[0:00] Welcome. Thank you for listening to another faith-generating word by David Entry. God has packed life in the words of an anointed man of God. Prepare your heart to receive and for your life to change through this anointed message.
[0:14] Be blessed. Let's go. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his Holy Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
[0:38] He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and he seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.
[0:49] From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Universal Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
[1:05] Amen. Amen. Father, what we don't know, teach us.
[1:17] Who we are not, make us. Where we are not, take us. All to the glory of your majestic name, in Jesus' name. Amen.
[1:29] So, as I was saying last week, I believe in the Holy Spirit. It takes, the Holy Spirit is the only spirit the church needs to become the church.
[1:44] So, Ephesians chapter 4 talks about there is one spirit. If there is another spirit you introduce, it is not the Holy Spirit. Any spirit who is not God is also not the Holy Spirit.
[1:58] So, that spirit who is working for God, but is not God, is not the Holy Spirit. And that is not the spirit of the church. It says, by one spirit.
[2:08] Somebody say one spirit. One spirit. In the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13. By one spirit, we were all baptized into the body.
[2:23] So, we are all baptized by one spirit. One spirit. So, it takes the Holy Spirit to have the church life.
[2:37] It takes the Holy Spirit to have the church life. So, without the Holy Spirit, we can't have church.
[2:49] Without the Holy Spirit, we can't have church. So, really, there has been a theological discourse or debate around when was the church actually born.
[3:02] Was the church born on the day of resurrection? Or was the church born on the day of Pentecost? The day of resurrection was when the graves were opened.
[3:16] And now, man can become a child or a seed of God. The day of the resurrection was when men can become children of God.
[3:29] When men can become the brethren of Christ. And that is what it takes to have the church. But the church was not formed and birthed until the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost.
[3:44] So, they went together as brethren, praying, praying, praying. They were not a church because the great commission is committed to the church.
[3:54] So, that is why when Jesus resurrected from the dead, even though he told them in Matthew chapter 28, even though he told them in Matthew chapter 28, that go into the world to preach the gospel.
[4:08] That was after resurrection. After resurrection, he had a few meetings with them. He was with them. And he taught them a few things. And he told them to go and preach the gospel. However, he said, wait.
[4:19] You can't go until he has come. So, he has to come first before you can go. So, that is why you can't have the church.
[4:30] The church cannot increase. The church cannot live without the Holy Spirit. So, the Holy Spirit, Jesus said it in John chapter 40. He said, when I go, is this chapter 15 verse 14 or verse 15?
[4:42] He said, when I go for chapter 14, I'll pray to the Father and he will send the Comforter. He will send the Allos Paracletus. He will send the Holy Spirit.
[4:54] So, when he went to heaven, he continued praying. And he prayed and the Father sent the Holy Spirit. So, Acts chapter 1, he says that, wait in Jerusalem until you have received the promise of the Father.
[5:10] From verse 4. Until you have received the promise of the Father. And they asked him, at what point are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said, it's not for you to know when God will restore the kingdom.
[5:23] But you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, into the uttermost part of the world.
[5:36] Now, the encourage, the subject of the Holy Spirit is not very new to us. And we will continue. In fact, every year I'm supposed to spend a bit of time teaching on the Holy Spirit. Teaching on faith and some other things.
[5:48] But, suffice it to say that the Holy Spirit is needed for the church. And so, when we say, I believe in the Holy Spirit, means that I believe in the only one that can make the church a reality.
[6:01] If you don't believe in that, really, you have invalidated what it means to be a church. Right? So, the Apostles' Creed says that I believe in the Holy Spirit.
[6:14] And then I believe in the Holy Universal Church. The Holy Universal Church in some traditions say the Holy Catholic Church.
[6:25] Which is the same. Catholic means universal. The Holy Universal Church is pointing to the fact that it's only one body.
[6:37] One body. Somebody say one body. One body. So, there is one spirit. And how many bodies? One. Okay, but why is it that we are called charis and others are called redeemed?
[6:50] Why is it that we are called charis and others are called methodists? Why is it that some are called weeners and some are called lighthouse? Why is it that some are called eternal life church and others are called anointed ministries?
