THE SCEPTER AND THE OIL

We have explored many aspects of righteousness. I have emphasized repeatedly that even the Old Testament saints’ lives were based on the gift of righteousness and that in the New Testament our Christian lives are also based on the gift of righteousness that is available to us through Jesus Christ.

Rom. 5:17-21 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We have also emphasized that before the gift of righteousness came through Jesus Christ there was a reign of death that began with the fall of Adam and Eve. When the reign of death came, sicknesses, sin, disharmony came into the world. All the whole planet earth was in turmoil. Perversity entered into the animals’ mode of behavior so that they acted out what they were not designed for. Animals were originally created herbivorous but with the fall of man, they developed a carnivorous nature and began to devour one another. The whole system of God’s creation fell apart when the reign of death started with the fall of Adam and Eve.

The days of our reign of life began when our Lord Jesus Christ rose from death and was seated at the right hand of God. This is a reign that some people, though not all, have come to know. This is the reign that we proclaim when we share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many Christians have not realized in their lives that this reign of righteousness produces Christian victorious and overcoming life. And that’s what I am talking about in the gift of righteousness.

In the last message, I talked about the touch of the mind and how the gift of righteousness of God, gives us a different mental attitude and perspective. It begins in our spirit but it affects our soul. And as I conclude this series, I want you to look at two different areas. And those two areas are found in the book of Hebrews 1:8 But to the Son He says: Your throne, O God is forever and ever. Now if you examine this very carefully, He is not talking about the time before Jesus came to this earth. If you look very carefully in the book of Hebrews, the author of Hebrews was talking about the time when Jesus was raised up from the dead and He was seated on high. In Hebrews 1: 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say; “You are My Son. Today I have begotten You?” And again: “I will be to Him a Father. And He shall be to Me a Son?”  But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

The phrase when He again brings the firstborn into the world was not speaking about the first Christmas when Jesus was born in a manger, but about Jesus who rose up as the firstborn from the dead. Cross references in the book Revelations chapter one and in the book of Colossians chapter one tells you that the firstborn from the dead is a title reserved to Jesus Christ when He was raised the third day from death.

But to substantiate this scripture, we cross reference to the book of Acts chapter 13. It confirms the fact that when God talks about You are My Son today I have begotten You, it is not referring to Jesus being born in a manger but it is used to refer to Jesus Christ being raised from the dead. Acts 13:33 and this is the interpretation that the apostles had of this verse. We should never stray away from the way the apostles interpreted the bible. It looks like this verse refers to the first time He was born in the manger but that’s not the understanding. The understanding is that the particular verse refers to Jesus being raised from the dead. Acts 13:33 God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: “You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.” 

Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. Before Jesus had been resurrected from the dead, Elijah and Elisha had raised people from the dead. Jesus Himself in His ministry had raised people from the dead. But this is the first time that anyone of the seed of Adam rose from the dead spiritually, overcoming spiritual death, annihilating forever the kingdom of hell and death and taking upon Him the keys of hell and death. Jesus is the last Adam representing the seed of mankind. He was both Son of God and Son of Man. This was the first time that spiritual death was overcome. And that particular verse refers to that resurrection from the death.

Let’s look at Hebrews 1 again, understanding that the context was in reference to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. We see here that when He was raised from the dead God says verse 6-7 Let all the angels of God worship Him.  And of His angels, He says: Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.

Now we cross reference to Phil. 2 how every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He commanded all to worship the name of Jesus.

When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, He spent some time with His disciples. Of course when He was raised from the dead He went to present the blood first and then He came down and spent about forty days and forty nights with His disciples before the day of Pentecost. Finally, He was lifted on high. And somewhere during the time of His resurrection, Jesus Christ was seated at the right hand of God. And God instituted a new rule and a new reign. God instituted a new realm of dimension in the spirit. And from that time onward Jesus said, “Go ye and preach to all nations. Go and tell what has happened now, that the enemy Satan has no more power and authority.” That it is now the rule of righteousness.

And it says here in Hebrews chapter one verse 8 But to the Son He says; “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.

