The Justice of Mercy (Reloaded)

The Justice of Mercy (Reloaded)

In the previous article, we dealt with the subject of Justice as it related to mercy. We studied how that it took the mercy of God and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ to pay for the sins of all the ungodly. We discussed the effect of Adam's sin on humanity and how it is that the people of the world became ungodly because of his act.

We also learnt how that we have become not only justified (free from blame) in Christ but we have also become sanctified (unable to sin) in Christ. This was achieved solely by our belief in the cross and not by any works of goodness that we have done. This is not to say that works of goodness are not essential, only that they cannot buy us salvation because the sin of Adam is not a debt that we can pay; only Christ being the second Adam could pay it, and indeed, he paid it. However receiving this gift of salvation comes by believing.

Also, the fact that we have received salvation doesn't mean ultimately that we will not sin. We learnt that man is a spirit that has a soul and dwells in a body. The salvation we have in Christ paid for the rebirth of our spirits but our souls and bodies remain unchanged. Hence, we have the responsibility of renewing our souls. Our aim is to get our souls to the level of Jesus Christ when he walked the earth as a man. To do this, we cooperate with the Spirit of God to remove the old data (corrupted beliefs) that are in our souls and replace them with new data (Christ like beliefs) which are found in the Holy Bible. One of the ways we do this also is by believing.

Therefore, we see that 'believing' is what drives our lives. To become saved we believe. To become like Christ, we believe.

The question then is this, how do we believe in the way that we ought to, to see our minds renewed to the point of sanctification? This is what we will discuss in this article.

The first thing we have to note is that renewal is a process. It takes time and efforts. If it is actions due to wrong beliefs that  caused the fall of Adam, then it is actions birth from right believing that would cause the renewal. As we said this takes time and we are all at different levels of growth. However, growth is not based solely on time but on the activities that each individual carries out. So a person born again today that spent approximately 10hours everyday doing certain things to ensure the renewal of their mind have a 'tendency' (tendency because it is God that inputs grace) to have grown further than other persons who were born again at the same time but spends 1 hour doing the same things.

The saying "heaven helps those who help themselves" is relevant here and perhaps this might have been the reason that it was coined and not to justify wrong acts as some so often attribute it to. 'Heaven' means grace as imputed to a person at the pleasure of God.

The first key to believing is this:
"You cannot believe without knowledge"

Colossians 3: 9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

 10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

 11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

The new man is renewed in knowledge: Knowledge means relevant data translated into information.

The saint's number one source of knowledge is the holy bible. All the words written in the holy bible can be called data. Data given to man by God as inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Saint can also receive knowledge from the world. The bible says the worlds were framed by the word of God and also that:

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse

As any scientist, economist or statistician or research and the likes would tell you, 'Data is Key'. Without data gathering, no growth can occur, whether economically or technologically. The worlds transformation is driven by data hence the emergence of subjects like 'Big Data'. This data still has to be mined however to get as much relevant information within.

For example, in urban renewal projects an aspect of Town Planning, there are two times when data has to be acquired and mined to acquire information and help the urban planners make informed decisions. The first is at the initial stage, before the renewal plan is prepared.

Broad based data is acquired through the different data collection means, from the subject people and the subject environment. This data is then analyzed and information relevant to the project is acquired. Now a key point to note is this: the data could also be analyzed to provide information for a totally different project that has nothing to do with Urban renewal.

So it is with the bible, it contains data that is broad based. However, that data has to be mined by individuals to acquire information on what needs to be changed within them. Mr A and Mrs A might read a scripture, and it reveals different information to them. Based on their meditations (the way we analyze data) and the Holy Spirit. Information acquired on meditation alone is only intellectual, but the one acquired based on the combination of both meditation and the imputing of grace by the Holy Spirit is Spiritual.

This information is called Knowledge and with it, the grace of the Holy Spirit provides understanding. Once a Christian is armed with these, that person has gotten wisdom to make the right decisions concerning their situations.

However, it is easy for the mind to forget. When the circumstances of life hit hard, one begins to forget all the knowledge and this affects the supply of wisdom to make the right decisions. Thus, we write down the knowledge that we have received. As God told this prophet:

Habakkuk 2
1  I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
2  And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that anyone who reads it may run.
3  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

T4T Translation:
1  After I said that, I said to myself, “I will climb up into my watchtower, and stand there at my guard post. I will wait there to find out what Yahweh will say, what he will reply to what I have complained about.”
2  Then Yahweh replied to me, “Write plainly on tablets what I am revealing to you in this vision, and then read it to a messenger in order that he can run with it to tell it to other people.
3  In this vision I will be talking about things that will happen in the future. Now is not the time when those things will happen, but they certainly will happen, and when they occur, they will occur quickly, and they will not be delayed. Now you want those things to happen immediately, but they are not happening. But wait patiently for them to happen!

What knowledge God has given you while you watched through study of the word and the grace of the Holy Spirit must be written down as God instructed Habakuk. This is crucial. If you do not write it down, it becomes forgotten and as God said: that vision is for an appointed time, but in the end it shall speak. Also, He said that He that reads the vision may run.

