SERMON TITLE: FAITH AND GLORY OF THE FAITH
PART 2

.
SYNOPSIS:
The law which should have been the basis of Salvation became the tool for human
condemnation and therefore Jesus had to come and establish a better system of
redemption through the sacrifice of his own blood. Being born again offers us a
new life and we rise in glory and perfection having knowledge of the full stature
of who Christ is.

.
TRANSCRIPTS
The death, idols, the human sacrifices, the wicked works we are doing in politics
and in business, the witchcraft in homes and businesses, the stealing and robbery
that is all over the place, the lies, etc. These are all sin, and this is the context of
human life and human existence. This is what we think man is, but God said this
is not a good position for man for there is no light and there is no hope. The end
of this state is death and therefore we need to come out of it and escape. This
escape route is not by law or regulations, but by the blood, faith in Jesus Christ
who shed his blood for the remission of sins.
This is a basic spiritual background to the Christian faith. Number two, there’s a
foundational role of faith in Jesus Christ himself as son of the living God and this
serves as basis for establishing the righteousness of God and salvation. If you
believe in Jesus Christ, that faith in Jesus Christ is counted as righteousness to
you. The first one, Romans 3: 23-26 says that all have seen and come short of the
glory of God. Acts 20:20-21 tells you that repentance is through faith in Jesus
Christ. Mark 1 and 5 also tell you about this. Then number two, the foundation of
faith. John 3:16, Romans 10:1-4, 1st Corinthians 1: 24-31. Jesus Christ becomes
our righteousness as Jeremiah says.
Number three, if you accept the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ for remission
of sins and for establishing righteousness, then you must also believe in the blood
of atonement on the cross for the propitiation and remission of sins and
reconciliation for peace with God. Number three, you must believe in the blood
of atonement. The cross comes into the picture as the central issue, a background
of sin, a proposition, a foundation of faith and this faith is based on the blood that
is established on the cross, that was shed on the cross to deal with the sin factor
in number one and for dealing in the requirement of righteousness which grace
overcomes because it is only in faith in Christ that the blood atonement becomes
available to you. The blood shed for the remission of sins is not available except
there’s faith in Christ. Faith in Christ implies that you accept the cross, Christ’s
death on the cross on your behalf and the blood for the cleansing of your sin, for
the remission of sin and so, the third point is that if you accept your sin and you
accept faith in Christ, then you will say that the reason why faith in Christ is
important is that he shed his blood on the cross and not only that but because he’s
a connection to the father and is our righteousness. Amen.
Romans 3:25, 1 John 4:10. Romans 3:25, Ephesians 1:7 and 8. Hebrew 9: 11-26.
2nd Corinthians 5:18-20. Romans 5:1 and 2.
Number four, Believe in the word of God as basis of faith, righteousness,
holiness, and sound godly conducts and the worship of God. Number four is that
if you agree to your sin, you accept faith in Christ, you accept the blood, then it
is required of you to have a connection with the word of God. The word of God
will establish you in faith, for faith come by hearing by the word. It will establish
in righteousness for obedience of the word establishes us in righteousness and
obedience of the word is obedience in faith in Christ. The word sanctifies us, sets
us apart, and makes us holy in the sense that when you are following the human
impulse and human life and the worldly concepts, you are not holy unto God.
You may not have stolen or committed adultery, but you are not holy. You can
only be separated and made holy by the word of God, the word of truth which is
preached so the word of God becomes the basis of your holiness. Number three,
the word of God establishes you in righteousness, sound godly conducts, and
helps you in the proper and true worship of God. Matthew 28: 18- 20 tells you
that if you believe in Christ, you should be baptized and you should observe all
the teachings that the apostles will teach.
The word of God is the basis of the teachings of the Apostles. 2nd Timothy 3:16
and 17 tells you the word of God came by prophecy and establishes us. It helped
to correct us and to establish in righteousness that the man of God shall be perfect
in all good works. The word of God becomes the basis of your philosophy of life,
your outlook on life, your conducts. It is not on the hearsay of the tradition of
your fathers or the customs of your grandmother or the teachings of the demons
whom your fathers have dealt with in the past. These are not accepted to God.
