Who Were Are In Christ

And so I don't want to take a lot of time.

I want to have Pastor Raphael Cruz come up and share with you his message.

I always want to say I met him for the first time.

We had dinner together in the Capitol in Austin, with Dave Welch and some other preachers there at the table.

It was just really, really eye-opening.

It's the first time I'd met him and we got to break bread together.

I got to hear him and we had a wonderful discussion around the table about all kind of topics, and I'm so glad that God opened the door for us to get to know Pastor Cruz.

And what a story, what a testimony his life is and what a walking encyclopedia of American history.

And besides that, he's filled with the word and the spirit.

That's the most important thing I could say about him, and so I want us to make a big warm welcome for Pastor Raphael Cruz.

We're so glad, pastor, you're with us.

Welcome Blessings, my brother.

Please be seated.

It's not about me, it's all about him.

Well, if some of you may remember, I was here but was it a year, maybe almost two years ago and I talked about covenant.

I talked about the fact that we are in an everlasting covenant with Almighty God, sealed by the precious blood of Jesus.

And so today I want to talk to you about perhaps the biggest problem as to why Christians are not walking in victory, and it is a problem of identity Identity Most Christians don't know who they are, and because they don't know who they are, the devil just eats their lunch.

Why don't we put the PowerPoint on screen?

Can we do that?

Oh, it's behind me.

Ok, yeah, I'm just looking on the side.

All right, so we're going to talk about who we are in Christ.

You know, the apostle Peter said be ye, holy, for I am holy, and that word holy in the Hebrew, in the Greek, is a word hegeos, and it means pure, spotless.

And then Jesus said, in Matthew 548, he said be ye, therefore perfect, even as you, heavenly Father is perfect.

And you know, to justify our shortcomings we say well, jesus didn't really mean perfect, he meant mature, because perfect means complete perfect, and I don't think I make it.

And so he didn't mean perfect, he meant mature.

Listen, if Jesus had wanted to say mature, he would have said mature.

As a matter of fact, let's take a little exercise.

Let's go back to Matthew 548 and put the word mature there.

Be ye, therefore mature even as you, heavenly Father is mature.

Would you refer to God as mature?

Of course not.

So he's saying be perfect as you, heavenly Father, is perfect.

And of course, the question that comes to mind is how am I going to do this?

I mean, all I have to do is look at myself in the mirror and say how am I going to do this?

Well, let's open the Bible to Romans, chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

And we're going to spend a lot of time in Romans chapter 5 and Romans chapter 6.

Romans 5 · chapter mention Romans 6 · chapter mention

And in Romans, chapter 5, verse 12, it says wherefore if by one man that man is Adam sin entered the world and death by sin, and so death passed unto all men, for all have sinned, and we understand that One man, sin entered the world and we all were condemned because of that.

Romans 5:12

And so, through Adam, the sin nature entering to the world and all were basically under condemnation.

The whole world was under condemnation.

But that's not the end of the story.

It gets better, actually, because if you look at Romans 517, if by one man death reign by one, who is that one?

Adam, much more.

And the reason is much more because now we're going to talk about a man much greater than Adam.

Those who receive two things Number one, the abundance of grace, and number two, the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life through the one, christ Jesus.

Now we know we're going to reign over there, but this is not talking about that.

This is talking about reigning over here right now.

And you say but I'm not reigning over anything.

As a matter of fact, under the circumstances, I feel overwhelmed.

Have you ever felt that way?

Let me ask you a question what are you doing under there?

What are you doing under there?

You should be above the circumstances, reigning over your circumstances, hallelujah.

Let me ask you a question how big is your God?

Is your God bigger than your circumstances?

And if your God is bigger than your circumstances, why are you overwhelmed by the circumstances?

See, the problem is too many of us worship a little bitty God.

I mean, practically nobody has any problem praying for a little child that has one degree of fever, but praying for somebody who's got cancer.

Oh, no, no, no, no, I couldn't do that.

Let me ask you a question Is it cancer any more difficult for God to heal than a one degree of fever?

You know, I remember many years ago, oral Roberts made a statement that caused him to be ridiculed by all the media and including many Christians.

Oral Roberts said that he had had a vision of Jesus and Jesus was a thousand feet tall.

