear in Acts that Paul’s conversion had nothing to do with Paul. So why are we told that ours has everything to do with our belief? Paul was simply told that his redemption had been purchased and guess what happened? He became a believer. Paul did not become a believer in order to be redeemed. He became a believer when Jesus told him he was already redeemed.

If God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34) then why would He require of the entire world to believe to be redeemed when it is clear it was not required of Paul? If He treated Paul in one way and treats the other people in a different manner when it comes to redemption, then God would not be a just God. Does not the organized church have this totally backwards? Believing will not get you redeemed. But know this, that knowing you are already redeemed makes a strong believer out of you. This has nothing to do with you or I but is totally a work of the Lord on the cross.

Paul’s’ conversion was not for redemption. It was a revelation of the redemption he already had. There is no doubt Paul had a major conversion. It was likely the most dramatic conversion ever recorded. Some of us have had a conversion experience that was dramatic as well but the full impact of that conversion only comes when you begin to understand your redemption. The beginning of that conversion is the light that is shed in your heart but true conversion only happens when you hear His voice of redemption of the entire world. When you can see yourself as God sees you then you can expect transformation to take place.

When Paul was touched by the Lord on the road to Damascus we know he was on the way to confront believers and have them killed. He was not on a mission to tell the Lord’s believers to stop preaching what they were preaching but was actually on his way to murder them. I am sure it was not the first time he had done this and had a lot of experience in doing this very thing.

In Acts 22:6 –10 we see here Paul is on his merry way and suddenly there shone from heaven a great light. This was so intense that Paul fell to the ground. The Lord had appeared to him and shown him Who He was. He revealed Himself in Paul. I don’t see in this passage that Paul was seeking the Lord when this happened. In fact it is just the opposite; he was on his way to kill more believers. Did Paul kneel down and invite Jesus in his heart like the evangelical church says people are to do to “receive Christ”. Is it said there that he said a prayer to be saved? Did he have to release his will to Jesus for this to happen? No of course not.

What Paul saw was the Lord Jesus Christ and at that time He began showing Himself to Paul to make him understand what He had done on the cross. Paul began on a journey that day that would take him into the knowledge of the redemption that was provided for him and the rest of the world at the cross. He did not have to say a prayer or beg Jesus to “come in”. He simply asked this question … Who art thou? Jesus answered him by very simply telling him Who He was.

Today through out the world there are people being touched by the hand of God and they are seeing Who Jesus is. He is not showing anyone the rules we are to follow or what we are to do or not do, He is simply revealing Himself in the hearts and minds of people. When we begin to see Who He is and what He has done we will stop killing others as well. Do we kill them with knives and guns? No of course not but we are quite capable of killing them with our judgments and gossips. Character assassinations through the tongue is rampant.

Note here also that in v.9 it says that those that were with Paul saw the light but they didn’t hear the voice of Him that spoke. Most of what we call evangelical Christianity have seen the light and have had some type of conversion but they have not heard the voice. They do not know Who He is and why He came. They just know what little they have learned from what comes from behind the pulpit and have no idea what Jesus came to do. I saw that light over 28 years ago but I am just now beginning to hear the voice. It is the voice of redemption. It is the voice of total reconciliation of the entire world. It is the voice of judgment past. It is the voice of Love that cannot be explained. It is the voice of many other things but that voice comes only from one place and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are listening to any other voice but His then you may see a bit of light but you will remain bound by what little light you have seen.

The voice of redemption of the entire world is speaking loudly today. A gospel revolution is at work in people’s hearts and minds. It will tip your religious world upside down as you hear the voice of the Redeemer coming from that light you have seen. As you hear His voice that light will become brighter as Paul said he could not see for the glory of that light. What could he not see? He could not see his own religious persecutions he was spreading and could only see the light and hear the voice. The voice showed him there was no longer any law. Listen to His voice today. It will set you free. It has me.

When Jesus walked the earth as we know He had quite a number of followers. Everywhere He went He was swarmed with people trying to get close to Him, to touch Him or whatever. During these times all these people would have said they were believers in Him. Even His apostles that followed Him wherever He went said they would never leave His side. One of them, Peter said He would never deny Him. I think we know what happened to Peter after Jesus was arrested.