There are many truths found in the above verse but we want to look at just two in today’s message. What is involved in the rule and reign of righteousness that Jesus has given? It says here the scepter of righteousness. I have touched on that before but today we are going to look at it from a different angle. The other is the oil of gladness. Today I am going to speak about these two aspects of righteousness. When a Christian receives the gift of righteousness, he or she can produce certain signs and evidences. When you received Jesus Christ into your life as personal Lord and Savior there is something that goes on in your spirit. A kind of peace, a kind of cleansing that you sense and it is quite tangible in your spirit. When you were baptized in water, your whole body is wet. You come out knowing that you have been immersed in the waters of baptism. When you were baptized in the Spirit, there is an evidence of speaking in tongues. Your spirit man is set free to speak in a new language to God.

When the gift of righteousness is ruling in our life there are signs and evidences in our life. And I want to give you two. One is called the scepter of righteousness and the other is called the oil of gladness. But I am going to re-phrase it to bring out what these represent. No. 1 when the gift of righteousness comes into our heart and in our life and we are appropriating it, how do we know whether we are flowing and yielding to the gift of righteousness? How do we know that it’s having free flow in our life? There are signs of that. No.1… SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY.

There is a sense of spiritual authority that comes into your life. For example…if a devil came  to you, then you would feel you were capable of facing him eyeball to eyeball. Because you know that, the righteousness is ruling in your life. You know that you have authority and power over every sickness, every disease and every demon. That you are not afraid of the devil at all but the devil is afraid of you. A sense of spiritual authority, that’s what the scepter of righteousness produces.

No.2    A  STATE OF BEING OF JOY

It produces a state of being of joy. There is a supernatural joy. Human works of righteousness will not produce joy. In fact, those human acts of righteousness take away joy. The Pharisees had no joy. They were legalistic and they had no joy. And Jesus said, “You bind heavy burdens on people. You make their lives miserable with your legalism.” Now their intention was to make people conform to the law. But when you make people conform to the law minus the gift of righteousness, it’s tough work. No one can be like Jesus except by the Spirit of Jesus. And human righteousness takes away joy. We need to use this barometer to test from time to time whether we have moved into our own righteousness or whether it is the gift of righteousness operating in our lives. Whenever a Christian gets weary working for God or Christian life has become a burden and a struggle, the gift of righteousness has stopped operating. Human righteousness has stepped in and replaced the gift of righteousness. These are pure human works operating without the gift of God. And it doesn’t produce joy; in fact, it sucks away joy like a leech sucks blood. So, the gift of righteousness produces a state of being of joy.

              Now we are going to look at the sense of spiritual authority in the scriptures first. Look at the book of Romans 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

              Because of one man’s sin, Adam’s sin, death reigned. And death includes sicknesses, diseases, demonic oppression and every affliction you can name. All these are included in the reign of death and terror when the devil took over. When righteousness came, a different rule and reign came. When righteousness comes there is power and authority over sickness and disease. In the book of Matt. 10, when Jesus commissioned His disciples to go out two by two to preach, heal and deliver, it didn’t matter what type of disease they may come across in the people they were ministering to. Even when new diseases and sicknesses arise to afflict mankind, all Christians who received the gift of righteousness will have a sense of authority over them. And when sickness tries to attack you, you know that you have the authority over that sickness. You just rebuke it and it leaves. Sometimes sicknesses and demons may be a little bit stubborn. But you allow the gift of righteousness in your life to produce the spiritual authority to cast them out in the Name of Jesus.

              Matt. 10:1 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 

              Notice the word “all” includes everything, discovered and undiscovered, known and unknown. Jesus had authority and power over every sickness and every disease.

              Now turn to Lk. 9:1 the same incident recorded by Luke. Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. Tall ones, short ones, fat ones polka dotted ones, those from the homeland, those from Foreign Countries, as long as they are demons, it says He gave them authority over all demons, over every demon that existed. 

              We know in the bible although the apostles received that power and authority, it took them some time to work out the authority. Because in the very same passage after that experience on the Mount of Transfiguration in Lk. 9 they had difficulty in casting out a demon. Just because they had difficulty doesn’t mean that they don’t have authority. I mean you may be a fully qualified engineer and sometimes some projects are easy but some projects are challenging. The whole idea of building a tunnel under the English channel was conceived by man many decades ago but was only not-so-recently, now… completed. It is an engineering marvel. You know how some engineering projects are more difficult than others since they depend on so many varying factors, the soil condition, the environment, the terrain, the limited space etc. Just because you have difficulty doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. It just means that you have to draw on all your knowledge, resources and experience to accomplish that job. In the same way… spiritually… there are all kind of demons and demons have different personalities. The demon creates different types of environments, sometimes it is slightly more difficult but at all times we have power over every demon. There is not a single demon that we don’t have authority over.

