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Holy Writ
"His Unspeakable Gift"
(Chapter Two of the book "Raised Up")
"His Unspeakable Gift"
2 Corinthians 9:15
"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" 2 Corinthians 9:15
Because of the "unspeakable gift" of our redemption in Christ, we can now richly receive and drink in the infinite wonders of the goodness of God every day, as those raised up from out of that state of death we inherited from Adam (Rom. 5:12). Truly He "giveth us richly all things to enjoy," and for that we are forever grateful! (1 Tim. 6:17)
"To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever." Psalms 136:4
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" Romans 11:33
Due to the bountiful beauty of the LORD and how He has shown such mercy on us, we should let our joyful hearts praise and magnify Him with reckless abandon (Heb. 13:15).
That we may experience and be grateful for His "unspeakable gift" of Christ and His salvation, may the LORD bless each of us to be possessed with the revelation of our need to sink down deep into His death and burial, that He might raise us up in His glory! Positionally, we are already there, yet we must experience the cross daily by setting aside our own will and person in gratitude and obedience, in preference of His divine Person and will reigning in us. He has ordained that we "reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."
We are born in Adam and reborn in Christ to reign in this life by His infinite power and grace.
"For if by one man's (Adam's) offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)" Romans 5:17
Exploring in Holy Writ and getting a glimpse of the sin from which we have been saved and the eternal consequences of that sin, we who have been brought back into relationship with God must choose daily to keep crucified that sinful nature from which He rescued us. God is "holy, holy, holy" and sin defiles men in His holy sight (Isa. 6:3; Mk. 7:20-23; Rev. 4:8). But sin is more than just an act - it is a state of the heart if allowed. With this in mind and at heart, may God bless each of us to fear Him and to "work out" our "own salvation with fear and trembling," never taking for granted His free gift of grace and vainly acting as if we were granted a license for sin (Rom. 6:1-2, 15; Phil. 2:12; Heb. 12:14-15; Jude 3-4).
"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Galatians 5:24
"But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead." 2 Corinthians 1:9
The "Resurrection of Life" or the "Resurrection of Damnation"?
"Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Acts 3:26
He told us that those who bow will be raised, right? Those who, at His blessed beckoning, bow in humility and repentance are gloriously saved by Him. We will therefore be raised up to everlasting life with Him in the "resurrection of life," instead of the "resurrection of damnation." (Jn. 5:29)
Every one of us in going to be raised up – either to "life" or to "damnation."
"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28-29
Christ told us this about Himself, which we also need to emulate: "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (Jn. 5:30) This is our experiential cross to be daily taken up (Matt. 16:24-26; Lk. 9:23-24). Now if the Son of God could do "nothing" by His "own self," how can we expect to do such?
It is in bowing down humbly before His Majesty that one will be "raised up" by Him in the next life, and also presently "raised up" into a life well pleasing to Him, with power and grace in Jesus Christ.
It is very important to realize our place with God and how that it was purchased for us by Jesus Christ, without whom we are utterly without hope.
"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:19
The LORD has brought us out of something and into something else. What is that something else? Are you on a quest to investigate the wonders of His love and the salvation He wrought for you? (See Deut. 6:22-25; Eph. 2:1-10; Col. 1:12-14; Heb. 2:3.)
Together, let's pore over a grand passage in Romans 3, okay:
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." vv. 23-28
No man deserves God's redemption and forgiveness. It can only be received as a free gift. This happens when one is brought to repentance for his sins and makes the choice to receive Christ and His pardon (Jn. 1:12; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 20:21).
"For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Corinthians 4:7
The recipient of His salvation has nothing to glory in as concerns self. We all have sinned against Him grossly and deserve and merit eternal punishment for our transgressions. We have only to boast in Jesus Christ – the true identity of all who are Heaven bound. Christ bought our salvation with His own precious blood.
"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1:18-19
Not one of us is even capable of finding God. He who paid for all our sins in His own blood found us (Jn. 3:27; 6:44; 1 Jn. 4:9-10; 19).
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." 1 John 3:1
What have we to die to? We must understand the true state from which we have been rescued, and the "so great salvation" into which we have been purchased by "the blood of his cross." (Col. 1:20; Heb. 2:3)
This includes the revelation that all our own "righteousnesses are as filthy rags," and that it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done," but rather that Christ, who was sinless, became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:5-7
He who knew no sin, and was harmless and completely innocent, died in our place. He took the blow of death for us – to bring us to God and to make us new creatures in Him, forgiving all sin and enabling us to live pleasing to Him in all things.
