Understanding Righteousness

Episode 1

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Discipleship takes more than just teaching. And um uh I want to be able to provide for you I think we do this, but I want to be able to provide for you a comfortable setting so that uh you can ask questions that are on your mind. There are no stupid questions. Well not take that back. There are some pretty dumb questions. But I'm sure you wouldn't ask one. Um but we just to go a little deeper before we dismiss, maybe leave a little time there. We'll see how it goes. You willing to experiment experiment with me in 2026 with that. The other thing is in order to do that, I think to have a a good result. I really would like for you in 2026 to make a better effort when you come in to come into the middle section and move down a little bit to give us a little more sense of being together and not so spread out. As a speaker or teacher, it really is a uh an odd feeling to have to look all over the room and try to address you the way that I like to address you, which is usually eye to eye. Uh when you're sitting way at the back, all by yourself. Nina, I'm not making, I'm not getting on to you. You're a visitor. Um I gave Nina um a copy of my book just last week. Uh a few copies I dropped off at the doctor's office. She is my doctor's medical assistant. She shows up on Sunday morning. And so she's here with her daughter tonight. And uh anyway, I'm not trying to point you out. You're not the only one who does this. Um, but please, can we change some things in 2026? It's not that big a deal. I don't spit it usually. I don't spit on my people. I don't get that excited. But uh that will help, I think, aid, it'll set the atmosphere a little bit more. I I don't think we fit we could fit in multi-purpose, right? We just do that. Um so if you can help me with that in 2026, including if you want to move up now, that's fine as well. But uh let's try that, okay? Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you for your presence tonight. You're the reason we're here. We we want more than anything as we you've given us a new year. We want more than anything to please you in a greater way in 2026 than we have in years past. We want to know you more intimately. We want to uh increase in every aspect of life, Christian living. We want to equip ourselves more thoroughly for the mission that you've given us to reach into our city and cities like it around the world. And so thank you tonight for being here with us. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for being our teacher, speaking to every willing heart here tonight. We thank you for what we're about to learn in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You can be seated if you want to make that move, make it now. You should have received a handout. If you didn't, you can lift your hand and a member of our host team will have something, uh, have one for you. And uh we'll go through it tonight. There are some blanks uh for you as always to fill out as we go as we uh work our way through the lesson. Um I am committed, something else I'm committed to in 2020 2026 is um to to help us all with spirit life. Uh walking uh this Christian life out, mindful of, aware of, open to the person of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He is the difference maker in our life. I don't know why anyone would endeavor to attempt to live this Christ life, this Christian life, without the help of the Holy Spirit. Come on, someone. And the grace that He gives us, grace is for every weakness we face, and we face plenty of them. And grace is given to us for every situation to overcome our weakness, put it in our rearview mirror, so to speak, and press on and press forward? How many of you would love to this year love people more the way Jesus does than perhaps the way you presently do? How many of you would be happier with more joy in your life? How many of you would like to go to bed at night with greater peace than what you've experienced, right? And the list goes on and on. And it's the Holy Spirit who's our necessary partner and friend when it comes to bearing what the Bible refers to as the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians chapter 5. If you're taking notes, just jot down that reference. It's the whole chapter where Paul stops in his letter to the church at Galatia. His whole letter is really talking about what we can produce, what we end up producing without the help of the Holy Spirit, and conversely what we end up producing with the help of the Holy Spirit. He makes the distinction of the works of the flesh, and he lists those out for us in Galatians and chapter 5. And then he talks at length about the fruit of the Holy Holy Spirit. One is the product of depending more on the Spirit of God than you depend on yourself. The other is the result of depending more on yourself, your own abilities, human abilities, to be like Jesus than depending on the Holy Holy Spirit. And I really have asked God this new year to help me help you find the greater revelation that we need from the scripture in order to move that direction. Add to that practical wisdom. You know the difference? Knowledge has to do with information, wisdom has to do with application. Wisdom has to do with information, and we're living in an information world, push of a button. And then there's wisdom that is the appropriate application of wisdom. In fact, let me redefine both of those. Knowledge is appropriate wisdom from the Spirit of God. There's the knowledge we get from what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel