Justified By Faith

The church has been very strong in teaching man his need of righteousness, but unfortunately, in doing so, many times the focus of the teaching has been about man's weakness and inability to please God. What teaching like this truly lacks, is the truth of what we are in Christ, what Christ is in us, how the Father sees us and how righteousness and grace are available to everyone. Looking at some of the music used in the church, whether hymns or contemporary music, we can see in many of the lyrics that our redemption is put off until after death, such as, we are going to have rest when we get to heaven; we are going to have victory when we get to heaven; we are going to be over-comers when we get to heaven; we are going to have peace with God when we get to heaven. It is as though believers have nothing here on earth except failure, misery, disappointment and weakness. But is this what scripture truly teaches concerning the believers new life in Christ?

If these things are so, then what is meant when scripture says, "and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:10) or when it says, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37) or, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) how about, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:1) or, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1) So, when are believers going to be able to have these things? When do these things become a reality? Is it after we finish our course here on earth and stand with Christ in the New Heaven and the New Earth? When do these things become ours?

It should seem very clear that we live in His presence now; that we walk in His presence now. If Christ cannot present us before the presence of the Father now with exceeding joy, He certainly cannot present us before the presence of the Father after death with exceeding joy. The Apostle Paul tells us, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21) The Apostle Peter tells us, "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed." (1 Peter 2:24) Both of these scriptures tell us, that in Christ, we live righteous in the here and now. God Himself is our very righteousness, now, and we are the righteousness of God in Christ, now.

Peter tells us, "by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:4) I am convinced that the scriptures teach that we are partakers of the Divine Nature, now. To take this further, we see, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:17-18) "We know that we have passed from death to life..." (1 John 3:14) 

The bottom line is, we are either new creations or we are not. We have either passed out of death into life, or we have not. When Paul says, "For sin shall not have dominion over you..." (Romans 6:14) he means exactly what he says. If you live a life of weakness and defeat, it is most likely because you do not know what you are in Christ, what Christ is in you and how the Father sees you. I believe the greatest need of the majority of believers today is to know these three highly important aspects of walking a victorious life through faith in Jesus Christ, right here, right now.

Look at these wonderful verses that are for believers now,  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3) "That He might sanctify and cleanse her (the church) with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:26-27) "And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight." (Colossians 1:21-22) 

These are but a few of the hundreds of scriptures that confirm, these things have already been accomplished in Christ for the believer to walk in now. We stand before the Father, complete, cleansed, without spot or without wrinkle, reconciled, holy, blameless, above reproach, in Christ, now. Do you think that any believer filled with sin (as that term is used in scripture) could be in Christ and stand before the Father without spot, wrinkle, holy, blameless, righteous, etc.? If God could not take the sin nature out of us when we were born again; if the perfect blood of Christ cannot wipe out every bit of sin and He present us before the Father without wrinkle, reconciled, holy, blameless, above reproach, etc., now, then when can we ever be made right?

Simply put. When we know that Jesus died for our sins according to scripture, that the third day He arose again from the dead after He had put our sin away and satisfied the claims of Justice as our substitute; when we confess Him as Lord and take Him as our Savior, that very moment we receive God's nature and we become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. This righteousness is not an experience, although it gives birth to many marvelous experiences. It is the nature of the Father imparted to every believer.

Therefore, I declare before the angels of heaven, before demons and all the hosts of hel1, that the redemptive work of Christ is absolutely complete in every way and able to present anyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and takes Him as Savior, in the presence of the Father complete in Him, now. So, as we gain more and more revelation of these facts, we will walk this earth in the way God has intended the believer to walk, as masters, being more than conquerors and being free to stand in the Father's presence, now, without guilt, shame, condemnation or inferiority, totally complete in Christ. "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:36) PTL...

It's All Grace

We can define grace as, the free unmerited favor of God to the undeserving and ill-deserving. Grace cannot be earned, it cannot be worked for, it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8) The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8) God is able to make His favor, His strength, His ability, His energy, His grace, flow in abundance in and through us, and that we are being so perfectly supplied by Him that we have all sufficiency in all things.

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter says it this way, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:2-4 ) Therefore, let’s rid ourselves of reasoning and exercise our faith giving God’s Word the right-of-way in all things.

Paul also tells us, "Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God." (2 Corinthians 9:10-11) The fruits of righteousness are not only right conduct, that’s a given, the fruits of righteousness are also the very same kind of fruit that we see in the four gospels which reveal the ministry of Jesus in His Words and actions. For believers to increase the fruits of your righteousness in their lives they must have a superiority complex rather than an inferiority complex meaning. This means letting go of all guilt, condemnation, unworthiness, and inferiority and letting God’s Word loose in us to transform us. As God's Word is loosed in us, it will reveal who we truly are in the mind and eyes of our heavenly Father. It will free us from the old things, the old ungodly habits, thoughts and actions and we will live in true freedom, as His New Creation sons and daughters.

Our Heavenly Father desires, “the eyes of our understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power  which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:18-23)

Everything God did in Christ is ultimately for the benefit of the church, every believer. The Apostle John tells us, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16) Our confession is no longer of weakness, lack and or failure which is contrary to what God has made us when He recreated us. Instead, we confess, God is my Father and I am His child; Satan's dominion over me has been broken and I have the very Nature and Life of the Son of God in me now; I am a partaker of the Divine Nature; I have passed out of death into Life; I know I am a child of God which makes me an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ; I can stand in Gods presences without guilt, shame, condemnation, unworthiness and or inferiority because He has declared me the righteousness of Himself in Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews encourages us in saying, "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21) What a tremendous Word of encouragement. How liberating this can become to the one who dares to confess what he is in Christ; what Christ is in him/her and knows without wavering, just how wonderful the Father truly see us. Our Heavenly Father has a exceedingly great inheritance for His children, so let Him live His Life in and through us so we can enjoy our share of our inheritance in Christ. Shout, THANK YOU LORD!!!

Please Be Seated

The climax of Redemption was the seating of the Lord Jesus. After He had been made sin, after He had satisfied the claims of justice, after fully paying the penalty of our sin which tied us to a relationship with Satan, a debt in which we could not pay, then Christ, with us, rose from the dead. Now God declares, "And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6 ) This was the highest honor that God had ever awarded man. God the Word became a man, identified Himself with the human race, delivered the human race from the authority of Satan and carried His own blood into the Holy of Holies of heaven as Hebrews tells us, "After He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God." (Hebrews 10:12) Thus, making redemption eternal, complete, comprehensive and available to all who confess Jesus as Lord and receive Him as Savior.

