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His Righteousness! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 8/Issue 3 Prophecy: Let no man glory in his wisdom, the mighty man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches. But let him who knows Me glory in Me. For I am the Lord who loves mercy, righteousness, and judgment. And to know Me is eternal life. And those who love Me will be known by Me. For those who love what I love will love Me. And those who love mercy and loving kindness, goodness, and righteousness, and justice and judgment, they will draw near to Me. For I am the source of all they love. And I will love them for they are the manifestation of all I love. And I will make them to be that which I love. And they will find in Me the strength and the life to become what I love. And I will be their Father and they will be My children. And they will draw from Me and I will give unto them and they will be known of Me and I will know them. For I will have a people of My own, saith the Lord. And I have opened the door and made the way that you may be a partaker of that which I love and a lover of that which I love and receive a portion in My kingdom and be a glorious manifestation of that which I love. (Prophecy delivered at "My Father's House, inc.") “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matt 6:33) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:16-17) But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – (1Cor 1:30) 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) In Romans, it says we’ve become slaves of righteousness, (Rom 6:18) and having received abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness we reign in life. (5:17) Jeremiah prophesies of the coming of Christ, saying, In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jer 23:6) This doctrine of Jesus being our righteousness is essential to salvation and yet it is not properly understood by most Christians because they have come to look at righteousness as only a religious word that means, “because we believe in Jesus, God considers us righteous.” And most of the teachings about righteousness in the church have to do with an “imputed” righteousness that mainly says, you come to Jesus and He will count you as righteous because of your faith in Him. But what the Bible teaches is true righteousness is more than just being called righteous. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. (lJohn 3:7) Thus God doesn’t really consider you righteous unless you are practicing (doing) righteousness. So “imputed” righteousness as most Christians believe it, is actually a heresy and a deception, based on a misunderstanding of faith as described in; “Abraham believed God, and it was “accounted” to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, (Rom 4:3-5) So when “faith” is misunderstood as merely acknowledging a truth – such as the truth that “Jesus is the Son of God” – then some “Christians” believe the mere acknowledgement of Christ as God’s Son is sufficient to cause God to “account” righteousness to them. And yet we can see the fallacy here, in that such an acknowledgement does not mean they are practicing righteousness – nor does James consider such a mere profession of agreement with a truth to be “Faith” as in; You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-- and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 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. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (James 2:19-24) Thus the imputed righteousness of Romans 4 was God’s answer to a faith that evidenced itself in the obedience of Abraham. So the scripture says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness but you can also say Abraham obeyed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. And you can’t separate those two facts. Because had he not obeyed, the scripture would not have said he believed. And so obedience to God is righteousness and whatever disobeys God is unrighteousness. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1John 3:7-8) Sin is disobedience to God. And so whoever is disobedient is not in faith and they are not righteous. Recently I heard a discussion about theology where someone asked, “If God is love, why are we supposed to fear Him?” So many today seem to think that we are much wiser than the ancient peoples, but even though we’ve made much progress in technology many of the ancients had a much clearer understanding of moral truths than most people have today. As a race, mankind has not progressed much in morality. And Christians in the early church would likely consider anyone who would ask such a question to be extraordinarily ignorant. If God is love why should we fear Him? For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. (Rom 13:3-4) If your government is a good government it will punish evil. And you need to fear to be found doing evil by a good government – for if you are caught doing evil, you will be punished. It is good for a government to do this as it protects the good citizens from evil by punishing evil. If God is love then God is good. And you should fear God, for the very reason that He is good. For because God is good He will not permit evil to go unpunished. And so you must fear God, that if you do evil He will punish you. It is very reasonable to fear God because He is good. Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith. (2Thess 3:1-2) To say not all have faith is tantamount to saying, for not all fear God. And men who fear God, you don’t have to fear those men. But men who do not fear God, you should fear them. Because of the lack of understanding of God’s righteousness in the churches today, many believers in their self-righteousness think, “We’re supposed to love everybody and if we love everybody that means we must be nice to everybody” and to behave in such a way as to be friendly under all circumstances seems to be the idea. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2Tim 3:1-5) Now what does the next line say? Why don’t you go witness to those people! Is that what it says? I should be friendly to those people and try to straighten them out. Is that what it says? What does the Bible say to do here? Know this in the last days perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves. What do you do with these selfish, self-loving, self-exalting people? Do you encourage them in their sin? Tell them God loves them anyway? Men will be lovers of money. What do you do with money lovers? Do you associate with them in their avarice, their mad greed for more wealth? Do you fellowship with them and tell them God loves them anyway? How can a Christian have fellowship with such people? They are boasters and they are proud, they blaspheme, they slander, they disobey authorities. What do you do with people like that? Do you just keep on talking to them about Jesus over and over again and being nice to them, thinking you can win them to the Lord? Unthankful, unholy! “Well you know we don’t want to be unkind to these unholy and unthankful people. We want to be nice to them and show them that God loves them.” This is self-righteousness when it disagrees with God’s righteousness. They are unloving and unforgiving and they are slanderers. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words. (2Tim 4:14-15) Alexander is a dangerous man, obviously he does not fear God. A man that does not fear God will do you hurt because he doesn’t fear any punishment for doing hurt to you. And a man who does not fear God will hurt anybody he thinks he can get away with hurting. So having no faith, he has no fear that God will punish him. The way that you stay safe from men like that is you do what the Bible says, And from such people turn away! (2Tim 3:5) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” (2Cor 6:14-15,17) The scripture says, EVIL COMPANY CORRUPTS GOOD MANNERS. Awake to righteousness and do not sin. (1Cor 15:33-34) Associating with ungodly people will corrupt your faith or even expose you to physical danger in that such people may desire to do you harm because of your righteousness. So from such people turn away is what God says. God doesn’t say to be nice to them, smile at them, pat them on the back, shake their hand and encourage them, or tell them God loves them. The Bible doesn’t say that. God says, TURN AWAY from them. Now my question to you is this, who is running your church? Is Jesus in charge or is it some self-righteous sentimental spirit telling you to do things that Jesus says don’t do? Who are you supposed to obey? Are you to obey the word of God or some foolish false humility in the churches that tells you to be nice to these people and continue to fellowship with them and show them you love them? (Col 2:18-19) Ask yourself why is it that God in His righteousness says to turn away and most churches today in their self-righteousness say get close to these people and try to show them God loves them? Such “churches” are not following Jesus but they are ignoring the scriptures and following doctrines of demons because God’s word is truth. And when you hang around with the wicked you are disobeying the scripture and you are despising God’s word as in, “evil company corrupts good manners” and you are exposing yourself to danger. The devil wants to destroy you so he wants you to do the very things that God is trying to protect you from. But you may rightly ask, “How are we going to save sinners?” God answers God’s way – By praying for them until the Spirit begins to work on them, and they begin to see their sins and become repentant at which point you can then minister to them. But you can’t minister to people when they’re proud, and they love themselves, and they love money; when they are blasphemers, slanderers, unthankful, unloving, unforgiving, you can’t minister to people like that. They will not receive what you have to say. These are the swine that Jesus says – don’t cast your pearls before them because they will only turn on you and tear you to pieces. (Matt 7:6) And so Paul says, “beware of Alexander, he’s one of these men without faith. We offered him the word. He rejected the word, resisted the word. So beware of him.” Now at “My Father’s House” we have often been accused of not loving because we obey God’s word concerning these matters. But we never reject someone without first offering them the word. But when they reject the word, we have to reject them. You understand that we don’t initiate the rejection. We offer them fellowship, we offer them the word. We are doing 1st John 1:3, “That which we have seen, that which we have heard, we are sharing with you that you might have fellowship with us.” But when people reject God’s word and yet they still want to have fellowship with us, can that be? Because when you reject the word you have rejected My Lord, and you have rejected His righteousness. You’ve rejected my Jesus who I am fellowshipping with and I’m not going to walk away from Him and His righteousness in order to stay with you. God says from such people turn away. By rejecting God they have initiated their own rejection for it is then required of us to reject them. Now we began this discourse with the question, “Why should we fear God?” And this again is the answer to that – One should fear an unjust judge lest he be wrongfully destroyed at the hands of injustice. But one fears a righteous judge lest he be caught in sin and rightfully punished. So we have a kind of fear towards the unrighteous which Paul says – Pray for me that I might be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, (2Thes 3:1-2) because they might do me much harm as in the case of Alexander the coppersmith. For this Alexander doesn’t have a fear of God because if he had a fear of a God he would fear that God would catch him in his wickedness and that fear would keep Alexander from indulging himself in such wickedness. But now concerning the righteous, because I have faith there is a God, I have a faith that there is a judgment then I also have faith that a good and a righteous God will punish me if I’m not righteous. If I do harm to my neighbor, God is going to punish me. If I don’t do what is right in His sight, because God is good He will punish me. In other words, the very reason I fear Him is because He is good and my fear is that I must be good enough to measure up to His goodness. Now, that’s why the gospel is the power of God unto