Leon Fontaine - Your New Birthright
Sometimes it's important when you look at a principle of God's Word and you've been taught it, to not just take it for granted but to, but to look at the guts of it. Look where it came from. It's like some of you parents who've, who got beautiful homes, careers, and beds and food and holidays for your kids. And they just, they get used to it. But they might not know the amount of work that you had to gut out to get there or what it took. And it's crucial that people know what things have cost because otherwise you don't know how precious it is. And today I want to talk about something, the message, I just want to entitle it, "Are You Righteous"? Because I'm so tired of the preaching out there that attacks people and destroys them. It literally stops them from using their faith.
You will not get your faith to work until you understand righteousness. You will not get your faith to bring the kind of life, confidence, peace, joy, living until you understand righteousness, or the enemy will simply attack you every time and you will find your faith falter. If you don't value something, you'll never use it properly. Jacob and Esau is a story in the Old Testament where the eldest always had a blessing prayed over him by the father, by the patriarch. And it wasn't just some kind of a cool thing. It was real. And it was so desired by Jacob who was not the eldest. He was second born. That he wanted this birth right. It was called. And Esau who was the eldest. He could care less. He comes in one day from being hungry and out hunting and he hasn't, didn't shoot anything.
So he looks at Jacob's big old pot of stew on the fire. I'm famished. I need some food. He says, "No". What do you want? I buy it off you. I want your birthright. Okay. Hello. And if you read the story, Jacob lied and he tricked his brother and his dad because he coveted this birthright. And Esau, "Yeah, whatever". Did you know that because, even though he was a liar and a thief, because he coveted that birthright. He's in the lineage of Jesus instead of Esau. I think as believer sometimes, especially those of us who are second generation Christians, third generation Christians. We just take things for granted. And we don't understand what is behind it. You know, when Adam and Eve were in the garden and they sinned against God. The Bible has a completely different Adam. The Adam before then would talk with God walk in the cool of the day confident. Everything going well.
Now, that he is, now that he's sinned against God, a different nature entered him, a nature of the enemy. And that nature is one of fear. That nature is one that is, it just discouraging. It's everything that I talked about in the human condition. And he hid from God and he was trembling. And God's going, "Adam, where are you"? And he hid himself. What happened? He was fearful, inferior, hiding, worried. You know, he was condemned, guilty. What's going on? A new, a new nature was inside of the human race. And that nature continues today. But when Jesus came, he changed all that. He literally went to hell in our place, took our sin. And when God saw that justice was done, the spirit of life filled Him and up He came. And He is the first born, the Bible says, of being born again because He took your sin. He took my sin, and He went to hell. He was buried with the sinners the Bible says. And He paid our punishment. He took our sin. And when He rose again with new life. This new life is for you and I when we ask Him for it, when we believe on Him.
But then we got people who just think that "Well, now that I'm born again. That's just kind of, that that just means that God doesn't consider my sin. I'm forgiven". It's more than forgiven. If someone rips you off and they're your partner in business and this is like the fifteenth time that you forgive them. Wouldn't you be a fool to keep being a partner with them? Why? Because your nature hasn't changed. This is, this thing about being righteous is more than just a forgiveness of sins. And here's where a lot of people miss it. The whole drama of redemption is consummated in this. That man must be restored to perfect fellowship with the Father and it's got to be done on legal grounds. The object of righteousness is to give man fellowship with God, to be able to walk into His presence and not hit your knees trembling knowing you're about to be killed. You literally can say, "Abba, Father".
You know, it bug me if my kids came into my presence and started to tremble and get all freaked out and worried and fell on the ground and groveled at my feet. Father is the new name that God has in the new covenant. In the Old Testament they were servants, in the new covenant they're sons. There's so much that we miss about this thing, about being righteous. The public ministry of Jesus. Then He goes to the cross and He's made sin. Then when He dies, He stays under judgment till He's made righteous. Then He's given new life. He conquers our adversary, rises from the dead, and He was made sin with our sins. So we're made righteous with His righteousness. This exchange took place. This exchange is not just the forgiveness of sins. It is a complete change of nature. I'm righteous. I've given my life to Jesus Christ. When I say I'm righteous. What am I saying? Am I saying I never make a mistake? No. I'm not. I'm saying that my nature is righteous. And that my nature is joy. My nature is peace. My nature is laughter and joy and confidence in the presence of God and desiring good things. That's my nature. Who are you?
