Creflo Dollar (0:00)

Hello, I'm Creflo Dolla and this is the Creflo Dolla Ministries podcast. I want to thank you for joining us today and I sincerely hope this word encourages you, builds your faith, and above all else, helps you to understand grace and empowers you to change. Enjoy the message. If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of Romans, chapter three, and we're going to look at verse 20 through 31 in the new living translation. We've been talking about righteousness and we've been trying to convince people to understand that we are righteous because of Jesus, not because of what we do. If you subtract Jesus from the equation, we wouldn't be able to be righteous, but because of Jesus, we have been made the righteousness of God. Well, this morning I want to talk to you about, you know, what happens when your righteousness is under attack. And what I mean by this is most of this is going to be emotionally, internally, what happens when you declare, I'm the righteousness of God, I believe I'm righteous because of Jesus. And then, you know, you just have all of this doubt that hits your mind and you know, you start looking around and wondering if this is right and your righteousness is under attack. You miss the mark and you're trying to stand up and say, you know, I'm still the righteousness of God, but you feel dirty. You feel just like this is just not, you know, so what do we do? How do we respond when righteousness is under attack? Well, first of all, let's study this out together and really just take some time. With Romans 3, 20, 31. And let's look at this Romans chapter 3, verse 21. He says, for no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. Stop right there. Nobody can never be made right with God by doing what the law command or through your performance or through your self effort. In other words, you think you're made right with God because of the five things that you do right, or you think you are made right with God because you work real hard to be a goody goody Christian, or you go on a lot of missions, trips and all of these things tries to tell you, well, you know, you deserve to be right with God. And so instead of getting unmerited favor, you're working for deserved favor. Are you following me? He says, for no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. That's something because we think, you know, if we just, if we just keep all The Commandments. If we keep all these commandments, then you know what? We'll be made right with God. And he just said, for no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. So even if you're under the Mosaic Law, and even if you're, you know, you say, well, you know what? I'm just going to keep all the Ten Commandments. I'm going to keep all 613 of them. He says, you're not going to be made right with God because you're doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. Bam. The Mosaic law, which is 613 laws, simply shows us how sinful we are. So the purpose of the law of Moses is to reveal sin, to show people how sinful they really are. Verse 21. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. Now, what was that way? Verse 22 he says, We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. That's the way we're simply. It's so simple. We're made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. The day we make Jesus the Lord of our lives is the day we become righteous, he says. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23. For everyone has sinned. We all fall short of God's glorious standard. Now that's so important. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All have sinned. Everyone has sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard. Now, hopefully I get some time to really deal with that. Verse 24 Yet God freely and graciously declares that we're righteous. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Yet God freely declares and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sin. So the day you got born again, you were free from the penalty of your sins. All sin was placed on the body of Jesus. And Jesus now was judged for all of our sins. And he says that we are Yet God freely graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus, through what Jesus went through, through what Jesus accepted all of our sins. And when he freed us from that penalty of our sin, we were made righteous. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life and Shedding of His blood. So do you believe that Jesus sacrificed His life? Do you believe that Jesus shed His blood? Well, he did that all for us. He did that all for us. He was made a sinner and yet he had never sinned. For you and for me. Next verse. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for He Himself is fair and he is just. And he declares sinners to be right in his sight only when they believe in Jesus Christ. So he says, sinners are even declared righteous when they believe in Jesus Christ. So the key here is Jesus Christ. Alright, next verse. Can we boast then that we have done anything to be accepted by God? Can you brag and go around and brag and say, hey, here are the three things I did. This is why God accepted me. Oh, I'm so wonderful. I'm so spiritual. I'm so anointed. This is why God accepted me. He said, no, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. Me, our acquittal is not based on, you know, I did all of these 20 things they're based on. I have faith in Jesus Christ. Simple. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. We are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. The law here is the law of Moses. So religion keeps telling you, you got to obey the Mosaic Law. And in the New Testament, he keeps saying, you're not going to be made right with God by obeying the law. You're going to be made right with God by your faith in Jesus Christ. Now, neither did he say, go out and act crazy because sin has consequences. But what he's trying to show you is what the law could not do even when you obeyed it. Your faith in Jesus Christ has already done it. Next verse. After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn't he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God and He makes people right with Himself only by faith, whether they are Jew or Gentiles or blacks or whites. He said, only thing is required by faith. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? He says, of course not. In fact, only when we have faith are we truly fulfilling the law. Basically, what he's saying here is that it took the law to bring us to the place where we saw our need of Jesus. It took the law to show us our need for Jesus. So we exalt the law. Or in a sense, what we're saying is we put the law in a place where we're like, lord, if it were not for the law, we would not have come to the place where we are right now. So we esteem it highly. We esteem the law because without it, we would have never recognized our need for Jesus Christ. Now, just by reading that, I mean, it can't get any clearer to me that we've got to never, ever talk about, you know, letting Jesus go. Because without him, we're nothing. We're literally nothing. And we're definitely not righteous without Him. Now let's go to Galatians chapter 2 and verse 16 in the NLT. Let's see what he says here. He says, yet we know that a person is made right with God. How? By faith in Jesus Christ. Over and over and over again. Not by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. There it is. Over and over. So what do you do? What do you do for the last two weeks? I know I'm showing you that you're made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ and not about obeying the law. And you keep. You keep insisting. No, no, no, you got to do that in order for God to do that. No, no, no, you still got to obey the law. See, God's going to accomplish something that the law couldn't accomplish. The Holy Spirit's going to change your desires. See, you think just by rule keeping, that's the only way you can get there. And have you noticed the more rules you keep, the more sin you do, the more he's trying to get you to a place where he can finally, finally execute great deliverance in your life. He said, but it's not going to come by obeying law. It's going to come by having faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Jesus Christ so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. That's strong. And for you, instead of getting mad and disagreeing with me, you just need to say, listen, there's obviously something I didn't get. There's something I hadn't been taught. There's something I've missed out on. And I think I need to go ahead and get ahold of this because it's just too many scriptures over and over and over again saying the same thing, that we are righteous by faith in Jesus and not by our obeying the law. In fact, even look at Romans chapter 10 and 4, Romans, chapter 10 and 4. Now notice what he says here. He says, for Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. He's already accomplished it. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. Now look at that in the King James. Romans, chapter 10:4. In the King James, he says Romans 10. Excuse me. Yeah. Romans 10:4, 10, 4. In the King James. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So if you're believing in Jesus Christ, Christ is the end of the law as far as righteousness is concerned. Christ is the end of the law as far as righteousness is concerned, to everyone that believes because you're righteous by Jesus Christ. Amen. Now let's look at Second Corinthians, chapter 5, 1721. And I want to ask you some similar questions again. But I want to get this, this, this flow of thinking on the inside of you. He says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, are you in Christ? If you're in Christ, you're born again. If you're in Christ, you are a new creature. If you're not in Christ, you're not born again. And if you're not in Christ, you know you're not a new creature. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. What did he say? Old things are passed away. That old man is gone, the old you is gone. And behold, all things are become new. Verse 18. And all things are of God who hath reconciled. Now, to reconcile something means to restore back to harmony, to restore back to friendship, he said. And there was enmity between God and man's sin. And so without Jesus, reconciliation would not be possible. But because of Jesus, God could reconcile and bring peace between God and man's sin. And all these things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us, given to us. We all have the ministry of reconciliation. He says, to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world. God was in Christ, that's the deity. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Watch this. Not imputing their trespasses unto them. He was reconciling people back unto himself by not holding their sins against them, and hath committed unto us again the word of reconciliation. So he says, I want you now to go out and operate in this reconciliation and don't hold people's sin against them. Don't you go to people and say, well, you know, be reconciled to God. Oh, but you got too much sin in your life to do that. He says, don't you do that. He says, you preach to them and you tell them, be reconciled to God. It's time to be saved. You don't go looking at their sins and holding their trespasses against them. God says, I'm not doing that. God says, I'm not holding their sins against them. And he's committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Verse 20. Now then, we are ambassadors. We're representatives for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ that be reconciled to God. I'm not holding your sins