The Importance Of Understanding Righteousness - Sunday Service

well praise god uh i'm excited about today for two reasons number one is because you get the word of god and number two football season starts today so you know i ain't gonna be up here doing a long talking and stuff like that so we gonna we're gonna let it do what it do praise the lord but um you know i'm i'm really excited from last sunday where we talked about jesus being the peacemaker and i am convinced that people have not benefited from what jesus has done especially in the area of righteousness because they have not understood it and our foundations are so important and i believe that if you don't understand the foundation of righteousness you miss out on a whole lot and so today we're going to talk about the importance of understanding righteousness we're going to talk about the importance of a foundation and every born-again believer must understand this foundation of righteousness and you begin to see things happen when you begin to accept it you begin to walk in it you begin to understand it amen so father we give you praise for this message we give you praise for the anointing we give you praise that every ears anointed to hear every heart's unhonored to receive none of me all of you jesus we thank you for it now in jesus name amen if you have your bibles go with me to first corinthians chapter 3 and verse 10 we're going to read 10 and 11. first corinthians chapter 3 verse 10 and 11. now verse 10 says according to the grace of god which is given unto me as a wise master builder i have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon for other foundation can no man lay then that is laid and he says that that foundation is jesus christ that foundation is jesus christ now the foundation of the house in my opinion is probably the most important part of the house you can take two houses uh they can be the same kind of house they can have the same kind of windows the same kind of uh doors the same kind of roof but let's just say one might have been built on sand and the other one might have been built on a rock and when the challenges come only the house that's been built on the rock is going to be able to stand matthew chapter 7 24 27 talks about that wives master builder and it talks about you know building a house on the sand and building on the rock he says in verse 24 therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them i will liken him unto a wise man and he says a wise man which built his house upon a rock he says and the rain descended and the floods came that's the situation that's the conditions that's the circumstances the challenges that show up and the wind blew and beat upon the house and it fell not for it was founded upon iraq so when challenges of life come when the wind the storm when all of these weird things when a pandemic comes when economic situations come when fear knocks at the door he says if you built your house on the rock and the bible says that rock is jesus says you're going to be just fine but then he compares it to building a house on a sand in verse 26 he says and everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be like unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of this these are the different challenges that show up and if you built that house on sand then it's gonna fall and it's gonna and great will be the fall and so we've got to understand you know that if we build our house on jesus christ that house is gonna stand against anything that shows up but if you build that house on sand if you build it on self effort if you build that house on your own image then when the circumstances and situations show up that house will fall and great will be the fall of that house you see all other foundations are are shifting sand and so we see here in first corinthians chapter 3 10 and 11 this foundation that we have it is a sure foundation now the question i have for you starting off this morning is the foundation of our faith built on sand or is it built on a rock that's a very serious question because some of us we've been in church for years and years and years and we've got to ask ourselves have i been have i built my belief system have i built my faith on sand that uh when the circumstances show up my my house falls and great is that fall or have i spent my time building it on the foundation that uh of jesus christ which the scripture talks about you see our foundations will only shake if it has been built on something other than christ so if there's shaking going on if there's if your house fell and it was great was the fall it was because it wasn't built on jesus christ i mean that's the evidence if if if in the midst of a lot of hard times in the midst of things that you have encountered lately and you know great was the fall then that is indication that you probably have not built your house on the right foundation our foundation will only shake if we built it on something other than christ now listen to me carefully the old covenant had another foundation in that covenant the blessing of god were told to come upon people if they were able to perfectly obey and perfectly to be obedient to the whole law of moses and so that was the foundation in the old testament perfect obedience to the law of moses in fact let me show you that deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 1 and 2 that the blessings of god would be able to come on your life if your foundation was perfect obedience to the law of moses verse 1 says and it shall come to pass if thou shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the lord thy god to observe and to do all of his commandments 613 of the mosaic commandments which i command thee this day that the lord god will set thee on high above all of the earth and verse 2 says and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shall hearken unto the voice of the lord thy god if you can keep all of these commandments now it is interesting to see that at the same moment that the ten commandments were given in exodus chapter 20 that's where we start seeing the ten commandments being given it's interesting at the same moment the ten commandments were given the instructions regarding the sacrifices were also given go to exodus 20 and 24. if you'll read in exodus chapter 20 uh verse 1 2 3 all the way down to verse 24 you will see the law of moses the ten commandments being given and then at the same time in the same chapter he begins to give instructions regarding sacrificial offerings also notice in verse 24 an altar of the earth thou shall make unto me and shall sacrifice their own thy burnt offerings and thy peace offering thy sheep and thy oxen in all places where i record