The word of God becomes the basis of your new life and the Bible tells us that
God does not want you to live in darkness so the word of God has been printed
there to guide you that if there are any propositions from any places, you measure
every proposition and every idea by the prime line of the word of God..
1 Peter 1: 22 to 25. Romans 10: 14 to 17. Romans 10 tells you that faith come by
hearing, hearing the word of God so if you want faith, even to believe in Jesus
Christ, the word of God is the beginning.
Then number five, the Christian faith is also built on worship, teaching and
service of God and living the faith and life through faith, trust and connection
with the Holy Spirit. It’s like you are believing in Christ. You want to worship
God. You want to know the word of God and the teachings of Christ. You want
to know how to serve God, how to worship God and how to live a life that is
accepted to God in faith, in trust and in the connectivity with God or with Christ
and this is only possible or is made possible through faith in the Holy Spirit. The
Bible says and ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come. Jesus said
you cannot live the Christian life, and you cannot do Christian work without the
assistance of the Holy Spirit so wait until the Holy Spirit comes. He will teach
you the truth, He will remind you of things, He will receive from me, He will
convict, He will establish, and He will build you up for your life and for your
service of God.
Your worship must be confirmed and led by the Holy Spirit. It is not what you
think is possible such as we find in the church with all kinds of music that the
Holy Spirit is not there, but human beings want to do things to please themselves.
All this is an abomination to God. If the Holy Spirit is not directing you, every
other thing is balderdash. So Jesus said you must make sure that the Holy Spirit
is giving full chance to be the superintendent or the supervisor, overseer of the
operations of the church and of your personal life.
Number six, there’s a hope of standing in sonship as I said earlier, glory and
eternal life in Christ Jesus. Hope of sonship. We have noticed that if you are a
son then there’s hope of walking in the Christ’s dimension of life, in the reality of
Christ in you, the hope of Glory. This issue of standing as a son or hope of
standing in sonship of glory and eternal life in Christ Jesus is also an important
pillar in the Christian faith. John 1:12 to 13,16, Romans 8: 28 to 30, 1st
Corinthians 15: 45 to 57, 1st John 3:1 and 2, Revelation 22: 1 to 7, 11 to 14.
John 1:12 and 13, you are born again, and 16, you enter the graces of the divine.
Romans 8, all things work together for good, for them that love, and those who
are called are predestinated and called and justified and have been set for
glorification, that they should transform to the perfect image of Jesus, of the son.
Then 1st Corinthians 15: 45 to 57, if you are born the nature of the earthly man,
which are born the nature of the heavenly man, there’s hope of a new body and a
new garment, praise the Lord. The 1st John 3:1, 2, say if you have this hope of a
servant, a child of God, then make sure that you stand in that position. Revelation
22: 1 to 7, 11 to 14, says that there’s a crystal water from above, and it gives its
fruit in season and out of season, and this is for the healing of the nations, and
that makes you also an instrument of glory, but it’s a condition that you should
obey the word of God unto the end for obedience is the issue that started the
problem in the Garden of Eden. So, obedience becomes critical, and if you obey
unto the end, you shall have access to the tree of life.
Beloved, the Christian faith is built therefore on the premise of man falling short
of the glory of God. Man held captive to sin, Satan, and death, and eternal
damnation. This man who is held captive to sin, Satan, and death, and eternal
damnation, is being redeemed by the blood of the lamb, and the sanctifying fire
of the word of God and the Holy Spirit, and consequentially born afresh with the
spirit of Christ, as of a new spirit nature, for life, faith, and works based on faith
and obedience of Christ, the Holy Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit, and walking
and living a new and abundant life inherent in the power and wisdom of Christ,
the word of God, and the Holy Spirit.
