that the works of God might be made manifest

The Works of God
John 9:1-4
(1)  And as [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man which was blind from [his] birth.
(2)  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
(3)  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
(4) I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
This seems to look like Jesus is saying
“God made him blind, so Jesus can have some miracles to perform on earth that people might believe him”
Or that
“This is not the kind of problem caused by sin, it is a SPECIAL kind of problem that God put there so He can be showing Himself, otherwise people won’t serve Him.”
But that’s far from the message!
Please notice what Jesus did not say. He didn’t say
“He was CREATED blind”, or “He was made blind”
So Jesus cannot be talking about God as the reason for that situation. But the fact Jesus admitted was that “he was blind, but… the works of God shall be manifest”. It therefore means that hitherto, the works of God has not been manifest in his life.

Jesus simply said, ‘Hey! what you people are about to see now is “the work of God”’,
“I must work the works of him that sent me”, and we saw what?
…a healing
Therefore, his blindness is not “the work of God” is the simple message: his healing is the work of God.
It is only one person Jesus told us does nothing but is come to steal, to kill, and to destroy – the thief (John 10:10) and God is not a thief.
Therefore, don’t make a false doctrine out of this: that God maketh sick and then healeth. Don’t say “God has made me sick so He can heal me again that I can know that He is powerful”.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: James 1:13
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
(1 John 1:5)
Peace to you.

Jesus truly washed away your sins

Feel free to share the message in pictures. #WordInPictures

In What/Whom are you Glorying?

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14)

The word "glory" here is not the common word "doxa" used in most "glory" word, as in "from glory to glory" (2Cor 3:18) and other verses; but the Greek word "kauchaomai" which means to "boast" or to "vaunt". It is a word that occurred about 38 times in the New Testament, and interestingly, ALL of the occurrences are only found in the epistles. This speaks a lot about us. We are supposed to be boastful people!

We GLORY (kauchaomai) in tribulations (Romans 5:3)
We REJOICE (kauchaomai) in hope (Romans 5:2)
We also JOY (kauchaomai) in God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:11)

To glory is not wrong: it is in what you're glorying in that may be wrong.
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:31 KJV)

Beloved, God permits only one glorying, and that is the glorying that you do in His finished work.

Not of works, lest any man should boast {glory in works}. (Ephesians 2:9)

And there are only two common place people can glory in: in the flesh or in the Lord.

When you confess and magnify Christ's offering for you OFTEN, you are glorying in the Lord. When you confess your strength, righteousness and ability to do it often, such as counting on the tithes you've paid to open the door of blessings on you; expecting your moral living to attract divine recognition and acceptance; looking forward to making heaven because you have been abstaining from sin; keeping yourself "holy" or counting on your fasting to cause God to forcefully attend to you; depending on your good church dance skills and ability to eulogise God to get His blessings; or any activity/service in church or anywhere intended to get God "impressed": you are glorying in the flesh. Doing the above good works (fasting, living holy, dancing etc) is good: but Christ ALONE must be the reason you have any blessing of God. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (Eph 2:18) Failure to acknowledge this is a glorying in the flesh, and an acknowledgment is a glorying in the Lord.

ONLY IN CHRIST IS GOD PLEASED. Others mean nothing to him.

But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I {not you} [am] the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: FOR IN THESE [THINGS] I DELIGHT, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:24 KJV)

As for me, God forbid that I should glory, SAVE IN THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14) what about you?

Righteousness and Sanctification: Same source, same process

RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SANCTIFICATION: SAME SOURCE, SAME PROCESS

I agree that righteousness and sanctification (holiness) are not exactly the same. However, to say that one is a "higher level" than the other is a step outside of faith.

Commonly thought is the concept that when you receive Jesus (at salvation), you are given righteousness as a free gift. This is correct at this level. But it is often added that, as for holiness, it is what you must do: it comes from your effort and ability, and not from God. Wrong!

We teach righteousness and sanctification: SAME SOURCE, SAME PROCESS. Christ redemption brought the two. They are both freely given! Check your bible!