              In Matt. 10, it says we have authority over all sicknesses and diseases. In Lk. 9, it says we have authority over all demons. Now all this authority that Jesus brings forth came from the cross. Even though He had not died on the cross yet… it came from the cross because something happened at the cross that He could impart and exchange for His disciples. To prove that look at Matt. 8:16-17 When evening had come they brought to Him many who were demon possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness. That means that all the demons casting He did and all the healing that He did was based upon the cross of Calvary. And at the cross of Calvary, the most important transaction took place.

              Just as the Old Testament saints could be saved on credit based on the coming work of Christ’s redemption, so likewise, sicknesses and diseases could also be healed and cast out based on the same coming work of Christ’s sacrifice. A long time ago, this  concept was very hard to teach as a matter of fact, most poo-pooed it and it was totally unacceptable in the view of “the Church”…However, now-days it has become theologically acceptable and we are able to teach it without being labeled a heretic. For example, you can buy a car on credit and you sign a loan agreement. Although you have the car, you are using the car, but the car is not yours yet. You are in the process of paying off the loan on your car. You got it on credit. The Old Testament saints could experience grace, mercies, blessings, answers to prayers, healing and miracles on credit, based on the coming atoning work of Jesus Christ. Even during the time of Jesus with His disciples, when Jesus had not died and risen yet, all authority and power that were exercised by Jesus and His disciples flowed from the credit of the cross. Remember when you use credit there IS a payday one day. 

              In the book of I Peter. 2:23-24 Who, when He was reviled did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously, who, Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.

              Every time we read that verse in  1 Peter. 2:22-24, many of us think that since Jesus has died for our sins, we are to go and live properly now. But that’s not what that verse means. It means that from that day forward you can live by His righteousness. And that gift of His righteousness, will bring healing. His righteousness brings authority. His righteousness brings power. And because of that righteousness that was imparted at the cross of Calvary we were healed.

              Just to substantiate that look very carefully at what took place on the cross. Do you know that there was one force that the devil could not destroy? It is that powerful force that Jesus Himself surrendered Himself to - the force of righteousness. Jesus dying on the cross was different from any other human being. Remember there were many other criminals who had died on the cross. It was the Romans’ way of killing people. In fact when Jesus died there were two other thieves who were also crucified. And many had died under that kind of horrible death. But when they took Jesus Christ, stripped Him, beat Him, spit upon Him, nailed His hands on the cross and lifted that cross up into place, He was different from other men. He was Jesus who knew no sin. Isn’t that a difference? There was not one atom of sin in His life. Not one wrong word, not one wrong thought, not one wrong deed He had done nothing sinful at all. They put a sinless man to death.  It was not just a good man. We know in history there were good men who had died but they can’t say that they were sinless in the sight of God. Never before had death ever touched a human body that had no sin, until Jesus offered Himself for you and I on the cross of Calvary.

              It says in I Peter. 2:21 For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps. Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. Never before had a reign of terror that began from the fall of Adam which allowed Satan and his underlings to rule over mankind causing sicknesses, diseases and all manner of destruction, never before had the spirit of death contacted one such a sinless man as Jesus. Even Pontius Pilate tried to release Jesus four times. He kept telling the people that Jesus had done nothing wrong. Yet the Jews shouted, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” He tried again and again to release Him but they still cried, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” He knew no sin.

              My friend if you live righteously and suffer the force that is released in that suffering, you will have power to wipe out every cause that caused that suffering. Not only will it wipe out and conquer it, it will completely annihilate the forces that cause that suffering.

              And Jesus Christ who knew no sin went to the cross willingly. That day was a special day. It was twelve noon when a righteous and sinless man died a death that He didn’t deserve. You know there is a law of God, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God… and the wages of sin is death. Where there is no sin there must not be any death. And Satan in his glee thought he had conquered God. And all the forces of death rallied against Jesus. And at twelve in the afternoon at the time when the sun was at its peak, the skies were full of dark clouds. Even the planet earth, the weather, the clouds, the mountains, the leaves, the plants, all the kingdom of creation, knew that a righteous innocent man was put to death without one sin in His life. There were tremendous forces at work that day and for a moment when they surrounded Jesus to conquer Him, to put Him to death, in the darkness of separation from God that He took for you and I, Jesus Christ cried out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He was left all alone…Jesus died because sin pressed itself upon Him - our sin… not His own.

