James A. McMenis | Righteousness of Faith | Part 1

so we opened before the prayer in romans chapter 10 and i want to look at this verse again here in verse 3 romans 10 verse 3 because there's something here that i think will set us up for this new series that i want us to get into tonight dealing with the righteousness of god now in this series we're going to talk about god's righteousness and what it means and how to interpret the word righteousness because there's a couple ways when you read about the righteousness of god that we that we have to interpret that word if we're going to understand it and i want us to be a people of understanding and you know i was i was talking to one of our staff members recently about the importance of understanding not just knowledge but understanding because the word understanding means comprehension to the point of application that when i understand a thing i not just have some head knowledge of it i'm able to apply it to my life and that's what i love about understanding the word of god is that i can now apply it to my life i don't just tote my bible to church on sunday for the sake of being you know uh having the look that i got it together but not really understand anything that's in it in jeremiah 3 15 god said i will give you pastors according to my own heart that will feed you with knowledge but not just knowledge jeremiah 3 15 says knowledge and understanding so we don't want we don't just want a head knowledge we want an understanding because some people will seek a knowledge about any given topic just for the sake of the knowledge now we back in the day would call that person having a big head or they thought they were big head because they knew everything you couldn't tell them nothing and the word tells us that knowledge puffeth up that's what we got the big head all right knowledge puff is up and and when knowledge puffs puffs up it means it makes me arrogant or proud i boast in my knowledge and so not everybody that seeks knowledge is seeking it with the right motive but understanding is different than knowledge because understanding goes beyond knowledge now knowledge is vital knowledge is important but without understanding you don't know how to apply it so understanding is that application of knowledge and what i want us to have is not just a knowledge of god's righteousness but an understanding of it that when we read the word we understand what that word means when we read it in that context and that we're able to live it from day to day with the conviction so here in romans 10 verse 3 the the word of god says that israel had a zeal a passion a fire for god but it was not that that that fire that zeal they had was not based on knowledge verse 3 says for they being ignorant not knowing god's righteousness going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness that is of god so there'll be three words that you'll hear in this series quite a bit you'll be hearing the word righteous or righteousness you'll be hearing about self-righteousness and then you'll be hearing rightness rightness and what i'm hoping will happen is is we'll start looking at our own lives and say okay am i trying to just be right in this argument am i trying to just be right in this debate and in my rightness have i stepped out of the righteousness of god or am i self-righteous in this debate self-righteous in this argument and equally so i'm outside the righteousness of god now before we can discern the difference between rightness righteousness and self-righteousness we need to understand what the righteousness of god is because once we get an understanding of what the righteousness of god is we'll be able to discern okay i'm operating in my own rightness or i'm operating in a self-righteousness i'm better than you i'm holier than thou and all that stuff just stinks in the nostrils of god i didn't make that up that's actually scripture all right so when romans 10 3 says that when that when one is ignorant of god's righteousness then they go about and they try to establish their own idea of what is righteous because they're they're ignorant they're not knowing the righteousness of god and therefore there is this false standard or this false balance of what we have made righteous that may not even be based on the righteousness which is of god we as believers need to know the difference now let me establish something real quick by going back to romans chapter 3 romans chapter 3. now when you study the book of romans when you read the book of romans and if you really want to dive into the righteousness of god or the righteousness of faith romans 3 will begin your journey but romans 4 5 and 6 just drive it on home we'll be spending a lot of time over the next few weeks in romans chapter four chapter five and chapter six because it speaks of the righteousness of god now in and of ourselves with ourselves being the source there's none righteous watch romans 3 verse number 10 if you there say amen as it is written there is none righteous no not one let's read that out loud together ready read as it is written there is none righteous no not one so there is no person that we can look at and say now that is the standard of righteousness they they are righteous to their core when i say that i'm saying they don't have a they don't you know uh have attributes of righteousness they are righteous god doesn't just have attributes of righteousness he is righteous hallelujah righteousness comes out of him glory to god now with that verse in mind romans 3 10 if you're one that writes in your bibles underneath that verse if you would put isaiah 64 verse 6 isaiah 64 verse 6 and then turn back over there with me isaiah chapter 64 verse number 6. it's something new i've been doing for the last few months is having you write a verse in your bibles that cross references to another verse and if you're putting that in your notes great if you're writing in the margin of your bibles that's great too uh one of my visions has been to take the bible go all the way through it and write cross references in the margin and then make it available to people and that's been a vision pastor brian recently bought me this nice bible with these big big margins and man i'm just believing god for the time that it'll take for me to go through and begin to do that but i think that's such a great tool when you can do that isaiah chapter 64 when you get there just say amen now look at verse number six but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we do all fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away so what's the word saying here it's saying that when it comes to our own righteousnesses not the righteousness of god but our own righteousnesses i would say this is self-righteous self-righteous when it comes to you and i take an inventory of our life and then putting on this front or establishing this uh position that i'm righteous or that one is righteous god says your own righteousness is all the things that you do that you think make you righteous god says there is filthy rags how can that be how can that be go with me to the 23rd psalm the 23rd psalm and i want us to really understand what righteousness is how can i walk in the righteousness of god and what is the righteousness of faith so i'm about to introduce something but i want to go to the 23rd psalm first and we'll look at it in uh starting in verse number 1. everybody there the lord is my shepherd i shall not want come on somebody the lord is my shepherd i shall not want that means he'll either give you your want or he'll change your want and in most cases he changes your want amen the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters now