Chapter 1
We Have Been Made Righteous
We must know experientially and subjectively, the truths of the redemption of Jesus. One of the greatest difficulties for God’s people is to realize they have been made righteous. In our carnal nature we are full of guilt and condemnation because we cannot measure up to God’s holy standard. In our carnal nature we have no access to God. God’s people keep trying to know God by the intellect and by performing certain deeds. If you want to know the Lord you cannot know or find Him in the natural mind. We can only know and worship him in spirit.
The systematized Christian religion has been very proficient in teaching people that they are sinners. Over the years this has developed a sin consciousness in God’s people. What religion has not taught us is the reality of righteousness. Those who have not experienced God’s righteousness know they are sinful and do not know how to rid themselves of it. When we receive the revelation and realization of redemption and righteousness it releases us from a consciousness of guilt. Once you lose your sin consciousness you will find yourself free from all of the bondages of sin.
Let’s look at II Corinthians chapter 5. Beginning at verse 17, Paul says, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are past away and behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To know that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
Now let’s look at Colossians chapter 1. In verse 19 of Colossians 1, “It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; and, having made peace, peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile (How much?) all things unto himself; by him, I say whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometimes alienated (and separated) and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.”
The world Has Been Reconciled
We must realize that these verses are not prophetic in the sense that they are speaking of something in the future. Do you realize that right now, Jesus is placing you before the Father unblameable and unreprovable in His sight? We have been reconciled – These verses say that the whole world HAS BEEN reconciled to God, not someday will be. God was in Christ reconciling the whole world unto Himself. God has no problems with the world. As far as He is concerned, He has reconciled everyone on the face of the earth. However, although we have been reconciled to God, we must receive that which God has given to us for it to benefit us. As long as you hold Jesus off at a distance and do not receive what He has provided for you, you do not receive the benefit of His salvation, His grace and His reconciliation. I am not talking about just saying some words “Jesus I receive you.” We must have a revelation of Christ in us the hope of Glory.
The whole world has been reconciled to God. Man as he is in his carnal mentality has no hope. “The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor 2:14
Paul told the Ephesians that; “At one time you were without God, without hope in the world, being alienated – enemies in your mind by wicked works, separated from God”. (But he said) “Yet now God hath reconciled you in the body of His death; and through the cross He has presented you blameless, unreprovable in His sight.”
A Revelation of Righteousness
To really reap the benefits of reconciliation, we must have an understanding and a revelation of God’s righteousness. The major problem in the church today, is “sin- consciousness.” Sin consciousness is that state of being, that makes you feel inadequate. You feel inferior, and you feel unable to do that which the righteous requirements of God require. Whenever you feel unable to do what God requires of you to do, you’re in a state of sin -consciousness. “Spiritual death” produced the sin- consciousness in man. Man lost his close fellowship with God in the fall. Through the fall, he became separated in his consciousness from God; he lost the awareness of his oneness. Sin-consciousness makes man reason and go into philosophy. All the religions of the world have been produced by man’s sin-consciousness. He feels separated from God, knowing that somehow he needs to get back to God. He needs to have that sense of righteousness that he lost in the garden. Man has through the years developed one religion after another trying to get back to God. But before we can be restored to fellowship as Adam had in the beginning, God had to give us His righteousness. This is not just another doctrine or theory. He has to impart to us by revelation, a conscious reality of the righteousness of God.
You must come to realize in your consciousness that there is no sin, there is no separation, and there is no barrier that can keep you from being righteous before God. Righteousness is not based on man’s efforts, but on God’s provision. Before man can ever be righteous and have the righteousness of God in subjective experience, he must first realize that righteousness comes through a right understanding of what God has already provided for him, and not what he can do by his performance.
Man feels inferior to God. He feels that he’s separated from God – now I’m talking even about Christians. This should not apply to Christians, but it does. Even though we have received Jesus, we still feel separated from God. We still feel sinful. We still feel inadequate. We are not even able to give a testimony in the church meeting, we are not able to speak for God, and not able to speak about the things of God. We feel inferior, we feel weak, and we have a sin-consciousness even though we are Christians.
