Our Future is so bright; we’ve got to wear shades!

Gosh, it has been a while since I’ve blogged! I’m concentrating more on the Bible studies lately, and I must say it’s taking a lot more time to do each Bible study than I thought, but it has blessed me incredibly! Who would have thought that just refreshing your mind with truths you already know will bless one so much! It’s good to spend time in God’s Word and it is really good for one’s soul!

Studying God’s word has also helped me to see a couple of things differently. While I’ve been studying the Covenants, how graceful the Lord is and that our sins are not imputed on to us anymore, it’s helped me to realize that none of God’s blessings is dependent on me or my performance. All the blessings are pure grace (undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour) and it all depends only on Jesus’ performance at Calvary, and since His performance was perfect and it is finished, whatever I do or don’t do will not affect God’s grace towards me.

How freeing is that! All the pressure I had put on myself is suddenly all gone! I am free now to worship God and thank Jesus for His wonderful sacrifice and relax about all the things that bother or worry me. It feels like I am walking on clouds, I feel like singing and dancing and rejoicing all day, because God is sooooooo good! For some reason I keep thinking, “Our future is so bright, we’ve got to wear shades!” 😉

Then 2 days ago I got this daily devotional from Jo.seph Prin.ce in my inbox and it just confirmed all that the Holy Spirit has been showing me lately:

“Song of Solomon 4:7:  You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.”

“Sometimes, when we don’t receive our healing, breakthrough, restoration or miracle child, we can’t help but think that something is wrong with us. We tell ourselves, “Nothing’s wrong with God, nothing’s wrong with the Word, so something must be wrong with me!” My friend, if you think that your miracle depends on you, then you are on shaky ground.

In the old covenant, we see this “it’s all up to me” demand put on man. God’s part was to bless His people, but only if they played their part by obeying all of His laws. If they didn’t do their part, not only would they not be blessed, but the curse would also come on them.

Most of the time, they ended up under the curse because they just could not keep all of God’s laws. So God found fault with that covenant because though He wanted to bless man, man’s sins made it difficult for Him to do so. Man himself was the weak link.

In the new covenant, man has no part to play except to believe and receive. The new covenant of grace was cut between God the Father and God the Son—both infallible and more than able to keep the covenant.

God the Son is man’s representative. Jesus represents you and me. So in this covenant, how much we can receive from God depends on how good our representative is, how perfect His obedience is. Of course, Jesus is the perfect Man with perfect obedience. So in Him, we are qualified to receive all the blessings of God! We only need to believe and receive.

Jesus’ blood has been shed for the remission of all your sins. You are now the righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21) By His one perfect sacrifice, He has perfected you forever. (Hebrews 10:14, KJV) There is no spot in you!

Today, the devil has no right to tell you that you cannot be blessed because there is something wrong with you. So as you are waiting for your miracle, say, “Nothing’s wrong with God, nothing’s wrong with the Word and nothing’s wrong with me! I am going to receive my miracle!”

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The Superabundance of God’s Grace:

This is also from Jo.seph Prin.ce’s book Des.tined To Rei.gn:

“Accusations Against Grace

In the book of Romans, Paul said, “What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1-2) Obviously Paul was misunderstood and accused of telling people to sin more so that grace may abound.  This is the same accusation that has been levelled against me.

But Paul never said, “Let us sin more so that grace may abound,” and neither have I.  I want to make this explicitly clear again: I, Jo.seph Prin.ce, am vehemently, aggressively and irrevocably against sin!  Sin is evil and it leads to destructive consequences.

I am on the same side as everyone who is against sin, only with this difference:  Some believe that victory over sin is found in preaching more of the law, but I find that in the Scriptures, victory over sin is found in the preaching of God’s grace.

Let’s read what Paul said in its context: Romans 5:20:  “²⁰ Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”

Have you noticed that the law entered so that sin might abound?  It clearly means that the more you preach the law, the more sin will abound.  After all, the strength of sin is the law.  Therefore when you see sin and preach more of the law, you are literally adding wood to the fire.