our senses. It is soulish information, soulish knowledge, the product of men experimenting on that natural level. And then there is spiritual information or spiritual knowledge that comes by revelation. Say that with me, revelation. And that is the highest form of knowledge that we as human beings can receive. Nothing weird here, nothing spooky here. Your Bible talks about it. The Apostle Paul prayed that Christians would be filled with revelation knowledge, the knowledge of God's will concerning all matters. But spiritual information comes from the Holy Spirit communicating to your spirit. All right. And then wisdom, the same thing. There's practical wisdom that we've gained just by experience, practicing natural information. And then there is spiritual wisdom. Again, the apostle Paul prays that we'll be filled with knowledge and wisdom and practice it. And so James, Pastor James, the half-brother of Jesus, taught that the real blessing, if you want to experience the blessing of God, again, one thing to know about it, one thing to talk about it. But if you want to experience it, you have to make a move in your life from just being a hearer of the truth to actually being a practitioner of the truth. Not just a hearer of the word, but a doer. In fact, James went on to warn Christians. He said, if all you do is listen to the truth, you wouldn't think this is harmful, and it's not in and of itself. But if all you do is listen to the truth, but never practice it, you enter into a place or a state called self-deception. In other words, you think you're changing, but in reality you're not. You think you've grown as a Christian and you're over here in point at point B, but in reality, because you're not really practicing what you've heard, you're just still hearing it and hearing more of it. You're over here, point A. You think you're at point B, but you're at point A. You think you're further along as a Christian than you are because you're not practicing the word. So, you know, the Holy Spirit is always urging us. He doesn't just educate us. Thank God he does. We still need a lot when it comes to the renewing of our mind. Can I have an amen? There's a lot that we need to rethink now that we're born again. If we're born again Christians, there's a lot in our thinking that needs to be renewed. Again, that's why the Apostle Paul, bear with me. That's why the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12, 1 and 2, he said, I beg you. That's how important it was to him. He said, I beg or beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy unto God, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. Say transformed. Say not conformed, but transformed. So be not conformed, he said, to the world, but be transformed how? Not by the removal of the mind, but by the renewing of the mind. In other words, I used to think this way about people. The Holy Spirit wants me to think another way about people. He wants me to see them the way that God sees them. He wants me to treat them the way that God would treat them. Etc. etc. etc. And this is our constant work as Christians until we see Jesus face to face. That day is coming. But until we see Jesus face to face, there'll be this necessity to keep growing and to keep being transformed by the renewing of our mind. Amen. And so I'm trusting God to give me ways to help you not only know more about the Holy Spirit Himself, and we've spent a lot of time doing that here, especially on Tuesday nights throughout the years. But to find other ways, fresh ways, new ways to get you much more at ease and much more comfortable in your walk with the Holy Spirit on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, not just on Sundays when you come to church. Is that okay? Let's do that. So tonight I'm really going to talk about something that's very basic to the Christian life, but something we haven't talked about, at least I haven't, in a very, very, very long time. And yet it's one of the most fundamental and basic truths that Scripture lays out for us. It is extremely important as a foundation in your life concerning your relationship with God, how you relate to Him. There's some practical things that are born of knowing this truth. And I'll remind you of a few of those. We're just going to introduce it tonight and take it up again next week, maybe a third week. I'm not certain on that yet. But this week and next week, we're going to talk about understanding righteousness. And again, years and years ago, we've talked about it. We've talked about it now and then since. But for whatever reason, I've been praying about tonight and starting the year with you, I felt like the Holy Spirit would have me bring up this subject to you. Again, it is called the Righteousness of God. Said out loud, the righteousness of God. This little blue book, it won't mean much to you at all, if anything. But back in 1979, the summer of 1979, Cindy and I moved here from West Texas in 1977. And we had moved here with the intent of helping a young church that had just opened its doors to the public, hadn't been open very long, probably had at the time about 30 to 40 people attending, and we were attending church. They were attending church in the basement of what was then a chiropractor's clinic in the city in the Northeast Height around the Knoll and Wantebo, that area. And they had asked us out to minister for a week. And so we came out, I brought my guitar and we did worship. I led worship. And then I taught for about 45 minutes every night for a week, and then we prayed with people, laid hands on