Before you can ever have a proper fellowship with God, that sin- consciousness in you has to be destroyed. You will never have proper fellowship with God, and you will never have the joy of God flowing in you as long as you have sin -consciousness. As long as you are always aware of your sin and your weakness and your inability to please God, it separates you from the consciousness of God. Oneness with God does not come by your effort, it does not come by you feeling righteous, it does not come by your actions, but it comes by simply believing what God says about you in His Word. Your sin- consciousness, your weakness, your hang-ups and your habits all disappear not by your efforts, but by you believing what God says about you is true.
God Has Given Us His Righteousness
In restoring fellowship, God has given man His righteousness. There can be no joyous fellowship with our Father God as long as we have a sin-consciousness, because sin-consciousness will always make you feel inadequate and inferior, and unable to approach God, and unable be into His presence. Christians feel inferior, and so instead of believing God, (we all fall in to this trap) we feel that if we pray an hour every day, if we read the Scriptures every day, if we teach Sunday school, if we go out and witness, then we are good enough to win God’s favor. We can do all of these things and still have a sin- consciousness before God, because a righteousness conscience does not come by self-effort. Now, if you have a proper consciousness of God, you may still do all of these things, but they will be done from an overflow and an enjoyment of His presence, His anointing, and His ability in your life. They won’t be done because you feel a need to justify yourself, or to make restitution, or that you should do some kind of penance before God to feel justified in His sight.
Christians need to understand that righteousness comes to them absolutely without any self-effort at all. What is the basis of our righteousness? How do we know that we are righteous? Again, let’s say there’s a person who reads the Bible every day, who prays every day, who does all the good works every day, is that a proof that they are righteous? What’s the basis? That can be the fruit of righteousness, or it can be the fruit of a carnally minded man just being religious and trying to win favor before God.
What is the basis of righteousness? If it’s conduct, then the whole church for the most part today, is in a whole lot of trouble. Because the basis of their righteousness, is based upon their actions, and their actions are always inferior to God. Do you know that if you pray an hour every day and are feeling justified in yourself, it won’t be long until you’ll be convinced that you have to pray two hours a day, then you have to pray three hours a day, then you have to read twenty chapters a day. I’ll tell you, the carnal religious mind will drive you to do all sorts of things, but you will never ever justify yourself in the sight of God by your actions. It will never happen.
We Are Not Justified by Our Actions
The church is under a burden of guilt and shame and inferiority today, because we try to justify ourselves before God with our actions. That’s why Christians meet together and there is no joy, because they fail every day. If your righteousness and your fellowship with God are based upon your conduct, then there will not be much joy for you because you will fall short at times. Righteousness cannot be based upon man’s conduct.
If the church will get a revelation of this, we will come together with such joy and excitement that you won’t be able to keep the saints quiet when they meet together. The only authority and the only basis for our righteousness must be based upon the Word of God, not upon what we do. Always remember that. I am righteous because God says I am righteous. When I first had a revelation of this, I had been on a job for about three years. And everybody that worked with me knew that I was a Christian, but they also knew that I was a failure in living the Christian life because they knew me – you know, people that you work with, they know you. They could see by the evidence of my life that I was not a very good Christian. And I always had the consciousness of never being able to satisfy God enough. I wanted to, and I would try, but I would continuously fail. But when I found out about the gift of righteousness, and I found out that what I was trying to become, God had already made me to be, I began to confess, “I’m righteous, because God has made me righteous. I am just as righteous as the Lord Jesus Christ.” I began to see that, and confess it, and it changed my life.
Some of the teaching we’ve been taught in our churches has caused us to have a sin- consciousness. There’s been more preaching against sin than there has been about God making us righteous. God does not impute sin, He imputes righteousness. So from the pulpits if sin is preached, sin will be reproduced in the saints. But if righteousness is preached, and faith is preached, and God’s ability is preached, that is what will be produced in the saints.
