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The Amish Voice 3
escape on their own?
2. Does the law have any power to deliver its prisoners?
Where does your hope of deliverance come from? Where
does your faith come in?
3. In what practical ways does God use the law to bring us to
Christ?
2. FAITH IN CHRIST MAKES US CHILDREN OF GOD
(vv.26-27).
How do we know that we are justified by faith instead of by the
law and by doing the best we can? Because faith makes us children
of God. As stated in the previous point, Jesus Christ brings us face to
face with God. He stirs God to adopt us as children of God. How?
By faith. Note two crucial points.
1. Faith causes us to focus upon God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Man
can rest upon one thing: God will accept anyone who
focuses
upon
His Son Jesus Christ, for God loves His Son to the ultimate degree.
God is no less than any normal father who loves his son. In fact, God
is much more than man; He is perfect. Therefore, God loves His
Son, Jesus Christ, with a perfect love. This simply means that God
will honor any person who honors His Son by believing and trusting
Him. If a person believes in Jesus Christ for righteousness, then God
will honor that man by counting him righteous.
The point is this: the person who tries to become acceptable to
God by the law and by doing the best he can—the man who focuses
upon the law and good works—keeps his mind upon the law and
struggles to be good. God is not the center and focus of his thoughts
and life; the law and works are.
But the person who has
faith in Jesus Christ
focuses upon Christ.
He honors God’s Son; therefore, God accepts his faith, the focus of
his life, as righteousness. The person becomes acceptable to God.
God actually accepts the person as a child of His. How is this
possible? The answer is the subject of the following point.
2. Faith clothes us with Christ, with His righteousness and
Sonship. This is a most wonderful truth, for it tells us that we can
actually “put on” Christ—a glorious revelation! The phrase “put on”
is the picture of putting on clothes, of covering oneself. All that
Christ is can cover us. Christ is two things that hold great
significance for us.
a. Christ is the very embodiment of righteousness. He is the
Son of God who came to earth to secure righteousness for
us. He lived a sinless and perfect life; He always obeyed
God, never violating the law or will of God—not even
once. Therefore, He was the Perfect, Ideal Man; He was the
Pattern of what every man should be. As the Ideal and
Perfect pattern, He could represent all men; and this is
exactly what happened. Jesus Christ is our righteousness.
When we believe in Him, God clothes us with Christ, with
His righteousness.
And, because we are clothed with the righteousness of
Jesus Christ, God sees us in His Son and accepts us.
ILLUSTRATION
:
Picture this illustration. Let your left hand represent Christ, and your
right index finger represent you. Now, wrap your left hand around
your index finger. What do you see? You see Christ, not yourself,
for Christ is covering you. So it is with faith. When you believe in
Jesus Christ, your faith covers you with Jesus Christ and His
righteousness.
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2
Co.5:21).
b. Christ is the Son of God; therefore, to be clothed with
Christ means that we are covered with His Sonship. When
God looks at the believer, He sees His Son Jesus Christ
covering him; therefore, He counts the believer as a son of
His. This is the way we become children of God: by faith
in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. When we believe that Jesus
Christ is God’s Son, God takes our faith and places us in
Christ, and to be in Christ is to be in the Sonship of Christ.
God actually sees us in Jesus Christ, in His Son. Therefore,
he accepts us as children of His—all because our faith has
covered us with Christ.
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his
name” (Jn.1:12).
ILLUSTRATION
:
How much do you value your relationship as a child of God?
Sometimes, we might be tempted to doubt God’s love. We fail time
and again and come up so short. Some of us even commit terrible
sin. We wonder, “How could God forgive me? How could He love
me after I’ve failed so much and so terribly? Jim Adams shares this
eye-opening story with us:
Perhaps no composer has captured the musical heart and soul
of America as did Irving Berlin. In addition to familiar favorites
such as “God Bless America” and “Easter Parade,” he wrote,
“I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” which still ranks as the
all-time best-selling musical score.
In an interview for the San Diego Union, Don Freeman asked
Berlin, “Is there any question you’ve never been asked that you
would like someone to ask you?”
“Well, yes, there is one,” he replied. “What do you think of the
many songs you’ve written that didn’t become hits?” My reply
would be that I still think they are wonderful.”
God, too, has an unshakable delight in what—and whom—He
has made. He thinks each of His children is wonderful, and
whether they’re a “hit” in the eyes of others or not, He will
always think they’re wonderful.
1
1 Selected from
Leadership
, Summer '93, vol.XIV #3, p.60.