              Remember the law of God where there is no sin there is no death. And all the forces of sin and darkness pressed upon Him. And when He became sin. God our Father has to turn His tearful face away from His beloved Son. And darkness flooded the spiritual plane and the natural plane.

              Let me read II Cor. 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. And that day all the forces of sin were pressing upon Him and He absorbed them. All the sins of mankind from the first time that Adam fell into sin, through Noah, through Abraham, through David, through the prophets, and all the sins of mankind that mankind was ever going to commit in future were pressed upon Him and He became sin. But remember righteousness was flowing out in His life. And righteousness and sin met. There was a cosmic battle. And suddenly right at the very time that, that righteousness was released Righteousness boldly came forth… It began as a river from the cross. And on the third day, Jesus Christ the RIGHTEOUS arose and my friends, righteousness overcame sin. Good is more powerful than evil. Righteousness is more powerful than sin. And as righteousness came forth, it cancelled sin, it cancelled sicknesses and it cancelled dis-eases. It cancelled the handwriting on the wall that was against us, and it cancelled the right of Satan over this world. It cancelled the right of Satan over human kind. And Satan was destroyed…Brought to ZERO!!!! And all the principalities and powers in Col. 2:15 were stripped of their powers because righteousness is greater than sin. And on that day the forces of righteousness were imparted and in II Cor. 5:21 it says that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

              Now you understand that what happened that day was an exchange of righteousness. Jesus gave us His righteousness. He gave us the righteousness that by His act we were set free. The forces of righteousness came out from Jesus and flooded all over the world. Now, because of that, anyone who receives Him, He can freely make them righteous. And that’s what He means when it says in I Peter. 2:24 that He having taken our sins that we might live righteously because the gift of righteousness was imparted on that day. And from that day onwards, a new power of righteousness has been imputed and imparted on God’s people. A power and authority, authority over Satan, authority over demons, authority over sicknesses and diseases, now belonged to God’s people. That is why in I Peter. 2 Having died to sins might live for righteousness, and when the force of righteousness rules in your life, by His stripes you were healed. From that day onwards no sickness, no diseases, no flu, no cancer, no new kind of affliction, has any authority over the people of God because righteousness now rules.

              That same righteousness is powerful as seen in Romans 8:3-4 where it talks about what the law could not do but what the Spirit has done through the gift of righteousness. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin; He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled. 

              Might be fulfilled - it is not shall be, not coming. But whatever healing, freedom, deliverance are required in our life might be fulfilled through the gift of righteousness through the Spirit in us.

              Then the second thing to know is “in us”. It is not by us. It is not something that you and I have to do. It is not something that you and I have to try to work out by our efforts. But that gift of righteousness will come into our life by the Spirit when we confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. We then receive His righteousness on our behalf. It  came and it’s fulfilled in us. What happens when the righteousness of the law becomes fulfilled in us? That means that automatically you have kept the law. If the just and righteous requirements of fulfilling the law are fulfilled in you, it means that it is as if you have already done it. It is as if you have kept the Ten Commandments, as if you have kept every other commandment of God that God has laid down for this planet earth. It is fulfilled in you as if you have done it. Jesus did it for you and the righteousness of keeping the law has entered into you as if you have done it. It is as if in your life you had never sinned, never had a wrong thought, never had a wrong word, never had a wrong action, that my friends is fulfilled inside you. Even though outwardly it may not be fulfilled yet but it’s in you. Scriptures say that it might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

              And it tells you what to do now. All you have to do is to set your mind on the things of heaven, to be spiritually minded, to mind the things of the spirit. As you think about these things, the gift of righteousness emanates from you powerfully. And as it says in Rom. 8:10 And if Christ is in you, but the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Every force of sin and disease is cancelled in your body as you learn how to release that power in your life. That is why Jesus said, “In My name they shall go forth, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” In Jesus’ name, you shall cast out devils because of the righteousness that flows from your inside.. The imparted seed of God’s authority grows and is ready for harvest and it  comes together with the gift of righteousness.

