Christ Our Ransom and Our Faith Is In His Life

Seek the LORD while He May

be found,

Call upon Him 

While He He is near.

Let the wicked

forsake his wary,

and the unrighteous man

his thoughts;

Let him return to the LORD,

And He will have 

Mercy on him;

And to our God,

For He will

Abundantly pardon.

Isaiah 55:6-7

     Justification as it is taught in the Bible is by faith in Christ. This was and is the teachings of the Apostles. What exactly is being said in regards to this faith? First, it is not a pious dutiful spirit of reverence for God which is a disposition of the mind. Second, it is not faith as a general revelation, much less to be faith in eternal verities or as a principle of belief, even general principles of truth and duty. It is has faith which has as its object; Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul writes: "...even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:22-23). It is not by works: "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law no flesh shall be justified" (Galatians 2:16).  So why the Law? "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24). Paul in speaking to the Churches in particular states further: "for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26). The law teaches us and we become children of God and that newness of life is demonstrated in the way we live: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).  Now, if Christ did not die and our righteousness comes in another manner, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21).

     It is this sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ to God that is our ransom, a ransom for many, (notice this it is not for all as it is taught in so many churches); the Greek word "pleion" denotes a great many, not just many so that as Revelation speaks a number so great that it cannot be numbers, it is the grains of sand.  For all, the many, the merit of Christ, His righteousness is the propitiation for sins, offered to God in sacrifice according to the justice and the forensic requirement for the sins of man. All the Scriptures necessarily assume that the faith which secures salvation is in reference to Jesus Christ. Now, if we are to have Jesus Christ as our Redeemer, then, we must receive Him and truth Him. If Jesus Christ is our propitiation for our sins then, it can only be so by our faith in His blood that we can be reconciled to God. This is the whole plan of God, to bring to Himself that which was purposed from the beginning, a people who are committed to Him, enjoying all that God has determined for man.  But, to be a child of God then one must receive Jesus Christ and place Him as their object of faith upon which is the ground for their/our confidence. 

     We have a special relation to Jesus Christ, we are in Him by faith. Jesus Christ dwells in us and is the head of us in whom we derive our life. As the parable of Jesus Christ so aptly does as it applies the illustration of the vine and branches whereby He is the vine, we are the branches as the branches live because of their connection to the vine so it is with Christians, we live because He lives within us. If Christ does not dwell in us then we are dead in our sins, there is no hope, and there is no life, now or after death. This faith is not a general faith, a faith as described as secure in Scripture, that which secures our salvation for it is faith that has as its termination in Christ and in Him alone. It is He that is the object of our faith, it is He that is our life. Many place their faith in the Scriptures, and some sense they are justified in so doing, but when our faith is secure in Scripture then we have deviated from what is true.  The truth is that by the will of God, Jesus Christ incarnated in human flesh, being both Man and God, doing and revealing the will of God, dying for our sins and rising again for our justification; this is where our faith is grounded.  When Jesus Christ dwells in us all the fulness of the Godhead fills us and He is then our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It is to those who receive Jesus Christ into their souls, not just their minds, placing their lives into His hands to be used in His service and to be saved into His glory are then believers.  Christ as our object of faith is also our termination of our faith for it terminates in Him. Nothing as taught by other Churches, especially that of the Roman Catholic Church as founded upon modernistic and post-modernistic philosophies as any foundation in Scripture.  It is those false teachings that we have been warned about that turn us away from the historical Jesus and making Him the object of our faith. When that happens, no matter how philanthropically one is, it is only the work we do that is fueled and led by Jesus Christ as our object of faith can this have any true value.  We are to love and truth, even in our miserable hearts, Jesus Christ.

But that no one

     is justified

by the law

     in the sight 

of God

     is evident,

for the just shall 

    live by faith.

                Galatians 3:11

May Today Be Blessed As 

You Put Your Faith Into Action

Richard L. Crumb

Salvation Is Be Receiving Christ

But as many as received Him,

to them He gave

The right to become 

Children of God,

To those who

Believe in His name:

John 1:12

     The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the direct being object of saving faith. We are said to receive Him and to secure salvation. It is this act of receiving that imputes that salvation and our acts therefrom are the testimony. The above quoted Scripture from John the Apostle clearly and plainly declares that fact. It is a fact that so often those who seek God, salvation, and desire to experience that newness of life choose a Jesus that is not Biblical. It is not that they do not receive Christ, it is not Jesus Christ as elucidated in His Word: "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive" (John 5:43). All one has to do is look around and examine the Churches and their teachings and will find Pastor's who are allegorical, promoting ear tickling illustrations, but little exegetical preaching of God's Word.  Many are willing to accept the witness of men: "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; fro this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son" (1 John 5:9-10). Notice the Scritpure's wording, "given of His Son" not "has given His Son" so then what is the "given of..:" mean?  God gave His Son to be the propitiation for sins and all who receive Jesus Christ as truly sent from God, who died, was buried, rose the third day, ascended into heaven, who gave a witness of His resurrection to more than 500 people, was seen to ascend into heaven; that is what God gave "of Christ." This is what God gave of Himself for Jesus is both God and Man, it was God in the substance of His son, and in the substance of man, who never left or did not have the essence of the Father. It was God who saves, and that through the object of saving faith; Jesus Christ. It is Jesus' accomplished work upon the cross that gives life: "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. he who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:11-12). It is this rebirth, being born of God, that which only God can do for man, and He did this by his dispensation, His Will, and by means of His Son, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we had nothing to do with this salvation granted to those who were predestined to live eternally with God, and only those who have been given this saving grace can they love Jesus Christ: "Whoever (the Gr. word is "pas" and is translated literally as "everyone" and the next word "pisteuon" is a a participle and is translated, believing, so it is everyone who is believing that is begotten of God), believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also also loves him who is begotten of Him" (1 John 5:1).

