Derek Prince - We're Clothed With The Righteousness Of Jesus
This is a clip from the full sermon: How To Apply The Blood Of Jesus
The next great provision is justification. Justification is a theological word which upsets some people. But it’s not really that bad. The Greek word in its basic form means: to make righteous. But it has a lot of different shades of meaning. Let’s go to the Scripture first, that’s Romans 5:9: Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, the blood of Jesus, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. So we have been justified by His blood. Let me try and convey it to you this way. You’re on trial in a court of law for a capital offense. Your life is at stake. And then the verdict comes out: not guilty. That’s justification. You’ve been acquitted. It means more: You’ve been reckoned righteous.
With the righteousness of Jesus Christ, not with your own. But with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But it also means you’ve been made righteous. It has all those meanings: acquitted, not guilty, reckoned righteous, made righteous. And then this is a little way that we have to fix it in your mind. I’m justified means: Just-as-if-I’d never sinned. Because I’ve been made righteous with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And He never sinned. He had no guilt. He had no past to be covered up. See, your own righteousness will never get you to heaven. Isaiah says all our righteousness are as filthy rags. But let those filthy rags go and let the blood of Jesus impart to you the righteousness of Jesus. Then the devil has no way to accuse you. There’s a Scripture in - keep your finger in Romans, we may come back. People tell me I expect them to have too many fingers.
In Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61:10: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. There’s two things you get: Salvation and righteousness. When you trust in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on your behalf, you’ll be clothed with a garment of salvation, but it doesn’t stop there. You’ll be covered with the robe of righteousness. One translation says: He has wrapped me around with the robe of righteousness. You’re totally covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The devil has got nothing he can say against you. If he tells you you’ve done a whole lot of things wrong. You know what to do? Agree with him. Say: You’re quite right, Satan. But all that’s in the past. And I am clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
See if you can find anything wrong with that. Let’s go back to Romans 5:9 and let’s see. I’ll do a run through and then we’ll see where we get to. Listen to me now carefully: Through the blood of Jesus, now don't say it yet, I'll do it once, because I'm not quite sure where I'm going at. Through the blood of Jesus I am justified, acquitted, not guilty, reckoned righteous, made righteous, just as if I’d never sinned. Don’t try and say it with me the first time, say it after me. Through the blood of Jesus I am justified acquitted not guilty reckoned righteous made righteous just as if I’d never sinned. Take a deep breath and say: Thank you, God.