Righteousness by Faith
Romans 3:21, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is (revealed) manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith (Oh, how we want to read that “by works”, but it’s not.) Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.” Are you a believer? Every believer has been made righteous! That’s what the Word says. Jesus Christ, “the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, it’s unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being (made righteous) freely,” (Now the King James uses the word “justified”. The word justified, the word in the original language both in Hebrew and Greek can be translated either “just” or “righteous”. That word means “just” and “righteous”. They both are interchangeable. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being made righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Oh, please saints, go to God for a revelation of this. Know that you are righteous. Know that there is nothing between you and God. You have been reconciled to God. Let’s look at verse 26, “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” We are just as righteous as Jesus before the Father, and the only reason that we can be that is not because of our conduct, but because of what Jesus did for us us. The Word tells us that we are righteous by faith.
Let’s look at Romans chapter 4 verse 2, “For if Abraham were made righteous by works, he has where of to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that works not – (it’s so plain. Isn’t it?) but believes on him who makes righteous the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
So if you feel ungodly, don’t be disheartened. It says that he makes righteous the ungodly. Jesus loves you enough that He became an offering for sin. It’s that simple. Righteousness is based upon our belief in what God has said, not upon our conduct.
I know that the righteousness of God has been preached now for a few years, but most still are sin conscious. We still feel inferior. We still feel that our sin separates us from God. Now I know when I say this that the religious mindset has a hard time with it, but if our sin separates us and keeps us from God, then we are all in a lot of trouble.
A Finished Work
It is the work of Calvary that justifies you and cleanses you and makes you a new creation. The work of Calvary is a finished work. If our works could have made us righteous then why did Jesus go to the cross? Many today are trying to perfect themselves by works and techniques. You can make some improvement on the carnal man through techniques, but Christ in you cannot be improved on. We are complete in Him, in His finished work at Calvary.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Rom 8:29-30.
This is our security. It is His work. He is working in us to bring us into the awareness of what He has already completed. We keep trying to perfect Adam instead of learning to live by Christ within us. The book of Hebrews tells us we have a better covenant. The old covenant was based on faith in the coming Messiah, not upon their conduct and efforts, but upon the offerings and the shed blood of the animals. The offerings pointed to the coming of Jesus who would take away sin. Even in the Old Testament sins were only remembered for one year.
And the Apostle Paul says we have a better covenant – Why? – Because your sins aren’t covered anymore, they are forgotten, and they are not even in the mind and heart of God. “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more”. Heb 8:12
I have said many times that if you realize the goodness of God, it will lead you to repentance. God has provided a way of escape out of sin, bondage, bad habits and hang-ups, but it’s only through simple belief and confidence in what He says. We all need a deeper revelation of the New Covenant.
What is your righteousness based on? If it’s based upon your conduct, then every time you fail, you will have an inferior feeling. Every time you miss God, you’ll be condemned. But if your righteousness is based upon the Word of God that declares you to be righteous, when you fail you will simply say, “Father I thank you that I’m cleansed by the blood of Jesus. I thank you that you are filling my consciousness full of your righteousness, and I know that I am forgiven.” We simply need to turn to Him when we fail knowing that He does not hold us accountable for our sin. He does not impute sin. He imputes righteousness.
“Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin”. Rom 4:6-8
The Power of the Gospel
Let’s look at Romans 1 and verse 16. Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
The Greek word salvation is Strongs NT:4991 soteria): from the root word NT:4982 sozo (sode’-zo); which means full deliverance from the curse of the law, which includes, poverty, sickness and death.
