Joseph Prince - Speak Out by Faith and Win
Hallelujah, church, we are so privileged by the grace of God to be able to hear the gospel being preached, all right, here every Sunday, and we see the Lord Jesus being lifted up. I want to read to you a testimony, the transforming power of the gospel. Pat, who lives in Ohio wrote me this email, "Amazing changes in my life have started ever since I fed on the truths you taught. I now have a joy and appreciations for life that I never had since my teen years, and I'm in my 50s". So, this is a long time. "I have a permeating peace that manifests in every area of my life from parenting, to my finances, to my health".
Isn't that beautiful? The gospel hits every area of your life. "Initially when I started listening to you, I did not believe what you taught regarding holiness, fullness of blessings, and righteousness through faith in the finished work of Christ. When I got sick and bedridden, I continued to watch you as I was unable to do more. You supported your teachings with Scriptures and evidence from the Old Testament. I began to realize that what you were teaching was true. I began to read the gospels and epistles with an enlightened mind and could clearly see that you were presenting the gospel. Once I embraced these truths, once I embraced these truths". It's not just, you know, listening but believing it, embracing it.
"Once I embraced these truths, my physical condition began to change. I had been suffering from a spinal cord and disk injury for which there was no cure. Spine specialists refused to operate on me unless I came to the stage when part of my body became paralyzed, which is the usual course of events. I had been in a state of pain and was physically incapacitated for more than two years. Since feeding on your teachings, I have regained use of my body and most of the previously excruciating pain has subsided. Now I'm able to relax and be confident and trust in the willingness and availability of the power and grace of God to heal me. This came as a result of increased faith, the elimination of condemnation and understanding of the holy communion and an increased awareness of God's love for me".
See, the more you're aware of God's love for you, the healthier you become. "I've also been freed from a ten-year habit of smoking cigarettes". You know, the amazing thing about all these testimonies is that, you know, people talk about holiness and then their idea of holiness is something that is pseudo holiness, produced by man's own efforts, therefore it must be maintained by man's efforts, all right? I believe in holiness but the holiness that I believe in is a fruit, because what's more important is right believing. The gospel is not about right living, it's about right believing that produces right living. Can I have a good amen? And when you preach on right believing there are always those who say, "Well, believing alone is not enough". You know and they want you to go back to your efforts as if your contribution to holiness can add value to the finished work of Jesus Christ. No way, my friend.
Okay, let me finish this. "I've also been freed from", this brother from Ohio, "I've also been freed from a ten-year habit of smoking cigarettes". Now, no one can make someone stop smoking cigarettes. "I used to only smoke at night just before going to bed in order to calm my nerves. I tried for years to break the habit but could not". People smoke before they sleep, huh, wow. "I always felt so guilty for having such a weakness, but once I realized that God did not hold my weakness against me and he accepted me unconditionally and will still bless me, I let go of all the worry and struggle over my habit, I began to experience peace and rest".
Now, listen, this is where the rubber meets the road. Some people say that, all right, if you are smoking, all right, God is far away, okay? God doesn't want to acknowledge you and all that, okay? So they always think of God being far away. Now, we tell people that in spite of your disposition, in spite of who you are, God loves you unconditionally and God is reaching out to you. God is near not because of your works but because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, all right? And there other people who are not happy, with this kind of preaching so they come against that. But look at the result. As he began to relax, believe in God's love for him, believe that Christ took all his sins, okay, and while he was still smoking, okay?
Now, this is true repentance. True repentance is repentance towards God. The word repentance is from the Greek word metanoia, which means change your mind. And it's actually changing your mind towards God that God is not against you, God is for you. God gave you his Son to die for your sins. How good is this God, amen? And if you believe in what Christ has done for you at the cross in that he took your place of sin that you might take his place of righteousness before God, what Jesus deserved was all good things from God, but instead he took our place at the cross, and he got all the bad things that you and I deserved so that you can take Jesus's place in righteousness and receive all that Jesus deserved. But remember when it comes, it's all because of grace, not anything that you have done, amen?
So, here is where the rubber meets the road with the gospel. He says that even though he was still smoking, he knew that God, in other words, he says, "He's not holding my weakness against me". I will use theological term. Romans chapter 4, God is not holding his sin against him. God is not imputing his sin against him. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin. What, has God gone soft? Has God lowered his standards? No, God is still God. He's a thrice holy God. He's an awesome God. He does not bend his standards for anybody. But why is it that God does not impute sins to us? Because we don't sin. Use your sanctified reason for a while.
If somebody does not sin, why should God impute sin to him? Is that reasonable? If somebody did not sin, why should God impute sin to him? It would be unjust for God to impute sin to someone who has not sinned. But this verse means something in Romans 4, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin", it means something when the person is still sinning, all right, he's struggling. He's not purposely trying to sin. He's like struggling, but he fall into sin. God does not count that sin against him because God has counted all his sins in the body of Jesus Christ. Now, right believing, if he believes that, look at this, this guy believed that, all right, about his smoking problem, all right? He says, "I let go of all the worry and struggle over my habit. I began to experience peace and rest. A few months later, I was able to quit smoking".
