Deuteronomy 30: 11 – 20 (Amplified Bible) For this commandment which I command you this day is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off. (12) It is not [a secret laid up] in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it? (13) Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it? (14) But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your mind and in your heart, so that you can do it. (15) See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil. (16) [If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which] I command you today, to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land into which you go to possess. (17) But if your [mind and] heart turn away and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, (18) I declare to you today that you shall surely perish, and you shall not live long in the land which you pass over the Jordan to enter and possess. (19) I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live (20) And may love the Lord your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In this message we will be discussing the difference between Righteousness before the Cross and after the Cross. How does that difference affect us in our individual and corporate walk today? We the Church must know the difference in order to be the Church that is needed in this dark time and the future that lies ahead. As Scriptures says we the Church are the light of this world.
The only hope that this world has is Jesus. We the Church are His representatives and sent ones in this hour. The only way that we can bring the Gospel to this hurting world is to know who we are in Christ Jesus and our right standing with God. We must walk in the fullness of the free gift of righteousness in order for the world to see Jesus.
Jesus, by His Blood, purchased our Righteousness or Right Standing with God. It is a free gift. Now we walk a Holy life by walking the Love Walk as detailed in 1st Corinthians 13: 4 – 8. The Love Walk is the way that we become one, one with each other and one with God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus prayed in John 17 that they (we) may be one that the world may know. In order for the Church to become one the way Jesus prayed we must understand the difference between Righteous before the Cross and after the Cross. The Cross is the dividing line.
Romans 3: 24 (Amplified Bible) [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,
Romans 5: 17 (Amplified Bible) For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
1st Corinthians 13: 4 – 8a (Amplified Bible) Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. (5) It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. (6) It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. (7) Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. (8a) Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].
John 17: 17 – 21 (Amplified Bible) Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. (18) Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (19) And so for their sake and on their behalf I sanctify (dedicate, consecrate) Myself, that they also may be sanctified (dedicated, consecrated, made holy) in the Truth. (20) Neither for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching, (21) That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.
Restoration Ministries 