In Matthew 10:22 it says that those that endure to the end shall be saved. The “end” He was talking about was Him going to the cross. How many endured to the end? How many followers did Jesus have when He went to the cross? How many believed on Him when that great day came? The answer to that is none. Even Peter who said He would never deny Him denied Him three times. Jesus knew Peter would deny him of course and he told him he would deny him three times. And during one of those times he began cursing. Is it not a bit strange there was no one around Him at the cross saying they were believers?

If they could doubt after having viewed all the miracles, what about the people in our day that have never seen Jesus? Was it not easier for them to believe on Him simply because they had seen all the miracles He did? They even saw Him raise the dead. Should that not have made believers out of them? Jesus went to the cross without any believers. After they died what did they do? Most of them went fishing. What exactly did they believe? They believed because they saw, which is why Jesus said it very clearly “blessed are they that believe without seeing”. What they believed in was what He did while here on earth and not Who He was.

I think Jesus also meant that blessed are those that believe after they know they are redeemed. The disciples believed based on the works that they saw. A believer now should believe based on the fact of what Christ has done and has made them to be before they ever believed. Does my believing redeem me or does knowing I am redeemed make a believer out of me? That is the true question we must ask ourselves.

I am a believer because I know what the Lord has done for me. Becoming a believer is not when a person is redeemed. Redemption was done at the cross and has nothing to do with my believing. Knowing I am redeemed makes a believer out of me and not the other way around. When you see your redemption and what it means, you will become a believer. Jesus went to the cross without any believers. They only became believers after they knew they had been redeemed. They were not believers before the cross as they only believed in what He did and not on Who He was and His purpose for being on earth. They believed in the works He did. Do you still believe in the works you do? Or are you believing because of what He did which was redeeming the whole world? In what or whom do you trust today? Something to think about today.

When we look at the requirement for redemption we usually go by what we have always heard preached or taught in whatever place we may have attended church. We look at the evangelical Christian church and follow whatever they may say is necessary for being redeemed and made in right standing with God. Why is it we have taken just about everything that was told to us as being “gospel truth” without checking any of this out for ourselves?

Those of us who have checked the true meaning of redemption have come to the conclusion that what we heard over the years and years past was not necessarily all true. We find now that holes are poked in most of the church doctrines without putting in a whole lot of effort. Is it possible that we could have been deceived because of listening to man instead of God when it comes to such important doctrines as redemption and salvation? I answer that with a resounding YES, absolutely!!!

Instead of looking to what comes from behind the pulpit when it comes to your redemption, I would challenge anyone to go to the Old Testament prophets and find all the places that redemption and/or salvation is mentioned. I challenge anyone to find one single place where they prophesied that redemption/salvation would be the work of man and would hinge on something or anything we do. Every single prophet that foretold that a redeemer was coming all said basically the same thing. A redeemer would come out of Zion and by God’s will and by God’s hand, the world would be redeemed. Read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Habakkuk and all the others as well and find one place where man is involved in any aspect of redemption for the entire world.

I can tell you right now that you will not find it anywhere in Scriptures. It was God’s will to redeem the world. It was God’s will to save the world. It was not man’s will because if that had been left up to man to accomplish then it would have been messed up the same way every covenant God ever made with man was messed up.

You may say “why are you looking to the Old Testament” for this. Should we not be searching the New Testament? Jesus told the two men He was walking with on the road to Emmaus that He would open the Scriptures to them because they spoke of Him. He opened their eyes to understand the scriptures. Did He say lets open our Bibles to Romans or Galatians? No, He told them to look to the Scriptures, with the scriptures being the Old Testament because there was no New Testament at that time, and look for Him there. That way they could understand what He was talking about as they all prophesied about Him. He also told them there was no life in the scriptures but the life was in Him.

It is also made clear in Luke 24:44 that all that was prophesied about Him in the Scriptures would be fulfilled in Him when He went to the cross. Remember it says all things. Also remember that there is no place in any of these prophesies that even remotely hint that man would have any involvement in this great event. It is a total and full work of God Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. There was no room left in this event for man to mess it up. He did it on His own. Some say you have to believe it for it to be real. No, none of the prophets mentioned that either. The only ones that mention that are the ones behind pulpits and those that follow everything that is said from there. The scriptures are silent on that and to believe that is to believe men’s fables and deceptions and you make the cross of none effect in your own life. All mankind was in unbelief so He could have mercy on all. (Romans 11:32) Believing is important but not to be redeemed. You believe because you suddenly know you are already redeemed.