How many years was it, he said? Ten-year habit. "It's as if the habit was effortlessly removed from my life". Did you hear that? Right believing produces right living. All right, the moment you tell people the opposite, "No, God is counting your sins against you, you better stop there, and then God will accept you". All right, if he can stop, if the sinners can stop sinning, they won't be called sinners. We won't need Jesus, okay? I'm not angry, you know? Passion. All right, don't mistake my passion for fanaticism or anger, okay? "It's as if", I love this, "my habit was effortlessly removed from my life like it just dropped off me. I know that it was the Spirit of God working in me to perfect me and give me the power to no longer crave for cigarettes. Truly my life has been transformed. The gospel is what this world is hungry for".
I love it. Many of these testimonies at the end it's all self, all right, centered in the sense that it's their life, their testimony, what happened to them. But at the end they start looking, this is with the world needs. This is what the world is hungry for. And we are preaching so many sermons telling people, you know, we need to revive believers to have a heart for the world, a compassion for the lost, and here when they have right believing and seeing what God has done for their lives, they want others to experience because freely you have received, freely you want to give. Amazing, the power of right believing. "The gospel is what this world is hungry for and much in need of. I have been a believer for more than 25 years and have never heard it presented the way you teach it. Thank you for everything. Keep awakening the world. Keep awakening the world to the love and grace of God as well as the hope of salvation, blessing and glory in Christ Jesus". My brother from Ohio. Pat from Ohio. To Jesus be all the praise and all the glory and all the honor, amen?
Now, where we're approaching this wrong is this. People say that God has his part, man has his part. If you do your part, God will do his part. And the problem with this, I understand where people who teach this are coming from, okay? But I'm concerned about the impression given to people, and it's always like God will always do his part. You need to do your part, but the problem is that they do not know what's their part. So, they feel like their part is always not measuring up and as long they think their part is not measuring up, they try to measure up, they come apart, all right? I'll tell you what's your part in the gospel. Would you like to know your part in the gospel? All right, this is what happened the divine exchange at the cross, 2 Corinthians 5, look up here. "God made Jesus to be sin for us who knew no sin".
Now, how many of you know that Jesus Christ, the altogether lovely one, the one the Father spared not, even though the Father split the heavens open, I love the way the Bible says it, the heavens were open to him. And the Father says, "You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased". Three apostles said this of him. Peter said, "He did no sin". Peter is a practical guy. John is of the heart. He says, "In him is no sin". He's of the heart. "In him is no sin", he said of the Lord Jesus. Paul says here, "Jesus knew no sin". Paul is a, you know, he can argue a case, all right? Paul is an intelligent guy. So, notice three apostles say about Jesus, "He did no sin, in him is no sin, he knew no sin". That covers every area of his life, but why at the cross he became sin? God made him sin. Because of God's love for us.
Now, this is God's part, all right? "God made Jesus to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we", this is our part, "might be made the righteousness of God in Christ". So, if you want to take your part, you must take your part as humbly with a heart of gratefulness and appreciations. Say Father, I receive my part as the righteousness of God. You have made me, not I made myself. You have made me the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I who knew no righteousness have now been made righteous in your eyes, because Jesus, my Savior at the cross, he knew no sin. But you made him to be sin with my sins and at the cross everything that was evil, everything that was cursed fell on Jesus. All of God's wrath, condemnation for all my sins fell on Jesus, but he did no sin. He knew no sin, in him is no sin, but yet all of God's punishment for the broken law and all of God's wrath against all punishment, against all sins, fell on Jesus Christ, amen.
The Bible says he became sick with our sickness. He became diseased about diseases, amen. He wore the crown of thorns for our depression. It's as if he was the world's most wicked sinner, but he knew no sin. In him is no sin. He did no sin. And yet he suffered everything that the worst sinner would suffer. Now, I know no holiness. In me is no righteousness, and I did no righteousness, but all of God's favor, all of God's goodness has now come on me. But have you received it? That's your part. You want to talk about your part? It takes humility to receive the good things of God as a gift. We don't want to. We want to perform for it so that, "God, if you want to reward me, reward me based on my goodness so I feel good". But God says no. The only way you can receive righteousness is as a gift. That's the only way you can receive righteousness, amen?
So, do you see God's part here? God made Jesus to be sin. Do you see your part here? Your part is not do anything but to receive and to believe that because of what Christ has done in taking your place, you are now the righteousness of God in Christ. Therefore, all the promises in the Old Testament, all right, for example in the Book of Proverbs, there is a promise that says in Proverbs 11, the seed of the righteous will be delivered. The seed of the righteous will be delivered. What does that mean? That means your children, your sons, your daughters will be delivered.
You open the papers, you see things happening, all right, to people's kids and all that at 17, 13. Our heart breaks for that, and sometimes fear comes into our heart. We are wondering, you know, our children right now, they are so mobile. They're traveling. They're flying. They're going places. They're studying abroad and all that. You know, God, you know, I want your protection. Well, the Bible says the seed of the righteous will be delivered. And then when you claim this promise, there's always some Tom, Dick, or Harry that will try to tell you, "But have you kept God's law? Are you holy enough for God to protect your son, your daughter? Have you done everything that God has asked you to do? Are you serving God? Are you sure your heart is hundred percent for God"?
