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It is Christ's obedience, unto death, which has justified us, through whom alone we have been declared righteous before God. We have died with him to our old self, the old me in my sin under guilt has been already judged, the person I was before I knew Christ. So the guilt for our sin was put on Christ our human representative, and it was judged on Jesus on the cross.

As Jesus was teaching in parables he exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who loved money, and didn't pay attention to the teaching of the Law and Prophets on loving their neighbors, and the poor in particular.

The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ, his life, death and resurrection. Jesus became a man, a human being to represent us before God.

"He [God] will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality [from God], he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth [of the gospel], but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." (Romans 2:6-8)

By nature, by birth the air we breathe is self, self-preoccupied narcissism. Our culture breeds and breathes self: self-glory, self-worship, self-seeking, self, self, self!

I must share something of William Cowper, an Evangelical poet in 1700s, and a very good friend of John Newton, an x-slave trader who wrote the wonderful and well known hymn "Amazing Grace".

William suffered greatly from melancholy, depression, and many doubts in his Christian life. And he even attempted suicide about three times, but was found and rescued.

And as for the movie Lucy...

We humans like mental progress. We like technological advancement. We like a better us, physically, in outward beauty and abilities. And since we're on earth we are certainly farther along in all of these things, whether we believe it's six thousand or six billion years as humans in the world. In the movie, Lucy has reached her 100% potential of using her brain, and I guess that made her a goddess. ;)

Obedience to God is the outward expression of the inward reality, faith in Jesus Christ.

Obedience without faith is self-righteousness.

Faith without obedience is self-deception.

Faith and obedience are inseparable, like husband and wife. Not perfect, but complementing each other.

When I speak of our faith in Jesus Christ, I mean it's a justifying faith. Faith that justifies a sinner. Faith which receives "the free gift of righteousness", the perfect righteousness of Jesus credited or given to us, simply through the chanel of faith, or trust.

Mark 15:33-39

And what did Adam and Eve do after they fell? "Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths." (Genesis 3:7).

We are all fallen and falling short every day of what God originally made us for to be like him, holy and righteous in his character. As Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short [present continuous tense] of the glory of God".

Is it God's will, or men's will that is done in the end in the matter of our salvation? I believe it is God's will. But our will is done as well, in another sense. God does as he pleases, but so do the people.

If God has no choice as to our destiny, than we control God, which would make us stronger than God, which is not true.