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The Gift Of Righteousness! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 8/Issue 8 Prophecy: Can a man be married when he has no wife? Can a woman be married when she has no husband? Here I have found a people who are married to Me because I am truly their husband. Because they have left the old behind and have clung to Me. But there is a people who say they are married to Me and yet they have no husband, they have not come to Me and asked Me if I am married to them. And I tell you My people; many are going to find that what they have is nothing more than an illusion and a dream. But My people, I am sending you forth, you who are married to Me, to show forth what it means to die to the old life and to live to Me, to cling to Me and be an acceptable wife to Me. I have sent you forth as that people, that many will come to you and they will say, “Show us what it truly means to be married to Christ. Show us what it truly means to walk in the Spirit. Show us what true righteousness is.” For those who are walking in dreams and illusions, I am waking them up and I am showing them the unreality of their dreams and their illusions. And I am using you to do that, My people, I am using you to show the difference between those who do have and those who think that they have but do not have. For only those who do My will and only those who have met the requirements to be Mine are those who will be found to be My bride, saith the Lord. Prophecy: My law has its righteous requirements and it began by revealing its requirements and defining its requirements. Just as every organization, every group, every position a man can hold, they must fulfill a requirement to hold that position, so there are requirements to enter My kingdom, and My law shows those requirements. But My Son is the One who gives you the ability to fulfill the requirements. And just as the law came through Moses; grace and truth came through My Son. And just as He said I have not come to do away with the law, but to fulfill every jot and tittle of it; so Christ is in you in order to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law through you. And My people, I know and you know and all who look upon you know Jesus is in you because you are fulfilling the righteous requirements set forth in My law and in My word because He has given you the grace to do righteousness and to do what I have required and what I take pleasure in. So know this My people; they shall be ashamed and they shall be brought low who have made fun of you and who have said “You are carnal and in the flesh and you are of the devil and not of God.” But it will be seen clearly and evidently through all and by all as I bring you forth and as I make you public, that it is not sin that is in you but it is Christ that is in you. And no longer shall these people glory against the presence of the Christ in you but they shall glorify the Christ in you. And all who have said these things shall be seen that they are the exact thing that they have called you; they shall be seen it is satan that inspires what they do and does in them what they do and it is sin and flesh in them and it is their father the devil that they follow; the liar and the deceiver. And it shall be seen all over the world that you are the people of God and that you are Mine because you fulfill My requirements because Jesus is in you. And the true spiritual Christianity shall be seen, as I have desired it to be seen, saith the Lord. (Prophecies delivered at "My Father's House") God is speaking of the impenitent, those who have not repented for their sin ... you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; (Rom 2:5) Many churches today don’t believe this anymore. They think that doing good has nothing to do with salvation; that salvation is found in the mere acceptance of the idea of Jesus being Savior and believing that your sins are forgiven and that’s all it takes. Well, the very essence of the book of Romans has to do with how we can be saved by attaining to the place where we do good. And how God and Christ have made a way for us to do good so that we can be found doing good when Christ comes. And the heart of everything in the book of Romans that pertains to salvation connects to this passage. (Rom.2:5) To understand the book of Romans you must understand that God will render to each one according to his deeds and because He will render to each one according to his deeds, to be saved we must get into the good deeds that put us on the blessed side of His judgment; the place where he can give us a good reward instead of a wrathful one. Eternal life is what we need and eternal life will be given to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor and immortality so if you are to be able to attain to eternal life you must patiently continue to do good. And this all goes back to “the ax is laid to the root of the unfruitful tree” (Luke 3:9) where John the Baptist began the preaching of the gospel. And the ax is being laid to the unfruitful tree agrees with “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:2,6) The branch that doesn’t bear fruit is cut off and thrown into the fire. You must be bearing good fruit and you must continue in it, as it says by patient continuance in doing good. As in the Old Testament God says, “When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.” (Ezek 33:13) So even here to be saved you have to continue in righteousness. You can’t build up a legacy of righteousness in such a way that you can turn back to sin and still be saved. You must continue in doing good. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Titus 3:8) You have to stay in the place where you’re doing God’s will. So, in order to be saved we must be living in such a way where we are not doing evil but we are actually and always doing good even unto the end. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Heb 6:11-12) For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, (Heb 3:14) But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-- indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Rom 2:8-10) Salvation is a way of living in which the believer has entered into a new life of doing good which he must continue in unto the end if he is to attain to eternal life. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.) (Rom 5:12-13) The sin is there but people don’t know it’s sin until the law shows them it’s sin, as we see in I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said “You shall not covet.” (Rom 7:7) Now the fact that you didn’t know it was sin doesn’t mean it isn’t sin. Even without the law sin is still sin. But when people don’t know the law they will sin in ignorance and they can’t be convicted because they don’t know it’s wrong. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. Adam knew he was sinning. The law had been given to him – “Don’t eat of that tree.” So his eating of the tree was a transgression that he was profoundly convicted of because he knew God said don’t do it. However, from Adam to Moses covetousness for example was being practiced by mankind but they didn’t know it was a sin because God had not yet said, “do not covet.” But the fact still is that the sin of covetousness is causing death to reign because the people are in sin and the wages of sin are death. (Rom 6:23) So the covetous people are dying even though they don’t know coveting is sin. And this gives us an awesome understanding of the word “imputed” because though the sin is not imputed, death is still the reward. The wages of sin is still death. But where there is “no law” there is no transgression of the law. So even though it is sin and sin leads to death if there is no transgression then there is no preemptory punishment that comes through the law. Death is the reward of sin even apart from the law but there is also the transgression of the law and that requires punishment because the law is broken. So if sin is not imputed, then God doesn’t judge you preemptively, or punish you according to the punishment required by the law. But death will still be your wages. Whereas when sin is imputed He can put you under the immediate punishment for your transgression of the law by the penalty of the law and not just the natural reward of sin that will lead to death. Now, death reigned from Adam to Moses even though there was no law and the people were not breaking the law in the same way as Adam, they were in ignorant sin but that sin was bringing death on the people. But the free gift is not like the offense, this is the first place where we see the free gift mentioned. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one much more those who received abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17) Notice the free gift is righteousness. So death reigned through Adam’s sin of which we are all partakers; we were all in his loins. But we all also fell into the practice of sin on our own. However we’ve been delivered from the sin of the Adamic nature if we are truly saved. And the deliverance from the Adam nature is shown in knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Rom 6:6) And that is further illustrated in – If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. (Rom 7:16-18) for what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (vs 15) ...but I am carnal, sold under sin. (vs 14) My carnal nature is from Adam. Adam put us all into bondage when he became a slave to sin. Do you know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey you are that one’s slave...(Rom 6:16) Adam obeyed sin; he became a slave to sin. We derive our carnal nature from Adam and that carnal nature is in slavery to sin. So the carnal nature is going to destroy us because sin rules in it and so, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom 7:24) The wages of sin is death. (Rom 6:23) Concerning salvation this carnal nature is our preeminent problem. Tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil... but glory honor and peace to everyone who works what is good... (Rom 2:9-10) To be saved we have to find a way to overcome our carnal nature and work what is good even though our carnal nature is a slave to sin. So how did God solve the problem? Romans says, if we died with Christ we shall live with Him. (Rom. 6:8) For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Rom 5:10) And the life of Jesus Christ is a life that brings forth fruit unto God, Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another-- to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. (Rom 7:4) And by crucifying, putting to death, the carnal nature we become free from the bondage to that sin that dwells in our flesh. For if we die with Christ we shall live with Him...(Rom 6:8) ...Knowing our old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with...(vs 6) The genius of God is “How can I set My people free from this bondage to sin in the flesh?” Well what I will do is spiritually connect them to the death of Jesus, so their carnal nature is rendered spiritually dead by Christ’s death and cannot overpower them anymore. Then I will spiritually connect them to the resurrection of Christ. And when that is done they can live the resurrection life that brings forth fruit unto God.” Which means that we can now work what is good. But glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good... (Rom 2:10) And Eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; (Rom 2:7) So because of what God has done for us in Christ we can live the righteous life and do the things that lead to immortality. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is Eternal life, and that gift is described in Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17) Sin is what causes death, so by faith in Christ to live His righteous life in us instead of sin reigning over us we through Christ will reign over sin. Therefore we will no longer be subject to death in the way we were before. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin... (Rom 8:10) Knowing this our old man was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with. (vs 6) So this physical body is the body of sin; it has the sin spirit in it. And by faith in Christ we render it dead so that even though the body is still functioning; the sin is not. We render it spiritually dead and break the power of sin in our physical body by not treating the body as though it is alive anymore. In other words the body doesn’t have the power to push us around anymore; it doesn’t have the power to lord it over us; it doesn’t have the power to oppress us; the body is dead, in a spiritual sense. Spirits are the source of motivations. Since the body is spiritually dead it has no power to motivate anymore. And yet the body can continue it’s functioning on our behalf but as a servant now. For if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies... (Rom 8:11) So the mortal body will now be energized by the Holy Spirit who will cause it to function as long as you need it until you finish your work for Christ then it will be done away with, never to have to be bothered with again. And in the resurrection you will receive a glorified body, a new body that’s not been in any way defiled by sin. And you will never again have to struggle with sin. But to receive this glorified body our problem is how can we attain to that patient continuance in doing good which will lead us to immortality and how do we get out of the place where it’s tribulation and anguish on everyone who sins. (Rom 2:7-9) Paul says, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation... (Rom 1:16) So you must understand that Romans is defining what you need to do to be saved; and what you need is to be patiently continuing in doing good. And the gospel gives you the power to patiently continue in doing good, because in it the righteousness of God and how we can attain to that righteousness is revealed. What most contemporary churches have been preaching as salvation is not accurate. They do not understand how the gospel works. They don’t understand what the power of the gospel really is. They don’t even understand what salvation really is in so far as seeing that the real problem with man’s soul is he is damned by the operating of the sin spirit in his flesh and that must be dealt with if we are to be saved. Almost everybody in the churches today seems to think we just need to be forgiven. Forgiveness alone will not save us. Of course, forgiveness is a part of our salvation. We have to be forgiven before we can get any good out of doing good. In other words even if you began doing good if you weren’t forgiven for your past sins you’d still be punished for them and end up in hell. So God has to forgive you to save you. But do you know what it says in the Psalms? It says forgiveness is found with God so that men may fear God. (Ps.130:4) What good is it to repent and fear God if you are irredeemably damned? What’s the sense of trying to obey Him if you are already unpardonably condemned? God offers you forgiveness so that you can return to fearing Him and so that you can start a new life of obedience to Him. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. But the forgiveness is never just so you can be saved even though you go on sinning. To be saved you must get into this place where you are patiently continuing in doing good. It begins with forgiveness of sins and then you move into the place where you are a son of God led by the Spirit, empowered by God to bring forth fruits unto righteousness. The beginning of that gospel, the true gospel, is found when it says, ...it’s the power of God to salvation, for everyone who believes... For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith... Now remember in Romans 5 Paul says those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life. Now the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness are going to give us the knowledge and the will and the power to do good. It’s a big mistake in the theology of many churches today to think it’s only an imputed righteousness that saves us and we’re called good even though we don’t do good. Everything Jesus preached in the sermon on the Mount concerning righteousness is expecting you to do good not just be called good. You can already see that sin is not imputed doesn’t mean that you don’t die for it. For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without law…(Rom 2:11-12) Sin is not imputed to them because there is no law but they still perish because the wages of sin is death whether or not you know you are sinning ... and as many as have sinned in the law will be judge by the law and if they are to be judged by the law what that really means is they’ll see their guilt even before sin kills them. The law will bring about legal judgments even previous to what sin’s wages is going to do to them. The law brings about wrath, where as the person who doesn’t know he’s breaking the law still gets death even if he doesn’t get wrath. But death is absolutely connected to sin, so if sin is there then death will follow. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation... (Rom 1:16) It is the power to do good so that you can attain to immortality as it says in Romans 2. And this gospel power works according to faith ...for everyone who believes... For in it the righteousness of God is revealed... The righteousness of God is what it is all about; for if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness... (Rom 5:17) So in the gospel that gift of righteousness is revealed ...from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just (righteous) shall live by faith.” The ones that God considers righteous are living by faith and faith is always obedience to God. Take obedience out of faith you’ve got a dead faith; a faith that doesn’t work. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, (Rom 1:17-18) Wrath comes on the unrighteous. Glory, grace, immortality comes upon the righteous. We need the righteousness of God to be saved and it is not just imputed righteousness. God’s wrath is revealed against men who suppress the truth because of the unrighteous things that they do. That those who practice such things are deserving of death...(Rom 1:32)...but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good...(vs 10) ...in doing good (they) seek for glory, honor and immortality but... (vs 7) to those who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-- indignation and wrath, (vs 8) So the book of Romans teaches us the difference between the end of those who obey righteousness and those who do unrighteousness. Romans is a very extraordinary book; it is the genius of God and it is the best explanation of the gospel in the Bible and yet most “Christians” today do not understand the gospel of Romans. Most churches and believers today have a very twisted understanding of the gospel. As also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. (2Pet 3:15-16) for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers... (Rom 2:13) If you went through the New Testament underlining everything that has to do with doing, you would see how important it is. Our righteousness is displayed in the doing; it is not imputed in a way that is not visible. We cannot claim to have righteousness when we are not doing righteousness. There’s nothing in the Bible that teaches that you can be counted righteous apart from doing righteousness. It’s a very dreadful twisting of the truth about righteousness to think that, because righteousness was imputed to Abraham apart from works that that means he did not obey God and do righteousness. Abraham was a doer of righteousness because he obeyed God in everything God told him to do and that was counted to him as righteousness and it will be counted to you too if you obey God in everything God tells you to do. There’s a doing connected to all righteousness – even the imputed righteousness. And the reason why you obey God is because you trust Him and you have faith in Him. So faith in God expresses itself in obedience. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law unto themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts either accusing or else excusing them (Rom 2:13-15) Paul says circumcision is profitable only if you keep the law but if you break the law your circumcision means nothing. (vs 25) Because the whole point of the circumcision is it is a seal or sign of the fact that you have a faith in God to obey Him. And if you are disobeying Him it’s just like you broke your wedding vow. Circumcision is like a wedding ring that signifies the wedding vow in that regard. I’m supposed to be faithful until death do us part and if I have been unfaithful I’ve broken the vow, so what good is the symbol of the vow, the ring, if the vow has been broken? (1Cor 7:19) Thus circumcision means nothing if you’re not obeying God. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? (Rom 2:26) So, how do we get saved? We must fulfill the righteous requirements of the law to be saved. That the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:4) And the way by which we fulfill the righteous requirements of the law is by walking according to the Spirit and not according the flesh. The flesh will lead us into sin; the Spirit will lead us into righteousness. Walking according to the flesh, you will die; walking according to the Spirit, you will live. The Spirit does good. The Spirit empowers you to do good, and the Spirit leads you to do good and the Spirit will lead you to immortality. The flesh does evil and will lead you to death. For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (vs 6) For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. (Rom 8:13) So to be saved and have eternal life you must be Spiritually minded and led by the Spirit. Now which are you? And how do you tell which you are? For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (vs 5) Remember if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? (Rom 2:26) So salvation has everything to do with whether or not you are walking in the Spirit and fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law. It does not have to do merely with your confession of faith or belief in Christ. It has to do with whether you are really being led by Christ and obeying Christ. And it’s a similar thing with baptism. He that believes and is baptized will be saved. (Mark 16:16) It really isn’t that you’re going to be saved just because you’re baptized. But when you get baptized you’re supposed to have faith that God is now joining you to the death of Jesus which causes you to be dead to sin and the world and God is raising you by His power into a new life as a Son of God in Christ – the resurrected life. Now if you don’t continue in that faith and live accordingly – “Dead to sin but alive towards God” then your baptism isn’t going to save you. But if you believe and have faith in what God said He would do in the baptism, and continue in the Christ life that is given to you in the baptism then baptism will save you. But it is not going to save you if you depart from the faith to be dead to sin and for Christ to live in you. And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? (Rom 2:27) An unbaptized man who does what is right in God’s sight has a better hope of salvation than a baptized believer who disobeys God. This is a very serious judging scripture. Does this scripture say, “don’t judge”? Rather God says; the man who keeps the law will judge the man that breaks it; an uncircumcised man who keeps the law will judge a circumcised man who doesn’t. And from this we can see that a “heathen” who fulfills the law is better than a “Christian” who doesn’t. Most churches today have only looked at the place in God’s word that says don’t judge. They have not looked at the whole word and the many scriptures that tell us there are things we are required to judge. They ought to be ashamed, not knowing the scriptures. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Tim 2:15) Such people have an erroneous view of Christianity: they are full of half-truths “We’re not supposed to judge.” And a half-truth is a whole lie. There is not only permissible judgment in the Bible; there is absolutely a command to judge. “He that is spiritual judges all things” (1Cor 2:15) Test all things; hold fast what is good. (1Thes 5:21) Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? (1Cor 6:3,5) We are in an age when there are many very ignorant “Christians” around us, preaching and practicing a very stupid form of Christianity. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. (Gal 1:6-7) They have a “Don’t judge” gospel, but God says one who fulfills the law becomes the judge of the one who doesn’t.... Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; To execute on them the written judgment-- this honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD! (Ps 149:5-7,9) For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly... (vs 28) but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, whose circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter... (vs 29) So how do we become a Jew inwardly? How do we obtain that righteous circumcised heart so we can be found worthy to enter into immortality? If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Phil 3:9) And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; The gospel tells you how to attain to the resurrection because in it the righteousness of God is revealed. If you believe the gospel it will make you into a son of God who fulfills the law and deliver you from the bondage to the body of sin that causes you to be a transgressor of the law. Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. (Rom 2:15-16) Most of the churches do not understand that judgment is a part of the gospel. And it is a very important part of the gospel. They think the gospel is just the death and the burial and the resurrection of Christ so that now we are forgiven and free from the fear of judgment. Well, this is what Paul says, “I am preaching a gospel that says God will judge every secret thing you’ve done. God will judge you by Jesus Christ and you better get ready for that Day of Judgment.” For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ (Rom 14:10) So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Rom 14:12) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (2Cor 5:10) “And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.” (Acts 10:42) “Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31) The gospel is telling you how to prepare for the Day of Judgment. The gospel isn’t rightly understood until it causes you to see there’s a Day of Judgment coming and you must be prepared for it. The coming judgment is an essential foundation to understanding the gospel. Every secret thing will be revealed and God will render to each one according to his works. (Rom 2:6) And because we know that, we know we need the Spirit of Jesus Christ in us so that we can live a life for which God can grant us immortality instead of tribulation, anguish and wrath. The Spirit of Christ in us received by faith will cause us to behave in a way that God can reward us in the judgment instead of destroying us. And the very life His Spirit gives is grace, and it is the free gift that puts the righteous behavior of Christ into the believer who asks in faith without doubting. (James1:6) So the gospel says, we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:9-10) so we all need the gift of righteousness. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Rom 3:19) And all the world has been in some manner placed under law. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. (vs 20) Thus the law was given in order to expose sin so that people could see they were sinners and thereby recognize their need to be forgiven and to be saved and their need to attain to God’s righteousness. So it was the genius of God that arranged all these things to bring us to repentance and faith and to cause us to see our dire need for the gift of His righteousness. Now notice when Paul says “Are we better than they? Not at all!” (vs 9)What’s he talking about? Is he saying “Are we Christians better than they?” No! He’s not talking to Christians here; he’s talking to Jews. Paul is telling the Jews that they are no better than the Gentiles. Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself... (Rom 2:1) And then he goes into this in verses 17-18. You’re called a Jew. You rest on the law. You make your boast in God. You know His will. You approve things that are excellent; you think you are superior to the Gentiles who don’t know the law. But then he says, “you who teach another do you teach yourself? You who say do not commit adultery do you commit adultery? And the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (vs 21-24) The disobedience and the sins of the Jews are bringing reproach upon the name of God. And so in Romans 1 Paul explains why the Gentiles are wicked sinners but then in Romans 2 he goes into explaining why the Jews are wicked sinners because even though they have the law and know the law they still don’t keep it. (Acts 7:53) And so when he says “What, are we better than they?” He’s not talking about “We Christians” Paul is talking as a Jew. “We Jews, Are we better than the Gentiles? No!” And then he quotes from the Psalms “There’s none righteous. No, not one.” (Ps 14:3) Then he returns to the subject of the law because he is telling the Jew, “The law doesn’t justify you. The law exposes your sin.” (vs 21) So this is what Paul is saying, “Do you think you’re justified because you’ve heard the law and the gentile isn’t because he hasn’t heard the law? Here’s the true situation; the Gentile is the one who has sinned without the law and will perish without the law. The Jew is the one who has sinned in the law and will be judged by the law. (Rom 2:12) You are no better off than the Gentile if you’re breaking the law.” This is the message Paul sends to the Jews to evangelize the Jews by showing them their Judaism won’t save them. But this shows us that in regard to the “Christian” you also ought not to think you are justified just because you heard the gospel for it is not the hearers of the gospel but the doers of the gospel that will be justified. (Rom 2:13) “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.” (James 2:21-23) True faith brings about friendship with God. When we accept what God says and believe what God says and obey what God says, God considers us a friend. If he considers us a friend then He will not impute sin to us (Rom 4:8) and if He considers us a friend, He will work out a way to save us. So, being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. Therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Rom 4:21-22)The case that is being looked at here is the actual bringing forth of the promised son, Isaac: a miraculous birth. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. (Being proven righteous) (Rom 4:23-25) for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2Cor 5:21) Again it is all about righteousness; we must become righteous. Jesus has made a way. God the Father has made a way. They have worked out a way by which we can become righteous. The way is we will be united to Jesus. To be united to Jesus, He has to expiate our sins by getting united to our sin. Without doing sin, He united Himself to our sin on the cross; took the punishment for us on the cross. Now if He paid a debt He didn’t owe, He has credit that He can apply to a debt that is owed. If He took a punishment that isn’t His then to balance the scale of justice - that punishment can expiate someone else’s punishment. And if we unite ourselves with Him by faith, the faith that obeys Christ, then His sinless blood is a payment that pays our sinful blood debt. And now that our debt is paid we can unite to His righteousness and we can unite to His resurrection. And God raised Him because God accepted the expiation. (Rom 4:25) What Jesus did to pay for the sins of those who truly come to Him, God accepted and in raising Christ, He was awesomely proclaiming, “Jesus, I count it as