my name and he says and i will come unto thee and i will bless thee so he's saying at this time if you'll take these animals and if you offer these animals unto me then i'll begin to bless you through the sacrifice now the question comes up uh and this is this is because there's a reason why god did this it's because god knew from the beginning that no one would be able to keep the law of moses perfectly on their own and without the sacrifices they would all be under the curse so that the only way that god would be able to bless them was through animal sacrifices because he knew that no one would be able to perfectly keep all of the law of moses that was the foundation of the old testament the foundation of the old testament was so simple if you want to be blessed then you're going to have to keep all of these commandments and you're going to have to do them perfectly obedience and then he says later on if you don't keep all these commandments and do them perfectly you're going to be cursed that was the foundation but i want to look at the foundations that are presented to us today and i want to show you in a more practical way the platforms or the foundations that we deal with today i want to show you three platforms or foundations that we are looking at today that first platform is our own works and self effort the first platform our own works and self effort trying to build your faith on your own works and self-effort so when the platform has reached a certain level we would then step on top of it and here's what we would say lord bless me because of myself i've been good and done all perfectly according to what you instructed and so this platform is a platform of our own works and our own self-efforts imagine building your faith on your own works and your own self-efforts and when you build your faith on your own works and your own self-efforts do you talk to god like that lord bless me because of myself i've been good and i've done all things perfectly according to what you instructed me so now i deserve to be blessed believe it or not there are a lot of people in today's world who who have tried to build their faith and are building their faith on the platform of their works and their self-effort let's look at the second platform here the second platform the second platform is jesus is a jesus-built platform of his perfect work and his perfect life in other words i'm now going to build my faith on the platform and the foundation of jesus his perfect work and his perfect life now this platform is the only one that is entirely that is entirely perfect and without any cracks excuse me this platform has no cracks and and then he allows us think about it he allows us to step on this platform where we can pray like this lord thank you that you have blessed me because of jesus this is what the gospel is all about lord thank you because you've blessed me because of jesus so i i'm on this perfect platform i'm on this platform of perfect works and perfect life and then on this platform i'm invited to stand on that platform and my prayer and how i talk to god is lord bless me because of jesus lord heal me because of jesus god deliver me because of jesus not because of my own efforts not because of my own works but lord because of jesus so that's that second platform and this is the gospel this is where the gospel can be can be preached now you've got to ask yourself am i building my faith on that platform am i building my faith on that second platform or am i building my faith on the platform of my works and my self efforts here's the third platform the third platform is a mixture of the first two platforms and that's a perfect illustration of where the church is today a mixture a mixture and so what happens on this platform you have the gospel of christ mixed with religion which is uh you know kind of focusing on your self effort it's always focusing on our self effort that's what religion is religion focuses on your self-effort it focuses on your works okay so this third platform is a mixture of your self-effort and the gospel of jesus and what jesus has done now on this platform you say lord thank you for blessing me because of jesus and also a little bit because of myself oh god thank you for jesus but a little bit because of myself because you know after all god helps those who helps himself you see i have really tried i have done my best so because i've really tried and because i've done my best lord i deserve your help right now i prayed two hours yesterday i deserve your help right now oh i i tithe and i and i give and i and i help the poor i deserve your good help see it's time we demolish that third platform and step entirely onto the platform called jesus christ that's the foundation step entirely on the platform called jesus christ he is the only foundation of our faith that's the only foundation of our faith and and we continue to try to make self-effort our platform we continue to try to make our works our platform and i'm telling you jesus is the only foundation so if there's any other foundation that you're trying to build your faith on if you're trying to build your faith on all of your good works if you're trying to build your faith on all of your self effort if you're trying to build your faith on you know a little bit of me and a little bit of jesus it's not gonna work it's not gonna work jesus is the only foundation of our faith so the whole bible needs to be read through the light of the finished works of jesus christ the whole bible i mean you can see it being set up even in the old testament when you begin to read the whole bible in light of the finished works of jesus christ then you begin to get such an understanding it is the gospel of christ that is the power of god not a mixture of self-effort in christ it's the gospel of christ that is the power of god it is the gospel of christ that is the power for your deliverance the gospel of christ that is the power for your healing the gospel of christ with the power for your favor for your new job for your promotion for your your restored relationships it is the gospel of christ it is not going to be a mixture of your self-effort and christ look at romans chapter 1 verse 16 since i bought that up romans chapter 1 and 16. uh he says for i am not ashamed paul's talking here i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ for this gospel is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the jew first and also to the greek now notice what he says here it's the power of god unto salvation now this word salvation is the greek word soteria and it includes physical mental and spiritual restoration he says the gospel of christ is the power that will deal with your physical