that has ever been preached in the history of the Church is known as the Sermon on the Mount, preached by our Lord Jesus, and found in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. And seeing the multitudes, and seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain, And when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness? For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful. The merciful. For they, they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed, blessed are the peacemakers, the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost its savor, where will shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it giveth light unto all that are in the house. And let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle, till no wise pasts on the law, till all be fulfilled, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men, so he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother, Without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother Raka, that is thy vain fellow, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar. Go thy way. First, be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. Ye have heard. that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I, I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye do cause thee to offend, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand do cause thee to offend, cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, cause of her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, commits adultery. Again, you've heard that it has been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not persuade thyself, but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, yes or no. For whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil. But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, Go with him twain, go with him two miles. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow thee, turn not thou away. Ye have heard, ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I, I say unto you, love your enemies. Love your enemies. Bless them. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. And pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For He maketh His Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. Take heed. Take heed. Take heed that ye do not your own, your righteousness, your piety, your religion, Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thy love may be in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret himself, shall reward thee awfully. And when thou prayest, thou should not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what things ye need of before ye ask him. After this manner, therefore, pray ye. Our father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth. As it is in heaven. Give us this day. Our daily bread. And forgive us. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if ye Forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret. And thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly, and lay up Lay not up treasures upon earth. Lay not up treasures upon earth. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. When neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and with thieves do not break through nor steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, Thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Memon. Ye cannot serve God and be materialistic. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat and what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, if your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, selling up much more, clothe you, O ye of little faith. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have needed all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, And His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. sufficient unto the days the evil thereof. Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the most? the speck that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye. For how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite! First cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly, to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs. Neither cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall be opened. For what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asketh this, will he give him a serpent? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask it? Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. For this is the law. and the prophets. Enter ye in at the straight gate, enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate, and narrow, narrow, narrow is the way which leadeth unto light, and few there be that find it. Few there be that find it. Beware! Beware of false prophets! Beware of false prophets! Beware! of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits, Ye shall know then, not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name, in thy name have cast out devils. And in thy name done many wonderful works. And then. Will I profess unto them. I never knew you. I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity! Depart from me, ye that work iniquity! Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock, which built his house upon a rock, and the rain descended And the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. It was founded upon a rock, and every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat upon that house, and it fell. It fell. And great was the fall of it. Great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes, not as the scribes. If ever, if ever there was a verse The Lord Jesus would long for his people in America to listen to today. If ever there was a verse the Lord Jesus would long for his people in America today to listen to, then I believe, I believe it is Matthew 5 verse 13, ye are the salt of the earth. But, but, and I believe Christ weeps over the words that follow, but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing. It is thenceforth good for nothing. but to be cast out and to be trodden on the foot of men. One of the greatest theologians in the history of the Church said that the most accurate interpretation of this verse and the meaning Christ has for His Church in