again. See the reason why I say that, because you know, you know how church folks are. Church folks look at people and if they know about the sin in somebody's life, they shun them. And that you're called to the ministry of reconciliation, not holding their sins against them. You're called to this ministry of reconciliation. He says, for in verse 20, now then, 20 now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. Next verse. For he hath made him to be sin for us. Watch this. Jesus was made to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God. There it is again. There it is again. What are we doing so far this morning? We're reading. We're reading. And it's like. It's like, how do you ignore what you're reading and go back to the religious teachings of your church and diminish the work of Jesus Christ? Because you're so busy exalting sin, you're diminishing that Jesus has taken care of your sin. You're diminishing that Jesus has taken care of your sin. And you're exalting the sin problem. You're exalting the sin issue. You have to come to the point of understanding that if it were not for Jesus, you got a problem. You got a problem. Jesus is the answer. Somehow you think that your performance is the answer. There is no other answer for your sin than Jesus. Jesus is the answer for your sin. You keep coming up with, I can do these different things and that'll be the answer for my sin. It's not. It's Not. It's like you're saying to me, you know, you're saying, jesus has taken care of all of our sins. Uh, I still got sin. The Bible tells me. And it's like for you to deny what Jesus has already done means you're exalting the sin issue, which Jesus has already resolved the sin issue. But you're exalting the sin issue like never before. And when you are critical of other people's sin, you're immediately saying that you don't have it anymore. When you can point your finger at other people and saying, look at their sin, look at their problem. Look at. Even if you can be judgmental of what somebody else is sin, it's like you're saying they have sin and I don't. I mean, how many Christians are doing that in church? Oh, look at them like they have sin and you don't. Oh, so you have resolved the sin issue in your life. You've resolved the sin issue in your life. And you know, the Bible says that the law of Moses was given to increase sin. And you keep trying to keep the law of Moses. And you're saying, my Bible tells me that we still got to live by the law. And you're diminishing what Jesus did. Jesus said, I have taken care of your sin. Nobody's going to be made right by keeping the law. And you just keep coming in and just diminishing Jesus and diminishing what he did for you, and then have enough mitigated gall to look at somebody and say, look at what you did, as if you don't. Every time you are extremely judgmental of another person's sin. It's like you're saying you don't have issue. Let me prove it to you right quick. You remember this? Look at Romans chapter 1423. Let me prove this to you real quick. Let me just take a little sidebar. See, I didn't stick with my notes. And see, now I'm out here somewhere else, so I gotta go with it. Okay, look at Romans, chapter 1423. He says, and he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin. So you think you're over the sin issue. You think you're flawless and you don't have no problems with sin. So now you can judge somebody else. And the Bible says, whatever's not of faith is sin. Whatever's not of faith is sin. So what are you doing? I mean, when you're doubting, when you're Operating in fear. That's sin. What? Oh, so you don't ever have. You don't have. You don't have any issues doubting? Oh, you've never had any more issues with fear? No. He says whatever is not of faith is sin. That's probably everybody online right now. Whatever is not of faith is sin. So that's a sin issue. How are you going to deal with that? And then look at this other issue. James, chapter 4. 17. James, chapter 4 and verse 17. He says, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Oh, so he says, when you know to do something good and you don't do it, that's sin. See, you thought sin was the big ten. You know, committing adultery, committing fornication. You thought that that's only sin, but there's. Sin has no measure, you know. You know, in order for you to disagree with what Jesus has done, you're going to have to change the whole rules. You're going to have to just come up with some dumb doctrine that tries to justify what you're saying. The sin, sin, you can't deal with it. You think you can deal with sin by your performance and by what you do. The only way sin can be dealt with is by Jesus Christ. He says, because, you know, everybody deals with this. Whatever is not a faith is sin. And then everybody deals with, you know, to know to do good, but you don't do it. That's sin. Sin doesn't have measure. The Bible doesn't talk about little sin and big sin. Sin is sin. It has the same measure. All right, all right, what about this one? Now? Romans 3:23. I read this to you not too long ago. Romans 3:23 says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, all means all. And so now you. That's not an issue with you. It's not an issue with you. You cannot afford to diminish the work of Jesus Christ in that he died, took upon all your sins, took care of your sin issue, and then you diminish what he did and continue to make sin an issue. When sin is not an issue with God, it's still just an issue with you. Let me see if I can show you something that will hopefully be the thing that will convince you. Go to Matthew, chapter five. And here's what Jesus did. Jesus came and he's trying to convince people that there's no way they're going to ever be able to deal with their sins through their performance. Or through any plan. The only plan to deal with sin is Jesus Christ. And in