 Contrary to what you may have been told, it's possible to stand perfect before God and it's much easier than you might think. So when I talk about you standing before God perfected, I'm talking about standing in the righteousness of Christ. I'm talking about standing in the finished work of the cross. When Jesus was crucified and God looked upon him, God saw your sin. So after you've put your faith in the finished work of the cross, when God looks at you, he sees the righteousness of Christ. There was an exchange made at the cross. He took upon himself our sin and in exchange he gave us his righteousness. We take on the righteousness of Christ. We stand in that righteousness by faith. Now of course, we live holy. We strive to live in holiness. We strive to live in righteousness. We strive to do the will of God. We avoid sinful things, not as an attempt to save ourselves, but rather as an offering of worship to thank God for having saved us. Those who've truly been saved, those who've truly been transformed have a desire for holiness. So I'm not saying that you don't need to live holy. You absolutely need to live holy because that desire for holiness comes about as a result of God having saved you. But you must recognize that your position in him secures you in righteousness. God looks and sees the righteousness of Christ when he sees you. I know it may not always feel that way, but that's because we have the tendency to think in religious fashions. We try to save ourselves, but there's nothing that you or I could do to save ourselves, for the Scripture says in Romans 3.20. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing with the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. So again, let me clarify this. We're saved by faith and we put that faith in the finished work of the cross. When we put our faith in the finished work of the cross, when we put our faith in Jesus, we by faith take on the righteousness of Christ. And so we are righteous before God. We are perfect before God. We are holy before God. It's already done. This does not mean that we can just go on sinning. Rather, this means that because we've been positioned in righteousness that there will be a true genuine desire to begin to live holy. If you have a desire to live holy, if you're frustrated with your sin, if you're frustrated with your flesh, if you have this desire to be like Christ, that is evidence that you are in fact in the righteousness of Christ. But we have to make this clear because the Scripture makes it clear that in no way could you ever save yourself. We are desperately lost without Christ. The law is rules, regulations, codes, standards, and the law can't save anyone. Why? Because we fail. You see, if we were saved by the law, then we would be the ones saving ourselves because we would be the ones fulfilling the law. But no one can save themselves. The law is simply a mirror that God gives us. A mirror in which we can see our spiritual reflections, our spiritual state, our spiritual flaws. When we look into the Word of God, we see ourselves reflected in truth and we see how we don't measure up to God's standard. So God's law was given to us as a standard to show how holy He is. James 1, 22-25 says this, But don't just listen to God's Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves for if you listen to the Word and don't obey it, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like, but if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free. And if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. So the law is the standard that God gives us. It's the mirror that He says, Here is my holiness and here is how you compare to my holiness. The law was given to us that we might see that we could never be like God on our own. So that's the place, that's the purpose of the law. Now Romans 1, 16 says this, For I am not ashamed of this good news about Christ. It is the power of God at work saving everyone who believes the Jew first and also the Gentile. Now what is this good news? What is this wonderful story that God wants us to hear about? It's the fact that Christ fulfilled the law, Christ lived a perfect sinless life, and that by putting our faith in Him, we too can have that righteousness. Matthew 5.17 says, Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. So Jesus, when He was here upon the earth, lived a life of absolute perfection. He lived unto perfection. Every minute of every day, every second of every minute, Christ was in the perfect wheel of God. Never once violating God's holy standard, never once sinning, never once allowing Himself to indulge in a worldly pleasure that contradicted the nature of God. Christ lived unto perfection. So here's how it works. You know, I travel a lot and probably my least favorite way to travel is by airplane, but it's also the most efficient. I don't like traveling by plane because you kind of just sit there in a tube for several hours and you have to deal with the airport and the baggage claim and the this and the that. And it's a little bit chaotic. I enjoy the idea of traveling, but actually being in an airplane is not one of my favorite places to be. But I'm thankful for the opportunity to travel for ministry. But I'm thankful in this sense. I don't have to drive those long distances. I don't have to walk those long distances. I mean, think about the fact that years and years and years ago to go from the East Coast to the West Coast to the United States was a very long journey and possibly a deadly journey. People would get sick along the way. People would die along the way. Then came the invention of cars. Cars came along and caused us to be able to travel faster and then airplanes. And now we can fly from the East Coast to the West Coast in about three or four hours. But you see, when I get on that plane, all I have to do is sit there. All I have to do is stay on the plane. Sometimes we'll sit there. I'll read a little bit. Sometimes they bring us snacks. But the whole time I'm sitting there. I'll write. I like to write a good portion of my books on the airplane and I'm working. I'm reading or snacking and then the ride is over. Then we're at our destination. Now was I the one who flew from the East Coast to the West Coast? No. I simply trusted the pilot. I simply got in the plane. I simply boarded the craft. I stepped into the airplane and let it take me where I needed to go. In the same way, when we have faith in Christ, we are stepping into Him. We live righteously, vicariously through Him. In that vicarious living or in that living through Him, we have the righteousness of Christ. All we have to do is remain in Him. All we have to do is stay seated. All we have to do is trust Him, get on and go along for the ride. Romans 3, 21-22 says, But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Christ and this is true for everyone who believes no matter who you are. So what's required of us? Faith. And faith, if it's genuine, will of course produce holy living. Faith, if it's genuine, will of course produce works. Faith, if it's genuine, will of course demonstrate itself in the way that we live. So we're not doing good works to be saved. We do good works because we are saved. We rest in Him. We stand in that perfection. We take on the righteousness of Christ. You