Isaiah 57: 16 says God will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. The word contend here means that He will not hold a controversy forever and then He says He will not always be angry (wroth) This scripture holds prophecy that is very important in the realm of redemption for all mankind. Isaiah is saying that God will not always be in a hard controversy with you and I will not always be angry with you.

Why was he saying this? When you look at the rest of the verse it says that if God continued His anger and wrath upon mankind spirits and the souls He has made would fail. God knew that if His anger and wrath continued it would end up destroying mankind. God saw what was going to happen to the human race and He said unless I deliver them from out of this judgment and wrath the spirit and souls of man will completely fail.

Because He knew that it would fail, He also knew He had to make a way out of this dilemma mankind was in. When did God’s anger and wrath stop? It stopped at the cross of Jesus Christ. If you look at Isaiah 25:8 it says He will swallow up death in victory, and will wipe away all tears from off all faces. Most of us have been told this is a verse about Heaven and this will happen when we reach there, or for those that make it there, like the evangelical church says. However, it does say all faces so that cannot be for just a few. It is also not talking about Heaven but it is talking about the cross.

Look at the last part of that verse and it says..and the rebuke of his people shall He take away from off all the earth. This verse is not talking about heaven either because he is saying that rebuke will be taken off all the earth, not heaven. Was he taking away all tears from any heartache we may suffer? No, he was saying that He was going to remove all His anger and wrath from off everybody and making His relationship with mankind new and complete.

And also that you will never have to spend any time in mourning and crying about your relationship with God. Religion will cause you to constantly mourn and cry about your relationship with God. You may cry about things that may happen in your life but you never need to cry or worry about anything in relation to your standing before God. God has removed His anger and wrath from off the earth and has wiped away all tears.

I am still reading in Isaiah 61 and today I will look at verse 3. It says here that He is speaking to them that mourn in Zion. He is telling them here the huge difference that will be theirs as they go from mourning to better things. The first thing He mentions is He will give them beauty for ashes. Could this be that the ashes He is talking about is the ashes of Sodom and Gomorrah? Just a thought but when judgment fell upon those two cities, all that was left was ashes. I am not sure if that is the meaning of it or not but whatever the meaning is, He is telling them there will no longer be ashes but beauty instead.

There is nothing more beautiful then coming to the realization that His judgment has already been poured out and instead of ashes caused by judgment, you can see the beauty of His finished work at the cross. There is nothing more beautiful then seeing your judgment poured out and your redemption fully paid for by Jesus at the cross.

The oil of joy for mourning. In other words there will be this great joy between you and God because He has made everything right between you and Himself. Instead of mourning about your relationship with God you will be rejoicing about your relationship with God. The next thing He mentions is the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. What is this spirit of heaviness? I know I have heard it many times in the churches I have attended that we are to praise so the spirit of heaviness that was in the church at the time, or our lives for that matter, would lift when we praised Him. This is not what this scripture is talking about. They had a spirit of heaviness, and it is mentioned throughout Isaiah, that was upon them because of the impending judgment that was coming. But Jesus said that He would give them the spirit of praise instead of the heaviness. When they saw their judgment was going to be upon Jesus instead of themselves, I am sure they praised.

The purpose for all this is stated in the latter part of the verse…..that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He might be glorified. How is God glorified? How do we see His majesty? We see Him glorified through His judgment that resulted in righteousness when His vengeance was poured out upon His Son for us. This is how God is glorified. If you are being preached to that you need to perform to gain something from God or a performance based lifestyle based on what you do or don’t do, it is taking away from the Glory of the cross. The blessedness of all this is that blessed is the man that never does anything right or when he sins that God does not hold it against him. Why is this possible? Because God’s vengeance was satisfied at the cross of Calvary.

Still in Isaiah 61:2 we see that Jesus is saying that He is not only proclaiming the acceptable year of our God but at the same time “the day of vengeance of our God” and “to comfort all that mourn”. When we first look at this it seems to be contradictory because it says in the acceptable year of our Lord (the day of the cross) He will show vengeance AND comfort those that mourn. How can both of these things be done? It seems that these things are opposites.

How can you proclaim the acceptable year of our God to show vengeance and comfort at the same time? I think the word to look at is mourning and this word means lamenting. Why would the people of that time mourn? They would mourn every time a prophet (Isaiah) would come around and prophesy judgment coming upon the people. They put on sackcloth and ashes and mourn. Why were they mourning? They knew the impending wrath of God was coming. Each time they heard this they knew there was judgment coming and they went into mourning.

