Some believers like to wear nice threads, but are oblivious to the most precious garments they already possess. The Bible speaks of ‘robes’ and ‘garments’ purchased for us by the blood of Jesus. In the spirit-realm, these garments are on full display and Satan knows it. Some believers aren’t confident their prayers will be answered because they’re ignorant of their right standing with God. In this broadcast, Carl reminds us of the many blessings of being a believer in Christ. Knowing the rights and privileges Christ bestowed to us by His sacrifice, will better enable us to live as He did. Join Carl now…
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast (below)…
My friend, do you know you have some expensive garments on right now? These garments are beautiful, they were very expensive to purchase, in fact the price was so high, it cost a man his blood to purchase them, that man was Jesus, lets read Isaiah 61:10: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”
Isn’t it wonderful that instead of guilt we have been clothed with salvation and righteousness? We have right-standing with God right now not when we get to heaven; there is no debt against us, the debt has been paid, we are justified, just–as-if I’d- never sinned! Hallelujah. One of Satan’s weapons against the Saints is guilt and this guilt comes in the form of condemnation. Satan The Hebrew word שָׂטָן (satan) means to oppose, obstruct, or accuse. The Greek term (σατάν, satan) literally means “adversary.” This definition characterizes his job description; Satan opposes, he accuses and he obstructs. He accuses the Saints before God Day and night, but thank God we have a defense attorney in Jesus Christ who has an answer for every accusation! AMEN. I’m sorry devil your accusation sounds very convincing, but you’ll have to see my defense attorney…JESUS, he’s been to school, not Harvard Law School but a whole lot better than that, He knows the law inside out.
Now us Saints can still struggle with sin issues after becoming a Christian and being born again. We are saints but we’re not perfect…yet. We must understand that the Holy Spirit convicts us to get a person’s attention for repentance and once that sin is confessed, the case is closed. For someone to confess their sin over and over without feeling forgiven, that is a work of the enemy. Remember that Jesus admonished Peter to forgive 70 x 7, so God wouldn’t ask us to do something that He wouldn’t be willing to do. Our God is a forgiving God, up to 490 times a day. friend. Let’s read Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
Whose tongue are we rising up against? That is the tongue of the accuser, we are to draw his attention to 1st John 1:9 and get in his face and say CASE CLOSED, court adjourned! My sins are covered devil, under the blood of Jesus and that’s more than enough to pay for any sin, past, present or future. Remember that is it’s not your righteousness that is being challenged by Satan; he is challenging the righteousness of God himself, why? Because you are joined to Christ in the Spirit realm, you are a joint heir with Christ. You are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus right now, so if Satan accuses you, it’s the same as accusing Jesus himself!! From this point forward I never want you to identify yourself with sin; your identity is in Christ Jesus. God the Father looks at you as He would His only begotten Son. Your spirit man is spotless, blameless, sinless and irreproachable, Hallelujah! “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1, BUT “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1st John 1:9
We are made righteous by believing, not by something we did, we simply believe on the works that Christ did. We are not righteous by our works but by Jesus works. We basically get to live out all the wonderful benefits that Jesus deserved for living a sinless life. Let me ask you this, are you confident when you pray, that the Father is going to answer your prayer? Let me ask you another way, do you think when Jesus prays, the Father will answer Him?…Of course He will!! It is the same for you friend, because you are a joint heir with Christ. When you pray God, the Father sees his son: 1 John 3:21-23 – 21 Beloved, if our heart condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. ”AND “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:15 And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” (1st Jn 5:14-15)
Friend, you should be just as confident that God will answer your prayer because when you pray the Father answers because he sees his son Jesus in you. Jesus is living on the inside of you right now, Christ in you the hope of Glory, you are joined to Jesus, you are his body, if the head prays then the body gets the answer too and we are the body of Christ! AMEN Be confident in prayer. Remember, 10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10:10)