The Superabundance Of God’s Grace

In saying that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more”, I am preaching the same message that Paul (it is good to be in Paul’s company) preached.  What Paul meant, which is also what I mean, is this:  Sin does not stop God’s grace from flowing, but God’s grace will stop sin.  Ask yourself which is greater, your sins or God’s grace?  The answer is obvious.  God’s grace is always greater!  In fact when you read “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” in the original Greek, it actually says that where sin abounds, grace “superabounds”.  So where there is sin, God’s grace is in superabundance!

We cannot be afraid to preach grace because it is the only power to stop sin in people’s lives.  When you fail, instead of feeling guilty and condemned, receive the superabounding grace of God that tells you that you are still the righteousness of God!  It is His superabounding grace that will rescue you from that sin.  Those who wallow in guilt and condemnation are the ones who have no ability to overcome their sins.  Since they believe that God’s grace has departed, what hope can they have?  Victory over sin comes only when people encounter the superabundance of God’s grace.  It is His grace that has made sinners righteous!

God’s Justice Is On Your Side Today

“Pas.tor Prin.ce, how can I be righteous when I have done nothing right, and especially when I have just failed?”

I will answer your question if you can tell me this:  How could Jesus be condemned as a sinner when He committed no sin?

Jesus took all your sins upon Himself on the cross.  And once your sins have been punished, it would be “unrighteous” of God to demand payment for your sins again.  He cannot punish your sins twice!  Yes, it is holy, right and just for God to punish sin.  But having punished sin on the body of your substitute Jesus Christ, God will not demand punishment for your sins again, precisely because He is holy and just.

So if you understand that God’s justice has already been executed at the cross, you will see that today, as a new covenant believer under grace, God’s holiness, God’s righteousness and God’s justice are ON YOUR SIDE demanding your acquittal, deliverance, healing, prosperity…  God’s justice today demands that you have and enjoy all the benefits of the cross.

Don’t miss out on this powerful revelation.  This is the gospel of Jesus!  Because all your sins have been punished in the body of your substitute Jesus Christ, God’s righteousness is on your side demanding your justification and forgiveness.  That is why, even when you fail, God’s grace will superabound and swallow up your failure.  It has been paid for on Calvary.

The Bible says that “if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins”. (1 John 2:1-2)  Jesus is your Advocate today and He demands your acquittal.  His blood has been shed and He became the propitiation (mercy seat) for all your sins.  When God looks at you, all He sees is the blood of Jesus that makes you completely righteous.  Hallelujah!”

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Picture Of Pure Grace:

I want to share this message out of Jo.seph Prin.ce’s book Des.tined to Rei.gn:

“Pure Grace from Egypt to Sinai

When God liberated the children of Israel from the bondage of slavery in Egypt; He did not do so because they had kept the 10 Commandments.  The 10 Commandments had not even been given yet.  The children of Israel came out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb.

The Lord showed me something a number of years ago that ushered me into the Gospel Revolution.  I was sitting in my living room, just spending time in the Word, when He spoke to me and said, “Son, study the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to Mount Sinai for this is a picture of pure grace.  Not a single Israelite died during this period although they murmured and complained.

I had never heard anyone preach that before and neither had I read it in any book  So, feverishly, I turned to that portion of the Scriptures, trying to find someone who had died, so that I could prove God wrong!  Have you been there before, trying to prove God wrong?  Well, you can never succeed, and indeed, I could not find any Israelite who died even though the people murmured and complained.

Even though God had rescued the children of Israel from their Egyptian slave masters by performing great signs and wonders, the children of Israel failed to honour God, and murmured and complained over and over again.  When the Egyptian army came thundering toward them from behind and the Red Sea was before them, the children of Israel cried out to Moses saying, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?” (Exodus 14:11)

That was a complaint against God, and murmuring and complaining are sins.  But what was God’s response?  He opened up the Red Sea and they crossed over to dry land on the other side, safe from their enemies.  Even after God had brought them safely to the other side of the sea, the murmuring continued.  At Marah, they complained about the bitter waters.  What was God’s response?  He made the bitter waters sweet (Exodus 15:23-25).  In the wilderness, they cried out against Moses, when they were hungry.  What was God’s response?  He rained bread from heaven (Exodus 16:2-4).  But still the children of Israel complained.  When there was no water again, they cried out against Moses saying, “Why is it you have brought us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3)  What was God’s response?  He brought water out of the flinty rock.