people, and just had fellowship with this group of Christians. And then we we were headed back to our homes in West Texas when Cindy and I began to sense, we had been sensing it for maybe about six months or so, but no clear direction, that God wanted us to move to Albuquerque. Now we had never lived outside of Texas. And so this was a big move, a big step of faith, all of our family in Texas still. And it was a big step of faith for us. We were 20-somethings when we felt like God began to deal with us. There was nothing circumstantial about it that was appealing. We thought Albuquerque was a pretty place. But you should have heard the things that people were telling us about Albuquerque at the time. Then, and they were warning us about moving to Albuquerque, uh, warning us about the crime here, warning us about uh, you know, uh all the horrible things that people believed here in Albuquerque and what a challenge it would be. Why would anybody want to come to Albuquerque, much less live there? And yet when we prayed about it, our families didn't want us to go either for different reasons, but when we prayed about it, we had a big yes. You know what I'm talking about? A witness of the Holy Spirit. It was inward. It was something, again, the Holy Spirit to our to my spirit, to our spirit, and not just something circumstantial that was drawing us here. So we obeyed God. We put everything we had together. Uh, it didn't take that long. We didn't have hardly any money. We had to, God had to provide for us uh from an unexpected source, my father, who didn't really understand what we were all about then and didn't necessarily agree with it, but God used him to put $700 cash from a savings bond that he was hoping that you know we would inherit at his death, fully mature. But I called him and I just said, I know you don't understand, I know you don't necessarily agree, Dad, but if there's anything you can do to help us travel to Albuquerque, we would appreciate it. Hung up the phone. And to our surprise, he said yes, he cashed it in, it was worth about $700. We arrived here with $300 of that. That's all the money in the world we had. Small trailer carrying uh the furniture that we had. We came back, and the man who invited us to do the meetings was a single young man. He had a two-bedroom apartment. He let us stay with him for a while. And as we kind of got our feet wet, the big surprise, I don't mean to drag this out, but the big surprise was when we got to Albuquerque expecting to help that young church do something, uh, we found out that they were no longer meeting together. They good thing we didn't come here just for them. They had gotten in disagreement with one another, the leadership. Uh the church suffered a three-way split, and we're no longer meeting together. So here we are with everything we have, all the cash in the world we have. Now what? And God began to open doors for us, long story short, and he gave us a place at the place called the Bible Teaching Center, which used to be right down here on Central. And they had Bible studies, they didn't see themselves as a church, they just saw themselves as offering Bible studies every night. In fact, at the in the beginning, they didn't even meet on Sunday mornings, they just met Monday through Saturday. So a man calls me up on the phone. God has provided for us lodging rent-free for six months. We didn't have to pay any rent. And we got a phone call from a man who had been a part of that church. He was a graduate of a Bible college in Oklahoma. And he said, uh, would you consider teaching for us on Tuesday night? And we said, we'll pray about it. It didn't take us that long. And we called him back and said, Yeah, we'll do it. We'll do Tuesday nights. And I have been teaching on Tuesday nights since 1977 in the city of Albuquerque. In fact, I've taught almost 3,000 messages on Tuesday night since 1977. Even when we started the church in 1980, we kept Tuesday as our midweek service instead of doing Wednesday, which is what most churches traditionally did and still do. And uh all that just to say this, that when we left the Bible teaching center, God had revealed to us his desire for us to take another step and pastor, to found a church and pastor it. We'd never done that. And um so we took another step of faith. And uh prior to uh renting a storefront initially, a lady opened up uh her home for me to teach in. And so I did that not only in her home, but in other homes summer prior to us starting, spring and summer prior to us, uh starting the Believer Center in 1980, in September of 1980. And um this little blue book is uh the book I taught out of uh in her home. And the first message I taught after leaving the Bible teaching center was on the righteousness of God. This kind of has a special place in my heart, and I got to looking over some of the material in it, and I thought, man, I I should be able to improve this, but as I read through it, I didn't see any need to improve it. So I'm gonna talk to you about it from here. Is that okay? Is it okay? So again, the concept of uh righteousness, more than a concept, the revelation of um righteousness is very basic. In fact, one of the a man who who is considered a church father said this, uh, Martin Luther was his name. He said this about uh the righteousness of God, the truth concerning the righteousness of God. He said, this is the truth of the gospel. He said, it's also the principal article of all Christian doctrine. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually. It's one of our Christian church fathers. I hope we don't have to beat it in anybody's head, but if we need to, we can do that. