For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous, ( Romans 5:19).
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life, for if we have united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
For He who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus Our Lord.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God, ( Romans 6:4-13).
In prayer, I was awakened to a reality of responsibility from the Lord as He was talking about lip service versus real obedience from the heart….. We can only obey the Lord, by the strength of His Spirit within us…. We can do no good thing apart from the Lord, for all flesh is as dung…. So much for our humanistic intentions of well doing!
On meditating on the verse of scripture, I realized I just applied the glory to the Lord, for of course, it was the Lord that turned many to righteousness by His obedience to the cross….
But He put before me….. Are you not a member of My Person?…. My body?…..
Yes, Lord….. then by your obedience to My Spirit, many also are continued to be made righteous…..
Wow, what a responsibility we have in Christ, in hearing and then obeying the voice of the Lord and in His Word….In obedience to the Word, Christ within will then awaken many to righteousness.
Many will be made righteous by our obedience to the Lord….. The Gospel of Christ Jesus is very simple. The Word of God is a nail into our hearts from the reality of His Truth.
So what ever we receive by God to do, we better obey and be His vessel as an active member of His body. I always saw Christ making many righteous…. but by our own little obedience through His Spirit, the Christ is making many righteous through His body…. How awesome is that….
May be that is why from Abraham through all the epistle: the word holy and blameless are spoken as a reprove over and over again for our listening ears…. A place that we aim to shoot our arrow towards the mark of the high calling.
Genesis 17:1, When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I Am Almighty God; walk before Me blameless.
No less than 15 times is the word blameless written…..Three of them were written in the old testament, however the other 12 are from the new. Blameless and walking by faith in the Spirit, I believe are the same measure from God’s view….
When we walk by faith in His Word today and obey,…. the Spirit must be within us to empower us to heed His commands….. So as we walk by faith in the Spirit of God, we will be found blameless. In walking in faith, we are strengthened by the Spirit to continue in obedience to follow the Spirit of God in greater measure. We can grow in strength and faith as we obey.
Jesus speaks to the Pharisees in Matthew 12:5, Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?
It is written in Luke 1:6, And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless….. I want to mention that this was prior to the Holy Spirit given to us at Pentecost… Now we have been empowered to walk in the nature of God and not the nature of fallen man.
Now we have exhortations from the Epistles from Paul and Peter, after the power on High was given, giving believers…..as written in 2 Peter 1:3-11, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness to brotherly kindness, love.
For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Peter and Paul encourage us to take the salvation of the Lord earnestly to work the grace that He has given us in the leading of the Holy Spirit by our faith…..We are to walk in the Spirit by faith which is not by our reasoning or our natural sight….How? By faith in the what the Word of God says about our life in Christ…. We obey by faith and then walk in faith knowing our Lord will meet us in His power.
Remember it is written in Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is , and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
1 Corinthians 1:7-8, so that you come short in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 2:14-15, Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.
1 Thessalonians 5:23, Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is mind of God that we walk blameless before Him in a crooked world….. By obedience in faith because of His great Love that He has for us, we are encouraged that this command is not grievous. By His Spirit, this production of His grace will bring this eternal fruit….. By His power…. we are His children. By His power, we are His sons and daughters. By His power, we can walk blameless before Him……
It is not by us or our own power….. It is by the Spirit of grace within us, doing the work of God through His sons and daughters….. We cannot become the sons and daughters of God, as well, as we cannot make our selves born again….. It has all come through the Spirit of God, by His mercy in Jesus Christ as Savior….. It is all God, and He gets all the glory….. He also should be getting His fruit of obedience through us too that leads many to be made righteousness.
We will meditate on this further, so in our walk of obedience may bring many to righteousness….by His Spirit in us!
Selah…. Part II, the Lord willing!
By His Spirit……