So, all this makes you self-focused, and self-focus and self-occupation is the opposite of true holiness. And when someone tells you, "Have you obeyed enough? Have you served enough before God can fulfill this promise in your life"? All right, they are making righteousness into a work when righteousness is a gift. We just read that we have all been made righteous in Christ for those who believe. We've all been made what? Righteous. Therefore my seed is delivered. Your seed is delivered, amen? And don't let someone come and try to twist righteousness there. "You have the seed of the righteous, but are you righteous"? They tell you. Shout yes. And it's nothing to do with my works, my performance, amen. It's all got to do with Jesus, amen? That's the gospel. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's the true gospel, and Paul says, "If anyone preach any other gospel than the gospel of justification by faith, let him be under the curse of God". Very clear, anathema. Let him be under the divine anathema. If anyone preach any other gospel... Now, Paul is serious, the Apostle Paul. He says, "If anyone preach any other gospel than the gospel of justification by faith, let the curse of God fall on him". And he said it twice in Galatians chapter 1. He is so jealous for the true gospel, he protects the gospel from people that will handle it, all right, in a way on behalf of Satan, literally, to twist the gospel, to transpose the gospel for something that's not gospel. The true gospel is true but it's also it sounds, it's so wonderful but it sounds too good to be true. But it as true, blessed be God, as it is wonderful, amen? Amen, church? Are you with me? Do you understand so far?
So, someone will come to you and say, "Yeah, the seed of the righteous". It says the seed, read carefully, it says, "The seed of the righteous will be delivered". Are you righteous? Are you righteous? You gotta shout in their face, "That's me". Then they will say, "Who do you think you are"? I just told you the righteousness of God in Christ, amen. And people get angry. People get angry. So, you know what? Years ago I told myself let them get angry, stay angry. We'll be happy. We'll set people free, amen? And none of these people say, "Yahoo, I can go and sin". Okay, Yahoo! nowadays Google, I can go and sin, you know? None of them, none of them, you know, go around saying, "Well, praise God. Now I'm free. I'm free to sin".
No, you see the thing that God really sets us free, all right, but you are never free to succeed unless you are free to fail. You must give people true freedom. People, you know, you say freedom, freedom, but, you know, of course our freedom is to be free to do what's right. But freedom must be freedom and you cannot do what's right until you're free to fail, amen? And many a times, all right, it comes back to what you believe about people. I believe the best of God's people because they are born again. I believe when they are free, they want to do what's right.
"Pastor Prince, are you saying that once you believe you are righteous by faith, you can do whatever you want"? There you go again, you are trying to steady something that God has given as if God didn't even take this into his consideration when he gave us this gospel and let his son die. And God and Jesus is saying, "You know what? We messed up". Now, we made them righteous, they think they can go and sin. You think for one moment that God never considered all these exigencies? You think that you can improve from the gospel? You know, the thing is this, people are believing wrong in the pews because they are hearing wrong. And when you hear wrong, you believe wrong. When you believe wrong, you live wrong. Are you listening, people?
All right, I have more confidence in the gospel of justification by faith, the true gospel, that I believe if you preach it, let it just go out there, let it reap out there, amen? The Holy Spirit will teach people from within and the grace of God is a teacher. In Titus it says the grace of God will teach you to deny ungodliness and worldly lust, all right, and produce a people zealous of good works. You see, the grace of God will teach you, amen? We need to teach people the grace of God and then the grace of God will teach them. And all the people said amen.
So, when Paul received this gospel, Paul's challenge was this, Paul's challenge was this, Paul's challenge was, all right, the Jewish people, they believed they become righteous by their efforts, by attending the feasts, by keeping the Ten Commandments, which none of them did, all right? They believed in their performance so much, for example, when there was a man who had a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and then Jesus told the man, "Come forth and stand in the midst". So, the guy came forth and in front of all the people. And the Bible tells us the ruler of the synagogue was looking at Jesus to see whether he would heal.
You see, the ruler of the synagogue knew Jesus can heal, because he was watching to see if whether Jesus would heal on the Sabbath day. So, you can say that this guy is a strong believer in holiness. You cannot, I mean, this is not a guy. The ruler of the synagogue is not someone who says, "Well, I want to go and commit adultery afterwards. Will he hurry up and heal or not? I'm about to go and rob someone. Will he"... That's not the problem. The problem is that this guy is a pretender of a custodian of holiness. That's why he had a problem with Jesus. The problem is not that he doubt Jesus can heal, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day.
And when Jesus told the man, "Stretch forth you hand" and the guy's hand, and Luke is a doctor. In Luke's account Luke says it was the right hand, which means this guy has been without a job. He's not been able to provide for his family. He's living on handouts. You know how that feels for a man, all right? He feels like, you know, he can't provide for his family. He can't hug his children. His right hand is withered and now Jesus says, "Stretch forth your hand and his hand became whole". Jesus not only gave him back his life, means of livelihood, gave him back his dignity. The whole synagogue should rejoice, isn't it? But this guy was angry, and then he came out and says, "There are six days you people can come to be healed, but not on the Sabbath day". Jesus says, "You hypocrite. When your cow falls into the pit on the Sabbath, do you take him out"? "Yes". "How much better is a man than a cow"?
You know why the guy would remove his sheep that falls into a pit? Because sheep spells money. That guy with the right hand, usually got no money. The sheep provides livelihood so it's not a matter of people who pretend to got holiness. Sometimes the bottom line is their profit. So what's the problem? When Paul had the gospel, the problem was this. The gospel where Pastor Prince, everyone preaches the gospel, many are preaching the gospel, thank God. Before I was born, others are preaching the gospel already. Thank God for Martin Luther, thank God for the apostle Paul, thank God for all the great men of God, Charles Spurgeon and all that. And every one of them will tell you the gospel is justification by faith in Christ Jesus, and now this teaching, justification by faith, is no more. They'll say, "No, we encourage people to be righteous".