The power of the gospel to SAVE in the true sense of the word is not preached much today. Why do people get saved and there seems to be no power for deliverance? Why does the church meet together and there is no power? Deliverance is preached but there’s not much deliverance. Healing is preached, but there’s not much healing. Paul says that the gospel of God is the power of God unto salvation to everyone “That believes.” You see, the church for the most part today, is in a gross darkness of unbelief. Their problem is not their sin. Their problem is their unbelief. Because the enemy in your mind will convince you that you are not righteous before God, because he can point to all of your errors. He can point to all of your hang-ups. He can point to every time you miss God, and convince you in your mind that you will never be righteous before God. Now you may say, “Oh my, that is my problem. I am just full of unbelief.” Well do not despair! All you need to do once you recognize the problem is go to your Father and ask Him to unveil your mind to the truth of righteousness.
Your righteousness must be based upon the Word of the living God so that when you fall, you can turn to your spirit within and speak to the accuser in your mind. You can simply say something like this. “I am the righteousness of God in Christ. The Lord does not impute sin to me, He imputes His righteousness. This thing in my life is a lie. Father I ask for your assistance in dealing with this, and cause your Spirit to arise within me to bring deliverance.”
My experience, if it does not line up with the Word of God is a lie. My experience will line up with the Word of God when I believe the Word of God. I stand upon the Word of God and I will not allow in my consciousness failure, defeat and fear. “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith”. Rom 1:17.
In our spirit, our new nature, we do believe. The problem is in our unrenewed mind. Every evil demonic spirit in the universe will try to implant into your mind the lie that the just shall live by their works of righteousness. As long as you listen to the accuser of the brethren in your mind you will always be defeated and fall under the accusations.
You don’t have to have any faith in yourself. You need faith in CHRIST. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Cor 1:30 Everything you need is within you. Your spirit is one with His spirit. Begin to speak the truth from your spirit and watch how quickly revelation will come to you.
Romans chapter 10 will tell you how to annihilate your weakness, your inferiority, and your inability to do that which God wants to do in you. The Apostle Paul says, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. If he were here today, he’d be praying that for the condition of the church right now, because salvation is not just an intellectual head-trip. Salvation is not just to be saved from Hell to go to Heaven. The church today desperately needs to be saved in the full sense of the word. Salvation means deliverance from sin, freed from sickness and demonic oppression. “Brethren, my heart’s desire in prayer to God is that the church might be saved. “For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to the proper knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Rom 10:2-3.
This presents the problem of the church. We fail God miserably, so we try to correct ourselves. We try to perform. We try to justify ourselves by works rather than submitting unto the righteousness of God. How do you submit to God’s righteousness? Again – it’s not conduct! You submit to God’s righteousness by believing what Jesus has said. It’s that simple. You can have a consciousness that’s absolutely free from sin, failure and defeat, if you will only believe the Word of God. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes.” Rom 10:4. The church for the most part is in a state of unbelief. Because if you believe what God says, you will stand in the righteousness of what the word says, and you will not listen to the accuser of the brethren. You see, every lying, deceiving, conniving spirit, will try to convince you that you are not worthy. And in yourself, in your carnal mind you are not worthy, and will never be worthy; but you don’t have to feel inferior if you know the truth, because our righteousness is in Christ alone. Christ in you is the righteous one. We stand upon His merit, upon His righteousness and upon His works. Christ is the end of the law to everyone that believes.
“The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.” Rom 10:8. Paul is telling us, “The righteousness which I’m trying to reveal to you, the righteousness which I’m trying to make you understand as yours, it is as near as your mouth. It is no further from you, than from the words of your lips.” “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Rom 10:9.
It is all a matter of believing God. Abraham was counted righteous, not because of his conduct, but because he believed God. “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;” Rom 4:19-24 19;
Abraham did not consider his body as good as dead. Today we look at ourselves and most of us fall under condemnation. Some of us have no hope, because we’ve tried for years to be like God and it doesn’t work. But Abraham looked at his body as good as dead, yet he heard the voice of God, and he said, “God I believe you”. And every time he looked at the stars of heaven, he could see the multitudes of his family. And he said, “I believe God”, and God said, “That man is righteous.” I impute to that man righteousness. I don’t impute to him his sin.”
