holiness Archives - Renewed Assembly

Die to sin! Why you act crazy as a Christian and what to do about it.

January 22, 2019 By Emmanuel Onwuka Leave a Comment

Nothing is more final than death!

You act crazy not because you are bad, but because you have refused to embrace who you are in Christ.

Can you claim you haven’t done anything or thought about something crazy since you made Jesus your Lord?

Impossible.

We have all done things we ought not to do.

Does this stop us from being born again?

Will the crazy things you did as a Christian ever make the Lord cut you off?

No!

Yet this doesn’t mean you can go on making same mistakes over and over again.

You have to die to sin!

But how easy or hard is that?

Some have claimed that they die to sin daily.

Really? You die to sin daily?

The issue with sin is that you most likely have confused the word sin as a noun for sin as a verb.

Sin as a noun is a state of being. While sin as a verb is an action.

When you came into the world you had the nature of sin.

Every thing you did was influenced by who you were at that time.

You inherited this nature from Adam. And no matter how well you performed there was no way out of that nature.

Then one day you decided to follow Christ. At the point of confession, you entered His death. You died to sin.

You didn’t die to sin as a verb. Your death to sin was sin as a noun.

That means you died to the nature you inherited from Adam.

Yet you still do wrong. You still commit sin as an action. Weird things still happen in your life despite confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord.

This might confuse you sometimes, but that doesn’t have to be the case.

You can’t live in ignorance of what Jesus Christ did on the cross; and not fall into sin as an action.

So what happened on the cross? Why despite not wanting to sin do you still find yourself doing things you know you ought not to?

It is the flesh.

And if you are to die to sin as an action and live unto God, then you have to deal with the flesh.

Questions might be running through your mind at the moment.

You may claim to have done everything possible not do wrong and yet you still do it.

But what if I told you that you don’t have to either die to sin or to the flesh, will you believe me?

Your death to sin is a done deal. You also died to the flesh on the cross through Christ Jesus.

Instead of trying to do these things again, all you have to do is to recon yourself dead to sin indeed.

Greek is a beautiful language that paints more pictures of a word compared to English.

Reckon is Greek is the word Logizomai.

HELPs Word-Study describes it as logízomai (the root of the English terms “logic, logical“) – properly, compute, “take into account”; reckon (come to a “bottom-line”), i.e. reason to a logical conclusion (decision).

So if for example, I say I reckon I have a million dollars in my account. That means at the moment, a million dollars is in my account.

I am not trying to get it or am I believing God for it. Once I reckon that it is in my account, then it is in my account.

Likewise, when scripture says reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin, it means in reality you are dead to sin.

You are not die to sin again because you are dead to sin at this very moment.

When you are ignorant of this truth you try to achieve what it already yours.

In Romans, the issue of sin was brutally addressed by the Apostle.

He made it very clear that you are either obeying sin unto death;

Or you are obeying obedience unto righteousness.

At first, this might seem confusing. What did he mean by saying you are obeying sin unto death?

In Romans 5 the apostle stated that it was by Adam’s sin that we all became guilty before God.

So the problem wasn’t our sin as an action. It was sin inherited as nature.

And the fruit of that sin was death.

It resulted in a separation from God. People lived without God and did hideous things.

Some tried to find a way to God. But it was not possible because of the nature of sin we all inherited.

This necessitated the Father to send His Son to die for your sin.

Notice that sin that our Lord Jesus Christ died for wasn’t as an action. It was Sin as nature.

After His death on the cross you became dead to sin once for all time.

The Apostle went further to say – you are the servant of whom you obey.

So you are either obeying what Adam did and continue to bear fruit unto death.

Or you are obeying Jesus Christ’s obedience and yielding the fruit of righteousness.

Which one do you find yourself doing at the moment?

If sin as an action still has dominion over you then you have not received the gift of grace that comes through Christ Jesus.

For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under Grace. Romans 6:14

What then can you do to die to sin as an action?

Start by yielding to the Holy Spirit.

The apostle Paul made it clear that if you live by the flesh, you have to die. And if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body you will live.