And I'll tell you, he was criticized to no end.

About a month later, he's been interviewed by Pat Roberts on In the 700 Club, and Pat asked Oral Oral, what about this business that you saw Jesus and Jesus was a thousand feet tall?

And what Oral responded I have never been able to forget.

He said Pat, you know what my problem was?

I saw him too small.

I saw him too small.

So the question is how big is your God?

If your God is bigger than your circumstances, then just laugh at your circumstances.

Stomp over your circumstances, hallelujah.

So the first thing that this promises us, remember there are two things that you need to receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteous.

And so let's talk about the abundance of grace first and praise God.

We were singing about grace, waiting for you.

Grace is there, all available, all you have to do is take it.

So grace is the undeserved favor of God.

Grace is what God has done for you, or you could say what God will do for you.

He's already done it all anyway.

So we all familiar with Ephesians 2, 8, and 9.

For by grace are you saved through faith.

It is a gift of God, not of works, let's say.

Any man should boast, and probably most of us who came to Christ and surrender our lives to Christ were quoted this verse, for by grace are you saved through faith, and it says it's not of works, it's not of anything you do.

You cannot deserve it, you cannot earn it.

I mean, I remember, if you ever visited countries in Latin America, I remember seeing little old ladies on their knees going behind a clay idol trying to earn heaven.

Well, you can't do that.

It is all by grace.

So I want to take a moment in.

If you have never done that, if you have never surrendered your life to Christ, you know, as we read in Romans 5, 12, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

So because of that, the whole world was under condemnation, and a perfect God could not have communion with imperfect, sinful man, so mankind would be doomed to eternal separation from God.

But the Bible says that God saw love the world, that he gave, and he gave the very best of himself.

He gave his only begotten son that whosoever, whosoever that includes you and you and you and you and you and I whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

And so God, to reconcile man to himself, came in human form in the person of his son, jesus Christ, born of a virgin, walking on this earth, perfect, without sin.

And he became that perfect Lamb of God who went to a cross and took upon himself the sins of the whole world, your sins and my sins, and the wrath of God was poured upon him as punishment, as penalty, to satisfy the justice of God.

And Jesus went through death, the grave and hell to pay for all of our sins.

And the proof that the payment was complete was that Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day.

I want to ask you, if you have never made Jesus Christ your Lord and your Savior, every eye closed.

Please for a minute, I want you to lift your hand and just say Lord Jesus, I surrender my life to you.

I declare that you took all of my sins upon the cross and you went through hell, death and the grave for me, and the proof that my sins were all forgiven was that God raised you from the dead on the third day.

I now declare that you are my Lord and my Savior.

I surrender my life to you.

Use me to your glory in Jesus' name.

Well, thank you very much.

And if you've done this today, I want you to tell the pastor at the end of the service let's continue.

So it is all by grace and you know most of us understand that salvation is by grace.

We don't have any problem with that.

But you know, grace goes much further than that, jesus.

All we have to do is receive it, like some did this morning.

But the problem is that many of us have a very superficial idea of what happened at the cross.

At the cross, jesus said it is finished.

He did it all Salvation, healing, deliverance and much more happened at the cross.

All you have to do is receive it.

Jesus already paid for your deliverance.

In Matthew 8.16, it says that when it was dark, they brought unto Jesus many that were demon possessed, and with his word he cast out the demons.

Now I'll tell you what many of us may be bound by, something.

I know I was bound by alcohol.

I was a drunk before I came to Christ, and I'll tell you what Jesus totally delivered me from alcohol.

He not only took the taste, he took the desire.

And I want to take a moment.

If you are in bondage to alcohol or to drugs, or perhaps to pornography, or perhaps you're in bondage to gossip, or you're in bondage to soap operas, whatever it is, this is the time for your deliverance and I'll tell you what.

Whatever has you been bondage?

Just say right now, thank you, lord God, that you are my deliverer and I can receive deliverance through Jesus Christ, my Lord.

So I declare right now I'm delivered off and you tell God what you have been delivered of right now, and give him praise, giving glory of church.

Hallelujah.

Thank you Father, thank you, lord God, that you are my deliverer.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Jesus completed the devil completely, defeated the devil, and the devil has no power over you.