[7:03] Why is it that some are called mountain of fire and others are called valley of water?
[7:20] There are so many churches named Trinity Church, what and what not, Liberty Church, Freedom Church, Freedom House, Trinity House, Grace Church, Grace Community Church, Praise Church, Praise International Church, Praise Family Church, Family House, House of Praise, House of Judah, House of Dancing, House of Fisting, and Breakthrough.
[8:01] Breakthrough ministries. And all that. But if it's one body, why do we have all this? You know, someone some time ago said, why is it that Christians?
[8:14] We have so many variations. It's the same in Islam. They also have a lot of variations. Just as you know. and when we talk about true Christians we have different denominations and then different local churches so for instance the church of England is a denomination it is governed it has central government but many many many many branches and it's like has been institutionalized church, Methodist church Presbyterian church the same way, it's a denomination and it has been institutionalized based on certain doctrines and tenets so you can't go off sometimes they all preach a certain way certain thing so I can't say that about every church actually Church of God in Christ some of the churches from the Caribbean
[9:19] Church of God in Christ New Testament church they are all denominations well structured and well strongly governed assemblies of God Baptist church you know so you can't say Church of there are two ones Church of God in Christ not Church of Christ it's the church of God in Christ and at least I know a little bit about their doctrine so it's the doctrine that determines who you are okay so we have all that let's say we have Baptist church we have assemblies of God but why don't they all join to become one why shouldn't you also join your neighbor if we are both British why are you trying to say we should merge all the houses to have one address there are some things that determine a particular local church or the emphasis of a denomination the vision of the church the vision is the vision not to win souls yes but different emphasis churches have different emphasis and every usually the leader or the founder is given a certain emphasis by God right so those things are very important so it's not every church you can just join it depends on
[10:39] God's assignment for your life where he's taking you and then instead I'll give them pastors after my heart so that's denominations one day charis will become also a denomination now we are not because we don't have many branches many branches and everything is now sometimes even in the lifetime of the founder it can start but when the founder is there another thing begins to it's heavily structured and institutionalized but that's where we are going in Jesus name I know some of you will be asking so what is the difference between the Pentecostal like my daughter asked me yesterday what is the difference between a Pentecostal church and a charismatic church and alright let me start from the top in the medieval period or from the 4th century AD yeah the
[11:40] Roman Catholic church has been the main church after that and I think there were some from that period to the middle ages it was just the Roman Catholic church that had become the main church many years and a lot of things came in until Martin Luther the reformer not Martin Luther King that one is American this Martin Luther the German he one day he said he was a Roman Catholic priest and he realized that some of the things I don't agree with him salvation shouldn't be based on your pocket if you can pay you can do all kinds of things and you pay and then the people grant you yeah okay you are saved and all that and so many things so he said you know what from the Bible he saw that salvation is only by faith in Christ and not by works and he wrote 1990 from there the churches began people began to leave the Roman Catholic church because they found out that some of the things that are being taught were not biblical for instance you don't find rosary anywhere you don't find praying to saints and Mary let alone her birthday you don't find it in the Bible so they found out that there are a lot of practices that the Catholic church was doing which was not really based on scripture so they decided to leave the Catholic church so the Catholic church which used to be the main universal church everywhere branded them as Protestants so then we have the Protestants
[13:17] Presbyterian Methodist Lutheran Baptist all of us are classified as Protestants because we are protesting against what the Catholic church has been teaching so if you have heard Protestants we are all Protestants and Church of England because the king wanted to marry and the pope said no you can't marry this person so he said no from today I'm no more part of this Catholic team me myself the king I'm going to be the defender of the faith I'm going to be the head that's how come the British monarch is the head of the Church of England you know so the king decided I'm going to be the head not the pope and then that's why there are slight similarities between the Church of England and the Catholic style however that's how we have the Church of England and then so we have the Protestants that is the Catholics versus the Protestants now the Protestants that is the all of the rest who are not Catholics we have the the evangelicals okay the evangelicals are the ones that believe that we should evangelize talk to people there are other people who don't believe that leave everybody let them practice their own thing so usually the evangelicals are a bit conservative they really care about what the Bible says so there are people who might call themselves
[14:44] Christians and not Catholics but they are part of the Protestants but they really don't care about what the Bible says you know generally speaking I'm just generalizing things so when you hear about evangelicals they are more interested in what the Bible says so then on the back of the evangelicals amongst the evangelicals we have those who are Pentecostals because there are people who are evangelicals but they are not Pentecostals all Pentecostals are evangelicals but not all evangelicals are Pentecostals all evangelicals are Protestants but not all Protestants are evangelicals so who are the Pentecostals the Pentecostals are the ones who believe the Holy Spirit is working in the church the Holy Spirit We have to give him the chance to work in the church and he's moving, he's doing things.
