Clothed in His Righteousness

As we have studied, Jesus was able to bear the punishment for all our sin so that it would be imputed to His account, while His perfect righteousness was attributed to our account. When Holy God, the righteous Judge, looks at those who trust Christ as their Savior, He therefore sees the perfect righteousness of His Son, and not our sins that would otherwise separate us from His holiness. Jesus, while completely divine and also perfectly holy, was able throughout His earthly ministry to mingle with, touch, heal, and raise the unclean, sick, wicked and even the dead without ever being corrupted or defiled by them.

Jesus freely gave forgiveness of sins, peace, and eternal life to the sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and poured out her earthly treasure, in the form of perfumed ointment in an alabaster box (Luke 7:37-50). Jesus cast out demons from a naked man who lived in the tombs, and healed Him rather than rejecting this outcast whom society considered to be crazed, wicked, and unclean (Luke 8:27-36).

What is the significance of this man's nakedness? Before the Fall, nakedness was a sign of innocence. God created us in His own image, and before sin entered into the hearts of Adam and Eve, they were naked yet not ashamed (Gen. 2:25). The first couple were literally one flesh, as God created Eve from Adam’s side (Gen.2: 21-24). This first marriage was not only God’s example of what every marriage thereafter should be – an intimate, exclusive union of man and woman (Matt. 19:3–6) but also a beautiful foreshadowing of the mystery of Christ’s union with the church, or body of believers (Eph. 5: 30-33).

After the fall, when Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, their nudity took on a different meaning because they became aware of sin, they realized the role that sexual temptation can play in sin, and they attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves (Gen. 3:7-8). Before this they had enjoyed perfect fellowship with God; now their sin separated them from that fellowship and gave them reason to fear God (Gen. 3:10).

In the Garden, there was no death until sin entered in by the fall. For that reason Adam and Eve and all the animals were herbivores, eating only fruit and plants. Once Adam and Eve sinned, the first death occurred when God killed animals to clothe Adam and Eve and hide their nakedness, or cover their sin (Gen. 3:21). This sacrifice was a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that would not just cover our sins but remove them for all time.

From that day forth, man has had a sense of modesty and shame resulting in the wearing of clothing to cover nakedness. When man rebels against God and instead of being ashamed of his sin is proud of it, as is so often the case today, modesty tends to disappear. In the case of the demon-possessed man, we see it in the extreme, where the indwelling evil is completely unchecked by the Holy Spirit or any Godly influence and he runs around in public completely naked.

Thank God that Jesus does not reject us in our sinful state, but that He seeks us out where we are, casting out our wickedness to restore us to our right mind and to fellowship with Him, so that we can sit humbly at His feet (Luke 8:27-36) and unite with Him spiritually as the bride of Christ. Praise God that by grace through faith we can leave behind our nakedness and be clothed with His righteousness.

Rev. 19: 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Love in Him,

Laurie Collett

Pour Out Your Life for Jesus!

Not long ago we celebrated Mother’s Day, to honor our mothers, and all the women in our life who have been a Godly influence and support for us. What makes a mother’s love so special is her willingness to give herself sacrificially for her children. For this type of self-sacrificing love (known as “agape” in the Greek) we have no better role model than Jesus Himself.

As we have been studying, Jesus the Son is fully divine like God the Father, yet He is different in that He came to earth specifically to die as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. As He paid our sin debt in full by dying on the cross, He bridged the great gulf between sinful man and holy, righteous God. Now when God the Father looks at any believer who has trusted Christ as Savior, He sees not our sins, but the perfect righteousness of His Son which has been imputed or attributed to our account (Rom. 5:12-18; 2 Cor 5:18-21).

We can no doubt think of many sacrifices our own mother, or other Godly women who have nurtured us, have made for us and for their children. We thank them and bless them for that every day, as well as for being an example of how a woman should be industrious, providing for her children and her household, honoring and enhancing the reputation of her family, fearing the Lord and growing in faith, and being charitable and merciful to others (Prov. 31; 2 Tim 1:5).

Prov. 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.… 20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.… 27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. 28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Because Christ suffered and died for us, we should willingly surrender all to Him. The Bible tells how a sinful woman, probably a prostitute, broke open her alabaster box filled with costly perfumed ointment and used it to anoint Jesus’ feet after she had washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair (Luke 7:37-50). She poured it all out freely and lovingly to Him – her tears of sorrow from her life of heartbreak, her hair adorning her beauty that she may have misused for money or favor from men, and the alabaster and ointment that may have been the sum total of her worldly wealth, perhaps her dowry.

But as she spent all she had on Him, what she gained was priceless – the stability of faith in Him, forgiveness of all her many sins, and peace she could never have known before. Jesus left His heavenly throne to come to earth in the flesh, where He suffered and gave His life so that our sins have been forgiven.

Although Jesus is now back in Heaven, we can still pour out our lives to Him by serving and sacrificing for others (Matt. 10:42), whether for our children, our brothers and sisters in Christ, or for the unsaved who need to hear the Good News of the Gospel before it is too late.

Matthew 10:42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Galatians 6: 2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Love in Christ,

Laurie Collett

Don't let your faith be shaken!

As Christians, we should not expect that we will never suffer, but in fact we should expect that we will have to undergo trials and tribulations and even persecution or painful suffering, just as Christ did. That is part of our calling and our walk with Christ (1 Pet 2:21; 1 Thess 3: 3-4).

But we should not be moved, meaning shaken or disturbed, by our trials, because we should have faith that God is working them together for our good (Rom. 8:28). The fear of persecution should not lead us to give up our beliefs or lose faith. It is part of our inheritance as children of the King to undergo trials as He did, and preachers who tell listeners that once they are Christians, their troubles will be over, are not preaching the truth.

Paul tells us that he would give up anything imaginable, even his physical life, rather than not have Christ in his life (Phil 3:8). After he was born again he was not only beaten, shipwrecked, persecuted, and imprisoned (2 Cor 11: 24-27), but he was most likely excommunicated by the Jews and rejected by his own family.
At the day of judgment, Paul, and all believers, should depend on salvation only through belonging to Christ.

As a Pharisee, Paul tried before he was saved to becoming righteous by works, namely by keeping the law, which because of man’s sin nature is impossible. The righteousness of believers is only possible through God’s grace by their faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross and in His resurrection.

Ephesians 2:8: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

When we are saved, we have the mind of Christ within us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our Christian walk, through prayer and studying the Word, should be to become more and more like Christ by knowing Him better, by putting aside our own fleshly desires and sin nature and yielding to God’s will, even if that means that He will allow us to suffer and to go through tribulation so that our character may be purified and our faith and compassion increase.

Phil 3: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

As we have been studying, Jesus was the perfect sacrifice allowing reconciliation between sinful man and just, holy God. His physical suffering, humiliation, rejection by His people, His friends, and especially the separation from His Father (Matt. 27:46) as Christ took on all the sins of mankind -- past, present and future -- allows those who repent of their sins and trust in His finished work on the cross to have eternal life. As Christians, we will no doubt go through trials, but these serve to mold us more into Christ's image and to draw closer to Him

1 Pet 2: 21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.