Christ’s finished work – Page 7

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Christ’s Finished Work: Justified by Faith

27 June 2022 blogpastor 2 Comments

As a new believer in Christ, I was plagued by a scrupulous conscience. I would keep a pen and notebook in my pocket to list down the sins and transgressions that I become aware of in the course of the school day. At the end of the day, I would confess these specific sins to God one by one, asking forgiveness for each sin. This practice was discouraging as I became more conscious of my weaknesses and failings than of the presence and blessings and attributes of God.

I carried the heavy burden of unforgiven and repeated sins piled up one upon another. I felt condemned, guilty and discouraged. Peace fled, and darkness hovered over my head and took away the joy of my salvation. I was a poor advertisement of the love of God. How can I look so morose and glum when Jesus loved me so much?

On hindsight, I what I lacked was a proper understanding of Christ’s finished work. There was a missing element in the teachings we received from the pulpit. We had teachings about the repentance, regeneration, baptism, baptism of the Spirit, discipleship, the holy life, and getting ready for Jesus’ return, but none about justification by faith. This is a foundational doctrine that should buttress all others. It is an essential cornerstone of Christ’s finished work. If I had received understanding of this teaching, it would have set me free from condemnation and set me on the path of “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17).

Justified by grace through faith

Believers in Christ are justified by the grace of God. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; and they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:23,24). It was not something we earned, deserved or could achieve on our own. Jesus’ death on the cross redeemed or purchased us from our slavery to sin. We now belong to Christ and he has changed our status before God from guilty, to someone who has been declared righteous, and acquitted of all wrong. This declaration of “NOT GUILTY” anticipates the verdict we will one day hear on the Day of Judgement. God lets us enjoy this status now. This means that when God sees us, he sees us as men and women cleared of all guilt of all sins (past, present and future). It is a gift, and we receive it by faith. “We have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law” (Gal2:16).

Rags to riches

To what shall I liken this change in status? I think of a man hopelessly in debt to his creditors to the tune of $6 million. Someone paid up his debt out of sheer grace, and informs him that his debt has been cleared, and he does not owe his creditors any money anymore. What relief! What great joy! What wonder and gratitude fills this man’s soul. No more darkness and depression. Hope fills him. A new like beckons him. This is what has happened to the sinner who believes in Christ: the debt of sin is completely cleared. Zero. But this is only half of the good news of justification. There is much more. The story continues. That generous benefactor not only leaves the man cleared of all debt, he also added $10 million into his zeroed account. Now the man suddenly without deserving or earning or working for it is a multi-millionaire. It is the same with what Christ’s finished work did for us: he not only erased all our sins to zero; he also imputed and gave to us his generous gift of righteousness – his life of total obedience to the Father has been transferred into our once bankrupt account. Our debts of sin were put upon Jesus, and in a mind-boggling and gracious exchange, he put his perfect righteousness upon us. “For our sake he (God) made him (Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him (Christ) we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).

This truth dawned on me and began to permeate my being after I read the book “Pastor Roland Buck: The Man Who Talked to Angels by Sharon White” a few years after I began my torturous journey as a new believer. It brought me great peace, stability and assurance before God. Joy returned and so did gratitude and confidence in God’s love.

Lord, thank you for Your finished work on the cross. For such a gracious and generous exchange. For the peace that passes all understanding and the great joy of Your salvation. Amen.

This is part of a planned series of writings on the topic of “The A to Z of Christ’s Finished Work”. I am writing it alphabet by alphabet. Thus far the others that I have written can be found HERE. Feel free to use it in personal or group discipleship discussions to establish the faith of believers. It can also be used to inspire ideas for pastors to use as a series of messages to strengthen the faith of the congregation.

Christ’s Finished Work: Intercession of Christ

24 May 2022 blogpastor 4 Comments

Fruit of the Finished Work

Christ’s intercession for believers is a fruit of his finished work. Without his death and resurrection, there would be no basis for intercession to the Father on the believer’s behalf. The basis of Jesus intercession for believers is that he paid the price for their redemption, the forgiveness of sins, once and for all, by giving his sinless life to take away the sins of the world. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:33,34).