Matthew, chapter, chapter 5. Excuse me, Matthew 5, verse 21. Just read through this for a moment and show you this. All right. Verse 21 says, and you have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment. That's what you heard in pastime. But Jesus said, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment. Oh, my God. So Jesus took it from killing and he put it. He put anger on the same level as killing. Somebody says, you're going around talking about, oh, if you kill somebody, you know you're going to be in danger of judgment. But Jesus said, uh, he says, I consider you being angry with your brother on the same level as killing your brother. Whoa, come on, let's keep going for a moment here. Look at 27. He says, you have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shall not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already. So you know, you made this big deal about adultery. And Jesus said, if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, I put that on the same level. I put that on the same level. So you go around and brag about, oh, I've never committed adultery with anybody. Well, have you ever listened, Looked at a woman the wrong kind of way? He says, I put that on the same level. I mean, he's trying to make it so you can see it's impossible for you in any way that you can perform or any self effort for you to deal with the sin problem. Jesus did, come on, let's keep going. And then he goes, verse 29. But if thy right hand offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. All right, now you sit and you talk about sin. Well, Jesus said, if you look at someone, pluck your eye out. I'm sure sometime in your life you have looked at something wrong with lust in your heart. Why do you still have your eye? You're just saying you don't believe this. Why do you still have your eye? He goes on and he says, if your hands offend you, look at verse 31. Well, he goes on to say, if your hands offend you, cut it off your hands have offended you. Why do you still have hands? Why don't we have a church full of people with a bunch of nubs? You don't believe this because on the inside of you, you know that it don't really mean for you to cut your hands out. You know, you got to get the full context of this before you pluck your eye and cut your hands out. And then he goes on, here, watch this. He said, it has been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication causes her to commit adultery. And there are people who've gotten divorces and fornication wasn't involved. And they just got a divorce because they were selfish and they got a divorce because, well, you know, she won't do what I tell you to do and all that other kind of stuff. And still look at it. You're still in sin. You're still in sin. Look at verse 38. You have heard that it has been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And if any man, verse 40, will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, you should let him have your cloak. What? Give him my coat. You hadn't done that. Give to him that ask thee from him that would borrow of thee. Turn not away. You've turned plenty of people away. You have heard that it hath been said, thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. You're like, man, that's crazy. Hate, Love my neighbor, hate my enemy. But he says. Jesus says. He keeps reading. He says, but I tell you to love your enemies. Love my enemies. I ain't loving that joker. That I ain't doing. See, here's what I'm trying to show you. Jesus was trying to raise the bar. You thought just by not doing the Ten Commandments that that would make you right with God. And Jesus comes in and says. He says, you know what? I put this on the same level. I put hatred on the same level as murder. And I. And I put a lustful eye on the same level as adultery. And then you ought to get rid of your eye and get rid of your hands if they've offended you. He takes it to another level and says, you can't do it. You can't do it. You need me. You need a savior. You need somebody to come and save you from your sins. And you keep trying to save yourself from your sins. And it can't happen. It can't happen. Well, brother dollar, Jesus didn't come to get rid of the law. He came to fulfill it. That's cause he's the only one that could. You can't look at what he says in Matthew 5:17. Jesus said he came to fulfill the law. He didn't come to destroy it like you're talking about. No. He says, think not verse 17, that I am come to destroy the law prophets. He says, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Jesus came to fulfill. Verse 18. He says, for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Jesus was the only man to ever walk the earth that had the potential and the ability to fulfill every bit of the law. No man had the ability to do it. No man could keep all the law. Jesus was the only one that could keep all of the law. That's why he said that he didn't come to destroy it, he came to fulfill it. Because if mankind was going to have any chance, somebody had to champion this. Somebody had to meet this qualification. And so now, since Jesus met the qualifications and fulfilled every bit of the law, he is now the only one based on what he did as righteous. And now we can be made righteous when we accept him, the only true righteousness. He is the only true righteousness and we can accept him and we can be saved. So you can't do this without him. Let me show you one more scripture because it always comes up Matthew, chapter 7, 2123. I was looking at this and I was like, wow, how did, how did we miss this? Matthew 7:21 through 23. Look at this carefully. Not everyone that saith unto me, lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. 