In this passage the thief is a hireling shepherd who is only in the shepherding business for the money, he doesn’t really care for the sheep BUT there is a deeper typology here, the analogy between the Good Shepherd Jesus and the thief who represents Satan. Jesus came to give life and life more abundantly. This word life is zoe in the Greek which as we’ve mentioned is abundance, prosperity, wholeness and peace etc. It has several meanings all of which are good. Some people say they want justice in life, if that were true you would die and go straight to Hell and Romans 6:23 reveals this…”23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
There is a wage to sin you see friend; and it must be paid. Jesus paid it for you and as this passage makes clear, it’s a free gift to mankind. It was a gift but it didn’t come cheaply, the price was a man’s blood, the blood of Jesus! In the OT an exact exchange was required to replace the loss of what was taken; God’s ways are still the same. Let’s read Exodus 21:23-25, “23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, 24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
The Hebrew word for ‘life’ here is Nephesh. In the OT the word for life and soul can both be nephesh, they can be synonymous. Nephesh can be defined as the vitality of a living creature, which we would call the soul in today’s vernacular. Leviticus 17:11,“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”
When your blood is drained you die, plain and simple. Your life force would wane as a result. With the bloodletting fetish of the late 1700’s they thought you could rid yourself of common ailments by letting some blood out of people. Well unfortunately this was taken to the extreme when in a moment of extreme malpractice; 32 ounces of blood were removed from the first president George Washington and he slipped off into eternity. Notice that blood makes atonement in the passage I just read, there is no other way in God’s eyes. As I said, the word for ‘soul’ here is nephesh. So, the word of God is basically saying the life of the flesh is in the blood and the blood contains our life force that brings us vitality and it must be shed to make atonement. When our spirit man leaves our body, we cease breathing, when the soul leaves, our blood no longer flows. Your spirit and soul will go into eternity, your body will remain. In other words, one soul has to make atonement for another soul according to God’s word and since the soul receives life force from the blood, then blood must be shed for atonement. In the case of Jesus, it was a once and for all sacrifice…. did Jesus pour out his soul? Where does it say that in scripture? Isaiah 53:12: 12 “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
By all accounts, at the crucifixion and the number of lacerations Jesus endured, he shed his entire blood supply on the cross. He poured out himself, He poured out his blood, He poured out His soul, He gave it all! What else was there to give, nothing. He gave it all! The cross is offensive to some; some but friend, some things are offensive but necessary in this life. For us to have life we must feed on Jesus literally. Oooooh Pastor that sounds a bit creepy, John 6:53 says, “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.”
Friend, Jesus was said this metaphorically, we don’t have to find the Holy Grail to see if there’s a drop of Jesus blood left in it. We don’t seek after relics or believe in transubstantiation which is to say that the wine in communion literally becomes the blood of Jesus or that the wafer from King Soupers literally becomes the body of Christ….No friend, some things in scripture are obviously metaphorical and we need sense to see that. Symbolically we receive communion. Usually, every month we receive communion at local churches to remind us of the body and the blood that was shed, the body being the bread and the wine symbolic of the blood.
Friend, I can talk all day and night and transfer knowledge to you, you can listen to this radio broadcast, walk away and remain unchanged. My desire is for you to see yourself right now as Jesus described you. Close your eyes if you can and listen. I’m going to repeat what I said to you a few days ago, I’m saying it again because we need to hear some things over and over before we start to really believe them:
- Jesus was punished that you might be forgiven.
- Jesus was wounded that you might be healed.
- Jesus reconciled the hostility between you and God; he gave you peace.
- Jesus became sin with our sinfulness that you might be made the righteousness of God with His righteousness.
- Jesus endured our rejection that you might enjoy His acceptance.
- Jesus justified you. He acquitted you of all the accusations against you because of your sins.
- Jesus died in your place that you might share His life.
- Jesus was made a curse for you, that you might receive the blessing.
- Jesus endured your poverty that you might share His abundance.
- Jesus bore your shame that you might share in His glory.
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