"What is it to believe? It is to fully accept that Jesus Christ died as our sacrifice; that He became the curse for us, took our sins upon Himself, and imputed unto us His own righteousness. Therefore we claim this righteousness of Christ, we believe it, and it is our righteousness. He is our Savior. He saves us because He said He would. Are we going to go into all the explanations as to how he can save us? Do we have the goodness in ourselves that will make us better and cleanse us from the spots and stains of sin, enabling us then to come to God? We simply cannot do it."
Don't you know that when the young man came to Christ and asked Him what he should do that he might have life, Christ told him to keep the commandments? Said he, "I have done it." Now the Lord wanted to bring this lesson home to him. "What lack I yet? I am perfectly whole" (Matthew 19:20. He did not see that there was a thing the matter with him or why he should not have eternal life. "I have done it," he said. Now Christ touches the plague spot of his heart. He says, "Come, follow Me, and ye shall have life."
What did he do? He turned away very sorrowful, for he had great possessions."
"Now he had not kept the commandments at all. He should have accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and taken hold of His righteousness. Then, as he had the righteousness of Christ, he could keep the law of God. The young ruler could not trample that law under his feet. He must respect it; he must love it. Then Christ would bring divine power to combine with man's efforts."
"Christ took upon Himself humanity for us. He clothed His divinity, and divinity and humanity were combined. He showed that the law which Satan declared could not be kept, could be kept. Christ took humanity to stand here in our world, to show that Satan had lied. He took humanity upon Himself to demonstrate that with divinity and humanity combined, man could keept the law of Jehovah. Separate humanity from divinity, and you can try to work out your own righteousness from now till Christ comes, and it will be nothing but a failure."
"By living faith, by earnest prayer to God, and depending upon Jesus' merits, we are clothed with His righteousness we are saved. "Oh, yes," some say, "we are saved in doing nothing. In fact, I am saved. I need not keep the law of God. I am saved by the righteousness of Jesus Christ." Christ came to our world to bring all men back to allegiance to God. To take the position that you can break God's law, for Christ has done it all, is a position of death, for you are so verily a transgressor as anyone."
"Then what is it? It is to hear and to see that with the righteousness of Christ which you hold by faith, righteousness supplied by His efforts and His divine power, you can keep the commandments of God."
I hope this is clear enough to understand, if not pray over it and ask God to direct your thoughts and give you the wisdom to understand it. A miracle will happen in your life that will amaze you. It happened to me. I started praying and asking for help in my Christian walk and was impressed to surrender my all to Him and allow Him to work in me to 'will and to do of His good pleasure' and I think a few weeks passed as I prayed this prayer. One day I was just thinking about all this and all of a sudden I realized that some things I use to do and say, were no longer there. Actually, I was amazed and so thankful that God was working in my life. I like to let Him control my life day by day and see what happens. Please give your all to Him and see what He will do for you. Grandma Joan
PS Taken from 'Faith and Works p. 70 & 71.
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