Notice the distinction between “Flesh” and “Body”

The flesh is the Adamic nature. You have to die to it. Guess what? You are dead to it already through Christ Jesus.

Now your body have cravings and desires that are influenced by your 5 senses.

When you smell nice food your body longs for it. That doesn’t mean you eat everything that smells nice.

Likewise when you see nice things you buy them. It also doesn’t mean you buy everything you see.

The point is your body will have desires you have to say no to.

So if you are a believer and you are unmarried, it is normal for your body to desire sex.

And we know that the body is not for fornication but for the Lord.

Even for the married believers, your body might suggest an affair with another woman.

So the way to keep the body in check is through the Spirit of God that dwells in you.

Does this then mean that you will never make a mistake? No!

We all make stupid and senseless mistakes even as Christians.

The point then is that you have to learn to follow the Holy Spirit.

Your flesh sometimes will try to take over you and suggest stupid things to you. Most times you will say no successfully. And at other times you might make a mistake.

The flesh doesn’t succeed until you succumb continuously to it. So even when a mistake happens, learn to go back to the Spirit and depend on Him.

Understanding and heeding to His leading will help you mortify the deeds and deadly craving of the flesh.

Therefore instead of hustling to die to sin, remind yourself daily that you are dead to sin.

It is not about what you can or cannot to do to die to sin. You have to wake up to what our Lord and master already did on the cross on your behalf.

What then can you at the moment to address some of the crazy things you do?

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” Romans 10:10-11

Remember that I mentioned earlier that obeying the obedience of Christ results to righteousness?

Righteousness means a right standing with God. It means having a clear conscience when you approach God.

And going by the way you have behaved for a while you know you can’t claim to be righteous.

But there is another kind of righteousness that gives you a permanent right standing with God.

It is the righteousness of Christ. How then do you get this righteousness? What must you do?

You will agree with me that at every point in your life you want to be sure your standing with God is guaranteed.

What then must you do?

Nothing!

Absolutely nothing!

You have the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus as a gift.

Christ bequeathed this gift to you the day you confessed Him as Lord. That same day He solved the sin problem in your life. You can forever stand before the Father as if you have and will never sin.

This is all because of the gift of righteousness made available by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now you understand why you can’t die to sin more than once.

This was the same kind of righteousness that Abraham had. He believed. God declared Him righteous.

Abraham made mistakes. His mistake didn’t take away His righteousness. Because His behavior didn’t earn him the righteous stand.

Likewise, when you believe, you have the righteousness of Christ Jesus as a gift.

Your behavior didn’t get it for you. Neither will your mistakes take it away.

Guess what the apostle says is the fruit of righteousness?

Holiness!

If you believe and consistently confess your righteousness in Christ, you will wake up one day and all your destructive habits will be gone.

So confess your righteous stand in Christ as if your life depends on it.

Because your life depends on all that His righteousness can produce for you.

Thank you for reading!

Praying in tongues, how to boost your spiritual immune system.

November 1, 2018 By Emmanuel Onwuka Leave a Comment

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Acts 1:4-5 NKJV

Do you pray in tongues?

Or are you part of the group that believes it’s not a big deal?

If you don’t pray in tongues there are certain spiritual heights you will never attain.

This is not a threat. It is the truth. Because in the wisdom of God, praying in tongues was the first gift Abba gave to His church.

Before we go deeper into that, do you still have struggles you will rather not have in your life?

Are you still tormented in your dreams? Do you still struggle to know what to do at a time? Or can’t control the desires of your body?

We all have something we struggle within our lives. And time doesn’t heal most struggles. You have to take your stand spiritually to end your struggles.

And the way to go about it is to pray in tongues.

Here are a few scriptures on praying in tongues;

But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit; Jude 20 AMPC

Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people). Ephesians 6:18 AMPC

And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all assembled together in one place,

When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting.

And there appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them.

And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit [a]kept giving them clear and loud expression [in each tongue in appropriate words]. Acts 2:1-4 AMPC

The first proof that the promised Spirit had come was praying in tongues.

Now imagine what this means to the Father. He had other gifts that could come on that particular day, yet He decided to start with the gift of tongues.

