FAITH, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND POWER
(week 35/12)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Romans 1:16-17 KJV: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (17) For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Here, the Holy Spirit through Paul tells us that the gospel of the Lord Jesus makes the power of God available through right-standing by faith in the blood of Jesus.
Romans 3:24-26 AMP: [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus, (25) Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment. (26) It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (in the now season) that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has [true] faith in Jesus.
In daily practice, we confess our sins and visualize the flow firstly of the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from all un-righteousness and purge our consciences from the guilt of dead works:
1John 1:7-10 KJV: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (8) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
If we are dishonest about the fact that we still have the sin-nature in our souls and bodies and therefore still sin, then the blood will not cleanse us and our right standing with God will be blocked. However, if we are honest and confess our sins, then the blood will cleanse us and keep our right-standing with God intact and so give us boldness to approach God without a guilty conscience and so give us access to the life and power of God in sufficient measure (2 Cor. 12:9) to bring the answers to our prayers into physical manifestation:
Hebrews 9:14 NIV: How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Hebrews 10:22 NIV: let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 4:16 AMP: Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].
Proverbs 21:21 KJV: He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour.
Here, the Holy Spirit gives us practical instructions of how to increase in right-doing: by following after right-standing, which comes by frequent cleansing of the blood of Jesus as we confess our sins. As we do this, we also forsake these sins in our hearts by a determination to overcome them with the wisdom and power of God; when we do this in our hearts, God releases a measure of His mercy upon us:
Proverbs 28:13 KJV: He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Jude 1:21 KJV: Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
The cleansing of the blood of Jesus gives us access to the life of God internally in our spirits, the forsaking of sin gives us access to the life of externally, this inflow of life God internally; and externally enables us to practice right-doing at a higher level than we did before. This higher level of right-doing brings us greater honour in God.
As we continually practice this cycle of confession and forsaking of sin to obtain right-standing and mercy and so increase in our right-doing, we will come to higher and higher levels of honour in God:
Romans 2:7-10 KJV: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: (8) But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, (9) Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; (10) But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