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21, the Apostle Paul brings it really again to the center of all Christian belief, especially when it comes to our relationship with God. It's there in your notes on your little handout. Verse 21 says, For God made the only one who did not know sin, referring to Jesus, to become sin for us, that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with him. Again, I'm going to read it to you again. For God made the only one who did not know sin, Jesus, to become sin for us, so that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with him. So what is righteousness? What's going through your head right now? Let me give you a good working definition of righteousness. It's a big word, it's an old English word, and here's what it means in your notes there. The right standing with God results in the ability to stand before God without a sense of guilt or condemnation. Right standing with God results in the ability to stand before God without a sense of guilt. There's your first blank: guilt or condemnation. Understand this that righteousness is not a feeling. We want it to be, but it's not. Righteousness is not a feeling, but a fact. It speaks to our, here's another blank that you need to fill in. It speaks to our position in Christ and not our present condition. Speaks to our position in Christ and not our present condition. Right standing with God, in other words, is our ability to stand before God without a sense of guilt or condemnation. It goes beyond just knowing that we belong, which is important enough. Isn't it good to know that you belong? From God's point of view, you belong. You have been accepted because of your faith in Christ Jesus. Thank God for that. But righteousness is more than that, it is right standing with God. Sometimes we get righteousness confused with holiness. Sometimes we get righteousness confused with holiness. Many Christians who I've pastored over the years, from time to time, have said, How can you say we're righteous when we're still capable of sin? Great question. But again, it shows confusion concerning what right standing with God is and what holiness is. Okay. I can fail it being holy and never lose my right standing with God. Are you listening to me? Please listen to me. Because this will bring, if nothing more, this will bring incredible rest and peace to your soul. All right? Because if there's one thing we continue to face as Christians, certainly I do, and I've been a Christian for over 50 years, there are still times where I feel like there's just something, something that God is holding against me. That there's something that God is asking me to qualify for, even when it comes to prayer. I'm talking about my feelings now. Okay, there are times where I feel as though I have failed in thought or failed in deed. I failed to be obedient to God. And because of those things, then I have somehow now been disqualified when it comes to my relationship with God. There is something that happens when we sin, and we've talked about that in the past. Fellowship, say that word with me. Fellowship. Again, it's a word we often confuse with righteousness. They're two different things. Fellowship can be changing. The essence of our fellowship, the the what, the nature of our fellowship can change. It can be up and down. Because when we sin against God, or actually even when we sin against each other, we do that often. Something does shift, come on, in how we feel about each other. Right? We still have issues with that. We suddenly go silent. We can't talk to each other until that thing is cleared up, right? On Monday, you know you have no sense of being anything separating you from someone you love or someone who loves you. But on Tuesday, it can change. Between Monday and Tuesday, it can change. And that's usually the result of failing one another. And that's fellowship that ends up changing. All right. Thank God God has given us an answer for that. You know, even when we fail, we can confess our failure to God. 1 John 1.9. We can when we fail, we can confess that to God. And the Bible says God then cleanses us from the unrighteous act that caused that. Follow? And so fellowship can be restored with God or with one another. That's why if you you've messed up in a relationship, you need to be as quick as you can to talk about it and not let it fester. Ask for forgiveness. Say I'm sorry. Talk about it and get back on the same page as quick as you can. The longer you wait, the harder it's going to be. Did you know the same can be true with God? Right? Okay. So I hope I'm not confusing you here. We're trying to establish what righteousness is. We're comparing it to say fellowship, which can change. We're comparing it to holiness, which can change. Those are conditional things. But righteousness is fixed. It has come to you as a free gift because of what Jesus did on the cross and because of your faith in him. It's a settled issue. Amen. You know, when Hannah was growing up, Hannah's my oldest daughter, for those of you who don't know. But when she was growing up, she would mess up as a child. She would disobey her parents. But you know what? On her worst day, she never ceased to be our daughter. Ever. I mean, she did some stuff. I'll leave the older, when she got older, I'll leave that stuff alone. But when she was a little girl, she wrote on a wall. I told you this story, some of you have heard it, some of you haven't. Went to her bedroom one day, and one of her, the wall, the whole wall, was covered