The fourth great pillar in the Lord’s recovery is the gospel, and the preaching of the gospel is the speaking of the truth. For us to preach the gospel in an effective way, we need to know the truth in the Bible.
In the book of Galatians, we see the basic truth of the gospel, which is mainly that fallen man cannot be justified out of the works of law but out of faith in Christ (see Gal. 2:16). No flesh is justified out of the works of law – we are justified positionally and in life through our organic union with Christ!
Justified not out of works of law
The truth is the reality of the gospel, and the book of Galatians affords us a complete revelation of the reality of the gospel in basic principles. The first aspect of the truth is that the fallen sinful man cannot be justified by works of law. “Out of the works of law no flesh shall be justified” (Gal. 2:16).
No matter how much fallen man tries to improve himself and adjust himself by doing his best to obey the law, “by law no one is justified before God is evident” (Gal. 3:11).
We are justified by faith in Christ
Praise the Lord, all we need to do in order to be justified is to believe into Christ! In God’s New Testament economy we are justified by faith in Christ (Gal. 2:16). This faith denotes an organic union with Christ – “in Christ” refers to the fact that before we believed into the Lord we were outside of Him, but now we are joined to Christ and even became one with Christ through believing into Christ. Hallelujah, we are now in Christ and Christ is in us – we are grafted into Christ to be organically one with Him!
Justification, therefore, is not just a positional matter – we are accepted before God, justified positionally – but also a dispositional matter – we are justified before God and Christ is our righteousness by virtue of our organic union with Him. God doesn’t just “give us righteousness” as a gift – He gives us Christ and makes Him one with us and us one with Him! It is by means of our organic union with Christ that what we are becomes His and all that He is becomes ours. Christ is our righteousness in our organic union with Christ!
An uplifted view of the truth of the gospel
It is so easy to have a low appreciation and view of the truth of the gospel in its basic principle of justification by faith. We are fallen in our concept, our way of thinking, even in this respect. We need to have an uplifted view of justification by faith – to be justified by faith in Christ, we need to believe into the Lord Jesus out of an appreciation of His preciousness! The speaking of the gospel brings us into a sweet appreciation of the Lord, and we believe into Him! When we call on His name, we are regenerated and we are organically one with Him! In this organic union, God MUST reckon Christ as our righteousness!
[sharing inspired from the life-study of Galatians msg. 8-9, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery.]
Lord Jesus, we love You! You are so precious, so wonderful, and so lovely. Infuse us more with Your preciousness, Lord, that we would be strengthened in our organic union with You. O, Lord, how we treasure this union with the Lord in spirit! In this organic union we are justified not by works of law but by faith in Christ! Hallelujah, Christ is our righteousness and He makes us God’s righteousness in this organic union with the Lord!
"Lord Jesus, we love You! You are so precious, so wonderful, and so lovely. Infuse us more with Your preciousness, Lord, that we would be strengthened in our organic union with You.
O, Lord, how we treasure this union with the Lord in spirit! In this organic union we are justified not by works of law but by faith in Christ!
Hallelujah, Christ is our righteousness and He makes us God’s righteousness in this organic union with the Lord!" Amen.