Audio stopped at 8 minutes due to a software glitch. (Reprint from The Scholars Corner)

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

If I try to be a good person, won’t God accept me, even if I don’t believe?

That is the wrong question: God has already accepted you. The question is: will you accept him?

God has reconciled himself to you. What does that mean? It means no matter what you have done, God isn’t counting it against you. He isn’t remembering it.

It means nothing you have done can keep you from God: pedophilia, incest, abortion, murder, rape, drugs, alcoholism, addictions, fornication, adultery, lying, cheating, pornography, witchcraft, stealing, racism, hatred… anything you can name, the most evil thing you can name. Even child sacrifice and worship of satan.

NONE OF THAT MATTERS TO GOD. He has accepted you.

Will you accept HIM accepting you??

When Jesus went to the cross, it is as if he committed those crimes and not you!

It is like you never committed any sin or did anything wrong…. EVER!  That is what it means to be God’s righteousness and for him to be reconciled to you!

You have been given the gift of holiness and sanctification.

You are Holy if you are born again because the Holy Spirit, who is Holy, lives in you. Not of yourself, but  God who is Holy Lives in you! 

He is Your Righteousness and  Sanctification

“so that there would be no place for prideful boasting in God’s presence. For it is not from man that we draw our life but from God as we are being joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. And now he is our God-given wisdom, our virtue, our holiness, and our redemption. And this fulfills what is written: If anyone boasts, let him only boast in all that the Lord has done!” – 1 Corinthians 1:29–31 (TPT)

When God spoke, the worlds were created. Whatever he speaks comes to pass. He said let there be light and light was. His word establishes what he says. It becomes what he says it is. Right? Since he cannot speak falsely, whatever he says is true.  So, when he declares you righteous and holy through Jesus Christ…that is what you are and what you have become, regardless of how you feel.

Romans 3:24 ESV

and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Justified is from a Latin legal term from a court trial. The Greek word is diakaiow, which is a relational term means to declare or be made “righteous” or in right relationship with someone.

In our case it means to be made sinless and holy before God. It has if you have never committed any sin.

My point is that declared us to be righteous, that is what we are, regardless of how we feel or think about ourselves. What God has spoken cannot be undone!

1 Peter 1:14–16 ESV

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Peter’s point is: NOW, BE WHO YOU ARE. You are holy, now act like it. This is not to become good and earn God’s favor. You are already good, and have been given a heart after God, so walk in it!.

How can anyone who is holy continue to participate in works of darkness?

Galatians 5:16–26 ESV

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 

What Paul is describing here is not a list of do’s and don’ts, but as signposts revealing whether you are walking in the Spirit or in self-will, which ends in evil behavior.

Romans 12:2  ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.  

Recognizing that we are the road to recovery, God has shown us the end point in Jesus, who was perfect. Paul realizes that our growth in to holiness is a process. But God is saying to  us: “Be like me.”

The danger of seeing this goal line is that we try to do this in our own strength. That is the flesh. We cannot achieve the change of our hurts, hearts, and behaviors by relying on our own abilities.  Paul says that is witchcraft!

Galatians 3:1–6 ESV

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

The more we rely upon Jesus and yield to the Holy Spirit in us, the more we will become like him in holiness. It is not through will power that we become sanctified, but through trusting in Jesus and in his completed work on the cross for us:

Acts 26:17–18 ESV

  I am sending you (Paul) to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

If you are struggling with temptations and behaviors that are not in line with God’s call to holiness, we can pray with you and for you. It is time for you to call out to God and ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit so that by his power in you, you can be made whole.