The Kingdom of God!

 

Chapter 64

 

Paul said in Rom. 10:17, (NIV)

 

As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

 

You can hear the good news that God is no longer counting your sins against you and if it is not revealed to you by the Holy Spirit, you will not accept it! Jesus said in John 6:44, (NIV)

 

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day."

 

If you hear the gospel with your natural understanding and do not believe it, you are rejecting God's free gift to you. Jesus also said in Luke 8:17-18, (NIV)

 

"For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore, consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them."

 

In Rev. 3: 6,13, and 22, Jesus said to the Seven Churches, (NIV)

 

"Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

 

Jesus also said in Mark 7:16,

 

"If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." 

If you accept the Gospel, your spirit and the Holy Spirit become one in Christ. Paul said in 1 Cor. 6:17,

"But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."

When you are born again you and the Holy Spirit are of the same Spirit which is our Father, therefore, you have a spiritual ear so you can discern the voice of the Lord and know the anointing that the Holy Spirit gives. Jesus is saying that if you have this same spirit to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. Jesus said in John 14:25-26,

"All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.'

 

If you will listen with your spiritual ear! In so many of our churches, we are not taught how to listen to the Holy Spirit, as a matter of fact, in times past we were told that we didn't need the baptism of the Holy Spirit because we now have the written word and all we have to do is to do what it tells us to do. That sounds good to the carnal mind but the results are that we are teaching self-righteousness. In other words, we are depending upon our intelligence to be able to do what Jesus did for us!

 

So many Christians die without the assurance that they are righteous only because He is righteous and we have been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom His dear Son. Paul said in Col. 1:13,

 

"Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."

 

The good news is that we are righteous, not because of our efforts to be righteous, but because He has imputed righteousness to us because we believed Him.

Religion has also taught us that we are just sinners saved by grace. This is contrary to the Word of God! As a result of all that religion has taught us, we spend all of our lives trying to make our carnal minds obey the laws of God which is an impossibility for it to do. The end result is that we place ourselves under condemnation because we know that we have made mistakes in our lives and have done things that are not pleasing in God's sight. So, when we come to the end of this life, we are fearful that we haven't done enough to be pleasing in God's sight. Paul said of the Jews in Rom. 10:1-11, (NIV) 

"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.  For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.  Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.  Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

Your carnal mind will not like what I am about to share with you and will fight against what the word of God says concerning righteousness. If you have an ear to hear what the word says and have not hardened your heart, get ready to have your mind set at rest and you will never again question whether you have been saved.

How many of you actually know what it means to be righteous in God's sight? The Greek word 'righteous' is dikaios dik'-ah-yos From G1349; and means equitable (in character or act); by implication innocent, holy (absolutely or relatively): just, meet, right (-eous).  

To be innocent and holy and just and right in everything that we do would make us righteous according to this description of the Greek word 'dikaios'! To do this we would have to know what rules or what standards we were being measured by. The righteousness that we are concerned with today is being righteousness in the eyes of our Father. Therefore, we must know His ways and His thoughts in order to conform to them so we can be innocent in His eyes according to this definition of righteousness. We must find out what God thinks about us and accept what He has to say about what it takes to be righteous in His mind. 

Our only desire should be to be innocent in the eyes of God. The carnal mind doesn't know how to conform to the ways and thoughts of God because they are beyond its comprehension. Paul said of the Jews in Rom. 10:1-11, (NIV)

"Brothers, my hearts desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.  For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.  Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to Gods righteousness.  Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

 

Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' " (that is, to bring Christ down)  or, Who will descend into the deep?" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

 

This is so simple and yet, religion has made it so difficult by wanting to go by the letter of the Law. The right standing with God comes from having faith that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Paul makes it very plain that it is with your heart that you can believe and be justified in God's eyes. God really asks so little of us! He just wants us to believe in His word and His integrity.

 

Can you just accept that all God wants is for us to trust Him and when we do that it means more to Him than any sacrifice on our part? He said in Hosea 6:6,

 

"I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."

 

Jesus told the Pharisees in Matt. 9:12-13, (NIV)

 

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice." "For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

 

As I stated earlier, "The righteousness that we are concerned with today is being righteous in the eyes of our Father. Therefore, we must know His ways and His thoughts in order to conform to them so we can be innocent in His eyes." Paul said in Rom. 3:19-20, (NIV) 

"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His, (God's) sight, by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." 

How much plainer do you want it stated than here? No one will be declared by God to be righteous in His sight by observing the Law! Yet, as a whole, the church has taught for years that we must be obedient to Law in order to be pleasing in God's sight! We have taught rules and laws and have separated over different interpretations of the Law. That being true, then what must we do to have God declare that we are righteous in His sight? Paul said in Rom. 3:21-22, (NIV) 

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." 

Righteousness by faith is a little like being born into a family. When I was born into the Johnson family there was nothing that I had to do to be a part of that family. My mom and dad simply called me David Doyle Johnson and that settled it. 

The same is true when we are born again into the family of God. Paul said in Rom. 10:6-10, (NIV) 

"But the righteousness that is by faith says:........"The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, (made righteous) and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."" 

Paul makes it very plain here that it is with our hearts that we believe and because we believe we are justified and declared righteous by God and we are saved from sin when we confess what we believe. Now, don't let me lose you here! I am not doing away with water baptism or any of the many other things that we are instructed to do! What I am pointing out to you here is what we have to do to be righteous in God's sight and Paul makes it very plain here what we must do. We are justified by God and declared righteous by Him when we believe Him!! 

As most of us know, Abraham is known as the Father of all who have faith in God. This being so, let's look and see what he found out in his faith walk. Paul said in Rom. 4:1-5, (NIV) 

"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."  

When a man does not trust in his own works but trust in God, his faith is credited or imputed to him as righteousness by God. This is something that God does as a result of our faith in Him. Abraham was righteous purely because he believed God! We often hear people say that they believe. Yet, until we understand the connection between belief and faith, we will wonder why our prayers remain unanswered. Belief can refer to the mental acceptance of something as truth, though absolute certainty may be absent. A problem arises, however, when you believe something to be true and never act on it. This is where faith comes in. 

Faith is acting on what you believe. Paul said that it is with your heart that you believe and believing you activate your faith by declaring with your mouth what you believe. This is exactly what the mother of Jesus did when she understood what God was saying was going to happen to her. She said, "Be it done unto me as you have spoken!" She believed the angel of the Lord and declared with her mouth what she believed. The minute she did this, she was pregnant!  

Belief requires corresponding action, not just any action. If we ask God for something we must believe that He will give it to us. If we believe that He will give it to us, then we must speak it into existence. Jesus talked about this in Mark 11:24, 

"What things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them."  

Begin this day to declare what you want to happen and believe that what you say will come to pass. In all of the accounts of Jesus ministry, He always spoke in faith to the circumstances He was face with. He didn't go to His Father and ask Him to do it for Him! Jesus knew who He was and operated from that standpoint. Our problem is that we have operated in a mistaking identity. We don't know who we are!

In the next Chapter I will write more about this.