Kenneth Copeland - Faith Has a Righteousness Consciousness
I want you to look here, in this fifth chapter of the Book of Hebrews. Verse 11, talking about called of God, talking about Jesus being called of God, a high priest after the Order of Melchizedek. "Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered because you're dull of hearing". What does that mean? You're not listening. "For when for the time you ought to be teachers" are, you should be teaching. By this time you should be teaching. But you're dull of hearing, you're not listening. "You have need that one teach you again. Which be the first principles of the Oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not strong meat".
Now, you might say, well, you know, Brother Copeland, we just, we don't get into anything, we just preach the milk. Wonderful. But I doubt if you're preaching that, because your people are not growing. Scripture says, "desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby". Amen. So, "for every one that uses milk", are you listening to me now? "Every one that uses milk, is unskillful, in the word of righteousness". You don't know who you are. People that are untaught don't know the difference, between righteousness and holiness. There ain't no way you could be righteous. You ain't been a believer but two years. I became the righteousness of God in two seconds. Holiness, that's a completely different thing. That is a totally different subject altogether.
Holiness, if you think about it, holiness is really a manifestation, of the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Because when that fruit begins to grow, and love begins to grow, and you become to that place where you say, Whoa, yeah, alright. Oh yeah, I'm beginning to get this, praise God. And love is a commandment. You know, okay. Yeah, I can do that, I can do that. Amen. Fruit, fruit of the Spirit. When love and grace begins to flow and begins to work. I'll show it to you right here.
"Strong meat or strong meat of the Word, belongs to them that are of full age". We're talking about growing up spiritually, growing up spiritually. Spiritual growth. Desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. Glory to God. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. All of it. Glory to God. Oh, this is my food. This is my life, this is my spiritual life. And I've become covenant-minded. And then I get over here, oh, I'm telling you, this is just so real. And so wonderful.
Come on over, on over here in the Book of Hebrews in the 10th chapter. "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things can never, with those sacrifices which they offered, year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect, or make the worshipers perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers once purged, should have had no more conscience, should have had no more sin consciousness". Say that word, sin consciousness. Well then, what kind of a consciousness do I need to have? A righteousness consciousness? I'm right with God.
Well, Brother Copeland yeah, but what, what about I did? I did that. What about, Oh Lord. Oh God. Oh God, shh. Stop being so conscious of that sin. Your Father's already forgotten it. And he's never gonna bring it up to you. Unless it's necessary to correct you. He loves you. So, what, what is he working with me to do? To get me to that place where true righteousness, let's go back to the Book of Romans. True righteousness. Oh, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus. A righteousness consciousness. A person knows, who knows. I know my Father and I love Him. I know my Lord Jesus, and I love Him. And greater is He that's in me, than He that's in the world. And I'm an overcomer. I'm right with Him.
Now listen to this, Romans chapter three, as it is written, "there is none righteous. No, not one". Brother Copeland, wait, wait, whoa, whoa. "Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Onto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God".
Now, when I was a little boy and I was in a Baptist church and of course I wasn't listening much, but I noticed the verses that people centered up on, and I heard them even after I began preaching this, I heard this. I was preaching the Word of faith, and had been preaching it a long time. I sang a song, "I've Been Made the Righteousness of God", and Christian disc jockeys wouldn't play it. Ah, he thinks you see, good people, but they mad at me. If you really wanna get mad, if you really want the devil to get on your case, you really would like see all he can pull. You start preaching on the righteousness of God. You start preaching that Jesus went to hell. And you start preaching that he wants preachers to be rich. Boy, you stir up more demons.
Well, you might as well just get ready. Just don't pay any attention to what they say. Why should I listen to him for? Like Gloria said, if there's, if everything is so bad as the devil says it is, he wouldn't have to lie about it! That's good isn't it? But that's what I heard. "There's none righteous. No, not one. And they've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". Oh yeah, that's true. And what else does the Word say? The Word says our righteousness is as filthy rags. We don't have any righteousness.
Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 5:21. "He who knew no sin, was made to be sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him". Amen. I'm gonna ask you a big question. You already know the answer. Did Jesus ever commit sin? No. Did you ever commit righteousness? No. But He was made sin with our sin. We were made righteous with His righteousness. You better shout Amen. I'm telling you, glory to God, if you have to just run outside, and shout for the whole neighborhood to hear you. Glory to God, thank you Jesus. Hallelujah. Praise God forevermore.