But Jesus said He was come to declare the day of vengeance of our God. The day He was talking about was the day of the cross. It was THE day that the vengeance of our God was poured out. This vengeance was not poured out upon the people but upon the Son of God who had come for that very purpose. How could that comfort all that mourn? It could comfort because all the judgment that was to come upon the people was placed upon Jesus and He took it instead of us.

If you are mourning and wondering when the judgment of God is going to come upon you and the rest of the people and you come to realize the fact that it was already poured out upon Jesus 2000 years ago, then that should be a comfort to you. To know judgment is never going to be yours because His vengeance has already been satisfied should be a definite comfort to you and to all that hear it. When you get the revelation of the day of vengeance of our God, and that it is already past, it will bring a peace and joy to you that is difficult to explain.

Folks this is the Truth of the Gospel of Grace and Peace. God’s vengeance is past and His comfort is here. There is no need to mourn any longer in fear of a coming judgment. When judgment was sent to the earth for all mankind, at the same time the cross was lifted up and all the vengeance and judgment fell upon Jesus. The acceptable year of the Lord looked after all the vengeance God had. You no longer have anything to mourn about as far as God’s wrath is concerned. Stop mourning and rest in His Grace.

Isaiah 61 is the portion of scripture that Jesus quoted in Luke 4:18 saying that He was proclaiming liberty to the captives. I think we immediately look at this and think He was likely saying this to the people that were bound by alcohol, drugs or whatever else people are bound to. At least that is what we would think of in this day and age we are living in because I believe the abuse of such things is rampant in our society.

What did Jesus mean when He said He would set the captives free? What was man in captivity to? I believe man was in captivity to sin that was based on one mans disobedience and held captive there by the law. He uses the word liberty there and that word means “to be exempt from liability”. They were captives to a liability that was between them and God. He opened this prison they were in and set them free from the liability they were under due to Adam’s disobedience.

If we still think we are bound by the law and the sin of Adam’s disobedience, which was passed on to the entire world, then you are still living in a prison. The door of this prison has been opened wide at the cross because Jesus said He was here to open the prison doors. If you are still living bound by thinking that you still have a liability to God for the things you do or don’t do, then you are still living in prison. Even though the door is wide open, you can still live in a prison as though the door was still shut. Not only did Jesus say He would open the prison doors but He also said He had the key to the door. So if He opened the prison door and took the key, and you are still living under bondage (prison) then it has nothing to do with Jesus.

You are the one keeping yourself bound in this prison of the sin of Adam’s disobedience and the law. He took away the liability this demanded before Jesus came and fulfilled all at the cross. You are no longer under any liability to try and get yourself right with God. Jesus proclaimed liberty to the captives. If you will hear Him proclaiming this today, walk out of your prison that you are bound in and see that the door was open all the time.

This door will never be shut again. It was opened once and for all time and that also for all mankind. Your sentence has been fully served so there is no need to have to stay in prison. There is no parole period of time in this either. When Jesus set the captives free He set them totally free. You don’t have to serve any part of that sentence at all. It was all fully served on your behalf by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is finished. Take advantage of the open prison door and walk freely, never to be condemned again. The only thing that keeps you captive now is your own mind.

See the redemption that was provided for all mankind and also the judgment that was taken for all mankind as well, and you will begin a process of freedom from whatever prison you are in that you never dreamt was possible. The door is open. There’s been a prison break.

Isaiah 1:27 says Zion shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness. What is the result of this redemption that God was bringing through judgment? First let’s look at where that judgment to redeem the world went to. In order for God to redeem us, judgment had to go somewhere. It went to the cross of Jesus Christ. Now what about it’s converts? How are they won?

They are won with righteousness after they are redeemed with judgment. True conversion is not a conversion from your bad deeds to your good deeds. I know that is what most people look at when they look at someone that has experienced conversion. Conversion is when you accept that God’s judgment went to His own son for your righteousness. That is true conversion.

I know we all see changes in ourselves and in other people when we see that they have had a conversion experience. If true conversion is when we see our judgment on the cross and know we are redeemed as the scripture says, then what happens when we have seen in our own lives that drastic changes have happened since someone shared the Good News of the Gospel with us? What happens then is that we begin to see that our sins were looked after on our behalf and our minds begin to see things differently. This is what is called salvation.