[15:36] So we are more bent towards the Holy Spirit. I express sometimes the preaching is based on the Holy Spirit or how the Holy Spirit is inspiring and is working. And not just human systems and government, but the Holy Spirit.
[15:47] So there's a bit more of emphasis on the Holy Spirit. That's the Pentecostals. They are Pentecostals. But among the Pentecostals, we have the charismatics.
[16:01] The charismatics are the ones who keep dancing. Happy clappy, they call them happy clappy. They clap and... Yeah, very, very, very...
[16:17] So the charismatics are very extemporaneous. They dance, they shout, they clap. Someone shout, hallelujah, hallelujah. Particularly in America, like the way I'm preaching, you see someone jumping in the front here.
[16:36] But still, we are all one church. There might be denominations, different denominations, but one church. It's one church.
[16:47] When we go to heaven, you won't see a Catholic day. You won't see a charism. Roman Catholic, you won't see a Presbyterian day. You won't see a Methodist day.
[17:01] You won't see a Baptist day. You only see the chance of God. We are all, we are all. So someone will not say heaven, oh, I'm charism.
[17:11] For what's charism? They'll ask, what's charism? In fact, you'll be so smart, you'll even talk like that. So it's one church. Everybody say one church. One church.
[17:22] And it's universal. But what is beautiful, it's a mystical church. What is beautiful and unique about the body of Christ is that people who are all dead, whoever were Christians, are still part of the body.
[17:40] Because we don't have a living body. We are all one body. It's very unique. People, Paul, Peter, Bartholomew, James, Timothy.
[17:53] Can you imagine Timothy? Epaphras. Yeah. All of them. All of them. Epaphras. Epaphras. All of them. They are still part. Mary.
[18:05] Yeah. They are all part of the, Luke, Mark. They are all part of the body. So we have the church triumphant. The church triumphant means those who have been believers and have passed on into glory.
[18:21] So they have triumphed. So there's a song that says that the saints of how glad they are, joy, how they are. When they look at us, they cheer us on.
[18:34] So all the believers who are dead, all the Christians who are dead, they are looking at us and cheering us. Finish hard. Finish hard. Finish hard.
[18:44] Finish hard. We can't see them, but they are aware of us. They can't communicate with us because we are in different realms. But they are very much aware of us, even though we don't communicate with them.
[18:56] But they are cheering us on. So we have the church triumphant. Okay. So that's the church triumphant. They have triumphed. They have already overcome. They have overcome.
[19:06] They are now with the Lord. And now the rest of us here, we are also persevering. But it's a universal church. The Christians in China are as Christians equally as the ones in Ghana.
[19:21] The Christians in America are as Christians equally as the Christians in Jamaica. The Christians in Canada are as Christians equally as the Christians in Grenada.
[19:35] So the Christians everywhere are all the same. We are all baptized into one body by one spirit, by the spirit. Amen.
[19:45] Romans chapter 12 verse 4 and verse 5. It says that for us, we have many members in one body.
[19:56] How many body? One body. How many members in how many bodies? Many members. But what? One body. But all the members do not have the same function.
[20:06] I like the verse 5. So. Everybody say so. So. So we, being many, are one body in Christ. We are one body in Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12 and 13.
[20:19] It says that for us the body is one and has many members. But all members of that one body, being many are one, one body.