with Crayola marks. Shocked. Cindy and I looked at that. Hannah Beth, come in here. Why do we always call them by their second name when they're in trouble? Hannah Beth, get in here. So she came in there, young kiddo, cute as a button. What did you do? Why did you do that? She just, I just wanted to, Daddy. And so we disciplined her and then held her, told her we forgave her, and I made the statement to her, don't you ever color on that wall again. Understood? Yes, Daddy. I'm sorry. We came in hours later, and the wall opposite that wall had been colored. With different colors, but still colored with Crayolas. Hannah Beth, get back in here. She looked so surprised. So why did you write on that wall? Watch this. She said, you didn't say, you said, don't write on that wall again. And so in her cute little mind, she hadn't disobeyed us. She'd just been creative. Right? She didn't have any idea that she had messed up again. But that's how we can be sometimes. But you know, in all of that, she was still our daughter. Legally, she was our daughter. You know? But more than that, she was in our hearts. Flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone. Do you know the same is true with God? And if you don't hear anything else that I've taught so far tonight, get this. That even when you do your worst, you are still a child of the Almighty God. How can that be? Well, it's it can only be with God. Because God is love. He doesn't just have it, his love is unconditional. We don't get that usually from anybody but him or another Christian that's walking with him. But God loves us unconditionally. And when we put our faith in the finished work of Jesus, okay, then he accepted us, we were repositioned. And can I say this to you about righteousness? Again, it's about position. Say it, position. You see, when you are born again, what happens to you is you change positions spiritually. What do you mean, Pastor? Well, prior to any of us being born of God, our position spiritually was that we were in Adam. Say that, in Adam. And by the way, Romans the fifth chapter is so beautiful concerning this whole issue about the human race being in Adam. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's talking about all of us fell into Adam's sin. We're born in Adam's sin. And so we all need salvation and we need redemption. You see, when the Bible says there's none righteous, no not one, this is a good point to make. It doesn't mean that men aren't capable of doing something righteous. Can I say it again? Even men and women who aren't born again, they're not followers of Jesus, are capable of doing now and then a righteous act. But what they're not capable of doing is taking those righteous acts and saying, God, look, because I've done this righteous act, now I am worthy of your salvation. I qualify God myself because, you know, I do more good than bad. You go out on the street with a microphone and you ask people what they think it takes to get into God's heaven when they die. Listen to me, even Christians who should know better will say, you know, I'm not that bad of a person. I generally do more good than bad. And so they think on the basis of their righteousness, on their goodness, that that's going to qualify them for eternal life with God in God's heaven. And again, it's a lie. It's a fostered lie of Satan. Because he's doing, still doing it, he's defeated Satan, but he's still doing everything he can to make God look bad, to ruin God's reputation, to make God out a liar. All right. It's just what he does all the time. So, but you and I've got to realize, and I think most of us in the room have, I hope we have, and if not, I hope you don't leave the room tonight without changing your mind about this, is that we are righteous in right standing with God, can stand before God knowing we belong without ever experiencing a sense of guilt or condemnation from Him. Not on the basis of anything we've done except trust in His Son Jesus Christ. When a person does that from their heart, then they're said to have been born again. Jesus used that language with a religious man by the name of Nicodemus in John chapter 3. He said, for you to see the kingdom, Nicodemus, you've got to be born again. I should probably say pause. Say pause with me. You do know tonight that you are created in the image and likeness of God, which includes you have three parts to your being. You can only see one part with your eye, your natural eye, and that's your physical body. But you're not a body. You have a body. Alright? Have you noticed? But you you are a 1 Thessalonians 5.23 is one place. Paul experience sanctification concerning your spirit, your soul, and your body. Say those three out loud with me, please. Spirit, soul, and body. All right. So you are spirit, you are so you don't see the spirit, you can sense it, but you don't see it. Right? God is a spirit, the Bible says. We worship him in spirit and in truth, which means we have to worship, if we're going to worship him, we can involve the body, we can involve the soul, but true worship is going to start in our spirit. And because we're born again, our spirits can be united to God. So that's why the Bible says, He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. So if you made the decision to repent, repent from what, Marshall? Repent from trusting in yourself to qualify for life with God or relationship with God. I'm turning from that. I'm turning from any religion that teaches that because it's not true, it's a lie. I'm turning from life without God, trusting in myself more than God, and I'm turning. The word