This is so important for you to see. Most of the struggles you have at this point in your life would be solved if you took praying in tongues serious.

One of the admonitions the apostles gave the church was to continue in prayer, praying everywhere.

But going by your busy schedule, how do you think you’ll fulfil this scripture?

It is through praying in tongues. It is so easy to do when you are conscious of it.

You can pray in tongues in a room full of other people without disturbing anyone.

The beauty is that you don’t even know what you are praying for, yet your spirit is interceding and communicating with the Father.

So it is important you take praying in tongues serious and start today if you don’t do it at the moment.

How then do you start praying in tongues?

The scripture I quoted earlier gives you a guide on how to start.

It was the Holy Spirit that gave them utterance, but they had to open their mouth and speak.

And this is the same with you. On the part of the Holy Spirit, He has already done all He can do to ensure that praying on tongues is easy for you.

But if you refuse to open your mouth and pray, the words won’t come out.

The objection I get when I say this to people – “I don’t want to fake it”. “I might be saying something that I don’t know or something that doesn’t make sense.”

That’s the point of praying in tongues. Not knowing all that you are praying for.

The hinderance you have to pray in tongues is because you are trying to rationalise what you say.

You want to know what to say before you say.

This is akin to being careful of the words you speak in the presence of the Father.

But as long as you continue to seek an explanation or clarification before praying in tongues, you will not speak in tongues.

Liking praying in tongues with you putting your faith in Christ Jesus.

At that time all you had to do was believe and confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

Most of the things you later learnt came as a result of later teachings, right?

Likewise, you can’t get all the details about praying in tongues before you start. You have to be in it by faith and watch the changes happen.

Consider the apostles in the early church.

They had only two responsibilities to ensure proper functioning of the church;

Studying the word and praying (praying in tongues). Acts 6:4

Apostle Paul stated that he prayed in tongues more than the whole congregation in theCorinthian church.

That means he prayed everywhere at all times.

And if you want to boost your immune system against attacks and mistakes, then this is the route to take.

Praying in tongues like I said is not as complicated as some have made it.

I remember when I used to attend prayer meetings and we had to pray all night for the Holy Spirit to come and fall on those who weren’t praying in tongues.

It’s amazing that most of the times, they started praying in tongues almost at dawn.

Does this mean you have to pray for that long before the Holy Spirit comes on you?

We didn’t know better then. In fact, the moment you ask the Holy Spirit to come on you, He is there at that very moment.

This means you don’t have to wait for that long to invite the Spirit of God into your life and start praying in tongues.

You only have to believe He is there with you. And as He gives you the utterance, you have to open your mouth and begin praying in tongues by faith.

This is where you might miss it.

You want the Holy Spirit to possess you and speak through you.

That’s not in the scripture. Anyone who ever prayed in tongues and still prays in tongues, knows you have to open your mouth and speak in faith.

So don’t wait for the overwhelming feeling and fire falling from heaven. That’s walking by sight.

You don’t need a manifestation to know that the Spirit of God is in you and with you.

If you invite Him to come into you and make your heart His home, He answers your prayer.

If there is a manifestation good, if there is none, better. Because we don’t walk by sight but by faith. This is the truth about praying in tongues.

Your part is to pray. And the Holy Spirit’s part is to use your prayer and make intercessions for you.

But when you pray only in your mother tongue, there are some things which you ought to pray for and against that will elude you.

Praying in tongues is God’s wisdom to destroy the devil’s works and plans in your life.

Because the enemy doesn’t know what you are saying, yet with God, you are praying mysteries and proclaiming victories.

Now do the following to start praying in tongues today.

If you have never believed and confessed Jesus as your Lord say the following;

Father, thank you for sending your Son to die for all my sins. I believe and confess Jesus Christ is my Lord and saviour. I am saved by His death and delivered from all the wickedness in this world. Jesus is my Lord and saviour, in Jesus name I have prayed, Amen

After this invite the Holy Spirit into your heart by saying;

Father, I invite your Spirit into my heart. I pray that the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead will dwell in me and bring everything that is dead in me alive. I also receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And I pray that there would be a manifestation through the speaking in tongues now, in Jesus name. Amen.

