Our Holiness, Healing and Happiness In Christ

02/03/08 11:39 AM Filed in: Christian Teachings

Christ is the Healer, and "it is the sick that need a physician." Iniquity (sin) and infirmity (weakness) walk hand in hand down the corridors of the human spirit, soul, and body. Without Christ the entire human race is under the curse of the law of sin and death inherited through Adam’s transgression of God’s will and commandment issued to him in the Garden of Eden. Jesus Christ, the second Adam, has come to set us free from the curse of the law of sin and death, being made a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” He has hung on a tree as the perfect, sinless, Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world as the substitute for our sins, inherited through Adam and continued in through our own volition. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” “If any man says that he is without sin, he is a liar and the truth is not in him.” Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes (wounds) we are healed. Sin carries with it the burdens of guilt and shame and the devastating consequences of individual ship wrecked lives, damaged families, distorted societies, and a world of corruption. Therefore, as Christian believers, those who have been set free from the law of sin and death through faith in the accomplished substitutionary work of Christ on the cross on our behalf and in our stead, must learn to appropriate this grace through faith and be quick to forgive, as we have been forgiven, quick to receive forgiveness through faith in the shed blood of Christ for our cleansing, and quick to repent, by turning from our sins and doing right in the eyes of God. “Beloved, I write unto you that you sin not, but if any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It is also true that "sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the law but under grace." "Therefore reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." "With the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation" and "from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." We must lean to embrace the grace of God as it pertains to our forgiveness from our past transgressions with our hearts and confess our innocence with our mouths. Let the sick believe with His heart and confess with his mouth, “By His stripes, I am healed.” Let the poor, believe in his heart and confess with his mouth, “He was made poor that I might be made rich.” Let the sinner believe in His heart and confess with His mouth, “I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ.” If any man be in Christ Jesus, old things have passed away, behold, all things have been made new!

"Satan is the accuser of the brethren." He takes our iniquities and our infirmities before God and us with seething accusations in order to accomplish the futile task of bringing us under condemnation. If we line up our hearts, minds and confessions in agreement with Satan’s accusations, we are bound to live a life in bondage, as opposed to living in the victory that Christ has provided for us. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For what the law could not do, being weak in the flesh, God did by sending His son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” We must live, and move in the revelation of our innocence provided for us through Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes." If you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and all that He has accomplished on your behalf, I might add, you will be saved, healed, prospered, and made righteous. "By our words we will be justified or condemned." Our words must line up in agreement with Christ’s words as it pertains to who we are in Him through simple child-like faith through His accomplished work on the cross and through His ongoing work in our hearts, by the power of His Holy Spirit. So let us believe, and let us receive all that Christ is to us, and let us speak the word of God instead of words of death in agreement with our enemy, the devil.

Holiness unto God is that quality of being that Christian believers are to be pursuing and perfecting in reverence of God. Sanctification has been provided for us through the atonement of Christ. As we consecrate ourselves unto God through chosen reverent obedience to His commandments we begin to experience deeper states of holiness in our lives. A state of Holiness is the absence of sin. The highest state of holiness is glorification. No Christian will experience this in its entirety until Christ returns. But we are instructed to be pursuing, perfecting, and pressing into it until that blessed time. When Christ returns and establishes His kingdom on the earth there will be no sin, sickness, poverty, or death in it. Presently, Christ has made his kingdom available to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit and we avail ourselves of that kingdom through trusting God's promises and obeying His commandments in following the leading of the Holy Spirit who speaks not of Himself but speaks only the words that Christ gives Him to Speak. He will show us things to come. In doing so, we are enabled to appropriate the benefits of his kingdom now to a limited degree. But the only limitation to our appropriation of the kingdom of heaven's eternal benefits are those we put on ourselves, through limited knowledge resulting in limited faith. The kingdom of heaven allows pressure and those who press into it take it by force.

Now, our pursuing, perfecting, pressing, and procuring of the kingdom of God which is the rule and realm of holiness leading to genuine happiness, is accomplish by grace through faith, not by works of law. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Our experience of holiness unto God is therefore dependant upon our availing ourselves of what has been made available to us through our choosing to remain in unbroken relationship and fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit through faith as we trust His promises and obey His commandments. If we will learn to keep His commandments, the Father and Jesus will come and make their abode with us. When the Father and the Son, come and live with us through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of heaven and all of its benefits become accessible to us. "The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." May our thoughts, words, actions, and reaction be consecrated unto God as we avail ourselves of His eternal kingdom within through unbroken relationship and fellowship with Him. Amen.