Changes happen and we can not discount the fact that something has changed in lives as we see some of the results. We should never say that these things are not real because they are. I know in my own life there was a dramatic change that happened in July of 1978. If I was to say that this was not a huge change that was very real in my life I of course would not be truthful. I like to call that an experience a partial conversion. We experience a certain amount of spiritual awakening that affects our lives in a very real way.

If this is a partial conversion, then what would I say is a full conversion. When we see that through judgment the entire world was redeemed and that we have God’s righteousness because of that and through no part of our own, we can then see the true full conversion experience. I believe we only see in part prior to seeing the full redemption that was provided at the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ. So how do you make converts? Is it by telling them they are sinners and lost and on their way to hell because of what they do? Do we point out their faults and tell them to change their ways or they are in danger of hell fire?

I know all these things are done but that is not how a person becomes a convert. Converts are won by showing them that judgment was placed on the cross for their redemption and that they are already righteous. When that fact begins to dawn on you and you begin to see the light of this glorious Gospel of Grace and Peace, you then can understand what it means to be converted. Before that happens you will only see partial conversion based on experience and not on Biblical fact.

I am sure most of us have gone through the years and years of thinking that we were sinners because of what we did or didn’t do. Is it a scripturally based truth to that makes us believe that? I know we have all been told this in times past, but is that what the truth of the matter really is. Is it a Biblical based doctrine to think we are sinners because of our actions and deeds? According to the Bible it is through the disobedience of one man that we all became sinners.

This is found in Romans 5:19 which says that for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners. How many is many in this verse? As we know it is all and not just a few. So are we made sinners because we drink, curse, do many wrong things? No we are not. I think we can all agree that all mankind were made sinners due to Adam’s fall.

I don’t know if anyone in the Christian/religious community would dispute that. If that is the case, then why are we constantly told we are sinners because of what we do? Why were we told that our actions made us sinners? People are told that are going to hell because of what they do. If you really believe that you are going to hell because you drink, smoke, commit adultery and whatever else you do, then you are being mislead. I am sure many are convinced they are going to hell because of what they are doing.

When you start out with an extremely false perception of what salvation is then you are wide open to believe what such false doctrines tell you. It was by one man’s disobedience that all were made sinners. I know we can all likely scream right here how unfair that is!!! I have heard that said by many people including those in my family. When you think about it, does it sound fair that you became a sinner because of what someone else did?

I don’t think there is anything fair about that at all. To have to pay for something because of what someone else has done can never be classed as fair. But wait a minute. Could it be that it was the only way that God through His justice could declare all righteous because all were declared sinners? The last part of the verse quoted says that by one man’s obedience all were made righteous. The only way that every one could be declared righteous was that each and every one was first declared a sinner.

The sinner part was through one man’s disobedience and the second part of being righteous was through one Man’s obedience. Now let’s look at it this way. If you were not going to hell because of what you did, what makes you think you are going to Heaven because of what you did or do? The truth is that neither one of these things are because of what you did. The first part was because of Adam’s disobedience and the second part is because of one Man’s obedience, Jesus Christ. Sorry folks but you are totally left out of this equation. You are left out of the whole thing. I am sure most of us have felt like saying at one point or another that we could have made it to hell all by ourselves without Adam’s help.

And at the same time we are saying, if we trust in our works, that we can make to Heaven without anyone’s help either. Both of these things are totally wrong. You will get to Heaven, not because of what you do or even believe, but because of what Jesus did. He reconciled the entire world back to Himself by getting rid of the first Adam and what he passed on to every human being. As much as you can be upset and scream unfair because of what Adam did if you wish, but make sure you rejoice in what the second Adam did which was redeem the entire world. Both these things had absolutely nothing to do with us. It was all part of God’s plan for the human race.

In Isaiah 26:9 it says that righteousness will be learned when judgments are in the earth. The inhabitants of the earth will learn righteousness out of judgment. As stated in previous posts, this happened on the same day. In verse 10 he tells us in what way righteousness will never be learned. Verse 10…Let favor (grace) be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness, in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold (recognize) the majesty of the Lord.

The majesty of the Lord is His cross. If we do not understand this Day of Judgment that was prophesied to come upon the earth then it will be difficult to understand that righteousness came upon the whole world at the cross. In Isaiah 54:9 it says that the cross will be the same as the waters of Noah unto Him when He flooded the whole human race and judged the entire world at that time, He would do the same at the cross. Instead of judging the sin in every man individually, He was going to judge all sin in the body of one man Jesus Christ.

