Myth, 11

~ I’m Not Good Enough For God ~

Introduction  ~  This is a tricky myth because it includes truth—but is typically used as a false statement.  This is a common trick of Satan—if he can get you to believe his implication of this truth (turning truth into a myth) he has you defeated.  The truths are: you are not good enough for God; God loves you; God sent His Son to pay the penalty of your sin; and if you accept His gift of salvation then as God looks at you He sees not your sin but Christ’s righteousness covering you!  What a deal!  

Key Passages  ~  The truth of believers covered by Christ’s righteousness is found in both the Old and New Testaments.

old testament:  “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘That I will raise to David a Branch of Righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.  In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely;

now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’” (Jeremiah 23:5-6).  This truth applies to individuals. “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  For what does the Scripture say?  ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’” (Romans 4:2-3).  “Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’” (Galatians 3:6). 

“David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works” (Romans 4:6-8). 

new testament:  “For if by the one man’s offense [Adam] death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). 

“What shall we say then?  That Gentiles … have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith” (Romans 9:30).  “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

Results  ~  Listen to the testimony of the Apostle Paul.  “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:8-9).

Application  ~  God created you and God is in love with you!  Do you view God as a police officer with a sin trap waiting to say “Gotcha”?  God is just the opposite—He loves you so much He provided a way of payment for you sin and become a member of His family.  “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).  Have you accepted the gift He extends to you? 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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