these words would go like this, ye are the salt of the earth, you You are the world's protection. You are the world's protection, church of Jesus Christ, to make it tolerable to live in. To make it tolerable to live in. But if you, if you lose your effectiveness, your vital reality, your impact. What will happen to the world? This is essentially what Christ asks his church generation upon generation. What will happen to the world? And you yourselves will eventually be thrown out by them, your religion considered worthless. If you lose your vital reality, Church of Christ, you will be thrown out by them, disregarded by them, despised by them, your religion considered worthless. Has that happened in America, Church of Jesus Christ? Has that happened in America? Church of Christ? We blame politicians, lack of censorship, Hollywood, the influence of the Internet. We blame all these things as the means by which our country is morally corrupting. The decadence that sweeps like an avalanche that no man seems to be able to stop. No one seems to be able to slow down. And defiling everything in its path, even ten-year-old children, filthy. No one seems to stop. We blame the politicians, we blame the media, we blame the lack of censorship. But I, in deep grief and shame and fear, dare to say to you tonight, I blame the Church. If the salt of the earth is effective as God intended it to be, corruption stops. Corruption cannot advance. I believe the Church of Christ stands at a terrible crisis of having lost its effectiveness. In this generation, I believe the Church of Christ stands in a terrible crisis of having lost its effectiveness. And, beloved, look at what has become of the world, if that is true. Look at what has become of the world, Church of Christ, through you losing what you should have been. It stops corruption. That's all it is that the only thought Christ has in mind. Expound it to a hundred degrees. I have one thing in mind. It stops the advance of sin when we're right with God. And I believe, I believe deeply that the Sermon on the Mount is given by Christ to his church, generation upon generation, to show us the stepping stones by which we can find revival. I believe the stepping stones Christ places in the Sermon on the Mount can bring about revival throughout his whole church, if we would just take them. And I believe with all my heart this would result in a great awakening of the unsaved throughout this land and world. But God waits for His people. Don't tell me it's all divine appointments. God waits for His people. When will they take the stepping stones God has placed in His words? in the greatest sermon that has ever been preached in the history of the church. Blessed, we call these verses that start with that word the Beatitudes. Is that all you know about them? Has anything further happened in your heart than to know they're called the Beatitudes? Church of Christ, Blessed are the poor in spirit. What does God mean there? A permanently poor in spirit person? Humble? Humility? Oh! Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the meek. The word means broken. There is a brokenness here that so God-given man cannot do it himself. How can it be blessed to be pour in spirit to mourn, to be broken. How can that be blessed? Oh, beloved, because God says to this man, will I look even to him that it was a broken heart and a contrite spirit? God looks now in a way he can do something when we begin to mourn, when we become to break before God under conviction and grief and brokenness of our states. of our ineffectiveness, of what the world is doing, trampling over us, despising, rejecting anything we are, because we haven't got something vitally real to offer them. Oh, to this man will I look, God says. And that's blessed. That's why that first step, Church of Christ, God called, blessed. But don't stop there. Don't stop there. It's not blessed to mourn and grief and brokenness and poorness of spirit at the state of the church, at the state of your walk with God and your ineffectiveness for God in your land where the devil destroys your land. It's not blessed to mourn and to stay in that state. Oh, it's blessed to get to that state under the conviction of God, the Holy Spirit, through His Word, presenting His standard, now true state, where we know it's God's voice, not man's. God's grief, not man's, reaching our hearts and we begin to grieve and mourn. It's not blessed to stay. We have to take the next step. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Have you ever done that? Have you laid down everything in life, young man, until God made you righteous? Have you ever got so seriously to seek God with all your heart and soul and might, and nothing will keep you from God till you find Him? In reality, till the superficiality and all the lukewarmness and the compromise is gone, do you think God won't deal with you if you did that? What keeps you from that? Church of Christ. To hunger, to thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled I love that word. It literally means to be satisfied. They will be satisfied. Now, be careful here. Christ said that very carefully. When you hunger and thirst for something, nothing will satisfy you until you obtain what you're hungering and thirsting after. If you're hungering and thirsting after righteousness, you will never be satisfied until God makes you righteous. And God has a holy obligation by giving us this verse. In His holiness, in His integrity, in His perfectness, He has put Himself into a holy obligation to those who will hunger and thirst after righteousness, who will lay aside everything in life and get desperate with God. And He will make you righteous. He won't turn His face away from you when you're seeking Him. You shall seek Me, you shall find Me, for you shall search for Me with all your heart. When have you done that? Tell God, when you laid everything else, all your heart sought God. Let me die, God, but let me find one moment I'm real, rather than a life of carnality and a lie in religion. There is two righteousnesses I see in the Bible, righteousness imputed and righteousness imparted. Righteousness imputed is God declaring you righteous. Not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. In one moment God declares you righteous. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness. God in one moment declares you righteous through faith in the blood of Christ. We are declared righteous just by faith in the blood of Jesus. God declares you righteous in every sin you have committed. But this is not speaking about that righteousness. Otherwise, the whole sermon is a mockery. Otherwise, the whole sermon is nothing that we can get near in life. This is not speaking of righteousness imputed. This is speaking of righteousness imparted. God's righteousness, his divine nature imparted into our beings to make us righteous in our living. And if we, through seeking God in desperation, are more desperate than anything else we've ever done in life, more determined, I will not let thee go, except thou dost have thy way with me, God, Jacob said. Have you ever said that? This righteousness is God's righteousness imparted, where Jacob's nature and character and the things that grieved God and man about him were dealt with, were dealt with. The fight ended. He gave in the fight. He wrestled with God until God said, let me go. You fight too long, child, the day breaketh. And he sensed God withdrawing, and he couldn't bear a life without having God's best. Can you? I will not let thee go. Accept thou that hath thy way fully, no matter what the cost. Have you ever prayed the prayer from the heart of Jacob? He became a prince of God, not of man. In the spiritual realm, he became the greatest man of God on earth. At that time, he walked with God. in transparency and truth. God made him righteous. When will you get desperate, child? God, search of Christ with God. When will you grieve more, hunger, thirst after righteousness? For they shall be satisfied. God will make you righteous. You put a man in the desert. You find him there days and days. You come up to him and he's dying. He's hungering, he's thirsting after food and water, you take a million Rand check, you write out a million Rand check and put it down for him, this man thirsting and hungering. He won't be satisfied. He won't pick it up. He will not be satisfied until you give him what he's thirsting for. And you and I cannot be satisfied until we are made righteous by God. If we're thirsting for righteousness, we will not cease to seek God until he makes us righteous. Holy, be ye holy, for I am holy. That's God's words, not mine. Are you? And as a result of God taking the heart, the being of a man like Jacob, and you and I, when we get desperate enough for God to deal with our sins and with seeking him in such faith, knowing that he has a holy obligation to deal with all that's wrong in our lives as a result of absolute surrender, like Jacob, where the fight was given in and God taking control, which we call being filled with the Spirit of God. That's all being filled with the Spirit of God is. The Holy Spirit is a person. He's not in you half a person. It's not like a glass of water that has to be filled. Half of the Spirit is in you. No. He's in you. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit if the whole Holy Spirit of the person is in you? All it means is to be controlled by the Spirit. And that can only happen when you absolutely surrender to God. And He takes control when the fight is given up. As Jacob in one moment gave in all the fight. clung to God and would not let him go. And God knew he was yielded. He was confessing. And he was determined not to get up again in life unless God dealt with his sin. Oh, as a result of righteousness, God's righteousness imparted into our life, we find our, we become pure in heart. Are you? Answer God, all you theologians reasoning out my theology. Just answer God. Are you pure in heart? Your life is transparent in God and man's sight? Has seeking God as a result of his, seeking his righteousness imparted unto your whole being? God's righteousness imparted unto my life? and me being made pure in heart toward God and man and religion. As a result, you know what will happen. Listen carefully now, in case you think this is righteousness imputed Christ is speaking of. No, you'll never be persecuted for righteousness imputed. You will be persecuted for righteousness impartial. Listen, what happens? Blessed Christ says, are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake? That's the first thing that will come upon you, Church of Christ. When you get right with God, it doesn't mean revival is going to come just in one moment. But blessed, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness, that you're right with God now. They're only persecuting you because your life condemns them. condemns their heart, makes them uncomfortable, unable to enjoy their sin, their consciences are now being spoken to because it's proven, someone has turned, someone can turn, it's possible, there's someone in my sight, in my home, at my work, at my school, who's righteous. All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You cannot escape. All, God says, who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Oh, but blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. That's blessedness of God upon your life, church. Now you are the salt of the earth. Now you're shaking the world. Now you're warring them. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. But trust me, why do they do it? Their hearts are condemning them. You see, you're the salt of the earth now. Corruption can't easily go on. Men can't sleep anymore through their sin. Men can't be comfortable in their sin. Men can't come and sit in a church anymore in their sin and be walking and leaping and praising God. They run unless they repent. When the church is right, Oh, as a result of God's righteousness imparted and a righteous life which brings persecution for righteousness sake, as a result of this righteousness, you become the salt of the earth. Men cannot go on. They cannot go on. Men crumble. You see, God allows them to persecute you knowing why they're persecuting you. They're under conviction. And that's the first step that he can take to save their souls. And he will. As a result of God's righteousness imparted into your life, in His grace, we result with a heart made pure, a pure heart toward God. We're pure in heart in our walk with God before man. As a result of this righteousness of God imparting to our lives, we become the light of the world suddenly. Put a light in darkness, friend. Everyone sees it. Everyone sees it. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, not your profession of Christianity, your good works. And as a result of them coming to you and asking an account of why you are holy, why you have turned from sin, why you are righteous, you can be bold in giving them the account you are only allowed to give if your life gives you the right to give in this world. As a result of this righteousness imparted, God's righteousness imparted to my heart and being in life is righteousness imparted to me and you. Our lives fulfill the law of God. Think not that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets. I not come to destroy, but to fulfill. You wouldn't stoop Once God has made you righteous, you wouldn't stoop to the theologians that are everywhere. You wouldn't stoop to the statements that I am under the dispensation of grace. I'm not under the bondage of law. I'm no longer under the bondage of the law. I'm under grace. Most people who say that land up in disgrace. Trust me about that. Even if they're a preacher, watch them. They land up in disgrace. You see, he didn't come to destroy the law. But to fulfill it, I have not come to destroy the law of the prophet, but to fulfill it in and through your life, when you absolutely surrender to me, when I have control. I fulfill the law, not by rigid discipline of legalistic application in my own strength, where I have a whole lot of set of rules, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, all hanging in front of my eyes on my doorpost, that I can never forget what God says. No, I don't fulfill that in Christ's salvation. We're not under the bondage of the law in that way. I fulfill the law in your life by writing it on your heart by the Holy Spirit once He's got control of you. And in every circumstance, no matter how trying those circumstances may be, you will spontaneously react, not any effort of your own. You will spontaneously act fulfilling the law. The fruit of the Spirit is just the fulfillment of God's standard. The fruit of the Spirit is Christ. Holiness is Christ. It's no other standard. Holiness is heresy if it's not just Christ. The scriptures of Christ, the standard of the scriptures of Christ-likeness, the work of the Holy Spirit is to conform you into the image of His Son, of God's Son, Jesus. And that is when our lives stagger the world. That is holiness. When God writes His laws upon our hearts and we spontaneously fulfill because we're absolutely surrendered to God, He has His way, we're filled, we're controlled by the Spirit. We've yielded. There's no fight left, and God takes control. Our lives are on the altar. Beloved, we don't fulfill the law just a little bit. We fulfill the law. We bring it to a standard not ten times higher than the Old Testament. To those of you that believe, we're not under any standard at all. Many people believe that any standard, even if the New Testament is legalism and bondage and law, Any standard is law. I'm under grace, I can do anything. Oh, that's from the devil. Romans 6. What shall we say then to these things? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Oh, I wish I had the time to bring you Romans. six, one's on three, one's on... I just wish I had the time to pour out the scriptures of what God says grace is. You haven't received God's grace if it hasn't made you holy. If it doesn't bring about into your life holiness of life, holiness without which no man shall see God, a transformed new creature where all things are passed away, all things become new. But when the church is in the state we are, the standard is not preached or lived or presented. We need to seek God back for the standard of His book, not men's standard. What Christ says. I'm not presenting to you some holiness of a holiness movement. I'm searching to you Christ's Word that the only holiness is not heresy. As a result of this righteousness of God's righteousness imparted into my heart and life and being, and I made righteous, I've given the grace and the ability by God's Holy Spirit to live righteous. He lives through me, Christ in me. As a result of that, I fulfill the law, not just a little bit, but a lot, a hundred times higher. Listen, as a result of this righteousness of God imparted, I won't commit what the law says I mustn't do, kill. I find the ability not to get angry. God takes away the anger that sin or righteous indignation is different. But even your worst enemy can't condemn you as sinning when you have righteous indignation and evil and defilement that's going on. But anger is gone as a result of God's righteousness imparted. I'm able to be at peace while I'm with my enemy, the adversary. I'm able to do everything possible that there's no chance it will ever come from him one day or finger accusing me that I did not show reality and so he's going to hell so that I can win him. I agree with my adversary quickly. While I'm in the way, then God gives me the ability, as a result of God's righteousness imparted into a life that desperately sought Him until God found and God found God's righteousness. I won't commit adultery. That's the standard of the Old Testament. That's not my standard. I won't look on a woman to lust after her. God gives me that ability. Brother, if you think God can't, you haven't read the Bible. God gives you the ability when you're pure in heart, when you're absolutely surrendered, when you're filled, controlled by the Spirit, and you stay close to God, abiding in Him, soaking yourself in the Scriptures and in prayer daily from the moment you met with Him in such a manner. He gives you the ability not to look and commit adultery with her, which will bring judgment, God said. If such a life is continued in your heart, even though no one outside knows, though you're singing hallelujah while you're looking at the corner of your eye, As a result of this righteousness, God imparts, I won't look with lust and therefore I won't find divorce coming, which is the main reason of divorce, which brings her into sin. And me, when I remarried, there's this God's righteousness