Study the Bible yourself.  You’ll find that every time the children of Israel murmured and complained, it only brought forth fresh demonstrations of God’s favour, supply and goodness.  Why?  Because during that period, the blessings and provisions they received were not dependent on their obedience or goodness.  They were dependent on God’s goodness and faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant, which was a covenant of grace.

The Exchange Of Covenants at Mount Sinai

Then something tragic happened right at the foot of Mount Sinai.  In Exodus 19:8, your English Bible says that the people cried out to Moses, saying, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”  In the original Hebrew text, this is actually a statement of pride.  They were saying, “All that God requires and demands of us, we are well able to perform.”  In other words, they were saying, “God, stop assessing or blessing us based on Your goodness.  Start assessing, judging and blessing us based on our obedience.”  So they effectively exchanged covenants, from the Abrahamic covenant which is based on grace, to the Sinaitic covenant which is based on the law.

All this while, God was with them and had fought for them.  He opened up the Red Sea, rained manna from heaven and brought water out of the flinty rock, even though they kept murmuring and complaining.  But the moment they said those prideful words, God had to change His tone.  He told Moses to instruct the people not to go near the mountain, for “whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.”  (Exodus 19:12)

Why do you think God changed His demeanour here?  It was because man presumed on his own strength and entered into a covenant based on his obedience.  This is what we call self-righteousness.  Since the people wanted to be judged based on their performance, in the very next chapter, God gave them the 10 Commandments.  From then on, since they boasted that they could do all that God commanded, God had to asses them based on His laws.  He would bless them if they kept His commandments, but they would be cursed if they failed to do so.  What the people did not understand was that they had to obey all of the 10 Commandments perfectly because if they failed in one, they would be guilty of all (James 2:10).  You see the law is a composite whole and God does not grade on a curve.

Now, let’s see what happened when the children of Israel placed themselves under the law.  After they boasted that they could fulfil all that God commanded of them, the works of the flesh were immediately manifested. They broke the very first commandment – “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3) – by fashioning a golden calf and worshipping it as their god! (Exodus 32:1-8)  Isn’t that sad?  So be careful when you boast of keeping of defending the law because the works of the flesh will follow soon after.

From that point onwards, every time the children of Israel murmured and complained, many of them would die.  Observe this:  Before Sinai, none died.  After Sinai, the moment the murmured they died.  Before Sinai, every failure brought forth a fresh manifestation of God’s favour.  But now that the Israelites were under the covenant of law, sin had to be punished.  Their blessings and provisions depended on their perfect obedience, and every failure and sin would result in judgement and punishment.

That is why the law of Moses is called the ministry of death and condemnation.  It is an inflexible standard that had to minister death and condemnation to the Israelites whenever they sinned.  You would think that after 2000 years people would learn, but there are believers today who are still using the same refrain as the children of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai.  They are bragging, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”

We Are No Longer Under The Old Covenant

Can you see what the Lord was showing me?  The Israelites’ journey from Egypt to Sinai was a picture of pure grace.  It was not dependent on their goodness but His goodness, not on their faithfulness but His faithfulness.  Before the law was given they were under grace and nobody was punished even when they failed.  But immediately after the law was given, nobody was spared when they failed.  The good news is that we are no longer under the old covenant of law.  We have been delivered from the law through Jesus’ death on the cross.   Because of Jesus Christ, we are now under the new covenant of grace, which means that today, God does not assess us based on our performance, but on His goodness and faithfulness.

Why are there believers today living as though the cross made no difference?  Instead of enjoying the new covenant of grace, they are still fighting to be under the old covenant of law and the 10 commandments.  I declare to you that the cross of Jesus did make a difference.  If you are still trying to live under the law, trying to be justified by your obedience to the law, you are effectively negating what Jesus has already done for you on the cross!

