Only Believe

1 Corinthians 3:21-23: Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; (22) Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; (23) And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. 

Those who live on milk, that milk says: Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. 

When you grow up you discover there is no need for that kind of asking. What you need is to take what belongs to you. When you grow you discover what you’ve been asking has been made available to you all the time. 

When you are a little kid, you say, “Mommy water!” “I’m hungry!”

As you grow up, you say, “Mommy, I want this and she says Go get it. Now you can open the refrigerator by yourself. You can boil that water, fix your breakfast.”

As you grow in Christ you don’t say, Oh God give me! You’ll find that it has been given to you all the time and by your faith you take that which belongs to you. So you say, “In the name of Jesus, devil take your hands off my money..Father thank you for my job. I got a new job. I thank you for my children.” 

When you are a child you say Father protect us tonight. When you grow up you say: “I banish every damn devil from this place in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

There’s a difference. When you are travelling you don’t say, “Father protect us as we go and come through again.” You say, “I declare the road free from accidents today in the name of Jesus!!” 

“I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus – Sin has no power over me! I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus – Sin has no power over me! God has already accepted me – I’m His, His very own! God has already accepted me– I’m His, His very own!”

I know that I am a righteous man then I know that my prayer will work but if I do not know whether or not I am a righteous man; I would have doubts. 

If I know that I am unrighteous I don’t even have a right of appeal. 

Here studying the word of God we’ve found out something about righteousness and we are learning to understand righteousness from God’s point of view. 

Righteousness is not primarily right living. Right living is the product of righteousness. A lot of people think that righteousness from the Bible means right living. 

No. Right living which you may call as righteousness as a synonym is only a product of righteousness. Righteousness gives us right-standing. Right standing is the ability to stand in the presence of God or a qualification to stand in the presence of God without a sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority. Then righteousness produces the rightness of God in the human spirit- the ability to do right which is the character of God. Living right.

 

Righteousness itself is a nature. It’s the nature of God. We talked about righteousness as a legal conferment – righteousness as something God has to give legally – it is reckoned to us legally and also that righteousness is a nature. 

We were declared righteous legally. Hallelujah. Because of what Jesus Christ did for us. That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were declared righteous. 

Romans 3:21 But now a righteousness from God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; He’s talking about a righteousness apart from the law manifested. This righteousness is not attained or achieved by the works of the law but by hearing of faith. 

There was a righteousness of God that came because you qualified for it by the works of the law. You had to live right to get that kind of righteousness. You had to do right things to become righteous. That was a certain kind of righteousness but now the Bible says the righteousness of God without that kind of qualifications through the works of the law has been unveiled.

Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: Now you have the righteousness by faith. 

What do you mean by faith? This means that because of what Jesus Christ did for us we have become righteous. 2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: If one person died for everybody, then everybody died. Because He died for everybody. 

In other words if somebody paid for everyone then everyone has paid. We don’t owe anything because somebody paid for us. 2 Corinthians 5:15-16: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (16) Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 

He’s talking about we used to know him as a Jew. We knew Him after the 

flesh now henceforth know we Him no more. We used to recognise people according to: Are you a Gentile? Are you a Jew? Are you an American or Indian or a Nigerian? Now we don’t recognise anybody according to the flesh. We don’t look at the flesh. We look at what Jesus did for us.

2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

It doesn’t matter what he looks like whether he’s black or white or yellow or purple. If he is in Christ he is a new creation. He may have juju marks on his body – doesn’t matter now. He may have come from a lineage of native doctors or witch doctors dedicated to juju. Now that he is born again, he is a new creation, doesn’t have to go back and say I remove this marks. Don’t need that. 

I hear that some people say that they need to be rededicated because they were once dedicated to juju. That’s wrong. The day you came into Christ you were severed from the past. Hallelujah! Completely. 

You are no longer connected to that past. You don’t need to go back and start praying about your past. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. The Bible doesn’t say old things shall pass away – old things are passed away including the juju marks. The marks remain in your body but the covenant between or your daddy and that juju or the demon is gone forever. 

You don’t ever have to pray about it anymore. They say you have to be released from the curse. Your great grand pa was under the curse and you come from a place that has been cursed. So you have to be released from that curse. When you are born again you are automatically released from every curse. Because the Bible says that you are called to inherit a blessing. You cannot be even cursed anymore. If any man be in Christ he is a new creation. He may not feel that way but he still is. He may not think he is but he sure is. 

Do you understand? Old things are passed away and all things are become new.

-GSW-