salvation because in it, the way to measure up to the goodness of a good and righteous God is revealed to me. So that I can find a way to not have to fear being punished for my unrighteousness by a God who is perfect in righteousness. And the way I can enter into that place of not fearing the punishment is by actually trusting in the Lord to make me righteous; righteous enough so that in the Day of Judgment He will commend me, not punish me. And so the very deep need of mankind once they come to the realization that there is a righteous God in heaven is how can we attain to the righteousness of that God so we can be found pleasing to Him on the day of judgment. The very foundation of the idea of salvation is we must be brought into a place of righteousness. Today to some extent in the churches, they give a lip service to that and say, “Because of my faith, God calls me righteous, so He then won’t judge me.” But the word says, “He who practices righteousness is righteous” (1John 3:7) and the scripture cannot be broken, (John 10:35) so your “imputed” righteousness has to come out in righteous action, a righteous life, a righteous way of thinking or God won’t call you righteous when it really counts on the day of judgment. And Jesus teaches in the sermon on the Mt. that your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees or you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matt 5:20) Previously He says those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. (vs 6) So if you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven you must be hungering and thirsting for a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. And we know their righteousness was external. “Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matt 23:28)But the righteousness Jesus requires is first internal. “Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, (the internal) that the outside of them may be clean also.” (Matt 23:26) So the true New Covenant saint doesn’t just “not commit adultery” (external) but he doesn’t even lust in his heart (internal righteousness) (Matt 5:28). And such a righteousness is obviously not merely “imputed” but it is the actual righteous behavior of Christ in you, who is made unto us righteousness. So the true saint is hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of Christ to be in him. As in, “God, make me so much like Jesus that there would be nothing in me that You could be unhappy with.” So I’m not asking for imputed righteousness. God may impute righteousness to me because of my righteous attitude and faith that I want to be made righteous. Of course, if He didn’t do that how could He make me righteous? He would have to accept me before He could begin the process of making me righteous. And so He does accept me on the basis that I have faith to be made righteous. So once He sees faith and the desire to be righteous is really in my heart, He will impute righteousness to me while He works on me to make me righteous. But if I’m to be truly saved I can’t just sit still trusting I am safe in a merely imputed righteousness. I’m required by God to be pursuing the true righteousness of Christ, for it is the reality of Christ living in me that God’s imputed righteousness calls me to. So, If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, (1Tim 6:3) Then Paul says from such withdraw yourself. (vs 5) Once again who are we permitted to fellowship with? Are we commanded to socialize with everybody? The apostle says withdraw yourself. He says such people are proud, obsessed with disputes and arguments, envy, strife, revilings, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. (1Tim 6:11) Well if you already have righteousness, why do you need to pursue it? That is the whole point. Imputed righteousness won’t get you to Heaven unless you use it to attain to the real righteousness of Christ living in you. Because it is only the real internal righteousness that exceeds the external righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees that will actually get you into Heaven. If imputed righteousness gets you into the real righteousness of Christlike behavior inside and out then the real righteousness will save you and get you into Heaven. So what do we have? Faith gets you into imputed righteousness, imputed righteousness and a deeper faith produces Christ’s real righteousness and that righteousness that gets you into the Kingdom. But when you think you have the faith that God already counts you righteous, and you think that’s enough and you stop seeking Christ’s real righteousness, and you stop hungering and thirsting to be conformed to the image of Christ, then you lose your “imputed” righteousness and you don’t get into the Kingdom. It’s like when you buy a car on credit – the ownership of the car is imputed to you as long as you make your payments, but the lender keeps the title. And if you fail to make your payments the lender will come and take the car away from you, because until you pay for it the car actually belongs to the lender. Ownership is only imputed to you on the basis that you will in good faith complete your payments. Then the title actually becomes yours. Likewise this imputed righteousness comes to you because you have a hunger for true righteousness and because you have a faith that God will help you by grace to attain to His righteousness and for that reason God gives you the imputed righteousness and accepts you while He works His true righteousness into you. But if you stop hungering for the real righteousness and stop pursuing the real righteousness it’s like failing to meet your payments, your obligation to go on to perfection, and because of that God is going to take away the imputed righteousness. You stop hungering for the real righteousness and you will fall away from even the imputed righteousness. “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” (Luke 14:28-30) The whole point is that God is preparing us for the Judgment and I need to know how to live right in His sight. God knows I need this grace to live right and therefore in His infinite mercy He’s made me acceptable by the Blood of Jesus, so I can come to the throne of grace every morning, everyday and I can pray for