BLOGGERS - YOU WRITE WHAT YOU ARE
"For God so love the world..." True when it was penned centuries ago, and true today.
Interesting, in light of all the 'blogs' concerning recent revivals, the talk of miracles, signs and wonders, the supernatural manifestations of the Spirit, prophecy and prophesying, very few mention the real demonstration of God's power seen in His ability to justify us in Christ.
It is God's legal action, on our behalf.
We can skin Todd Bentley alive and declare him a false whatever and still miss what the scriptures teach us concerning biblical salvation. Romans 3:26 says, "It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
I believe men like Bentley and a whole host of others, including you and me, are sinners, in the hands of a God who loves us, forgives us and yes, even justifies us.
God alone, in Christ, can declare us righteous. He alone can justify us in Christ. He alone can acquit us in Christ. Beyond the subjective experience of each blogging believer, is the judicial act of a holy God pronouncing us pardoned in Christ when repentance is made.
Through confession of sin, God restores us to enjoy our righteousness in Christ. He declares the believing sinner righteous on the basis of the blood sacrifice of His only begotten Son. It is never ever on our merits or personal righteousness. It is always about Jesus!
Justification is the reversal of God's attitude toward the sinner because of their relationship to Christ. God demonstrates His mercy, His grace, His pardon, and accepts the repentant on the basis of the righteousness of Christ. His righteousness is imputed and received by faith.
When all the dust of the revival tent has died down and the crowds have gone home, the blogs continue to be written as though nothing has happened. In behind the scenes, a broken leader repents before his/her God. We don't see them in the prayer closet but God does. And God responds to a broken heart in accordance with the righteousness of His Son and the finished work of the cross.
King David understood this in Psalm 51 :4 when he said, "Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment."
God declares, by a judicial act, that His law has been and continues to be perfectly satisfied in Christ, so that Christ's righteousness, by imputation, can be credited to the sinning leader's life. Oh what a great God and a great salvation!
I believe that many who have failed publicly, will, in God's presence, be forgiven. They will hear God say to them, "not guilty" as they lay their sin at the foot of the cross.
We will not be privy to these holy moments but they will occur again and again as the anguish of sin and failure towards the Body of Christ and the public at large, becomes a burden to heavy to bear.
When I stand in God's presence seeking forgiveness for my sin, I want to hear the words "acquitted, not guilty, forgiven, cleansed, justified" according to Christ and Christ alone. Galatians 2:16 declares that, "A man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ."
I want to be part of the crowd that prays for those who sin and fall publicly. I want to praise our God because it is on the merits of Christ's righteousness plus nothing that we can all come boldly before His throne seeking to be justified.
Justification doesn't change our character issues but our standing before God.
From a place of justification, it is our responsibility to do the work needed to change those character issues that got us into sin in the first place. Jesus said, "But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart..." then He listed those things we have seen and heard associated with recent revival reports.
Let us remember these words and apply them to our blogs..."But what comes out of the computer keyboard proceeds from the heart..."
You write what you are!