See the problem that many Christians have, if many Christians walk around afraid of the devil when in reality the devil is afraid of you.

James 4.7 says submit yourselves.

Therefore, to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The reality is, the devil is afraid of you.

You say to the devil boo, and the devil runs.

But if you don't know that, the devil will eat your lunch.

You are free from oppression, hallelujah.

Thank you, lord God.

And then in Matthew 8.17, it continues so he cast all the demons with his word and healed how many, all All that were sick, that mean, but fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah saying himself took my infirmities and bore our sicknesses.

He did that at the cross.

Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53, 4, and 5.

So just receive your healing today.

Receive your healing today in the name of Jesus.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, father, thank you, lord God, that that cancer, that cancer you took upon, put yourself on Jesus so you don't have to keep it.

Let it go.

It is healed in the name of Jesus.

That diabetes, in the name of Jesus, your blood chemistry is perfect because Jesus already took it.

That pain in your back, in your shoulder, that pain in your, in your knees.

Right now, in the name of Jesus, receive healing and deliverance in the name of Jesus.

It is gone in Jesus' name.

Just declare it.

It is done in Jesus' name.

I walk in divine health.

In Jesus' name.

Jesus took all my infirmities, he took all my sicknesses and I received the complete manifestation of the finished work of the cross.

Thank you Jesus.

Thank you Jesus.

Give him praise and receive it.

Receive it in the name of Jesus, hallelujah, hallelujah.

And I'll say up 53.

It says Surely.

He has borne on grace and carried our sorrows and we steamed them, stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our inequities.

That justized them.

For our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.

Not we will be healed, we are healed, we are healed.

Just declare it I am healed, I am healed.

Let's look at those words a little closer.

That word grieves it's actually a pure, poor, poor translation from the Hebrew.

The word in the Hebrew is the word colé and it literally means sicknesses.

He already took your sicknesses.

The word sorrows is the word makovie and it means pains.

He took all those pains and aches that you feel Right now.

Let him go.

He already paid for them and I'll tell you.

And the word peace, which most of us know that it's the word in the Hebrew, shalom.

But shalom means much more than peace.

It means wholeness, it means wellness, it means nothing lacking, nothing missing, hallelujah.

It means walking in his fullness, glory, and there's still much more.

So it doesn't stop there.

Everything we receive from God is by grace.

Everything, hallelujah.

Apart from anything you do.

You see, you can't earn it.

Get that out of your head.

You can't earn anything from God.

You can't work yourself to heaven.

If you could work yourself to heaven, jesus would not have to have come, hallelujah.

So look at Romans 8.3.

He that spared not his own son and delivered it from us all, how had he known?

Would he not give us freely all things?

He loves you?

He loves you much more than you think.

Hallelujah.

Now, if everything is by grace, the question is how do we access God's grace?

Well, romans 4.16 says, therefore it talking about the promise to Abraham.

It is of faith that it may be by grace.

And then, in Romans 5, too, it says by whom?

We also have access by faith into His grace.

You know what those two verses tell me, along with Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, faith is the key that unlocks the door to God's grace.

Faith is the key that unlocks the door to God's grace.

Now, hebrews chapter 11 gives us the definition of faith.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for.

It's the evidence of things not seen.

See, we got to start looking at things through our spiritual eyes, not just through our physical eyes, calling those things which be not as though they were.

You see, your healing is a reality in heaven.

You don't have to pray to be healed.

You were healed 2,000 years ago.

All you have to pray for is the manifestation in the physical of what's already a reality in the spiritual.

God has already done it, and all you have to do is have the faith to receive it, just declare it.

It is done.

And so let's turn to Romans, chapter 4.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

And we're going to spend a little time in Romans, chapter 4.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

I call Romans chapter 4 the greatest chapter on faith in the whole Bible.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

And let's look at Abraham Now, when these passages are referring to it.

When Abraham was 99 years old and his wife Sarah was 89 years old, she'd been bearing all her life.

God made a promise to Abraham when Abraham was 75 years old your descendants will be as numerous as the stars of the heaven, as many as the suns of the sea.

So now it's 24 years later.

And so Abraham, who, against hope, believed in hope, because hope is what?

The evidence of things not seen, he that he may be the father of many nations.