We have the man Jesus Christ the righteous, seated at God's right hand as our representative to represent us before the Father, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5) "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25)  "For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Hebrews 9:24) "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:1)

This is the highlight of redemption. Not only is every believer completely identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and newness of life, (Romans 6:1-5), but Jesus is seated at the Father’s right hand, as the head of the new body, the Church, and we also are seated with Him, "far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come." (Ephesians 1:21) This is not only identification, but now we see our position. We can see that our redemption is a completed, finished thing. If Christ sat down at God's right hand, it is because the Father accepted Him and accepted what He did for us. The fact that He is seated there is the seal of our acceptance in the Beloved, "to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:6)

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3) Faith says, not only are we seated in the highest position in the universe, but we are also blessed with every spiritual blessing. Another wonderful point to consider, the Apostle Paul tells us, "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3) Faith also says, we are hidden from Satan, but we are visible to the Father, that is, not our physical bodies, the real us, our recreated spirit. The fact of the New Creation should be a nonnegotiable revelation in us. What I mean by a nonnegotiable revelation in us, is, no one, no person, no angel, no demon, not even Satan himself should ever again be permitted to rob us of who and what we truly are.

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle John tells us, "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:4 ) "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith." (1 John 5:4) The Apostle Paul tells us, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17) So, let faith arise in us and say aloud, "I am of God...God, the greater One lives in me...I have the victory because I have world overcoming faith in me." Let us hold fast to this most wonderful redemption that we have in Christ as we sit with Him on His throne in the heavenly places. The grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ be with you all...

The New Frontier

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle John tells us, "And this is the promise that He has promised us, eternal life." (1 John 2:25) Eternal life or in other words, is, life as God is life; the Nature of God. Jesus said of Himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14:6) Contrary to what many have been taught, eternal life is not a destination, but the reality of God’s life in us now. The same eternal life or nature of God that made Jesus righteous has been imparted to a person the moment one is born again. Was it any wonder that the Holy Spirit said through the Apostle John, "As He is, so are we in this world?" As the Father became the righteousness of Jesus, so He becomes the righteousness of every believer. (2 Corinthians 5:21) As the Father became the life of Jesus, He becomes the life of every believer. This truth will revolutionize every believer when we grasps this by faith.

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6) This could not be true unless believers were as righteous as Jesus was. This is the reason why the writer of Hebrews tells us, "Let us therefore come boldly (free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, with full assurance) to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)
The sense of oneness with Him in His righteousness is as real as His sense of oneness was with us when He was made sin, sickness and became a curse.

This should give us the unwavering confidence in Him to take our place as victors, as conquerors to go out, uphold, enforce and continue to do the work that Jesus began to do when He was here on earth as the Son of Man. Why? Not only have we been commissioned to do so, but, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57) "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ." (2 Corinthians 2:14) Christ victory is the believers victory. He did not need to fight that battle; He did it for us. When He conquered the adversary and stripped him of his authority, in the mind of the Father it was as though we had done it. The reality is, before we became born again, we were slaves to sin and Satan. But now in Christ we are Satan's master, just as Jesus was when He arose from the dead.

Next we see, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." (Acts 10:38) Just as Jesus conquered the works of the devil during His earth walk, every believer can conquer him today. Jesus tells us, "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you." (Luke 10:19) "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (Mark 16:17-18) "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." (John 14:12) This means that every believer is expected to continue the works that Jesus began.

Therefore, the end of defeat and failure is now. This is the beginning of a new era for all believers. It is time that the church truly and deeply appreciate what God has done for us in Christ. It is time that we truly and deeply appreciate what it means to be a member of the body of Christ. We are now the righteous victors. Satan can no longer place on us, guilt, condemnation, unworthiness or inferiority. We are New Creation sons and daughters. We are God's children. So, let us thank Him and go out and enjoy the fullness of this marvelous Redemption.

A Comprehensive Redemption

God established His brilliant plan of redemption through Jesus Christ and it is through Christ alone in which man is saved. Due to Christ's meritorious work as man's Substitute, God now has the legal right to give man eternal life. It is not based on what man can do to earn all the fullness of redemption, it is given by God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Every law, whether the law of Moses or the religious laws that man has placed in the church, are no longer a means of becoming righteous as we will see. "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets." (Romans 3:21) Up to this point in Romans, Paul has expressed and exposed to man his condition as a helpless sinner under wrath and judgment, unjustified, guilty, condemned, and under the death penalty. But now, Paul tums to what God has done for all mankind through Jesus Christ.

First, understand that man's basic need was and is righteousness, that is, the ability to stand in the Father's presence without the sense of guilt, condemnation, unworthiness or inferiority. The Apostle Paul declares that God has unveiled a new source of righteousness which is witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even though God has revealed His righteousness apart from the law, that righteousness is not contrary to the law or against it. As far as God is concerned, the Law, Prophets and Christ set forth His righteousness; "even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference." (Romans 3:22); "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:17)

Now we know where or to whom our faith is applied, Jesus Christ. This is very important to grasp. Why? The reality is, most believers tend to have more faith the day they received Christ than they have since. This may be the main reason why so many live under guilt, condemnation, unworthiness or inferiority. For believers to live free of these enemies, we must apply faith that what God said is absolutely true and then apply or act upon His Word. Notice: The righteousness of God is “to all and on all who believe.” This is an open invitation to the entire world, that is, to all people everywhere, who believe. This believing, or faith, in Jesus Christ is not just mere mental assent, or intellectual knowledge. To believe in or on the Lord Jesus Christ is; to adhere, cleave to, trust in, to have faith in, to rely on. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping and you will be saved." (Acts 16:31 AMP)
This applies across the board with every area of life as a Christian. 

