AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. (1 Cor.15:34)

I think it is safe to say that according to this verse believers and all other peoples who have not awakened to the gift of righteous- ness which has been given to us in Christ are under the power of sin and are still sinning. So we can safely say that if sin is still our master then we are fast asleep even as we read these words. The verse also says that the reason we are still asleep is because we have no knowledge of God. Is this true concerning you? or will you say but I am born again and I know the true God and I am still struggling with sin? Believe it or not, you are still asleep.

Anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Eph. 5:14)

This verse adds a little more light to our situa- tion. We can see here the reason why any sleeping believers are asleep. It is because they are not visible yet. In other words they have not come out into the light where they can be seen. In other words they still need the cover of darkness until they sort a few things out. They are probably waiting for Christ to

shine upon them and then they will come out but the verse is saying the very opposite of this. If we will come out into the light His promise is that He will shine upon you. Is not this what it means to have faith in Christ?

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the dark- ness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:19-21)

Here we have even more light on our subject (pardon the pun). Whoever does what is true comes to the light and is prepared to be seen for who they are. They are prepared to be visible and will trust Christ in coming out of their sleep which is truly darkness. Many are fearful of what might happen but it is possible to be afraid and still trust in Christ by coming out into the open. Fear is only a problem when we use it as a cover for our evil deeds. Many of us will have encountered this among the brethren without being able to put our finger on it. They move among us in fleeting ways. They get involved with us but want to remain private on another level. They cannot come completely out into the open with complete humility. We always have the lingering feeling that we don’t really know them. In other words they are not really visible.

The words “wake up from your sleep” and “awake to righteousness” are very interesting. They imply that we already have all that is needed and all that God has made us but that we are not aware of it. The suggestion is that we are living in a dream world that is not really real. It is like saying that we are living in an illusion which the god of this world has veiled our minds with and we desperately need to awake to the real spiritual reality of the kingdom of God. There is no doubt about it, this world is pure illusion and as the word says it is passing away. (1 John 2:17)

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Cor. 4:3-4)

This verse helps us greatly to see that the world system itself is a veil upon our minds to prevent us from seeing that it is just an illusion and a dream or a shadow if you like, and has no lasting reality. The only true things in existence are actually spiritual and they all have their substance in Christ. Christ is the only true substance of all things. This is pre- cisely why we are commanded to awake from our sleep and to come out of our slumber and away from all illusions of reality and into the reality of all things in Christ. The following verses highlight this very point.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth (reality). (John 16:12-13)

These are a shadow of the things to come, but

the substance (reality, body) belongs to Christ. (Col. 2:17)

The spirit of Christ will lead us into the true realities of His kingdom on the basis that we stop giving credibility or substance to the illusion of this world. Over time we allow ourselves to be conformed to this world so it gains more credibility with us and deepens its hold upon us. In a situation like this our minds cannot be renewed because we have already submitted to the god of this world.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:2)

If Christ is the only true reality of all things then everything that is not of Him must be false and only have the appearance of reality. In other words, He is not sustaining them with His word. This begs the question of course as to who is sustaining them? The following are more verses about us awaking from our sleep.

Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem. (Isaiah 51:17)

Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. (Isaiah 52:1)

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. (Isaiah 60:1)

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. (Rom. 13:11)

Now we can see that the reality of ourselves being the very righteousness of God is not something we can learn or something we can be taught by teachers etc.. it can only be something that the Spirit of Christ must wake us up to. “So! why isn’t He waking me up to it?” you will say. He is brother, so wake up! Isn’t that what is said in the verse above. The hour has come for you to wake from sleep.

The following words might help. If you are a believer in Christ and are still struggling with sin it is because you see yourself as a sinner being saved by grace. I have news for you. God is not in the business of saving sinners so it can only be you who is still trying to save yourself. When Jesus went to the cross He took every sinner who ever lived, which by the way is everybody because all have sinned, and they were crucified with Him. There are many verses that state this so there can be no doubt about it. So we can see that instead of saving sinners He made it His business to do away with them. So anyone who has it in their mind that they are a sinner has not fully believed in what Jesus has done. So! the grace of Christ is demonstrated in getting rid of you so He can get rid of your natural mind also.

In rising from the dead Christ has declared you righteous forever and that even while you are sinning. Sins are not being credited to your account so you must stop giving them substance and reality which they do not have.

The following verses illustrate this very well.

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

We are righteous in His eyes and this is what counts. We are not sinners being saved by grace from sin. We are righteous new creations being sustained by grace through faith without any consciousness of sin or sins. This is what His grace has accomplished and is now sustain- ing. We have the mind of Christ and not the mind of a sinner. This is why we are told to awake to righteousness and sin not. We are free from sin as we are and we just need to look away from it unto Christ since we believe that everything is finished in Him. God’s power lies in us agreeing with His word and believing that the Spirit of Christ will lead us into the reality of it. AMEN.

See my message on sin consciousness to learn more on this subject.

In His Love, Noel Tuite.