verse 3 is what i want us to zoom in on he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake now there are two points in this verse the first is he restoreth my soul the second is that he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake so let's read those two points out loud together first point ready read he restoreth my soul second point he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake you don't get the second point without the first so here's something i want you to put in your notes when it comes to the righteousness of god you can when you read scripture and you talk about the righteousness of god it is either going to show up when you're reading that verse and it's speaking of being made relationally righteous relationally relationally righteous or it's representatively righteous what does this mean i'm going to explain that the righteousness of god that we need to understand first is relational relational jesus died on a cross to give me that gift of righteousness so that relationally i could be in right standing with god because ultimately when you say something is righteous you're saying it's in right standing it's in right standing it's upright it's just it's pure it's not perverted it's straight it's upright it's in good standing it's in right standing so if i am in right standing with god then the relationship is not broken that's the gift of righteousness that come or came through jesus christ if i'm not in right standing with god then there is something in between us if i'm not in right standing with god now i want to try to illustrate this i'm going to get to uh my dear friends and and brothers in the lord come up here and help me illustrate this can you guys help me out right quick i want i want to demonstrate this let's say that i'm in debt to you because all of us are actually in debt to god and jesus came to pay that debt all right so let's say and henry if you would you just stand right here uh uh uh well jefferson you stand right here and then here you stand right here so let's say that i'm in debt to henry and this is a bad dude to be in debt too you understand what i'm saying to you i mean i i don't i mean i i mean you know i just don't want to be i don't want to bump into him and i owe him something you know because you know he he could put the thump on me like the junkyard dog back in the day all right so if if if i owe him money and i've not honored my commitment to him maybe he gave me a hundred dollars and i said hey i'm gonna pay you back friday and then friday i don't pay him back and i'm and i'm ducking and running and i see him on aisle 13 in walmart so i'm running to aisle 18 right because i don't want to have anything to do with him because i'm not in right standing because i owe him a debt now you don't have anything like that going on in your life now do you but you might have somebody that's doing you like that that someone that has done you wrong somebody that owes you a debt they hadn't paid it and now they're running from you they don't show up at the family gathering and they're not showing up here and there because they're trying to avoid you because they're not in right standing well let's just illustrate it this way let's say henry is the lord he's the lord god almighty all right in this in this uh skit that i'm giving you and now i'm in debt to god for my sin now the first place that we see relationship broken over sin is when adam is hiding from god in genesis chapter 3 because he had sinned against god when the lord showed up in the garden that day he says adam where art thou where are you why aren't you here to walk with me in the cool of the day but adam did not show up to walk with god because he had sinned against god therefore he was not in right standing with god because that sin had interfered with their relationship and he knew that he had sinned against god he had wronged god therefore he was not in right standing does that make sense to everybody so if there's ever been a time in your life when you were afraid to pray or reserve to pray or reserve to go to church or reserve to get in the word or maybe in a worship service you went to praise the lord and heaviness came over you and said who do you think you are praising the lord after what you did last week and after all that you've been doing in your life and then that whole sin mindset stepped in and you said wow i'm not in right standing with god i can't worship him i can't praise him i can't walk with him i can't be used by him because i'm not in right standing i'm in debt that's what the conviction of sin will do is it is it tells me hey i'm not in right standing now what we're going to learn in this series is that we don't have the ability never have not of the old covenant norn anew man has never had the ability to satisfy the debt that he owed god so there was no amount of work that adam could have done in that garden that that would have said that god would have said okay adam i appreciate you trimming all him hedges come on back in my presence there was no work that adam could have done because the wages of sin is death death had to be paid that was the debt y'all with me so the the debt was death that's what god told adam and eve before they ever sinned if you eat of this tree you will surely die and that's what every one of us owe god for our sin romans 6 23 the wages of sin is death you cannot pay a death debt with life so you say well you know i know i hold god for my sin i'm trying to do right i'm trying to get in church i'm trying to read my bible more i'm trying to you know meditate on the right things i'm trying to stop lying i'm going to stop cheating and and i got to get this thing paid i want to go to heaven impossible if the debt is death how can you pay it with life are y'all with me here we're going we're going to study this and break it down in this series but i need to establish this first for you to understand what you're reading when you see the word righteousness so sin and that dead oh god cause me not to be in right standing with god and the only way to satisfy my standing with god would be for the debt to be paid so what does god do as a uh uh an atonement atonement if you're taking notes i want you to write that word down atonement and let me tell you how i want you to write it i want you to write three words all right at one mint and i know meant really in the word they help me at one minute when you say at one minute you've said atonement but the reason i wanted you to write it at dash one dash meant is that atonement is at one when you've been atoned you've been made at one that's what atonement is so the blood that was offered for man's sin in the old testament gave an atonement and an atonement meant and at one minute all right and at one man we good we good we good we at one again you see that that's atonement but when sin is in between us we're not at one are y'all with me so when when god in the old testament in genesis 3 when he offered that lamb in genesis 3 21 when he offered that lamb for adam's sin that lamb pointed to the lamb jesus and that innocent lamb that had done no wrong died in the garden that day to pay the debt that adam owed god now it wasn't a full debt but it pointed to god in his eternal position accepted that lamb as a picture of the final lamb jesus that would die to pay man send it glory to god now in the next chapter chapter 4 abel comes to god and brother jefferson what does he bring abel what does abel bring to god all right uh cain cain brings the work of his hands he brings the fruit of the ground i put you on the spot i should have done that all right so abel brought a bloodied lamb abel took a lamb and sacrificed