That was the promise 24 years earlier.

According to that which was spoken, god had said it.

And if God had said it, it will come to pass.

So shall thy seed be, he said.

Your seed will be as numerous as the stars of the heaven.

So in Abraham believed, even though it appeared hopeless.

You see, perhaps some of us see our situation as hopeless and we stop believing.

That's the last thing you need to do.

You need to believe in spite of the fact that it may appear hopeless, because with God nothing is impossible.

Hallelujah.

So be not being weak in faith.

Not being weak in faith, that means what he was strong in faith he considered not.

In other words, he didn't start making excuses Well, I'm 99 years old and my wife she's 89, and she's never been able to have a child in her whole life.

No, no, no, no, no.

He considered not.

He considered not his own body, now dead, not when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.

So you need to believe in God's promises, not focus on the circumstances, focus on the promises of God.

This is why it is so important that you declare the promises of God daily, daily, daily.

I have a list of 101 healing promises from God, from the Word of God.

I declare those 101 promises daily, every morning, and I take communion daily.

And you know what?

I walk in divine health because I believe it.

He already took all my infirmities, he already took all my sicknesses, and so I walk in His divine health.

Nothing for me to brag.

I brag on Him.

He's already done it all.

So now let's go to the next verse.

He staggered not at the promise of God, he didn't waver.

He staggered not at the promise to unbelief, was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

See, it's nothing that we do, it's all Him.

It's all Him and the most important.

And he was fully persuaded.

Fully persuaded that what God had promised he was also able to perform.

This is where we need to come to.

You need to be fully persuaded.

Fully persuaded when you become fully persuaded, it will come to pass.

Fully persuaded that God will do what he said he will do.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Now you say, well, I don't have any faith.

Well, romans 12 3 says that God has dealt to every man, and of course that includes also every woman the measure of faith.

That means you receive the same measure of faith that Pastor James did, that I did.

We all got the same measure.

Now the difference is what do you do with the measure that you received?

What do you do with it?

God has given you faith.

Don't say you don't have any faith.

The Bible says God has given you faith.

So how do you activate it?

That's the real question.

How do you activate it?

How do you activate that faith?

Well, the word of God says faith comments by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

So what do you have to do?

You got to get in the word of God.

Faith in God comes by continuously hearing the word of God, hearing the word of God.

You need to start visualizing your victory.

You see yourself already healed If you have had real problems with your legs that you can't even walk.

Visualize yourself dancing before the Lord.

Visualize your victory, because it's already a reality in heaven.

All you're doing is pulling it to earth.

Let's move to Mark, chapter 11.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

You want to just harp a little more on this issue of faith and let me put it in context.

Jesus is walking to Jerusalem with his 12 disciples and he sees afar a fig tree that's got green leaves.

And he goes to the fig tree with the disciples and the figs.

There were no figs on the tree and Jesus cursed the fig tree.

Now let me just say something as a parenthesis.

Jesus was not angry because there were no figs.

He knew there were no figs.

Jesus wanted to teach these disciples a message.

So he curses the fig tree.

They go on to Jerusalem and then they come back the next morning and that's where we pick up this story Now.

When they come back, peter says to Jesus Master, the fig tree that you curse has withered away.

In another translation it says it died from the roots.

You see, when you pray for healing, when you receive your healing, you may not see manifestation immediately, but it's drying up from the roots.

Just believe it's drying up from the roots and it's gonna fully be manifested.

So don't waver in unbelief because you don't see the full manifestation immediately.

It withered from the roots up and Jesus said have faith in God.

And actually in the Greek it says have the faith of God, have the same faith of God, For verily.

I said to you that whosoever will say now, whosoever remember the old song whosoever surely means me, he's talking about each and every one of them Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart he shall, but shall believe that those things which he said shall come to pass.

He shall have whatsoever he says.

Now I want you to notice several things in these patches.

Number one you have the word say three times.

You got to speak to your mountain.

You got to speak to your mountain.

You got to speak to that mountain of trouble, to that mountain of sickness, to that mountain of brokenness.

And you have to say mountain, you got no place in my life.

Get out of here and you take authority over that mountain of sickness, over that mountain of whatever is oppressing you.

You have to declare, not what you see with your physical eyes.

