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Strengthened by God’s Salvation

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“You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf”-2 Chronicles 20:17

There is always a temptation during times of struggle to forget what God has done for you.   At times, we often wonder how God is working in our lives or if He is doing anything at all.  We pray but nothing happens or it isn’t the answer we wanted.  When we forget what God is doing, self-pity is always at the door ready to entrap us. Allowing ourselves to wallow in self pity can make us lose our joy in the Lord.  People can lose sight of what Christ has done and is doing, though we might not see it at the time.

When we wonder if God is doing anything in our lives, it is needful for us to be reminded of our salvation in Christ. Remember friends, God didn’t have to save you.  God would have been just in letting every one of us receive His justice .  God’s justice demands punishment for sin.  He is righteous and holy, and God must always do what is right.  All of us have broken His Law and are covenant breakers.  God requires perfect obedience to His Law and perfect righteousness in order to come into His presence.  This is not possible for us who are sinners from birth.  Because of our representative parents Adam and Eve, all of us have inherited original sin.  All are children of wrath from birth and are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3).  The great news is that Christ has redeemed us from the Law!  Christ has made us alive together with Himself!

It is through Christ’s active and passive obedience that salvation has been granted.  When we refer to Christ’s active obedience, it is in reference to His fulfilling the Law of God perfectly throughout His life.  We tend to forget that His life is just as important as His death.  Have you ever wondered why it was necessary that Christ had to live a perfect life?  If all that was needed was His death, He could have just come down from heaven, went straight to the cross, then back to heaven; however, this is not what He did. Remember the very first covenant that God made with Adam which was the covenant of works.  In this covenant, Adam was to obey God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Obviously, Adam failed to obey God’s Law.  Christ, who is the last Adam, as God’s word says (Rom 5), kept the original covenant of works that Adam couldn’t keep.  It is Christ’s righteousness that has fulfilled the Law of God and the original covenant that is imputed to us through faith (Rom. 4:22-24).  Christ’s passive obedience-though there is nothing passive about it- is in reference to His obedience unto death; the death of the cross.  It was while on the cross that Christ satisfied the justice of God in place of those who would believe.  As the Scripture says, He was our propitiation (1 John 2:2).  He took the wrath of God in place of those who would believe. Now, when God looks down on you He no longer sees you as sinful covenant breakers, but He sees the righteousness of His Son.  We are clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Isa. 61:10).

Christ has conquered death, hell, and Satan through His finished work.  He is victorious and we, His people, partake of that victory through our faith in Him.  He has rendered Satan powerless (Hebrews 2).  Death is disarmed and hell is no more for those who are in Christ.  Christ is at the right hand of the Father and makes intercession for us.  Christ has justified us in the sight of God.  In a literal sense, God has declared us “Not Guilty” because of the righteousness of Christ.  Not only has He justified us, but He has adopted us (Jn.1:12, Rom. 8:15), sanctified us (Rom. 8:29), and he will ultimately glorify us (Rom. 8:30, 1 Cor. 15:51, 52, 2 Thess. 1:10). Next time you get in a rut and wonder what God has done for you, reflect on His salvation that was granted to you.

 

Writer Bio

Joshua BanksJoshua Banks is senior pastor and founder of Shepherd’s Rock Bible
Church in Kingsport, TN.  He holds a Bachelors degree in Ministry from
Luther Rice University, a Master of Arts in Theological Studies, and a
Master of Divinity both from Liberty University.  Joshua and his wife
Amanda, along with their 5 children, reside in Gate City, VA.

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