it and brought it to god and genesis 4 says abel was accepted in other words god said okay i'll take that i take that i take that but when cain brought the fruit of his labors especially when you consider a part of the judgment of sin in genesis 3 was that man would would eat by the sweat of his brow that he would toil with the dirt to make it yield its harvest that was a part of the curse of sin cain invents a tool he breaks the ground he he plants he yields fruit he brings that fruit which was the fruit of his work he brings it to god the fruit and what does god do he rejects it why would god reject cain's work because he's establishing the point that right standing with god would not come by man's work but by a price of death he wanted and abel gets it right because he brings a sacrificed lamb and so god tells cain that all he has to do is what is acceptable and and to do and to do ultimately what abel had done and he would be accepted cain got so aggravated that his method his method of right standing working hard bringing my labors to god my that's my that's my righteousness cain's sin this is what i have done this is the standard i create god rejected it cain got so aggravated that he murders abel over what self-righteousness god is establishing it from the very beginning that the only way to have right standing with me is for that debt to be paid that's why jesus came now we're going to talk about that you know for a few more minutes but i want to illustrate this so man according to romans 6 23 is in debt to god it'd be like me being in debt to henry and you know what even if i see him in public we might add cordial hey henry man what's going on brother but there's just something about him right there in his eye he's like man you owe me that money and i'm a little bit reserved i'm a little bit reserved because i know i owe him money and matter of fact i'm real reserved because we just met and we just saw each other at an expensive restaurant and so i'm like i obviously can't afford a steak but i can't pay you your money and then i go out to my vehicle and he sees i'm riding a new car and he's like wait a minute you know you got money for all this but you can't pay me you know how it is that's the way man was before god so i owe him a hundred dollars i can't pay that debt i cannot pay that debt and as long as that debt's hanging between us then i can't be in right standing so god sends jesus hey glory to god so god sends you brother jefferson's going to be jesus and jesus is going to step on the scene and say you know what i got you i got you let me pay this debt for you and so he's going to take care of that debt and he's going to pay the one i owe and say now now you paid you paid and i i'm clear i'm clear now because he paid my debt and this righteous god said okay i'm gonna accept that you made that payment for me and now what jesus is saying to me is hey don't forget i paid your debt represent me in all that you do represent me in all that you do represent the one that paid your debt so now any righteousness that you see in my life is not me trying to pay off my debt it's me representing the one that did pay off my debt does that make sense to everybody hallelujah now i don't owe jesus anything because this was a free gift that he gave me and now i don't owe god anything because my debt has been paid but what god is calling me to do now is to represent the one that paid my debt so watch this when you study righteousness in the bible you're going to see it in one of it true righteousness you're going to see it in one of two definitions one of two lights you're going to see it as relationally right right standing i have right standing with god now a relationship with god because my debt has been paid you're going to see it relationally or you're going to see it representatively where i'm called to walk in righteousness because i am representing the one that gave me a relationship with god it won't always be the same when you're reading the word righteousness in scripture i want you to look at that that statement and say okay is that right standing with god that i've been given through christ is that what that verse is speaking of or is that verse speaking of me representing christ because i have right standing with god are you with me now sometimes you're going to see both in the verse so let's go on our journey thank you gentlemen hallelujah let's give it up for these guys right here amen now so so watch this in the 23rd psalm and remember i told you there were two points there you're about to see both you're about to see both you're going to see how the relationship was restored and and right standing was given and then you're going to see that now i'm going to represent the one that gave me right standing with god now that i have right standing with god i'm called to represent him to represent him all right watch this the 23rd psalm again verse 3 he restoreth my soul he restoreth my soul so since he's restored my soul watch this that's relationally i've been forgiven i've been redeemed by the blood of jesus i've been restored now i have right standing with god through jesus now because i have that right standing look at the second part he leadeth me read it with me he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake not my name's sake his name's sake if righteousness is for his name's sake then that means that's representative righteousness i'm walking in a righteousness to represent the righteousness of god in the earth this is not about me trying to be right this is not about me getting into a debate this isn't about me having an argument and i'm gonna make my case to prove to you i'm right no this has i don't have any my righteousness or his filthy rags we'd only want to bring up all my mess this is about me representing the righteous father that has restored my relationship with him it's clearer than day that righteousness true righteousness is for his namesake true righteousness is not for my name's sake it's not for your pastor's name's sake it's not for your church's namesake true righteousness is for his name's sake it's for his glory it's for his kingdom it's all about jesus it's all about my father i want to walk in the paths of righteousness so that i can represent him because if i as his child if i has his child who has been restored and redeemed and belong to him don't walk in righteousness i misrepresent the one that redeemed me just like uh you know if you had and here what's interesting is the 23rd psalm is pictured around a shepherd and his sheep the whole all six verses are about the journey of a shepherd with his sheep and maybe one day i'll do the teaching on this again it's a beautiful study in these six verses but the the sheep number one would be earmarked and that earmark would be what the shepherd would use to establish that sheep as their own and interesting enough they would take a knife or a blade of some sort and they would put and even today their their tattoos or numbers are that are put in ears of sheep or animal or livestock the tag that that's that speak to the owner and if you've been born again you've been earmarked you know how because my sheep know my voice when you hear the word of god and you respond you've been earmarked if you hear the word of god they don't do unto you you need to get born again if you're not quick and when you hear the word of god that means you hadn't been earmarked i need to be earmarked and i'm earmarked by the sword of the spirit which is the word of god but notice here that when the sheep are healthy when the sheep are in right standing when the sheep are lit besides still waters when the sheep are lying down in green pastures