being done.” And this all has to do with the gift of righteousness, because we are connected to Jesus by grace. He, by grace, connected Himself to our sin so that He could atone and expiate our sin but He also connected Himself to us, each of us who truly believes in Him. In saving us He comes to us by grace and says, “I am connecting you to Myself. I’ve taken your sin, I’ve paid for it so that you can enter into My life; My righteous resurrected life. And you are connected to Me now.” It’s a connection. It’s an awesome thing to be connected to Jesus. I’m connected to His death. I’m connected to His expiation. And I’m connected to His resurrection. And He did it all by grace because He loved Me. It was a gift. A free gift. This is the heart of what we are seeing in but the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (Rom 5:15) So He did this for me. If you are His, He did this for you. He did this for all the many who are truly connected to Him. But you see we must consider this connection as faith that obeys according to “if anybody says he knows Him and doesn’t keep His commandments he is a liar.” (1John 2:4) If you are truly connected to Him you’ve entered into the gift of righteousness, because you’ve entered into the power of Christ’s righteousness. So you can’t be sinning and disobeying Christ and then claiming you’re connected to Jesus and you know Jesus. You can’t be continually disobedient and yet claim that you are connected to His forgiveness because to be connected to His forgiveness you must be connected to Him. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. (Eph 1:7) Because if you are in Him you are also connected to the power of His righteousness to overcome sin, because it is the same Person, the same Spirit, the same Christ, and it is not possible that you can be connected to His forgiveness and be disconnected from His resurrection life, which is a life that is without sin; Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. (1John 3:9) The life in Christ is lived above sin because you reign over sin now, sin doesn’t reign over you. (Rom 5:17) So being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform, therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. (Justification means righteousness) (Rom 4:21-25) And what is it that God is expecting us to believe? He expected Abraham to believe he would have a son, Isaac. But He is expecting us to believe that Christ can be formed in us and we can be brought into the fullness of the stature of the Son of God. He’s expecting us to believe we can be perfected in Christ. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, (Eph 3:17-20) for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Phil 2:13) What are we to believe? Believe that He can do that; believe He will do that. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Rom 5:1) Faith has connected us to Christ, connected Christ to us, connected us to the expiation; connected us to the resurrection; connected us to His death; connected us to His life. And faith is causing us to believe we can be made perfect in Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; (Eph 4:13) So we are believing Christ can be perfectly formed in us. Even as Abraham is believing to have a son by the power of God, we’re believing to become a son by the power of God. We’re believing to become an Isaac, a supernatural son of God’s grace. There is to be a miraculous conversion in a true Christian that changes us from being a sinner to a saint. So true Christians were sinners saved by grace but they’re not sinners anymore. Because they live by grace - grace to reign over sin. Look at but God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8) While we were still sinners! So the person who believes in Jesus is not a sinner anymore because “while we were still sinners” is what used to be and if we’re still sinners, the wages of sin is death. But if you’re a saint the gift of God is eternal life, because we’ve received the gift of righteousness, which leads to eternal life. And that means we’re not doing sin, which leads to death, but we’re doing righteousness, which leads to life. We’ve been changed in our doings. We have a new Spirit in us; a righteous Spirit in us. We do things different now. Therefore, having been justified (made righteous) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand... (Rom 5:1-2) And grace is a very important part of the gospel. And it covers so many different things and forgiveness is just the beginning of grace. Open your Bible and find ten different verses about grace and nine of them will pertain to God’s power in us to live a righteous life. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. (Titus 2:11-12) And these really important truths about grace have been overlooked by most churches today that hold only to the one idea of grace being forgiveness. But we have access by faith into a grace in which we stand. What faith? Faith that He is forming Christ in us and bringing us into perfection in Christ. The faith that God will do that; faith He will make us real sons of God is what causes us to have peace with God. Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Rom 5:2-5) We believe to be perfected, and because we have the faith for Him to do that He gives us the grace to accomplish it. And so we are standing in grace – a grace that is both protecting us and perfecting us. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Well what is the hope of glory? Christ in you. (Col 1:27) So we are standing in faith that Christ will be formed in us and we will see the glory of God. “Christ in us, the hope of glory,” because of Christ in us we will enter into the glory. Now this is one of the foundations of salvation “eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory...” (Rom 2:7) Alright, how are we going to get that glory? Christ in you is the hope of glory. What are you believing for God to do? Form Christ in you; so you’ll be able to see the glory, enter into the glory. But if God is forming Christ in you, what are you to behave like? Like Christ! Unless you are behaving more and more like Christ, it is a lie to say He is being formed in you. John is telling us that if people are not behaving like Jesus they are lying if they say Christ is in them, or if they say they are abiding in Christ. (1John 2:4-6) This grace, in which we stand, (Rom 5:2) is the same as saying “this Christ in which we stand.” We stand in Christ by grace. We abide in Christ by grace. Having done all stand. Stand therefore. (Eph 6:13) Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand. (vs 10-11) But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Rom 13:14) We put on Christ through faith. Faith allows us to be able to stand or abide in Christ; because by faith we can take hold of the grace for Christ to put His life in us, so we can live righteously in Him and attain to glory. And not only that but we also glory in tribulation knowing that it produces perseverance. (Rom 5:3) So tribulation actually causes us to become stronger. In our standing against the wiles of the devil and the pressures of tribulation, we actually take a greater hold on Christ and we become even more firmly established in Him and He in us – which demonstrates in our behavior a Christ like approved character so that we’re seen to really be God’s people. And because of the testings people can look at the factions that claim to be Christians and say “Jannes and Jambres, disapproved concerning the faith – disqualified, cast away.” (2Tim 3:8) But Apelles; his character is approved in Christ. (Rom 16:10) You want to learn about God? Don’t go to Jannes, he won’t teach you. You go to Apelles; approved character; he’s passed his tests! And that approved character gives us hope. Why? Because approved character is the character of those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality. Those are the approved. Approved character assures the Christian of his hope of attaining to the glory, the immortality of Christ. And the hope doesn’t disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5) That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you may know the height the depth and the width and know the love of God that the fullness of God be in you. (Eph 3:17-19) Jesus is in you if the love of God has been poured into you; Christ has been poured into you by the Holy Spirit. But whoever keeps His word; truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. (1John 2:5) For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. (1John 5:3) So the love of God causes us to obey God and behave righteously. And it is given as a gift by grace through faith. But the free gift is not like the offense. For by one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man. (Rom 5:15) and we see that gift is the gift of righteousness (vs 17) the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus. God has such grace upon us, a people who recognize we need help to be saved, a people who cry out and say O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom 7:24) I’m sold under sin – I’m carnal. There’s a power in me that causes me to do the thing that is going to bring death upon me. (vs 14-15) Who will set me free? Jesus! Jesus! And because the law has shown you you’re a sinner, when you recognize that something has to be done about your dreadful situation, something has to free me from the power of this sin, then you will come to Jesus and you will “Call upon the Lord,” (Rom 10:13) when you see your wretched state and have faith in His power to save then you’ll cry out to Him “Save me from my sins. Save me from not just the guilt of my past sins, save me from the power that causes me to do the things that are delivering me to death.” And in His mercy Jesus answers your call and He comes to live in you. And that’s like a billionaire stepping out of a palace to get into the gutter with a homeless man and to put his arms around him and to give him a blanket and to warm him, to feed him and to help him. It is grace for Jesus to come into our paltry home, our body of sin; for Christ to enter into this polluted thing that we call our flesh, that the King of all the universe would come into our gutter with us, wrap His arms around us and lift us up; that’s the grace; the grace of the one Man. Christ has come to make me into a son of God; He’s come to make me righteous. He can do it and I believe He will do it just like Abraham believed God could give him a son in his old age. God will miraculously bring Christ into me. I will be born again. And Christ is making me a child of God. He will perfect me. He’ll make me spotless. I believe it. And because I believe Him and I trust Him He has come to me and His coming to me is a free gift of His grace and He is putting His righteous love in me, His thoughts, His ways and He is making Himself so much a part of me that I am disappearing into Him; His life is in me now. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life, which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal 2:20) And that is what this gospel is about. That is the Good News of the gospel. And when the judgment comes I’ll be found so connected to Jesus that there’s nothing to be judged adversely because its not possible to bring a charge against God’s elect. (Rom 8:33) For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17) and we are reigning if we are in Him because He reigns in us over all principality and power and might and dominion and over all sin. He has conquered all. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, (righteousness) resulting in justification (righteousness) of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. As our flesh was connected to Adam in disobedience so our spirit will be connected to Christ’s in obedience. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.... (Rom 5:18-20) Sin was in the world but it wasn’t imputed while there was no law. (vs 13) You cannot be convicted of sinning until there is a law against what you are doing - even though what you are doing is sin. So God brought the law through Moses and from that time people began to get very conscious of the fact that they were sinners because God’s law specifically pointed out what they were not to do. Therefore the sinners could be easily convicted of their guilt if they broke the law. Now when law abounds the consciousness of sin abounds and God did this, making law abound so that people would be made guilty because you have to recognize your sin if you are to see you need to get saved. So the law is the genius of God to give conviction to mankind. So the law is good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. (Rom 7:13) God gave so much law that men would be virtually forced to recognize how guilty they are. Now when they recognize how guilty they are and they go through a period in which they try to obey the law but they fail and fail and fail, then they begin to see their need for a deliverer from the sin that is in their flesh: not just forgiveness but deliverance. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom 7:14-24) Now, have you also come to the place where you realize that you are not being saved by the law? The law is not making you righteous; it’s only making you guilty. Can you see you need something stronger than the law to save you? But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, (Gal 4:4) And just about the time when the Jews should have been well convinced they needed a savior God sent Jesus, the answer to their problem. And Jesus says “Now here’s how you get saved – by grace. You get saved by coming to Me. You get saved by asking Me, and trusting Me to live My righteous life in you. You get saved by becoming one with Me. It’s a free gift. You need to know you need it though. You must want it. You must ask for it and you need to understand what you are asking for and why? And you have to call upon the Lord for Him to do it for you. And you have to keep calling on the Lord to keep Him living in you continually? It has to continue all the way to the end. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Heb 6:11) Now where sin abounded grace much more abounded. (Rom 5:20) We’ve already seen the sin abounded because the law abounded and the more law there was the more sin there was because the increasing of the law increasingly exposed the sin making it to be increasingly seen as sin. But the abundance of sin doesn’t mean God cannot save because His grace is more than sufficient to overcome all this sin. So where sin abounded, it was to cause us to ask for God’s grace, and God’s grace to save us abounds even beyond the sin. So that sin reigned in death (vs 21) and death reigned in sin. (vs 14) But grace reigns through righteousness; (vs 21) Now are you a sinner saved by grace? Then how can we tell you are a sinner saved by grace? Because if you are saved grace is reigning in you through righteousness and you aren’t sinning anymore. And that grace produces holiness, which leads to eternal life. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. (Rom 6:22) But if you are still sinning death is abiding in you and we can tell you are in death if you are sinning. The wages of sin is death. (Rom 6:23) For to be carnally minded is death. For if you live according to the flesh you will die. (Rom 8:6,13) Death reigns in carnal people and they are full of sin. But, grace reigns in the true believers because we are full of righteousness. What we do is righteous; it is right in God’s sight. Now anybody who claims to be a sinner saved by grace ought to be showing true righteousness in their behavior because if they don’t grace is not reigning. It’s true we’re saved by grace through faith not of our own works but if you have the grace that saves you it demonstrates itself in the righteous works of Christ working through you because saving grace reigns through righteousness; righteous behavior. And that grace that reigns through righteousness is the power of God unto salvation, from faith to faith. A grace that reigns through righteousness is what brings us to eternal life – by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; or eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing righteousness seek glory, honor, and immortality. And God has given us this grace through the one Man, Jesus Christ, who by our faith and His grace He will come to us and live His righteous life in us by grace and that grace reigns through that righteousness so that if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Romans 5:10) His life, His righteous life being lived in us, saves us. