1 Timothy 6:15-16 “The
King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in
unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor
and everlasting power. Amen.
Continuing from yesterday's post: Pastor Kyle explains that we do not want to deal with our
unworthiness, but we are unworthy and that is the whole point of Christianity;
that is why Christ came. Salvation is being forgiven of our sins and being
reconciled to God, is by "grace alone", through "faith
alone", in "Christ alone". These comprised what Martin Luther
called "the great exchange". What was this exchange? It is the very
heart of the gospel. Christ took on himself the punishment of our sin, and in
exchange, God reckoned to our account the perfect righteousness of his Son. The
Apostle Paul puts it like this: "For
our sake He (God) made Him (Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him
(Christ) we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
There can be no salvation without this exchange. Our sin exchanged for His
righteousness.
Hebrews
4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need.”
In
confidence and stillness, we can come to God in righteousness; Jesus’
righteousness. We have been received God’s grace because of His mercy and have
reconciliation and experience regeneration of the soul and transformation of
the heart for His glory. It’s not mountain-top experiences, nor is it the small
spiritual meals daily that sustain us, but with the seemingly million things going
on in our lives at the same time, we need to make regular time in “stillness” before
God, so we need to make this time daily. Put aside all the distractions and
busyness for a while, and make time for you and the Lord.
Some of
us are afraid of being still in relationship with our Maker because we aren’t
sure that God will show up or we bring something before the Lord that He won’t
respond or speak to us about. When we don’t hear a definitive “yes’ or “no”,
the Lord may be saying “wait” or “I have something better in mind for you”. When
we don’t hear from God, we need to just keep showing up and sit in the presence
of our Father in Heaven. Sometimes, we just need to “let go” in solitude. God
is leading us into a deeper part of our faith in Christ. Solitude is the
discipline of refraining from distractions to be with God in the deepest parts
of our heart, where we tend to push God away. He is here. God’s power holds us.
The Lord is not our Co-Pilot; He is the only one holding the wheel and saying: “Child
of mine, be still and know that and know that I am God.”
In
Christ, Brian
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