You see, encouraging people to be righteous is not just living by faith. Let them receive the gift and the gift will cause them to live a lifestyle, yeah. But even if their lifestyle is still warped and they're still growing, they are still righteous in God's eyes. That's the good news. I say, that's the good news. Romans chapter 9. Romans 9 please. "What shall we say then? That Gentiles", non-Jews, all right? I told you Paul's dilemma, okay? He was handling the Jewish people who believe in being righteous by works. So Paul had this challenge and Paul says, "Hey, what shall we say then? That Gentiles, non-Jews, who did not pursue righteousness, they have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith", or justification by faith. Righteous in the faith.
The Gentiles got it, he said. He's challenging the Jewish people in this segment. You understand, all right? And the Gentiles, they don't pursue righteousness, they don't observe the seven feasts, all right? They're not circumcised, all right? Many of them don't even know the Ten Commandments back to back. They do not know all the laws that God gave our fathers, and yet they have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith. "But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness". Next. "Why? Because", listen carefully, "Because they did not seek it by right believing. They did not seek it by faith".
In other words, right believing. You see, both are pursuing righteousness. Both want to be right with God. Both want all the blessings that come when you are right with God. Just stop and just imagine with me for a moment. If just for a moment you just fantasize you are truly the hottest thing, all right, in terms of heaven's economy that's walking on earth right now. All angels look at you and say, "Wow". Heaven says, "You are my beloved daughter. You are my beloved son", all right? Angels are carrying a lot of blessings to pour on you. Imagine, how would that transform this coming week? Will you doubt that God's protection will be there when you fly? Will you doubt God's protection will be there? No. Just for a moment, you start hoping that you are righteous. All the blessing that God promised to the righteous one is now yours.
In Proverbs 12, there is a promise. It says this: "There shall no evil happen to the righteous". In the King James it says, "Just". It's the same word in the Hebrew, "tsaddiq", which is righteous. "There shall no evil happen to the righteous". Even when seeming evil happened, that's why for the believer, can you understand now why once you are a believer, you are justified by faith, the Bible says, "Everything evil happens to you, God turns that for good", because there can no evil really touch the righteous. There's a promise there: "There shall no evil happen to the righteous". And that's why "all things work together for our good". But is that true for the average Joe walking down Orchard Road in Singapore? Is that true for the guy who is walking down the streets near Madison Square Garden? No, all right?
It's only true for the believer. For other people, evil is evil, trial is trial. For us, it works for good. And whose good? For God's good? No, God is already perfectly good. Doesn't need to be added on. It's our good. It's our good. So when you see verses like Proverbs 12: "There shall no evil happen to the righteous", what do you do? Someone comes along and say, "Yeah, but are you righteous? This promise is all". Yeah, it's Bible and Bible cannot be broken. Jesus says the Scripture cannot be broken. Yes, these are Scripture. It's in the book of Proverbs. But are you righteous? "There shall no evil happen to the righteous", but are you righteous? You see, so now you are left with this. What do you really believe? Remember what you did this morning? Remember what you did yesterday? And now how dare you call yourself righteous?
So again, I must tell you this. We are righteous by faith. That means what? In the midst of all our shortcomings, in the midst of our glaring deficiencies, in the midst of habits that we don't like that are still prevalent in our lives, God says, "You are righteous". That's why he says, "You must take it by faith". "But why, Pastor Prince? Why must"... Because Jesus at the cross became your sin. Jesus knew no sin but how did he become sin? He received our sin. But did Jesus become sin by his actions, his words, his deeds? Very quiet. This Presbyterian church, c'mon. One more time. Did Jesus at the cross become sin by his actions? Neither do you. You don't become righteous by your actions. Did Jesus become sin at the cross because he always thought bad sinful thoughts? No, his thoughts are perfect, right? Do you become righteous because you always think perfect righteous thoughts? No, that's why you've got to receive it by faith. Say it.
Now, actually, I didn't come to my sermon yet. My sermon is this. God spoke to me and God says, "Many people are giving up, confessing they're righteous by faith. They don't confess they're righteous by faith long enough". And whatever is not based or predicated on this foundation of righteousness by faith, you can pray many hours, you can give money to the poor, you can be involved in all kinds of good works, all right? You can even sacrifice and become a missionary, all right? You can meditate all day long. Whatever wonderful as all these things are and they are wonderful, all right, it is predicated, it is proceeding from a foundation where you are doing this thing subtly so that you think you're scoring points with God, so that you think that by doing all these things, God is more pleased with you, then you are off the ground of righteousness by faith and all those things that you are doing are actually everything plus equals zero. Dead works.
And God spoke to me, God said to me, "Tell the people". Even many of you, you say, "Pastor Prince, I've read your book I don't know how many times today. I know all these teachings, Pastor. I read the book of Romans, book of Galatians. I know. I know about righteousness by faith. What you're saying is nothing new". Are you confessing it? Or have you given up confessing it? "I know, Pastor, I know it". I didn't ask you. God didn't tell me to tell them whether they know or not. I'm saying it's important you confess, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ", and then all these things will start to happen. Are you listening, people?