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Corinthians 5:21
F.B. Meyer wrote:
"Although Jesus was rich in all the divine fullness of His divine nature, He became poor and emptied Himself (see 2 Cor. 8:9). In other words, He determined not to speak His own words, follow His own scheme and plan, or work His mighty works in His own might. Rather, He became the channel and instrument through which His Father spoke, worked, and reconciled the world unto Himself. Let us, like Jesus, empty ourselves that we might be filled with God's mercy, power, and love." F.B. Meyer, The Best of F.B. Meyer, p. 180
Through Christ's perfect sacrifice and the gift of His salvation, God "hath raised us up (positionally) together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Why? "That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2:6-7)
How do we receive such an "unspeakable gift"? (2 Cor. 9:15) "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9)
Not one of us deserves or merits God's pardon for our myriad of evil deeds and depravity (Gen. 6:5, 12; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:23; 6:23). This is why each of us should stop right here and now and rejoice with Paul in saying, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." (2 Cor. 9:15)
One thing is certain – Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Any person who denies this truth calls the Son of God a liar (Jn. 3:14-16; 5:23; 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:5; 1 Jn. 5:1-12; Rev. 1:8).
The follower of Christ must understand that Christ alone is his righteousness, and he must die to his own righteousness and any attempt to somehow merit the acceptance Jesus already earned for us. He was the only One qualified, and He perfectly accomplished His mission. All self-dependence and self-righteousness must be crucified. Paul, the servant of Christ, cried:
"And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." Philippians 3:9-10
If we will be "found in him," we must denounce all self-righteousness in order to be clothed in His righteousness. In order to "know him," I must be raised up in "the power of his resurrection," and to do this I must experience "the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." Such a statement and many others in Holy Scripture would be completely unnecessary if there were no danger of forfeiting one's place with God (see Ezek. 33:12-13).
If one's spiritual state of "righteousness" (right standing with God) was automatically and unalterably fixed after he was initially saved, why then would the apostle Paul be concerned about being "found in him, not having mine own righteousness"? (To further research this important subject, see the book titled Lie of the Ages at www.SafeGuardYourSoul.com)
"When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it." Ezekiel 33:13
All our attempts to merit God's favor, redemption, or forgiveness are futile – before and after we are initially saved. If we could do such, God would never have sent His only begotten Son to die in our place (Gal. 2:21).
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Isaiah 64:6
It would behoove us to embrace this simple truth. Christ alone is our righteousness. He alone atoned for our sins when we were otherwise hopeless and helpless to get back to our Maker, due to Adam's sin and the consequent death that passed upon all men after him (Rom. 5:12).
Concerning this last hour and being found in His righteousness and not our own (which is useless), Jesus said:
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." Revelation 3:5
Are you beginning to see why the Holy Ghost moved through Paul to speak of the danger of being found having his "own righteousness"? (Phil. 3:9) Those who overcome through Christ's grace and their own obedience to Him, will be found in Him and pleasing to God. All others will be outside of His eternal kingdom (Rev. 21:8, 27; 22:15). These overcomers will be raised up in this life to please and be fruitful to Him, and also to reign with Him in the next life.
PRAYER: Father, thank You so much for the unspeakable gift of salvation You purchased for me by the precious blood of Christ Jesus, my LORD and Savior. I love You, Jesus, and thank You so much for shedding Your holy, sinless blood for me on the cross. Bless me to lay down my life in this world that You might raise me up to bear fruit to Your glory. Amen.
Capture Points
- What is the "unspeakable gift" of God? 2 Corinthians 9:15
- In a Spirit-led, God-fearing posture, prayerfully and biblically contrast one's own righteousness with God's righteousness, as seen in the following passages: Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:21-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21. Feel free to introduce other pertinent passages from God's Word.
- Discuss Revelation 3:5.
This is Chapter Two of the book "Raised Up" which is available at http://safeguardyoursoul.com
todd tomasella
About the Author
This author is grateful for the saving grace of God which he fully understands that he does not merit outside of Jesus Christ. Todd Tomasella is the author of several widely read books, tracts, and articles, and founder of Grace and Truth Bible School. By God's grace this follower was found and has walked with the Savior since 1984 and is daily endeavoring to build up members of Jesus' body and make Him known to lost souls. The Gospel tract ministry has reached approximately 1.5 million souls worldwide while the email devotionals, books, articles, ministry websites, and Bible School have been established to equip Christ's saints for the work of the ministry and edifying of the body of Jesus (Ephesians 4). Visit SafeGuardYourSoul.com
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Jeff Camino - http://learnbibleprophecy.com/
Should we treat everything the founding fathers ever said as holy writ because they were founding fathers?
While they were great men, they weren't perfect or infallible. And in addition, they frequently disagreed with one another. Your thoughts?
John Doe--good answer, though I'm not talking specifically about the Constitution, perhaps I should have made that clear.
you're absolutely right they frequently disagreed with each other and actually started the political tactic of mudslinging which no one ever talks about. what kills me is when those on the right talk about the founding fathers as if they completely agreed each other and were one of one mind about everything. Many of them took a certain position on the constitution and changed their position a few years after it was written.
Israel, the Church, and Holy Writ. Part 2