And that's where righteousness comes in. You are in right standing with God. And when you get this, and you begin to believe that you were spiritually dead, and now you are righteous. Jesus came in and recreated you. In Romans 4:25, it says, "Who was betrayed and put to death because of our misdeeds and He was raised to secure our justification, our acquittal, making our account balance and absolving us from all guilt before God". He didn't just forgive your sin. He just made your past disappear. He erased it. Gone. You don't have to worry anymore about the guilt and the condemnation that comes from your past. Your past is gone. It is acquitted. It is finished. And you have a brand new life. You have a new nature. And if you do not understand the truth about your new nature. You will give in to the old you who's dead and gone. In Acts 13:33-35, it says, "This He has completely fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, You are My Son. Today I have begotten You, caused You to arise, to be born, formally shown You to be the Messiah by the resurrection".
Now, I got so many Scriptures. But as you go through the epistles, it is the new covenant. And until you understand the new covenant, you can't mix the old covenant. Which is your works. Should I pray about healing? Have I been good enough this week? Did I do anything wrong? Let me just think, did I cuss anybody out? Did I give anybody the finger? Did I swear at anybody? I think I'm good. I think I'm good. I think I'm good. Okay, Jesus. I need to be healed. You see, you just, you're totally you never going to get healed that way because you're going by your works. Which is the old covenant. The new covenant believes that Jesus Christ died. That every sin you ever committed is been dealt with, and that you are a believer. The old nature doubts automatic. The old nature is condemned and guilty. The new nature is confident. The new nature knows they can stand in the very presence of God.
Come boldly to the throne of grace and ask what you will. This kind of thing is not talked about much to people. No wonder we see such few miracles in the first world. And you do understand something. As He is, so why are we in this world. That's why we're called Christians. If we were called Biblians, you could pick anybody in the Bible you wanted to be like. But we're Christians. Christians. We follow Christ. We are believers in Christ. When Jesus went to hell in our place Colossians 1:18, says that He became the first born from the dead. If Jesus took all this sin of the world, He was the most sinful looking thing that ever went down and buried with sinners the Bible says. Then how come when it was done, and the injustice was fulfilled, and He arose again with new life. He went straight into the presence of God.
Understand that if Jesus is the firstborn, then you and I are somewhere down that line. And it's exciting to understand. John 5:24, says, "I assure you, I most solemnly I tell you, the person whose ears are open to My words, who listens to My message, and believes and trusts in and clings to and relies on Me Who sent Me has eternal life. And does not come into judgment but he has already passed over out of death into life". All right. This is exciting. Did you know that when you give your life to Christ, that this life comes into you. And we get eternal life mixed up. We keep thinking eternal life is just how long you live. But I've worked with a ton of people who don't want to live. They don't want to live 20 years, let alone forever. I've sat down beside suicides and had to counsel with people who've tried multiple times razor marks all up their arms. Eternal life? They don't want to live. Eternal life is this length of life and the quality of life. Eternal means forever but life means the life of God.
An incredible joy, an incredible peace, an incredible ability to get up and to confidently know that whatever this world has, I'll walk on the waves. I'll walk into the face of a demon possessed man. Whatever it is, He is with me. And when we understand who we are in Christ, the world then gets attracted to the life that we're living with Christ because we're not walking around trying to be... Some Christians are so proud of their humility. Did you get that? They just think that, well, humble. Yeah, well, God bless you. Would you like to come to church and be like me? No, thank you. Why? Because the world admires confidence. They admire someone who's... And Christians aren't immune. Like, if I'm going to talk to a brain surgeon, I'm going to talk to two of them. And one is just so humble. Yeah.