enabling me to keep my married vows because I kept pure with my eyes, because my heart was pure before God. As a result of God's righteousness, I I did not find divorce coming upon my life. As a result of this righteousness imparted, I find I'm not expected to swear and give oaths. My yes is good enough. My no is good enough. My life gives me the right to just say yes, no, that's it. No man who knows me requires more because they know that's more meaningful than a man who swears on Bibles stacked a hundred high. Your life gives you the right as a result of the righteousness of God in you that men will trust your yes and your no. As a result of God's righteousness, you can turn the other cheek, not an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You turn the other cheek. Have you ever done that since you've been saved? Tell God when you did that, when someone really hurt you and really abused your rights, when you turn the other cheek. 1 Peter 2, verse 19, for this is thankworthy. This is thankworthy of a man for conscience toward God and due of grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently. This is acceptable with God. For even here unto where ye call, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. He threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously as a God, a result of God's righteousness imparted into your life. Not righteousness imputed, but God's divine nature imparted into your life whereby the fruit of the Holy Spirit has been spontaneously in your reactions. You turn the other cheek. You turn the face. You reveal Christ. You reveal Christ, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. You love your enemies. Do you? You bless them that curse you. Tell God when you ever did that. You do good to them that hate you. Since you've been saved, show God one person that hates you, you've done good to. You pray for them. Have you really prayed for them not to get out of your church and out of the way, but for God to give them love for you? and grace that you can just be Christ-like, no matter what they do, until you win them. As a result of God's righteousness imparted, your life is transparent in all your walk with God. You don't do things for men's eyes. Your left hand doesn't know what your right hand doesn't know, whether it's the money you're giving. No one knows at the best of your ability. Sometimes they have to. But it's only for God, otherwise men say thank you, one day God won't say thank you. Wouldn't that be a grief after all the millions you gave, sir? You won't get a thank you from Christ if you didn't do it with all your heart, as best as you could, that no one knows. And if someone has to, it has to be very few. As a result of this righteousness God imparts into us, when we're absolutely surrendered to God, we're able to be transparent even in our prayer life. We pray not only in public meetings to say the right things for God to come, but God never comes because we're never alone. And anyone who is not consumed in the life of prayer alone with God becomes a hypocrite the moment he stands up in the public and starts praying like he's a prayer warrior. He's a total grief to God. If your life is not soaked and consumed in prayer when no man is watching and praying for the same things, every word you utter in prayer becomes a grief and a rebuke to God, a holy God, and a stence of hypocrisy. Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father in secret, which seeth in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret. Tell me, does thy Father see you in secret? Oh, he sees you coming to the prayer meetings. You don't miss them, do you? You've got to be heard, but tell me the meeting with God. You miss it like this? You miss it like this? It's only God that sees I'm not faithful then, and after all, I'm in this because of man, not God. Is that something that's true about you, Church of Christ? As a result of God's righteousness imparted, you forgive men their trespasses. When you fast, it's just for God, not for men. You cease to be materialistic and to stop laying up for yourselves treasures upon earth. That's not necessary. According to James 5, it will just bring judgment upon men if it's not necessary. You look further afield to what you can do for God and you begin to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Suddenly the world becomes God's vision through you, even with materialism loses its hold on you. You don't serve two masters and find yourself desperately unable to serve God and truth because you're serving materialism. You don't live in anxiety about tomorrow. You just obey Christ and you don't take thoughts. You live one day at a time. And if you do take thought, it's just sensible. But there's no anxiety. This is resting in God's faithfulness. After all, he promises a rebuke. We die from worry. We're trying to keep up our insurances. That's terrible. We cease to judge. others, and look with criticism at people who God has to have patience with, as He had patience with you. We learn that God, with His mercy upon us, is longing for us to be like Christ. Every step we take, by His grace, it's possible. Not absolute perfection. That's at heaven, brother. But oh my, in the light you've been given, you can walk in the light. I hope you know that by God's grace, you can walk in the light and stagger the world. We all sit here, we all sit here tonight. And we're wondering as we listen to Christ's words, what can we do? What can I do now, God? I mourn under the sermon. Are you? God, the Holy Ghost sees that. I'm broken under the sermon, Christ's words. God, the Holy Ghost sees that. I'm hungering, even sitting here, I'm thirsting. God, if there's something that can be done, do it now. What's left of life is more than left. This moment I have left, let it be real, not the superficial things that divert me from reality and walking with God as Enoch walked with God. I want nothing less and I don't want to take another step, living the hypocrisy of my life for religion without God. In vital reality is the most agonizing condition a man can find himself this side of heaven. Oh, you're hungering, you're thirsting, you're grieving, you're mourning, you're looking to God in desperation. And God waits for you to ask, I