Now, let's go back in here now, into this third chapter. Verse 21. "But, now, the righteousness without the law, is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ on to all, and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference under all that", believe, hallelujah. Thank you Lord Jesus. Glory be to God. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified".
Now that word justified, go look it up in your Strong's Concordance. They both come from the shame Greek root word, justified, righteous. They're interchangeable. Amen. "Being", let's read it like that. "Being made righteous freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God has set forth to be the propitiation, or the sacrifice through faith in His blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins, that are passed, through the forbearance of God". Praise God.
Now, oh, this Book of Romans. Now then, let's go over to the fifth chapter. Verse 15. "But not as the offense", or in other words, what Adam did. "So also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one, many be dead, much more", say much more. Much more, no, say it louder now. Much more, much more! "The grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ has abounded under many. And not as it was by one that sins so is the gift, for the judgment was by one to condemnation. But the free gift is of many offenses under justification". The free gift is many offenses under being made right with God. "For, if by one man's offense, death reigned by one, much more, they which receive abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness shall reign, and live by one Jesus Christ".
One translation says, they'll reign over life as Kings, by one Jesus Christ. He is King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords. Who are the Kings he's King over? Us. We've been made Kings and priests unto our God. Because of our righteousness in him. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Isn't it wonderful? Glory to God. Now, as you look at that, let's just put it in reverse, the gift of righteousness, just put it in reverse and slip right up there, into that fourth chapter of Romans. Verse 16. "Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace, to the end the promise". What promise? The promise of righteousness. Because he's working on that since day one. That's what Jesus was all about. Is getting that true righteousness back.
But he had to go through all of the law and put all of that, say, Brother Copeland, why did it take so long? To God, that's not all that long. But the Bible is so intricate. Every jot and tittle that's in the Hebrew language. We could put it like this, every period, every comma, the crossing of every T in this book is exactly right. It's not a little right. It is exactly right. I'm so thrilled with Him, aren't you? I'm so thrilled with Jesus. I'm so glad. I'm so glad He's Lord. Oh my, my, my. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Look what he said.
"Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but that which also the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations. Before him or in his presence like him, whom he believed even God who quickens the dead, and calleth those things that be not as though they were, who against hope, believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken. So shall thy seed be and being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead. When he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb he staggered not, at the promise of God through unbelief, but strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded, that what he had promised he was able also to perform".
And then all you have to do is look at verse 24. "But for us also to whom it shall be imputed, If we", no, no let's back up, I jumped the gun. Hold it. "Therefore being fully persuaded, what he had promised, He was able also to perform, therefore it was imputed, or accounted to him for righteousness". Amen. God said, hey, I'm giving it to you on a credit. Amen. We're gonna fix this thing. And we're getting closer and closer. This righteousness, this righteousness.
"Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him. But for us also, to him it shall be imputed, If we believe on him that raised up, Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses, raised again for our righteousness. Therefore being made righteous by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this".
Righteousness is what the book is about. And that's what this ministry is all about. Let's go back over there to that gorgeous, beautiful Book of Romans and slip. See we were there in the third, fourth and fifth chapters. Just slip over to the eighth chapter. "There is therefore, now". "Now". You can't say now, while ago. Now. Every time you say it. Now. Now. "There is therefore now, no condemnation to them. Which are in Christ Jesus". Somebody was just healed from a really sharp pain, right here in your right side. Lord? I don't know, I just. Oh, let me start that again. "There is now no condemnation to them, which are in Christ Jesus. Who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit".
Let's do this. Flesh is talking about the body. This five physical senses. "Who walk not after the", dictates of the five physical senses, "but after the spirit" or after the Word. Whatever He says in His Word is His will. This is the will and testament of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. "For the law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free, from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, or through the senses, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled, in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit". Just look up to Heaven. Put one hand over your heart.
Well, I'm here in the Book of Romans. This whole book's about righteousness. Chapter 10, verse six, "but the righteousness which is of faith speaks. On this wise". Righteousness. A righteousness consciousness, by faith speaks. "On this wise, say not in your heart, who shall ascend into Heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above. Or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring Christ again from the dead. But what does righteous faith say? The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart. That is the Word of faith which we preach. That if you shall confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised Him from the dead. You shall be saved. You shall be born again. You shall be recreated. For with the heart mankind believes under righteousness". Don't you love it? "With the heart you believe under right standing with God, and with the mouth confession is made, unto salvation".