B (4:56)
And so that segment that has been raised with this knowledge that sin is wrong and that it's a transgression against God, many of them are living under this total condemnation. And even when they get born again, they may feel that they aren't going to go to hell, but they aren't going to be able to enjoy the presence of God because their own heart is condemning them. And they just know that they aren't everything that they should be. And so for those people, especially that have made Jesus their Lord. They have received salvation and they trust that they are born again and that they're going to go to heaven. But they still have hostility between them and God. They think that every time they do something wrong that God won't use them. You know, I've said this over and over, but I just feel like that most people don't understand what I'm saying. You know, I was raised in a Christian home. I was born again at eight years of age, and I loved God and I believed that if I died, I would go to heaven. But man, I lived under guilt and condemnation. I just was so aware of my sin that I thought that maybe God saved me because he pitied me, because he's a good God and he didn't want to see me go to hell, so he saved me from going to hell. But He. He still was put out with me and he wasn't pleased with me. And as long as you think things like that, you will never believe that God is going to use you and flow through you. And it's hard for you to receive because your own heart is condemning you. You know the way that this is said over in Hebrews. Let me turn over and read this to you. In Hebrews chapter 9. And in verse 14 it says, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit of offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? You have to purge your conscience from dead work. According to Romans, chapter 2, verse 15. Your conscience is the part of you that either accuses you or excuses you. Your conscience can either condemn you or your conscience can give you boldness and confidence. And it says that you have to purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Here's another verse right here in the same area of Scripture. And it says In Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 14, it says, for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. And it says, wherefore the Holy Ghost is a witness to us. For this is the covenant I will make with them. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds while I write them. And their sins and iniquities, I will remember no more now where remission of these is. There is no more offering for sins. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. So here's two verses that says you have to purge your conscience from dead works in order to be able to serve the Lord. And it says when you enter into the presence of the Lord, you have to have your conscience purged, cleaned with pure water, so that you can enter into true fellowship with the Lord. And this conscience is condemning us over our sin. That's what your conscience is. Again, Romans, chapter two. It's the part of you that accuses you or excuses you. So my own personal testimony is, I got born again when I was 8 years old, but I wasn't told that I became a brand new person in Christ Jesus. They might have read that scripture in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17, but on a practical basis, they constantly were saying that every time you sin and every time you fail to be the person that you're supposed to be, somehow there's a separation between you and God. It's like saying that you know you were at war with somebody and then you find sign a peace treaty, but then every time you do something wrong, the war escalates again. And that's the way that I felt. I just. I knew I was going to heaven, but I had no confidence. I had. My conscience was constantly condemning me. And because of it, I didn't see anything working in my life. But when I found out that the war is over, and this is what I'm really wanting to share with you through this series, is that when Jesus died, the scripture says in Romans 6:23, that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, there is a payment for sin. And every person had to pay this debt. And if we had to pay our own debt, the only way we could pay it is to be eternally separated from God because of the sin that we've committed. But through Jesus, Jesus came and paid the debt that you and I owed. And if you will accept it, then the war is over between you and God. God treats you just as if you had never sinned. You know, that's my little layman's definition of the word justified, just as if I had never sinned. And that's literally what happens when you get born again. Jesus paid for all of your sins, past, present, and even future sins. And I know that this is a radical statement. A lot of people think, how could that be? How could Jesus pay for a sin before I commit it? Well, all of your sins were future when he died 2,000 years ago. If Jesus didn't pay for all of your sins 2000 years ago, then there's nothing you can do to get them paid for now. When, when you accepted Jesus, he forgave you of all sin, past, present and future. You know, let me share some scriptures with you out of Romans chapter 5. This is really not that hard once you understand what I'm talking about. But it's hard because it's completely contrary to our religious system today. Our religious system as a whole doesn't understand that there is a real change that took place when you get born again. And it's not just something that's going to take place when you get to heaven, but in your spirit you were completely changed. You don't have a sinful spirit anymore. You don't have a nature that is of the devil anymore that was taken away. It is dead, it is gone, it is non existent. But you got a new spirit and it you have to worship God, you have to relate to God, you have to fellowship with God through that born again spirit. And yet the average person doesn't understand this. And so they're trying to relate to God based on their actions, based on their thinking. Now your actions and thinking are important when it comes to people and when it comes to the devil, because he will take advantage of you when you give place to him. But as far as God is concerned, God is a spirit. John 4:24. And those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. You have to worship him through your spirit. And if you receive salvation, you've got a brand new spirit. It is created in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:24. As Jesus is, so are you right now in this world. The only way to understand that is through the Spirit. Your body's not like Jesus, it's going to have to change you. Your soul's not like Jesus. But in the Spirit you are identical to Jesus and you've got to start worshipping him in spirit and truth. And if you do that, if you've been truly born again, then there is no conflict between you and God. The war is over. And this is what those angels were rejoicing about. God always wanted to fellowship with man and not impute our sins unto us. But because he was holy, because he was just, he couldn't just look the other way and say, well, I'm not going to hold these sins against you. No they had to be paid for. And instead of making us pay for our own sins, Jesus came and died in our place. And Jesus paid for your sin and mine. And all he asks of you is that you just believe on Him. Make him your Lord, and receive right standing with God as a gift, not as a wage to be earned. If you got what you earned. If I got what I earned, we would all go to hell. But no, God offered us salvation as a gift. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So I'm going to share some things with you here that if you can stay with me the rest of this week as I go through this, I can promise you this will transform your life. It's not really complicated, but it is contrary to the way that most of us have thought. It's contrary to what we just intuitively believe because very few of us operate in the spiritual realm. We're carnal and we look at things in the physical realm. We go by how we feel in our emotions, and we think that that's reality. But there is a third part of you, the spirit being, that is not discernible by just your five senses, what you can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. The only way you can know what's really true in the spirit realm is to go to the word of God. Because Jesus said In John, chapter 6, verse 63, he says, it's the Spirit that quickens the flesh profits. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. God's word is spirit. It shows you what's happening in the spiritual realm. So here In Romans, chapter 5, verse 8, it says, But God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Boy, that's a powerful statement. And again, I could amplify on every one of these verses. I'm going to say some things quickly, but I encourage you to meditate on this and to get the full impact. Jesus didn't wait until you and I had things fixed and then he died for us. He didn't look down and just die for the people who were really basically pretty good people and they just needed a little help? No, it says he committed his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. Did you know that there's some people that just will not acknowledge that they're a sinner? They just think really, they're a very good person. That's because they're looking that the world's standards and the world today. Man, you can be a pervert, you can be weird in every area and be totally accepted in the world. That is not God's standard. According to the scripture, we were all sinners. Whether you recognize it or not, all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. That shows you that it's not based on your performance, it's just based on his grace. God commended his love toward us and that while we were sinners and Christ died for us. And then in verse nine, it says much more then being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. So in verse eight, if Christ died for us while we were sinners, this is talking about before we got born again. Now that we have received salvation and made Jesus our Lord, how much more then being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. You know, if people really understood what this is saying, it would transform your relationship with God. Most people, most Christians will extend mercy towards a sinner. If somebody came into your church drunk or high on drugs or something like that, the typical person would go to them and tell them, God loves you, God wants to change your life. And they would say, but I've sinned and I'm. I'm drunk or I'm high or whatever. And they would say, but God will forgive you. And if that person was to pray with them and get born again, that would be great. But if that same person came back to church the next week and they were drunk again, or if they were high on drugs, the average person who extended mercy to them as long as they were a sinner, now that they get born again, that same person would turn around and say, God's not going to bless you. God's not going to answer your prayer. You are in trouble. God's angry at you. God's displeased because of this. Can you see the injustice of this? Can you see this is saying that if you accepted the love of God while you were still a sinner, that Christ died for you. It says much more now, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. If you could accept his love while you were still a sinner, much more now that you've received Jesus as your savior, even though you still may sin and do something wrong, you ought to accept the love of God much more now than you did before you got born again. A scripture that goes along with this is Colossians, chapter 2. Verse 6 that says, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. If you receive salvation by grace. When you were still a sinner, you hadn't been going to church, paying your tithes, living holy, you may have been out there living in adultery and just doing any kind of thing, and yet you received the greatest gift that was ever given, and that was the gift of salvation. So if you could accept and receive from God when you had no goodness to your credit whatsoever, how much more, now that you're born again, should you be able to receive that same love and that same forgiveness? But the truth is, with most people, it's much less. People used to live in sin, and yet they come and receive this great gift of salvation. But then once they're born again, if they just have a fight on the way to church with their mate, if they didn't read their Bible, if they did anything wrong, they come under condemnation. That's inconsistent. That's completely opposite what these verses are saying. And the next verse summarizes it and puts all those concepts in one verse. It says, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved from his life. So if we could accept salvation when we were not living for God before we were born again, when we had no God to our name whatsoever, how much more now that we are born again, even though we still fail, how much more should we be able to operate in the grace, the forgiveness, the mercy of God? And yet with the average Christian, it's much less. This is why some people get born again. And when they first get born again, they it. I've actually heard people describe that the grass is greener, the sky is bluer. It's just like they see the world in a brand new light. They're on what's called a honeymoon. They are just in love with God. He forgave them for everything that they've done. But for the average person that experiences that kind of joy and benefit from getting saved, the average person, once they become a Christian for a period of time, they lose that. You know why? Because they go to church and church starts telling them that, oh man, God. Now, you know, if you don't read your Bible, if you don't pay your tithes, if you don't come every time the doors are open and they start preaching a separation over sin, that God is going to hold that sin against you. God won't bless you. When they came to the Lord, they were told that man, everything is wiped out and God just loves you. And so they enter in boldly and have fellowship with the Lord. But once they go to church and start getting all these rules and regulations put upon them now, they come back under separation. It may not be eternal separation, they may not lose their salvation and go to hell, but they're going to lose the benefits of their salvation and they get put back under that legalistic mindset. What I'm telling you is the angel said the war is over. God dealing with us and relating to us based on our performance the way it was done under the Old Testament, that's over the New Testament. It's all based on faith in what Jesus did, not on your performance. And if you could understand this, I guarantee you it would just revolutionize you. Now, there's still a lot of questions and I know that religion has taught that man God, you know, if you don't do this, God's not going to answer your prayers. I'm going to be going through these things systematically and trying to explain this to you. And if you can understand this, if you could ever reach this place to where you believe that the war is over, that God paid everything, that there is total peace between you and God, regardless of your performance, it would transform your life. So I've got this book entitled the War is over. It's a. A 200 plus page book. We have a suggested donation, but I'll send this to you if you'll just do what you can. If you'll send anything and ask for this, we'll send it to you. So we do ask you to give. It costs a lot of money to put this out. But if you cannot or would not give anything, then you can ask for this little booklet entitled Good Will Towards Men. It's an introduction to this larger book on the war is over. And we'll send this to you free and postpaid. And then I also have cds and DVDs and then I've got a USB that will have the audio and the video on there. And we also have a study guide and you can request that. And the study guide is primarily for you to teach other people. It's a way to disciple other people in this subject. So this will be a blessing to you. Listen to our announcer as he gives you more information about these products. And then please call or write today.