You got to declare what the Word of God says, whatsoever you say.

And what is the other key word?

Believe.

No doubt God said it.

It is so.

God said it.

It is so.

Put it down that way.

Believe that what God said, it is so.

Jesus said one time let it be done according to your faith.

So declare Lord, god, I am fully persuaded.

I am fully persuaded that what you said is the truth, and I refuse to look at the circumstances.

You are above my circumstances and I declare victory in you, hallelujah.

And so Jesus continued.

On Mark, chapter 11,.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

Therefore, I say unto you that whatsoever things you desire, believe that you receive them when you pray and you shall have them.

You got to be fully persuaded so you can believe what the Word says Hallelujah, glory, glory.

Now, in the book of Matthew, chapter 12, verse 34, jesus said out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Matthew 12:34

So how are we going to get the mouth to speak in faith?

Well, we got to put some things into our heart.

So that means that when you feel your heart with God's Word and you meditate on it according to Joshua 1-8, visualizing that promise as yours See, this is God's love letter to you personally, to you.

Take it that way.

Every promise in this Bible is for you.

You visualize it as yours, and so you just meditate on it.

Then your mouth will speak it with faith.

Let's look at Joshua 1-8.

Well, before we do that, let's look at the second gift.

Remember what we started with In order to reign in life, you need to receive two gifts the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.

Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 21, says but he, god, made him Jesus, who knew no sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21

He made him to become sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in him, in Jesus.

So at the cross there was an exchange of robes.

Jesus put on our filthy rags.

The Bible says in the book of Isaiah that the best in us is like filthy rags before the Lord.

So Jesus put on our filthy rags that we may put on his robe of righteousness.

Let me shock you.

If you are in Christ, god sees you right now as righteous as Jesus.

God says you are as righteous as Jesus and perhaps some of you.

There's a religious spirit that doesn't allow you to receive this truth.

Let me tell you you only got two choices.

You either have God's righteousness or you got self-righteousness.

Take your pick.

It's not your righteousness anyway.

It's his righteousness that he has put on you.

But I'll tell you what.

This is imperative that you receive this.

We have been justified before God.

God does no longer see you as a sinner when you have received Christ.

He sees you as the righteousness of God.

The righteousness of God has been impure onto you not because you deserve it.

It's in spite of the fact that we don't deserve it.

And now he sees you as righteous, as Jesus.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

Now God has already given you the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.

Why?

So you can reign in life, reign over the power of sin, reign over the circumstances, reign over the power of the enemy, reign R-E-I-G-N.

Right here, right now.

Hallelujah.

Romans, chapter 5, verse 20,.

Romans 5:20

Moreover, the law entered that the offense may abound, but were sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Let me just take a parenthesis here and say the following the Ten Commandments were never given as a way to reach heaven.

The Ten Commandments were given so that man could realize that it is impossible to achieve heaven by your own efforts.

As a matter of fact, in the book of Leviticus, god instituted a whole system of sacrifices, and Leviticus 17-11 says without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins.

It says the life is in the blood and without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins.

So they instituted a whole system of sacrifices and most people would bring two sacrifices a sin offering and a trespass offering.

Sin offering if you sin against man and a trespass offering if you sin against God.

So you bring these two lambs and the priest has you put your hands over the head of the lamb and transfer your sin to that lamb.

The coat, the throat is cut, the blood is poured on the altar and those two lambs are burned at the altar.

Now, except for a piece that the priest took to eat himself and his family.

Now the priest declared you forgiven.

So you bring a third sacrifice to celebrate that you're forgiven.

That was called a peace offering or a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Now this is a feast because you've been forgiven.

This is a barbecue.

You get to eat this lamb.

The problem is you're going to sin again tomorrow, so you're going to go through the whole process again.

You're going to sin to cover all bases.

Once a year the high priest will sacrifice a goat for the sins of the whole nation.

But guess what?

The whole nation's going to sin again.

So they got to do it again the next year.

And it was a continual sacrifice until that perfect lamb of God came and took away the sins of the world.

You see, the Jews had a constant pictorial representation of the cross.

All the Bokeh, the Labyrinthic Seas, is a representation of the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross.

And they missed it Because they were so intent on keeping the rules, keeping the law, that they missed the spiritual reality.