See, well, you know, can you operate on me? Like, what do you think? Oh, you know, I'm not really the best and I've done some of these. But hey, I'll do my best. Next. I've done lots of these, man. We're going to do. Here's, let's sit down. We're going to show you how we're going to do. I'll take him. When that Christians have no confidence in their lives, no confidence in who they are, and where they are, and where they're going, and what they're doing. And we think that our fake humility is attractive to the world. We are so, no wonder church is dead as buildings in the city. I'm messing with, you know. In John 8:36, listen to this. "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed". Do you know what that means? In reality. You're not just a token free. We declare you free. You messed up thing you. I know you got no peace, no joy. You got no self-worth, no self-esteem but you've been declared free. That's not what it's saying here, because in the Old Testament there was a declared righteousness that Abraham had, but he wasn't born again.
So he literally wasn't righteous but it was, it was accounted to him because he stood in faith. And that's a whole another message. But when you look at this and you understand, 2 Corinthians 5:21, "Him who knew no sin God made to be sin on our behalf. That we might become the righteousness of God in Him". How righteous is God? I don't know how to answer that question. But that's your righteousness. Why are we walking around? Why when we read the Bible, why do we look at the world today and the church today? We look at the Old Testament for our heroes. We got giant killers. Solomon to raise countries and Moses take millions of people through desert and all these incredible leaders. And then today, "We're just Christians". You are made in the likeness and the image of God. If you've given your life to Jesus Christ, that old nature of lack and sin and condemnation is not only gone. You have a new nature filled with confidence and joy and peace. But even the record of your sins has been expunged. Don't let the enemy dig it up.
I go that old saying, "When the enemy reminds you of your past, ah, just remind him of his future". Why? Because there has been an actual impartation into your human spirit. This is not just a legal righteousness. It's not just a reckoned righteousness. This is an actual impartation of the presence of God into your human spirit. Now, it's important that you understand. That it allows you to stand in the presence of God, in the blessing of God, expecting the answers of God. The release of the power of God with no sin, no guilt, no inferiority. This is who we are as believers. The world will scam on you. The stuff of the enemy will push at you. And if you don't wash regularly, you'll stink. But if you wash with the water of the Word, and just clean off the depression, the pain, the giving it up and you stay with the Word. The real you shines through. The real odor of who you are, the skin, the hair. This is you.
And he's trying to tell us here. That you'll need the washing of water by the Word. You need to get to church on Sundays. You need to find God's Word and speak it out of your mouth every day. This confession of the Word is not trying to get you to become something you're not. That's the problem with much of Christian today. We're just speaking the Word. We're just praying, reading the red and praying for power. I'm changing. Okay, stop right there. You've been changed. Your nature is the nature of Christ, full of confidence and peace and joy and power. Stop trying to become what you're not and just be who you is. And as you begin to believe what God has done inside of your spirit, you will renew your mind with the washing of water by the Word.
And some say, "Well, it's that old flesh, Leon. Oh, we've got to just, we've got to butcher the flesh. We've got to die". I get it. But the Bible doesn't make it sound like you make it sound. It says, "Renew your mind. Make your body a living sacrifice. My yoke is easy. My burden is light". Doesn't go, "Fight with your flesh. Fight with your"... Really? Jesus is so weak. That one human person's problems He can't deal with. No. The Word of God is very clear that Jesus can present you before the Father without blemish, pure. It's not talking about just heaven. And man, I've just given you just a touch today of this word righteous. You are not righteous because you earned it. You are not righteous because you're so good at it. You are righteous as a gift from the Father. And you are precious. He made you, designed you.
If you were to get a tattoo, you need something like, "Designed in heaven, made by God". Because He doesn't make junk and He doesn't make mistakes. And He's placed greatness inside of you. And with God on the inside of your spirit man, there is, deep inside of you is joy, deep inside of you is peace. If you just renew your mind in Romans 12:1 and 2, it says, "You'll begin to prove the perfect will of God". If you said to me, "I can lift 300 pounds". And I say, "Prove it. You've got to do it". Did you know that as you renew your mind with the Word of God, you begin to prove with your life, your peace, your joy, prosperity, health, healing, relationships. People should look at your life and be jealous. The word "bless" means happy, fortunate, and to be envied. When people look at you, do they envy your life? If you say, "No". Then you're not really living out what you could be, because you've been made awesome. You've been made wonderful.