believe with all my heart in its context, ask for the Holy Ghost to come and take control. Of course, he's in you, but he isn't controlling you. I don't care what your doctrine is, preacher. Tell God, argue with him. If your life's not right with God, just listen to mine for a minute in case it works. Ask God. Ask God tonight to cleanse you with the blood of Christ from all your inconsistencies. Ask God, ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and to give you the grace to absolutely surrender in a way you will never retract or never be the same or never recover, no matter what the devil does. Oh, ask God to have his way. Ask God in such a way as Jacob did. I will not let thee go tonight, God. Tonight thou must have thy way in my life. I absolutely surrender to thee, God. Oh, you pray for revival, do you, Church of Christ? I want to ask every single one of you, has it not come in your life, especially tonight and right now in this moment, that you realize it's sin for you to pray for revival? Many of us have to pray to God this prayer. We pray differently for revival when God comes near. If God ever comes near you, you cease to look at the church and its state. You pray, oh God, the revival I've been praying for. I changed my prayer tonight, God. I prayed to the church, but tonight I realized I have only one prayer, that I have the right to pray to God concerning revival. Begin this revival I'm praying for, God. Begin it now with me. Here's the need. Here's the one who's desperately in need of revival before I look at the needs of others. Oh, God. Come and revive me, start the revival in me, God. Let me become an instrument of the revival I've been praying for. Through my life, where I go, that's my responsibility. That's what matters between me and God, is that revival has started in me. I want every single person. I don't care if you're a preacher, I don't care if you're the greatest theologian in America today. I want every single person in this building, and only do it for God or God's wrath may come upon you, sister. Don't do it because another man's doing it. If you don't mean it, young boy, don't do it, please. I want every single one of you who desperately, desperately seeks God tonight. No matter what the cost, and it will cost, if you get right through to God tonight, no matter what the cost, there's a change in your life, in your home, in your marriage, at your work, in your clothing. I want every single person who knows God is confronting them, who longs for God to make them what they are not, though they're saved, the salt of the earth. While there's a moment left for America, Church of Christ, become that. But it's going to cost you and you have to be desperate. Those of you sitting here tonight that are desperate, who are desperate, no shallow appeal here, who are desperate with God, the Holy Ghost, talking to you tonight. Every single one of you that has a desperation in his heart, that's hungering, that's thirsty. I want you to ask God tonight. Ask God. That as you absolutely surrender, he will fill you with the spirit of God and make you vitally real and effective in the salt of the earth. And the next step you take, not by effort of your own, but because he fulfills his righteousness through your life. As the Holy Ghost takes control, every single person sitting here, no matter who you are, I want those of you who are desperate and have only to do with God, not man. Even if you have to bury your theology, sir, just bury it tonight and get right with God. I want every single person who's desperate for God to come and visit them, that they will never recover, that they will absolutely surrender, that they will be filled, controlled as they absolutely yield to God. And God knows they're desperate, they're thirsty. Take God as His promise. God, do what Thou hast promised. Make me righteous from this day forth. Impart Thy righteousness. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. Start this revival in me, God, now. Begin revival. Make me the instrument of the revival. I've been praying for God. Begin now in me. Start the revival now, God. I give Thee the right to come and revival by beginning in me. Every one of you that desperately needs to say that to God because your life is such a grief to God. Every one of you that desperately need to say that to God and God means enough to you and man, you're sick of trying to serve. Every one of you that desperately needs that and requires that of God, will you stand right now? And I'm only asking once and I'm going to pray for you. Every one of you standing, will you pray aloud with me from your heart, for God looketh not at the words that proceed out of the mouth. God looketh at the heart from whence they come. If God sees these words are from your heart as best as you can, though I'm leading you, he will not turn his face away from you and say no. Every one of you pray these words with me to God as best as you can and pray aloud, brother, sister. Oh, my God. Forgive me for every wasted moment of my life that I could have been serving God. Wash me in the blood of Christ from such a grief I've been. Wash away all my failures, all my hypocrisy. All my shallowness, all my compromise, when no one was looking, but Thou was looking. Forgive me for the grief I have been to God, though I have been saved. Oh, wash me in the blood of Christ, through and through, and through and through. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Then shall I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. But make me pure in heart, God. Impart thy righteousness unto me by the Holy Spirit. I absolutely surrender. I lay my life on the altar of God, and I ask thee to fill me with the spirit, to take control that in my every reaction, spontaneously, the fruit of the spirit Will be seen no matter how trying the circumstance. Make me the instrument of revival. Every step I take. From the next step in my life. To the day I die. Shake this world through me, God. By thy grace. For thy glory. And send a revival as thou has started in my heart tonight throughout the church in America. And then an awakening as the world crumbles in conviction through our lives in Jesus Christ's name. In Jesus the Christ's name, I beg this of thee, God. Amen.