Confessing the Truth
Man’s sin is not revealed in the New Testament, only his victories. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” So Paul said, “This is how you get to be righteous. You confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved.” Paul says it both ways there. He said if you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart, and then he goes on to say, “If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth”, because one will produce the other.
There are a lot of people who have picked up on the doctrine of positive confession, and have used it in the flesh trying to make things happen and gain prosperity in a selfish way. They have perverted the truth so that some Christians today are fearful of positive confession. We should never use confession to try to manipulate God for selfish gain. However, you must learn to speak what God has said. That is agreeing with His word.
Suppose you don’t feel righteous. If you don’t feel righteous, it is out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So the more you speak about your sin and your failure and your inability to do what God wants you to do, the more it establishes you in your sin- consciousness. But if you believe what God
says, and you begin to confess, what God says about you, you will soon gain the victory over the accuser in your mind. “Father I thank you that you have made me the righteousness of God. No longer do I listen to the accuser of the brethren. At this time I may not feel like it but thanks to you I no longer believe my feelings of inferiority. I believe your word that declares me to be righteous. I may not totally understand it, but Father I thank you that you do not impute to me my sin, you impute your righteousness.” It’s that simple. You think of yourself, if you will, as sowing seed. The words that you speak are seeds that you plant in your garden. I am a garden. Paul says that the church is a garden. “For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” 1 Cor 3:9 The word husbandry means a farm (Strongs 1091)
Our soul is a garden. Within our soul grows all the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, meekness and all the loveliness of Christ is coming forth within us.
We plant within our consciousness and within our hearts the righteousness of God by declaring what He says to be the truth. It doesn’t matter how I feel. It doesn’t matter how many habits, how many hang- ups, how much sin I’m in. I say, “Father I thank you that my righteousness is based upon the Word of God that says, “In Him I am righteous”. That will strengthen your faith. And then when you believe with your heart, and you confess with your mouth, it establishes you even more in the realities of God. You see, you shouldn’t confess something just because you want it. You have to confess what God has revealed to you until your mind is renewed, and you believe in your heart. Then you continue to confess what you believe in your heart, and it is a continuous sowing and a reaping within your very own being of the promises and the gifts of God. It comes by absolutely no fleshly effort on your part. You see what a rest this would bring to the church. The people of God are so tired. They have tried everything to feel justified before God. I was so tired because for many years I struggled as a Christian and one day I realized that even in the condition that I was in, I did not have to try and change myself. I just had to realize what God had made me to be, and stand in the reality of His righteousness, and confess with my mouth what I believed to be the truth. The words of your mouth will either create within you godliness or sinfulness. The words of your mouth will either produce in you God- consciousness or sin-consciousness.
Jesus Himself taught the same thing. Look at Matthew 12:35-37. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shall be justified, and by thy words thou shall be condemned.
The Lord’s people feel the need to work for Him to maintain their acceptance before Him. This is a religious spirit that will always drive you to try to work your way into God’s righteousness. It doesn’t come that way. “For by thy words thou shalt be justified (be made righteous), and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Oh how I pray that the people of God get a revelation of this. Do you realize that you can change your experience by believing God and confessing what you believe to be the truth? I can’t get away from confession. When I first had a revelation of this, only my family knows the condition that I was in, and they only know part of it. I never revealed to anybody the state that I was in when I began to see this truth.
I simply made a choice to begin to believe God instead of my condition. Something on the inside of me began to stir when I began to speak the truth. I stopped talking and thinking about my wretched condition. I said, “This has got to be it.” I’ve tried for years to make myself righteous, and it doesn’t work. I began to believe God and confess, “God has made me righteous.” Because of Calvary I stand cleared and forgiven of my condition. This was a marvelous experience.
After trying for years to be a good Christian, how can you fathom that it doesn’t come that way? “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” Titus 3:5
The only thing that works for us is to believe what God has declared to be so. “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Rom 4:3 If you are believing and acting upon the Word of God it brings to you your deliverance and your righteousness. You will begin to experientially walk in righteousness.