God to give me his light, His Spirit to keep me from stumbling, to help me walk in a way that is right in His sight; to show me His ways; to teach me His ways and to actually impart the righteousness of Christ to me and in me so that when the judgment comes He will be pleased with me and I will not have to fear Him that I will be caught in sin and be punished because of His goodness and my unrighteousness. Now the wicked have always been a people who do not fear God’s judgment. The ones God considers righteous have always been a people that fear displeasing God because they know of His goodness and they know of their own propensity to not always be good and they fear sinning and displeasing Him. They fear not being good because they know God won’t accept evil behavior. And that is the fear of God. And people who have such a fear of God are hungering and thirsting to be just as righteous as God so that He will be pleased with them and they will never have to suffer His displeasure with them. So they call upon God to help them be pleasing to Him. And people who have such a fear of God are not dangerous to men because they fear treating men unjustly because they know God won’t put up with it. But the people who have no fear of God therefore have no fear of treating men unjustly. And they do not call upon God to be made righteous. As in, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! (Ps 4:1) When we consider the righteous people versus the wicked, the righteous people want to have a relationship with a righteous God so He can help them do righteousness. So He is the God of our righteousness, teaching and empowering us that we may be good in His sight and not have to fear judgment. But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; the LORD will hear when I call to Him. (Ps 4:3) So because the righteous partake of God’s righteousness, they are precious to Him and He has a real relationship with them – hearing and answering their prayers. Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah (Ps 4:4) This is quoted in Ephesians 4:26. A proof that the Old Testament has not passed away is how often it is quoted in the New. Be angry and do not sin. Now how can you do that? Well God is angry with the wicked everyday. (Ps 7:11) And He doesn’t expect us not to be angry with wickedness? But what He does expect us to do is not allow anger to push us into sinful actions. We take our anger to Him in prayer. We ask Him to help us to deal with the situation in a righteous way. So there is a way to be angry and not sin. For there is a real difference between selfish sinful anger and a righteous anger. Now righteous anger arises when someone does something that is unrighteous. And God is angry that way. But even righteous anger does not permit us to take vengeance. Vengeance belongs to God is a good way of understanding how to be angry but not sin. Somebody has done you wrong; be angry but don’t take vengeance. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. Meditate within your heart on your bed and be still and in Ephesians that is expressed – “don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.” Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. (Ps 4:5) Let the Lord straighten out what is wrong. Don’t take it into your own hands. And so what we have here is an exercise of righteousness and the scriptures are showing you how to behave righteously when something is making you angry. And that is what sound doctrine is about. It is; 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) as opposed to; “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matt 22:29) Jesus is the word made flesh and if you don’t get to know God’s word and obey it – you won’t have His righteousness in you. His word is an expression of His righteousness – sound doctrine is the application of His word to your behavior. Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. (Titus 1:9) But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; (Titus 2:1-2) Those who despise God’s word cannot partake of His righteousness. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; you hate all workers of iniquity. Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face. (Ps 5:5,8) Now what does John the Baptist say – Make a straight path for the Lord. What is God doing for His people? He is leading them in His righteousness. He doesn’t want them to be found unacceptable in the Day of Judgment nor in a condition that would give their enemies any advantage over them today. God is giving His righteousness to His people who hunger and thirst for that righteousness by teaching them His ways. God’s people know they need God to teach them His righteousness because they know the judgment is coming and only the God, who is to be the Judge, can rightly instruct us on how to be acceptable to Him in the Day of Judgment. We must understand the Lord is our righteousness, that we are facing a certain and impending judgment but if we depend upon God, He will lead us in the paths of His righteousness so that we will do right. We will not just be called right, we will be right. Our actions, our thoughts will be found right in the Day of Judgment because Christ has been and is our righteousness. Christ will live His righteousness through us. He will impart His righteousness to us, not just “impute” it to us. He will put His righteousness in us so that we will know the right things to do and do them. O LORD my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in my hands, If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, or have plundered my enemy without cause, Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me; yes, let him trample my life to the earth, and lay my honor in the dust. Selah (Ps 7:3-5) What David is saying is, If I’m not behaving righteously then let me be destroyed. So David is acknowledging that his behavior is going to determine whether God will save him. And he is acknowledging that his behavior has to be found acceptable to God. Now when you understand that, then you can see why the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Because in it the secret of how to attain a righteous behavior acceptable to God is revealed from faith to faith. The gospel