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.