22. Many will say to me in that day, lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? In thy name have cast out devils. Wow. And in thy name we've done many wonderful works. Wow. But notice this. And then will I profess unto them. Now here's the key. I never knew you. I never knew you. You're not one of mine. I never knew you. He said, depart from me, you who I never knew, and you who work iniquity. We put more emphasis on Jesus said, you worker of iniquity. And we completely skipped. I never knew you. I never knew you. You assumed that these people who were doing these things that God knew them. He says, no, I didn't know them. And he said, they work iniquity. I never knew them. See, if you want to be the righteousness of God and you want this gift of righteousness, you got to accept him in your life. You've got to know him, and he has to know you. And that's so very important. I wanted to take that little detour. I hope you got something out of it. But listen, man, this is vitally important for us to know and to understand these things. Amen. So we are righteous in God's eye because of Jesus. So Jesus was treated as the worst sinner on that cross for one reason and one reason only, so that you and I can be treated like the best righteous man ever. He was treated like the worst sinner, so we can be treated like the best righteous man ever. So Christianity is not about doing right to become righteous. It is all about believing right in Jesus to become righteous. Not doing right to become righteous, but believing right by believing in Jesus to be made righteous. Amen. And you saw what we talked about in Galatians 2:21, that you frustrate the grace of God by trying to become righteous in your own effort. You frustrate the grace of God by trying to become righteous and right through your own effort. It's like, well, why did he? Why did what? You know, what was Jesus even born to do? Galatians 2:21 says, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain. And basically, that's what he's saying, man. It frustrates the grace of God trying when you try to become righteous in your own effort. So the grace of God answers you in your most undeserving moments. His righteousness is your right to God's unmerited favor. His righteousness is your right to God's unmerited favor. Favor. I'll say that two more times. That's powerful. Don't miss it. His righteousness is your right to God's unmerited favor. His righteousness is your right to God's unmerited favor. How do you get his righteousness? Lord Jesus, I believe you come into my heart that day you become righteous. He declares you righteous that day. Now look at 1st Corinthians 15, verse 34 in the message translation. 1st Corinthians 15, verse 34 in the message translation. He says, think straight. Originally, I think the King just said, the King James says, awake to righteousness and sin no more A lot of times people do crazy stuff because they're not awake to righteousness. Here he says, think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can't afford in times like this. And I'll say that out loud. Ignorance with God is a luxury you cannot afford in times like this. You can't afford to continue to be immature in righteousness. You can't afford to continue to be unskillful in the word of righteousness. He says, you can't do that. Not in a time like this. Not in a time like this. You don't want to do that. And then he asks this question. He says, aren't you embarrassed that you've let this kind of thing go on as long as you have? The fact that Jesus has done all of this, has died. He went to hell for you. His body was broken and he was beat up for you. He shed his blood for you. He was nailed to a cross for you, and you diminished what he did, did not and would not receive the righteousness that has been made available to you. You know what we got to do, and here's my point. Today we've got to establish ourselves in righteousness and we've got to stay established in righteousness no matter what the voice of accusation says. You will have many voices of accusations when you start preaching what I'm preaching and when you start talking about what I'm talking about. And you'll find how many babies are in the body of Christ based on what we talked about as far as being unskillful in righteousness. How many people are mature? How many people are immature where the word of righteousness is concerned? Immature people where the word of righteousness is concerned. They're going to constantly take you back to yeah, but you got to do this in order for God to do that, and you got to make that happen in order for God to make that happen. They are immature in the word of righteousness. We got to stay established in righteousness no matter what the voice of accusation says. Let me give you a definition of word established, because that's going to be the key for the rest of this sermon. To be established in anything that word established literally means to install or settle in a position, to show to be valid or true, to install or settle in a position and to show to be valid or true or to prove or to bring about permanently it is to enact being established in righteousness is what it's going to take in this day and time, are you willing to become established in righteousness? No matter what the accusations of the enemy when he comes to tell you you can't be righteous. Look at what you did. You can't be righteous. Look at what you said. Are you willing to be established and to prove that you're the righteousness of God and that you've accepted Jesus as your Lord? Look with me quickly to Isaiah, chapter 54, verse 14, and then verse 17, Isaiah 54, verse 14, and then Verse 17. And now watch this. He said in verse 14, in righteousness shalt thou be established. Say it out loud. I'm established in righteousness. I can't tell you how important it is. It's like the launching pad for your life. Righteousness is like this launching pad for your life, which is why I'm preaching it every Sunday for the last few weeks, which is why I'm just