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HOW UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTING WHO WE ARE GIVES US FREEDOM AND POWER TO FOLLOW JESUS By Josimar Salum
Romans 3:10-12 NIV
[10] As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; [11] there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. [12] All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
What does this text really say? Is it still like this after the coming of Jesus? Is there not even one righteous man to be found?
Brother, sister, there are millions and millions of righteous people on Earth.
Romans 5:1, 19 NIV
[1] Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
[19] For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
[21] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Yes! We were made in His image.
God gave us the power to be children of God. Exactly how Jesus is. This is why we are called to live in holiness as He is. We are not second-rate children. When we are born again, we become children of God.
1 John 3:1-2 NIV
[1] See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. [2] Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 4:17 NIV
[17] This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.
1 John 3:9 NIV
[9] No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
HEARING THE VOICE OF THE ENEMY
Many hear a doctrine of demons that says that we will continue sinning until Christ comes and that on this Earth no one is good, except God alone.
They make reference to what Jesus said:
Mark 10:18 NIV
[18] “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.
How is Jesus not good if He is God? When Jesus said this it was to give that person an opportunity to recognize that He is God. So He is good!
It is a fact that we commit sin!
1 John 1:8-10 NIV
[8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
But it doesn't mean we will do so until Christ comes. What doctrine of the devil is this? You are holy and righteous!
Revelation 22:11 NIV
[11] Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
"The one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy."
The righteous and the saints are warned by the Word! The unjust and wicked have no ability to obey the Word. Anyone who hears this Word and tries to obey without the Holy Spirit fails. When you hear that you must obey, never think that you will do so alone.
THE HOLY AND JUST HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SPIRIT
Ephesians 4:25, 27-32 NIV
[25] Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
[27] and do not give the devil a foothold. [28] Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. [29] Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. [30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. [31] Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. [32] Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
No one does this by trying to imitate Jesus or by his own effort
No one can imitate Jesus if he has not been born again. Imitation is not copying, but transformation. It is the Holy Spirit who transforms.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NIV
[17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Romans 8:28-30 NIV
[28] And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. [29] For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. [30] And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Transformed into glory.)
1 Corinthians 15:51-54 NIV
[51] Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— [52] in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. [53] For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. [54] When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
1 Corinthians 15:41-43, 49, 50 NIV
[41] The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. [42] So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; [43] it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
[49] And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. [50] I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Our final destination is not heaven. God has not destined us for heaven. He destined us to be one with the Father. And only those who are equal to Jesus go to the Father.
GLORY! GLORY! GLORY!
John 13:36 NIV
[36] Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
John 14:4, 6, 9, 16-17, 23 NIV
[4] You know the way to the place where I am going.”
[6] Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
[9] Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
[16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— [17] the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
[23] Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Now, are we the ones who go to Him or is it He who comes to us?
WE ARE ONE AND WILL BE ONE
According to my brother Marcos Sá, who understood these matters like few others I know, said:
“Eternity is: Us dwelling in the Father, and the Father dwelling in us! "WE ARE ONE", Hallelujah! This is Jesus’ request to the Father on our behalf, that we be one, just as He and the Father are one.”
John 17:20-24 NIV
[20] “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, [21] that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. [22] I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— [23] I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. [24] “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
We receive from Christ his glory, that we may be one. This is the glory for us. Hallelujah!
In fact the word unity does not appear in the text. It should have been translated so that they are taken to ONE. There is no way for ONE not to be complete. Jesus didn’t talk about unity! “Hear Israel, The Lord our God is ONE.” Deut 6:4. Jesus said that he was ONE with the Father. He did not say that they were united. Jesus said: “I and the Father are one.”
It is not unity, but ONE. In English there is a word - it is ONENESS, it is beyond “unity." "One" carries the idea of a "whole"; complete, perfect, needless to say that something is not missing, the possibility does not exist. GLORY! GLORY! It is something that ears have not heard, nor eyes seen, nor has it entered the heart of man.
This is the understanding, we are led to be ONE. ONENESS is unimaginable, but it is the reality of God's children by the revelation of the Spirit. Hallelujah!
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NIV
[9] However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— [10] these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
#ASONE