your mental and your spiritual restoration so do you need to be restored mentally the gospel is the power of god that can restore you mentally do you need to be restored physically and healing in your body the gospel of jesus christ will restore healing in your body do you need to be restored spiritually and get your life together and get saved the gospel of jesus christ is the power of god that can cause that to come to pass now look at matthew chapter 16 and verse 18 because this is so important i'm trying to in this series this month i'm trying to get everybody focused in on the right thing i'm trying to get you focused in on jesus christ our only foundation get your mind focused in get i'm trying to get you away from religion i'm trying to get you away from self-effort i'm trying to get you away from this kind of belief that says you know you did all of these things so you deserve and it's just it's crazy it just gets us so far out in the ditch and i'm trying to bring you back home to a place where you can see this matthew 16 18 says i say also unto thee that thou art peter and upon this rock i'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it all right so jesus tells us how he's going to build his church now what does he mean upon the rock let me read it in in this translation upon the revelation of who christ is upon the revelation of who christ is he will build his church and the gates of hades shall not be able to stand against the church because the church now is understanding and they have a revelation of who christ is a revelation of who christ is but we've got to preach who christ is we've got to unveil who christ is and god says i'll build you on that revelation of who christ is to me that's important to me that tells me that one that the part of my job as a preacher is to make sure you understand who christ is because he says i'm gonna build my church based on the revelation of who christ is i'm gonna build my church based on the revelation of the unveiling of jesus christ so you can see who he is praise god i mean i could i could preach on a lot of things that you know would probably help you out some but will god be able to build his church if we don't come to the place of getting a revelation of who christ is now why is this so important to understand who christ is and why is it important to understand that jesus christ is our righteousness first of all christ is our righteousness jesus christ is our righteousness and it is important to understand righteousness notice i didn't say you know it's important to become righteous i said it's important to understand righteous i didn't say it's important to become righteous because you don't become righteous you're made righteous we jesus is righteous and we're only righteous because of jesus being righteous you hear what i'm saying you know there's a scripture in old testament that says your righteousness as is is nothing but filthy rags well to if you were to say that today if you would say your righteousness is just filthy rags then you will be saying jesus's filthy rags because today our righteousness is is based on jesus and that's why it's so important to understand who he is we are made righteous the moment we receive jesus as our lord and personal savior the day you invite jesus to come into your life the day you invite jesus to be your lord and personal savior you're made righteous that day glory be to god so if you're to get born again today today would be the day that you're made righteous you don't become righteous see to say that you become righteous is also to credit what you do to earn that position of righteousness you don't earn righteousness you don't become righteousness you'll find out later that righteousness is a gift and you're righteous because jesus is your righteousness and you believed in jesus and received him so the moment you get born again you become righteous however many christians are righteous without knowing it in other words you're a christian you don't believe that you are righteous you you believe you have to continue to do something to become righteous and because you struggle with that uh without experiencing uh an understanding of righteousness you don't experience great effects in your life because you don't understand that you're righteous because christ is righteous they're great there's a great impact that comes when you understand you're righteous because christ is righteous there's a great impact that takes place when you understand that you've been made righteous and you'll quit trying to do things to become righteous and so people christian people who don't know and have a revelation of their righteousness they miss out on the great effects and the great impact that comes by knowing that people are loaded down with self-condemnation are you loaded down with self-condemnation how often do you beat yourself up and tell yourself it's i'm just not enough i'm i'm just not good enough people are loaded down with self-condemnation they're looking for others to pray to god on their behalf you look for other people to pray to god on your behalf because somehow someway you don't believe you're righteous and when you don't believe you're righteous then you you don't feel like you know you're qualified to go and pray to god you're always asking people you're always becoming a prayer project and that the reason why the reason why you're so quick to ask somebody to pray for you and you don't pray for you is because you don't believe that you're the righteousness of god self-condemnation is what happens see when you're loaded down with condemnation and you don't think you're enough and you constantly have to ask people to pray for you self-condemnation is is something that uh that that that becomes a part of your life self-condemnation it's the feeling it's feeling like you're never quite good enough yet when you're when you're in self-condemnation i just don't feel like i'm quite good enough yet it's like something is lacking uh before god could be satisfied with me it's just i don't have it all together something is lacking i just don't believe i'm righteous because something is lacking i don't feel like i pray long enough i don't feel like i read the bible enough you see and so it's never enough that's what condemnation condemnation is all about it's never enough it's uh i'm never enough it's never enough this results in the pressure to perform when you always go around and think well i'm not enough it's never enough i'm lacking something something's missing self-condemnation will will eventually put pressure on you to perform to try to earn it you're trying to earn something that's a gift you're trying to earn something that you can't earn