Spot On With The Word

Can you truly accept that God has chosen you? Before the foundations of the world, God saw you and new every poor choice and mistake that you would ever make and He loved you and chose you in spite of yourself. He is The Sovereign of the universe and yet He will never violate your will. You still get to choose Him. He is no tyrant. God said, "Let there be light and there was light, and it was good!" Everything was not formed yet, but God still called the light good. There are times in our lives when we are in chaos. All is not right in our world, but God calls the light GOOD!" He sees the end result. You are accepted in Him. You have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Let this truth wash over your soul. Let it change you and heal you!

Did you know that in Christ, you have been accepted, never to be rejected by God? Did you know that you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood? You have been highly favored! The King of kings and The Lord of lords has deliberately chosen you. You can never work for a gift that is freely given. How many good works would you have to do to earn the salvation of your soul? How many would it take? It would never be possible! You are unique or as the Bible calls you, "peculiar". If you never truly understand this principle, you will never be able to work it out practically through your experience. You will forever be trying to earn that which you will never be able to earn. Can you just accept that you have been accepted? This is the good news of the gospel! Just open your heart and receive it. Open your mouth daily and confess it. Then you will truly be able to live life to the fullest!

We have been considering one of the most precious truths in scripture. In John chapter 25, Jesus tells us that we did not choose Him, rather He chose us! What might happen in your life if you truly believed that God CHOSE you? You are not rejected. You have been accepted by God through Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with your works and everything to do with His choice to lay down His life for you. Jesus chose to take upon Himself the sins of the world and make those who would accept Him, the righteousness of God. There is a difference between relationship and religious experience. There is no greater love. There is no greater sacrifice. There will never be a greater gift! You have been chosen by a very choosy God, on purpose and with purpose in mind. While He was on the cross, you were on His mind. Won't you accept Him today?

We have been made the righteousness of God though Christ Jesus. It is not by our works but because He is worthy. When we recognize the power of The Word and the authority of The One who is speaking The Word, then you must accept whatever has been said! So, when you have settled in your mind and heart that Jesus was anointed by God, given a name above every name and has been given the ultimate authority by God Himself to transact Kingdom business in both heaven and earth, then HIS WORD CANNOT RETURN UNTO HIM VOID! It cannot come back empty. There has never been a time that any one of us deserved the fulfilled blessings and promises of God. Yet His love is so limitless and His grace so unmeasurable that He is committed to fulfill His Word toward us. Jesus who new no sin, never committed a sin, had no sinful nature was in fact made to BE sin, so that we could BE righteous in the sight of God. We have been MADE to stand upright before God. The only way that this word cannot be truth is if there is another entity that has more power. It is not possible to outrank the name of Jesus or whatever He has decreed to be so. If you read the Old Testament you will find that God spoke to mankind through the words of His prophets, but when Jesus arrived, He was the WORD that became flesh. The laws in The Old Testament could not make us righteous. The law was weak in that it only was able to identify that which only Jesus would be able to transform. He places His nature inside us. That is why you need a name change. It has never been about what we do or how hard we work, it will only be about who we are in Christ. He has declared us to be right with God!

This is such an important and foundational truth. This must be settled in us once and for all. If we cannot reconcile this, then nothing else will make Kingdom sense. We live in a performance driven society. The question seems to be, “What have you done for me lately?” The Old Testament was a Covenant of Law. It is a performance driven paradigm. It was comprised of a list of behaviors where one was judged by the outward manifestations. Then Jesus arrives and he does not speak about performance as much as He encourages relationship. He did not talk about religion, rather a love and a faith that produces good works. He deals with the condition of the heart. In 2nd Corinthians 5:21 tells us that Jesus was perfect, but He chose to be made sin. In exchange we were made righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. Jesus took our place so that He could go to prepare a place for us. Where He is, we will one day be as well. We could not get to Him, so He came to us. Jesus came and made Himself of no reputation so that He could take our place.

As we have been considering previously, Jesus was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God! There is no such thing as a rival authority or power when it comes to Jesus. It does not say most of the power it says ALL POWER has been given unto Him! The one who has the name above every name, is the one who can speak without any hesitation or doubt that his word will come to pass. This is important because if you question His authority then you may question His decisions or desires. When you have settled the question of His authority, then you can rest in His word. This truth is important because Jesus did not commit any infraction of the law and yet He was made to be sin. This is almost inconceivable. Conversely, we have been made righteous because of His word not our righteous acts. Righteous means to be in right standing. We have been made to stand upright because Jesus paid for the great exchange!

Jesus never sinned. He couldn't sin because that was not in His nature. However, He was tempted in all ways just as we are tempted. If He hadn't been, He wouldn't be a compassionate High Priest who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. The beautiful exchange, which is the good news of the Gospel, is that He was made sin so that we could be made righteous. It has nothing to do with righteous deeds or actions on our part. It has everything to do with His love that paid the ultimate price for our sin. It is The Great Exchange! We are in right standing with God because Jesus took upon Himself the sins of mankind, past present and future. What a Saviour!

For us to fully grasp the principle of becoming a new creation, we must identify and recognize, who has the power to make the change. Is there another power that can negate that? According to scripture, the answer is, “No!” Jesus has been given all authority, power and anointing from Father God. Jesus has access, control, and property rights over everything. Jesus by right of passage, can delegate, impart, and share anything and everything as He chooses. No power in heaven or earth can thwart that right. He holds the keys of all authority. Keys speak of the ability to access and deny access. Jesus in turn, symbolically gives us the keys to The Kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Whatever Jesus says will happen because there is no greater authority. His word and name have the highest rank. We have been made new creations. What does that mean? We are to grow into it. We were never meant to work toward it. We have already been made new creations by and through Him.

God who has endorsed us has also equipped us. God has validated you, so you can be confident in your assignment. If a product is defective and it does not work, you will more than likely send it back to the manufacturer. They will typically either repair it or they will send you the money back. Their name and reputation are on the line. When Jesus enters our lives, He gives us an assignment, which is backed by Him. Our lives and assignment are backed by the name that is above every other name. His reputation is on the line. Hear that word “Outrank”. Jesus is warm and compassionate, He is our friend, and our savior and deliverer. While all of this is true and almost beyond our comprehension, He is also KING! He has been appointed heir of all things. He is highly exalted. When He speaks, He upholds everything by the power of His Word! If He says something is going to happen, it MUST! His name is on the line. Jesus says in Matthew, “All power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth!” Now, He has given us His authority and our assignments are to make disciples and teach all nations. Our assignment is not something we are to strive to accomplish in our flesh and through our own strength. If He endorses you, then He will equip you!

In Hebrews chapter one we are presented with an amazing visual. God says,” By His Son, in the beginning, He created the world for His Son, and it will all belong to His Son, in the end. We are told in the book of John that, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and The Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus was always part of the triune God, prior to making His physical debut into the world. This Son perfectly mirrors God and is stamped with His nature. There are certain denominations that emphasize a Holy fear of God. There is a reverential fear that is appropriate. The reverence was never meant to be torment. God is not distant with you. God and Jesus are not playing bad cop/good cop. God is not tolerating you because of Jesus. Jesus said, “When you have seen me, you have seen The Father,” in other words, Jesus looks like God, and God looks like Jesus. Can you comprehend that? Is this a reality to you? Maybe you and God have been at odds with each other because you have had a skewed perception. God is not mean or punitive. God was in Christ reconciling Himself unto the world. He wants to be reconciled with you!