when the sheep are being led by his rod and by his staff when the sheep make it to the table in the summer and back to the house in the winter when the sheep live a prosperous and healthy and safe life then that's a reflection of their owner's name thou leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake if you saw a mangy messed up sheep and you wouldn't say man look at that dumb sheep you would say golly that shepherd is pitiful look how he has mismanaged his flock the condition of the sheep was a reflection of the shepherd and so when the sheep were healthy and whole that was a reflection of the shepherd and god wants you and i walking in such a way that we reflect the shepherd and when you're not looking good he's not looking good amen righteousness is all about representation i'm representing my father who has redeemed me and when you don't understand the difference between relational relationally being made righteous where i'm in right standing with god because of jesus and the difference between that and representation sometimes the two get clouded and that's where bad religion comes in and tells folks that they're not saved unless they've done this long to do list there's a misunderstanding of the two and that's what romans chapter four chapter five and chapter six is making the case of hallelujah now let's look at some other scriptures here and go further into this let's go over to john chapter 16. john chapter 16. here's a verse we looked at uh over the last couple of weeks in the series on conviction and i want to look at it again this is jesus preparing uh the disciples for for his departure and he he's promising to send the holy spirit and then he's listing what the holy spirit would do we'll look at it in john 16 but i feel like i may be going too fast anybody getting this we getting this understand this okay because if we don't understand what we're seeing when we look at the word righteousness then we'll we'll miss because it's out of context and remember what i've told you about context anytime that you you take text out of its context context minus text equals what con and that's how folk get conned is text is taken out of context so what i'm trying to do is let you understand righteousness in context hey glory to god all right watch this john chapter 16 we'll look at it in uh verse number uh verse number seven church i really sense and you know today is an overview but i really sense over the next couple of weeks there's just going to be such a freedom that's going to come for many people such a freedom one of the verses that i'm excited about studying in the book of romans is that when i was in sin when i was in sin when i was a sinner and knew i was a sinner the bible says that in my sin i was free from righteousness you ever thought about that i mean the scripture says that in romans chapter six that when when i was in sin i was free from righteousness man when i was in the world and lost and in sin i didn't get convicted because i didn't read the word i didn't get convicted because i didn't go to church i didn't get convicted by the way i was living because i didn't i didn't have conviction because i was in sin i knew it i wasn't saved i didn't name jesus but once i accepted christ and named his name now all of a sudden i'm not free to do stuff i'm no longer free from righteousness now let me just make sure we're understanding this and this is romans 6 i think 16 through 18. let me make sure we understand this and everybody wasn't raised the same way i know some of you were raised in church you may never have never been free from righteousness all right like like my son right here on this front row james christian don't know what that means he's been walking with the lord and and knew the of the lord all of his life and and that's the role that parents are supposed to have but all of us didn't come up the same way and and and there can be a time in his life when he's not under my roof where he could choose to be well now he can't because he's already accepted christ so he got saved he'll never be free from righteousness which is a good thing that's the way it ought to be but there are some of us that know what it was like to be free from righteousness i mean you you didn't bother you that you wasn't doing the right thing or honoring god you were free was anybody here like that can you just say amen all right do you know that now in christ you're free from the sin which means when i was in sin and and that was my name that was printed on my shirt that was that was my talk that was my conversation that was my lifestyle i'm all in it i'm free from your church going holy rolling all y'all have it i'm free church nothing sleeping in party all night this is me cuss you out leave me alone i'm lost no i don't want a bible i'm i'm i'm free from that that's sin for some of us when you accepted christ romans 6 16-18 teaches now you're no longer free from righteousness now you're free from sin which means when you entered into christ because you now have right standing with god you're no longer free from that conviction of righteousness but you are now free from the power of sin but yet there are many believers that have accepted christ as savior but they've not allowed the lord to liberate them from the sin mindset and that's the power of the righteousness of god is that once you understand that jesus paid your debt once you understand that you have right standing with god then you can begin to walk out relationally this plan that god has for you but as long as the enemy can convince you that you have no relationship with god because of your past you have no relationship with god because of that thing that you did that you don't want nobody to know about that way you used to live that thing you allowed in your life if you can keep that the enemy can keep you separated relationally from god you'll never know the power of representatively living out the righteousness of god because the enemy has convinced you you have no relational upright standing with god you know that jesus said where your heart is your treasure will be if you have my heart you have my treasure when god has your heart he has your treasure the reason why so many people struck struggle in giving god honor in their service and their sacrifice and and honoring him with alms offerings tithes all of that is because he doesn't have them and so when you don't have my heart you don't have my treasure and many have not do not know that oneness that atonement that oneness that god wants them to have because their sin-mindedness has separated them relationally and there's no representation of the relationship in their life you can't see jesus in them i'm not saying this to be condemning i'm saying this that when you can't see jesus in my service and you can't see jesus in my giving it's not that i have an issue representing it's that based on scripture my problem is i don't understand my relational atonement that's where it begins we shouldn't bring people into a church any assembly and try to see how we can get them to represent jesus until we first understand that they have a relationship with him that's why you can't have a bunch of rules and regulations of people and walk them in like robots and say hey this is worship now lift your hand lift your hand lift your hand lift your hand oh okay that's what i do right now left man okay i didn't know if you love the lord you lift your hand oh wait what the spirit of the lord is there is liberty what that means liberty if i don't want to raise my hand we don't ever think about that we do it because we've let we've let people tell us what righteousness looks like and when we've been given this