So the purpose of the law was to reveal Jesus a Savior.

John 1.17, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Remember what I said about grace it's the undeserved favor of God.

It's what God gives you because he's God and he loves you, not because you deserve it.

Now let's go to Romans 6.3, and let me you know, I told James that I was going to slay some sacred cows here, and this is the first sacred cow.

Maybe not for some, but for some, maybe the second or the third.

But Romans 6, let me shock you, has nothing to do with water, nothing whatsoever to do with water.

It begins in verse 3, no, you, not that many as you have went baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death.

That word baptized was a word that was never translated for the Greek.

The word in the Greek was a word baptizel, and it means inmersion.

It means totally identified with, totally made one with.

So what he's saying is no, you, not that as many of you as were immersed into Jesus Christ.

See the media of the baptism.

It's not water, it's Jesus.

You're immersed into Jesus.

You're immersed into His death.

You're totally identified with Jesus.

You're totally identified with His death.

You are made one with Jesus.

You're made one with His death.

Nothing to do with water.

Now, we use water, baptism, as a representation, a physical representation of what has already happened in the spirit, as a matter of fact, the verse that we quote during baptism therefore, we were buried with Him, with Him, with Jesus, by baptism unto death.

We are immersed, we are totally identified with the death of Jesus.

There's no water here at all.

We are immersed into Jesus.

We are immersed into His death that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even.

Also, we should walk in newness of life.

We should walk as a new creation, filled with the Spirit of God.

What about this?

It's just a representation of a spiritual reality that has nothing to do with water.

Are you with me?

Yes, all right.

So, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing these that our old man is crucified with Him.

Now let me give you a little tidbit.

All through Romans, chapter 6, you'll find the word sin in almost every verse.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

In all the verses except one verse 15, sin is a noun.

It is only a verb.

In verse 15, referring to the act of sinning.

All the other verses, sin is a noun.

Chapter 6, sin is talking about the sin nature, the sin nature so your old man is crucified with Him.

That the body of sin, the sin nature, may be destroyed.

Done away with that.

Henceforth we should not serve sin or be slaves to the sin nature.

Your old sin nature died 2,000 years ago.

I remember, and I'm not even going to mention what kind of church, but I remember churches saying you got to crossify yourself every day, and new.

That's heresy, that's not biblical.

Look at 2 Corinthians 5, 17.

Therefore, if any man being Christ is a new creature, a new creation, all things have passed away.

Behold all how many.

All things have become new.

The old sin nature is gone.

You are a new creation and now your spirit has been recreated in the image of God, in the image of Jesus Christ.

You are a new creation, who you were ceased to exist.

Receive this reality For he that is dead is free from sin Romans 6-7.

Free from the sin nature, free from the power of sin Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Now let me just lay another sacred cow.

Many of us have said it.

When I was a baby Christian, I said it many times I'm nothing but a sinner saved by grace.

I'm sure many of you have said it, but let me tell you something Sounds very powerful, sounds very religious, sounds very humble, but it's not biblical.

It's not biblical.

If you have been born again, you're not a sinner saved by grace.

You are a sinner.

You were a sinner who was saved by grace.

Now you are the righteousness of God in Christ.

That's who you are.

Stop saying I'm a sinner saved by grace.

No, you're not.

You were a sinner who was saved by grace.

Let me just take you through this and please pay close attention, because there's a lot of freedom in receiving this revelation.

If you say I'm nothing but a sinner saved by grace, you become sin conscious.

As a matter of fact, you're sin conscious all the time.

You know what that will do Sin will put you on the condemnation and that will lead you to sin.

On the contrary, if you declare I'm the righteousness of God in Christ, you become righteousness conscious, you are free from condemnation, and now doing works of righteousness becomes the natural thing to do, because they come through the Spirit of God that works within you.

Hallelujah, do you understand what I'm saying?

There is victory in understanding this.

I am the righteousness in God.

Let's all declare it right now I am the righteousness of God in Christ.

One more time I am the righteousness of God in Christ.

So when the devil comes to condemn, you say devil, you can't condemn me.

I am the righteousness of God in Christ, not because of anything I've done, but because of what he has done.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Verse 11 is really the key.

Likewise, reckon yourself to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto Jesus Christ, our Lord.