Now open your mouth and begin to speak the utterance the Holy Spirit has put there.

It wont make sense to you, but it makes sense to the Spirit in you and your Father in heaven.

Don’t neglect this powerful gift of the Father to you.

Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty.

Thank you for reading!

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Why you struggle with lusts of the flesh and what to do about it.

September 21, 2018 By Emmanuel Onwuka Leave a Comment

And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:24 NKJV

How true is that scripture for you?

Do you still struggle with the lusts of the flesh or have you gone beyond it?

The fact is that the flesh will continue to draw you to things you know you shouldn’t do.

But the choice is left to you to either to do it or not.

And one reason you can continue to struggle with the lusts of the flesh is if you don’t know to die to die to flesh.

The problem with lusts is not peculiar to you because you live in the internet age.

This is how it affected the apostle Paul; Romans 7:19-23 NKJV

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

He continued to do those things that he knew he shouldn’t do. There was something at war with what he knew he should do and what was at war with Him was His flesh.

The apostle went further to give a direction of the way out of the lusts of the flesh.

It was through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He culminates his writing by saying there is therefore now no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus.

So in living in victory above the flesh, the gift of no condemnation has a major part to play in it.

What then is the gift of no condemnation?

It means God doesn’t condemn you when you make a mistake. And it’s all because of Jesus Christ.

This gift is not for you to continue indulging in the lusts of the flesh. But it is to make you overcome the lusts of the flesh.

And it doesn’t end there.

You have to die to flesh to be able to live beyond the lusts of the flesh.

The beauty of the gospel is that you are already dead to the flesh.

Did you notice the word crucified in the bible verse at the beginning?

It means you already died to the lusts of the flesh and it’s affections.

You will ask, if this is true, as it is, why then do you still struggle with the lusts of the flesh?

It is because you are not reckoning His death as yours.

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:10-11 NKJV

The word “Reckon” in the Greek means “logizomai”. HELPS Word Study describes it as properly, compute, “take into account”; reckon (come to a “bottom-line”), i.e. reason to a logical conclusion (decision).

So you see, reckoning the Lord’s death to you is not mental assent. It is knowing it is true.

If for example, I say I reckon I have $10,000 in my account. This is not a statement of faith that it would happen sometime in the future.

It is a fact that if you go to my account you will find a bank balance of $10,000.

Likewise, if the scripture says you are dead to sin and flesh through Christ, it is not saying it is something that might happen in the future.

It means in reality that you are already dead to sins and the lusts of the flesh.

Now you see that it is more of a reckoning problem than a reality problem.

Not yielding your body as an instrument for sin in working unrighteousness starts with reckoning that you are dead indeed to sin.

The fight against the lusts of the flesh is already won.

It is not in staying away from things and people in other for you to win it.

When you know that you are dead to these things, it will empower you to say no to things and activities that gravitates the lusts of the flesh.

Therefore, you can be dead to the lusts of the flesh and still yield to doing the lusts of the flesh because of your ignorance of the realities in Christ Jesus.

All the victory you need, you already have in Christ.

So stop yielding to the lusts of the flesh and start reckoning with your death and resurrection with Christ.

Recon yourself to be dead indeed to sin!

Thank you for reading!

The big deal about the righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus.

September 18, 2018 By Emmanuel Onwuka Leave a Comment

Righteousness by faith is the only basis upon which you can stand in the presence of the Father.

Righteousness by faith and the righteousness by works exist hand in hand. But this ought not to be so.

This is because the righteousness by works cannot stand in the presence of God.

It is fickle. It fluctuates. You don’t want your stand before the Father sitting on a shaky foundation.

The reason the enemy reigned and still reign in some peoples life today is that of their ignorance about the righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus.

Don’t be ignorant of this kind of righteousness.

The righteousness that the Father acknowledges today is the righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus.

You cannot earn this kind of righteousness. It doesn’t depend on how good or bad your past was. Or dependent on your present performance.

It depends on what your Lord and saviour Jesus Christ did on the cross.

