Breaking Major Misconceptions About God's Word
Posts tagged righteousness
Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
310 months ago
by Caleb
in Righteousness
Ever wonder what makes movies so mesmerizing? It’s color, new movies are so much more enjoyable than older films because of the HD (High Definition) quality. It’s not that the new movies have better stories or ever better plots, but the fact is that, the colors are so amazing. The story of Joseph and the coat of colors is similar to new movies; the coat is bright and filled with color, but the story is deeper than the bright Technicolor dreamcoat.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. – Genesis 37:3 (NIV)
The coat that Joseph was given is symbolic. Joseph’s coat had two different things that a normal coat did not.
1. It was expensive (because of the colors).
2. It had long sleeves.
The part of the coat deals with the cost of the coat. Think about this, coats back in the day were never really colorful. They did not have the technology or the machinery to have colorful clothes, but when they did have a colorful coat, it was expensive.
The NIV version says, “coat of many colours,” whereas the Amplified adds something different.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a [distinctive] long tunic with sleeves. – Genesis 37:3 (Amplified)
The Amplified describes the coat as a long tunic with sleeves. This is interesting because the long sleeves have a deep meaning. Do you remember the scene of Jesus building a table, in the movie, “The Passion of the Christ?” This scene shows a joyful Jesus building a table with a sleeveless shirt. Almost anyone who has to work hard outside is not going to wear a big fury jacket, but they will wear something light and without sleeves. The reason Israel gave Joseph a coat with long sleeves was because he did not want his son to work (out in the fields) like his other brothers.
You can see how this angered his brothers. Here they had been working hard in the fields while Joseph is resting with his dad. This coat symbolizes our coat of righteousness. Jesus had a robe of righteousness that was given to him from God. Jesus took off his robe of righteousness (on the cross), and he swapped it with our filthy coat.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21
Our new robe of righteousness means 2 things.
1. It is expensive (Jesus paid a heavy price for our right standing with God).
2. It has long sleeves (Jesus has already done it all, “It Is Finished!” All we have to do it believe.)
Also, people think that we must put on this coat, daily, but the truth is that God placed this coat on us, without us even realizing.
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. – Isaiah 61:10
For He (God) has clothed me with a robe of righteousness! Whether you know it or not, you are right with God. Our good or bad works have nothing to do with this gift of righteousness. This gift does not ask, “Are you a good person?” It is given to us because of Jesus. What kind of gift would this be if we were perfect? And yet, people think they must be perfect to keep this robe. If all of your past sins didn’t keep you from becoming righteous, how can one sin make you lose this robe of righteousness?
You are righteous; God has placed on us a robe of righteousness because of Jesus’ finished work. This coat is a coat of rest (it has long sleeves). This is the ultimate dreamcoat! Our robe of righteousness gave us right standing with God. This gift is not about how good you are. It is about how good was the man who bought it for you!
Photo By: James Donaldson/ creationswap.com
Who Shall Ascend To The Hill Of The Lord?
011 months ago
by Caleb
in The Presence of God
Psalm 24
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
And who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul [b]to falsehood
And has not sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD
And [c] righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face—even Jacob. Selah.
In case you don’t know it yet, this chapter is all about Jesus! Psalms deals with an interesting question; who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? So let’s break this down.
1. “Who
The word who is speaking about a person, the Psalmist is looking for someone.
2. Shall ascend
This person is obviously going up into a place where many people are not. This idea of ascending means that the person is going into a higher place.
3. To the Hill of the Lord?”
The Hill of the Lord is obviously not a literal hill (mountain) because God does not dwell in one place, but it speaks of a place where God is; it speaks of his presence.
When we understand each word in this Psalm, we can realize the meaning of this Psalm. If I could paraphrase the Psalm I would write, “Who can go into the presence of God?” Who can stand before a Holy God with confidence?
My friend, when this was written, only Jesus had clean hands and a pure heart, but He did not just stay on that hill; He came down to bring us up. My friend, because of what Christ has done, YOU can ascend to the hill (presence) of the Lord!
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. – Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)
Now, thanks to the cross, we can come boldly into the presence of God knowing the price has been paid.
You say, “But only the ones with clean hands and a pure heart can ascend to the hill of the Lord.”