[20:29] So also is Christ. For by one spirit, say one spirit. One spirit. We were all baptized into one body. Say one body.
[20:40] One body. So whether Jew or Gentile or whatever, in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 4, it says there is one, there is one body and one spirit.
[20:51] So I believe in the Holy Spirit. And I believe in the universal church. The church of God is the house of God.
[21:03] The church of God is the body of Christ. And I explained the other time when we talk about body. It's organic. Not just organizational. But it's organic. And the church of, in fact, when the church, the church is the pillar and the grounds of truth.
[21:22] And the church is what is preserving the world. Not politicians. Because of our presence. Some of you, I need you to be aware of the fact that because of your presence in your family, certain things can't just happen.
[21:40] I told, last week we were driving and I told my daughter something. It was at a pedestrian traffic light. But in a traffic, my direction, the traffic in which was in my direction.
[21:54] But the other, the opposite side was clear. And school ran. And I just stopped right in front of the traffic light.
[22:04] But there was another car in front of me called slow traffic. So, but the traffic light was red. And there was this woman who was walking with two children. Two children or three? Two children.
[22:15] A very young one who was about four years, I suppose. Four years old boy and an older girl who was supposed to be, I believe, about 10 or 11.
[22:27] They were walking, crossing the road. And you know, mothers who normally would leave their children to just walk. And this child just decided to cross the road by herself. And there was an incoming car.
[22:37] And for some reason, this woman in the SUV, four-wheel drive SUV, did not notice that it was red or something. They weren't coming. And drove through the red.
[22:50] And this four-year-old boy, just right in front of me, four-year-old boy, running to the street. The man said, hey. The mother said, hey. He was just going right in front of the car. And the woman slammed on the brake.
[23:01] And the boy, I've never seen anything like that. The boy went and then held the car like this, in front. No, that's how close. If the woman had moved an inch.
[23:14] He wasn't hurt. He was so scared. And then he held the car, right in front of the car. But my daughter said, wow. That's so close. What would have happened?
[23:25] I said, accidents don't happen in my presence. It is what it is. I told them, some things can't happen when I'm around.
[23:37] It's always been like that. You must know that your presence in the family is actually God's means to visit this family. The presence of a church in a community is God's means to visit the community.
[23:52] You must know that we are God's house. We are God's agents. And the Bible actually calls us, we are ambassadors of God, of Christ.
[24:05] Hallelujah. So, the church is a very powerful force. When God, I think a songwriter said this some time ago.
[24:18] I heard something and I like to have said it before. That when God looks from heaven, he does not see a city with a church in it. He sees a church with a city around it.
[24:32] God's focus from heaven is the church. Not just a city. So, he said to the church in Smyrna, to the church in Ephesus, to the church in Pergamos, to the church in Tytheria, to the church in Laodicea, to the church.
[24:48] Church. Church. The church. So, God sees the church and God deals with humanity through the church. Without the church, how can people be born again?
[25:02] How can people be discipled? And how can the purpose of God be fulfilled? Say, I believe in the universal church. I believe in the universal church. That's where wherever you find yourself, you must make sure you are part of an active watch.
[25:16] There's a difference between just the universal church, which we are all part of when you become born again. But everyone is supposed to also be part of a local church.
[25:28] The cell in your body, we can always trace it somewhere. Isn't it? Whether your ear, if it's a cell, if it's your body, there's somewhere we have to find it. There's a local area.
[25:39] That's why you have local anesthesia. It's just a certain area. If you are part of the body, which local church can we locate you? We have to locate you. That's where your character is developed.
[25:51] That's where you get to serve others. Those who say, I mean, I'm serving everybody in the body of Christ. What does that mean? Think about it. What's the meaning of that? What's the meaning of that?
[26:02] MPs have their constituents. You must have a place you are serving. Your service must be contextualized.
[26:14] You can't just say, I serve anywhere. I do anything. That means you do nothing. So that's why everybody must be part of the local church. So when we say, I believe in the universal church, we are also talking about which has the expression in the local church.
[26:32] Amen. I believe in the Holy Spirit. The holy universal church. The communion of saints. That's a long way to get to my resurrection.