you're trying to earn something that has already been made available to you and so this is why we've got we've got to get away from this this is where most of the church is believe it or not most of the churches in this place where they're constantly trying to earn it they're constantly you know got pressure to perform and then condemn other people that don't perform like them and what happens it just leads you into self-righteousness and you become self-righteous you know based on what you can do to become righteous instead of the righteousness that comes from jesus christ and it's hard to live under the pressure to perform in order to be accepted in order to be loved in order to be blessed or in order to be used by god that that's that's a painful thing and i want you delivered out of that today which is why i'm teaching what i'm teaching it's just it's hard to live that way it's the pressure to perform i remember you know being in church as a christian the pressure to perform it was just it almost got me to a place where i just wanted to quit i mean i you know i was praying an hour a day but you know i still didn't feel like it was enough i was uh fasting it just didn't feel like it was enough i was uh winning souls and going on the street and you know soul winning entire complexes and it just felt like it wasn't enough and i just was wondering when is enough gonna be enough when when is it gonna be where you know i'm no longer feeling like i'm under the pressure to perform and and and and and i just felt like i wasn't righteous enough and i just felt like i wasn't holy enough i felt like i wasn't anointed enough and i remember this one day i was praying and and god asked me what i was doing and i said lord i'm praying so i can so i can be anointed and god says i anointed you when i called you and i thought well why am i praying but i kept praying anyway because i just didn't know i didn't hear what he was saying i didn't understand what he was saying and at that time my wife was cooking something in the kitchen and i smelled it and i really wanted to go eat so i said in jesus name amen and i left since i'm already anointed now i didn't i didn't get the revelation then what he was saying to me is you are trying to earn something that has already been given to you as a gift you are trying to work for something that has already been given to you as a gift and i'm telling you right now it is a hard difficult thing to live under the pressure to perform in order to be accepted loved blessed and even used by god and so i love the lord and uh i knew god loved me but i had the mindset of conditional love i i i had the mindset that you know god loves me only when i'm doing right it was conditional that god loves me only when i'm praying god loves me only when i don't miss the mark god loves me i had the picture of god loving me with conditional love but the day i really understood and trusted that his love was completely unconditional when i understood that god's love was unconditional it caused a major change in my life the fear and pressure to perform disappeared and a deep security was established in my heart because i understood a god who loved me unconditionally in other words there was no condition that was necessary for him to love me that he was going to love me when i was up when i was down he was gonna love me when i was walking right when i was walking wrong he was gonna love me when i was praying for an hour or five minutes when i could see god loving me with unconditional love the pressure to perform begin to disappear and a deep security was established in my heart that no matter what god loves me unconditional an unconditional unwavering everlasting love and i'm telling you right now god does not love you with an uh with a conditional love he loves you with unconditional love that's so important so important start seeing god loving you with an unconditional love stop trying to find reasons why it's not enough and that god doesn't want to help you and bless you and and prosper you start seeing a god of unconditional love who is saying there is nothing that you can do to run me away you know some people say you know you got to be careful because you know uh you're going to grieve the holy spirit because you're not doing things right but first of all i got to tell you something what grieves the holy spirit is how we treat one another that's what grieves the holy spirit when you don't forgive people when you hold their sins against them when you when you're in bitterness when you're in unforgiveness that that's what grieves the holy spirit how we treat one another i've always taught that oh brother dollar it's your sin it's it's it's uh it's your sin your sin is the reason why the holy spirit is grieved no it's how i treat you it's it's my decision to not love you the way god wants me to love you and so see god loving you with unconditional love now i believe that understanding and trusting god's righteousness i believe that understanding and trusting god's unearned favor unconditional love will play a major role in god's transformation in your life when you when you receive that believe that it'll play a major role in the transformation in your life and so i want to look at three things that understanding righteousness will cause i believe it's so important that we as christians understand righteousness not just uses as a cliche but but what what will because what will be able to happen in my life as a result of me understanding righteousness number one here's the first thing that'll happen understanding righteousness number one will cause us to reign in life understanding righteousness will cause us to reign or to rule in life how many of you are interested in ruling in life instead of life happening to you you happen to it you rule and you reign in life there's nothing that happens in your life that controls you or overcomes you you rule and reign in life when sickness comes you rule over it when when lack comes you rule over it when when depression comes you rule over it when you understand righteousness you will rule in life look at romans chapter 5 and verse 17. romans chapter 5 and verse 17. he says for if by one man's offense death reigned by one much more they which receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness they shall reign in life by one jesus christ let's look at this in the nlt notice this is the gift of righteousness he called it the grace of god which gives you gifts the gift of righteousness he says for the sin of this one man adam caused death to rule over many people but even greater is god's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness for all who receive it will live in triumph or victory