Under the old covenant, God said, “I will by no means clear the guilty.”  (Exodus 34:7)  However, in the new covenant, God says, “I will remember your sins no more.”  (Hebrews 8:12; 10:17)  Can you see the contrast?  It is the same God speaking, so what happened?  The cross happened, my friend.  The cross made the difference.  Today, God does not remember your sins or hold them against you because He has already judged them in the body of His Son.   Believers get confused when they do not realize that the cross has made a difference.  Consider this:  If we are still supposed to be under the 10 Commandments as many argue, then what did the cross of Jesus accomplish?

Grace Has Done What The Law Could Not Do

“Pastor Prince, are you insinuating that there is something wrong with the law?”

No, off course not!  There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the law.  As Apostle Paul said, “What shall we say then?  Is the law sin?  Certainly not!  On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law…”  (Romans 7:7)  I am saying exactly the same thing that Paul said.  It is through the law that we have the knowledge of sin, but that is all that the law can do.  It exposes your sins.  It cannot cover, cleanse or remove your sins.  The law was designed to show forth our sins to bring us to despair and lead us to the realization that by our own efforts, we can never save ourselves.  It was designed to show us that we all need a Saviour who can cleanse and remove our sins.  That is the purpose of the law.

While the law is holy, just and good, it has no power to make us holy, just or good.  Only Jesus’ magnificent grace and the splendour of His love can make you holy, just and good.  And His blood has already made you holy, just and good!  God has already done what the law could not do.  How?  By sending His own Son to be condemned on your behalf, so that you could be made the righteousness of God.  That is your position today – you are made righteous in Christ.

With the advent of the new covenant, the Bible says that God has made the old covenant obsolete.  (Hebrews 8:13)  Stop fighting to hold on to something which the Bible has declared to be obsolete!  The law condemns the best of us.  Even David was condemned under the law and I personally esteem him to be the best of those under the old covenant.  The law condemns the best of us, but grace saves the worst of us.  Under law, if you break one law, you will be guilty of all.  By the same token, under grace, if you do one thing right, and that is to believe on the Lord Jesus, then you will be justified from all!  (Acts 13:39)”

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You Are Spotless:

I love this Dai.ly Gra.ce Inspi.ration from Jo.seph Prin.ce I received today.  Is once again on righteousness, and I want to share it with you:

Song Of Solomon 4:7 7You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.

Jesus tells us His bride, “You are all fair, My love, and there is no spot in you.” But our reply to Him tends to be, “Me? All fair and no spot? You don’t know me, Lord!” Do you really think that God doesn’t know you? God sees reality like no one else sees it. He sees the perfection of His Son’s finished work in your life. By one offering of Himself at the cross, Jesus has perfected you forever! (Hebrews 10:14) You have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21) And you will never find any spot in this righteousness that Jesus died to give you. So God wants you to see yourself righteous—all fair and spotless in Christ. Every day, be conscious of your righteousness in Christ. Say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ. There is no spot in me whom He has perfected with His blood.” When you do that, you are honoring Jesus and His finished work. If you are conscious of your sins, then you are not honoring the work of Christ. You may think that you are being humble or holy by being sin-conscious. But do you know that the Bible calls sin-consciousness an “evil conscience”? Hebrews 10:21–22 tells us that since we have Jesus as our High Priest, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience”. What does the writer of Hebrews mean by “an evil conscience”? If you read the beginning of the same chapter, you will find that he is talking about a “consciousness of sins”. (Hebrews 10:2) Paul calls it a “conscience seared with a hot iron”. (1 Timothy 4:2) The Greek word for “seared” here is kauteriazo, and it means to carry about with you a perpetual consciousness of sin. So don’t carry with you an evil or seared conscience. Your lifetime of sins has already been punished fully in the body of Jesus at the cross. Be conscious, instead, of your perfection and righteousness in Christ. Because of what Jesus has done for you, you can boldly declare, “I am all fair. There is no spot in me!””

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God Sees You As Righteous!

I said in my last post that there are some awesome messages that I want to share with you.  Here is the first one on righteousness by Jo.seph Prin.ce, sermon # 26 Enjoy Abraham’s Blessings in your life:

“The other day I was reading about the covenant that we are under – the New Covenant, in the book of Hebrews and I came to this particular verse that says; “A covenant is not enforced until the death of the testator,” the covenant victim, right?