[26:48] I'm really prepared to come and deal with this resurrection, but it looks like there are a few hurdles to cross. The communion of saints. The communion of saints.
[26:59] Communion means fellowship. Interactions. Oneness. We commune. Okay. So, when someone says, I'm a Christian, but I don't get to invite other Christians.
[27:11] I just do it by myself. That's why when I go to the church, me, I don't want to talk to anybody. I just go to church and I leave. Look. Look at you. That's not.
[27:22] That's not. You are not living a Christian life. Because the Christian life is a community life. It's a together life. But I don't like people gossip too much. You're actually gossiping.
[27:32] That's why. If people gossip, why don't you model the non-gossiping lifestyle? Model it. Be a model.
[27:43] So, pray for them and let others become like you. Somebody once said, there's no perfect church anywhere. Anytime you find a perfect church, don't join it.
[27:55] As soon as you join it, you make it imperfect. There's no perfect church anywhere. So, you have to be part of a community life where you know and you are known.
[28:07] You serve and you are served. You love and you are loved. You tolerate and you are tolerated. Because of the way annoying you are.
[28:18] People must tolerate you. Ask somebody, am I that annoying? Am I that annoying? My mom used to say a proverb.
[28:52] I heard it from her first. That even if your gums are bitter, that's the only place you can lick in your body.
[29:03] Even if you don't like it, you can lick somebody's own. I know some of you. I know what you are thinking. All day long.
[29:18] That's the only place you can lick all day long. Okay? Okay? You scientists and researchers. Research fellows. So, the point is that even if you don't like people in church, that's who you've got.
[29:35] Okay, let me put it in. Let me put it in. You don't like that others are smarter academically than your son. But that's what you've got. You don't like that your son is bigger or taller than everybody or shorter than anybody.
[29:53] That's your son. You understand that? Yeah. Some of these things. Some of you people who don't like their mother or father because you're ashamed of your father.
[30:03] Your father looks too dark. Oh, your mother looks too light.
[30:14] Please, get over it because it is what it is. It is what it is. In the same way, church, church.
[30:26] When you hear someone makes this sweeping statement, church people. You have to look at them. Church people. That phrase is in itself condescending and disdaining church people.
[30:42] What are you? What are you? That's what I mean. Actually, I just don't do church. I just go in.
[30:52] What I do is I just want to listen to a preaching and I'm gone. What are you doing with the preaching? What are you doing with the preaching? I think preaching is like speech.
[31:03] Come and listen to it. Okay, okay, okay, okay. No. It's supposed to have a reflection and expression in your life. And charity begins at home. But it doesn't stay there.
[31:15] Communion of saints. Yeah. Interaction of saints. You must be part of a local church where you serve their long. The only reason why you leave a local church is when there is wrong doctrine or sin in leadership.
[31:32] Condone sin. It's going on and it doesn't matter. All worldliness is in the church so much that it's bad. Worldliness in the church.
[31:44] First thing is doctrine. When the doctrine is not well. The doctrine is not sound. The doctrine is not good. You can tell something is wrong. They are not teaching well. And some of the things they are teaching is, all right, that should be an alarm bell.
[31:57] Number two, when there is condone sin in leadership. So the leadership of the church, there is sin in their life, in their life, and they don't mind. And it's okay.
[32:08] And that's a problem. Or when there's worldliness in the church. People are doing anything at all. People are sinning. People are taking under people's husbands and wives.
[32:19] And people are cohabiting and it's normal. He's playing the drum. And then the choir director is cohabiting with him.
[32:32] And it's usher. The ushers, they come in pairs together. All married. And worldliness is all about clothes, about shoes and cars.
[32:43] The value of your car, flaunting worldliness. And it's like, that is what the order of the day is. And Christ and the word of God evangelism is marginalized. Those things are real spiritual concerns.
[32:57] And you have to pray about it before. But someone offended you, so you are leaving church. You are not spiritual. You are not spiritual. I didn't like what the pastor said. I didn't like what that usher doesn't like me.
