Righteousness and Identity: Walking in Your True Nature

Cleaned from the live recording. Lightly edited for reading.

Bridging the divide needs one nature

Good morning. Thank you very much for that warm welcome. We'll continue where we left off last week.

Last week, as you heard from the ministers earlier, we dealt with bridging the gap, the old and the new. And I was laughing, because the foundation of that has to do with righteousness. The week before we spoke on righteousness. If we're going to bridge the gap, we need to return to 2 Corinthians 5:21. (2 Corinthians 5:21, read by Elder Lambert)

If we're going to bridge the gap between the old and the new, we must have a common mind. We must have a common nature. Can two walk together unless they agree? (Amos 3:3) We need to make sure we're serving the same God and have one common goal and one common vision.

As I mentioned last week, if there isn't a common goal or common vision, you'll find one generation builds and the other tears down. One generation goes forward, and the next generation decides east wasn't the right direction, we should go west. And instead of building something generational, we end up starting from scratch, over and over again.

Moses and Joshua

Minister Candice shared some powerful insights last week, and one of them came out as we looked at Moses and Joshua. Moses was used by God as a deliverer to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. When we look at Moses' worship life, his time in the presence of God, we find at the tent of meeting that when Moses stepped out, many times Joshua would remain (Exodus 33:11). Joshua was a lover of the presence of God, just like his spiritual father. Moses was leading, but Joshua was following very closely. He was passionate.

When the elders were taken up the mount to see God, the Bible says they saw God. God asked Moses to come up, and Joshua went to a certain part higher than where the other elders went (Exodus 24:9-13). So Joshua learned how to follow Moses, how to be close to him, how to enjoy the presence of God, how to hear the voice of God. Moses came down from the mountain with his face shining. But Joshua could have said something rubbed off, something rested on me as I walked with Moses.

In Joshua chapter 1 God said to Joshua, "Moses my servant is dead. Now be strong and courageous. Arise and go, lead the children of Israel into the promised land" (Joshua 1:2, 6). This was so significant to me when we talk about bridging the old and the new.

And excuse me if I don't say bridging the old and the new, and I just say bridging the divide. Because some of you are looking at me and saying, "I'm not old." We know that.

God was able to put his hand on Joshua and say, "Arise, be strong and courageous. I know you're grieving because your spiritual father is no longer here, but it's time for you to assume leadership. It's time for you to take the people forward." Which means Joshua knew where his spiritual father was heading. He understood the vision. Joshua didn't have to ask God, "Where should I lead them? Where are we heading?" He knew that instinctively from following Moses. He knew Moses was heading to the promised land. So when God said, "Moses my servant is dead, arise and go forward," he knew exactly where to take them.

So if we talk about bridging the divide, bridging one generation of leaders to another, they must have a common vision. We all must know where we're heading.

Where Throne Room is going

Where are we heading, Throne Room? This is a good place to ask that question. If you notice, the setup has changed. Where are we going? We're going global. We're going into homes. We're not just going physically, we're going technologically. We're streaming into people's homes.

So as a church we need to bridge the divide. There was one way we were doing it in the past, but with this present generation, post-COVID or a little before, everything seems to be done on multimedia platforms. That's where you're reaching the young people. There are certain people we'll never reach physically, but we can reach them electronically. So I know some people up here will have to get accustomed to the different setting and the change in how we're doing things.

Where are we going? Throne Room: imparting the realities of heaven and transforming lives. We believe we're people of his presence. We believe we're people of revelation. We believe we're people who dwell in his tangible presence.

When we say Throne Room International, we're not talking about a church. We're speaking about portable thrones. God lives and resides in our hearts, in our spirit, and wherever we go people must be able to hear him, feel him, see him. We're raising up people so that when we send them out into the world and into the nations, when people want to inquire of God, they can speak to them. You need a touch from God, they can lay their hands on you. You need the comfort of God, they're there for you. They're portable thrones.

So when the Bible says the earth shall be filled with the glory of God (Habakkuk 2:14), we believe it, because we're raising up people who walk in his glory, and everywhere they go people experience his glory. Hence the name Throne Room International.

Many times people ask me about "Marshall Lambert Ministries." I say it's okay, but my heart is Throne Room International. I had a dream standing in the throne room of God and hearing God say to me, "Welcome to his throne room." And then I heard myself saying to other people, "Welcome to his throne room." That's the type of people we're raising up. Wherever they are, you can experience the presence of God and the voice of God.

