In other words, man created in the image of God, was intended to be the physical expression of God. For man to be indwelt by God, he had to possess the same nature as God. And how do you possess the nature of someone? By fathering him so his gene dwells in you and so you are of the same nature. God, (the logos) came out of Himself (expressed in another dimension) and became a man, carrying the gene of God in Him. He was born of a virgin, meaning the seed was not from a man (thus He was born without the sin nature).
Every man is born with the sin nature and transfers it from his gene to his children and thus every man fathered by a man is a sinner not out of performance but by inheritance. Man doesn’t sin to become a sinner; man sins because he is a sinner; that’s his nature. Man was not created to have a nature of his own. He was created to be the expression of another. There’s no human nature. There are only two natures: the sin nature and the God nature.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth accomplished the law and on the cross, there was an exchanged that took place. Jesus Christ for every man. He was handed over by His own Father to be the substitute of every man. He took the sins of man with all its consequences - sickness, poverty, pains etc - and died with these on the cross. In the eyes of God, when Jesus died, it was every man that was paying the punishment for his sins, for the wages of sin is death. That’s what is referred to as substitution – the victim here was Jesus but He was standing as every man that has lived, is living and will ever live.
After that Jesus died and went to hell, God justified Him since God was pleased by Jesus’ sacrifice and thus Jesus was declared righteous. God elevated Jesus high above all else and gave Him the name above all names – the only name given to men to be saved. Since He died for everyman, He became the only Savior of every man. And then, God set a policy for the salvation of mankind – grace.
Grace is receiving the best of God; living the predestined life God had towards man. Grace grants you the nature of God because the gene of God, Jesus, comes and indwells your spirit and makes you a son of God. Grace grants you the gift of righteousness with its fruits which are health, wealth, joy, happiness, peace, all things. Since you are son of God, you are heir of God, co-heir with Christ. You are heir because you are firstborn son of God since being born again from the unique gene of God, Jesus Christ, as He is, so are you. Heir of God means you’re possessor of heaven and earth, the universe; its resources are yours. God’s calling for you is that you subdue all things. All things are placed under the feet of Christ and Christ is the head of his body, which you are. Consequently, all things are placed under your feet.
But these things were done not only to be heard as good stories. They were done to be appropriated, to be lived, to be experienced by every man. Jesus didn’t do that for His own sake. He was not a man so He needed not to be justified and made righteous. He is God and possesses the nature of righteousness. The substitution was done for our sake – to be appropriated by man since man left to himself, could not save himself. God came down in the likeness of man and performed all that was needed for our salvation and offered it to us as a gift.
Grace has supplied all things but only faith can appropriate what grace has supplied. Salvation is receiving the righteousness of God by believing in someone, Jesus Christ, the savior of every man. Righteousness cannot be attained by any other means. Self-righteousness is an abomination before God. Self righteousness is man trying to attain salvation through his own works and efforts, even from the sincerity of his heart. These works are considered dead works before God for our righteousness are like filthy rags; man in his best has not attained the least of what God wants. The only means to be saved which includes to be righteous, to be prosperous, to be whole, to be happy is not by doing things to please God but is by believing in Jesus Christ. Faith alone in Christ alone is what is acceptable to God. All the rest is useless.
The new policy of God, grace, is receiving the gift of righteousness, the righteousness of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. By faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, we are justified from all the things that we could not be justified from from the law and commandments. Grace is the substance for the fulfillment of man’s destiny.Man’s destiny is to be born on earth (that’s when he becomes man), to be fathered by God and become son of God. To be son of God means to be placed in Christ and Christ in you.
The destiny of man is to give expression to God on earth; to be the vessel wherein God can be physically manifested on earth. The destiny of man is to be Christ. Christ is the fullness of the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, living in a man. The future of Christ is to subdue all things and having subdued all things, God shall be all in all. That’s true happiness.
The future of the world is that everything comes under the obedience of the will of God. God has placed His sons on earth to occupy the earth, its resources, to take over its systems, to deliver creation from bondage and corruption, to eradicate evil on earth. The mission of the sons of God is to bring everything under the jurisdiction and the obedience of the kingdom of God. Once this is done, then Jesus, the king of the kingdom, who is living in the believers, will appear from within them. Then all things shall be placed under Him and He Himself shall subject the kingdom to God, the Father. Then God shall be all in all.
If you want to know more, follow the teachings of Dr Shawn Smith
http://drshawnsmith.org/index.php/sermon-archive/sermon-archive/messages
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