repent just means that. It means a turning, it means a changing of the mind. So a person who's born again has repented. They made the quality decision to stop going the direction they were with their life without God, living independently of God, to now accepting God's provision for salvation and entering into an eternity-long relationship with God. What a privilege. Amen. So the change, the reason when you prayed, I prayed, the prayer of salvation. What's that like? Father, I'm sorry. I don't want to live again this life without you. I don't want to live it on my terms. I want to accept Jesus as Lord. I believe that God, you've raised him from the dead, that Jesus is alive. He died for me. But he's raised from the dead. He's alive. And he sits at your right hand, Father. And I accept him now as my Lord and Savior. I know he's Lord of all, whether I believe it or not. But I believe it and I accept Jesus Christ as Lord of my life. When you mean that from your heart, miracle of miracles, how many of you still believe in miracles? Miracle of miracles happens in that moment. You'll never experience another one like it. Your old spirit is made alive. The death in your spirit, the word death can just mean separation. We're separated from God when we're dead spiritually. And then we come alive when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are born again. The reason that we can be born again, go home, and still look the same out here is because the body wasn't born again. Wish it was. Wish it had been. Come on. The soul is not born again. All right. Both have been purchased. Do you understand that language? Both were purchased by the blood of Christ. And there's the promise of soul and body changing, being changed. But so far, the only part of you that's changed if you're a Christian is in your spirit. Okay. Kind of put your hand like this. That's my belly. Well, I want you to think of it as your spirit, man. There's a spiritual part of you. And if you've accept Jesus as Lord, you are, 2 Corinthians 5.21. We started out with that verse. Scripture says in 1 2 Corinthians 5.17, says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a said out loud, new creature or new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Amen. For he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might now be made the righteousness of God in Christ. If I could help you to know one thing in 2026 or know it all over again, it would be this truth. If you've made Jesus Lord of your life, you're not the old you. I know sometimes you wake up and you feel it, feel like you're the old you, because the world around you hadn't changed much, and there's still some changes that God is wanting to do in you, right? But the biblical truth, and we've got to base our faith on the Bible, right? Not on our feelings. Feelings are not dependable. We have them, they're God-given. You should have them. They always follow thought, what you're thinking. So if you want to change what you feel, you have to change what you think. You're wired that way by God. All right? But we want something and need something more firm to believe in, and that's what God says. And what God says, particularly in his word. And he says again, if we put our faith in Christ, that even if I don't feel like it tomorrow, I'm still a brand new creature in Christ Jesus. Amen. And here's what's going to happen. I'm going to close this quickly here and see if we have any questions. If we don't, we'll just simply be dismissed. I won't keep preaching. I shouldn't make a promise like that. Um, and where was I? If you latch on to this part of it, okay, what do we learn tonight? I'm a spirit, I have a soul, I live in my body. How many of you would like a diagram of that maybe next week? Nobody? Good. I don't have to. I'll bring you a diagram of spirit, soul, and body and some scriptures with it. Would you like that or no? Okay. Um you have a soul, and by the way, the spirit and soul are described in the Bible as your heart. Not talking about the physical heart. You have a spiritual heart. There are two parts of you that are immortal. Your spirit is immortal, and your soul is immortal, but your body is mortal. Spirit and soul make up the heart immortal. What do you mean, Pastor? I mean when you die, the spirit and soul will leave your body and go into the presence of God. Your body's gonna stay here. All right, because it's mortal. The word mortal means death doomed. And so your body is gonna stay here, turn to dust. All right, wait for a resurrection of the dead, which Jesus promises to Christians. Alright? So, spirit, soul makes up the heart. That's the immortal part of you. The body is the mortal part of you. When we talk about you being made the righteousness of God in Christ, starting with that scripture that's on your notepad there, all right? It's talking specifically about your spirit, man. Your spirit. I am, say it out loud with me, I am the righteousness. Of God in Christ Jesus. How'd that feel to say that? Was it weird? Say it again. I am the righteousness of God in Christ. And why are you the righteousness of God in Christ? Because you put your faith in Jesus Christ and in his finished work alone. Amen. Let's look at question number two here and go ahead and fill it in before we go ahead and leave. All of us are born into the world, with the exception, not he exception, my typo, with the exception of Jesus. All of us born into the world, with the exception of Jesus, need to be made righteous. Need to be made righteous. Our attempts at making ourselves acceptable to God all fall short of God's own