     Therefore, it is receiving of Jesus Christ who is the immediate object of saving faith recorded in His Word that it is He who God gave to be the propitiation for our sins and is what is required and to be exercised by those claiming to be Christian and is in order to salvation. Our salvation is secure, secured by God Himself, who being eternal causes His act upon the cross for His people is eternal. Faith then is applied and expressed by looking at Jesus Christ, coming to Christ, having been enabled and drawn to Him be God.  It is then we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ a committing of our souls to Him, with the sure hope of eternal life.

This is He who

     Came by 

Water, and blood

     Jesus Christ;

not only by water,

     but by water and blood.

And it is the Sprit

     who bears witness,

Because the Spirit is Truth

                       1 John 5:6

Many God Bless This Day

Richard L. Crumb

 

What Does Jesus Christ Require?

But what does it say?

"The word is near you,

in your mouth and

in your heart" (Isaiah 1:1:9) 

(that is, 

the word of faith

which we preach):

(Deuteronomy 30:14).

that if you confess

with your mouth

the Lord Jesus 

and believe in your heart

that God has raised Him 

from the dead,

you will be saved.

Romans 10:8-9

      What does Jesus require? What is the condemnation spoken of in the Bible? First, foremost, Christ was raised from the dead: "that I may know Him and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death" (Philippians 3:10). Second, the requirement is to believe in Him: "that whosoever believes in Him Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:15). The English word "that" is the Greek word for "in order that" so in vs. 14 illuminates why one is to be "in order that," because Jesus was lifted up, crucified, and then 'whosoever" believes in that resurrection, the same as did the Israelites when Moses lifted up the brazen serpent for their healing, (please don't misunderstand what Mose did and why: read the context), for we are not to believe "on" Jesus" the Greek word is "eis" meaning into, with intention, then those who do such will have eternal life because of that belief. Thirdly, condemnation is a judicial requirement for sin.  This being proclaimed to Adam when he sinned, that death was to come upon him and being the federal head of mankind, that condemnation applied also to his progeny: us; (Genesis 2:15-16).  God had every right to destroy all that He had made, including now sinful man, but God is merciful and in His dispensation and economy, applied His mercy, and had chosen some to be saved before all creation; (Ephesians 1:4-12). Jesus plainly and clearly states: "He who believes in Him (vs. 17 gives to answer as to who is "him") is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in (Gr. eis) the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). God has wrath, this was aptly displayed by the Genesis flood, it will be and is displayed in our times, as iterated by John the Baptist: "He who believes in (Gr. eis) the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on (Gr. "ep" upon) him" (John 3:36). It is by God's will that He has determined to save some and give them to His Son and to raise them  up, not in some plan outside of Scripture as taught by many Churches, i.e., the rapture, rather on the last day, there is no plan "A" and plan "B" only the "last day." Jesus will never lose any given to him, (John 6:39) and He state: "And this is the will of Him (God the Father) who sent Me (Jesus Christ), that everyone (Gr. "pas" has the meaning of certain ones, Strong's Concordance #3956; and according to Charles Spurgeon who states: 

"... 'The whole world is gone after him.' Did all the world go after Christ? 'Then went all Judea, and were baptized of him in Jordan.' Was all Judea, or all Jerusalem baptized in Jordan? 'Ye are of God, little children', and 'the whole world lieth in the wicked one.' Does 'the whole world' there mean everybody? If so, how was it, then, that there were some who were 'of God?' The words 'world' and 'all' are used in some seven or eight senses in Scripture; and it is very rarely that 'all' means all persons, taken individually. The words are generally used to signify that Christ has redeemed some of all sorts—some Jews, some Gentiles, some rich, some poor, and has not restricted his redemption to either Jew or Gentile." (Charles H. Spurgeon, Particular Redemption, A Sermon, 28 Feb 1858), who sees (this is an active participle, therefore it is those who participate, those who are seeing, actively) the Son and believes (the condition for salvation) in (Gr. "eis") Him may have (Gr. "eche" is subjunctive, there for the person is involved in the decision) everlasting life; and I (Jesus Christ) will raise (Gr. first person singular future active, meaning is that everlasting life, resurrection is totally dependent upon Jesus Christ) him up at (not before or after) the last day" (John 6:40). Jesus is the "bread of life" so that when we pray the Lord's prayer we ask that we be given "our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11) we are asking for, not just daily sustenance, we are asking for Jesus Christ, so He states: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. this is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one (Gr. "tis" an indefinite pronoun, then it is a certain one) may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone (Gr. "tis") eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world (here the word translated "world" is in contrast to the word "heaven" in other words He came for those certain ones not in heaven)": (John 6:47-51). God chose you, not because you had faith, He gave that to you, and this is His work: "Jesus answered (those seeking Him) and said to them. 'This is the work of God, that you believe in (Gr. "eis") Him whom He sent" (John 6:29). 

     It is faith in Christ, the object of true faith, and that not our yourself God, (this includes Jesus who is God) lives within His people, and His people are elucidated to the world and Him by their obedience (John 14:23). It is faith in Jesus Christ that is demanded by God, the condition of salvation and the Bible abounds in such statements.  We have been speaking of faith and it is clear that saving faith is faith in Jesus.

I am the vine,
     You are the brances.
He who abides in lMe,
    and I in him,
bears much fruit; 
    for without Me
You can do nothing.
                   John 15:6

May God Bless You


Richard L. Crumb