All right, God says, "Why? Why did the Gentiles receive it and the Jews, they did their best to find it. They didn't get it because the Jews did not seek it by faith, by right believing but, as it were, by the works of the law". They're trying, you see? They're trying by their right doing. Works of the law. They're trying to be righteous by their right doing. They missed it. Whereas the Gentiles, they go by right believing. The Jews did not get righteous. Why? They were trying to get it by the works of the law, right doing. You can say right doing. It's easier to understand. They think that they become righteous by right doing, whereas the Gentiles became righteous, why? By faith. And the Jews did not seek it by faith, which is right believing. "They stumbled at a stumbling stone".
So we hear people saying, "You know, Christ is a stumbling block, a stumbling stone, to people". No, it's not Christ is a stumbling stone. It's Christ as our righteousness, not we our righteousness. Christ is our righteousness, there's a stumbling stone. Look at the context here. "As it is written: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him'", we just saw the context, "'believe on Him that He is your righteousness and those who have this belief shall not be ashamed'". Shall not be ashamed. You hear that? All right, Matthew 6. Matthew 6: "Therefore", Jesus said, "do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things".
So he's talking about things. Everyone say, "things". It's not wrong to say things in church, okay? So people make it sound like, you know, it's wrong to say things, like, money is not wrong to talk about, all right? Love of money is the problem, okay, amen? All right, so here we see Jesus saying about things, physical things. Don't worry about what you shall eat, "'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness".
All right, let me put a addendum here so just go right now to Romans 14, all right? "For the kingdom of God", what is the kingdom of God? "It is not eating and drinking". It is not outside coming in. It's not a blessing, outside coming in. But kingdom of God is righteousness from inside. Righteousness is a gift. Righteousness is by faith. Faith righteousness, all right? "Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God".
By the way, you say, "Pastor Prince, I thought that we are all accepted by God already". No, we are all favored by God but this word "accepted" is the word "yurestas" which means you become well pleasing to God. So we establish the kingdom of God is righteousness so go back to Matthew 6 please. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness". So his righteousness I've heard people say and I'm still hearing people say, his righteousness, all right, you've got to find out his way of doing things, his way of doing things. But his righteousness is not his way of doing, it's a gift to be received. And the Bible says the kingdom of God, the first thing about kingdom of God, we saw Romans 14 just now, is righteousness, all right? The kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness. So when you seek his righteousness, every morning you wake up, you say what? "I am the righteousness of God by faith".
"Pastor, how do I do that"? With your mouth. Believe in your heart and speak in your mouth. Are you listening, people? Let me stop here and just say this. Go back to Romans 10, we are building this and showing you, Romans 10, drop down, drop down to 9. "What does it say? 'The word is near you'". God's Word is near you, "in your mouth and in your heart".
You know, God is so good. God always brings the salvation or blessing very near you. That is the word of faith we preach. It is always in your mouth. If you say it, it will drop in your heart. When it drops in your heart, you believe it, then you start saying it again, all right? And the more you say it, the more you believe it. The more you believe it, the more you say it. The more you say it, and that's what God is telling me: "The people have stopped confessing that they are righteous. And if they confess once, twice, and all that, they don't confess it long enough for me to do something in their lives, to bring the blessings in their lives".
All right, I'm getting ahead of myself. It's about confession, "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved". So next verse. "With the heart one believes unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation". And the same verse, "Whoever believes in Him shall not be put to shame". So in other words, the way you get it, it's not by doing. Speaking. Say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus". Emphasis in Christ Jesus. You are nothing in and of yourself. I am nothing in and of myself. In and of myself, I am a sinner, all right, through and through. The utter total depravity of man without Christ. None of self, all of Christ, but now that I have Christ, all right, God put me in him. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
Every time you say, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ", it's like a reminder to heaven, this is what Jesus did. "Take a look at me now". It's what Jesus has done, you know what I'm saying? Are you listening, people? People are sinning, not because they want to sin. Many people, okay, there are always a few bad hats, you know, that live in sin and with no compunction. They don't care about the testimony of Christ. I doubt people like this are truly saved to begin with. I'm talking about people generally who are true believers. They don't want to sin. They're not looking for a way in to sin. They're looking for a way out of sin. But the promise that they don't get hearing the right thing.
And when Paul finds believers in sin, in the Corinthian church, for example, in Corinthian, book of Corinthian. Some of them are going to the temple prostitutes, all right? They got a lust problem. Paul didn't wake them and say, "You are now out of fellowship. You are now backslidden. God's wrath is on you". He didn't say that. And God says, "What? Hey, brothers, don't you know that your body is the temple"? Still is. "Is" is present tense. But they'd just gone to the, he said, "Don't you know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? Shall I take the members of Christ", he calls his body the members of Christ, "and join it to a prostitute"?
You see the way he approach. You're a prince. Why act like a pauper? Why can't trust God for a wonderful wife and a wonderful family and have all your needs more than fully met through the grace of God. Why must you stoop so low? His approach to sin in the book of Corinthians, brother was suing brother in court. He says, "What? Are there no wise men among you? Don't you know one day you will judge angels"? Then someone would say, "I'm Apollos, I'm of Paul. I'm of this, I'm of that. Party spirit". He said, "What? Don't you know everything is yours? You don't have to choose. Why choose Paul"? "I choose Peter. Peter walked with Jesus. Paul came later".
