No Spirit But His Own

September 24

Just as our blood sacrifices cannot cleanse us of sin, neither can our good works that we endeavor to perform through our righteous living. Oh, certainly, God wants us to live honorable lives. The best of us strive to do so and the worst of us endeavor to give the appearance of doing so, but neither is sufficient.

A holy God cannot be appeased through the vain endeavors of man to please Him or to assuage His rightful anger over our failure to comply with His law which reflects His perfection to a degree that we cannot even see, let alone begin to understand.

What recognition can we possibly have of the perfect law of God which requires holy eyes to behold? What compliance can we have with God’s immutable code when our minds cannot begin to grasp the meaning of the word ‘holy’? Because God is holy, He sees through His holiness. We see through a veil of sin. But Philippians 3:3 extends to us the way to extricate ourselves from our dilemma.

Here we are told, “We are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus and do not put confidence in the flesh.” When we receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, He gives us His Holy Spirit who empowers us to live the righteous life we cannot live on our own. Just as no blood but His own can cleanse us, no spirit but His own can enable us to walk in His goodness.