That word reckon in the Greek is the word logisomai and again, reckon is a lousy translation.

The word means counted as a fact.

Counted as a fact that you're dead.

And if you're dead, you're free from the power of sin.

So now the devil comes to tempt you and you say devil, you can't tempt me, I'm dead.

And if I'm dead, I am totally free of your power.

Get out of here.

Is that sinking in Hallelujah?

Now, verses 8 through 10, or Romans 6, corroborate what I've just said.

Let's read it carefully Now.

If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more.

Death has no more dominion over him and he is in you.

Death has no more dominion over you, for in that he died, he died unto sin once once, but in that he lives, he lives unto God.

Your sin nature is dead.

Verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that you should obey the lost thereof.

If you understand that your sin nature is dead, sin doesn't have control over you, you understand that and you can reject sin.

And then, verse 13, neither yield yourself to your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto death.

And your members it's not your hands and your feet, your members is your mind, your will, your emotions.

But here's where we have so much trouble, because we really don't understand what God is telling us and we try by our own efforts to do this.

I mean, we try like crazy to do this by our own efforts and we keep failing because we try to do it as an act of our will.

So we try to present our members as instruments of righteousness.

And our motivation is good, because James tells us that faith without works is dead.

So faith causes us to take action in accordance with what the Word of God says.

But we fail over and over and over and a constant struggle, and therefore we are always frustrated.

You know, that's not the abundant life that Jesus talked about, isn't that right?

Just as Thessalonians 5.23 says that we are a three-part being spirit, soul and body, and never quoted body, soul and spirit, the most important part of you is spirit, spirit, soul and body.

All that was redeemed at the cross was your spirit.

Your spirit is as righteous as Jesus.

You are a new creation in the spirit.

Now the renewal of the soul is a lifelong process.

That's what the Bible calls sanctification, and Romans 12,2 says that be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may prove what is a good and perfect and acceptable will of God.

And how do you renew your mind?

Efficiency 526 tells you how to renew your mind by the daily washing of the water, by the Word.

You got to be in the Word of God.

You got to be in the Word of God.

This is why it's important that you read the Word of God daily, that you are immersed in the Word of God and let the Word of God speak to you.

You know, if you look at John, chapter 1, verses 1, 2, and 14, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was with God.

John 1:1

The same was in the beginning with God and verse 14,.

And the Word became flesh and dwell among men and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten, of the Father, full of grace and truth.

You know what those three verses say that this book and Jesus are one and the same.

This is Jesus speaking to you.

If you really get a revelation of what I'm just saying, you're never going to ring the Word of God the same.

That means you got to take every word that is here as Jesus speaking to you, because that's what it is.

That's what it is Hallelujah, hallelujah, glory, glory, glory, glory that you may.

So, in Joshua 1.8, it tells you what you have to do.

This book of the law shall not depart your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night.

And actually it's an interesting word in the Hebrew, that word meditate.

It means to just kind of just talk on it in a low voice, just keep on repeating it to yourself that you may observe and do according to all that is written therein, because then it says, you shall make your way prosper, then all you should have good success, so rendering your members as instruments of righteousness.

The problem is, we're trying to do it by our own will, we're trying to do it as part of our intellect, our mind and our emotions, and we call that self-control.

You know, galatians 5, 22 and 23 talk about the fruit of the Spirit.

And what is the last one, self-control.

And we totally misconstrued what he's saying and we believe that self-control means control by myself.

It ain't so, because when you try to control it by yourself, you're going to fail.

You're going to fail, and so biblical self-control is a manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit.

So it's not by your will that you need to present your members as instruments of righteousness, but through self-control, as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

So I call it Holy Spirit Control.

It's not self-control, it's Holy Spirit Control.

It's allowing God to work through you in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So we need to understand it's not by your own effort.

As a matter of fact, if you all, nature is dead, why do I still sin?

I mean, that's the question that probably many of you are.

Well, you say my sin, nature is dead, why do I continue to sin?

Well, remember what we said on First Thessalonians 5?

We are three-part being spirits, all on body.

Apostle Paul said walk in the Spirit and you will not satisfy the desires of the flesh.

How many of you know it is impossible to sin in the Spirit.