I’m saying that if you come from the position of sin, and you have accepted Christ,
and the blood of the lamb has been used to cleanse you, then you are being
sanctified by the fire of the word of God and the Holy Spirit, and you are born
again by the spirit of Christ, you enter a new spirit nature, life, faith, and works
based on faith and obedience of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the scriptures.
That will make you walk, live, and work in a new type of abundant life inherent,
in the power and wisdom of Christ, the word of God, and the Holy Spirit.
What is the glory of the faith? We have discussed the structure of the faith briefly.
The sweet nature of sonship of God through faith in the spirit of Christ opens a
door of divine nature, authority, power, wisdom, and glory far exceeding the
human nature with all these burdens, weaknesses, limitations, enclosure in death,
and eternal separation from God. We are saying that man is held in sin, he has
burdens, he has weaknesses, there are limitations imposed upon him by the
human nature, be what it is, and all these limitations and burdens end in the grave.
So, his life is like a tale, it’s a close circuit, he starts at one end and ends at the
other, and the other way he ends in the grave. He has not a lasting glory, and this
is why you are being redeemed out of it. So, when you are in this old Adamic
system, you have eternal separation from God, and we are suggesting here that
the glory of the first Adam ends in the grave. The bible says “Oh, grave where is
your glory?”
Brothers and sisters, we can see that the Christian faith introduces a new second
Adam nature. If the first Adam nature ends up in the grave, and his glory is the
grave, the second Adam nature has a different proposition. It is a living power
order with a heavenly divine glory, which the believer receives in his sonship of
God and righteous practice of the faith, the worship and service of God. I said,
the second Adam order is different. It’s a heavenly proposition and that is what is
the basis of the hope of glory in eternal life. The believer enters this heavenly
divine glory in the second Adam nature with his living power and order, heavenly
order, and this is found in your position as a son or daughter of God and righteous
practice of the faith, or you may say obedience. Obedience, righteous practice.
You can take the Christian faith and do anything with it, but you must be,
whatever you do, it must be in righteousness. So, there’s a need for righteous
practice. You are born of God, yes, but there must be a righteous practice of the
faith. They that worship God must worship God in spirit and in truth that there
must be righteous practice of the faith and this righteous practice must manifest
in worship and the service of God. Righteous practice of the faith, righteous
worship and service of God. You can do anything in your own way to please
yourself. If God has called you to do his work and you are doing it your own
imagination and your own understanding, you are not in righteousness and you
are not practicing righteousness therefore your worship cannot bring you into the
realm of the divine second Adam and glory.
From the foregoing we can trace three main forms of glory for the Christian
believer. Number one, that the life of the redeemed of the Lord, once you have
entered the faith, you have become a new person, a redeemed person, where the
forces of sin, Satan and death and human limitations and deprivation, depravity,
dwindle with perfection in the inner man in Christ Jesus. What we are saying is
that as soon as you are born again and your sins are forgiven you, you have left
the realm where sin, Satan, death, human limitations and depravity can control
you. The powers that hitherto could control you will begin to dwindle. Your sinful
life will begin to change. The power of Satan will begin to dwindle. Your human
limitations will dwindle. Formally you couldn’t do certain things but by the word
of God, the grace of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of the brethren in worship,
you’ll be rising as a human being. Even ordinary human beings are rising because
of your connection to the faith. There’s a glory that even as a normal human being,
there’s a change in your life. You will never be the same again.
Once you are born again, you come to Christ, your sins are forgiven, you are born
again, and you are following the practice I said earlier, there is a change that is
taking place. There’s a transformation that is taking place within you and so the
forces of depravity that hitherto had dominion over your life will begin to give
way. Changes are taking place. Just by being a Christian, attending church,
studying the scripture, obedience and following the directions of the Holy Spirit,
something is taking place in your inner man.