harping on this thing over and over again. If we don't settle ourselves in righteousness and be established in righteousness, then here's what's going to happen. In righteousness shalt thou be established. Thou shalt be far from oppression when you're established in righteousness. For thou shalt not fear when you're established in righteousness and from terror. For it shall not come near thee when you're established in righteousness. Now notice something. If you are far from fear, far from oppression, and far from terror being established in righteousness, then what do you think you are? When you're not established in righteousness, you're going to be open to fear, you're going to be open to oppression, you're going to be open to terror. Why? Because you're not established in righteousness. The Bible talks about ruling and reigning in righteousness. And when you're established in righteousness, you will rule and reign over fear, over terror, and over oppression. Now look at verse 17, verse 17. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants, the Lord and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Now for the righteous, no weapon formed against you shall prosper because you're the right. It just won't work because you're the righteousness of God. But here's what he says. Look at the authority that's been invested in the righteousness. He says, if you are righteous because of your faith in Jesus Christ, then every word that comes against you, you shall condemn. So anytime you hear words spoken, you Know if you fly on a plane, you're going to die. He says, condemn that word right now. Say, that will not happen to me. See, don't allow those words to come in. You're the righteousness of God. You're clothed with an enormous amount of power. Now, your position in righteousness is going to determine your position in power. Basically, what I'm saying, your position in righteousness will determine how effective you will be in living the life of faith and gaining or taking possessions of the grace of God in your life. Your position. And that's why you got to be established in righteousness. Your position in righteousness will determine this. Your position in righteousness, I'll say it again, will determine your position of power. My position in righteousness will determine my position in power. If there's one thing the devil wants to rob from you, take from you, deceive away from you, it is your position of righteousness. How will he do that? Well, as soon as you sin, you'll say, I can't be righteous no more because I sinned. And that's just not true. He made you righteous. He made you righteous. You can't sin away your righteousness. And if he can get you to turn away from that position of righteousness, you also turn away from that position of power. And those things that you have power over because of your position in righteousness. Power, Power over lust, power over fear, power over oppression, power over terror. Those things that you have power over. Out of position, out of power. So he's going. I mean, this is an everyday attack, an everyday attack to get you to step away from your position of righteousness because he knows that's your position of power. So righteousness acts like a magnet. It will attract every kind of blessing. Righteousness acts like a magnet. It will attract every kind of blessings. You remember this. But seek ye first the kingdom of God. Seek his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Righteousness acts like a magnet. It will attract every kind of blessing in your life. Now, you got to make a decision this morning. You got to make a decision of quality this morning. And I know I shared a lot of scriptures and I said a lot of stuff, but. But I said all that to say this one thing. You have to. You got to settle this. I am righteous because I made Jesus the Lord of my life. And by faith, I'm righteous, even though I can I just be honest with you. I am righteous by faith even when I don't do. Right. Now, that's not saying you get to be righteous and a fool at the same time. See, when you accept your position in righteousness, you also have power over foolishness. You accept your position in righteousness, you start behaving right. You accept your position in righteousness, you start doing right. But quit exalting the sin issue. Just if you could just for a moment in your life, just believe that the sin. Sin has been taken care of. Let me read this scripture one more time in the NLT, Hebrews, chapter 9 and 28. It's not an issue with God. Please listen to me. Sin is not an issue with God. It is not something that God's going to come back and deal with it. He's already dealt with it in Christ Jesus. That's why I'm trying to get you to stop diminishing what Jesus did. Christ has dealt with the sin issue. Therefore, sin is no longer an issue with God. But. And every time you hear teachings on Jesus or the grace of God, you keep making the sin the issue. Instead of making Jesus the issue and his righteousness the issue, look what he says. So also Christ was offered once. He was offered once, not 10, 15 times or every time you sinned. Imagine that. Think about, think about what would happen if Christ had to get on the cross every time everybody sinned. He would just be up there all the time. So also Christ was offered how many times? Once, for how long? For all times. As a what, a sacrifice or a payment or an offering? He was offered as the sacrifice or the peace offering. Okay. And as a sacrifice, that sacrifice was good enough to take away the sins of a whole lot of people. He said he will come again. Jesus will, but not to deal with our sins. So why would the scripture say he's coming again but not to deal with our sins? Because he's already dealt with our sins. And you can't keep walking around here just like, ignoring it or just keep trying to come up with scriptures out