set of rules and says hey do this do this and do this and do this and you'll be in right standing and so we okay i gotta do this and this and i'm being right standing okay i gotta get this down and then you're missing like god can't do it and god's saying no no no let's get the relational factors solidified let's let's get the relationship down and once i have your heart you you can't help but represent me you won't help but be able to represent me because you're in a relationship with me listen jesus did not come to this earth to give man a religion he came to give man a relationship that's why jesus came that's where so many in the church have missed it is that we're trying to cram religion down people's throat jesus didn't come to give us religion he came to give us relationship and that relationship can't happen when you don't have right standing and that's what jesus died to give me right stay well who do you think you are with jesus on your shirt i'm born again oh i know what you did it's under the blood i've been redeemed he paid my debt i'm not who i used to be i may not be who i want to be but i'm definitely not who i used to be i'm a new creation in christ jesus old things have passed away all things have become brand new oh well how is it that you forgave that man what he did shoot look at what god forgave me how can i not forgive him when i consider what god has forgiven me from the things you start seeing in my life are the result of a relationship not a bunch of rules and a religion oh man when you're ignorant of god's righteousness we read it in the first verse when you're ignorant of god's righteousness romans 10 3 says you'll go about and establish your own you'll just because everybody wants to be right don't nobody want to be wrong we want to be right so we'll argue our point make our case and do everything we can because we want to be right but what if your rightness is outside the righteousness of god amen all right watch this john 16. nevertheless verse 7 i tell you the truth it is expedient for you that i go away for if i go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if i depart i will send him unto you and when he has come and i know we looked at this in the conviction series and if you weren't here for the conviction series get that and when he has come he will number one reprove the world of sin number two of righteousness and number three of judgment and then he explains those three in the next three verses but look what he says about well i just read it of sin because they believed not on me first role of the holy spirit was to convince us to believe number the second rule verse 10 of righteousness because i go to my father and you see me no more i go to my father you see me no more there had to be the presence of the holy spirit to convince me of righteousness in his absence thou leadest me in the paths of righteousness for whose name his name so i need the presence of the holy spirit in my life to convince me of righteousness because he's not here i'm representing him and that's what god's called the church to be that's what god's called you and i as believers to be he's called us to represent righteousness now let me let me let me just give you an example of this but i want you to go to first um go with me to first john and and i want to give you a little uh quick example of this of what i'm talking about but go with me to first john i want to go to the second chapter so in just about every election cycle and i say every because i don't like dating these messages i like preaching message you can apply to any time in life whether you listen to it 20 years from now or if you heard it 20 years ago because the word of god is is eternal it always can be applied but you you hear terms and in our in our in in our uh uh government we you know unless you're independent you have republican you have democrat and then synonyms to those words or other uh nicknames would be right and left conservative liberal we hear this stuff all the time and so you might say as a christian okay where do i go in this do i need to be on the left or do i need to be on the right do i need to be liberal or do i need to be conservative do i need to be democrat do i need to be republican let me give you the answer be righteous there's not an entity in this world that is righteous enough to rep to reflect the righteousness which is of god which means the standard i hold to my life is higher than any man-made standard or any man-made tag or title my standard is higher my standard is the righteousness which is of god does that make sense in other words i'm not worried about getting on somebody's side i'm worried about advancing the kingdom of god i represent a higher government a higher authority a higher house a higher power and the power that i represent is the king of kings and the lord of lords so my standard goes beyond anything that this world can come up with so when living that out when living that out the standard of my life is not what some party says the standard of my life is the kingdom of god and if it comes to advancing a certain party or agenda or community or organization or whatever else you want to name i'm going to find the one that best represents my kingdom does that make sense chairs we can't let the world or religion or a church establish the standard that we represent i represent the king of kings i come on i come in his name oh my gosh come on somebody i'm coming in his name i represent him hallelujah i'm not i'm not i'm not i'm not worried about being in in right standing with man and then compromise my conviction so that i can be in right standing with you and i lower my standards so i can be in right standing with you no i'm not going to compromise the right standing that jesus gave me with the father i'm going to represent his position on that so i don't need what what's your position the word the word the word what's your position the word the word the word whenever you ask me my position on a thing i'm going to go back to the word of god that's my position my position is his word because that's righteous that's what the church needs to do in these days what does the word say what does the book say glory to god all right first john chapter two we'll look at it in uh verse number 29. first john chapter 2 verse 29 watch this you're going to see this whole relational righteousness and this representation show up in these next few verses we're going to look at first john chapter 2 you there say amen verse 29 if we know that he is righteous he doesn't have righteousness he is righteousness he's the standard he's the mark he establishes it righteousness is not an attribute of god it is god the problem with the world today is when any time you take god or his standard out then you are left up to the opinion of man i have to have a standard if you know that he is righteous so he's my standard you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him now let's read that verse out loud okay ready read if you know that he is righteous you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him so notice you have in this verse the relational right standing and because you have relational right standing you have the representation look at the relational right standing if you know that he is righteous you know that everyone that doeth righteousness that doeth why would a man do righteous why would a man choose righteousness here's the answer because he's born of him why why is that boy i act like you he's my son well why why why why why why does that girl look so much like you oh oh she's my daughter see if i'm born of god i start taking on the nature and image of god the righteousness you