The righteousness by works was what Adam tried to do when he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

It didn’t work then and it won’t work now.

The righteousness by faith is what our Lord ushered in throw His death and resurrection. This kind of righteousness is a gift. Here is how the Apostle Paul puts it in Romans 5:17

For if by the one man’s offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17 NKJV

So you see righteousness is a gift. You don’t work hard to earn or claim a gift. You receive gifts!

The righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus is the gift of God to you today.

What then is the big deal of knowing the righteousness of faith in Christ Jesus?

It gives you access and boldness to approach the throne of God and make requests. And after making those requests it gives you an assurance that the Father hears your petition.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; 1 Peter 3:12

If you have believed that you are righteous based on your performance;

How will you be convinced that He hears your prayer when you know all the mistakes you have made?

The Israelites struggled with apostle Paul’s teaching on the righteousness by faith in Christ.

They resisted it and carried on their righteousness by works.

Romans 10 was a response to the ignorance of believing and depending on the righteousness by works.

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, Romans 10:2-6 NKJV

They tried to earn what the Father offered to them as a gift.

When that happens, you have limitations because your performance cannot measure up to God’s standards.

And if you believe you can’t measure up, you won’t have faith to believe the Father hears your petitions.

So righteousness by faith is what gives you boldness to stand in the presence of the Father and ask.

Now you see the big deal of knowing and depending on the righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus.

The righteousness by faith is the righteousness that speaks while the righteousness by works is the righteousness that does things or wants to perform.

If you believe the righteousness by works, it will affect your actions and behaviours. When you fail you will assume you can no longer stand in the Father’s presence.

But the righteousness by faith is dependent on your Christ. Either good or bad you are always accepted. And as you continue to speak His righteousness, you will awake to it and sin no more.

Thanks for reading!

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How to avoid the pain of the ministry of condemnation.

July 11, 2018 By Emmanuel Onwuka Leave a Comment

Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.

That’s what you do when you try to remain in faith through works.

The devil knows you are defeated if you depend on works before God.

He is the accuser of the brethren.

If you are depending on how well you have lived, then he has something to say against you.

This is the reason the apostle Paul called the 10 commandments the ministry of condemnation.

The 10 commandment was written on stones.

It had glory. But the glory cannot compare to the glory of the ministry of righteousness.

The peculiarity of the ministry of condemnation is that it curses you when you make a mistake.

There is no room for mistakes under the ministry of condemnation.

If you made a mistake, punishment followed.

This was the reason the Lord found fault with the ministry of condemnation.

He knew no man could do without making a mistake.

Hence he gave you the ministry of righteousness.

Anytime you try to live according to the dictates of the law you put yourself under the ministry of condemnation.

It’s called the ministry of condemnation because it condemns and judges you when you make a mistake.

Don’t get me wrong. The 10 commandment is good. It is holy. But it cannot make you good or holy.

As long you live up to its demand you are safe. But the day you fail is the day you come under its condemnation.

There is a new covenant.

You might claim to know this covenant.

But a mistake tests what you claim to know. If you still believe God can be angry with you for a mistake, then you know little or nothing about the new covenant.

The ministry of condemnation kills.

If I asked you what is the criteria to make heaven, what would your response be?

What was your answer to the question above?

If you said, keep the commandment of God then you have failed the test.

No man alive or dead can keep the commandment of God.

That was the Lord Jesus’ job and He did a perfect work.

And today He gives you a claim to His obedience if you believe in Him.

If you have believed the gospel and made Jesus your Lord and savior you have freedom from the law and its demands.

The complication of trying to keep the law is having to keep it all.

If you failed in keeping one law you have failed in keeping all.

So if for example you don’t fornicate or steal, but lust after a woman/man in your heart, you are guilty of all the commandments.

This is the reason the ministry of condemnation kills.

It doesn’t take cognizance of your 99.9% performance.

If you miss 0.01% you have failed all.

When such failure happens you come under the curse of the law.

Deuteronomy 28 details the curse of the Law.

It doesn’t matter how much you try, if you are still under the ministry of condemnation, you will come under the curse of the Law.