standard. Both Jew and Gentile have failed to do so. Isaiah 64, 6 says this, but we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Look at question three. Righteousness, or statement three, righteousness has to be gifted or transfed, excuse me, transmitted. Righteousness has to be gifted or transmitted to us by God Himself. The declaration that we are righteous is not based on the individual's own merit or works, but it is granted through faith in Jesus Christ. And then lastly, our understanding number four of righteousness sets in motion the process of sanctification. That's an old English word, but it still works. Sanctification and being transformed to be more like him. Our understanding of righteousness sets in motion the process of sanctification and being transformed to be more like him. And then this final statement it impacts our relationship with God, our interactions with others, and our engagement with the world. Understanding and embracing this truth is essential for living a life that honors God. Amen. Okay. So righteousness has to do with what? Position and not condition. It will affect your condition as you accept it by faith. Because you know you can't go on living the way maybe you were used to living when you really begin seeing yourself the way God sees you. In this case, God considers you in right standing with Him. You're one of His representatives on the earth. And so, you know, that if you again if you meditate this, accept this by faith, get up in the morning thinking about it, some of the choices you make about your day are going to be different. Some of the things maybe you would have done you won't do. Some of the things you wouldn't do, now you will do with confidence, because now you know that you're in right standing with God. You say, Pastor, is there ever a time where feelings support this truth? Yeah, there are, but your feelings, again, are just going to be kind of up and down until you really do renew your mind to this. And it I tell you, again, I'm going to repeat something here, and then I'll ask if you have some questions. But when you miss the mark, all right, you didn't cease to be human when you were born again. When you miss the mark, say you lose your temper. When you lose your temper, you're going to want to think, which is normal, you're going to want to think that you really aren't right in right standing with God. What you need to know is your right standing with God hasn't changed in a moment like that. What has changed could be your fellowship with God. You follow? And so you go to God and you say, I'm sorry, mean it from your heart. God cleanses you from that. That's done out, that's put out of your soul, and you can get on with growing again, get on with life. You took a step back and take another step forward, take another step forward, and experience growth. Amen. Alright? We'll stop there. Are there any questions anybody'd like to ask before we dismiss tonight? Yes, sir. Yeah, you you that's a key. Very good, Robert. Again, if you didn't hear his question, he's like we fall a lot, stumble a lot. We can still come to God, say I'm sorry, and God will take care of that. We don't need to enter into shame, guilt, condemnation. Exactly right.

unknown 49:42

Romans 8.1.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

Yeah, Romans 8.1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Again, see, before you were born again, you were in Adam. Now you're in Christ. Being born again is not about just feeling different about heaven or God or you. There really is something spiritual that happens. I move from being in Adam, separated from God, my choice. I move from that place to a new position, which is being in Christ now. I was in Adam, but now I'm in Christ. It doesn't mean I'm perfect, obviously, by any stretch. But it does mean how I'm going to approach life from that point on is different. And I want to learn how it's different. And this is really key here because so many beautiful people who've really been born of God are just struggling. And they're struggling with their shame and they're struggling with their guilt, and they're still struggling with their weaknesses and their failures, and they're not making any progress at all. And Satan really is taking advantage of them. And so because I'm in right standing with God, I can now, with confidence, again, because that's not about something I did for God, that's something that God did for me, right? He made me the righteousness of God in Christ. So because of that, even when I fall, especially when I fall, I come back to my position in Christ and I pray from there. And one of the things I pray is, God, I'm sorry I failed. I missed the mark. And I apologize. I ask for cleansing. You said in 1 John 1.9 that if I would do that, that you would forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness that can build up on the inside of you. So get rid of it and get rid of it as quick as you can once you fail. Again, just like in a human relationship, don't just let it cook. Don't let your failure, what you did to each other, just cook and bake and become worse. You know, as quickly as possible, you get it right with that person. Forget, let forgiveness flow. And uh, same with God. Don't just stew in it and lose your confidence in God and lose more ground than you already have by sinning. Step up and say, God, I am so sorry, that's not who I am. So you can say that biblically. When you sin now as a Christian, you can biblically say, God, I'm sorry, that's not who I am. Who am I? I'm the righteousness of God in Christ. I'm a child