[33:09] That sound man doesn't like me. Every time I'm singing, he turns my microphone down. So you leave a church. Are you learning something at all?
[33:23] This is important. Communion of saints. I don't think, oh. God, I've missed you on me. Communion of saints.
[33:34] Forgiveness of sins. Somebody say, I believe in forgiveness of sins. I believe in forgiveness of sins. Say it again, please. I believe in forgiveness of sins. Christians have been forgiven.
[33:46] I believe in forgiveness of sins. You must always have it written in, tattooed on your mind. Big in capital letters.
[33:58] Bold. Forgiving. Forgiving for life. That's what it means to be redeemed. That's what it means to be justified.
[34:09] Forgiving for life. Forgiving. Do you know why Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden? Do you know why death came into the world?
[34:20] According to Romans chapter 5, verse 12. Romans 5, verse 12 says that, therefore, just as through one man, what sin entered the world.
[34:32] And what happened? Death through sin. All the problems in the world that mama nature is going through came because of sin.
[34:44] That is why Jesus had to be a lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Because that is what brought death.
[34:55] So if you can take away sin, the issue of death will no more be a threat. So sin was the platform for everything devilish and ungodly to happen to humanity.
[35:10] So therefore, forgiveness of sin is the initiation into real blessings. When your sins are forgiven, it means that true and greater blessings can start coming your way.
[35:24] That is why the church is a blessed church. That's why to be born again means you are blessed. Hallelujah. Somebody say, I'm blessed. I'm blessed.
[35:35] Why? Because my sins are forgiven. Bible says, David spoke about the blessed Romans chapter 5, I think verse 3 and 4 or 5. David spoke about the blessedness of the man whose sins are forgiven.
[35:48] Yeah, who's to have blessed? Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. What? That's David. David said it. Go to verse 5.
[35:59] And then we go to 6 and 7. But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
[36:10] Verse 6. Just as David also described, the blessed... Ah! Doesn't this sound nice? I like that word, the blessedness.
[36:22] In other words, the nature of the blessing that comes on the subject. The blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. Now, to impute righteousness, that means he's not dealing with you based on your sins.
[36:36] But rather, he has put input, has made input of righteousness into your account. What? Input there. That's input. Input. Not impact. Input. God has done deposit.
[36:48] He has deposited righteousness into your account. First of all, your sins are forgiven and it deposits righteousness into your account. That's why verse 7 says that, verse 7. Blessed are those whose...
[37:00] For righteousness to be imputed into your account, that means that your... The debt sins must be forgiven first. Because if you haven't paid the debt, if you have not come out of red, how can you enter green?
[37:15] So, for God to put... Give you green, that means that it starts from taking care of the red. Clearing the overdraft. Then you can begin to say, there's a lot of money in your account.
[37:26] But you don't have... You have so much debt overdraft. And you say, there's a lot of money in your account. There's no money. There's no money. So, the blessedness of forgiveness of sins is a big thing.
[37:40] And watch this. He said, I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Universal Church. I believe in the forgiveness of sins.
[37:51] Why can't you accept it? That God has forgiven you. Once you repent. And turn your back against the sin. Why can't you accept it?
[38:02] Are you a believer? Then you don't have a choice. You have to accept that our God forgives sin. Why? Because of Christ. God forgives sins.
[38:13] Let's all say that together. God forgives sins. Say it again. God forgives sins. Some of us, because of our religious background. It's so entrenched in us. That, you know.
[38:26] I forgot. Self-flagellation. Not just the self-flagellation. I forgot. The Catholic had a term. Where you have to punish yourself for the sins you have committed.
[38:39] So, sometimes when you go and confess your sins, they will show you. Okay. You have to nail down. Crawl on this rough surface for one mile. You'll be bleeding. But you deserve it because of your sins.
[38:52] After you have done that, then the priest can say, God has forgiven penance. The penance is part of that. Your sins are forgiven. But imagine.
[39:03] And he said, no. From the scripture. He says that God, verse 5 again, that God can forgive your sins. Says that to whom does, to him who does not work.