over sin and death through the one man jesus christ notice what he says when you start understanding your righteousness you will rule over sin in life yeah when we start telling you you're more righteous instead of continuing telling you you're you're still a sinner i tell you what you will rule over sin you will rule over sin when you understand your righteousness to reign in life covers all areas from our personal life to our profession to our ministry our character our health and our well-being are included in reigning in life so we do not need we don't need the 12 keys the 15 secrets the the 20 formulas when we have have the one key by which we shall reign in life and that's jesus christ and some of us are probably more satisfied with the 15 keys the 20 formulas you got jesus you can reign in life because your your faith is founded on jesus christ and you understand that because of him you're righteous you're successful because of him you you can reign in life you can reign over in life and when your character is concerned you can defeat those character flaws you can reign in life where your health is concerned where your well-being is concerned because you have jesus christ so how do we reign in life through the one jesus christ listen that's a great question how do we reign in life through the one jesus christ here's listen to this not by doing a lot of things but by receiving two things not by doing a lot of things but by receiving two things if you receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness you reign in life you have to receive that that means today you accept this i am righteous it's a gift that was given to me i can't earn it can't work for it can't deserve it i receive it i receive the gift of righteousness i receive the abundance of grace i receive god's unmerited favor his unmerited favor he has favored me with the gift of righteousness so i receive his grace i receive his favor i know i didn't do anything to earn it i know i didn't do anything to deserve it i receive his grace i receive his favor i receive the gift of righteousness and he says you will reign in life because you received it what i mean by receiving it you you you you took possession of it you says i'm righteous and somebody says well why are you righteous because i've been i've got the abundance of grace i receive it and and it's easy for you to say right now that i'm righteous but i'm talking about when when it when you're when you're in a position that's not so righteous and you still say i'm righteous that's when you can rule over whatever position you're in when you're in a situation that doesn't look too good and you still say i'm the righteousness of god because of his grace now you can rule over that thing whatever it may be but you've got to receive that i am the righteousness of god i have the abundance of grace now for us to reign in life it's very important that we understand that righteousness and grace are central cores to the gospel itself if i'm gonna reign in life i gotta understand that that grace and righteousness i mean they're they're the central cores to the gospel i mean what is the gospel because you know some people say well well the gospel is good news i mean you're not incorrect but you're incomplete it is good news but precisely good news about what what is the gospel see we got to understand what the gospel is well the gospel is matthew mark luke and john i mean that's cool but that's what you call those the gospel but what is the gospel precisely all right look at this scripture here uh romans 1 16 and 17 and then acts 20 24. romans 1 16 and 17 says this for i am not ashamed paul said of the gospel what gospel of christ so this is good news about christ i'm not ashamed of the good news about christ for this good news about christ the gospel is the power of god unto salvation healing deliverance to everyone that believes to the jew first and then to the greek so he's saying that the gospel the gospel of jesus christ the is the good news the the almost too good to be true news about what jesus has made available to us and then the next verse for therein is the righteousness of god where in this gospel of christ in this good news about christ is the righteousness of god revealed from faith to faith that is as it is written the just who are the jest those who have been declared righteous that's you that's me the jest shall live by faith in other words i've been declared righteous and i live by faith that i'm the righteousness of god i'm not living by any evidence of what i do that i'm the righteousness of god i am living by faith that i am righteous and i i take possession of that gift of righteousness and that is the good news of christ the good news of christ is that through christ i have the abundance of grace and through christ by faith i can take possession of this gift of righteousness and reign and rule in life by jesus christ well that's good news and also acts chapter 20 verse 24 just what is the gospel what is this gospel he says but none of these things move me neither count i my life dear unto myself so that i might finish my course with joy and the ministry which i have received of the lord jesus christ paul says to testify of the gospel of the grace of god so here he says that the gospel is the good news about the grace of god that has come to us because of jesus it's the good news about the grace of god it's the good news about his unmerited favor that allows us to receive gifts it's the good news of the fact that i have the gift of righteousness praise god it's good news that jesus through his blood has saw fit for my sins to be forgiven that jesus through his blood has made me righteous that jesus through his blood has redeemed me that jesus through his blood has made me holy that jesus through his blood has made me sanctified that jesus through his blood has given me wisdom and i received that and i believe that in the mighty name of jesus amen praise god now here's the second thing that's understanding righteousness will cause number two understanding righteousness causes us to be mature it causes us to be mature if there's one thing that i see a lot of in churches today is a whole lot of immature christians a whole lot of immature christians that are basing their maturity on how long they've been saved and the length of time you've been saved it does not qualify maturity in your life you know when when you lose your temporary or when you operate in self-effort when you're trying to do something to get god to do something for you when you're not walking in love and uh all of those things are just it's just examples and evidence of spiritual immaturity but there's something about when you don't understand