              Now if you look at Jesus’ life as He walks in that righteousness, you will find that He has complete authority over demons and diseases. You never find Him crying to God for healing. You never find Him crying to God to cast out demons. All He has to do is tell the demons to get out. And the demons were begging Him to let them enter into the pigs. I don’t know why Jesus did it. You can ask Him when you see Him later. Jesus said go and all the demons went into the pigs. But the pigs didn’t like the demons. They’d rather commit suicide than to have demons living inside them. If it were the demons that drove all the pigs into the abyss and killed all the pigs, it would have been an illogical thing to do since they were the ones who asked to go into the pigs. Possibly, they may have done that out of their anger. I imagine the scene could have been different. I mean there was a man with a legion of demons. And there were so many demons in him that although they tied him up he always broke loose. Then when Jesus landed on the shore, here comes this naked hairy man running to them. And Jesus cast out those demons. And the demons were begging Him pleading with Him to let them enter into the pigs. I don’t know why Jesus allowed that. Maybe pork was not His favorite food.

              And Jesus said, “Go,” and the demons came out from that man. How many? Six thousand of them, one legion. Sometimes animals can see demons. Maybe at that time the pigs’ spiritual eyes were opened. And the six thousands demons came out and demons don’t look very handsome. They can try to be handsome but actually, they were all very ugly fellows. As they all came out started charging against the pigs…If I remember correctly, there were about two thousand pigs. That means that there were three demons per pigs. And these demons came charging at the pigs. I can imagine the pigs’ leader hearing some sort of noise. The pigs’ leader looked up and said, “What is that coming against us?” And gave a signal to run. Now this is all my imagination, of course. The head  pig says, “Run for your life.” And the pigs ran, and they have no place to run. So they ran over the cliff… After all… The pigs would rather sacrifice their life than allow dirty demons to enter into them. Although they were pigs and  were dirty.” And they all jumped over the cliff. Two thousand pigs died in one day.

              All the pig’s herdsmen didn’t hear the conversation. All they knew was there were two thousand pigs and the next moment the two thousand pigs were gone. So they also ran… and told the whole town. And the whole town came out to see the story of the two thousand pigs. As they came near the place, they could smell two thousand dead pigs. Then they saw Jesus and the man possessed by demons in his right mind. The words right mind is the same words that we have studied in the last message, “the touch of the mind.”

              There was an authority in Jesus life. When He comes to healing sicknesses and diseases, He never has to beg from God. He just says, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam, be healed.” There is no begging. He knew there was an authority in His life. It was the rule of righteousness. When righteousness rules it exercises authority over sicknesses and diseases and over demons. And the new rule has already begun. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He told His disciples all authority, and power has been given unto Him. And when He sent them out, He sent them with the same authority and power…however, the disciples had to learn about this authority and power and how to use it and flow in it.

              In the book of Acts Chapter 3, the apostles had been preaching the Word and they had been having signs and wonders happening in their lives. It was an ongoing thing. In Acts 2, there was a revival happening and people were meeting together praying in homes and in the temples. They continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread and prayers. One day in Acts 3 Peter and John went up about the ninth hour. And a certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was carried… whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is call Beautiful to ask alms from those who enter the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave his attention expecting to receive something from them. Look at what Peter said in verse 6 Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Peter  knew  what power and authority he had. He knew he had authority. You see we must know our authority over sicknesses and diseases. When you go to the hospital to pray for the sick, it is not whether God wants to heal them. It is whether they believe that the rule of righteousness has begun. It is whether people can believe in the message. It’s a different perspective. You have authority over every sickness and disease but whether we succeed in making the authority rule in another person’s life depends on whether we can convince that person that the authority has already been given in Jesus. And the problem is getting people to believe - not getting God to act – When they believe then the people will be healed.

              Peter said, “Such as I have.” What did he have? He had the authority of Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus, the sense of authority. You have to have authority to say things like that. And flowing in his consciousness was a sense of authority. He knew who his God was. He knew his rights over Satan, over sickness and disease. Remember he was among the twelve too. They had seen it worked before this is nothing new. And in fact, everyday they had passed by that man on their way to the temple … this was not the first time. Everyday they passed by, the man could have gotten healed… any day. But on that day, the man was in a better position to believe. Sometimes when you remain in an atmosphere of faith, your faith grows until you can receive. Remember he was carried there every day that the Disciples went there to preach and teach. He kept hearing the Word of God…it was getting in his heart. At the perfect moment when He was positioned to receive, Peter stopped and spoke to him.