That 'He' in this case refers to the individual who received the knowledge. Since you prayed for your situation, the response of God would also be pertaining to your circumstance. However, if you prayed for the country or a person, the knowledge you received on behalf is meant for those people.

Having written it down, we must then continually read it.

This is the only way that our minds can be transformed by the new knowledge that is received from God replacing the old knowledge in our souls. This is called Confessing the word of God. To learn more about confessions, listen to Pastor Poju Oyemade's messages. He also has a book out on the subject.

What happens when we keep confessing the word? Confessing here means repeated recital of the knowledge we have received. While we read it, we must be focused and we must read it not as if what we wrote will happen soon, rather, we must read it as though what we have written has already happened. This is what Abraham practiced when he began to call himself the Father of many Nations by God's instruction; even when His wife Sarah had birth no child for him. He spoke those things that be not as though they are:

Romans 4:16  Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

What happens when we continually speak things the way God speaks things, what we are doing is writing the words on our minds as it is written:

Psalm 45:1 My heart is indicting a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer

As we continue in this practice we begin to see a transformation in our lives as our souls become aligned with the knowledge in our spirit. As Paul said to Philemon:

Philemon 6  That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

Now let us take this a bit further by God's grace. The knowledge you received from God through meditation and imputation of grace by the Holy Spirit is actually knowledge that already exists in your renewed spirit.

As we have learnt, God justified us and sanctified us by His mercy. However, he also renewed our spirits, making us completely reborn. The Christian's spirit is a totally different spirit from the one He had before He became born again. God ingeniously did this through a process called engrafting.

To engraft means:

Horticulturally: to insert, as a scion of one tree or plant into another, for propagation:

Spiritually: It is how our spiris were implanted into that of Christ in other to take on all the nature of Christ as it is written:
1Co 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

The nature of our rebirth as Christians is on this wise:
John 3
1  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. note
4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

We were born of water and the spirit. Just as Christ was birth we were also birth, without the seed of the flesh, but of the word of God.

Of Christ it is said:
Luke 1: 35  And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36  And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
37  For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Of every Christian, it is said:

1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Eph1: 13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

1 John 3: 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Mark 4: 26 So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
27  And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
28  For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
29  But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

The moment we believed in the word of God concerning Christ, God planted in us the seed of Christ. This seed grew and became a tree in us, we know not how. God then took a part of our old spirit and grafted us into Christ, thus creating an entirely new specie of spirit. The old spirit completely destroyed. And thus we became one in Christ as Paul said:
1Co 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

Paul used the engrafting of an olive tree to explain further to the Roman in his letter:

Romans 11: 16  For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
24  For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree:

To further understand the concept of engrafting horticulturally, you can watch this video:
https://youtu.be/Ryf0248Od60

Horticulturally, when a branch is engrafted in a root, the root takes the nature of the branch. But spiritually, God reversed the process, instead of the root taking the nature of the branch the branch takes the nature of the root and so Paul called us 'graffed contrary to nature'. Therefore we are rooted and grounded in Christ.

Eph 3: 17 - 19:  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

One of the beauties of engrafting in my opinion is that although we are brand new, we still retain the original nature of God in our lives that makes us unique. Else, the christian would be robots with no individuality.

Now, since we are joined to Christ in spirit, all that belongs to Christ that pertains to us, already belongs to us.

However, God designed us that our souls work cooperatively with our spirits. Based on the law of recognition, what our minds do not have knowledge of cannot be reproduced by our will.

Therefore, Paul told Philemon to acknowledge every good thing which is in Him being in Christ Jesus! All the good things are already in us (our born again spirits) because we are in Christ Jesus. That's awesome! And all we have to do is to find out what they are through the process we have already discussed:

Reading the Bible for Data; meditating on the data to receive knowledge with the help of the Holy Spirit. Writing down what knowledge we have received and Confessing it (acknowledging it) believing it is already done as Abraham believed. By this we not only renew our minds, but we also receive that which we receive that which we have prayed for and our faith becomes effective.

Herein again is the Justice of Mercy made evident that we who were once ungodly are now Justified, Sanctified and now we who were once cursed 'that in the sweat of our face shall we eat bread, with the earth cursed due to Adam's sin have now been blessed with all blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus with the Lord also establishing us. IN CHRIST WE ARE RELOADED!

Finally, as the urban planner acts in an urban renewal project, after he has gotten the initial data and analyzed it, and gotten knowledge: He has now wisdom to create a beneficial plan. However, He presents the plan to the people he is planning for, for their critique and eventual acknowledgement. He submits it to the relevant authority for approval. He implements and afterwards he carries out another data collection to ensure that what was implemented conforms to the Plan with all stakeholders involved. This last stage is called Monitoring and Control. In a Christian's life, we also perform the task of monitoring and control only that we call the process: Watching. The bible says while men slept the enemy sowed tares. We have to ensure that through prayer and feedback making adjustments where necessary, we are being vigilant to the growth and transformation of our souls and ensuring the continuous effective communication of our faith till Christ's mind is fully formed in us and we are fruitful in all things our lives giving glory to God.

Thanks a lot for reading.