Rom 5:1
How are we justified by faith? Who hasn't been justified by faith?
Those who don't have peace. How do we have peace with God? What
is faith? We have been justified by faith. We have been justified
by the blood of our Master, Yahshua. So what is faith? It is believing
we have been justified by faith. What is believing? It is knowing.
How do you know when you believe in your heart and not just in
your mind? You know because you have conviction. Some people are
believers in their heart, but some only in their mind. He entrusts
Himself to those who believe in their hearts. Jn 2:23-25 -- talks
about people who were believing in Him one minute and the next
minute were trying to kill Him (they believed only in their minds).
He was not able to trust Himself to them. Obviously there are
2 types of belief. Even the demons believe.
Ahimeleck -- In Luke 17 it talks about the ten lepers. Yahshua healed them all, but only 1 out of the ten came back and gave thanks to Him for being healed (Luke 17:16).
Nine were physically healed, but only 1 was spiritually healed
- made whole, complete, lacking nothing. He received faith in
his heart to be spiritually redeemed. Salvation comes through
believing in your mind and your heart - not only in your mind.
Christians believe in that sense too.
How are you justified by faith? JUSTIFIED - made right, made friends
with God. What is faith? It is believing something you've heard.
What did we hear? We heard that Yahshua died for us - that He
shed His blood and freed us from our guilt by His death on the
cross. He took on our guilt and died in our place. This word goes
to our heart and we trust in Him and we have the ability through
the faith He gives us to obey Him. Without faith we can't obey
Him. We have peace with God through our Master, Yahshua - through
Him we have access by faith into this grace.
Rom 5:2
ACCESS -- Means entrance to. How do you have access by faith?
We hear with our ears and what we hear goes into our heart. Faith
comes by hearing - you can't tap into His grace unless it goes
into your heart. A lot of people hear with their mind - that's
not good enough. What you hear opens the door for you to come
into grace. Because of what He did for us we would do anything
for Him. He didn't hold anything back from us - He has given us
His love. Grace is His favor upon us - we can't stand without
His grace upon us. We can know if we're saved or not because we
can't stand through trials and testings without His grace. By
grace we're saved. He didn't consider our worth when He saved
us. He's given us His love so we will obey Him just like His Son
because His Son had His love. We are able to stand through all
kinds of trouble, and we don't get knocked down and stay down.
Standing is a position (not sitting, but standing) where we stand
against opposition. We'll be able to stand in judgment someday
and not shrink back - if we have a good conscience.
Lk 21:36 -- This means begging, pleading, praying that we would
be able to stand before the Son of Man. We have to pray that we
can stand through all that is going to happen before His return,
so we will be able to stand before Him. That s the endurance our
Master was talking about In Matt 24:13. Those who endure until
the end will be saved for His Kingdom - if you stand your ground.
We have hope and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of Messiah.
Are we doing this? Somehow, by His mercy, we got His grace. If
we don't have His grace we'll stand in our own strength - our
false God. If we stand in His strength we won't have any reason
not to praise Him. If we stand on our own strength, we won't have
any reason to praise Him. Grace is His provision - He provides
strength for us. Our strength is not good enough - that's why
we fall so many times. Why do we turn coward, faint, lose heart?
2 Tim 2:12; Rom 8:17
Ha-Emeq -- It's because we don't pray Lk 18:1.
The only reason we fall, get mad, respond negatively, react
to one another - is because we don't pray. Now we know how not
to lose heart. What if we don't do what it says in Lk 18:1? Then
we are a liar if we claim to know Him 1 Jn 2:4. Is that His command
if He told us not to lose heart? How many pray and still lose
heart? It's because your own strength (handiwork) is your God
Hab 2:18. If you're praying to your own strength - you'll lose
heart. You need to go beyond your own strength. That's why you
say you pray all the time and you still lose heart. You have the
wrong motives. You want the strength and wisdom for your own glory.
You've got to de-throne your own glory. So we rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God if we're in His grace and doing things by
His Spirit and provision.
GRACE - Something we don't get from ourselves, but from Him -
He provides it. But we don't get it unless we ask for it. A baby
has grace, but they always cry for it - they are always looking
for attention.
We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. What is the glory
of God? Or hope is to become like our Master. The glory of God
is that His worth is revealed. The manifestation of this is that
the inner worth shines outwardly. You can see a person's worth
on their face (countenance). If a person is worthless - their
countenance is fallen (like Cain - because he was a murderer)
1 Jn 3:15. The glory of God is the outward shining of the inner
being. Glory is your inner worth that demands the respect of others.
If you have no respect it means you have no inner worth.
1 Jn 3:1-3 -- When our Master returns His glory will be fully
revealed. We'll be glorified with Him if we purify ourselves.
We'll see Him as He is! His glory will be revealed to the whole
earth (a great manifestation) and when we see Him, we'll be like
Him. You can't be saved unless His glory is revealed to you. Faith
- His glory is revealed to us so we can trust in this unseen person
(we believed everything we heard about Him). It has to be more
than just a mental thing. It is a Spirit that comes to us and
opens up our heart and reveals who our Master is, spoken from
the lips of a person who is out of touch with Satan. Jn 7:18 --
If our glory has been robbed, we can't pass on His Spirit to others.