Just like when Paul was preaching the Word in Acts 14, he perceived that the lame man could be healed. Likewise, one day as he passed by the gate Beautiful, Peter sensed that flow of spiritual authority and exercised it to heal that lame man. He said, “Silver and gold I don’t have but what I have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise and walk.” And he took the man by his right hand and lifted him up and he immediately rose on his feet and his anklebones received strength. So he entered the temple with them walking leaping and praising God. This is the result of the authority of Jesus ruling and reigning in our lives.

              And everyone came wondering how the healing took place. And Peter says in verse 12 Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. In verse 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

              Do you notice the faith that comes through Him? It was through the gift of righteousness. Righteousness gives a spiritual authority; authority over sickness and disease. Now it doesn’t mean that when you walk in righteousness you go around doing everything you want to. It means that you know your authority in the Lord Jesus Christ. And at any point when God commands you to use it, you will use it. And at any point when people believe in it and implore you to use it, you use it. And whenever you use it, it works. You remember when Paul was on his way in Acts 16 while preaching the gospel in Philippi everyday, he lived in the house of Lydia the seller of purple. And everyday he would go by the seaside and preach the gospel there. And everyday as he went to and from the  seaside, there was this demon-possessed girl who followed him.

              In Acts 16 we are told in verse 16-18 Now it happened as we went to prayer, that a certain slave and possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”  And this she did for many days. Now you do realize that Paul knew that he had authority. This is the apostle Paul. This is not just Mr. Anybody–else-in-the-church. It is someone who knew his authority as an apostle. So, why didn’t he cast out the demon? He had no reason to. It doesn’t mean that we have authority over sickness and disease and we go out to every hospital and try to clean out the hospital. Some people may not want you to do that. Some people don’t really want to be healed. Then some people don’t believe in the gospel, in the good news that they can be healed. Remember he is not new to these things. This is his second missionary journey. He has completed his first missionary journey and has seen powerful signs and wonders.

              Here is the point… we don’t abuse our spiritual authority. I want to emphasize this… we don’t ever have the right to dominate another human spirit. No one has the right to dominate over another human being’s free will and free spirit. All humans are given free choice. And as Paul walked to and from the seaside everyday to pray and to preach and when he goes back this girl would be following him, shouting, “These men are the servants of the Most High God who has come to tell us of the way of salvation.” Paul was trying to pray at that seaside. All the while Paul was praying, “Father we intercede for the people of Philippi,” this girl would say, “These men are the servants of the Most High God,” This was very irritating.

              Paul had the authority on the first day and the second day, and the third day. But he didn’t exercise his authority until it was necessary. One day she must have gone too far. I don’t know what actually transpired in detail. Maybe that girl got bolder and drew nearer and nearer to Paul and his team.  It says in verse 18 that she overstepped her boundary and Paul was annoyed. They didn’t ask him to cast out that demon so he didn’t disturb that demon. That slave girl belonged to someone else. And no one had brought her for deliverance. The people who owned her didn’t want her to be delivered.

              So Paul was annoyed this one particular day and when she was irritating him,  the bible says... But Paul, greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. No more demon instantly… no more fortune telling. The question I ask is this… Did Paul have the authority on the first day? Yes. But having the authority of God doesn’t mean that we go around flaunting our authority. What we do need to realize in this first point is that when the gift of righteousness comes upon your life, you know you have that authority. However, you may not use it because you are not called to use it. For example, when the devil came to Jesus and said, “Turn these stones into bread.” I believe that Jesus had the power to do it. If Jesus didn’t have the power to do it, it would not have constituted   a temptation. Jesus had the power and the authority. But He did not   use it. He only used it when the Spirit of God commanded it. When the gift of righteousness comes into your life it comes with a sense of authority. You will know it because it burns on your inside. And once in a while flashes of lightening come forth. It is then that God commands you to use it. Then you use it.  You do what you know is right to do; what you are called to do.