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and RIGHTEOUSNESS, and SANCTIFICATION, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30 KJV)

You feel one is a "higher level" than the other but see how the writer puts both on the same line pointing to the same source: Jesus Christ … and RIGHTEOUSNESS, and SANCTIFICATION. The man who is made unto us righteousness, the same is made unto us sanctification, the same, redemption. Now, do you say, redemption is "another level" after sanctification? Since it is mentioned last?

Take heed what thou doest anytime you want to turn to YOURSELF for perfection. It is a mistake that seems to be common to all. They start out on claiming righteousness by faith, but when they hear "be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is…", they shrink back from faith, and begin to "try harder" on themselves. Paul calls this foolishness. Perfection is not in your muscles, it's in Christ.

Are ye so FOOLISH? having begun in the Spirit, are ye NOW MADE PERFECT BY THE FLESH? (Galatians 3:3 KJV)

Just let Him that began a good work in you, bring it to completion. Don't look elsewhere! No, not to yourself. You are made righteous through faith in Christ (Romans 1:17 2Cor 5:21 Acts 13:39). You are already sanctified by the same (Hebrews 10:10). Not one work of God is imperfect. He's a good God.

Righteous by Default

Righteousness! Righteousness!

In the world cup, FIFA has a rule that makes the host of the tournament qualified automatically while other teams must have to have a tough battle to reach the mondial.

In 2010, we all know that hosts South Africa ought not be there because they did not win enough matches to qualify, yet they must be there by the statutory law of FIFA.

The above is a good explanation for "without works".

Now the bible teaches that the righteousness and salvation of every believer is "without works". What does that mean? The believer is "automatically" righteousness by the law of God. It is not according to how he "qualifies" or not, but according to how God qualifies him.

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHOUT WORKS (Romans 4:6 KJV)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)

In a language a friend of mine often uses, EVERY BELIEVER is RIGHTEOUS "by default". He has no sin in his account because he is the blessed man David describeth, the man unto who God does not impute sin.

He may sin, he may be overtaken in a "fault" (Gal 6:1, 1John 2:1) because he is not perfect, but God instead of imputing sins, keeps imputing righteousness.

Blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. (Romans 4:8)
This is the heritage of ALL that believe in Christ Jesus, but "who has believed our report?"

The Father sees no sin in you - Part II

You may scroll back to our previous class - Part I of this topic for better understanding. There we saw how the Father assumed a "good" view of us because of Jesus' eternal sacrifice, such that when He looks at us, it's no longer our works of righteousness (which Isaiah describes as filthy rag) anymore, but if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, he is not known after the flesh but in Christ's work of righteousness. This is why Paul had to abandon his St. Holiness and Moses' unshaking adherence Synagogue to join the Circle of Grace Family Church of Christ.

Philippians 3:9 KJV
And be found in him, NOT HAVING MINE OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS (filthy rag), which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

This is the eye with which we are reckoned before God. The Father is never seeing an unworthy sinner trying to approach Him for mercy. He is always seeing a perfect and worthy man not approaching Him, but always living with him!

Now is God blind? Doesn't He see and know the innermost of my being? "If I deceive myself, is God also deceived?" No. No. No! We settled this in the previous part: God isn't blind, rather God is only seeing rightly!

*[[Psa 94:9]] KJV* He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
God is only being just in calling you who has chosen to live by faith of Christ equally just. Jesus paid for your sins: so God will be unjust in making you pay for the sins again. This payment must not even be in form of Him depriving you of His presence for one moment. He must not judge you a sinner again or punish you if He will not be unjust.

See,
It must be you who is getting it wrong by relying on your poor eyes and senses! You know this is a world people are given freedom of opinion: so everyone want to stick to his own opinion. As for me, I think God's opinion must be the sovereign truth, and that's what I choose to rule my life with.

