Kenneth Copeland - The force of righteousness

TABLE OF

Contents

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three

chapter four

chapter five

chapter six

chapter seven

chapter eight

chapter nine

chapter ten

I believe the one thing holding more Christians in bondage than anything else is a lack of knowledge of righteousness. Unfortunately, over the years we have developed some religious words and ideas that we place one meaning on at church and an entirely different meaning on in our daily lives. Righteousness is one of these.

Gods plan of redemption would be of no value to sinful men if it did not include righteousness and its mighty force. This righteousness is the key word to the revelation which the Apostle Paul received from Jesus.

As you read this book, I believe you will begin to understand why I get more excited preaching the righteousness of God and its force in the life of a believer than anything else.

The Force of Righteousness

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

Any person who is in Christ is a new creature, or a new creation. (The literal Greek says he is a new species of being which never existed before.) He has been completely recreated. Old things are passed away, all things are new, and all things are of God not part of God and part of Satan. Some people think that a man is a schizophrenic when he becomes a Christianthat he has both the nature of God and the nature of Satanbut this is not so.

Any person who is in Christ is a new species of being which never existed before.

In the new birth, a mans spirit is completely reborn; then it is this mans responsibility to renew his mind to the Word of God and use the Word to take control of his body.

Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, who were born-again, Spirit-filled Christians, and instructed them to renew their minds with the Word (Romans 12:2). Their faith was known throughout the world, but still they had not learned how to control their minds and bodies with the Word. He wrote to the church at Ephesus along the same line and said, You have put off the old man and put on the new man, so quit lying and cheating and acting ugly toward one another (Ephesians 4:24-25). All these people were believers; they had been recreatedthey had been made the righteousness of Godbut most of them didnt know it!

Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are the righteousness of God Himself!

What is righteousness? It is not a goody-goody way of acting or something that can be attained. Righteousness is a free gift of God, provided by Jesus at Calvary through the grace of God. Now I am not referring to our own righteous-nessthe Bible says that in the eyes of God "all our righteousness are as filthy rags... (Isaiah 64:6). However, we have been given the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.

Through our traditional thinking, we have confused righteousness with holiness. We think righteousness is the way you act, but this is not true. Holiness is your conduct; righteousness is what you are, the nature of God.

Holiness is your conduct; righteousness is what you are, the nature of God.

Let me make this clearer. The word translated righteousness literally means in right-standing. We have been put in right-standing with God. Jesus is the Mediator between God and man. When a man accepts Jesus, he is moved into a position of new birth. He enters into the kingdom of God as Gods very own child and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ. Consequently, there are certain privileges, certain rights, certain freedoms that we have as children of God because we are in right-standing with Him.

Accepted in the Beloved

We didnt get in right-standing with God by being good and acting right. We got there through faith in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work at Calvary. When we accepted the sacrifice of Jesus and made Him the Lord of our lives, then God accepted us. He had to! You see, God had already accepted Jesus work on the cross. He judged it as good, glorified Jesus, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies . He called Jesus God and inaugurated Him into the highest office in the whole universe. Therefore, the Father is obligated to accept us when we accept Jesus. Our conduct has absolutely nothing to do with it!

Lets look at 2 Corinthians 5:19. "To wit [or to know], that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.... In other words, God does not hold our sins and trespasses against us. Very rarely has the whole gospel been preachedonly pieces of it!

We have heard that God will not forgive a sinner until he confesses his sin, but this is not true. God has already provided forgiveness and is not holding our trespasses against us. This teaching about confession stems from

1 John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us... However, this letter was written to Christians to teach them how to maintain their fellowship with God.

The Apostle John in wrote in 1 John 2:1, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.

And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

John was referring to the sins of a Christian and was instructing his fellow believers to partake of Jesus advocate ministry. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.... God loved us and Jesus gave Himself for us while we were in sin. God is not holding our trespasses against us, He is calling us to make Jesus our Lord. He accepted us on the basis of Jesus right-standing with the Father and, in turn, made us in right-standing with Him. The only sin keeping anyone out of the kingdom of God is the sin of rejecting Jesus and what He has provided (John 16:9).

As a citizen of the United States, you have certain rights, which are outlined in the Constitution and called The Bill of Rights. (Actually, using Old English terminology, this would be called The Bill of Righteousness.) As long as you obey the laws of the land, you are in right-standing with the United States government.