is the power unto salvation because in the gospel I find out how to receive from God the light (knowledge) and the strength (power) and the grace (power) to do right in God’s sight. And that is the righteousness of God. And it’s revealed from faith to faith. And so then God will judge us, according to the righteousness and according to the integrity within us. The LORD shall judge the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity within me. (Ps 7:8) The Lord shall judge the people and that’s a fact and a prophecy of the Day of Judgment. So the Psalm says God will judge me according to my righteousness and according to my integrity. You know we chasten our children when they treat each other unrighteously. When one child does something to another that he ought not to do; it’s not fair, it’s not love, it’s selfish and it’s hurtful and that is exactly why God judges us when we treat each other in ways that are not righteous. And then we are all going to judgment and be judged according to our righteousness. Well if I don’t have any righteousness in me then I am in trouble if that is the standard by which I’ll be judged. Then what do I have to do if I am to survive the judgment? “Judge me according to my integrity.” Here’s the thing you must discover, if you live your own life you will be found unacceptable in the Day of Judgment because your righteousness is as filthy rags. (Isa 64:6) But if Christ lives in me, “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) Then it will be Christ’s righteousness that will be found in me. For if Christ is really the one living in me, controlling my thoughts, controlling my action, if that is what is going on, I can stand on that statement – Judge me O’ Lord according to my righteousness and according to my integrity within me because I do not live anymore, Jesus lives in me. And He is living a perfectly righteous life in me. And that is true righteousness and that is true integrity. And I am truly saved if that is the case, because that’s how Jesus saves me. In the judgment I’m going to be found acceptable because of the righteousness of Christ within me and the integrity of Christ within me. So where did that righteousness and integrity come from? From Christ in me the hope of Glory, (Col 1:27) the hope of standing in the judgment and being glorified that my life was worthy of and pleasing to God. That’s the glory. Why have you been found worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Because God has tested you and found Christ is in you, Christ’s integrity is in you, His righteousness is in you. The kind of behavior that comes from God is what is coming out of you, the behavior that accords with godliness. You see true salvation is attaining to that righteousness within that comes when Christ is the one who’s living your life, not your selfish old man. That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph 4:22-24) And that is a righteousness which the saints and the prophets of old have hungered and thirsted for and prayed for God to give them. (Ps 119:5-7) And it is that righteousness which is available by faith to God’s people today, which for the most part they are despising it and throwing it away in order to trust in traditions of men, doctrines of demons, and claiming that they are saved when in fact they don’t have Christ’s integrity and they do not have any reality of Christ’s righteousness in their behavior.
What does God think of this kind of worship? “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.” (Amos 5:21-23) But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. (Amos 5:21-24) God is not interested in ritualistic religion. God is not interested in your singing Him pretty songs. God is not interested in you going through the motions of worship if you are not going to behave in a way that is righteous; if you are not going to behave in a way that is just. And that’s really what true salvation is about. It isn’t the exercise of rituals, it’s not a mere external appearance of worship, it’s drawing near to a righteous God in order that we might look upon His righteousness and look upon ourselves and see what we need to do to be made better; that we can be made like unto the One we worship. And can you worship someone that you do not desire to be like? Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3) And when we worship in Spirit and in truth how can we look upon a holy and righteous God and then think we are satisfying to Him when we are nothing like Him in our own hearts and in our own motives, and inclinations, and interests? And if our worship is not drawing us to be made like Him it can’t be a real worship because if we really worshipped Him in the beauty of holiness, we would admire and desire His goodness. We would desire it for ourselves and we would be saying “Lord, we want to be made like you, so reveal Your goodness to us and make us good like You are.” And then our worship would produce justice that runs like water and righteousness like a mighty stream because there would be a Spiritual outflow from the throne of God. That would be the flow of His justice and His righteousness that would be flowing into us and through us, making us like Him. And of course, we will be acceptable in His sight because He would be putting the beauty of His own holiness in us. We would be as a mirror of Him which is what we are to be. And what are we doing when we are the bride of Christ? We are looking at and adoring His beauty and wanting to be a part of that - that goodness, that beauty. (2Cor 3:18) For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright. (Ps 11:7) The LORD tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. (Ps 11:5) Now, if you want God to love you, you need to be righteous, don’t you? So one of the lies that are so common in the churches of today, is they say God loves sinners but hates the sin. But the Bible says – He hates the wicked. He doesn’t just hate their sin, He hates the people who do sin. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, (Rom 1:18) And just because God hates the wicked doesn’t mean He wants to kill them. “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” (Ezek 18:23) He patiently treats sinners with mercy and attempts to save them. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2Pet 3:9) But ultimately if they do not repent He will cast them into hell and they will burn forever and ever. And the fire of hell is the eternal indignation of the Lord. His hatred will burn the wicked forever because He does not love the wicked in the way people think. He hates them and He will destroy them if they do not turn. Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? (Psalm 15:1) And this is an indication of who will be accepted in Heaven. He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart; he who does not backbite with his tongue...nor does he take up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised... (vs 2-4) Many churches today would tell you that you are sinning if you despise a vile person. But here God says you can’t get into Heaven unless you despise a vile person. Jesus says – You must hate your mother, father, your brother and sister, even your own life if you are to be My disciples. (Luke 14:26) Why? Because if they are living a carnal life, unto themselves, then they are vile, they are wicked. And so are you if you are in the old man, the flesh. And if people are behaving in an ungodly manner you must despise the vile person even if it’s your mother, father, brother or sister, or even yourself. ...But he honors those who fear the Lord... (verse 4) and who are the ones who fear the Lord? They are the ones who know that if I do not behave God will punish me, so they behave rightly in God’s sight. ...He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; (vs 4) He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. (Ps 15:5) So again and again God’s word shows us that to make Heaven we must behave in a way that is righteous. Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the LORD, “You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You.” (Ps 16:1-2) Jesus says we can do nothing apart from Him. (John 15:5) “I can’t even be good without You, Lord.” As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness. (Ps 17:15) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1John 3:2-3) “I will be satisfied when I am like You Jesus, when I am righteous like You are. I will see Your face in righteousness.” Paul says, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2Cor 3:18) Do you see the perfect agreement between what the Old Testament says in Psalms 17:15, “I will awake in your likeness” and the New Testament saying we should be like Him for we shall see Him as He is? (1John 3:2-3) Those who say the Old Testament is not for today expose themselves as fools who’ve never read it. The Old Testament has prophesied what the New Testament fulfills. The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has recompensed me. (Ps 18:20) The word of God is forever established in heaven, every jot and tittle is going to come to pass. So the Lord will reward you according to your righteousness and according to the cleanness of your hands, He will recompense you. But the New Testament teaches you how to be righteous and how to be cleansed. By putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. By letting Him live in you and wash you in the water of His word. (Eph 5:26) By seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33) God makes me righteous so He then can reward me according to my righteousness and recompense me according to the cleanness of my hands. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. (Ps 18:21) Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; (Heb 3:12) See I have not wickedly departed from My God by having an evil heart of unbelief. For all His judgments were before me, and I did not put away His statutes from me. I was also blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight. (Ps 18:22-24) We are not under the law now, but we are under obedience to the righteous Christ. But God’s word is still the best indication of how Christ will lead us when He shows us how to do righteousness and by heeding His word we will be clean in the sight of God. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. (Ps 19:12-14) Apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5) Here the Psalmist recognizes he can’t even understand his own faults without God’s help and so he sees the way to righteousness is by faith in God, asking for God’s help, in the form of His grace to keep us from sin. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, (Jude 1:24) So we too must ask for the Lord to cleanse us and keep us and by so doing we are asking Jesus to put His Spiritual life in us and lead us in His ways and because of our faith for Him to do that, we shall be kept blameless. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. (Ps 23:3) And that leading in paths of righteousness includes our taking heed to sound doctrine: in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, (Titus 2:7) For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. (1Cor 4:17) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. (2Tim 4:3-4) Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, (1Tim 4:1) Carnal people turn to doctrines of demons because they want doctrines that accord to their own desires. They are not interested in God’s ways. They want doctrines that permit them to “feel” saved while they pursue their own interests and desires and the demons offer them that. Doctrines of demons often have to do with covetousness, which is idolatry. (Col 3:5) A covetous man isn’t bowing down to an idol but he is bowing down to his own desires. And so idolatry has to do with worshipping the creature, created things. And a covetous man is sitting at the table with demons because demons are behind his lust and covetousness and selfish desires for such things. So we must understand that anything to do with covetousness, and doctrines that accord with our own desires is demonic and it’s just like idolatry. It’s a false way that ungodly spirits present to us that appeals to our carnal, fleshly wants and not to the holiness and purposes of God. So who will ascend into the hill of the Lord? And notice ascend means rise, as in progressing upward in righteousness, faith, love. Who will stand in the Holy place? Who