You know your grandfather could be a multi millionaire, let’s say he puts something to your name in his will, you will receive nothing, even though your name is there, until he dies.  Right?  So the Bible says a covenant is in force, or we can say enforced in your life, only when there is a death.  So every time you partake of the Lord’s Supper, the Bible says you proclaim what?  The Lord’s death.  So in actuality you are saying to the powers that be that the covenant is in force in my life.  You are declaring to heaven as well, that the covenant is in force in my life.  So the covenant of God includes healing, wholeness, prosperity and well being for your entire family!  Praise the Lord!

We want to take off on where left off not too long ago when I preached on 2 Corinthians 5:17, so let’s look at this passage right now, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:  “¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  Once you believe in Christ you are a brand new creation – smile to your neighbour and say; “New creation, are you?”  Look at somebody else on the other side and say; “I am a brand new creation, how about you?” Do you all still remember the sharing on the new creation? “¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,” Not condemnation.  “¹⁹ that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the Word of reconciliation.”

Do you know something; the world has not heard Christian preachers as a whole telling them; “God is not mad at you, God is not angry with you, God is not counting your sins against you!  God sent His Son to die for you.  It was while you were still a sinner that Christ died for you.  God loved you when He saw you at your worst – God sent His Son while you were still a sinner.  God is very clear – He has given us the ministry of reconciliation, not condemnation, and the word is this:  God is not imputing their trespasses to them.  God is not counting their sins against them.  Now they are not saved, your relatives are not saved, those that don’t believe in Christ, those that don’t know about  the wonderful gospel that we believe in, the wonderful good news from heaven, they do not know Jesus, they are not saved, but God is not counting their sins against them.  You know something; they need to hear us telling them, God is not counting your sins against you.  Come home, come home.  Why settle for pig food, swine food, when the father’s house have bread enough and to spare!  Amen?  Why settle for people who love you for what you can give them, the moment you have nothing to give them they also leave.  Come back to the Father’s house where his love is unconditional, He will hug you while you still smell like pigs.  He will embrace you; He will lavish you with all His goodness and grace because His love for you is unconditional.  Nothing you do can make God love you more; nothing you do can make God love you less!  God loves you unconditionally.  Hallelujah!  Amen?  And the word we have for the world is that God is not counting your sins against you!  Amen?  Yet, you hardly hear that, but it’s Bible!  “God is not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

“²⁰ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us:  we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”  God is not mad at you so why are you mad at God?  God is not holding anything against you, what are you holding against God?  Come home, the Father is waiting for you.  Praise the name of Jesus. It does not matter how much you have failed, you don’t know how much He still wants to give to you, how much He wants to lavish on you, how much He wants to pour His love on you.  God loves you folks!  We need to tell the people in the world; “look the good news is that God is not counting your sins against you, the death of His Son is a declaration that God loves you, instead of punishing you for your sins, God took your sins and put it on Jesus Christ and God punished His Son for your sins, so that God will never punish you for your sins, because sin cannot be punished twice.  The law of double jeopardy, any crime cannot be tried twice in a court of law, Amen?  Praise the Lord!

“²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  Now the next verse tells us something very powerful of when Jesus hung on the cross: “for God made Jesus who knew no sin…”  How many of you know that Jesus knew no sin, and not only that but Peter says He did no sin, John says in Him is no sin, so:  He knew no sin, He did no sin and in Him is no sin, but the Bible says that He who knew no sin, God made to be sin for us, where?  At the cross.  “… so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  Now, I want to tell you something about righteousness, when you see in the Bible Paul talks about justification by faith… those who are of faith…Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness… all this speaks off faith righteousness, not works righteousness.  Allright?  In the Old Testament you must obey God and obey God in everything, all the 10 Commandments, for you to be righteous.  Allright?  There is none who can do that!  They can’t do it outwardly, they can’t do it in their mind, mentally, or inwardly in their hearts.  Then in the New Covenant that Jesus established for us, you believe what Jesus has done and God counts you righteous.  God says you are holy; you are blameless in my eyes.  Under the Old Covenant, Old Testament prophets will call your sins to your remembrance, but in the New Covenant, the New Covenant prophets call your righteousness in Christ to remembrance.  Amen?  Under the law God says; “I will by no means forget your sins, I will visit your sins to the third and fourth generation,” but under the New Covenant because of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection there is a New Covenant, and God says; “I will by no means remember your sins…” Good news!