see in my life is not what brought me to god it's a reflection of the god that jesus already brought me to oh my soul did you did you hey that was my righteousness isn't my effort and trying to work my way to god no i don't even have the ability to walk in righteousness in and of myself jesus paid that debt he spilt his blood he gave me right standing so that i could have a relationship with god and now that i have a relationship with him and i've been born again by his spirit in me the righteousness that comes out of my life is what flowed from him through me not through me to him you see the difference religion will flip it on you it's relational first well i love jesus oh i love jesus oh i love jesus oh how i love jesus and everybody say man you love jesus huh oh why why you love jesus so much oh i'm just trying to get him to love me back and i'm just loving on jesus and hoping one day he's going to love me too oh really yeah now we would think that's ridiculous right but yet that's what religion will tell you just keep loving on jesus maybe he'll love you back no no the reason i love jesus scripture says i love him help me somebody because he first loved me it was his love for me that gave me the ability to love him back i'm not even loving him if he didn't love me i can't live for him if he didn't die for me what you see in me came from him i don't have it in of myself there's none righteous no not one even all that right stuff i tried to do when i didn't know him it was as filthy rags it did not get me any closer to him i have ministered to people that have been in church and church drove them from the lord because of the amount of rules and regulations and you aren't saved if you're not doing this if you're not doing this and you're not doing this it's because you're not saved i have talked to people that said i don't know how to get saved i did everything they told me to do but it was not enough it's because you didn't have the relationship right standing with god was a gift because righteousness simply put is right standing the only way i have right standing with god is that jesus paid my debt he restored the relationship so that i could have right standing with god you know you know you hear people say man you better you need to get right with god you need to get right with god and man that's scary it's like oh man i gotta get right with god i've been going to church two times out of a month i gotta start at least making three you can't get right with god without jesus i hear what you're saying get right with god but there is no getting getting right with god means have right standing you can't have right standing without jesus is my i ain't in right standing with god because i preach i'm not in right standing with god cause i'm wearing this jacket i'm not in right standing with god because i've been in church half my life that doesn't give me right standing with god what you see in my life is a reflection of a relationship it's not me trying to gain one right standing with god was given to me by jesus on that cross when he paid my debt and he took my mess upon himself and on that cross his last words were catelestai to telesty that's a hebrew phrase that means the battle is woman the the prophecy is complete and lastly the debt is paid archaeologists have found that word tetelestai stamped on old tax bills and debts it means the debt is paid when jesus died on that cross and he said to telesty he was saying the debt is paid so that man can have right standing with god not by his own works not by his own power not by his own effort not by his own religion but by the blood of jesus christ i have right standing with god that's called atonement atonement atonement is what the blood did it covered sin but look at the word at one minute i was made at one with god through jesus now because i have the relationship you start seeing the reflection you start seeing the representation oh that boy is a spitting image of his daddy not if he's not with his daddy glory to god now watch this i've got a few more verses and we'll close all right for those of you that have just been alienated by bad teaching rules and regulations i hope this work will make you free there is a righteousness that that is a gift romans six tells us this and that right standing is the gift that jesus gave you and you can have it with the father today hallelujah watch this in first john chapter 3 first john chapter 3 we'll look at it in verse number 7. little children let no man deceive you he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous so if you see righteousness come out of me it's because he is righteous he is the source i'm only representing it i'm only reflecting it it's not mine it's his look at verse 10. in this the children of god are manifest and the children of the devil so let me just stop right there who in your life are you representing represent me represent represent represent represent represent that's all represent means it means to represent who are you representing are you reap are you representing your father in heaven or are you representing the enemy of the devil i tell you who you represent the one you got the closest relationship to oh yeah the devil made me do it no he didn't but you walked with him long enough you start talking like him you listen to him long enough you'll start saying what he says you hang out with him long enough you'll start acting just like him you're reflecting the one you have the relationship with oh my soul verse 10 in this the children of god are manifest and the children of the devil whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of god neither he that loveth not his brother because that's of god so who am i manifesting whose life am i manifesting who am i representing to the world it's based on who i have the relationship with that's the case that romans chapter 6 makes again and again is based on the choices i'm making and and how i'm yielding my life can we close there in romans 6 and kind of find a a stopping point on this go with me to romans chapter number six romans 6. let's just take an exa uh looking at a few examples of this the word tells me in ephesians 4 24 you can put this in your notes that i'm to put on the new man which after god is created in righteousness it's a choice i make put on this new man created in righteousness ephesians 5 9 the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and righteousness the fruit of the spirit is righteousness if you see righteousness in my life that's the fruit that's the production of the holy spirit in my life well how do i represent this righteousness where do i get it from how do i know what's right with god you've got to get in his word second timothy 3 16 second timothy 3 16 says all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness if i'm going to be instructed in righteousness i've got to have his word his word is righteous another verse that backs this up is hebrews 5 13. when i'm taught in hebrews 5 that by use of the word my senses are exercised to discern between what is good and evil ephesians 5 13 says for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is obeyed how else is righteousness established in my life it's established by correction hebrews 12 11 says now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous which means anytime we're corrected we don't get excited about it it brings grief nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby so god uses his word to correct me god uses his word to instruct me it's his word that becomes my manual for righteous living hallelujah now watch this in romans chapter six and we'll we'll find a a place to close romans six i guess i better