your righteousness you are a baby you are immature because you don't understand your righteousness understanding your righteousness will cause us to be mature it's time for the church to mature it's time for the church to stop acting like babes and you know it's just time to stop and so in hebrews chapter 5 and verse 12 through 13 we talk about maturity you know immature christians debate they cause strife they do all that kind of stuff and i want you to see what he talks about here where righteousness is concerned hebrews 5 12-13 he says for when for time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again which is the first principles of the oracle god and are become such as having need of milk and not a strong meat for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe because he's unskillful in the word of righteousness now let's go back and read this in nlt that he is he is a babe because he's here it is you're a babe you're immature or you are obeyed because you're unskillful in the word of righteousness the nlt says you have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others but instead you need someone to teach you again the basic things about god's word you're like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food for someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what's right boy that's powerful that's strong in context of what we just read mature here means being mature in understanding the gospel itself being mature and understanding the gospel itself and when you look at that there's so much immature in the pulpit in the congregation it's like oh my gosh that we're we're preaching we're preachers and we're preaching but it's like as long as we've been saved we should understand the gospel we should understand how to operate in righteousness and that we're not righteous because of what we do we're righteous because of jesus and if you subtract jesus out of the equation we there's no way we could be righteous if you subtract jesus out of the equation then our righteousness would be a silk of filthy rags so often people will answer that reading the bible or reading the word of god brings this maturity well if you read the word you're going to mature uh right but if you're reading the word wrong and you're not rightly dividing the word of god that's not going to bring maturity the bible says and all you're getting get understanding so you're reading but you're getting an understanding you're reading but you're you're not understanding that you're the righteousness of god because of jesus you're not understanding that the grace of god favors you with something you can't work for you don't deserve you don't earn and he says because of that lack of understanding you're still a babe you're on milk so you know you're not mature just because you read the bible or not you're mature because you come to understand that you're limited without jesus christ so uh it's correct however let me make sure i'm clear it is correct but not an exact answer that reading the word can bring a level of growth and maturity so i want to make sure i mention that so but but it's not the exact answer it says in this scripture that it is the word of righteousness that brings us to this maturity it's the word of righteousness that brings us to this maturity now this scripture in math in hebrews 5 12-13 this scripture talks about the transition from only drinking milk to eating more solid food so this scripture is talking about being winged off milk onto solid foods you remember when you did your kid like that so we found an interesting parallel in the old testament i think it's worth looking at go to genesis chapter 21 verses 8 through 10. genesis 21 8-10 so basically it's how do we transition from milk to solid food so we can operate in real maturity so let's look at this genesis 21 8-10 and the child grew and was winged underline that word weaned now this child is he's talking about uh uh abraham's son ishmael he says then the child ishmael grew and was weaned and abraham made a great feast the same day that isaac uh was weaned let me let me show you isaac is the guy he's talking about here let me go back start all again i want to miss you up we're not talking about ishmael here he says then the child grew and was weaned and abraham made a great feast the same day that isaac was weaned all right now and sarah saw the sun of hagar the egyptian which she had born unto abraham mocking so sarah saw ishmael the son of hagar mocking this whole thing all right wherefore she said unto abraham cast out this bondwoman and her son for the son of this bondwoman ishmael shall not be heir with my son even with isaac who was winged all right now listen to this carefully there's a lot of symbolism in this which is why i want to show you abraham here represents faith sarah here according to galatians she represents the new covenant of grace isaac the son of abraham and sarah represents the fruit of grace miracles the new creation hagar represents the old covenant of the law and ishmael represents the fruit of the law the fruit of the law which is self-effort and the flesh and bondage now to be weaned off something means you withdraw from your dependence on that thing so what's interesting to see is that on the very day isaac was winged on the very day isaac was was uh transformed or transitioned from his dependence on on something the day he was weaned hagar and ishmael had to leave the house the day isaac which represents grace the day isaac was weaned hagar the covenant of law and ishmael the fruit of the law they had to leave they had to leave because you get mature in grace then the law and the flesh and self-efforts got to go so your immaturity is because you're still operating under the law you're still operating in self-effort you're still operating in bondage in the flesh he says we can still tell that you are immature but the day the law leaves your house self-effort leaves your house the day that all the flesh leaves your house is the day that you've become mature because isaac has been weaned from the law and self-effort what does this have to do with righteousness the very same day that we understand the word of righteousness self-effort and the old covenant with the law have to leave both our personal life and it's got to leave the church and then only faith grace and miracles which includes the new creation are left in the house and man there will be a huge difference in your life a huge difference in your life now most of the church today they live by mixtures they want to mix a little of the mosaic law with a little of the grace of jesus christ uh a little of you know standing on what jesus has done as a gift and a little of yeah