So this basis of transformation is a path of glory for you as a believer, that you
can overcome many things in your life. I’m not talking about even diseases. Yes,
they are there. Diseases can be healed, that’s all. But I’m talking about your inner
man, your nature itself is change. If you have come to Christ and you are not
seeing this change then make the effort my brethren because the Christ which we
receive brings change to our lives. Man is a sinner but the transformation that
takes place makes you a new person. There’s glory. Even as a normal human
being, you begin to be a different person. There’s a transformation.
I’m challenging you tonight. Since you came and believed in Christ, are you
seeing the changes, transformation? Are you seeing yourself overcoming sin and
the powers of darkness? Are you seeing certain things worrying you? Have they
continued to worry you, or are you now becoming victorious in them? The impact
of the oppression from these forces, are they rising or are they dwindling? They
must be driven if you are in Christ.
Romans 8:29-30 say that desecration will lead to glorification. Romans 12: 1 to
two tells you that there must be a transformation. You cannot conform to the
mindset and the practice of the world anymore. Once Christ is in you and you are
standing in the street and you are moving, the lifestyle of the world cannot hold
you in dominion anymore. There must be a change and there will be a change.
You have a holy desire to please God.
You must study the scripture and to do things as please God. The spirit of God in
you and the teachings and the direction in the church is making you develop a
taste for higher things and better things and that taste or that understanding makes
you to seek the face of God more and changes will take place. Colossians 1 says
there’s something that will take place in your inner man and Colossians 3: 1 and
2 says you were dead once and now you have risen with Christ so set your heart
on things above. Your human life is bound to change. The first area of glory, even
just as a normal human being, is a transformation that takes place.
If you have been in the church for the past 30 years and there is no such
transformation, from tonight onwards decide that “change must be evident in my
life. I must be able to do what I couldn’t do, and I must also overcome the things
that used to overcome me.” That is the proposition through faith in Jesus Christ.
So, for a normal human being, the Christian faith leads to transformation. So that’s
number one. The change doesn’t come from the mind but the new spirit within
reveals himself through you.
Number two, there’s a rise in glory in the nature and fullness of the stature of
Christ and of God. John 1:16 tells you that there are graces in Christ which you
begin to enter. 2nd Corinthians 3: 1-2,18 tells you that you enter a new glory by
the ministration of the word and the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4:13 to 16 will tell you that now that you have become a Christ, you
are being conformed to the image of Christ, you understand the knowledge of
Christ and there’s a transformation that is taking place to take you to the full
stature of Christ. God’s plan is that you will transform to the image of the son.
You’ll be another son standing in the very nature and standing of Christ. There’s
a change that is taking place in your inner man and standing in Christ is not just
by mouth. You are not standing in Christ only in the sense of faith in him, but
you are standing in Christ in the transformation that takes your spirit person inside
you from glory to glory. Has somebody told you since you became a Christian
that you have changed? Has somebody ever asked you what church you attend?
Has somebody confronted you and said, “oh you are, why are you shining like
this? What happened to you, and you are shining?” There’s some glory around
you. There’s some light around you. The transformation is taking place. There’s
an impartation of Christ from the inner man upon your outer man. It is very
important that as you have come to Christ you are being changed in the spirit and
in the flesh, you are growing in Christ, not by your own knowledge but because
the spirt which indwells you is growing in the spirit like Christ. Each day you
grow in Christ and at the end you become like Christ.
When the day of reckoning comes or the day of glory comes, you will see that
there’s no difference between you and Christ. The very nature of Christ is your
nature. Then you see the beauty of what God can do and has done.
Number one, as a human being you are changing, transforming. Number two, as
a spirit person, you are changing. You are changing from the first Adam to the
second Adam. You will never be the same.
My brethren, God loves us. Has any religion said this? Hinduism tells you to
travel the journey on your own. Make exercises, recite words. Words don’t
change. If there’s any change, it’s only changing your own nature because you are
only bringing your own nature under subjection to your willpower. You are
changing your willpower but the inner being, being transformed can only be done
by Christ.