Next we see, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) All have sinned; All are guilty; all have transgressed; all are lawless; all have fallen short; none measure up to the perfection of God, the glory of God and the divine standard of God's righteousness. However, "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:24) Being justified freely by his grace. Justified means "made righteous, acquitted; made and declared right; freed from guilt and blame, and therefore, freed from the penalty and punishment of sin's guilt. At Calvary, the law was honored, sin was judged, death was dealt with, and pardon was made available. Therefore, we see that God is gracious without being unjust, and He is just without be ungracious. This redemption, this buy back, the purchasing of, has been provided in and through Jesus Christ. "whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed." (Romans 3:25)

God Himself had foreordained Christ to be the Lamb from and before the foundation of the world. Jesus was set forth to be a sin Substitute, on the ground of faith and His blood. God did this to show His righteousness because He had been passing over the sins of Israel for fifteen hundred years. Now it is demanded that the penalty be paid. Jesus met that penalty and paid or redeemed the promises that were made each year by the High Priest on the great Day of Atonement. In effect, Jesus cashed in 1500 years of promissory notes and brought redemption to every man who had been blood-covered under the First Covenant as we see, "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:12 ) Note that this redemption is an Eternal Redemption. When Christ carried His blood into the Most Holy Place of heaven and the Supreme Court of the Universe accepted it, man’s redemption became a completed, comprehensive and eternal thing.  

"For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:13-14 ) Notice that the blood of bulls and goats only cleanses the flesh, the outward man. It did not cleanse the heart. It did not make man a New Creation. "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." (Hebrews 9:15) Jesus died for the sins of those living under the First Covenant that had been covered by blood from year to year, that they might have their share in the inheritance of redemption through Christ.

Finally, these things bring clarity to us in this, "He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (Hebrews 9:26) Again, God has dealt with the sin problem. Therefore, the sin problem is ended and the sinner, Jew and Gentile, has the legal right to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, because God so loved him that He gave him His only begotten Son. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:17-18) Note very carefully that in this New Creation, the man who accepts Christ receives eternal life. Spiritual death, the nature of the devil, is driven out. The believer is given a new nature, that is, his spirit is recreated and given God's nature. (Ephesians 4:24; 2 Peter 1:4) All of this is for this one purpose, "to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)

God is righteous and the righteousness of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. The only way that a person can become righteous in the eyes of God, is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His blood. It is upon simple faith in Jesus Christ, that is, acting upon what God has said in regard to His Son. Now we can understand that we were justified, declared righteous, freely by his Grace, through the redemption God worked in Christ. So then, if Christ has fulfilled the law and the righteousness of the law, then whosoever believes and receives Christ, (in the biblical sense), the righteousness of the law is also fulfilled in him or her. Shout hallelujah!!!

Let's Say Grace

The grace of God is most likely the most far reaching and comprehensive gift that believers can receive all due to the tremendous work of God in Christ. Yet, I believe one reason that so many believers do not achieve maturity is that they have never truly understood what it means to receive the righteousness of Christ. They find it difficult to allow the Holy Spirit to be their Guide because they are relying on another method to find their way. God's Word reveals two ways to achieve
righteousness with God. The distinction between the two is extremely important for believers to comprehend and understand. The Pauline Epistles reveal these distinctions, however, many believers pay very little attention to them due to a lack of revelation and faith in God's Word. This is not to be critical, but to show us that in the attempts made by most theologians for centuries to bring the freedom that Christ has provided has not brought the very freedom that they hope to achieve.

The two ways to obtain righteousness revealed to us in God's Word are law and grace. God's Word explains very clearly that they cannot occur simultaneously. If you seek to achieve righteousness by the law, you cannot achieve it by grace. On the other hand, if you seek to achieve righteousness by grace, then you cannot do it by keeping the law. This truth is tremendously important because many believers attempt to live partly by law and partly by grace. The Holy Spirit tells us through the Apostle Paul, "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work." (Romans 11:6) In other words, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8) 

God's Word also reveals that trying to achieve righteousness by the law or the works of the law has a major stumbling block for every person, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10) Therefore, the law is a set of rules you have to keep completely and fully to be considered righteous in God's eyes. If you keep all the rules, all the time, then you are made righteous. Grace, on the other hand, is something we cannot earn or achieve by doing the works of the law. If you are working for anything or seeking to earn it, it is not grace as we see in the scriptures above. Grace is received only one way, through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. The result of grace through faith is righteousness. Therefore, if you want to achieve righteousness, if you want to come into the maturity of God, you have to decide whether you are going to do it by law or by grace.

The verse that best describes grace is also found in the Pauline Epistles, "[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight." (Philippians 2:13 AMP) Notice, grace is not something that is given to us so we can do whatever we want because we are not under the law but under grace. Grace, as it says above, is not our works, but God working in and through us giving us the the desire and ability to do His will. Keep in mind that God's Will is revealed in His Word. Unfortunately, many believers, out of maybe ignorance, personal hurt or some other reason see grace from this unbiblical perspective.

The crux of this is, every believer must choose to live either by law or grace, you cannot have it both ways. The Apostle Paul was speaking to people who had received the grace of God when he said, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14). Notice that law and grace are quite distinct, like to water and oil, they do not mix. Notice the implication here. If you are under the law, sin will have dominion over you. This is a very important verse. It teaches us two things. First, if we try to achieve righteousness by law, sin will have dominion over us. Second, if we want to achieve righteousness by grace, we cannot achieve it by law. I labor this due to the number of believers who try or have tried every imaginable way to achieve righteousness, such as, doing penance, fasting, giving money, saying long prayers, doing good deeds, giving up pleasures, confess sin over and over, fighting bad habits, self-denial, abusing their body. Some of these are actually part of the Christian life, but we must ask ourselves what is the motive behind doing these things. Again, righteousness only comes by faith in Jesus Christ.

As we grow in understanding in the fact that God has given to us, "abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness"  we will come to know without wavering that God is our Father; we are sons and daughters; we are in His family; we know He loves us and that we are not servants or sinners, but heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Therefore, I pray that you all "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)    

Born Free

The greatest desire within man has been the quest to rid himself of sin consciousness and live free of guilt, unworthiness, shame, condemnation and inferiority. To be free of these thing is the driving force behind all the major religions of the world. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter tells us, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) The facts is, God has dealt with the sin problem in His Son Jesus Christ. He has put sin away by the sacrifice of His Son and has made it possible on legal grounds for man who is spiritually dead and in union with Satan, (John 8:44), to become a new creation by confessing, believing and receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In doing so, he immediately receives the very nature and life of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21; 2 Peter 1:4) He may not know it, he may not take advantage of it, but it is true.