Picture the evil one before the God accusing believers of their faults, shortcomings and sins of omission and commission. The accusations are not without basis and the believers have to admit to them. However, there is an Advocate, a defence lawyer in the heavenly courts who speaks us for us to God. He says in effect, “These believers have sinned in thought, word and action. However, I came to earth, and I paid the price for their redemption, the forgiveness of all their sins. Therefore, I intercede on their behalf on the basis of my shed blood, that they be forgiven totally of all wrongdoing, and that they stand before you clothed in my righteousness instead”. God listens to Christ’s valid, effectual intercession and our sins are all cancelled out and we are acquitted.

The Freedom of a Forgiven People

This is why believers can live in the freedom of a forgiven people. They are far from perfect and do sin and fail daily, but they have Christ to intercede for them not only in this life but also on the day of judgment. “But if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation of our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world” (1 John2:1,2).“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25).

Following Jesus with such a deep and complete assurance leads to confidence instead of fear, peace instead of condemnation, joy instead of a spirit of heaviness. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this will not lead to careless, playful, deliberate sin. It does not. In fact, the opposite happens. Such generosity of forgiveness, empowers the sinning believer to again be aware of his sins and need, to turn to God and be even more grateful for Christ’s finished work, thus spiritually empowering him to love Jesus much more.

Christ’s Finished Work: Holy Spirit

8 March 2022 blogpastor Leave a comment

My experience of the Holy Spirit

My first experience of the Holy Spirit was in a Saturday meeting in a home. I cannot remember what the preacher A.M. Mathew spoke about but when he gave an invitation for those who want to follow Christ to go forward I somehow went forward, to my own surprise. On hindsight I now know it was the Spirit drawing me to Christ. In my own self, I would have been too shy to have gone forward. From that day on I had different desires. My desire for God, reading the Bible, praying and attending meetings grew and my basketball passion went limp. I helped around at home more and was more at peace and joyful.

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

In the meetings God was moving in revival power. At that time, all I knew was that at every meeting there were inspiring testimonies, heartfelt praise and singing, lengthy doctrinal teachings, followed by weeping, repentance and prayer in tongues. I wept often, sometimes in repentance; other times, overwhelmed by sense of his presence and love.

I asked about the speaking in tongues and someone passed me a booklet full of Bible passages and verses about the Holy Spirit organized under sub-headings comprising common questions people ask about the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues. I remembered reading the booklet over and over again, until faith got hold of me and I believed and started praying for the baptism of the Spirit and the gift of tongues. It was several weeks of prayer and seeking God until finally I was filled and spoke in tongues aloud with my church friends in a field bench between two three-storey blocks in Princess Elizabeth Estate. I was sure it caused a stir because I saw people staring at us from their windows, wondering what the loud “noise” and crying was all about. That night I continued using the gift of tongues softly till dawn. It was a day I would never forget. I was overflowing with the joy of the Lord.

Hunger For Truth and Reality of God

The presence and person of God became so real and it drew me more frequently and for longer periods into prayer and study of the Bible and reading of Christian books. I attended conferences such as the Spiritual Renewal Seminars and wrote notes and practiced what I heard. I had a deeper sense of being forgiven, loved and assurance of sonship. I became bolder in personal witnessing, sharing Christ and my testimony to strangers and distributing tracts house to house and with others in town and the esplanade after the Saturday meetings.

Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit

I learned about the gifts of the Spirit and prayed for the gift of prophecy, and began to prophesy. I also found Ithat God used me to often to preach and teach the Word. I also prayed for the gifts of healing but I was rarely used by God in this area.

More importantly I became more aware of the companionship and faithful gentle friendship of the Spirit. He was helping me with all kinds of things and would often help me to serve the church better, giving me wisdom and abilities and the graces to do what I could not in my natural self. The Spirit transformed me little by little from the shy, introverted, insecure, anxious youth to the person I am today – and the work will continue till Jesus returns.

No Finished Work, No Outpouring of Spirit

The person and gifts of the Holy Spirit was made available to us because of Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension. Unless Jesus was exalted to the right hand of the Father, the Spirit would not be poured out upon all who believe in Him.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:37-39).

When Jesus spoke these words, Jesus had not yet been crucified. Jesus knew he would be glorified and taken up to the right hand of God in heaven. Then and only then would the Spirit be poured out upon everyone who trusted him. Peter preached to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost: “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear (Acts 2:32,33).

One of God’s great blessings of Christ’s finished work is the person and gift of the Holy Spirit.

This article is part 8 of 26. To access other articles about the A to Z of Christ’s Finished Work go HERE.