We are dealing with a God who is not holding our sins against us, let alone remember them.  Amen?  Somehow good news doesn’t sound like very good news nowadays; it’s very hard to hear good news – the good news of the gospel is this – That God counts you righteous in His eyes, counts you deserving of all His best blessings, counts you worthy off all that He has to give and the abundant life.  Amen?  I know you don’t consider yourself so- you ask yourself the question, but how can I be righteous Pastor Prince?  How can I be righteous if I haven’t done anything righteous?  So we go back to this verse once again – how did Jesus become sin?  Did He do sin to become sin?  No, He did no sin, so how did Jesus become sin?  He received sin at the cross, so how do you and I become righteous?  By doing righteousness?  No, we receive His righteousness.  Amen?  When Jesus received our sin, did God curse Him?  Yes, God did not say; “I know you are my son, you are just carrying their sins, I will not curse you.  No!  The Bible says that Jesus became a curse for us (Gal 3:13), so even though He was carrying our sins, He received our sins, God cursed Him.  By the same token, now that we have received His righteousness, will God bless us?  Or does God say; “Well this is my Son’s righteousness, it’s not your righteousness, I won’t bless you…”  No, no, no.  God will treat you as if you are what you have received.  As Christ was cursed, as sure as He was cursed, I am blessed.  You are blessed.  So we see the divine exchange at the cross is a glorious exchange.  Once you are right with God, then this “righteousness of God in Him,” is a gift, not a reward.  The bible says in Romans 5:17, “if you receive this gift of righteousness, you will reign in life!”  Over sin, over poverty, over disease, over death!  In life, not in death, you will reign in life!  You will be full of life, you will reign in life!  The amplified Bible says; “reign as kings in life.”  I love that.  Amen?  So righteousness is a gift, it’s not a reward for your good performance.  Learn to receive this gift.  How many of you believe you’ve received the gift righteousness?  How many of you are acting like you’ve received the gift of righteousness?

How many of you are acting, you know, when I pray God hears, because why?  I am the righteousness of God in Christ; I have received the gift of righteousness, amen?  When I’m sick, I expect to be healed.  When there is a problem I expect God to see me through.  Some people say, “why do you expect good things to happen to you, there are so many people in Singapore…”  I expect good things to happen to me!  I expect bad things not to happen to me, why?  I am the righteousness of God in Christ!  So it’s one thing to receive it, but do you act like it?  You ought to feel special child of God!  Because God has made you special!  You are not just an ordinary person walking down Orchard Road.  You are a child of God, washed by the blood of Jesus, made righteous in Him, all right?  Qualified to receive the inheritance and you are now a joint heir with Christ, enjoying all the promises and blessings of God.  Amen church?  Its one thing to know and say amen, but it’s another thing to act like it, to ask yourself do I really treat myself like that?  Like I am a righteous person in Christ, or am I still busy trying to make myself righteous?  Am I still trying to earn the blessings of God?

I want to share with you something that I think is very, very powerful because one thing that hinders our righteousness consciousness is sin consciousness.  It seems to me that in many places, one of the things that preachers think is good for the people is that if we can preach sin to the people and make them sin conscious.  People will realise their sin and then they will turn away from their sin.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  To preach sin to the people and to create sin consciousness is the very opposite of what the New Covenant is all about.  The New Covenant is for you to be conscious of your righteousness in Christ.  The apostle Paul to whom God revealed ¾ of the New Testament and the whole gospel of grace, the apostle Paul says I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, or the good news of Christ, for it is the power of God!  The, definite article, the one and only, THE POWER OF GOD unto your salvation, unto your wholeness, unto your prosperity, unto your wellness, unto your wellbeing.  Amen?  In the gospel.  But what is the gospel that Paul preached?  For in that Gospel is the righteousness of God revealed.  It is not the sinfulness of man revealed.  It is the righteousness of God revealed as a gift to you.  Are we hearing that?  We are not hearing the true gospel that Paul preached.