The basis of Christ doing that is not that he’s pressing you, he’s giving you food
to eat. Of course, there’s a transfer, there’s Christ in you and as you are obedient,
this Christ is writing and infusing his very nature in your spirit being. You are
holy unto God. Walk in that holiness, says the Lord. You are holy unto God and
He desires that you grow in that holiness. God who is helping you is also Holy.
Number three, Rise in glory and perfection in the knowledge, worship, and
service of God.
Number one, changes, transformation as a human being. Number two,
transformation into the very likeness of the divine nature of Christ and number
three, rise in glory and perfection in the knowledge, the worship, and service of
God. Your knowledge of God is beginning to grow. So, you are rising in glory in
that knowledge because the knowledge of God brings all kinds of changes in your
life. Your perception, your relationships, and everything becomes different. Then
your worship of God changes. When you used to come and dance in the church,
and you are shaking your body, you think that when you come to church, it is to
dance and when you are worshiping God, you go to the church and dance to your
heart’s content. When you are growing in Christ, you won’t be doing those dances
again. The more you begin dancing like a worldly person in the church, your body
language, your chatting, and all this in the church, is just like the people outside,
at best, you are still in class one or class two of the faith. The mercy of God has
not cast you out. God is hoping that you will be growing but as you are growing,
your knowledge of God will change your tactics. Your knowledge of God will
change your understanding of worship and when you come to the sanctuary to
worship, it’s going to be a different story. When you enter there, you know that
you have entered a holy place and when you are worshiping God, you are
worshiping a holy God, a mighty God. It is not you pleasing yourself, you are
worshiping God, so you enter the spirits. Your worship changes, your language
changes.
The Holy Spirit, when he begins to have opportunity in you, your praises and the
voice, even your very voice, or the type of prayer or language that comes through
your mouth will be different from when you were just a person. You know, when
we are having programs, when the people come, you see how they dance. They
are still not yet in the there but when they get there, their worship is different and
the more you get closer to God, the sober your spirit and your life.
You can be shouting like some charismatic churches that go and jump in the
church. The young people will be jumping. You see that they are not worshiping
God. They are having fun. But how can you change the sanctuary into a fun
making place. There’s no knowledge of God, there’s no fear of God and there’s no
knowledge of worship. Many of the charismatic churches and Pentecostal
churches are confused so they can bring Bob Marley, Hip-hop or Daddy Lumba
type of music. Today I saw his hairstyle on the TV, whether he’s Rastafarian or
not, I don’t know. The other day I saw a Rastafarian quoting Psalms 90. Now they
are shouting, Jah. It means they have no knowledge; they don’t understand it.
Because they have not met Christ. The Holy Spirit is not there, another spirit is
deceiving them, but you cannot be deceived anymore.
Your worship changes and your service changes. When you were a young
Christian, you were given instructions how to do things. Galatians chapter 4 says
when you were a young man, a child, you were given instructions what to do but
when you grow and become a true child of God, you don’t need to be instructed
anymore. You know the truth, so service of God has new meaning and dimension.
Nobody must force you to go and witness, nobody must tell you that you should
talk about your faith in Christ. The joy of the Lord, the motivation of the Spirit,
your closeness to Christ will motivate you to talk about Jesus. You are so excited
and when it’s church service, you are excited to go to church. When they say
people should give money or offerings or do something, you are first to go. You
are excited because you understand service of God.
When you started, you were doing that and you were growing, but now you are
backsliding. When you don’t go to church anymore, you are late, when they are
singing, you fold your arms and you are looking on, then you are backsliding.
A mature Christian has a way of demonstrating that he is matured and your
service becomes intensified. It doesn’t weaken. It rather grows in intensity and
broadens in impact. When you know God while growing Him, your service grows
in intensity and it broadens in impact because you know that you have a duty and
the Spirit who is with you, who has come purposely for that will manifest. If you
are not experiencing that, then something is missing in your Christian service.
But there is glory in that. You must grow also in knowledge, worship and service.
AMEN