“For by thy words you shall be justified (be made righteous), and by thy words you shall be condemned.” You need to write this down until you think of it a hundred times a day. Begin to pay attention to what you are saying;
The words that you speak will be full of faith and power and ability, or your words will be full of fear, inferiority, and weakness. By your words you will control every facet of your life. No matter what you are trying to do in your life, listen to what you are saying. Because whatever you are saying will bring to you the experience of it. This is why Christianity is such a mess. For years they have been taught an inferior consciousness. They have believed wrong and confessed wrong for years and this has produced a bunch of people trying to work their way into holiness instead of believing that the work was finished at Calvary.
God’s principles never fail. “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matt 12:34B
The things of God are always a matter of our heart. If your heart believes wrong, then you are speaking wrong, so you need to repent, change your way of thinking and your way of speaking. Examine your heart. Do you really believe what God has said about you or do you believe the lies of the carnal mind? You need to forget about perfecting your carnal nature and learn to release Christ from your spirit. Begin to speak the truth from your spirit rather than agreeing with the enemy in your mind.
Can you imagine the joy God’s people would experience when they come together if everyone practiced this? When we come together we would realize that our righteousness and acceptance with God is not based upon our conduct. The reason we come together sometimes and feel the heaviness and are just not able to break through to God is because of sin- consciousness. You feel like, “I can’t praise God today. I’ve failed here and I’ve failed there, and I haven’t sensed God all week.” That’s not how you get into God’s presence. When we come together we realize we are righteous because God says we are righteous. We enter His presence, not because of our conduct, but because Jesus has declared us to be righteous before the Father. Romans 4:25 says
that Jesus “Was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our righteousness.” He took away sin, and we were declared righteous, not because we did anything to deserve it, not because we were willing to pray every day, and read our Bible every day, and do good and give money to the poor. We were declared righteous because of Calvary. We are righteous, not because we deserve it, but “because the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” Isa 53:6
Jesus made you righteous. Let’s look at Romans 5:17,19. “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life.” You see if you receive the gift of righteousness, you will begin to reign, but in HIS life, not in your old carnal life. Verse 19, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Just as you identify with your carnal nature, in your weakness and sinfulness and your inability, you need to turn around and begin to identify with the one who gave you His righteousness, His peace, His ability, His comfort, His strength and everything that you need. When you identify with the new creation man that you are in your spirit, God once again begins to live His life in humanity. Christ in you will take over your carnal nature and conform you into His image. Glory to God!
We Are A New Creation
Let’s look again at II Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” That’s the Word of the living God – if ANY man is in Christ. Paul says in verse 20. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” Don’t stay separated from God. Don’t allow a separation to come to your consciousness. Be reconciled to God. Receive the gift of righteousness. You say, “How do I do that? You receive righteousness as a gift by believing what God has said. God says you are righteous.
When you identify with the new creation man that you are in your spirit, God once again begins to live His life in humanity. Christ in you will take over your carnal nature and conform you into His image. Glory to God!
We Are A New Creation
Let’s look again at II Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” That’s the Word of the living God – if ANY man is in Christ. Paul says in verse 20. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” Don’t stay separated from God. Don’t allow a separation to come to your consciousness. Be reconciled to God. Receive the gift of righteousness. You say, “How do I do that? You receive righteousness as a gift by believing what God has said. God says you are righteous.
II Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” On the cross of Calvary, Jesus became an offering for sin. All of creation was placed in Christ. At the cross the old creation was terminated. Every bit of suffering, every pain, every sorrow, every sickness, every disease, everything negative in the whole universe came to an end at the cross. He took away your sinful nature so that you could receive His righteous nature.
And that’s why the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, deliverance, freedom from bondage, and health and healing for our bodies, because it is all provided for in the new creation. We are not poor, beggarly, weak worms of the earth. Christ dwells in us by the power of His Spirit.
