The Claim Of Righteousness

                                         John 3:16
                   "For God so loved the world, that he gave his
                     only begotten son, that whosoever believeth
                           in him should not perish, but have
                                      everlasting life."

         A difficulty arises in considering this text.  If God so loved the world, why did He allow the fall of man?   Never was a kinder act in God’s whole government than that fall of man.  For, from what did He fall?  A garden.  To what does he rise?  A heaven.  But how can a loving Father permit so much pain, and sin, and misery among His creatures?  Two keys unlock that mystery.  The first is Christ.  This world of ours was made to be a platform for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. No one will never understand the history of this earth till it is adopted as our first principle. The manifestation of Christ in His redeeming work, pain, and misery, and the sin of this world he carried to the cross were absolutely essential.
         The other key is eternity.  We do not yet know exactly how eternity will explain and rectify our life in this world. We do not yet see, or know how the discipline of this world is bringing out the joy of another.  When we behold all its balanced action, and its perfect unity, and its grand results, I am quite sure that we shall say in of it all, "God is love."
         The promise is twofold; one negative, and the other positive.  The negative "we owe," strictly speaking, to the death of Christ.  Our punishment having passed on to Christ, God knew it would not be just for Him to punish us also, for that would be punishing the same sin twice.  The positive, our admission into heaven, "if you accepted Christ has your saviour and believe by faith that He is."  We owe it to the meritorious righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is imputed to us. And when in that righteousness, we have an actual claim, even the same claim that Christ has, of admission into the heavenly kingdom, because we carry Christ’s own claim:  His righteousness imputed to us.
        Amen!!

Reading: (John 3:9-21)

                                   May God Bless You
                                    And Your Families

                                                Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.
                                                The Cross Life Ministry