will God let into the New Jerusalem, the glorious Kingdom of God? He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to doctrines of demons because an idol is a doctrine of demons; nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Ps 24:5) Now look at what he says there; He shall receive righteousness. So if you have clean hands and a pure heart and you do not fraternize with demons God will make you righteous. What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. (1Cor 10:19-21) Idolatry is fraternizing with demons. And if you are partaking of doctrines of demons you are fraternizing with demons. We have a lot of idols in the church today if we were to count doctrines of demons as idols. But what the scriptures teach is that God is looking for a righteousness that is real. But what we have in most churches today, is we have a lot of theoretical ideas about righteousness. The most common heresy is to teach that if you say Jesus is Savior, that makes you righteous in God’s sight even if you do not behave righteously. We’ve already shown you how wrong that is. That’s a doctrine of demons. Another common lie is since you are saved by grace not works, you don’t have to be a person who is zealous for good works. Again its a doctrine of demons. Titus says God has called us to be a people zealous for good works. (Titus 2:14) But many churches say, “No, you are saved by grace through faith, not of works so don’t worry about it.” Those are doctrines of demons. They appeal to a people who do not want to really be righteous or to live in a truly righteous way. They appeal to those people’s desires. They cause those people to go on living an unrighteous life in which they are not pleasing to God and still think that they are acceptable. And that is no different than what the serpent did to Eve in the garden. He’s telling her that she can eat and not die. And he’s telling people today you can live a worldly life and still God is going to love and save you. And then often these people slander people like us who are hungering and thirsting for true righteousness, “We are legal, trying to be justified by works” they say of us and that is a demonic lie. We are pursuing the very thing Jesus is offering us, righteousness that comes by faith in Christ. As Paul says; that I may attain to the righteousness that comes by faith; (Phil 3:9) that Christ may live in me (Eph 3:17) and live a righteous life through me, (Gal 2:20) be found acceptable to God (Rom 12:1-2) as a son of God. (Rom 8:14) And then in the judgment I will be found blameless. (Col 1:22,28; Jude 24) So that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Cor 1:7-8) But the Psalmist says you must not lift up your soul to an idol nor swear deceitfully if you are to receive blessings and righteousness from God. (Ps 24:4-5) So you won’t be kept blameless if you are fellowshipping with demons or following a doctrine of demons. Look what happens when a person believes a doctrine of demons like, “I don’t have to be righteous in action to get to heaven. I only need imputed righteousness.” What happens is he stops pursuing righteousness (1Tim 6:11) and so he won’t attain to the real righteousness that comes by faith and he will not be found acceptable to enter God’s Kingdom. What happens when he thinks, “I don’t need good works to get to Heaven. I am saved just because I believe Jesus is the Savior?” Then he will not be careful to maintain good works (Titus 3:8) and he will be rewarded according to his worthless works – and not be acceptable as one of God’s own special people zealous for good works. (Titus 1:14) What happens when he starts believing things that are not in accordance with the Scriptures, doctrines of demons? He doesn’t get conformed to the image of Christ. He ceases all Spiritual progress. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, (2Tim 3:8-9) You reject all those who stray from Your statutes, for their deceit is falsehood. (Ps 119:118) What happens when someone believes once saved always saved? He loses his fear of sin and doesn’t see the need to pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Heb 12:14) So he will not be saved. He will never see the Lord. Because he thinks he can’t lose his salvation even if he sins, he doesn’t see his need for righteousness. He doesn’t hunger and thirst for righteousness anymore. He has lifted up his soul to an idol, a doctrine of demons. So he doesn’t receive the real righteousness that saves him. Do you understand how important it is that you attain to a real righteousness that comes from God by faith! That God is working in you to will and do of His good pleasure (Phil 2:13) and He is only pleased with righteous behavior. And He has come to make you righteous. And Jesus says, if you ask for the Holy Spirit, God will give Him to you. (Luke 11:13) If you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness you will be filled. (Matt 5:6) When you see how much you need to be righteous in your behavior and you get up every morning praying, “God, please help me today to put on Christ and be righteous before you. Give me Your grace to behave rightly for your glory. Show me how to be a blessing to the brethren. Lord, help me to be in Christ. As He is, so are we in this world. (1John 4:17) Help me to be everything you would have me to be as a son of God.” When you come to God in faith to make you righteous He’s not going to disappoint you; He won’t fail you. Even if He has to take you through some trials to straighten you out, He’ll do it. And then He’ll present you blameless before His presence in the day of His appearance. And you will be recompensed for the cleanness of your hands and the righteousness which the grace of Jesus has put into you because He, the Spirit of Christ, lived a good life in you and thereby saved you. And you should hunger and thirst for Him to do that everyday. And the more difficult our circumstances are, the more confusing the situations that we must deal with, the more we need His righteousness; the more we need His help, the more we need His light. But His help, His grace, is abundantly available. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16) So there is no need to despair. We keep going to Him in faith, drawing from Him and calling upon Him. “Lord, help me to be righteous. As in: let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:20) for I need to know who it is that I’m supposed to fellowship with, to save them, and who I must turn away from. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner-- not even to eat with such a person. (1Cor 5:11) I’ve got to know from God which is which and I can’t be led by the foolishness of people who claim to know Him and don’t. But I can be led by God in this because, “Lord, You know which one I can help save and which one I must turn away from. And even when I have to turn away and the world says, “You’re not nice. You don’t love people,” God sees my righteousness. He sees that I am obedient to Him. And that is what counts. It doesn’t mean anything to me to be judged by man. (1Cor 4:3) God is the righteous judge. Men rarely judge righteously. We are all going to stand before the righteous God and be judged by the righteous God. So I want to be prepared by my God to be judged by my righteous God and I am not going to let men and their foolish ideas of righteousness mess it up. But in that day I will be found by Him in His righteousness and that will be to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He has made me acceptable in the Beloved. Prophecy: I will have a glorious church, saith the Lord, according to My word which has been prophesied and which will come to pass. I will have a bride fit for My Son. A glorious bride dressed in the righteousness of Christ; the fine linen, white and clean which is the righteous deeds of the saints. I will have a church who will be filled with My Spirit, My presence, My glory. But I will not have that church until there is a people who want that church as much as I want it. Until there is a people who will not settle for less than I will settle for. Until there is a people who will stand up for those standards that I have set and who will say, “Lord, we will have it your way or we will not have it at all.” When I have a people who have it in their hearts to have it My way, they will have it My way. And I will have it My way. And we will have it according to My word. So many times in the past the people have settled for so much less than what I would settle for. So I have let them settle for what they would settle for. But you do not have to settle for less than what I would settle for. For what I have promised, I am well able to perform. What I have offered you, I am able to bring to pass in you and give unto you. And if you will hold on to the fullness of what I have promised, I will bring to pass the fullness of what I have promised. And if you will not compromise and not settle for less, you will not have to settle for less saith the Lord. For I will have what I have purposed. What I have called forth I will have it. I will bring it to pass and I will have a people who will agree with Me and who will receive all that I offer, saith the Lord. Prophecy: What made My temple My temple was My presence. What makes My church Mine is My presence. What makes My people Mine is My presence. My people hunger for Me because what makes them My children is Me. What makes them Mine is that I am with them and I speak to them and that I show them My ways. I am their life and I am their righteousness and My presence makes them righteous and that is why they hunger earnestly for Me. And I tell you that many people who claim to be My people don’t hunger for Me. And it is not that they do not go to church, and it is not that they don’t claim to believe in My name. It is that they don’t have Me and they don’t have My presence. And My people who have My presence, build up your faith and gird up your loins because you have Me and in Me you have My righteousness. Therefore, cry aloud and show the people you are Mine and what it means to be Mine because I am with you, saith the Lord. Prophecy: I speak in My Word of My grace and you see it in testimony after testimony. My grace is My special gift, My power, Me out of My own heart, freely having mercy to help a people who do not deserve it, who do not earn it. I just love them enough to help them. I tell you everywhere My grace is manifest, My power is manifest. And everywhere My power is manifest, a testimony is brought forth to My glory and to My praise. I tell you, many speak of this age as an age of grace, and yet in this day and this age they do not know what that means, saith the Lord. For when My age of grace began, when I first poured forth this grace, three thousand souls who were each individuals, each doing their own thing, were made into a church and into a people who were now doing My will: who were looking to Me and hearing Me and having all things in common; giving up their life. That is what My grace did in that time and My grace made a man of God, an awesome man of God out of a man who was once insolent. My grace made Paul; My grace made Bill Taylor, My grace made this church; “My Father’s House.” Every time I pour forth My grace even in forgiveness it brings forth a children who are obedient to Me, who love Me and are changed by the power of My grace. I tell you in this day and in this age when there is a people around you who call it “The age of grace, so we can just sin and sin,” they are wrong. And I will show forth My true grace through you, and I will show these people and put a trembling in their hearts, that what they have thought was My grace is merely My patience until I bring My wrath upon the wicked, saith the Lord. For when I pour forth grace upon a people, they change and become a testimony to My glory. I have given you, My people, My true grace and I have filled you with My true grace and as you ask, I will pour forth an abundance of grace through you. This is My true grace, it is a testimony of My power, changing and making things come into agreement with My will and into obedience to Christ. I will pour forth an abundance of grace to change things and bring about a glorious testimony to Me through you. For I have shown you My true grace and will show it to the world through you, saith the Lord. (Prophecies delivered at “My Father’s House”)
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