[39:15] You don't have to work. You have to rather believe instead of working. That's why we are believers. And what do we believe? We believe in forgiveness of sins. So, you have to believe on Jesus Christ who justifies an ungodly.
[39:27] That tells you that you are no good. An ungodly person is not godly. It's as simple as that. But Jesus Christ just justifies you. That is why we are.
[39:37] You can't just say that the death of Christ. The life of Christ matters to us. The life of Christ. In Romans chapter 5 verse 10.
[39:48] It says that if we have been redeemed by his death. Much more. Look at Romans 5. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. Through what? The death of his son.
[40:00] Much more. Having been reconciled, shall we be saved? What? By his life. So, we don't only talk about his death. We talk about his life.
[40:11] He lived a certain life of perfection. His life was so perfect. Before heaven, God said, I love this life. Why do you think that that voice came from heaven?
[40:21] He said, this is my beloved son. In whom I am fully pleased. Everything about him satisfies my justice. Satisfies my righteousness.
[40:32] So, it says that this is my beloved son. In Matthew chapter 3 verse 17. And in Matthew chapter 17, I think verse 5 or so. A voice came from heaven. He said, this is my beloved son. This is my beloved son.
[40:44] And so then, if Jesus, he had to, he had to live a perfect life so that when he pays for our sins, God can credit us with his righteous life.
[40:58] So, then, when you appear before God, it's not like your sins have just been forgiven. Yes, your sins have been forgiven, but there's much more to that. You also have some righteousness in your account.
[41:11] Hallelujah. So, it says that to him who believes, who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted to him for righteousness. So, then, it is not so much the things you have done to yourself that determines how you can be forgiven.
[41:30] But it's so much how you believe in this work of Christ. I'm not talking about you believe in the love of God. I'm talking about you believe in the work of Christ on the cross.
[41:44] That's the definition of God's love. Don't just, God loves me, God loves me. It doesn't mean anything. Because when a judge is sentencing, it doesn't sentence based on his love. It's based on the law. So, if your debts are paid, talk about the paid debt, not the love of the one who paid.
[42:00] Now, when you see, you are talking, you are coming to do negotiations. You don't need the love of the one who paid. Show the payment, and that's fine. But you know that this payment was true love.
[42:13] This payment was true. What I'm trying to say is that most of us, because we are so worldly-tuned, we just think about how he loves me. Our love is always based on even feelings.
[42:24] How he loves me. He loves me. Oh, how he loves. Yes, that's true. That's true. But listen, when you are talking about forgiveness of sins, you need to approach it from a judicial point of view.
[42:38] It's a forensic, judicial redemption. He has met, I keep saying this, all the legalities of the requirements of the justice of God has been met.
[42:49] So then, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us. You go before God and know that my sins are forgiven. Thank you. In spite of what I just did, I repent, I confess, and I know I have forgiveness in Christ.
[43:04] Yes, I have forgiveness in Christ. The devil will tell you, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's not this kind of sins the Bible is talking about. Not this one. This one is an abortion, you know. It's met abortion. That's not what the Bible is talking about.
[43:16] This one, this one is lying. You lie to a whole man of God. That's not what the Bible is talking about. Which one? Which one? Sin is sin. The only one that cannot be forgiven is the sin of rejecting Christ.
[43:31] Rejecting what can bring you forgiveness of sins is the only way you can be forgiven. But if you can embrace what brings forgiveness of sins, there's no sin that cannot be forgiven. Say, I believe in forgiveness of sins.
[43:44] It looks like today somebody needs to hear this. This week has been quite, because when I said I think some people are at the brink of a testimony, you immediately excluded yourself because of historic events.
[43:59] Lift up your right hand, please. Say, I believe in forgiveness of sins. Say, I believe in the forgiveness of sins.
[44:12] Say it again. I believe in the forgiveness of sins. Say it again. And the forgiveness of sins. Say it again. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you for listening to this message by David Entry.
[44:27] You're welcome to connect with David Entry on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also find more life-changing messages from Carriage Church on YouTube and all relevant streaming platforms.
[44:39] Don't forget to subscribe, like and share this message. Be blessed. I'll see you next time.