have to start seeing yourself the way that God sees you because it's the most liberating way to see yourself. If you still see yourself as some lowly sinner, unredeemed, still living in this sin nature and a part of this world and under the influence of darkness, then guess what? That's what's going to manifest in your life. But once you recognize in confidence I am the righteousness of God, I am holy before Him, I am spotless in His sight, I am forgiven of my sins, once you recognize that truth, then sin loses its power over you. Then those habits begin to lose their stranglehold. Why? Because walking in the freedom of God's forgiveness and grace and mercy and righteousness is what enables you to break the power of sin over your life. Not in beating yourself up over your mistakes, but in thanking Christ for having taken the beating for your mistakes and saying, okay, He took the punishment. Thank you for that good news. Now I believe I'm saved. I believe I'm the righteousness of Christ. I believe that I'm walking in holiness by faith through Him and then that begins to manifest in your life. It's by faith Romans 4 1-3 says, Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God's way. For the Scriptures tell us Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of his faith. Hebrews 11-6, and it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. God has always been looking for faith. We cannot satisfy God except through Christ and we cannot be in Christ except through faith. Romans 5 1 says, Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Notice that it says that we have been made right. That's past tense. It's already done. In the heavenly realm, you are already standing in the righteousness of God. You may not see it manifest in your life right away, but so long as you are in the process, you will reach one day the perfection. 2 Corinthians 5-21, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. When you live by faith, God sees Christ in you. Adam, the first man, took for himself from a tree and brought about death. Jesus gave of himself upon a tree and brought about life. You are the righteousness of Christ. You are holy in God's sight. Recognize your position. Recognize your identity. Recognize how God sees you and it will break the power of sin over your life. You're not doing it. Jesus did it. It's not to be done. It is finished. God has finished the work of righteousness. That is your position. Now, as you're sanctified, eventually what you live will match up to your standing in heavenly places. But by faith, you must know you are the righteousness of Christ. You are standing holy, standing perfect before God. Father, I pray that by the Holy Spirit, you would allow this revelation to ignite faith in our spirits. And I pray, Father, that we would see all religious mindsets broken from off of our lives today in the name of Jesus. I rebuke all deception. I rebuke all lies. And I pray, Holy Spirit, that by the light of your truth, you would reveal and expose the deception. Causes to live freely in what you've done. Causes to live holy in what you've done. Causes to live as the righteousness of Christ, knowing that we've been made right with you by faith. Release them, Lord, from the bondage of fear. Release them, Lord, from the bondage of religious thinking. Release them, Lord, from all powers of deception. In the name of Jesus, we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say, Amen. Now, tell me, what do you do when you become frustrated with your own behavior? What do you do when you become frustrated with your own behavior? Let me know in the comments section below. And now, I want to read your comments from a previous video that we released titled, Watch This If You Feel Distant From God. This was about a five-minute sermon highlight where I talked about the importance of the word because the word draws us closer to him. And here are the comments from that video. By the way, if you're watching us on YouTube, subscribe, click the notification bell. That's very important. And follow us wherever you're watching us. So here are the comments from Watch This If You Feel Distant From God. The first commenter writes, this was the right word at the right time. We need to get back to the basics and get back into the word. If you don't have time for the word, rearrange your life to get into the word. Powerful words from heaven. God bless you, David, for preaching the unadulterated gospel. Caesar writes, I needed to hear this. Thank God for you and your ministry, Pastor David. SoulInTraining commented, this hit home for me. I know that this message was for me. I'm going to do better. And the final comment I'll read from this video comes from Erica, who writes, Amen. I've also asked questions and tried to look for answers without going to the word of God first. And my impatience made it harder to see and receive the blessings that I could have had sooner if I had just sat down and read my Bible. We need to get to know God through his word. I want to share a scripture with you. Matthew chapter 6, verse 33. But seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. You know, you hear a lot of talk these days about political unrest or economic instability. And there are so many rumors. There's so much information. There's so much coming at us that if we're not careful, we can begin to forget that God is sovereign, that God has authority over it all. So I want to encourage you right now to release your fear and grab hold of faith. I want to challenge you to step out in faith and to sow a financial gift into this ministry right now. This will help us continue to create the content, to do the events around the world. And by the way, we release all of that for free because we believe freely we have received, so freely we give. So help us to freely give. Help us to continue to produce everything that we're doing, the live streams, the videos, the events, and the Holy Spirit School. Help us win souls, help us build believers, help us spread the gospel all around the world. Give a one-time gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com. Or become a monthly supporter. This is very important. Become a monthly supporter by going to davidhernandezministries.com. I encourage you to go to the website davidhernandezministries.com. And take a look at all of the gifts that we give to our monthly supporters, all of the benefits to being a supporter on a monthly basis. Of course, you know you're pleasing the Lord, you're helping us to win souls, you're accomplishing the will of God in the earth, but we're asking you to become a monthly supporter as well as if the Holy Spirit should lead you to give a one-time gift. So again, give a one-time gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com. Become a monthly supporter by going to davidhernandezministries.com. Do it today if you believe in what we're doing, if you're blessed by the content, and you want to join hands with us to make a difference around the world. Yes, I'm talking to you. Don't think it's somebody else watching this video. It's you. I'm inviting you, I'm challenging you. Join us and help us reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. Make a one-time donation, or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the Donate link now.