Why choose? Both Paul and Peter is yours. You acting, thinking like a child when God wants you to think like a... it's always don't you know, don't you know? People living in sin is always, "Don't you know? Don't you know"? Listen carefully. Matthew 6:33 says: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this", the context talks about food, material things. Don't let anyone try to spiritualize it, all right? Of course he can put a lot of other benefits as well. "These things shall be added to you".
Now, the word "added" in the Greek, all right, the word "added" means when you have something, all these things are fringe benefits. That's what it means. Added, all right? We think of it, I already have some, now I have it added. But actually, the word "added" means because you have the righteousness of God, health is added, amen? Provisions are added, amen. You have plenty to eat, plenty to wear, all right? And plenty to be a blessing to others. Because you are righteous.
Now, there are those who teach, you know, and I grew up believing that, you know, every morning you wake up, whatever, you're believing God, you believe God for, for a car. "Father God, I'm believing you for a car. Thank you for a car. I'm believing God for a house. Thank you for a house. Thank you for a house. I'm believing God for a baby. God, I am claiming that in Jesus's name. I'm claiming the baby in Jesus's name". Now, nothing wrong with that. I understand it, but it can get very tiring because there are many things to believe God for. There are many needs to believe God for. What this verse is saying is that if you will, we know how now, in our mouth, in our heart.
If you wake up and say, "I", just believe for one thing. "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus", all these things will be added. God asked me one time, "Do you have to teach people to lie? Do you have to teach a child to lie"? You're not sure? Do you have to teach someone to cheat? Do you have to teach someone to steal? No. Why is it that we're so busy trying to teach people to do right after they come righteous in Christ? When they were sinners, no one had, when Adam and Eve fell and the sin is in their blood, and they brought forth their children, the sin is in the blood. The sin is there already. They don't have to teach them how to do wrong. But now that we are righteous, the most important thing is to have the righteousness consciousness and all the good things will flow out of it: humility and all that.
You see, when people say, "Turn back to righteous", I know what they mean. They want that godly character, all right? Godly leaders, and I know that. I know that. But have you noticed the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5, say "5". The fruit of the Spirit is what gives you godly character. You're a person of self-control, love, joy, peace, temperance, all right? You're a person, you know, who is self-restrained, you know how to behave. It's love, joy. Not just a grumpy kind of holiness but love, joy, peace, all right? That's godly character but how do you get godly character? It's found in chapter 5. For the first four chapters, Paul talk about right believing, grace and law, right believing versus getting righteous by right doing.
And the thing is that we are thinking we can get the godly character by right doing. Paul disputes that. And Paul says the godly character is a fruit of right believing. You see, when you focus on right doing, the result is the works of the flesh. When you have right believing, the result is the fruit of the Spirit. You know what the difference between fruit and works? Works is the result of effort. Fruit is the result of life. When you have right believing, the result of that life of Christ in you love, joy, peace, even self-control, but when you focus on right doing, that's what happened to Israel. Israel focused on right doing at the foot of Mount Sinai. They say, "All that God commands us, we can do it". In Hebrew "kōl ’ă-šer-dib-ber Adonai". It's a very strong word, "We will do it". And straightaway, next thing you see, golden calf.
It started by believing they can do right. They were not out to build a golden calf. They were not out to sin against God. They were not out to do wrong. They will not out to sin. All they wanted to do was, they want to do right, but their approach is wrong. The moment that they trust their own efforts to do right, bang, the very first commandment, "You must have no other gods". There you see a golden calf. So, America needs to rediscover the gospel because the gospel will produce the fruit of the Spirit. Anytime, the devil is very smart. If he activates your flesh, all right, he will try to tell you, "Just use your effort for something good, it is for something good". But the more your flesh is activated, bang, the works of the flesh come up.
So, our Christian life is this, a life of rest and yet busy. But Jesus, but the busyness is an in our flow, okay? So likewise, every morning when you wake up you say, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus". You don't have to worry for believing God for this, believing God for that, believing God for this. Let me share with you this story of a lady, all right, in America. We just received this in the month of July, a sister from United States, we are summarizing it. "Tried to conceive for seven years, but to no avail".
Seven years. After seeking medical help, she found a large cyst in her right ovary. After going for an operation to remove the cysts, she developed severe scarring in her womb. She then went for another operation to remove the scars and was told to try to get pregnant within two months as the scar tissues would grow back very quickly. After months of trying, she remained barren. One day while going through Pastor Princes's website, she bought a sermon CD on hope. After listening to the message, she realized that she has been trying to conjure up faith when it was not supposed to be a work. She continued listening to the sermon that one of the best ways for right believing to come is to keep on listening. Keep on listening.
You say, "Pastor Prince, I don't have faith". Stop looking at yourself and keep on listening. All right, faith comes by hearing. If you don't have faith, faith comes by hearing, all right? And she continued listening to the sermon even when thoughts of doubts crossed her mind. As she realized how righteous she is in Christ - that's what my sermon is all about, it's the gospel. When she realized how righteous she is in Christ, she began boldly asking God for a champion baby. Now, what's the difference? She's been asking God for seven years. This time, she's asking from the foundation of I'm righteous in Christ.