Don't let religion lie to you. Don't let them give you some false sense of humility. That humility is to stay poor, stay sick, bow your head. Let everybody else rise up and do something. But you, you know, stay humble. Humble does not mean do nothing. Humble just means give God the credit. That's it. You're special. If I could just communicate one thing to you. If you've given your life to Christ, deep on the inside of you, you radiate peace. You radiate joy. You radiate a sense of confidence. Don't let an unrenewed mind stop you. Wash it with the water of the Word. Meditate in God's Word. Find who you are, so you can pass that off to the next generation. Because you're going to pass off what you is, not what you say. And God will help you because your nature has been established by Jesus not your behaviour.
Your behaviour is important. We all want you to change. Your wife want you to change. Your kids want you to change. All right? Your husband want you to change. Changing is cool. But changing is not what makes you who you are. It's this miraculous redemption of what Jesus has done. You are renewed. In your spirit man is the nature of God. Believe it. Get into the Word. And I'm telling you. I don't care if you were taught wrong, what your daddy did, what your mommy did, if you didn't have them. I don't care how messed up your childhood was. You got a new Father and His name is Father God. And He'll teach you the things your dad should have taught you. And as you begin to get into His Word, oh, man. There is such a confidence. This whole world, they put on a mask. But if they have not been reborn, there is an inferiority complex. There is a condemnation. There is a sense of, "I'm not good enough. I could never. If I don't, if I see God, I would burn up and all that". But when you give your life to Christ, you are a new creation. You're not counted as one. You're not reckoned as one. You don't just put the colors on and wear the patch. You is a new creation.
Now, you got a choice. You find out who you are now because you are not who you were. Find out. And in the washing of water by the Word. The renewing of your mind with the truth. You will explode into who God made you to be and it's so exciting. If you were born again, you are righteous. Remember that. And when you read the New Testament, it'll just come open to you as you recognize, do you make mistakes? Do you sin? Yes. Read the list of sin. For him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So you didn't help the little lady across the street. Sin. Whatever is not of faith is sin. Oh, I didn't believe much yesterday. Sin. But it doesn't change your nature. And as long as you understand who you are, you will have victory over every sin. Sin will no longer have dominion over you, the Word says, because of this new nature that is yours. I don't know who I'm speaking to but I'm setting somebody free. Get up and live. Get up and believe. Get up and know that Jesus loves you. And as you do, your whole world is going to change.
Father, I pray that every person that's listening to me today. Wherever they are, on the screen, around the world, here in this auditorium. I pray that something I've said will take root in their heart. And they'll rise up with such a confidence in You, in such a confidence in the redemption, the justification, the sanctification, the work that have You done. Father, I pray that all the religion that's been taught and of all those whatever will just fall off. And I pray they're going to raise up a church that's going to change a city, change the nation. That Father, You're going to bless them and every one of their gifted areas and wherever their careers and families and marriages and health and mind and peace and emotion. Father, let this new nature just rise up, and let them walk through life like Jesus would have.
Every head bow for just a moment. If you're watching today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Saviour, as your Lord. You say, "Leon, I don't know if I am born again". Then I want to help you. I'm going to lead you in a powerful prayer, because only you can decide you. Your Mama can't, Papa can't, pastor can't, wife can't, husband can't, only you. And as you heard me teach the Word, the Bible says that as you hear the gospel taught, it causes faith to rise in you. So someone say, "I don't have any faith". No, to hear 30 minutes of God's Word, it brings faith in you to accept Christ. So now you've got to make the decision. And if you'd like to be born again and have the spirit of Jesus inside of you. Just say this right now and mean it:
Jesus, I give You my life. Thank You for dying in my place and qualifying me to be in God's family. I accept. Come into my heart. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.