The downside of this great news is, sin consciousness has been permitted to rule over many believers and has been fostered, developed, and made a reality by ministers who have and continue to preach sin instead of preaching Christ and the new creation. Looking back to the Garden of Eden, we see that sin consciousness came with the fall, "...Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." (Genesis 3:8) Sin consciousness creates the guilt, unworthiness, shame, condemnation and inferiority which causes people hide from God, because spiritually dead man cannot stand in God's presence. We see how God illustrated this fact in the Old Testament where the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies once every year, and then only when he was blood covered. The High Priest did not go into the Holy of Holies to worship, but to make a yearly atonement for spiritually dead Israel. (Leviticus 16)

However, the time came when God would deal with man's sin once for all. How? He made Jesus sin. Sin was not only reckoned to Him, His spirit actually became sin. Looking at the Prophet Isaiah we find that Jesus died twice on the cross, "And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death..." (Isaiah 53:9) The word death in the Hebrew is plural, "deaths." On the cross when Jesus became sin He died spiritually. His spiritual death led the way for His physical death. The same happened to the first Adam. Adam's sin separated him spiritually from God and 930 years later his physical body wore out. The good news is, Jesus was, "made alive in spirit." (1 Timothy 3;16), "He was justified in spirit." (1 Peter 3:18), He was not left in hell or in the grave, "For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption." (Acts 2:27) and He was the first person ever born again, "God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: You are My Son, today I have begotten You." (Acts 13:33) "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." (Colossians 1:15) 

God dealt with the sin problem and made man a new creation, gave him a new nature through Christ, because no man can stand right with God simply by having his sins pardoned. It would leave the old nature that produced those sins still in control of his life. But when a person becomes a child of God, "he is a new creation, old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) and at the same time everything man has ever done in his past life is remitted, wiped out as though it was never committed. (Acts 2:38) The Apostle Paul tells us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) 

Notice, by grace through faith one is saved. God takes the sinner as he is. No matter how deep in sin he has gone, new birth will straighten him out. Many have been taught that a sinner could pray through, that he could repent until God would forgive him. All that is not scriptural. The truth is, God takes him as he is, full of sin, rebellion, and having the satanic nature. He imparts to him His nature and it is God's nature that drives out the old satanic nature and makes him a new creation. All the sins of that old nature are remitted instantaneously. The person stands before the Father as though sin had never been. The whole crux of redemption has one main end, that man might become the righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21) What does righteousness mean? It is the ability to stand in the Father's presence as though sin had never been, as free as Adam was before he sinned and as free as Jesus was in the resurrection.

Jesus tells us, "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:36) When one becomes born again, they are made free by Jesus Christ the Righteous. The Apostle Paul tells us, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus..." (Romans 8:1) We are new creations in Christ. We are the righteousness of God in Christ. We are children of God. When God's Word says, "the just (my righteous ones) shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17) He is describing the person who has become a new creation and has been made righteous with God's own nature. This is not simply a legal righteousness, nor a reckoned righteousness, but the actual impartation of God's own righteous nature.

So, let us no longer permit guilt, unworthiness, shame, condemnation and inferiority have place. Let us no longer look at what we were, but what we are, "the righteousness of God in Christ." PTL...

The Cure

Sin consciousness can be traced to the main reason for practically every failure in a persons life, even that of a believer. For the believer, it erodes and even destroys faith. It destroys the initiative in the heart because it creates within, a sense of shame, unworthiness and can produce an inferiority complex. It cause the believer to be afraid of God because he/she has no sense of their legal right to stand in the Father's presence without condemnation, even though the scriptures call believers into fellowship with the Father and the Son. (1 John 1:3) Few theologians have recognized the fact that sin consciousness is the parent of practically all human religions. When studying the basis of all the religions of the world, we find in every one, that man seeks to be healed this awful disease.

Sin consciousness not only destroys faith, it also robs us of our peace of mind and due to these two things, it tends to make ineffectual the most earnest and zealous prayer 1ife. Think about it this way. How can one honestly believe that God will hear and answer prayer if we approach Him unsure that He even accepts us? For the most part, theologians since Luther have not faced this issue head on and therefore, lack in presenting a cure for this condition. In the approach of man needing righteousness, the church has spent its efforts, preaching how unfit and unworthy the believer is before a Holy God. Many have attempted to meet this issue, but for the most part, they have failed to bring the cure that lasts.

Man's cure has been confessing and repenting of sins, sorrow for sins, deep agony in prayer, going to church, doing penance, fasting, giving money, saying repetitive prayers, doing good deeds, giving up pleasures, fighting bad habits, putting themselves under discipline of self-denial and self-abasement, by neglecting the body. Some have even gone so far as to lacerate their bodies. Others have taken long pilgrimages and sill others have separated themselves from society by locking themselves in seclusion. Some are finding temporary relief in confessing their sins to one another. Yet in all of these things man has only found temporary relief at best, from the pressure that is upon them. In other words, no works of any kind whether they be works of self-abnegation, repentance, penance, saying of prayers, or self-denial can ever rid the heart of sin consciousness.

There are two types of sin consciousness. One is the man who has never been born again, "that at that time you were without Christ...having no hope and without God in the world." (Ephesians 2:12) The unregenerate person, the natural man, is not just a sinner, he is more than that, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14) The Bible calls the unbeliever lawless and darkness. He is more than a transgressor. He is more than a violator of the law. He is by nature a son of disobedience and a child of wrath. (Ephesians 2:2-3) He is spiritually dead, that is, united with Satan. (John 8:44)

The other type of sin consciousness is the undeveloped believer. One who has never grown beyond the state of being a babe, "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe." (Hebrews 5:12-13) As we can see the undeveloped believer does not know their rights and privileges in Christ being "unskilled in the word of righteousness."   