Yes, that man is Jesus, and you are in Jesus! If Jesus can ascend to the hill and you are in Him, then you can ascend! Have you forgotten that you have been cleansed of your sins? 2 Peter goes through a list of things
• Goodness
• Knowledge
• Self-control
• Perseverance
• Godliness
• Mutual Affection
• Love
Then the next verse says,
“But if anyone does not have them (goodness, knowledge, etc.) , he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” – 2 Peter
My bible says that we have been CLEANSED of our sins! And, the reason why our young people don’t have self-control, the reason the church body doesn’t have mutual affection, and the reason people quit church and don’t have perseverance is because we have forgotten we have BEEN (past tense) cleansed.
People still think they have dirty hands and a dirty heart, but you have been cleansed of all of your sins! Like I shared earlier with the post Is Our Heart Desperately Wicked, your heart is brand new. You are a new creation, and all old things (sin) have passed away!
It is self-righteousness to say you can ascend to the hill of the Lord on you own strength. People think, “Well if I obey God’s word as much as a can, then I will get clean hands.” The truth is that, you cannot do anything to get a pure heart without the blood of Christ!
Psalm 24 says that we shall ascend into the presence of God because God has cleansed us of our sin, and Jesus has cleaned our hearts and hands!
The reason I believe it (Psalm 24) is for us today is because of verse 5.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD
And righteousness from the God of his salvation. – Psalms 24:5
So, what is a verse about righteousness doing in a chapter about the presence of God? Well, verse 5 says that these people who ascend to the hill “shall receive a blessing.” So, what is that blessing? Righteousness, When someone is righteous that means the person is right with God. This person is YOU! You have been given a blessing, right standing with God.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21
Anytime, anywhere, and any period in time you need God, you can go to Him! You shall ascend to the hill of the Lord; you have clean hands, and you have a pure heart. Doesn’t that make you feel loved?
Photo By: Matthew Jones/ creationswap.com
Are Christians Wicked?
21 year ago
by Caleb Gibson
in Righteousness
Desperation Band is a amazing band, but nonetheless they still have some old covenant songs. For starters they have this song that goes like the following, “I feel like a blind man in your sight, I know that I’m wicked in your eyes.” This song brings up an interesting conversation. So, let’s look at a passage of scripture to understand what the Bible says.
This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. – Mathew 13:47-50
Now first of all, I do believe I was wicked at one time in my life (before Christ), but after one has received Christ it is not Biblical to say you are wicked because (according to Mathew 13:19) the wicked do not make it to heaven. It says the wicked are separated from the righteous.
There are 2 kinds of people
- The Righteous
- The Wicked
The question is… Which one are you? Biblically you are righteous.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21
The Help
Have you ever seen the movie, “The Help?” In this movie the character, “Aibileen” takes care of a little girl. Throughout the movie, Aibileen sits this little girl down and says, “You is Kind, You is Smart, You is Important.” It’s probably the most memorable part of the movie because of the love Aibileen shares. Now, If someone who is unsaved would think I was crazy telling my kid, “you is evil, you is dumb, you is wicked,” how much more our loving father want us to see ourselves as wicked? Imagine if Aibileen told the little girl the following:
If you wouldn’t want someone telling this to your kid, what makes you think God wants someone telling that to His children? So for someone to say that they are wicked and righteous at the same time, is confusing. What are you? Biblically you are Righteous (Saved by the unearned favor of God) or you are wicked (Unsaved). When you realize you are Righteous, you will do righteous things, and when you think you are wicked, you will do wicked things. To back this up with some scripture, let’s turn to Proverbs…
For as he thinks within himself, so he is… – Proverbs 23:7
When someone thinks they are evil, wicked, or a sinner, so is he. A sinner sins because he is a sinner. A janitor sweeps because he is a janitor. Proverbs tells us that the way you see yourself effects the way you act. In the same manner if you think the way God thinks about you, and if see yourself as righteous, you will do righteous actions.
My friend God has cast all your sins as far as the east is from the west! God has made you a new creation. So what are you? Saved or Unsaved, Wicked or Righteous? One last note, God declares in this new covenant that He will remember your sins no more! How can He call you wicked or think about you as a wicked person if He remembers our sins no more?
I will make a new covenant… It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors… I will be their God… I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more. – Hebrews 8:8-12
Photo By: Ryan Harmon/ creationswap.com