i kind of helped it out a little bit uh the bible says this about mixtures you can't mix uh new wine and old wine skin because it will destroy and you'll lose the benefit of both the wine and the container mixtures god says i would that you were hot or cold uh but because you're lukewarm he says you make me throw up you vom you make me vomit because of mixtures and that's what the church does we mix a little law with a little grace a little trusting in god and a little trust in himself that's not how that works he says you're immature you need to be weaned away you need to decrease your dependency on your self effort and you need to be weaned away from the law and from self-effort and you need to come into fully understanding the grace of god and that you have been made righteous because of that amen here's the third thing that happens when you understand righteousness number three understanding righteousness makes us conscience of righteousness instead of sin conscious when i understand righteousness i am more righteousness conscience than i am sin conscience see when you don't understand the righteousness of god when you're not hearing the righteousness of god when you've not been taught and trained in the righteousness of god you will be more sin conscious than you are righteousness conscious and you'll get up every day and say lord forgive me for the sins that i hadn't even committed yet that's sin consciousness more conscious of sin than you are the righteousness of god listen to this ladies and gentlemen sin consciousness and condemnation strip people of their joy it strips people of their peace their strength their confidence their boldness and are all behind so many of the difficulties that people experience that day in life because they are sin conscious and they're they're full of condemnation so you show me a person with no joy no peace you show me a person who's lost their confidence that they're weak show me someone who's no longer bold and i'll show you that behind of all behind all the difficulties that that person experiences that one of the main reasons is because they are still they are in sin consciousness their conscious is seared just so seared with sin consciousness and they are in condemnation never thinking that they are enough this is how important this teaching is this is not the teaching that's maybe make you run down the aisles or jump pews but this is the teaching that's going to help you overcome the difficulties in your life and you set your mind on the fact that you're the righteousness of god by faith in jesus christ and not by what you do so when you do something stupid you're still righteous praise god i'm going to teach this this month you don't lose your righteousness praise god you are the righteousness of god because jesus is righteous and as long as jesus is righteous and you received him you're righteous as long as jesus is okay with god you're okay with god because your position when god is not based on what you do your position with god is based on what jesus has done and your faith and belief in jesus christ churches today have often been strong in teaching us our need for righteousness pointing uh at our sins and pointing at our weaknesses and pointing at our inabilities to please god and so we tell we preach to people you need you need righteousness we'll teach on righteousness because because of your sin we need right you need to be righteous because of your weakness and your inabilities however the teachings on how righteousness is available and who we already are in christ jesus have been lacking in in many churches worldwide righteousness is available we already have it in christ jesus we already have it we're righteous even when you do point out a sin we're righteous even though even though you do have you point out a weakness we're righteous even though you point out an inability that we have to please god i'm already righteous and when i can be more righteousness conscious all of that other stuff is gonna disappear because the day you believe you're righteous that's the day you're gonna you're gonna do right the day you believe you're righteous is the day you're gonna do right amen so as we become more conscious of righteousness our boldness and our confidence will increase and we'll do the ministry out of joy and not out of condemnation the day the day we believe this the day that we become more righteousness conscience and part of that starts with just you opening your mouth up every day and declaring i'm the righteousness of god part of that happens when you do something that you know was was out of line with god and then you say i'm the righteousness of god you have to believe that it's it's not so people saying you're earning you're righteous you're only righteous because of jesus subtract jesus out of the way and you can do all the goody-goody things in the world and you still won't be righteous enough your righteousness like it said is like an old filthy rag but now that you have jesus your righteousness is like his righteousness and as he is so are we on this earth so i really want to impress on you to focus and to become more righteousness conscience less sin conscious and do when you find yourself doing something out of line remind yourself i'm still the righteousness of god that's how you're going to get out of that in fact the day you believe you're righteous is the day you ain't you're not going to want to do some of the things you're doing your righteousness is a gift from god it is your identity and the day you believe you're righteous see who you are will determine what you do and who you believe you are will determine what you do and all your bad behavior is a result of you not receiving your right identity you still think you're a sinner saved by grace instead of saying i'm saved by grace and therefore i'm no longer a sinner i'm a saint and i'm the righteousness of god when that becomes a reality in your life things change you change you begin to walk by faith in that every single day things are going to change in your life praise god you know what i want to pray for you right now i want to pray that you be weaned off of self-effort winged from that platform that wants to mix what jesus christ has made available with religion and your self-effort it's time to be winged off religion weaned off of you know i because of what i can do and what i've done i'm acceptable to god it's it's time to be winged and the way you know you've been successfully weaned or transitioned is because that's the day that the law will leave your house that's the day that self effort will leave leave your house flesh will leave your house bondage will leave your house this is why it's so vital for me