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? (Romans 6:1) The grace abounds in order to get us out of sin. Grace abounds in order to destroy the power of sin to reign over us. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. A new life; old things are passed away all things have become new. (2Cor 5:17) We are new creations in Christ Jesus. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another-- to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:4,6) For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Romans 6:5-6) The power of sin has been broken. The problem that is described in O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7: 24) is solved in our uniting to Christ - His death and His life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, (Rom 6:5,8) Well, what does baptism mean? For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:27)In baptism you’re joining to Jesus. To be baptized is to be immersed in Christ. And being immersed in Christ means to share in His death that the body of sin can no longer rule over you. (Rom 6:3,6) For he who has died has been freed from sin. (vs 7) Now if we died with Christ we shall live with Him. (vs 8) We’ll live His kind of life. In Colossians it says, if you were raised with Christ; seek the things, which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above not things of the earth for you died and your life is (connected, it’s) hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:1-3) Your life now as a Christian is connected to Jesus; His life is your life. So, if we died with Christ we shall live with him. (Rom 6:8) We’re going to live His life. We’ve died to the world, (Gal 6:14) we’re dead to sin, (Rom 8:2) and we’re now living His life. (Gal 2:20) And now, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. (Rom 8:5-6-8,11) Foolish false Christians think they are automatically in the spirit because it says so in the Bible. But what Paul is saying is you better check it out – are you setting your minds on things above? For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Rom 8:5) So it depends on what you set your mind on whether or not you actually have the Spirit. Carnal or worldly-minded “Christians” do not have the Spirit of Christ and they are not “saved.” Because if you don’t have the Spirit of Christ you are not His (vs 9) but if Christ is in you the body is dead but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Righteousness is what brings the life of Christ’s Spirit into your mortal body. (vs 10-11) Well, I’m not ashamed of the Gospel because in it the righteousness of God is revealed; and that is the power of God unto salvation; the power to live righteous. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors-- not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:12,13) It doesn’t matter that you say you’re saved. What matters is are you living according to the Spirit because that’s what means you’re really saved. It doesn’t matter that you have some verse you’re standing on thinking that you’re saved; what matters is are you living according to the Spirit? Even our death to the law is so we can serve God in the newness of the Spirit not the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:6) Everything that has to do with New Covenant salvation has to do with getting you into the Spirit of righteousness, the Spirit of Jesus, so that what you do now is Jesus, it’s His righteousness in you. Now in Christ you’re living to do good and because of Christ doing His good in you, you are able to attain to immortality, glory and honor. You’re no longer storing up wrath against yourself by doing evil because the wages of sin is wrath and death. But the gift of righteousness leads to eternal life; so only if you receive the gift of righteousness, will you then receive the gift of eternal life. You must receive the gift of righteousness or you won’t get the gift of eternal life. If you live according to the flesh you will die. (Romans 8:13) The favorite Baptist verse is, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Rom 6:23) But if you have that gift of eternal life what are you behaving like? You must be behaving like Jesus, righteous like Jesus; because if Christ is in you, you behave like Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1John 2:6) And you have eternal life only if Christ is in you. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1John 5:11,12) If you live according to the flesh you’ll die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. (Rom 8:13) Put to death the deeds of the body! That is not imputed righteousness! That means you stop sinning! That’s how you live! There’s no way that true Christians can be considered just “sinners saved by grace” and still be sinners. And what is being preached as salvation in most churches today cannot be connected to this true Gospel in the book of Romans. If you’re still a sinner you’re dying, you’re dead; you are not going to heaven because the true gospel says this is how you get saved- you put to death the deeds of the body. If you are not putting to death the deeds of the body you’re not saved. If you’re not putting to death the deeds of the body what are you doing? You’re still following and in slavery to the body of sin. You’re still storing up wrath for yourself. He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. (1Pet 4:1) He who has suffered in the flesh has put to death the deeds of the body by the power of Christ. He who has suffered in the flesh for Christ’s sake has connected himself to the power that held Jesus on the cross; suffering in the flesh even unto death and refusing to disobey God to end that suffering. He could take it; Jesus could take the pain in order to obey God. Now that’s what’s inside of you if Jesus is in you – the power to take the pain of saying no to the deeds of the body. Now don’t tell us you’re saved if that power isn’t manifesting in you because you don’t have the grace that saves if that power isn’t in you. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, (Titus 2:11-12) If you live according to the flesh you die but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. (Rom 8:13) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God these are the son’s of God (Rom 8:14) and if you have the Spirit of God He will lead you to put to death the deeds of the body. There is no other way to be saved! The Spirit also leads us into works which fulfill the scriptures as pleading the cause of the widow, for example. (Isa 1:17) How could we just decide to start a ministry of pleading widow’s causes? But God by His Spirit got us into places, the nursing homes and such where we saw the widow’s causes that needed to be pleaded and we obeyed. Rebuking the oppressors, (Isa 1:17) how can you start a rebuke the oppressor ministry? But again God led us into the places where the oppressors were and we saw them and we rebuked them. And now we are continuing in doing good; The Spirit is showing us how to minister to the needy, doing the things that fulfill the word of God in this earth – standing up for righteousness, laying our lives down for the brethren. We’re doing those things because Christ is in us and we are being led by His Spirit and He has made us the sons of God by grace. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon (recognize) yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead. (For God raised you from where you were dead in your trespasses and sins and you belong to Him now – Eph 2:4-6) …and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. (Rom 6:9-14) The grace that you are under is Jesus; you are under obedience to Him. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another-- to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. (Rom 7:4) What then? Shall we sin because we are under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Rom 6:15-16) If you obey God then you will be counted righteous. That’s what the example with Abraham showed because Abraham believed God he obeyed God and that was accounted to him as righteousness. It was his obedience that proved that he believed. And so his faith led to righteousness and immortality; eternal life, and glory. So salvation is evidenced in faith that obeys God. Obey the Lord! What will you get out of it? Righteousness in your behavior; eternal life as your reward. Salvation is absolutely connected up to obedience to God. If you obey sin – tribulation, anguish, wrath and death are your reward. In order to be saved from sin I must become obedient to righteousness; obedient to Jesus. My nature has to be changed. I used to be a slave to sin but I must become a slave to God. By being a slave to sin I was doing evil. By being a slave to God I’m doing righteousness. True Salvation is evidenced in righteous behavior. Now of course we have to teach people not to do good works that originate from themselves in their Adamic nature, because that doesn’t save them. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. (Matt 7:18) And the old nature is the bad tree. No matter how hard it tries, its works are always dead works; useless to God, and self-righteous; what God calls filthy rags. (Isa 64:6) You do need to behave right but your behavior has to come from the change in your nature and your faith in Christ to live His righteous life in you and through you. So your behavior doesn’t come out of your legal efforts to do good, it comes out of your faith in Christ to do good through you, to put His Spirit in you by grace. So the one you obey, you are that one’s slave. (Rom 6:16) If you obey sin, you will die. If you obey God, you will become righteous and you will attain to eternal life. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. (Rom 6:17) That form of doctrine being the true gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. (Rom 1:16) And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (Rom 6:18) you’ve become obedient to righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves for uncleanness leading to more lawlessness. So now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness (vs 19) For when you were slaves of sin, (you didn’t feel like you missed anything by not doing good) what fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves to God, you have fruit to holiness, and the end (your reward is) everlasting life. (vs 20-22) Salvation has everything to do with behavior. In the true gospel you’ll find the gift of righteousness, which is the power of God to change your behavior from unrighteous to righteous. So instead of gathering up wrath and receiving death as your reward; glory, honor and immortality are the rewards of the person who receives by faith God’s gift of righteousness. That’s the gospel, the real gospel, the one that Jesus preaches, the one that Paul preaches, the one that God Himself gave us to preach here at “My Father’s House.” For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:10) Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2Cor 9:15) Prophecy: My sheep hear My voice and will not follow the voice of a stranger. First it is that still small voice and following the Spirit and taking the first steps of faith, like baptism, that’s required in one’s initial salvation. But it doesn’t end there. A real Christian who is truly circumcised in heart will continue and increase in taking those steps of faith so they progress in their Christian walk and become true overcomers. And here at My Father’s House, you are progressing spiritually because you have chosen to obey God in all that He tells you to do. Therefore you are going from faith to faith and glory to glory. And I tell you My people; only these continuing steps of faith will lead you and guide you by the Holy Spirit to My eternal Kingdom, thus says the Lord. Prophecy: My word says that cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. And many who call themselves Christians today are found in this kind of religion and it is not pleasing to Me and I am showing and making a difference between My true church and man’s religion. And many would look at these who trust in themselves and say they are righteous, they do good things, but My word says apart from Me you can do nothing. Your righteousness that comes out of your own mind apart from My Spirit is as filthy rags, saith the Lord. And this is a people who follow the dictates of their own hearts. They do not come to me for counsel; they do not seek me with a true heart to know My ways. They continue to walk in their own ways and My word says they are cursed. But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in God. And this is My People who acknowledge My Spirit and My presence working in them, speaking to them, counseling them, leading them and guiding them. And My people are blessed for they have ears to hear Me and they follow Me and when I speak to them they listen and they take heed. And when I say do not go this way for it is not of Me they listen and they obey for I keep My people and I keep a hedge of protection around them and I am Goshen in My Church and “My Father’s House” is Goshen for My people and they are blessed. And I will bring many of those who’ve trusted in their own righteousness to see; I will open their eyes to see that their righteousness is as filthy rags and it fails to save but I will cause them to come in the brokenness of their hearts and when they call upon Me I will save them. I will change them and make them My people and they will do it My way and I will do this for those who believe and obey Me, saith the Lord. Prophecy: Righteous is what My people are. And righteousness is what My people do. For in the truest sense of the word, you are what you do. A fish is a fish because he lives as a fish. A demon is a demon because he does what demons do. A son of God is a son of God because he follows his God and does what his God does. It is the most foolish and idiotic of man’s wicked ideas to profess to be righteous when his behavior is wicked. Such people are not saved and are not brethren and they are not sons of God. They’re deceivers and impostors deceiving and being deceived. For My children are righteous. They have My righteousness in them and I do My righteousness through them. And their righteousness is seen, it’s visible and it’s the evidence of My grace in them. And it’s the evidence that they are saved and being saved, saith the Lord. Prophecy: I tell you My people, those who have reproached you; do you think it is you they have reproached? It is not you. It is Me. When they have said this is not My church, I started this church. When they have said these doctrines are not from God, these doctrines I have given. And those who have reproached and fought against you, they have been fighting against Me. They have been blaspheming Me. They have been calling Me Beelzebub again and they will bear their sin. For I shall show them who they have reproached and I shall show them who they are fighting against. Do not think it is you, it is Me they have fought against. But I will be with you to show them their sin. I will be with you to bring down their pride. For I am offended! I am offended by their wickedness. I am offended by their continual slanders. I’m offended by the things that they say are not Me that are Me. For it has all been of Me, all the things they wickedly claim to have not been of Me and I shall show them and they shall be greatly ashamed, saith the Lord. (Prophecies delivered at "My Father's House".)
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