              One Evangelist told the story of when he moved to a new house. There were two empty small houses like doll houses in front of his new house. One was a bigger concrete house and one a wooden house. These little buildings had been used to  house idols. That first night in his new home, he had a dream. And in the dream, he saw a spider. He held it and broke its legs. He didn’t know what the meaning of the dream was. The next morning when he went out to take measurements, the first thing he saw was lots of spider webs  and spiders. It suddenly  occurred to him that the dream was reminding him that he had spiritual authority in that place. He found out that the construction workers had not removed those idols… and in fact, had not even touched them since they completed the construction of the other habitable houses there. It was left in the position the last person worshipped at it. So he went in the name of Jesus, threw away the idols and overturned the wooden one because it was light enough to overturn. Then he prayed and called a tractor operator and told him that the idols in these small houses had no more power, and to go level the big cement idol house.” It was on that day after the tractor had crushed the idol house that the power of the principality in that place was broken. The Evangelist told a lot of stories about that area and the people were very superstitious and afraid of the idols from a previous civilization that had lived there.

              Now across the road and on the right side were two temples. People were not supposed to go there and disturb them. It was their land, their property. What they did on their property was none of his business. He had to respect their choice. He was not in his own country. But within his own place, his own territory, he took authority plus he took authority over the air. As he explained…It is important to understand that real spiritual authority exists all the time. And from time to time God tells us to do a certain thing and to go to certain places to tap into the authority but only as the Spirit leads. Here, the people had a right to worship idols on their own property. He had to respect their constitutional rights.  However,  where it is free, he could exercise that authority over the principality of that place. He observed that something had taken place spiritually. As you  take authority, you find that there is openness to the gospel. When we let the gift of righteousness come forth there is a sense of power and authority. Yet, we must only use it in accordance with the will of God. Authority must never be used to impress a person or to rob a person of free will and free choice.

              Now the second important thing is a state of being. When this gift of righteousness comes into your life, sometimes you seem like a mad man to people, because you are no longer of this world. You become very strange to people in this world. Its like a river is flowing in you. Its like something bigger has taken over your life, something bigger than you. It’s like God living in you and taking over your life.
To people you seem crazy or maybe a better word is fanatical… but your state of mind - your state of being is positioned so  that it doesn’t matter. Even the most difficult task looks easy to you. Because it’s a type of consciousness that comes and that joy fills you.

              In the book of I Peter. 1:11 it says…Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  Verse 8 Whom having not seen your love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. 

              He says with joy unspeakable and full of glory. When the gift of righteousness takes over your life, there is a joy and the oil of gladness and that changes your state of being and state of mind in such a way,  that the world doesn’t look like the same place any more. You feel like you have changed into another person. And the things that would normally disturb you no longer disturb you. It’s the gift of righteousness ruling in you. Is it always there? Yes. Why do I act like I don’t have this gift of righteousness then at times? Because you get in the flesh and go back to old habits…they feel good. They feel comfortable. So the old man rises to the occasion. This is where you have to put the flesh under. Tell it that it has no authority and righteousness will prevail.

              Turn to the book of Acts 5 it says here in verse 40 And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Now these people had just received a beating because of the name of Jesus. They suffered for Jesus. If you suffer for Jesus and if it’s not your own work but the gift of righteousness is in you, you won’t feel disheartened for the beating.

(The beating could be physical,  mental or emotional) However, you will only feel the joy. When they were beaten it says in verse 41… So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. Look at that! What a peculiar situation… The joy of the Lord was on their life. They didn’t feel the sorrow or pain of having been beaten and humiliated.

              The oil of gladness makes you spiritually high. We Christians need that spiritual high. We need a spiritual high in God and when you have that you won’t feel the burden, you won’t feel anything. Why do people go out and drink? To forget their problems. But it won’t solve their problems. After the hangover wears off the problems are still there. But in God when you get a spiritual high it helps you solve your problems. And when you come out of it, you say, “Look how God showed me the way to overcome that problem I had. Wow! I didn’t realize that I overcame that.”  You can see it in the results.

              The second thing that these apostles had is the quality known as the oil of gladness. It is the state of being… of joy. It is this same joy that  the apostles Paul and Silas had in Acts 16.  Remember the story of how they cast out the demon in the girl. The people were angry with them. So they arrested Paul and Silas, beat them up and tied their legs up. In all the beating and physical suffering they received, they didn’t complain. They never felt discouraged. They never felt let-down because the oil of gladness was on their life. And the bible tells us in Acts 16 All the prisoners knew that these two new prisoners had joined them, these two new prisoners were different from all the rest. All the rest struggled and complained. Remember when you have the joy of the Lord you don’t feel your problem. You overcome your problem. Every time someone put the whip on them… because of righteousness they’d say, “Alleluia that’s good.” 