But there is good news. You don’t have to be under the law of sin and death. You don’t have to continue in the ministry of condemnation.

Through the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the ministry of righteousness.

Unlike the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness is about the finished work of Jesus Christ.

it is no longer about how good you have lived but about how good our Lord Jesus is.

You have to make a choice today and going forward.

Do you want to continue under the ministry of righteousness or the ministry of condemnation?

The contrast between the two ministries.

There is a difference between the two ministries.

It is sad that despite being under the ministry of righteousness now…

You still hear sermons that makes you believe you are still under the ministry of condemnation.

If you are still under a teacher that speaks to you as if you are not born again and saved then you are under the ministry of condemnation.

Such sermons will emphasise how you have failed God.

That you ought to do more and be more involved in the work of God.

This suggestions are good and needed in the body of Christ.

But must not be because of guilt from the past or a necessary burden.

You have to serve the Lord with gladness of heart.

And such service does not come from a place of harsh teachings.

The good news should make you excited.

It should make you excited to the point that you can’t help but tell people how beautiful Jesus is.

But the ministry of condemnation is the opposite of the gospel.

The ministry of condemnation makes you see God as judgmental. It makes you expect punishment for not doing things for God.

Great service in the kingdom is a product of Love and not of threats.

The following are the contrast between the two ministries…

Who also hath made us ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kilteth, but the spirit giveth life. 2 Corinthians 3:6

For if the ministry of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministry of righteousness exceed in glory 2 Corinthians 3:9

The Spirit gives life.

Have you ever wondered why people misquote Apostle Paul? Saying we can go on sinning that grace may abound.

It was obvious that despite the mistakes in the churches he planted he never threatened them with punishment from God.

They made heinous mistakes. But the apostle made it a point to remind them of who they are.

This is a gap in the church today.

We have failed to remind the saints of who they are. It is easier to blame people and punish them for their mistakes.

But it takes more love to remind them of who they are in Christ.

This is the onus of the ministry of condemnation.

It points people to their sins and the punishment that follows.

Punishing people for sins in the name of correction doesn’t make them change their mind about their mistakes.

An armed robber in police custody expects one thing – jail term.

The system of the world operates this way.

Do good, get good.

But that isn’t the way the kingdom of God works these days.

This is a present truth you have to acquaint yourself with.

There was a time when you punishment followed any transgression.

The ministry of condemnation was in effect at that time.

But now the ministry of righteousness has replaced the ministry of condemnation.

The Lord Jesus suffered all the punishment for sins.

Now you don’t suffer punishment from God when you sin because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The ministry of the spirit, hence, is an internal guidance system that tells you what to do when you yield to Him.

How to live in the realities of the ministry of righteousness.

Preaching the ministry of righteousness does not make people continue in sin.

Emphasising the ministry of condemnation is the reason people continue in sin.

To live and enjoy the realities of the ministry of righteousness you have to know the mystery of the total forgiveness of sins.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews 8:7-12

The reason this new covenant will work as planned by the Lord is that He would be merciful to their sin.

Without this condition, you will not understand the promises of the ministry of righteousness.

The apostle Peter says it this way…

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 2 Peter 1:9 KJV

To live in the realities of the new covenant you have to understand that there is no longer a sin problem.

Conclusion

The ministry of condemnation and righteousness go head on in our ministries today. And this ought not to be so.

The time of the ministry of condemnation is passed.

We now live the realities of the new covenant.

There was a time when the ministry of condemnation was in use.

It condemned men/women that lived according to its dictates.

The rules were rigid. If you failed in keeping one, you failed in keeping all.

Christ delivered us from the law.

The curse of sin has no hold on you.

He became a curse for you so that you can become the righteousness of God.

Knowing this will not make you continue in sin.

It will make you fall in love with your savior.

The ministry of condemnation is all about threats of punishment. While the ministry of righteousness points you to the goodness of the Lord.

If you focus on His righteousness for long it will rub off on you and you will effortlessly live to please Him.

All these happen because you know and believe that through Christ Jesus all your sins are gone.

what’s your take on the differentiation between the ministry of righteousness and the ministry of condemnation? Please leave a comment below.