Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. Okay, so, as you can see, we're going to
be talking about righteousness today. So, let's
go ahead and go to prayer. Father, we thank you,
God, for this time of the giving of your word,
God. Spirit. Guide my tongue. Help me to speak
the words you want me to speak. We pray for those
that have been affected by the tragedy that happened
on Wednesday. God, there's a lot of hurt in our
country, God. Help us, God, to come together
and to be able to forgive each other and to love
each other again, God, as one nation united under
you, God. We give these things, we pray these
things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Wrong
button. All right. So we're going to start with
a recap on my last message. If we remember, it
was on forgiveness, right? So we determined that
forgiveness is when you do not hold the offenses
of an offender to their charge. So in other words,
they're no longer guilty in your eyes. Okay,
so who remembers the three directions that forgiveness
can be exchanged? Okay, so one, God forgives
man, man forgives man, and man forgives self.
Okay, we found that according to John 20, 23,
The believer has the ability to forgive or retain
sins done to them. And I didn't discuss this,
but sometimes this can be taken out of context,
particularly in two different belief systems.
You have the Word of Faith movement. The Word
of Faith believer believes that they have the
ability to forgive sins to the degree that God
forgives. That is not true. When you forgive
someone, You are forgiving. You're clearing the
path between the two of you. They still have
to seek God if it was sin. The Catholic Church
also has a false belief in this. Catholics believe
that you must enter confession with a priest,
and then that priest can forgive you. Again,
man has no power to forgive sins to the point
of eternal life. So that being said, without
being forgiven by God, one cannot obtain righteousness.
So what exactly is righteousness? Righteousness
is purity of heart and rectitude of life, conformity
of heart and life to the divine law, faithfulness,
the active and passive obedience of Christ, justice.
and the cause of our justification. All right.
Okay. So, man's righteousness is filthy rags,
according to Isaiah 64 .6. But we are all as
an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses...
or as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken
us away. So we see that our righteousness equates
to nothing when God sees it. So if our righteousness
is nothing, then how can we atone for our sin?
True godly righteousness can only be obtained
through Jesus. Jesus' blood and faith in his
atoning power is what gives us this righteousness.
Because when we get washed in his blood and have
faith in his blood for his atoning power, he
takes our sin and puts his righteousness on us.
And we can see that in 2 Corinthians 5 .21. For
he hath made him to be sin for us, him being
Jesus, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. So our righteousness
is actually, when we get born again, our righteousness
is actually Jesus' righteousness. Okay, so now
we go into... Actually, getting ahead of myself.
So, and we need this righteousness. Because without
righteousness, we cannot be holy as God has commanded
us to be. And without holiness, no man shall
see God. So, we need to repent of our sins to
be brought into communion with the Father. So
what are the characteristics of the righteous?
The first characteristic we can find in Proverbs
28 .1. The wicked flee when no man pursueth,
but the righteous are bold as a lion. And so
we see a parallel. A contradiction here in this,
a comparison, that's what I want, a comparison
in this verse. We see that the wicked flee, but
the righteous are bold. So one evidence of this
is back in Genesis 3, where Adam and Eve tried
to run. They tried to run by, A, manufacturing
their own righteousness by sewing fig leaves
into aprons. To cover their nakedness. They thought
they could hide their sin. With their own righteousness.
So B. They weren't running for the bushes. To
hide from an all seeing God. What they didn't
realize was God saw them eat the fruit. God saw
them talk to the serpent. God saw them hide.
God saw them make the apron. So there was no.
Way to hide from him. But they tried to anyway.
See, the wicked go into a sort of paranoia because
they know deep down that they will be judged
for their wickedness. They need to look over
their shoulders for the punishment coming their
way. And this paranoia comes out of death because
all fear is rooted in death. Fear didn't enter
the world until death entered. But we see the...
Contrast here. The righteous are not so. They
are bold as lions. Boldness is what allows them
to be courageous and confident. I'm reminded
of a time when a preacher told me of the lion's
roar. It is so loud that the very earth shakes
around them. And it can be heard long distances
away. It's a bold creature and there is no mistaking
that the lion is around when you hear the roar.
The righteous should also be like this. The world
sees them and there is no mistaking who their
master is. We are called to be a light in the
darkness, a city on the hill. We are not to hide
and cower before the darkness. We are to expose
it and to show them that God is the way and that
they need to repent of their sins and become
Children of God that serve him is life. To go
against him is death. Okay, so Proverbs 24, 16
states that for a just man falleth seven times
and riseth up again, but the wicked shall fall
into mischief. Okay, so this is a form of boldness.
It takes boldness. It takes courage. to get up
again after you've failed. It takes courage to
keep fighting, to dust yourself off, to run that
race. So, why is it that the righteous are bold?
We can see the answer. In 1 John 1 .9, if we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. So when we, the reason that
the righteous are bold is because they're forgiven.
When we confess our sins, the Son cleanses us
and makes us righteous again. The Father then
sees us in the likeness of His Son. So when the
Father sees us after we've repented, he sees
Jesus. And he doesn't see us in our imperfect,
corrupt ways. Okay, so when we are forgiven,
there is therefore no condemnation, right? So
there is therefore no now. There is therefore
now. No condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. For the laws of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus have made me free from the law
of sin and death. The result of being forgiven
is that we no longer live in condemnation. We
no longer need to carry the burden of shame and
guilt. For we have been forgiven and that burden
is taken. Has fallen off of us. This allows us
to walk in confidence. Of God's righteousness.
And in the salvation that he promises. We can
walk confidently knowing. Of our destination.
