Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

2 Timothy 4:2

What’s the good word, they ask the preacher?

Be instant in season and out of season.  Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you.

That day, there was a little bit of burning within me.  We all want to see the floodgates of heaven thrown open, and revival sweep the land.

What’s the solution to getting it?

Well, there’s something that seems better than just getting the floodgates opened.  It’s getting the dam out of the way.

That’s right, instead of just opening the doors to the thing, and letting all the water pour out, why not remove the whole dam, and see the river rush on for endless days.

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Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Psalm 97:2

The question of the ages, of the universe, and of the world, is that of righteousness.

When we approach what I like to call the million dollar question, why do born again believers not behave according to their new-creation nature, we have come to the very bedrock of the Christian faith, and also the most pressing issue of the universe, period.

The issue is righteousness.

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In one meeting, upon a riverbank, Old met New.  One was fulfilled, and one was just beginning.  He must increase, and I must.  He must become greater, and I must become less.

For, the law and the prophets were until John, and since that time, men were forcefully entering the Kingdom with violence (Luke 16:16).

The old system was to be replaced, and it was the New that mattered now.  The law was given through Moses, Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

Jeremiah the prophet wrote this oracle:

 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

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By Him, all things were created.  Things that are in Heaven and in the Earth, both visible and invisible.  Whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16).

The Builder Himself came down to the built, the maker to the made, and lived with them in skin.

Through Him, all things were made that have been made, yet it, they, we did not recognize Him.

The most stunning puzzle of all Eternity, God Himself, the only self-existent God, lived a life of a creature, indwelt the flesh, and became man.

The one deserving to be served, served, and humbled Himself to His Father’s will.

Untold angels peered on into this delivery, as messengers came by.  Prophets of old had desired to understand this, and the multitude of the heavens looked on to comprehend.  What was this bold, blazoned, bizarre, and blessed plan of God?

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Now there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Hebrews 9:22

There is no condemnation for a believer.  For the sinner, condemnation is assured (John 3:18), but for those who are justified by faith, we live in the freedom of Christ (Galatians 5:1).

So we have a distress.  We find that we do sin.  And, this may bring guilt, pain, shame, regret.  Yet, these are not the right of the New Testament believer.  We come to a conjunction, a crossroads of choice.  Do I believe the Scriptures, or do I believe the pain of the shame, the guilt, and the condemnation.

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

Romans 8:1

But, there is condemnation for those who are not in Christ.  Jesus said,

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Mark 16:16

Jesus said that those who do not believe in Him, the Son of Man who was God Himself, would be eternally condemned, bound in an eternal hell for Eternity.  Paul, writing later, said that it was on the six foundations of the Christian faith, without which, one could not move on to maturity (Hebrews 6:2).

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Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

John 14:6

It doesn’t matter what version you read it in, Jesus is the way, He is THE Truth, and He is the life, the only life.  The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all that believe (1 Peter 1:5).

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