get over there so i guess you know two very important questions to ask yourself in this service and those of you streaming is number one am i am i in right standing with god in that i've accepted the debt that jesus paid have i accepted christ the price he paid so that i could have right standing with god and you might say well pastor you don't know all this sin i committed i'm telling you that's why he died you can have right standing with god that's why he died then secondly if you have received christ as your savior and you know that you've been relationally restored to god are you representing him in the way you behave are you representing him in the way you love other people are you representing him in your life because from the very beginning and i'm gonna close here in just a minute here in roman six but from the very beginning god's plan for man was that he advance his kingdom god's kingdom and bring him glory that is the plan that god has for man that's recorded in genesis chapter uh uh two verse number seven verse number seven uh uh verse number seven where he made man in his own image that's recorded in psalms 8 where the bible says that when he made man he crowned him with glory he was made in his image he crowned him with glory that word glory comes from the hebrew word and that just means a uh the heavy weight of god's presence the essence of god's presence the disclosure of god's presence the revealing of god's presence it's making him known when you bring glory to god it's not because you shouted hallelujah in church when you bring glory to god it's because you have reflected who he is that brings him glory when you reflect who he is when i when i when i treat you the way the father would treat you then now i'm reflecting who he is when i do what he would do i'm reflecting who he is and that brings god glory so that that that's the mandate on my life that's the purpose of my existence from the very moment that god made adam is that i represent the father so that's the motive in everything that i do that i represent him well i don't know about that then why did god make man in his image why didn't god make man in the image of an angel why didn't god make man in the image of something else why would he make man in his own image because he wanted man to reflect him he wanted man to represent him man was made to be a subordinate king over planet earth representing the higher king the king of kings in heaven that's my purpose in life is to advance his kingdom and bring him glory i'd detest this whole mindset that we act that we've been talked into by secular society that tells us hey put your faith and put your church stuff over in your church building but don't let that spill over into education don't let that spill over on your job don't let that spill over in the way you raise your family don't let that spill over into the political world that is garbage that is the enemy that's exactly what he wants me to do he wants me to take my faith and put it in a building called a church building and then leave it there on sunday but that is not the plan that god has for me he's called me to take whatever my role is in life whatever my position is in life whether i am a preacher whether i'm a mechanic whether i no matter whether i'm an educator or if i'm a coach if i'm a basketball player whatever i am to take that realm to take that position and to use it for the glory of god the enemy says you got to leave your religion at church you got to release leave that stuff at home because the enemy doesn't want me living out my plan my purpose and the purpose of god in my life is to represent him in every domain glory to god so you're a doctor and i've heard so many testimonies and pastor and i know you have of individuals that had a physical need and you go see a physical doctrine because you've got a physical need and that physical doctor says hey let me pray with you you say well i don't know if i can pray with this person they might not be in faith if you're going into a life and death surgery everybody ready for prayer the atheist office doesn't believe they pray i'm not going to leave my faith outside of what i'm getting ready to do so that they're separated that's the divide that the enemy wants it would force people to have to come inside a church building to even get a picture of jesus when jesus established his church there was no building it was just an assembly and that assembly was called an ecclesia that's the greek word for church ecclesia and the word ecclesia actually means senate and a senate is nothing more than a group of individuals that represent someone else i have been called god senate of his kingdom i represent him everywhere i go that's the mandate on my life i represent him but you can't represent somebody you don't even know how are you going how are you going to represent me you don't know me and i had to talk a guy he didn't met me and got mad at me somebody says some stuff you don't know me you can't scroll the tv and see me for five minutes and keep flipping think you know me you don't know me you ever you ever told anybody you don't know me don't nobody like being misrepresented man you don't know me get me righteously and dignity and you taught me like you know you don't even know me how can we represent god when we don't know him how can i represent jesus when i don't know him if i don't know his heart if i don't know his love if i don't know his character if i don't know his conviction if i don't know his standard if i don't know his righteousness how can i represent him this world right now is screaming for the righteousness of god it needs it opinions aren't getting anywhere to every opinion in this world we live in somebody's got an opposing opinion and a debate and an argument and a great divide we need people to stand up for the righteousness of god because it'll work it'll prevail the bible says righteousness exalts a nation quit worrying about if you write i know i'm wrong i'm doing right don't worry about being right you've been wrong over something we all yeah all right watch this we got a lot to cover in this series watch this roman roman six but i gotta say this again we're gonna read this not be done it's my anniversary i gotta get home it's your anniversary hey i lost my train of thought here we go please don't let the enemy talk you into this whole secular divide we had somebody mr euler get up and preach a whole sermon on it we had somebody we we were talking to and and and said well i'm not going to put my child a word of god academy i don't want them learning religion i like to fail out learn and read what learning you think these kids up every day learning religion that's all they do they go to every class learning religion i wish you would come and have a sit down miss you and take a tour the bible says the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge my son came home the other day jaren in the kitchen at the bar at the kitchen was giving me a whole message on geometry geometry i mean i struggle with geometry you know i'm doing good to get me a square that ain't even a square a carpenter's square that ain't even a square it's a triangle some of y'all know what i'm talking about and i'm trying to figure out how is this a square it's a triangle and i'm setting it on a board so i can figure out how to cut something 20 degrees that's about the extent of geometry i know my son come on the other day and was telling me all about geometry with a god factor in it and i was like no you didn't get god in geometry but mr ben dinsmore who teaches our geometry class knows how to inject faith in everything and so all word of god academy is doing is educating in