to begin to teach these principles begin to get it on the inside of you i i know more about it today and understand more about it today than i did the first time i shared it and taught it i pray you receive it you receive it by faith and watch the holy spirit move in your life if you're here today and you want the gift of righteousness all you have to do is make jesus the lord of your life all you gotta do is ask him to come into your life and the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will be made available to you pray with me right now heavenly father come into my heart be my lord and my savior come into my life be my righteousness my redemption my holiness my wisdom come into my life and save me lord i receive you by faith i declare you are my savior and i thank god that i'm saved and that i have the gift of righteousness that i am the righteousness of god because of you thank you lord for saving me in jesus name amen now if you just prayed that prayer of salvation with me today text the key words i'm saved that's one word to 51555 provide your name and the email address and uh i'll send you a free ebook as a gift to you today and welcome to the family of god so proud of you and god bless you amen well it's opportunity for prosperity time it's offering time it's time to worship god with your gifts your giving should remind you of every time god delivered you every time god did something amazing in your life because that's what my giving is about my giving is to come before god and worship him with thanksgiving for what he's done for me and i tell you what when we give to god we give out of gratitude we give out of thanksgiving we give out of appreciation we give out of a cheerful heart i pray today that you will get a revelation of worshiping god with your gifts and that you know that this is something truly between you and the father if you make it that way and god will receive it and uh i just thank god that some doors are opening that you would have never thought would have opened i thank god that he gives more grace to the humble and you're humbling yourself before god and saying god i worship you with my gift i complete my worship today by worshiping you with my gift if you'd like to give through the text you can text world changers space and then the amount to 74483 or you can go online to give world changers or creflo dollar ministries you can also call that number on your screen 866-4776-7683 and you can also mail 2500 burden road college park georgia and just begin to thank god and worship god you know you're some of you are texting to give right now just hold that phone up and just thank god for an opportunity to sow and let that be the representation of your gift that you're giving to god what an awesome thing what an awesome awesome awesome thing praise god well at this time let's go and check out our announcements and uh i'm sure you're going to be blessed [Music] good morning world changers nation we thank god that you're joining us online for service now we know that there is no distance or time in the spirit and your dedication has not gone unnoticed we know that we have the best members in the world but first we have a few announcements to keep you in the know world changers nation it's time to voice your vote your vote matters and we're here to help you prepare for the polls so text wcci vote to 51 555 now to confirm your voter registration status now november will be here before we know it so get registered and make sure that you know your polling location now don't miss this moment to make your vote and your voice count calling all parents of teenage girls pretty girls rock better known as pgr is a mentorship organization for teenage girls and we have changed our meeting times to adjust to students academic schedules pgr will now be held every first and third saturday so simply contact constance adams see adams worldchanges.org or you can call 770-210-5839 for more information [Music] are you a single mother with a teenage son what we want you to know about the lions then an all-male mentorship organization that meets at 7 p.m on zoom now young men you can text lion's den to 51555 and receive the link to join the call mothers if you want guidance simply email clusboro that's c-l-u-s-b-o-u-r-g-h world changes dot org or you can call 770-210 to schedule a consultation you're not alone we are looking forward to connecting with ministers and leaders around the world for our 2020 ministers and leaders conference so join us online for an impactful experience from october 6th through the 8th for three days of transformational teachings on making adjustments for the new age this year's dynamic speakers are creflo dollar taffy dollar kenneth fuller and damon davis so register today by texting i lead to 51555 and we'll see you online [Music] it's called life is back this unique web series by ministers for ministers is all about the life of leadership now you don't want to miss bishop fuller in this month's episode it's part two of last month's health we're losing our youth to the pandemic joining us as we discuss how this new normal is affecting our young people are john and deborah carr now don't forget to tune in via facebook or youtube on september 24th at 7 pm if you text icl to 51555 we can send you reminders about new it's life episodes right to your inbox even though we can't be together in person we can continue doing the work that god has for us so don't miss out on any of our events continue to contact the ministry at 770-210-5700 with any of your questions or concerns we want to hear from you so connect with us on facebook instagram or twitter throughout the week [Music] praise god well i hope you uh found something those announcements that uh god's leading you to get involved in listen thank you so much for joining us today thank you so much for your love your prayers your commitment thank you for being world changers thanks to the world changers nation for all of your support um there's no way i could do this without you you have to understand your prayers your support your encouragement it it's it's never going to be forgotten never i love you i miss you god bless you and now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the almighty god be glory majesty dominion and power both now and forever and everybody said amen go falcons i'll see you guys

Channel: Creflo Dollar Ministries

Views: 43,933

Rating: 4.882545 out of 5

Keywords: creflo, creflodollar, worldchangers, taffi, taffidollar, grace, megachurch, collegepark, atlantachurch, sermon, gracelife, tbn, pastors, church, pastordollar, drdollar

Id: Pv3dRUo0cYo

Length: 65min 32sec (3932 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 13 2020