So, man is presented with a great dilemma. The problem is, can God legally deal with the sin problem
and the sins problem? How can He deal with this Satanic nature that is in man? Has God provided a redemption that cures this sin disease? The answer to these three questions is unequivocally yes! God has made provision to make a New Creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) His plan is to bring a redemption that will impart His own nature into a person (2 Peter 1:3) thereby removing the sin nature and at the same time destroying sin consciousness. It is a redemption that covers every phase of man's need, by perfectly restoring his relationship as a child of God and restoring his fellowship with the Father so that there is no sense of guilt, shame, unworthiness or inferiority. A few of the wonderful aspects of God's brilliant plan of redemption are; the believer stands complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10); he is a partaker of the fullness of God in Christ. (John 1:16); he is a child of God. (John 1:12)

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul shows us another wonder of this redemption, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:13-14) There are four facts revealed to us here. First, we are delivered out of Satan's dominion. Second, we are born into the kingdom of the Son of His love. The third having redemption meaning, Satan has no legal right to reign over the one who has confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and accepted Him as Savior. Fourth, He not only redeems us out of Satan's dominion, there is also a remission of our sins. This means that every sin previously committed is cancelled as though they never happened.

It is God alone, through Jesus Christ alone, (Acts 4:12) who has the cure that is not simply relief from sin consciousness, but a complete, eternal and comprehensive redemption which is available to all who call upon the name of Jesus. "to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be righteous and the righteousness of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:26) "Therefore, having been justified (declared righteous) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2) "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21) The cure? The Father's own righteousness filling the believer. PTL

The Believers Gospel

From Romans 1:18 through Romans 3:20, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul has expressed and exposed to man his condition as a helpless sinner under wrath, under judgement, unjustified, guilty, condemned, and under the death penalty. This is what man is prior to confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and receiving Him as Savior. However, Paul now turns to what God is and what God has accomplished through Jesus Christ as man's Substitute. God through Jesus Christ, has provided, on absolute legal ground, the way to give man eternal life. The gospel message for the unsaved generally provides the listener with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for man's salvation. Here in Romans 3:21-26 Paul expounds on what this all means as he begins to lay out by the Holy Spirit man's new identity. This is what I call the believers gospel...

"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets." (Romans 3:21) First, understand that man's basic need was and is righteousness, that is, the ability to stand in the Father's presence without the sense of guilt, condemnation, unworthiness or inferiority. Paul declares that God has unveiled a new source of righteousness which is witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even though God has revealed His righteousness apart from the law, that righteousness is not contrary to the law or against it. Moses, who through the Holy Spirit, wrote the Books of the Law, and the Prophets, who also spoke through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, revealed God's righteousness in every scripture that speaks of the Messiah. As far as God is concerned, the Law, Prophets and especially Christ set forth His righteousness.

"Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:22-23) Paul tells us in Romans 1:17, "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith." As we see, now we know where or to whom our faith is applied, Jesus Christ. This is very important, because our faith in Christ goes beyond the day one is saved. I say this, because most believers tend to have more faith the day they received Christ than they tend to have the rest of their Christian walk. This may be the main reason why so many live under guilt, condemnation, unworthiness or inferiority. For believers to live free of these enemies, we must apply faith to what God said as being absolutely true and then apply, or act upon His Word.

Notice, the righteousness of God is “to all and on all who believe.” This is an open invitation to the entire world; all men everywhere who believe. This believing, or faith, in Jesus Christ is not just mere mental assent, or intellectual knowledge. To believe in or on the Lord Jesus Christ is; to adhere, cleave to, trust in, to have faith in, to rely on. Acts 16:31 (AMP) says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping and you will be saved." This applies across the board with every area of life as a Christian, because the word saved is pregnant with meaning beyond simply regeneration.  Also note, all are guilty; all have transgressed; all are lawless; all have fallen short; none measure up to the perfection of God, the glory of God and the divine standard of God's righteousness, however...

"Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:24) Justified means "made righteous, acquitted; made and declared right; freed from guilt and blame, and therefore, freed from the penalty and punishment of sin's guilt. At Calvary, the law was honored, sin was judged, death was dealt with, and pardon was made available. Therefore, we see that God is gracious without being unjust, and He is just without be ungracious. This redemption, this buy back, the purchasing of man, has been provided in and through Jesus Christ only.

"Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed." (Romans 3:25) God Himself had foreordained Christ to be the Lamb from and before the foundation of the world. Jesus was set forth to be a sin substitute, on the ground of faith and His blood. God did this to show His righteousness because He had been passing over the sins of Israel for fifteen hundred years. Now it is demanded that the penalty be paid. Jesus met that penalty and paid or redeemed the promises that were made each year by the High Priest on the great Day of Atonement. In effect, Jesus cashed in 1500 years of promissory notes and brought redemption to every man who had been blood-covered under the First Covenant. The writer of Hebrews also covers this in detail...

"Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:12) Note that this redemption is an Eternal Redemption. When Christ carried His blood into the Most Holy Place of heaven and the Supreme Court of the Universe accepted it, man’s redemption became a completed, eternal thing. Next we see, "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" ( Hebrews 9:13-14) Notice that the blood of bulls and goats only cleanses the flesh, the outward man. It did not cleanse the heart; it did not make man a New Creation. Continuing... 

"And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." (Hebrews 9:15) Now we see that Jesus also died for the sins of those living under the First Covenant that had been covered by the blood of animals from year to year, that they might have their share in the inheritance of redemption through Christ. Finally, we see, "He (Jesus) then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (Hebrews 9:26) Therefore, God has dealt with the sin problem. The sin problem is ended and the sinner, Jew and Gentile, by confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believing with the heart, has the legal right to eternal life because God so loved him that He gave him His only begotten Son. And now...

"to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:26) God is righteous and the righteousness of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. The only way that a person can become righteous in the eyes of God, is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His blood. It is upon simple faith in Jesus Christ, that is, acting upon what God has said in regard to His Son that turns an unrighteous, God opposing convict into a righteous child of God. Now we can understand that we were justified, declared righteous, freely by his Grace, through the redemption God worked in Christ. So then, if Christ has fulfilled the law and the righteousness of the law, then whosoever believes and receives Christ, (in the biblical sense), the righteousness of the law is also fulfilled in him or her. PTL. This is the gospel for the believer. Amen...

