Imprisoned By Your Past – Part 2
This month, I want to explore further on how we can break free from our past. You can break the power of the past if you remember that all sin is “past” sin where God is concerned. Isaiah 46:10 says, “that God declares the end from the beginning.” This verse means that the Lord not only knew what you were like before you got saved, but He also knew what you were going to be like after you got saved, and knowing all of that, He still saved you. Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” The Lord entered into a relationship with you with His eyes completely opened. He not only knew about all the sins that you committed before you met Him, but He also knew about all the sins that you would commit after you met Him. You may have done some things since becoming a Christian that has both shocked and surprised you, but they have not shocked or surprised Him.
The Romans 8:29 verse says that He not only foreknew you, but that He also predestined you to be conformed to the image of His son Jesus. He knows what you don’t know and that is you will change. You will become like Jesus in all respect. Paul puts it this way in Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” The reason that Paul was so confident that the Lord would finish is the fact that He started. Paul knew that because of the Lord’s foreknowledge He would never start something that He couldn’t finish, so Paul knew that the proof that He would finish is the fact that He started.
One Bible teacher put it this way, “God doesn’t deal with a man according to the way you are, but according to the way you want to be. For instance, you may be walking towards complete integrity in your life, but on your journey, you stumble and fall by telling a lie. You repent and come to the Lord saying, “I lied.” The Lord says, “I know, but what do you want?” Your response is, “I want to be a man of integrity.” Then the Lord responds. “Okay, get back up and try again.”
Proverbs 24:16 says, “For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.” There is nothing righteous about falling, this man’s righteousness is seen in his rising; in his getting back up and trying again.
If what I just said is true, then it brings us to a very important question. Doesn’t a holy & righteous God demand holiness and righteousness from us? If you were to look at Matthew 5:48 which states, “therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” then the answer to that question must be yes!
The “Good News” is that God supplies the righteousness that He demands. He provides it through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ, as the following scripture attest to 1 Cor 1:30 (NASB) “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.” 2 Cor 5:21 (NRSV) “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Phil 3:9 (NIV) “And be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Because of what Jesus did for you, God is now and forever completely satisfied with what Jesus has done on your behalf. You don’t go to heaven because you are good, you go to heaven because Jesus was good for you.
I’ve been walking with the lord for many years now and the Lord doesn’t love me any more or less than He did when I first met Him. His love for me, and for you, is not based on who you are but who He is. It’s not based on what you do, but on what He did. If I was to take all the righteousness that I have accumulated over the years, because of having His Spirit and being governed by His Word, and presented it to the Lord, He would say “that it’s as filthy rags in His sight.” Because under His holy scrutiny my best will never be good enough. Therefore, I realize increasingly that the only way I will make it to heaven will not be on my efforts, but on His.
Insights
Jim Newsom
Dwight L. Moody told of the young man who did not want to serve in Napoleon Bonapart’s army. When he was drafted, a friend volunteered to go in his place. The substitution was made, and sometime later the surrogate was killed in battle. The same young man was, through a clerical error, drafted again. “You can’t take me” he told the startled officers. “I’m dead. I died on the battlefield.” They argued that they could see him standing right in front of them, but he insisted they look on the roll to find the record of his death. Sure enough, there on the roll was the man’s name, with another name written beside it. The case finally went to the emperor himself. After examining the evidence, Napoleon said, “Through a surrogate, this man has not only fought but has died in his country’s service. No man can die more than once, therefore the law has on claim on him.” Two thousand years ago, Jesus went to a cross to bear the penalty that rightly belonged to us. He died in our place and through Him, our names are written in the Book, with His name written beside ours.
Ministry Update
A wonderful friend of our ministry has offered to convert Jim’s messages from CDs to MP3 files for Free! This will allow us to load them all on our ministry website. This is such a great blessing! He has started the process, and we have gotten some of them up on the website already. This is a big undertaking and will take some time. When you get a chance, have a listen and see what God might want to say to you.
Diane's Updates
Well, we still haven’t been able to celebrate Christmas with Jason yet. He was all set to come at the end of January, but Riker got sick again and was having breathing difficulties. He ended up in the hospital once again, this time for 2 days. Thankfully he is doing much better now. We hope to finally get together towards the end of this month.
Please pray we all stay healthy.
I’m looking forward to taking a trip to Florida to visit with my family this month. It has been several years since I was last able to visit with them. Plus, it will be nice to get away from this arctic cold that we have been experiencing. Although the boys sure had a lot of fun playing in the snow; us not so much!