Listen, I'm telling you, whatever you can pray, you can serve, you can meditate, you can do a lot of things, but the foundation is wrong, you're proceeding from a wrong foundation. She said that, she continued listening to the sermon even when thoughts of doubt crossed her mind. As she realized how righteous she is in Christ, she began boldly asking God for a champion baby whom Jesus deserved. Notice, not I deserve. Now she's taking her place. All right, Jesus got everything bad that I deserved, and I receive everything good that Jesus deserved. So, this girl is listening. New Christian Church is bigger than this church. Whom Jesus deserved. Three years later, she said, she became pregnant and a champion baby was born in March this year. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. To God be the praise and the glory.
Now, I shared that to tell you, okay, to tell you that when people start believing right, she didn't even say, right, every day she get up, "I'm confessing, I'm getting a baby". You know, you can do that out of desperation. You can do that in a way you say, "God, I said it enough already, I twist your arm, you know"? You know, you can actually almost like, "God, it's your part already, I've done my part". You never know how subtle the flesh is. That's why you must proceed from a foundation of believing you're righteous by faith. I didn't say you know about it. I say God told me for you to confess it, right? We thank God that the gospel is the answer for all the messes.
You can say, "Pastor Prince, does it cover this"? God, when God designed the gospel, God put in the gospel everything that will meet, nothing takes God by surprise, that will meet all the exigencies and needs of man. And you know what the devil will try to do? Attack the gospel very subtly, replace the gospel with another gospel, a gospel based on human works, or a gospel of, "Yes, we are righteous by faith, but now our works come in". So, in other words, some of Moses and some of Jesus, some of flesh, some of self, and some of Christ, some of law and some of grace. It's one of the most subtle things slowly and neutralize the gospel because the devil knows as long you're shouting, even from the housetop, turn to righteousness, turn to righteousness.
You know, there's no power even when people want to. But when you tell people, you tell people turn back to the love of God, turn back to the gospel that God loved you so much, he sent his Son to die for your sins, all right? Start believing that. Receive Jesus. "But how can I be changed"? Receive him first and he will change you. Don't ask the question, all right, "I want to clean myself before I take a bath". Take the bath and you'll be clean, amen? One more passage and then we'll close, all right? Let's last verse, and this my favorite verse. I preach this everywhere because, you know, I'm in love with this verse, I'm telling you, all right, and I close with this verse.
Look at Romans 5:17. "For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one". Always remember, people, God never meant for man to die. The Bible calls death an enemy. God didn't make men beautiful, you know, a woman so beautiful, a man so strong, healthy, put them in the beautiful garden for them to die. God's heart broke when man sinned. And his sin brought what? All the these things shall be added in reverse. Are you listening? So, God never meant for man to die. So, who brought death in? The first Adam. "For if by one man's offense death reigned through that one man, much more", oh, I love it. The gospel is always much more. "Much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness".
Those who receive, not everyone in the world, those who receive, not every Tom, Dick, and Harry, okay, in Singapore. Those who receive these two things, abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, what will happen to them? They will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Okay, I've preached this so many times, like I told you, it's my favorite verse. You all know this by heart and I know you know, and I know that you know, I know you know, okay? So, why am I bringing up this verse? Because sometimes we look at a verse so often that we can actually not really hear what it's saying. Two things, abundance of grace. God doesn't just want you to have a trickle of grace. He wants you to receive, receive, especially when you fail, that's the time to receive, all right? And another one, righteousness.
Notice a gift is not a reward for something you do. It's not a reward of righteousness. It's a gift. Right standing with God is a gift, right? So, if I take my Bible, or I take my book and I tell you, this is my book. I want to give you this as a gift. You tell me, "How much is it"? You insult me. You say, "Can I pay for it"? You insult me. I just told you it's a gift. You tell me, "Can I just pay? Like let me do something so I feel good, $1". You even insult me. It's hundred percent me loving you, hundred percent you receiving. But the thing is this, when God says, you know, it's a gift of righteousness. You say that, "Lord, let me just do some things and all that. I'll please you, I promise you I'll please you". It's an insult, right? The best approach is, "Thank you, Lord, I receive this gift".
Now, the reason I'm saying that in closing is because this verse the word "those who receive" is present active participle tense in the Greek. Now, what does that mean? Present and active, present, active. That means, it's something that you keep on, keep on receiving. Now, I understand some people might misunderstand, "Pastor Prince, does that mean that I become unrighteous when I go to bed at night, next day I must receive again"? No, no, no, no, no, once you receive the righteousness of God, Jesus, the Bible says in Daniel 9, he brought in everlasting righteousness. You cannot lose your righteousness. If you sin, all right, you're still righteous, or else the sin is greater than the righteousness that God gave you. So, I just said a mouthful just not whether you understand or not, all right, it the truth, okay? Only when you know this truth, you can overcome sin.
Now, listen carefully. It means you must be continually and perpetually conscious that you are righteous, that this gift is on you. Why, why must you be constantly conscious, why? Because every single day, you have temptations. Every single day, sometimes it's not just temptation, you cross the line, all right? Your thoughts may go awry. Your eyes may be wayward. Your feet might go to a wrong direction. So, whatever it is, God says every day don't forget, confess you are righteous and all these things that you desire will be added.