It is a Reality

When we look at creation, we can draw the conclusion that man was the reason for creation. We can say this because everything was created for man, Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth...and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food." (Genesis 1:26-29) "...what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas." (Psalm 8:3-8)

Although this wonderful work of creation was for and to benefit man, in his one act of disobedience to only one command, "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:15-17) man forfeited his dominion, his ownership, over all creation to God's enemy, Satan. (Luke 4:5-7) However, Gods desire and His great love for His crown Jewel, man, to be redeemed back to Himself, immediately after the fall, God put into action His plan for the redemption, the buy back of man. 

Through Jesus Christ, God the Word becoming flesh, God Himself would become liable for mans sin and rebellion. He would take it all upon Himself in order that the demand of justice be completely and lawfully satisfied. Through Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection, the just for the unjust, God had legally redeemed man once for all. Now God can on legal grounds give eternal life to man. Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." (John 5:24) For everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord and receives Him as Savior, there  will be no judgment nor will there be any suffering in hell like there was for Jesus. Yet in  all the glorious things that the Father did through Christ from the incarnation to His seating at His right, I believe the greatest miracle happens when a person receives Christ and instantly goes from being a child of the devil to becoming a child of God. "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." (Colossians 1:13)

The reality of who and what a born again person is in Christ, is nothing short of a miracle. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

This became a reality the moment Jesus carried His blood into the Holy of Holies in heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father. These things are not progressive or future events, but a current reality. Now a person can accept Christ and know that the moment he does, he becomes a new creation. The o1d things of his life have passed away, and behold all are become new; and all these things are of God, who has reconciled that person to Himself through Jesus Christ. Do you see why the new creation is a miracle? A person upon receiving Christ in a single moment goes from a convict, to a redeemed child of God. (1 John 3:1) Not only that, but also notice, “He who knew no sin, became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." A person upon receiving Christ in a single moment also becomes the righteousness of God in Christ.

Let us look at what the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul reveals, "Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).  Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2 AMP)

As it is in 2 Corinthians 5:21 we see here also; upon the confession of Christ as Lord and receiving Him as Savior we are declared righteous by God. This is emphatic. God Himself declares this. Is goes on, "who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous." (Romans 4:25 YLT) In other words, after three days and nights of unimaginable suffering in hell by Jesus our substitute, the very moment that justice was satisfied, in the Father’s mind, sin was dealt with, mankind was declared righteous, and then Jesus was raised from the dead. Yes, all of mankind in the mind of God has been given right standing. There is no problem with sin in the mind of God. Sin was dealt with in Jesus Christ. However, there is still a problem with sinners. Though mankind has been declared righteous, it only becomes a reality to an individual when they receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Next, Jesus reveals to us in His conversation with Nicodemus, "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:18) God does not condemn the sinner, they condemn themselves for not believing on Jesus. We see "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:17) This is why it is so highly important that believers know who they are in Christ, who Christ is in them and how the Father truly sees them.

In the natural sense, it’s like a person having a debilitating disease that is life threatening. Someone has freely paid the price to provide the cure. Because someone took it upon themselves to provide the cure for free, in a sense the disease is already cured. However, if the diseased person knows what needs to happen for the cure to become a reality and does not pursue it, in a sense they have brought the end result, death, upon themselves. To compound the matter, those who have received the cure may have other types of diseases attached to them, such as, fear, doubt, unbelief, guilt, unworthiness or a sense of inferiority, and though they themselves have received the cure, they do not tell other diseased people what makes the cure a reality. Unfortunately, this happens all the time because most believers do not have an assured confidence as to who they are in Christ, who Christ is in them and how the Father truly sees them.

The way to freedom on both of these fronts is to apply faith to the unchanging Word of God. Abraham did not have a complete revelation of God as we do today in what we call the Bible, yet it says of him, "He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform." (Romans 4:20-21) This is why the writer of Hebrews encourages us to, "hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23) The Apostle Paul tells us, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might...Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand..." (Ephesians 6:10, 13-14) 

Believers are now in Christ and the reality of this means, He is in us and we are in Him; We are new creations the old has passed away; We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ; He has not left us to live on our own; He is living His life in us; He is acting in us, through us, and with us; We can continue the work here on earth that He modeled for us; We are now His burden-bearers; We carry His load with His strength; We do His will with His ability. So, let us come to a greater revelation of the truth as to who we are in Christ, who Christ is in us, and how the Father truly see us. Our new life in Christ is not simply a path to follow; It is not a theory; It is not a doctrine; It is a reality; it is life.
Dogma and Doctrines have lost their significance. They are the worn-out shells, old wine skins of yesterday which have held believers in bondage for years. So, let us become God inside minded. Let us never forget, who we are in Christ; who Christ is in us; and how the Father truly see us. The days of condemnation, guilt, unworthiness, weakness, failure and inferiority are over. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle John Tells us, “…because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17) Glory to God!!!

Right Standing

 One of the miracles of redemption, is the believers standing with God. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul gives us the greatest revelation of the believers standing with God. One thing we are told is found in 2 Corinthians 5:21. It reveals what God did in Christ for the believer, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." When one confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and takes Him as Savior, they immediately become the righteousness of God in Christ. This bears out further in Paul's Epistle to the Romans, "to demonstrate at the present time His (Gods) righteousness, that He might be just (righteous) and the justifier (righteousness) of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:26) "Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. (being declared righteous) (Romans 4:25) "Therefore, having been justified (declared righteous) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1) 

What a wonderful picture of who and what the born again believer truly is in Christ. Righteousness is the ability to stand in the Father's presence without guilt, condemnation, unworthiness or inferiority. It also gives the believer the legal right to the use of the Name of Jesus. Now we have God's grace, His strength, His ability to stand in the presence of all kinds of sickness, diseases as well as stand in the presence of Satan without fear, as an absolute master over them all. This means that believers must become completely aware, without wavering or doubting, as to their legal position in Christ. In other words, we are a new creation and have the nature and life of the Father in us. Without a total understanding of these truths, it becomes difficult to live the victorious life that we have been given through faith in Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:27)

Notice what the Holy Spirit speaks through the Apostle John, "You are of God, little children..." (1 John 4:4) Take a moment and let that soak into your spirit. Now say it over and over again, "I am of God...I am of God...I am His child...I am His child..." This is not doing mantras. This is speaking the truth over yourself. The more we receive these truths in our spirit, the more we come to realize that the old man, the old nature, with its weaknesses, its failings, its doubts, its fears, its sense of servitude to circumstances, is all gone, and we come to a greater understanding of what a new creation in Christ is all about. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Where we were once a slave, we are now free and filled with abundant life in Christ. Now we can understand the next part of 1 John 4:4, "...For greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4)  