I’ve heard the saying many times, “We are not old sinners saved by grace. We were old sinners, and we were saved by grace, but now we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.” God imputes to me His righteousness. I may feel full of sin, inferiority, and weakness, but He imputes to me His righteousness. And I say, “Thank you Father. I’m so glad that I don’t have to look at this sin in my life.” Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that it’s OK for you to sin. I’m saying, don’t look at it. You look to the Word of God. You receive from God His righteousness. You realize that the new birth is something that comes to you not from yourself, but came to you from another realm. The new birth is nothing less than the life of God being awakened in you and you become a brand- new person, a new creation man. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. You no longer have a sinful nature. You’ve had a nature change. And that’s why it’s so hard for you as a Christian to live in sin, because it’s not your nature anymore to do that. The flesh-still wants to sin, and before the mind is renewed, it is full of the old carnal thinking, but you have had a nature change on the inside of you, and you will never again be happy living a life of sin NEVER!
The nature of God in you will never allow you to be happy living a life of sin. And when you realize what has happened to you, and you realize that you can receive the life of God and the righteousness of God, not by conduct but by believing God, it will set you free from that old religious mindset.
Death Destroyed
Hebrews 2:14 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”
The church’s greatest problem in this day and this hour is unbelief. Most believe what they experience in the carnal realm rather than what the scriptures say. For years I believed I was a failure, because of my experience. That is not what God says. God does not re-create carnal natures. He gives you a new life and nature. So therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a brand-new creation.
He destroyed him that had the power of death. This is more just physical. Death is that separation in your consciousness from God. In your carnal consciousness you and God are two separate beings. You can never be one with God in your carnal nature. That nature was finished at the cross. Jesus destroyed him that had the power of death. The power of death is the serpent in your mind keeping you blinded to the reality of God in your spirit. The power of death only works in the carnal mind.
The only thing that can cause you to feel spiritual death, which is simply separation from God, is sin-consciousness. You are so conscious of your failure and your sin and your weakness. That’s the only thing that can keep you in death. But Jesus destroyed him who had the power of death, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. No longer are we subject to bondage.
When you receive the consciousness of God’s righteousness, you will be as bold as a lion. You won’t walk in a hospital room and be timid and be afraid that you might offend somebody or that you have got to be careful about talking about Jesus. The Righteous are as bold as a lion. If you have the consciousness of being as righteous as Jesus is, that means that there are no demons that can stand in your presence, there is no sickness, and there is no disease that can stand in your presence. I know that what I am saying is true, It may not be our experience but that does not nullify the Word of God. That’s how man gets into philosophy and into religion; he waters down the Word of God because he doesn’t experience it. He says, “I’ve prayed for the sick and they don’t get healed, so God must not be doing that today. I don’t see any Apostles and Prophets, so there must not be any today.” That’s not what God’s Word says.
God’s Word says that the believers, not the preachers, and not the Five-Fold ministry, but the believers shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Yet the systemized church believes more in sickness than they believe in the ability to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. The church believes more in curses than they believe in blessings. We believe in sickness more than we believe in the ability of God to heal. We believe in poverty more than we believe in the provision of Jehovah Jireh.
Thank God that we are getting a revelation of the truth. Jesus has destroyed him who had the power of death. The devil has been destroyed, and the only power and ability that he has is that which you give him in your own mind and life. You give him power by agreeing with your carnal mind that you could never live as Jesus lived on the earth, yet the scriptures say that “As He is so are we in this world.
The more you confess your weakness and your sin and your inability to do what God says, the more you solidify your sin- consciousness and separate yourself experientially from God. Stop confessing what your carnal mind tells you. Speak only that which is true according to the word of God. The Word of God says the blood of Jesus cleanses me from every sin. Therefore, if I have bondages in my life, if I have a hang-up I have not overcome, I’m not even going to talk about it. I’m not going to look at my sin, I am going to look away unto Him who is the author and the finisher of my faith. “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.” Heb.10:14.
Righteousness by faith has been lost to the masses of Christianity, but praise the Lord that in these days God is recovering us back to the living and abiding word of God, which is able to save our souls and bring us into conformity to a son of God.
Stay Tuned…