Righteousness! Chapter
Eleven
There is a lot of concern in our nation today about
the right to bear arms and the second amendment to our constitution. On the 4th day of July, 1776 our forefathers
gathered to ratify our constitution. They begin with this statement,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Are you aware that, as a child of
God, he has given to us certain unalienable rights? One such right was
proclaimed by the Apostle John in John 1:12-13 when talking about Jesus said,
"As many as received him, to
them gave he power (authority) to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
Being born of God gives to us certain unalienable
rights. When we are born again, God gives us the righteousness of Jesus Christ
as a free gift because we dare to believe in what Jesus accomplished for us on
the cross. We become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. As such Paul
said in Eph. 1:3-6,
"Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing
in Christ. For he chose us in him (Christ) before the
creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In
love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure
and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given
us in the One he loves."
You might say that these two verses, Jn. 1:13-14 and
Eph. 1:3-6, are the preamble to the constitution, or covenant, that God made
with those who receive the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the foundational principles of the Kingdom of
God is this declaration by God. Paul said in Gal. 1:16-17,
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The
just shall live by faith."
Our whole life as a Christian is lived by our faith in what God
has to say about us! By faith, we can declare what the Word of God has to say
about us! We participate in the advocate ministry of Jesus through our
profession of faith, or by what we say! If we really have accepted the promises
given to us by our Father, we will declare them even when it seems unnatural to
do so. Our Father declares His intentions even when there is no way in the
natural for those things to come to pass. Paul said in Rom. 4:17 concerning God
and Abraham, (NIV)
"As it is written: “I have
made you a father of many nations.”
He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the
dead and calls things that are not as though they were."
Brethren, we must learn to agree with the Word of
God and declare what He has said no matter what the circumstance is and
regardless what our five senses tell us! Religion
has taught us to judge everything by the knowledge of whether it is good or
evil and not by what the Word of God says.
Regardless of all the scriptures that talk about healing, religion
has taught us that miraculous healing is no longer available to us every since
the last Apostle died. As a result, we will ask God to heal our friends but
never believe that He will unless it happens to be His will at the time. We,
therefore, fail to believe that He will heal us because we don't know that it
is His will to heal us.
Let me ask you a question! Did anyone ever come to Jesus and ask
Him to heal them and was turned away??? There is an incident recorded in the
Gospels of a woman who had the faith to touch just the hem of Jesus garment to
be healed. Matt. 9:20-22 says,
"Just then a woman who
had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched
the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I
will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he
said, “your faith has
healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment."
Can we today dare to believe the Word of God? John,
the beloved, said in 1 John 5:13-15, (NIV)
"I write these things
to you who believe in the name (authority) of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This
is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears
us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have
what we asked of him."
How many of you absolutely, without a doubt in your
mind, know that you have eternal life and a home reserved for you in
heaven?? Or is there a doubt in your
mind because of something you may have done or continue to do? John wrote these
things to you so that you may know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are
saved!!! However, it takes faith to believe them without a doubt!! It boils
down to whether you trust God or not to keep His Word!
John goes on to give us the key to receiving
anything we may ask of God by saying that if we ask anything according to His
will, that He hears us and if He hears us then we know that we have whatever we
have asked Him for! Someone will say then, "Well, I am not sure what the
will of God is for my situation!" Then go to the Word of God and study it
and find out if He has indeed promised it to you! Paul said in 2 Cor. 1:18-21,
(NIV)
"But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not
“Yes” and “No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among
you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has
always been “Yes.” For
no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.
And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God."
You are the righteousness of God and therefore, you
have the right to say and receive whatever it is that is rightfully yours. God
has declared you righteous. Receive it by faith and say, "Be it done unto
me according to your Word," as Mary did in Luke 1:38. Don't be like
Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, who, when he was told that his
barren wife would have a son, said, "This cannot be so!" Because of his unbelief, he was struck dumb
until the birth of his son.
It is so important that we guard what comes out of
our mouth. We have been given the authority to speak and declare what is to
come to pass. Jesus said in Mark 11:22-23,
"Have faith in
God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou
removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall
believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he
says. "Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever you
desire, when you pray,
believe that you receive them, and you shall have them."
The key to this statement of truth by Jesus is to
have faith in God! I think that all of you will agree with me that there is
something lacking when it comes to our having total faith in what God has said!
We sing a song in Church that says,
I anticipate the inevitable,
supernatural, intervention of God, I expect a miracle!
After you pray and ask God for things, do you
anticipate and expect those things to come to pass or do you just say,
"Well, if it be God's will, I will have them!" Well, I must tell you
that by making a statement of "If it be God's will!" is not using
your faith and you are not exercising your faith in what God has said. God
never told you to pray that if it be God's will He will give you something.
Jesus said in the model prayer that we pray, "Thy will be done!" This
doesn't say, "If it be thy will!"
If Jesus never turned anyone away who came to Him
asking to be healed, then it is God's will to heal you but it is to be received
by faith! Read again Mark 11:22-23. Can you believe that what you say believing
will come to pass??? I think that you would at least agree with me that to be
able to do that would be awesome authority! And, yet, Jesus said that this is
the truth! Why is it that we can't believe what He says. Abraham believed God
for some twenty five years before it came to pass that Sarah was pregnant. It
probable would have came about earlier if He and Sarah hadn't tried to help God
out by having a child by Sarah's hand maiden.
Abraham had been given a specific promise by God but
we have been given an even greater promise by Jesus in Mark 11:22-23. He said
that we can have whatever we say if we believe that it will come to pass! That
is what living by faith is all about! Seeing is not faith and is not believing.
We have been taught so much doubt by religious
speaking preachers who don't have an idea what living by faith is all about. It
doesn't really matter what you church believes but what really matters is what
you believe. Do you dare to take God at His Word?
Any where in God's Word that you see He promised you
something, if you add your faith in what he said, it is yours! Knowing that you
are the righteousness of God gives you the right to confess that all things are
possible for you because you dare to believe God's Word. Jesus said in Matt.
19:26,
"With men this is impossible;
but with God all things are possible!"
You will say to me, "Well, I believe that all
things are possible for God!" You do well to believe that but do you
believe what Jesus also said in Mark 9:23,
"If thou canst believe, all
things are possible to him that believeth!"
The same Jesus that said, "All things are possible for
God", put the ball in our court be saying, "All things are possible to him that believeth!"
The very same man that Jesus said this to was smart enough to
admit that he had a problem with believing what Jesus just said to him and
replied,
"Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief."
Jesus made another very profound statement in the prayer He
offered up to God in John 17:20,
"Neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word!"
And in John 20:29, He said,
"Thomas, because you have seen
me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed."
It is very hard for our carnal mind to accept what
Jesus has said to us at face value! We were not with Him when He walked this
earth but just like all of those faithful people named in Heb. 11, we can add
our name to that list if we will only believe what Jesus has told us in His
Word and act upon what we believe.