However, as we come to know and walk in these truths, our Heavenly Father wants us to bear the fruit of righteousness. The Apostle Paul tells us, "Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness." (2 Corinthians 9:10) The Apostle John tells us, "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him." (1 John 2:29) For most, to "increase the fruits of your righteousness" or to, "practice righteousness" have thought it meant only our conduct, a carefulness in our walk. Although that is implied, it is actually doing the works that Jesus did while on earth as the Son of Man. It is taking Jesus' place and doing the things that He did and even greater. (John 14:12)

Keep in mind that believers do not do works in and of themselves, but it is recognizing and acting upon the grace of God. The Apostle Paul said, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1 Corinthians 15:10) The Amplified Bible describes grace as, "For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)

Although in the past, we may have lacked in understanding these things, but now, through the Holy Spirit in us, we will major in these truths and present them to others. The Apostle James tells us, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." (James 1:22) "But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." (James 2:18) Faith is simply acting upon God's Word and at the same time His grace goes to work through us. The Lord wants us to begin to live righteousness, to practice righteousness, to break Satan's dominion by speaking with authority just as Jesus did. So, as it was with the Apostle Paul, so it is with us, "...but I labored more  abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you...

Let God Arise

One of the most thrilling things that every believer should aspire to, is learning about the depths of redemption that the Father has given through the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing so, we will come to understand and appropriate the marvelous ability of God that is in us. Think about it, the moment that one is born again, the living God takes up residence within them, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16) We have God's life in us. We become new creations. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We are God's masterpiece created in Christ. (Ephesians 2:10) We are partakers of God's divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4) Can we see that we have within us, as God's children, the very life and nature of God. The objective of Christ's coming was that we might have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10) Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit..." (John 15:5) Every believer, a branch of the vine, Jesus, receive the same life that is manifested in the vine, that we bear much fruit. It is the vine's life in us that produces the fruit of righteousness, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

However, these wonderful things are not actively a part of the believers life simply because the Bible teaches them. It requires every believer to spend time in God's Word "...and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." (James 1:21) The Apostle Paul tells us, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Colossians 3:16) Notice, what the Word of God does in and through the believer; It is admonishing; educating; training; correcting, and causing us to step out of religion to where we are "admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Let us also not forget that God's Word also builds faith into our recreated spirit. (Romans 10:17) Look at the Holy Spirit's Word to the church through the Apostle Paul, "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." (Acts 20:32) It is the Word that builds us up; it is the Word that causes us to know our privileges, our rights, our inheritance, that is, all that we have in Christ.

The revelation that the Apostle Paul received and we have in his epistles, are the Father's Words about Jesus. When believers say, "I am a new creation created in Christ," it is actually the Father's Words expressing a fact through their lips. When believers say, "in the Name of Jesus, disease, stop being," they are using the very Words of Jesus. Remember, Jesus said, "For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak...Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak." (John 12:49-50) When believers step out into their rights of righteousness and begin to bear fruit, it will be the same kind of fruit Jesus bore in His earth walk as the Son of Man. Righteousness means the ability to stand in the Father's presence without the sense of guilt, condemnation, unworthiness or inferiority. His righteousness becomes ours the very moment that we confess with our mouth the Lordship of Jesus Christ and believe in our heart. (Romans 10:9-10) Look at this literal translation of Romans 4:25 which reads, "Who was delivered up on account of our trespasses, and was raised when we were declared righteous." 

As believers spend more and more time letting God's Word wash over us, that is, reading, studying and especially meditating on it, the more God arises in our lives. The more we let God arise in our life, the more freedom, liberty, we will experience. When Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-29) He meant it. When God told the Apostle Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9) He meant it. When the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul said, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, (Ephesians 3:20) and "For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13 AMP) He also meant it.    

So, "Let God Arise" and let His Word transform us so that we will be the fruit bearers that His strength, His ability, His power, His grace, which is continuously at work in us, can accomplish through us for His glory. Finally, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18) PTL...

Our Father Has No Favorites

It should be a great comfort to our heart to know that our Heavenly Father has no favorites, (Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11) and that all of His children have their own place in His heart. Let's look at the wonderful things that believers have in Christ as seen in Jesus' prayer for all who would become His disciples. "I do not pray for these (the apostles) alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (John 17:20-23)

Notice the grammar, "that they" be one with each other in the same manner the the Father and Son are One; "that they" be one with the Father and Son; "that they" all share together the same glory that the Father gave to the Son; "that they" all be made perfect in one. Finally, notice, that the Father loves all His children with the same level of love that He loved Jesus. Absolutely no favorites, but all believers are on the same level plain with the Father and Son. PTL. Due to these facts, every believer has the right to enjoy the same redemption. The work that the Father accomplished in Christ absolutely destroyed the power of the enemy, and now redeems every person who will confess Jesus Christ as Lord and receive Him as Savior into a complete, full, lacking nothing, redemption.

Everyone has the same righteousness. No one has a better righteousness, or more righteousness, but all have God's righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Righteousness comes through the new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21) When we are born again, we receive the life and nature of God, the Father. (John 10:10; 2 Peter 1:4) It is God's very nature in us that makes us righteous. Again, there is not one of His children that has more of His righteousness than another. All who receive His nature have come into His family and are recognized as the sons and daughters of the great Father, God, (1 John 3:1), and everyone has the same rights in the family.

Each one may have different gifts, callings, or ministries, but they do not make him/her any dearer to the heart of the Father. Everyone has the same love nature, the same great Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. Everyone has a right to the same kind of fellowship with the Father and the Son. (1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 John 1:3) Everyone has a right to the use of the Name of Jesus to deliver people from the dominion of Satan, to cast out demons and to heal the sick. (Mark 16:17-18) Everyone has the right to every promise of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20) Our Father has no favorites. If you have not known this, I pray that you will ask the Lord for a deep revelation of this wonderful truth. This will open the door to a closer, more intimate fellowship with the Father, resulting in a sweeter and richer life. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you...