So what is the biggest problem in the body of Christ?  Sin consciousness.  The Bible says the law, let me show you this verse:  Hebrews 10:1-2 (KJV):  “¹  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.”  See the law is not the good thing to come; the law is a shadow of good things to come.  You know my wife; she loves the idea that I’m carrying her picture with me all the time.  I have a picture with me all the time.  (He takes a picture out of his wallet.)  I have two ladies, this is a beautiful picture of my wife and my daughter, but do you know something?  This is a shadow, this is a picture.  (He kisses the picture.)  Actually what I kiss is paper, right?  Nothing like the real thing.

You know the shadow can never really minister fulfilment to you.  If you are hungry and I put Ken.tucky Fr.ied Chic.ken in a barrel and the light hits the food and you see a shadow on the wall, and I say; ‘help yourself to the shadow while I eat this…”  Trust me, I’ll end up full and you will end up empty and still hungry, right?  So the law is a shadow of good things to come.  Jesus is the substance – so the law and the 10 Commandments are shadows, yet we are preaching the shadows when we actually should preach the substance.  “² For then would they not have ceased to be offered?  Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.”  Your New King James says; “…no more consciousness of sins.”  So what it is saying is this:  If the sacrifices of bulls and goats and lambs in the Old Testament, which typified Christ as the substance – these are just shadows – if these Old Testament sacrifices, if they had worked, the worshipers would not have had sin consciousness.  Now let me ask you – the final sacrifice has come – His name is Jesus Christ – did His sacrifice work?  Drop down to verse 11, same chapter, “¹¹ and every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:”  Every day they offer a sin offering, a goat, every day which can never take ways sins.  You know it’s one thing to hide sin, let me tell you this; if my shirt is dirty, if there is a spot on here, a ink blot or whatever, and I cover it with my jacket – that is called atonement, the Bible uses the word covering, the word atonement means covering.  Now in the Old Testament their sins were atoned by the blood of bulls and goats, but the blood of Jesus in the New has removed…  Nothing like the blood of Jesus and it’s free…  Hallelujah, praise the Lord!  It does not cover, it removes.  Can I have a good amen?  So the Bible says that all the sacrifices can never take away, it only covers…  Cover, cover, cover…  Until Jesus came to take away by His death at the cross.  “¹² But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;”    But this Man – capital M – after He had offered – how many?  ONE sacrifice! For sins FOREVER!  Sat down at the right hand of God…  Now, why do you sit down?  Because your work is finished.  Now go back to the previous verse again; “…every priest stands daily…” Can you see standing daily?  Do you know why the Old Testament priests never sat down?  Their work is never finished.  They offer repeatedly – “…daily ministering and offering oftentimes…” or repeatedly, but Jesus “…offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down…”  His work is finished.

Now, according to Hebrews 10 verse 2; “For then would they not have ceased to be offered?  Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more consciousness of sins.”  So why is it that we are sin conscious?  Sin consciousness robs you of faith, it robs you of initiative, it robs you of feeling that you are favoured by God; it robs you of the good life that Jesus came to give you!  And yet there are many people that think that the purpose of preaching is to make people sin conscious.    No!  It is to make people Jesus conscious!  So where did this sin consciousness come from?  The gospel is the answer – unfortunately people are thinking of the gospel as a revelation of their sins.  No, no, no – Old Testament prophets call your sins to your remembrance – New Testament prophets calls your righteousness in Christ into your remembrance…  Into your consciousness if you would.  Good news?  Very good news!  We have to live like it, act like it child of God!  Expect when you go outside, that the sun is shining especially for you.  Because I’m telling you everything in the universe moves around the righteous man, the righteous woman.  It says clearly in the book of James that “the effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  That is you, that is you!  Your prayers avail much.

So Jesus Himself, listen carefully, He came to be the sacrifice – He didn’t come to be a new law giver.  He came to die for our sins, that one sacrifice for sins forever.  Ok?  So when you’re sin conscious, let me tell you this, you are not where you are supposed to be.  Hello!  You are not where you are supposed to be in God!  God does not want you sin conscious, God wants you Jesus conscious.   God wants you righteousness conscious!”

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