of context to try to prove that that ain't right. And you just don't know enough to even do that. I apologize for getting this down to earth with you, but he's already dealt with our sins. Our sins have dealt with. So take some time to worship God and say, father, thank you for dealing with my sins. Thank you, Lord, for being the sin offering. Thank you that your body as a sacrifice was enough to take away my sins. The sins are not an issue anymore. People are not going to be going to hell for sins. They're going to go to hell for rejecting the offering. They're Going to go to hell for rejecting Jesus. People go to hell for rejecting the peace offering, the sin offering Jesus was. You reject Jesus. What you're saying is you're rejecting the only one that can keep you out of hell. And you decide, well, I don't want Jesus. Cause he's a white man and he's a white man and you end up in hell. That's sad. That's sad that it's gotten so bad that you'll let a fool deceive you and don't even know he's a fool. The scripture says so. Also, Christ was offered once for all times as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, but not to deal with our sins. Why, he's already dealt with them, but he will come to bring salvation. And this is total salvation. You were saved. God changed your spirit, but you know, there's the promise of a glorified body. Amen, he said, but he will come to bring salvation to all who are eagerly, eagerly waiting for him. Wow, man, that is plain. That is plain. So grab this today. Jesus is my only way out of sin. Jesus is my only way out of hell. Jesus is my only way to be made righteous. And with that gift of righteousness that he gives to me, I can rule and reign in life. And when the enemy or when accusations come to try to tell me I'm not the righteousness of God, then you immediately go back to what you know. I've been made righteous because I've made Jesus the Lord of my life. And I tell you what, the day you believe you're the righteousness of God will be the day that you start living right? Amen. We got a long way to go. We got more stuff to talk about. And just hang on this, meditate on it, get it in your heart, get it in your thinking. Father, we thank you for this opportunity to share your word. I thank you, Lord, that the Holy Spirit was talking at the same time I was talking. I thank you that you allowed people who thought they would never be online with Creflo Dollar that the day they found themselves there and that there was great deliverance that took place in their lives. They get it. They understand it. They are now ready to rule and reign in life because of Jesus Christ. May their homes be blessed, their families be blessed. May things change because of this glorious gospel in Jesus name. You know, maybe you're here today, you've never made him the Lord of your life. And as simple as I hope I made it today, if you will make Jesus the Lord of your life. He has a gift for you and that gift is the gift of righteousness. And your position in righteousness, when you are established in that becomes your position of power over everything that the enemy will throw your way. If you'd like to accomplish that today, pray this with me. Repeat after me. Heavenly Father, I realize that I'm a sinner, but right now I repent of all my sins. I confess my sins right now. Lord, come into my heart and save me. Sit on the throne of my life. Be my Lord and my Savior and I give you praise. Thank you for saving me in Jesus name, Amen. You know what? I believe that your life has changed and that Jesus is sitting on the throne of your life. Now if you prayed that simple prayer with me, would you text the keyword I'm saved as one word to 51555? If you'll provide your name and your email address, I'll send you a free ebook as a gift to you today. Welcome to the family of God and receive that gift of righteousness in Jesus name. Well, it's opportunity for prosperity time. It's opportunity to worship God with your gifts. It's opportunity to allow your giving to be the reflex of your love towards God. It's opportunity to remember how he has delivered you and how he has he's rescued you and the stuff that would have happened, should have happened, didn't happen. That's what this is for. And as you give with a cheerful heart man, he is worthy to be praised. I mean that's amazing that he would do that. All the stuff he did for us, all of what he did for us became sin, was made sin and never one time ever sinned. That's powerful. That's a powerful love statement. And it's a blessing. It's a blessing. So if you're giving today through text you can text World Changes space and then the amount to 74483. You can call the number 866-477-7683 to give now. You can also give online World changes church or worldchanges.org or Creflo Dollar Ministries. Give online and you can also mail in 2,500 Burdette Row College Park, Georgia. We are believing that God will do some extraordinary things in your life. And this time that we call offering time is actually a time where we can complete our worship. I don't believe worship is complete without giving an offering. I don't believe worship is complete without gift giving. And I just thank God that we can still worship together and not be in the building. I miss you tremendously, but thank God for the technology that allows us to connect. What a blessing of the Lord. Amen. Well, I pray that bless you. Today we got a couple of announcements that we want you to hear about, so stay tuned to this and I'll be right back. Thanks so much for tuning in to today's podcast. If you'd like to support our ministry, you can text World Changers Space and the amount to 74483 or visit creflodollarministries.org giving. You can also make a contribution by phone by dialing toll free 866-477-7683. We appreciate your support as we continue to help people understand, grace and empower them to change.