In this comes the revelation of God’s righteousness. When you are punished for your own shortcomings, it always points out your faults. It doesn’t reveal righteousness to you. You will never learn righteousness through someone pointing out your faults and shortcomings to you. So how do you learn righteousness? If you don’t realize that your own righteousness was taken out of the way by the judgment that was placed on Christ for you, that you will have problems learning about righteousness.

The issues of your righteousness have been taken out of the picture and therefore since God’s wrath was put on someone else on your behalf then HIS righteousness is revealed. Since our self righteousness has been taken out of the way, then whose righteousness is left? God’s of course and He was righteous enough to take on the sins of the whole world which leaves you and I with none to be held against us because they were judged on the cross. He that knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God. So where were we when all this was taking place on the cross?

We were in Him of course as we have been created in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10) Jesus said if I be lifted up I will draw all unto me meaning that all judgment due mankind was going to be placed upon Himself on the cross. If judgment for sin was placed upon Jesus then why should we be looking for our sin to be judged in the future? If God took out His wrath upon His Son on our behalf, then why are we still looking for God’s wrath to come? Either Jesus did it all or He did none at all. These are things we have to settle in our own hearts before we can even begin to see that we have God’s righteousness and not our own.

When you have a revelation of a completed work then you have a revelation of righteousness. We have to know we never have and never will do it right enough to be righteous in God’s eyes. Is anyone foolish enough to think they can look at what they have been and are doing to gain God’s favor that it would be good enough to get what they need from God? We all know we can never do enough to stand before a Holy and Just God by our own works. Surely we can see at least that we are in an impossible situation if it depends on us to attain this righteousness that God requires. To try to do this for yourself will never work for you. The reason it doesn’t work for you is because it is not the Gospel.

The Gospel is not based on doing something to get something from God. The Gospel is based on you not getting what you do deserve. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Grace is when you do get what you don’t deserve. We can look at these two statements and agree that’s what grace and mercy are, and yet listen to preachers tell you what you have to do to get something from God!!! If this is what you are doing then you must come to the conclusion that Grace and Mercy are not what you thought they were.

You cannot have it both ways. How did we get this mercy and grace? It was through judgment at the cross that should have been ours but was taken by Jesus on our behalf instead of us. Let’s make up our minds as to what we have. Do we have judgment coming or are we under His grace and mercy? We are under His grace and mercy my friends as He took all our judgment upon Himself. If He didn’t then we are not under grace. It has to be one or the other.

In the book of Isaiah there is a term used there throughout the book from chapter 1 through to chapter 66 and it is the term “in that day”. It is actually used 43 times by Isaiah. It is very important to know what day he was talking about. When Isaiah was using that term he was not talking about today, this present day we are in nor was he talking about the present day he was living in either. What he was talking about when he said “that day” was the day of the cross. He was prophesying what was going to happen on the day of the Lord which is the day Jesus went to the cross.

When reading Isaiah keep in mind that all prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus at the cross. (Luke 24:44) When we used to sing the chorus “this is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it” we always thought of it as the day we were singing it as being “this is the day”. We were always told that regardless of how awful our day was at the time, we were to rejoice because it was the day the Lord had made.

Well I know I had some days in the past that did not have a whole lot of things to rejoice about and I am sure each and every one of you can say the same. So what day should we think about when we sing that chorus? Which day was Isaiah talking about when he constantly mentioned “in that day”. The day that he talks about is the day of the cross. That is the true meaning of the day of the Lord. We have been told over the years that the day of the Lord was future because that was when His judgments and wrath would be poured upon the earth.

If you go back and read the book of Isaiah and each time you come across the term “that day” you think of the cross, because that is what it means, then you will begin to see that wrath and judgment is past and not future. In yesterday’s post I mentioned Romans 1:18 where it says that the wrath of God is already revealed so that righteousness could be revealed as well. This ties in well with Isaiah 26:9 saying that when God’s judgments are upon the earth then the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

This is only one of the many places in Isaiah that he mentions “that day” as being the Day of Judgment as well as the day of righteousness being revealed as the same day. This is not future but it was the Day of the Lord at the cross. If judgment and wrath have not been revealed at the cross, then neither has righteousness. If righteousness has not been revealed then we are still in our sins and the Bible is clear that is not so. Wrath and judgment was revealed at the cross so righteousness could be revealed as well. The latter could not be revealed until the former was revealed. There is no Gospel of Grace and Peace if it didn’t happen this way.