We can't be seeking our own glory. 2 Cor 4:2-4 -- When our Master
returns His glory will be fully revealed. Titus 2:13,14 -- This
reveals who we are - zealous for good deeds. Rom 5:3 -- We as
believers rejoice in the hope in the prospect of seeing Him as
He is and sharing in His glory. Is this talking about us or someone
else?
There are so many places in the Scriptures that talk about those
who have faith - 1 Peter 4:11-13; Rom 8:17-18; 2 Tim 2:12 - without
this hope we have no vision. Without vision a person will perish
because they go unrestrained. That's why sometimes our children
get silly and rambunctious - we don't have vision for them. We
get this way too if we don't pray.
Rom 5:3
Do you glory in tribulation? Are you radiant through tribulation?
Or are you downcast and have a fallen countenance? We glory because
we know that tribulation produces perseverance - that's why we
go through things - we know we will come to the other side - our
Master knew He was going to come through to the other side (He
spent 3 days and 3 nights in death) Acts 2:24. Death couldn't
hold Him.
If we glory in our tribulation, it will produce perseverance in
us, and perseverance will produce proven character and this will
product hope Rom 5:4. Then we will be glorified with Him in the
next age and His glory will reach the ends of the earth through
us. His glory should be seen to some extent now in the 12 tribes,
but not like it will be in the next age.
James 1:12 -- When our character goes through hardship and tribulation
our hope grows stronger. We have a little hope now, but as we
go through tribulation we are approved and our hope increases
and we will be able to be approved in the next age. What we are
going through now doesn't compare to what we will go through,
but He ha to prepare us. If we were to be projected to the last
3 1/2 years of time before we go into the wilderness we would
be totally devastated and we wouldn't be able to stand. We have
to grow through our tribulation everyday. He's teaching us how
to endure until the end Mt 24:13. If we receive faith we'll endure
until the end. If we're justified we'll hope in the glory of God.
Hope doesn't disappoint because the love of God ha been poured
out in our hearts. This love is Ahavah and Agape love (they are
the same). The word Agape rarely occurs in the Greek manuscripts
- because they don't have God. They can't comprehend or relate
to it. Only the Hebrew brings it out as a "raging fire".
That song we sing that ha-Emeq wrote the words to talks about
this love as an undefeatable power, unconquerable, unquencheable
love. That's what it is - because the love of God has been poured
out in our hearts when we received the Holy Spirit. At one time
we didn't have it, but now we do. This kind of love always seeks
the highest good for someone no matter what a person does. If
you're loving with your own love, it will fail. Our love was all
we had before - and so many times it failed. It failed when we
got mad, rejected others, and hated 1Jn 3:14-17,23.
Mt 24:10-12 -- Their love betrays them - will Agape love turn
to hate? How can love turn to hate? Their love grew cold - that's
hate. 1 Jn 3:14-15 -- If we don't love (ignoring a brother) it
is the highest form of hate. If we are not loving then we are
murdering our brother. God's love is self-giving, irrespective
of a grateful response. It is an act of our will, not our emotions.
Phileo love is liking a person because of his congeniality or
desirable characteristics, but this love can be cooled by an ungrateful
response. Agape love is by choice. If we love just with our emotions
- we can't depend on it. But we can depend upon one another if
we have passed out of death and into life. Our Father had an unconditional
love for us and the world. Do we have this kind of love? If we
don't, we haven't passed out of death and into life. We haven't
received faith in our hearts. He will say, "I don't know
you." What we did we did in our own strength - we didn't
receive His strength 1 Peter 4:11. Our God was our own strength
(handiwork). Serve in His strength so in all things He will be
glorified. If we live for His glory then we will serve by His
strength and not our own, which will fail.
Jn 15:5 -- This is faith - knowing we can do nothing without Him.
I beheld it - I heard His voice speak to me. The sooner we know
and understand this the better off we'll be. That's why we give
our bodies as a living sacrifice. 2 Cor 12:9 -- When I am weak,
He is strong. Paul had a messenger of Satan sent to him to buffet
him so he wouldn't exult in the vision he had.
N'su -- I'm thankful for what we have heard. So much of the time I am in Filio love and don't live in Agape love. I get discouraged. But I want to have that love poured out in my heart. I fall short so much of the time.
Yoneq -- The only way to have it is by prayer. If you want it bad enough you'll beg for it.
Keli -- I'm thankful for the faith we've received - it's not mystical. The gift of salvation doesn't just save us, but it takes us all the way to the hope of glory. It's not just a thing in your mind that you believe. How disappointing that you would think you were appointed and then be disappointed that you were falsely appointed. When you get there you would find out you had a false hope.
Yoneq -- That is going to happen to 1 1/2 billion people on
earth. Many people are "saved" through the Billy Graham
crusade - millions - we need to pray for them.