Wednesday, May 18, 2016

THE GREAT EXCHANGE - God considers all our “righteous acts” as offensive as menstrual cloths. Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us of our sins.


The Great Exchange             
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God exchanged our filthy rags of sin with the righteousness of Jesus Christ
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In Isaiah 64:6, we read:             
We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. English Standard Version (ESV)
The same verse is rendered by the Amplified Bible (AMP) as:
 And all our deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags; We all wither and decay like a leaf,
And our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing], like the wind, takes us away [carrying us far from God’s favor For we all have become like one who is [ceremonially] unclean [like a leper], toward destruction].
“Ed beged” - “filthy rags” in Hebrew are strong words of filthiness. The word filthy is a translation of the Hebrew word “iddah,” which literally means “the bodily fluids from a woman’s menstrual cycle.”
The word “rags” is a translation of “begged,” meaning “a rag or garment.”
There were no convenient feminine hygiene products during Bible times. 
Therefore, these “righteous acts” are considered by God as offensive as used menstrual cloths .
This passage is often referred to as a proof that condemns all of our acts of goodness before God as nothing more than “filthy rags.”
Isaiah was writing concerning the people of Israel and their hypocrisy at a time when they were rebellious with God. He included himself in the description, saying “we” and “our.”
Isaiah, as a prophet of God was redeemed and set apart, yet he saw himself as part of a sinful people that was utterly doomed for judgment and destruction.
This illustration of Isaiah 64:6 could rightly be applied to the whole world, especially given Isaiah's inclusion of himself in the description.
When Isaiah wrote this, the people of Israel had seen numerous miraculous blessings from God. Yet they had turned their backs on Him and worshipped false gods (Isaiah 42:17.)
They made animal sacrifices and burned incense on strange altars (Isaiah 65:3-5).
Isaiah had even called Jerusalem a harlot and compared it to Sodom (Isaiah 3:9).
These people considered their own acts righteous before God.  
Yet God did not esteem their acts of self-righteousness as anything but “polluted garments” or “filthy rags.” 
Their apostasy, or falling away from the law of God, had rendered their works totally unclean. “Like the wind, [their] sins were sweeping them away” (Isaiah 64:6). 
How comparable were the ancient Israelites with modern man that he can make for himself idols for worship, neglecting the commands of God that He alone must be worshiped in spirit and in truth.
What damnable heresies that plague the mind of man that somehow he can make himself good enough to deserve to live forever by his own self-conceived ways to save himself, denying and insulting the offered free gift of salvation by the works of Jesus on the cross. 
The doctrine of total depravity is taught clearly in Ephesians 2:1-5.

By Grace Through Faith

     1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.                4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— (ESV)
The only way any of us can be declared righteous before God is through impartation.
Our own righteous acts are “as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). 
We have no way of becoming righteous enough to earn heaven or fellowship with a holy God.
We are sinners, lawbreakers, selfish, and unholy. Our best efforts to clean ourselves from our sins pitifully fall short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23).
So Jesus came to earth to die on the cross for us. He lived a perfect life of obedience and completely fulfilled every letter of the law (Matthew 5:17).
Then He offered to trade places with us.
The great exchange is described in Second Corinthians 5:21:  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
God the Father took our sin record and nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:14). 
Then He took the righteousness of Jesus and imputed it to all who would believe and receive Him (John 3:15-18).
It is a divine exchange: our own filthy sins for Christ’s righteousness. 
When we come to Christ in repentance and faith, Jesus takes our record of sins, all our evil acts, thoughts, words, intents, all we have ever done, and places it upon Himself. Then He takes His own spotless record and writes our names at the top (Revelation 20:15).
When we stand before God, we don’t come to Him based on our efforts. We cannot erase what we have done. All our good will never outweigh our bad. It is only the blood of Jesus that can clean us from our sins (1 John 1:7).
Through our faith in Christ, the righteousness of God is given to us. This is called “imputed” righteousness. To impute something is to ascribe or attribute something to someone. 
When we place our faith in Christ, God ascribes the perfect righteousness of Christ to our account so that we become perfect in His sight. “For our sake he made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Not only is Christ’s righteousness imputed to us through faith, but our sin is imputed to Christ.
That is how Christ paid our sin debt to God. He had no sin in Himself, but our sin is imputed to Him so, as He suffers on the cross, He suffered the just penalty that our sins deserve.
Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life 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).
By having the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, God the Father sees us as sinless, as Jesus is sinless. It is not, therefore, our sinless perfection, but Jesus’. 
When God looks at the Christian, He sees the holiness, perfection, and righteousness of Christ.
Therefore, we can say with confidence, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
Are you struggling with a big decision or wondering how your eternal future will play out?
Why not talk to the God of the universe and let Him work in your behalf?
He says, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you" (Psalm 32:8).
Ask God to show you what to do. Pray the following prayer:
“Heavenly Father,
I admit that I am a sinner and my sins have separated me from You. I now want to turn away from my past sinful life and begin a new life with You.
Please forgive me. I now receive Your Son, Jesus Christ as my Savior, my Master and my Lord. I believe and confess that Jesus Christ died for my sins, was buried, and rose from the dead.
I want to receive all that Jesus Christ has provided for me as my Savior. Your Word says, ‘Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Romans 10:13).
I believe and confess that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes unto the Father, but by Him.
Lord Jesus, I pray and ask You, to come into my heart and be Lord of my life. I thank You that You have given me eternal life, and according to Your Word, I am born again.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit Who is in me now. I surrender my life to You. I promise to study Your Word – the Bible.
Use me for Your glory.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.” 
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    “No Condemnation”        

          Don Moen


lyrics

There is therefore 
now no condemnation 
for those who are in christ Jesus

For the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus
will set you free
from the law of sin and 

There is therefore
now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus
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