every topic but not omitting god not omitting god showing you the god in every subject but sadly because we've been so programmed that education is education and churches church we don't understand that you can put christianity or the kingdom in education and education will actually be better because the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge but we have been programmed that everything has to be divided [Applause] you hear people say it well don't bring that faith up here don't bring that up here don't wear that shirt don't bring that bible up here how can i live out righteousness if i've been told i have to leave my righteousness at church and we that are born again should have a conviction for righteousness so if you brought your child to word kids and and and and you were and your child was taught something you knew biblically was not right you'd get them walk out to church they taught my child they told my child that god did not create the heaven and earth can i believe a church would teach that i can't believe a church would teach that how can you teach that god didn't create when that's the first verse about i'm leaving that church but yet you send your child somewhere else here the exact same thing it's acceptable because we put one standard on the church house that we don't put anywhere else because the enemy has convinced us righteousness is only in a certain place on a certain day of the week for two hours and until we understand righteousness thou lead us me in the paths of righteousness i work for uh after school one day i got a job running errands for a guy to own a mechanic shop and lady come in with a car and the water was coming out the hose and the guy said uh we're going to put a new water pump on you you need a water pump charging for a water pump she didn't need a water pump she had a leaking hose i saw it and i wouldn't even say i went home and told my daddy i said man he tried to lay for a water pump all she had was leaking hoes he said he won't be back there tomorrow my daddy said we weren't in church anything he won't be back there tomorrow i said what he said you ain't working no i said why he said that's not why i'm raising my son i couldn't go back to work here anymore because a man cheated a woman off a water pump what's my fault i lost a job but if you're righteous you're not going to cheat nobody that pulls their car into your garage because it's that would that would misrepresent your father the world needs people that will live out the righteousness of god in every walk of life i'm going to do what i said i do i'm going to honor my word if i'm charging for this this is what you're going to get i'm going to be fair i'm going to be just because that's what is right i'm representing jesus i'm not a christian because i got a fish on my business card i'm not a christian because i'm playing christian music in my office no i'm a christian because the way i do business represents my father in heaven i want to represent him and everything that i do because he's the one i have the relationship with he's the one that i love he is the source of my life he's the center of my being and i want to represent him in everything that i do no i can't separate my faith from my life when you get me you got him and we are the same we are one you can't ask me to leave jesus at church no i gotta walk with him and talk with him and bring him into every avenue and every place that i enter i got to close man come on all right let me wrap this up real quick here i promise everybody this is it verse number verse number 13 romans 6 neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto god as those that are alive from the dead in your members which means your flesh as instruments of righteousness unto god yield means i'm giving him the right away i'm giving him the right away not me him yield when you get to a yield sign if something's coming you got to yield i'm yielding my life to him lord in my mind this would be right but what do you say he says forgive lord i don't want to get him god said no you're going to forgive him lord let me get him he needs to be god god said no you're going to forgive that represents me lead me in the past of righteousness lord yielding yielding verse 16 know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience under righteousness verse 18 last verse we'll close verse 19 last verse all right being verse 18 being then made free from sin being made free from sin jesus liberated the power that sin had over me and now i became the servant of righteousness i used to serve sin i was all into but now i'm serving righteousness i'm gonna be all in hallelujah verse 20 for when you were the servants of sin you were free from righteousness that's what i was telling you a few minutes ago what fruit verse 21 had you then of those things that you're now ashamed um for verse 23 says the wages of sin is death but the gift of god he gave it to me is eternal life through jesus christ my lord and and just with that verse in mind back up real quick to chapter 5 verse 21. i'm going to close 5 21 that as sin hath reigned unto death even so my grace reigned through righteousness unto eternal life by jesus christ our lord he's the source if you see righteousness in me that's jesus you're just seeing jesus in me glory to god did that help anybody lord give us a conviction of what it means to live out the righteousness of god amen hallelujah let me pray for you father we thank you for your word lord thank you for understanding i pray right now father by your spirit that if there be anyone here or anyone watching this life feed right now father that that is not in right standing with you i thank you that forgiveness is available cleansing is available grace is available courtesy of your son our savior jesus christ thank you lord that you would pay my debt that i could have right standing with god if somebody's struggling if one of you are struggling with this whole right standing with god this is why jesus came receive his gift just receive it receive his forgiveness and forgive yourself and then secondly if you receive this right standing because you know jesus paid your debt can others see it in your life can they see jesus in you can they see righteousness in you not because of what you're trying to earn not for the glory of yourself but that you want to represent him so father if there be one here tonight that needs to receive jesus let this be the day of their salvation father if there's any one of us that need the conviction to represent you give it to us lord and father if we've allowed the world to talk us into separating what's sanctified from what is secular may that change tonight that we would not live a double life that we would not be double agents but that you would lead us in the paths all paths of righteousness that we would bring your name glory in every walk of life [Music] church we can't let this world tell us leave our faith at home leave our faith at church i'm living it everywhere i go i'm living it only the enemy would ask me to separate it i invite you to pray with me heavenly father thank you for the atonement for sending your son jesus to die for my sin the unrighteous myself my day paid by your righteous son thank you for your grace that i could have right standing with you because of jesus now give me a conviction to represent you your name and your kingdom and all walks of life may my life advance your kingdom and bring you glory lead me in the paths of righteousness for your name's sake in jesus name amen [Music] you

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Length: 75min 42sec (4542 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 04 2020