But I tell you, when you're out there without the fellowship of the brothers here, when you're out there in Singapore alone, when you're out there in the streets, when you're out there walking in a mall, it's so easy when you fall or whatever, to forget all these things and to say, "It can't be so true. I just, you know, I deliberately sinned, then I'm trying to take advantage of grace". The devil will try to reason with you all these things, but truth is truth. You are righteous forever. You know why we struggle with all these things? Because we're not listening long enough. That woman and all those people who received miracles, many of them who receive miracles, they keep on saying, "I kept hearing, I kept hearing, I kept hearing". Even this sermon today I share is not enough. You must keep on hearing.
So, the more you hear, the more you hear, all right, even verses that you think you know, the more you hear, the more you will have right believing. You have right believing in your heart, you have right speaking, all right, that's all you need to do. And the Bible says if you're sick and every day you say, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ", I'm telling you one day you'll just say, "Man, I just know that I'm healed by the stripe of Jesus".
All right, but many are getting up and they're using whatever faith they have to believe you God to be healed, believe God to be healed, but the foundation is wrong. In their heart, they're not establishing righteousness, but they are trying to get healing. No, what you need first, many a times, is to be established in righteousness, then you can believe God for a baby, then you can believe God for healing, you can believe God for blessings on your company, amen. Whatever it is, those things are added.
What is the things it's adding to? His righteousness. Jesus's righteousness is an attractive magnet, it attracts all the blessings of God. It is also very repellent. It repels all the curses and all the negative things, and that's why the devil cannot make you stay long enough in that righteousness consciousness. His one soul attack is to remove you and your heart from being established in righteousness. Hence, we have these twin gifts to be received continuously. The consciousness must be continuous, and how do we do that? With our mouth, believing in our heart. Say it again, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus".
Now, you are ready and now it's my time. Now, you are ready, listen carefully. Remember this, Jesus says blessed are those who are persecuted for, for? Remember Jesus says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness". And what is righteousness? It's a gift. Let's all give Jesus the praise, the glory, and the honor, amen. Praise the Lord. Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place and everywhere that's watching this. Believers, I want you to do one thing right now. God spoke to me. God told me that many have given up confessing that. They say in their hearts they know, they know, they know, but they're not confessing it therefore it becomes mental assent. Mental assent won't get you far in the fight of life.
You gotta confess, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus", especially when you fail, especially when you have stumbled and fallen, that's the time you need to say, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ", because everything in you will say, "You're a hypocrite, you are this, you are that". And we don't have to worry about holiness because the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, this holy character, is the result of right believing. Friend, this might be the first time you heard this message, and all the while you thought that Christianity is a religion, it is not. The Bible tells us, God so loved the world, but God is holy, and because he is holy, God has to punish sin. If God does not punish sin, if a judge in Singapore does not execute justice on a criminal, he is sanctioning wrongdoing and others will be emboldened to do the same thing. So, likewise, God has to punish sin or else the whole universe will crumble. But the Bible says God is love. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son".
So, how can God reconcile his righteousness, his justice with his grace and his love? The answer is look at the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ is the answer. God spared not his own Son, the Son that he loved for you and I. When it came right down to it, God will not spare his Son that you and I might be spared. That's the love of God. Friend, you're not a face in a crowd. You're not just an I.C. number. You are not a number. You're not a face in a crowd. You are an individual to God. God knows the very hairs on your head, how many they are. God knows the secret fears in your heart. God loves you. God knows all about your sins and God loves you. No one can ever love you the way God loves you.
And the Bible says God so loved you, God gave his Son and at the cross, his Son bore your sins. God took your sins and mine, and God laid it on Jesus Christ. And all that you and I deserve, the lightnings of God's punishment, righteous punishment against all our sins and lawless deeds fell instead on Christ, our beloved Savior, so that all the blessings and the favors, the profusion of his free favors will come on you and I. Everything that Jesus deserved, we get. Do you believe this? To believe this is to believe right and when you believe that, Jesus Christ and receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, God says, "No longer will things rule over you. You will reign in life. You will reign in life".
Are you ready? The Word of God is so near you. To be saved is not hard. You don't have to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. You don't have to swim the deepest ocean. The word of salvation is so near you in your mouth and in your heart, you don't even have to come forward. Right where you are seated, if you will confess it, believe it, God says, you are saved. With the heart, man believes unto righteousness. With the mouth, confession is made to salvation. Are you ready? Wherever you're watching this right now, say this:
Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe he died on the cross for all my sins, and you raised him from the dead without my sins. Therefore, what he has done for me is completely complete, perfect, and I cannot add to it. I receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. And I confess with my mouth because I believe in my heart. Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior and I believe that I'm greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name. Amen, amen, amen.
Father, I thank you for your Word. I thank you for your love, your grace and your goodness. Thank you most of all for the gift of your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, this indescribable gift for which we are truly grateful, Lord, and forever, forevermore, Lord, because of him, we are made righteous. Therefore this coming week, Father, I thank you there shall no evil happen to the righteous. Thank you, Father, no accidents, no danger, no disease, no plague will come near your dwelling, for you dwell in Christ Jesus, the secret place of the Most High.
You and your loved ones, your children, your entire family, you abide under the shadow of the Almighty because you are in Christ and in Christ, you are righteous. Christ is your dwelling place and in Christ you are protected. Evil be far from you. Devil cannot find you. You are in Christ, completely protected, completely favored. Be expecting good things to happen, even when seeming bad things happen, know that it will work for your good. God has the final say. In Jesus's name. Everyone say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ", amen?