Your Spirit is a new creation, as righteous as Jesus, as perfect as Jesus.

So you can't sin in the Spirit.

So what happens is we sin in the flesh, under the control of your soul.

So our will and mind are emotions.

So what's the problem with the flesh?

Well, you take somebody like me.

I was 36 years old when I came to Christ.

There's a lot of bad programming up here and you know that bad programming is still there.

But even if you came to Christ as a young child, you get a lot of bad programming through television, through movies, through conversations you hear, to what you read, to.

I mean, we are all, we may not be of the world.

But we are in the world and even children are getting bad input.

And let me tell you, if you are not under the control of the Holy Spirit, that bad input will influence what you do.

That's why you need to renew your mind.

We all get bad input, whether we want it or not.

I mean, you go down the highway and even the billboards give you bad input.

But now let me tell you a verse that many people as a matter of fact, I even heard Christians say that Romans 7 is actually a parenthesis between Romans 6 and Romans 8, and Paul is talking about his life before Christ.

That's a lie.

Romans 7 is a chapter of victory.

Let me show you.

Let me look at 2 or 3 verses.

Verse 20, now.

This is Paul saying now, if I do what, I would not.

What is it that Paul doesn't want to do?

Sin, that's the new creation.

It is no more I that do it, because I'm a new creation, but sin that dwells in me, in my flesh.

So I find, then, a law that when I would do good, that's the new creation.

Sin, evil, is present in me.

That's the programming.

So for I, the lie in the law of God after the Inquan man.

That's the new creation, that's who we are, the righteousness of God in Christ.

But I see another law in my members.

That's the flesh, that's the will, the mind, the intellect, and worrying against the law of my mind.

What's the law of his mind?

The new creation, mine here, is substituted for heart and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

That means in my flesh, not in me, not in my spirit.

My spirit is a new creation.

It's this bad programming.

But Paul found the victory and we see it in the last verse of chapter 7.

You have the victory through Jesus Christ.

Now let me kill another sacred cow.

Perhaps you've been struggling and failing over and over, and it's probably because you've been trying by your own efforts Received today this revelation that you will not be able to do it by your own efforts.

It's time that we stop trying, we start trusting, but we have to do it through self-control, as the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that is, under the control of the Holy Spirit, that you may be able to say, like Jesus said at Gethsemane Father, not my will but yours be done.

We need to submit our will today to His will.

We need to come to our own Gethsemane and receive the power to reign by Jesus Christ.

Now here's another sacred cow I'm going to kill.

Romans, chapter 8, verse 1,.

Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

In your Bible, in all probability, there is a continuation of that verse who walked not after the Spirit, but walk as in the flesh.

Let me give you good news.

The second half of Romans 8.1 is not in the earlier manuscripts.

It was added by the scribes.

Copy it from verse 4.

Romans 8.1, in the original manuscript says there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus Period.

That is an unconditional promise.

So do not allow the devil to put condemnation on you, saying well, you're not walking after the Spirit, so you're under condemnation.

No, no, no, no, no.

Jesus took all condemnation for me and for you at the cross.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus Period.

And if you read verse 2, verse 2 will corroborate that.

Look at verse 2, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

That's the new creation.

That's who I am.

The righteousness of God in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

You are free from condemnation.

Do not receive condemnation from the devil.

You need to enjoy your freedom in Christ.

Let's just wrap it up and believe you are a new creation.

Your sin nature is dead.

And guess what?

If your sin nature is dead, the devil has absolutely no power over you.

You are the righteousness of God in Christ.

Walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit and you will not satisfy the desires of the flesh.

Let's pray, father, lord, god, we bless you, father, we exalt you, we glorify you, we worship your King of kings and Lord of lords.

Father, lord, god, bring this revelation to our hearts, father, that we are the righteousness of God in Christ, father, and therefore, when we believe that with all our soul, our heart, our mind, our spirit, that devil has absolutely no power over us, father, and we can walk in victory, allowing you to be fully manifested in and through us, father, that we may become channels of blessing to touch a dying world around us.

Father, lord God, I exalt you, I pray, lord God, that you will quicken this revelation to our hearts, Father, to our spirit, that we may walk in the fullness of you to your glory, in the name of Jesus, amen, amen, amen.