As long as we're still walking in the spirit.
And not in the flesh. So. We now go to. Hold
on. There we go. So, how is it that the righteous
do not fear? Joshua 1 .9 says, Again, it states
in Hebrews 13 .5, and be content with such things
as ye have. For he hath said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. The righteous have no
fear, because God is with them wherever they
go. He will never leave nor forsake the righteous.
God brings confidence because his love casts
out fear. We can see this in 1 John 4, 17 -18.
Fear causes torment because it is rooted in death.
God is life. This is stated by Jesus when he
calls himself the way the truth and the life.
Okay, so we know that the righteous are bold.
They're courageous, they're confident because
they have a God to be confident in. So what are
some of the other characteristics? Behold, I
send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as
doves. So the word says, that the righteous are
wise. The righteous have been given craft and
wit. Proverbs 8, 12 states that wisdom uses prudence
to get knowledge of witty inventions. These inventions
are understood to be well -considered, carefully
thought -out designs, plans, and new creations
that bring practical benefit. This knowledge
that is gained through wisdom and prudence is
then used to avoid the traps that the enemy leaves
for us. 2 Timothy 2 .26 says that, and that they
may recover themselves out of the snare of the
devil who are taken captive by him at his will.
And yet Ephesians 6 .11, put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. So our wisdom helps us
to avoid the traps of the devil, to see it coming,
and to avoid it. It also helps us to win others
to God. Proverbs 11 .30 says that he that wineth
souls is wise. We have to use wisdom in winning
people to Christ. We have to know when to plant.
We have to know when to water. But we always
realize that God gives increase. Okay, so how
do we get this wisdom? Where does it come from?
John 14, 16, or 14, 26 says, But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, he shall teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance, whosoever
I have said unto you. Sorry, whatsoever I have
said unto you. Okay. Also in 1 John. Wait, wrong
path. Okay, 1 John 2 .27. But the anointing which
ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you. But as the same
anointed teacheth you of all things, and is truth,
and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you,
ye shall abide in him. So how do we gain wisdom?
The Holy Spirit teaches us all things. The Holy
Spirit has been given a gift to the believer
to be comforted and to be taught right from wrong
and how to apply the wisdom that the Holy Spirit
gives us. He gives us our wisdom, wit, and craft
to function in this world, but not be of the
world. We are called to be sanctified from this
world. We are called to bring others to him.
He shows us how we can abide in the Son. And
he brings everything that God has taught us to
remembrance. The Spirit teaches us how to be
righteous. how to walk in righteousness. The
Spirit shows us the way we must go. There's another
reason we have wisdom. John 1, 14. We're going
through a roulette here. And the Word was made
flesh into what among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the Holy Begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Colossians 2, 1 -3,
and unto all riches of the full assurance of
understanding, to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ,
in whom are hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
1 Corinthians goes right at it. 1 Corinthians
1 .30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness,
and sanctification and redemption. When we are
in God, when we are walking in the Spirit, He
makes Jesus wisdom unto us. He abides in the
righteous. Jesus is wisdom. He is the truth and
will guide us unto all truth. Mention this verse
before, John 14, 6, Jesus saith unto him, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. We have to go through
Jesus. Jesus not only is wisdom, but is a righteousness.
There is yet another characteristic that... that
the righteous have. And it is found in the verse
we used prior. Matthew 10, 16. Behold, I send
you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be
ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as
doves. We are called to be, though we are wise
as serpents, we do not cause harm as serpents.
Hello. We can see everyone's happy to see each
other. All right. All right. She's all right.
She's twinkie. Okay. All right. All right. So,
okay. Okay. Though we are wise as serpents, we
do not cause harm as serpents. We do not wish
harm on others, but want all to come to God,
as this is his will. In 2 Peter 3 .9, God wants...
all to come to him. God wants all to repent.
And we are called to preach this to every creature
in the Great Commission. So, how is it that the
righteous are harmless? The characteristic that
makes us harmless is love. Love wants all men
to embrace it. God is love. So, in John 13, 34,
35, this is called the greatest commandment.
A new commandment I give unto you, that you love
one another as I have loved you, that you also
love one another. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one
to another. So, it states that we love each other
with brotherly love, right? Because how can we
love the people in the world if we can't love
each other, if we can't forgive each other of
offenses made, if we can't come together in love
with our Father? Simple answer is that we cannot
show love to the world if we don't love each
other. We are also called to love our enemies.
Matthew 4, sorry, Matthew 5, 43 through 45. Ye
have heard it that it hath been said, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor. and hate thine enemy. But
I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you
and persecute you, that ye may be the children
of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh
his Son to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
God loves all mankind. And allows good even to
the evil. He does not separate now because of
grace. His grace is shed abroad to all mankind.
We can preach and teach until our faces turn
red. But without love, it's futile. Because...
God is love, and if you're not using love, you're
not using, you're not being, God is not using
you. God is love, and we must show God to the
world to win some. This is part of wisdom. See,
everything comes together, right? So, to be wise,
we have to... To show love to other people is
wise. It brings wisdom, is used by wisdom. The
Holy Spirit guides us to show us what the people
need, and we are there to supply it through God's
riches and glory. So. Father, we thank you. Thank
you for this message that you've given us, God.
Please let the seed take root and let it grow
and bear fruit of righteousness unto all that
believe. God, if any that have heard this don't
know you, God, let the Holy Spirit convict them.
Let the Holy Spirit lead them unto you, unto
your salvation. God, we pray these things in
Jesus' name. Amen. So, be the church, go into
the world, make disciples. Until next time, take
care and God bless.