We saw Hebrews 8:12 in the last part,

*[[Heb 8:12]] KJV* For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

And we saw how it's true God does not keep account of our sins. In a past article we asked DOES GOD ISSUE A LAST WARNING OR QUIT NOTICE ON GRACE? You know you only talk of "last warning" if and only if you have a "first". The question should have been "Does God issue a warning at all on grace?" Now, I didn't say "Does God give a warning on sin?" because He has actually done that! Grace is God's warning for sinners.

...now commandeth all men every where to repent: [[Act 17:30]] KJV
(Also Colossians 1:28)

But on grace, it's God's gift which He (not your conscience) will not "upbraid" you for, not for once.

Hebrews 8:12 tells us He no longer "remembers" it. Oh! Last warning so called, can only come into play because you have been keeping a record and numbering the sins. You'll tell him, "this is sin number 1, 2, 3... then the last warning". "Remember the last time you spoke and I corrected you on pride. REMEMBER the last time I WARNED you on anger, are you getting angry again? See, the next time you get angry, I'll take my grace". If He doesn't remember your sins, there can not be "last warning" because there is no "first".

Let's see scriptures quickly before you squeeze that face.

*[[Psa 130:3]] KJV* If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

No, Read again.

If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities...

What does that mean? The Lord does not "mark" iniquities.

The Lord does not "mark" iniquities, otherwise the world would be desolate by now. So the Lord doesn't mark your iniquities against your name. Tell everyone that is alive today he is alive, not because he keeps the law but because God has not been marking his violations of the law against him. There is forgiveness and it is with God. You know what that means? God is not going to have to search if He can find forgiveness for you. He gives you forgiveness because it is WITH HIM. License for more sin? Certainly not. That's because You didn't read the next verse: ...that thou mayest be feared. (v4)

Thus, it is not a license to sin, but license to be feared. When you see His abundance of forgiveness, you will be afraid! "Who is this infinite forgiver?" and the shackles of sin will be broken.

We close this here. Appreciate this mercy of God that Jesus made available. The Father isn't unaware that you're not perfect, but He doesn't hold them recorded anywhere. Alleluia.

Enjoy The accepted time! Serve the Lord

When we say you're accepted in Christ, it should not be too hard for you to receive. But you know many people will be quick to check the law and point to one thing or another that will not make God to accept them. "You know you have to be holy, but I'm not. You have to be righteous, but I am not. I have not kept the commandments of God. I cannot be accepted". While it is good to live holy and righteous, you're not accepted because of it. Your acceptance is not because you have promised to "be a good boy", but because God decided without any man's advice to declare an "accepted time".

Now what is "accepted time"?

Time to master righteousness

I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:19

You are without sin before the Father

I want to show you this powerful liberating truth. From my heart of hearts I show you with tears what Christ brought and bought is in His redemption, the free gift of righteousness often ignored and unknown by many. I'm sure you want to know it. Alleluia.

Do you know that you have never been known by God as being in sin since you met Christ? Yes, since you became born again, it's not been a perfect thing. You may have come the journey so far with mistakes and roughness. Maybe there have been times you've lied before, sometimes it's lust, sometimes it's been greed, to mention but a few. But do you know you've never been seen before God with any of those sins? They've got no record! Before God, you've been sinless all the while.

The inner witness says you're righteous

Many times when we commit a sin, we feel God must be bitter at us, feel The Holy Ghost is angry too. Oh! God is bitter at sin, true! God and sin are enemies, true! But God will have to first reckon on Jesus' appeasing sacrifice and never will the wrath get to you.

Righteousness in simple terms

Righteousness...Psalm 14:3, 53:3, Rom 3:10 all say 

there is none righteous. Not one.
Rom 3:23 says all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God.
Isaiah 64:6 also says, ...all our righteousness are as
filthy rags.
What does all these mean?
It all started in the beginning. God said in Gen 1:26-
Let us make man in our own image and after our
likeness. This is God speaking to himself declaring
his intention to make man.
Gen 1:27- God created man in his image and
likeness. If God created man like this, then man can
stand before God without feeling guilty or inferior.
This is righteousness.