              That is hard to believe…You may not believe it … So,  I am going to show you how Paul felt afterwards. When all these things came against him at mid-night … when all was quiet… Paul and Silas were busy praising God. Maybe they couldn’t sleep. If  any one of you find it hard to sleep tonight, worship God. Then, suddenly they hear the voices of Paul and Silas, “Alleluia, praise the Lord,” and they sang hymn after hymn. They sang so loud that the whole prison heard them. They had a captive audience even if they didn’t like it… too bad…they couldn’t go anywhere else. Acts 16:25, At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.  Two crazy guys… Now, in the natural world they look crazy. What kind of guys are these? You beat them up and they say, “Alleluia.” You punch them they ask, “How about the other side?” These are strange fellows. They just sing hymn after hymn. And by now,  all the prisoners were wide-awake. As they listened, in verse 26 suddenly an earthquake came. No one had ever seen that before. That wasn’t the half of it… all their chains fell off, and there was tremendous power released. The jailor nearly killed himself out of fear…but Paul stopped him. From that day on, they knew Paul and Silas were no ordinary people. The oil of gladness was on their life.

              Turn with me to II Cor. 12 let’s take a look at the kind of attitude that is produced by the gift of righteousness. Paul says these things he had to learn. Verse 7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly l will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ rest upon me. So Paul had to learn that when there was a situation in his life…when he was facing hardship and difficulty he had to tap into the strength of God.

              Now verse 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities. The word pleasure is something you enjoy. Now Paul says I take pleasure in difficulties. Why, because to the world he was like a mad man. He was filled with the Spirit and drunk with the Spirit. He was filled with the oil of gladness. Sometimes you read in the newspaper bizaare stories like a drunk climbed into the zoo and slept with the tigers and lions. Only drunk people would do that. You and I have been to the zoo but we would never climb into the lions cage. When they sober up, they find themselves in great trouble and very bad situations.

              Maybe you are facing a problem and you are working diligently  at solving your problem. Try tapping into the gift of righteousness. When the gift of righteousness comes on the scene, it produces wisdom, it produces power and grace to do what needs doing. It produces favor on your behalf and it fills you with the oil of joy. When you look at what’s before you, you say, “Alleluia this is marvelous.” You could be handling lions…yet without realizing the difference is that the drunkenness  you are in is in the Spirit and it is in  a different realm. The realm that solves your problem. It doesn’t make you insensitive to the problem but it helps you solve the problem.

              Paul says, “I take pleasure in infirmities.” Infirmities didn’t affect him any more because the oil of gladness was in his life. He has entered into the state of being of joy. How many of you agree that it wouldn’t be easy to go through the cross? You and I have crosses to bear but none of our crosses can compare to the giant one that Jesus bore for us. Do you know how Jesus went through the cross? Read Heb. 12:2 Jesus looked forward to the cross with joy. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. If you removed the joy Jesus couldn’t have endure the cross. But before Jesus went to the cross, He was in the Garden of Gethsemane and He prayed through. We always make the Garden of Gethsemane sound so pitiful. But when you pray through you know the result - joy. I know He agonized until he sweat blood  and it flowed down from Him. But the fact is He prayed through. When He prayed through the joy filled His life. When the disciples were sad and sorrowful, Jesus in the gospel of John Chapter 14 said, “Let not your heart be sorrowful or be troubled.” What did Jesus begin to tell them? “The joy that I have I give to you” because Jesus was infused with joy. He was ready for the cross. And because of that, He could endure the cross successfully.

              If right now, you have nothing to look forward to, if you have nothing in life that makes you joyful or nothing that can make you happy, do you know life is not worth living? Even the simple joy of having a good lunch or a good friend, or a good fellowship, or something… Life is made from all these joys. If we don’t have a single joy in our life or a single moment of happiness life is not worth living. Joy is an important source of life …continuing in our life and enabling us to do greater and greater things with God. And when the gift of righteousness enters into you, it increases your ability to enjoy the joy of the Lord. As the oil of joy…the oil of gladness… flows through your life, the capacity to rejoice is greater.

              These two areas operate in your life when the gift of righteousness is in your you.

No. 1  A Sense of authority.

If you have a sense of fear then the gift of righteousness is not operating. It brings a sense of authority and faith.

No. 2 The state of being of joy.

You know its no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you. And no matter what happens you rejoice in the Lord knowing that in the end it all works out for good. All you have to do is hang in there with the joy of the Lord.