of the living God. I missed it, I messed up, I'm not taking that for granted. I'm sorry, but this is not who I am. That's who I was. This is who I am now. And I am the righteousness of God in Christ. Say it again, I am. The righteousness of God in Christ. Now the question. I'll try. I know you can't hear this, but I'll repeat it. Right. Yeah. Um the scripture uh in question is where Jesus, uh, it's in Matthew, where Jesus is um says himself. His words are written. They're talking about people that will approach him at judgment, and they will say to him something along these lines. They'll call him Lord. They'll say, Lord, Lord, haven't we? And they go through this short list of things that they've done, including prophesy, uh, cast out demons in his name, etc. And Jesus will say to them, Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. And here's the key. He says, Because I never knew you. Now, I said earlier that when we are hearers of the word and not doers of the word, or we approach our doing as a means to be accepted with God, this is the result. Number one, if we depend on what we're doing, our good works, to save us, it won't save us. Okay. But the real key in understanding this verse, and by the way, the world is filled with people just like this. I'm glad I don't have to make that final judgment call. I'm glad Jesus, that's way above my pay grade. Jesus will be our final judge. But he will have to do the same thing with people all over the planet who think if they've been doing the will of God. It's not just a matter of doing what's right, but why we're doing it. Again, you might give in an offering, but are you giving then to get from God? Your giving then stops, ceases to be giving, and it ends up being a good work that you end up depending on to save you. We, you know, I said this before, I want to throw it in. Legalism, which is a spiritual form of religious bondage, the real deception in all legalism, however it presents itself in life, is it gets us to do the right thing for the wrong reason. Okay. I give, but I give in order to earn my salvation. See, I come to church, but I come to church so that one day I can stand before God, I need something in prayer, and say, now, God, I'm a churchgoer. So because I'm a churchgoer, I expect you to answer my prayer. That's legalism. And some people do that with their salvation. They say, I've been a good person. I've kept at least seven out of ten commandments. Come on, God, give me a break, 70%. But they're doing it not because it's who they are, it's they're doing it in order to earn a place or position with God. So God rejects that. Again, our righteousness, we read the verse, is his filthy rags. But the real key to that verse, I think, is when Jesus says to them, I never knew you, which tells us that salvation is about not doing all the do's and doning all the don'ts. It is about entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ. And the only way to do that is by faith in his finished work and not by faith in anybody or anything else. Does that help you a little bit? No, I I don't I don't think I'm understanding you there. The verse pertains not just to Jews. The verse would pertain to anyone who would, again, try to qualify through their good works what they believe the will of God might be. Again, there are people all over. I talk to them, I don't talk to them every day, but I talk to them from time to time, professing Christians, professing believers. And they've got the language down. They can quote the verses, they can quote the scripture, but all they're doing is for the sake of being accepted with Jesus Christ, which means their faith is in their works instead of faith in his finished work. And so because of that, he never knew them. He never entered into a relationship with them. It doesn't say he knew them once and then they lost their salvation. He says, I never knew you. You never put your faith in the finished work of the cross in order to be saved. Okay. And in this example, it's just an example of where, I mean, his own disciples were casting out demons, right? His own disciples could have been saying those same kind of things. There are a number of people who wanted to be included in Jesus' group and his company, but weren't willing to make that surrender to his Lord Judas, to his lordship. So, and the way to stay free from all of that, or ever putting ourselves in that position, is again to always ask ourselves, where is my dependence? And do I actually have a relationship with Jesus Christ? Or am I just going through the motions? There are churchgoers, people that carry their Bibles faithfully wherever they go, big Bibles on the dash of their car, wherever they go, and yet they have not, they've always depended on their goodnesses, their righteousnesses. And so Jesus would say to them, No, you never entered into what I did for you. We never had a relationship with you. And that's language there that we're familiar with, but they could, you know, people claiming to be believers can say all kinds of things that would qualify them in their thinking for salvation. Okay, none of us can qualify for salvation. None of us qualify for right standing with God. Paul spends chapters 1, 2, and 3, in particular, of his letter to the church at Rome, just I mean, just stating that very fact. He said, their advantage to being a Jew, but understand this all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So I hope that helps a little bit there. Okay, time's up. Hey, that was good. Did you enjoy tonight? Enjoyed having you here. Let's stand to our feet together.