No Problem

The greatest revelation that man needs, is understanding God's ingenious plan of redemption that has completely settled every need of humanity. The situation that humanity faced was this; man sinned, so, was God able to produce a redemption that would redeem man from the hand of Satan, recreate him, that is, make him a new creation, remit, blot out, all sin, transgression and iniquity that man had ever done, take the sin nature out of man, give man His own nature so that he could stand before Him without the sense of guilt, unworthiness, or inferiority and also stand before Satan no longer a slave, but as his master? The truth is, yes, God has provided man a redemption such as this, and has given to us, by-way-of revelation received by the Apostle Paul (written in his epistles) the unveiling of that redemption.

In that revelation, the Holy Spirit through Paul reveals to us that righteousness has at last become available through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior and Redeemer. Paul climaxes it by declaring, "...because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just (righteous) and the justifier (righteousness) of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:25-26) When God becomes our righteousness, we become so righteous that there is therefore now no condemnation to us and that no one can bring a charge against us for it is God who has declared us righteous. (Romans 8:1, 8:33-34, 5:1)

The Apostle Paul tells us, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.^" (2 Corinthians 5:17) The amazing fact of the new creation is that once one confesses Jesus as Lord and take Him as Savior they instantly become a new creation. The thing that kept us in weakness and bondage, unable to stand in God's presence, has been wiped out. In the place of our sinful nature which kept us in union with Satan, God has given every believer His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), which brings us into union with God. Therefore, eternal Life, a new nature, and a new standing before God has come to the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. Now, we can get our prayers answered, we can use the Name of Jesus and Satan will obey us. God has made us righteous with His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21), and He has cleansed us with the blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:24:25)

We can stand in the Father's presence now as though sin had never touched us. As new creatures, we will have faith in God's Words and release it from our lips just as Jesus had faith in the Words of the Father and released it from His lips. When Jesus spoke to the sick and said, "Arise, take up thy bed
and walk," the Father had given Him those words. Those same words are for us to use. We can say to the sick, "In the Name of Jesus Christ, come out of him," and the sickness must obey because they are the Father's Words. We can act on these words and know they will manifest because Jesus said,  "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." (John 14:12-14)

Knowing the depths of God's plan of redemption in Christ, we will have faith in the Father's Words and release His mighty Word from our lips knowing that no Word of God returns void. (Isaiah 55:11) We will have faith in the Name of Jesus and also release His name from our lips knowing that every knee will bow to His great and mighty name. (Philippians 2:10) We will stand in the Father's presence without guilt, condemnation or unworthiness. There will be a fearlessness in us although need, want, sickness or demons may try to come against us. We will shout these truths, "I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ...I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me...I will not fear for God is with me...If God is for me, who can be against me" and know that God is faithful to His Word. PTL...

Bearing Fruit

In John's gospel, we see Jesus giving some final instructions to the disciples before His death. One of the areas that He is discussing with them concerns bearing fruit. Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples." (John 15:1-8)

The main crux of what Jesus is speaking deals directly with two types of people who associate with a church or say that they are a Christian. He tells us, "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." We see that as a vinedresser, in the natural realm, will remove all branches that are dead or that do not bear fruit, so God will also do to those who profess to be Christians, but give no evidence by their lives that they are truly united to the Lord Jesus. However, everyone that is a true follower of Christ, those connected to Him by faith; those who truly live by His grace and strength; those whose dependence is solely upon Him, as a natural branch is with the vine, God prunes, that is, He purifies, teaches, strengthens, gives more grace, gives them a purity in motive and in life, so that they may be more useful, that is, bear more fruit for His glory.  So, what does it mean to bear fruit or what fruit are believers to bear?

The Apostle Paul tells us, "Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness." (2 Corinthians 9:10) For believers to increase or bear fruits of righteousness, we must discover what these fruits are. The way we do this is to look at the fruits of righteousness in the life of Jesus. The fruits of righteousness as seen in the gospels through the life of Jesus were not right actions only, but they
were carrying out the will of the Father, in actions and in words. (John 5:19, 6:38) That meant healing the sick, feeding the multitudes, and all the other manifestations of His love toward man. These are the fruits of righteousness. If believers are to bear the fruits of righteousness, they will be imitators of Jesus. (Ephesians 5:1)

Jesus also tells us, "I am the vine, you are the branches." The vine supplies the branch with all that it needs to bear fruit, simply because is a part of the vine. The branch will also bear the same fruit as the vine. What this means, is, the branches of a grape vine will only bear grapes. The branches of a watermelon vine will only bear watermelons, etc. The fruits of righteousness in our lives will be a direct reflection of Jesus when He walked this earth. We will be a blessing to all we come in contact with. "In Jesus' name we will cast out demons; we will speak with new tongues; we will take up serpents; and if we drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt us; we will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18) We will also have the Holy Spirit's anointing to go forth to, "preach the gospel to the poor; heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 4:18-19) Doing these things, that is, replicating the ministry of Jesus, is the fruit Jesus is referring to that believers are to bear, which Paul calls the fruits of righteousness. 

This may be something that is utterly new for many believers. Many know about the fruit of the Spirit, but for many, little has been known of the fruits of righteousness. Why is this? I believe it is mostly due to a lack of understanding and living in the realm of what we are in Christ; what Christ is in us and how the Father sees us. The moment one is born again, they become the righteousness of God, in Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21) The Holy Spirit immediately becomes our teacher, the Word of God becomes our food. (Luke 4:4) We should be studying, meditating on and pouring over God's Word. As we do, the Holy Spirit will illuminate it, make it a living thing in our hearts, renew our minds, assuring our legal position in God, in Christ, releasing the power of His Word through our lips and our actions, producing the fruits of righteousness.

As we bear fruit, the fruits of righteousness, we will be taking Jesus' place. We will destroy the works of the devil, just as Jesus did. We will go forth unveiling the riches of Christ to others until their hearts break and they say, "What must I do to be saved." The moment they accept Christ, the works of the devil are broken over their lives, Jesus becomes alive in them, miracles are an every day occurrence, and they unveil to the world, that Christianity is supernatural. These very things should also be the norm of every one who has already confessed Jesus as Lord and received Him as Savior. So, let us go forth in the power of His might, bearing fruit, the fruits of righteousness, all for His glory. Amen?