When Moses came down from the mount, he didn't leave the presence of God up there. He came down with it. And the word of God says that was a fading glory. We have a more excellent, unfading glory (2 Corinthians 3:7-11). So if people could experience that with Moses, they can experience more than that with you and me. Put your hands together for yourselves.

Everywhere you go, people must be able to see God, hear God, and feel God. That's what Throne Room is about.

Imparting the realities of heaven

When we talk about imparting the realities of heaven: Jesus taught his disciples to pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9-10). Whatever is happening in heaven must be done on earth. That's what we believe.

There's no sickness in heaven. There's no sorrow in heaven. So when we talk about being portable thrones, wherever you go you must bring joy. Wherever you go you must be a solution for people's need. Wherever you go there must be deliverance. You're looking at me like that. I know you're excited. But that's how you live your life on the earth.

People are looking for solutions. They're looking for God. And every time people look for God, God sends a man or a woman. God won't step down from heaven and say, "Here I am." He will send you. He will send me. So we need to be prepared to be sent by God.

God is still asking the question he asked Isaiah: "Whom shall I send?" Isaiah said, "Here I am, send me" (Isaiah 6:8). God sent an angel to speak to Cornelius. Cornelius gave, Cornelius prayed, Cornelius was a good man. But when all was said and done, the angel said, "Go and find Simon Peter" (Acts 10:1-6). God always uses a man or a woman. If we don't understand that, we'll miss God. But you won't miss God. You're hearing this message today.

When Paul wrote to the churches about Timothy, he asked, "Didn't he walk like I did? Are we not of one mind?" Paul called him his son. Not his biological son, but they had one spirit and one mind when it came to the ministry. One purpose. That's what we mean by bridging the generations. One mind, one purpose.

When sons and daughters from this ministry go out there, that's the passion. That's the heart. And if we're going to have one mind, it means we need to have one Father. Jesus taught them to pray, "Our Father." Say, "My Father. God is my Father. I'm a child of God." The scripture says so.

Everyone who practises righteousness is born of him

(1 John 2:28-29, read aloud)

If you know that God is righteous, you know that everyone who practises righteousness is born of him. So if we say we're children of God, we have one Father, one vision. And we know God is what? Righteous.

Especially in Pentecostal circles we always say God is a Spirit. Tell your neighbour, this Spirit is righteous. And if we're born of the Spirit of God, we have to be righteous. That's our DNA. 2 Corinthians 5:21 told us Christ became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. And 1 John 2:29 says if you know that he is righteous, you know everyone who practises righteousness is born of him.

What manner of love (1 John 3:1)

"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God" (1 John 3:1).

Hold on. Pay attention. Examine it. Marvel at it. This manner of love the Father has bestowed on you. Just think about God. This all-powerful, all-knowing, exalted, eternal God, the one who created the cosmos, loves you so much that he didn't call us servants.

This is another thing we need to understand. Yes, we're servants of God in doing his work, in carrying out his work. But in terms of relationship with him, we are children. We're sons and daughters.

One of the things destroying the church is that many people can only approach him as servants. So for everything you need, you beg, you wonder, you go to him in fear. But sons go in boldness. You go in love. Sons understand the nature and heart of the Father. God is a good Father. And the scripture says here he is not just a good Father, he is a Father filled with love. God loves you.

He's saying to the church, "I love you so much I didn't abandon you at the. I love you so much that I made sure everything I have, you have access to. So I affixed my name to yours. I affixed the family name to yours." You carry his family name, not just his DNA.

When you show up at the palace, when you show up in heaven, nobody will wonder whether to let you in. "This is a son. This is a daughter. They have a right here. They were born for here. This place was built for them."

When you understand the gospel like this, your prayer will change. Your walk with God will change. Your level of faith will change.

God is preparing a place for you. It's been built for you. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). Did he say, "I'm going to prepare a place and you'll be outside? I'll build a little shack for you in the yard, build a big gated community for me and the Father, and you'll be somewhere outside"? No. He's saying, "What I'm doing in heaven is for you. It's for family. You belong there."

"That we should be called children of God." Not bastards. Not servants. Not angels. Children. The scripture says angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14). It's the other way around. They are marvellous creatures, but they're servants. They're here to help us, at the instruction of our Father.

"Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know him." You're a different type of creature.

Another creation after Genesis 1

There's something I'm developing. The Holy Spirit was talking to me this morning, and I'll develop it later and bring it out. He was saying to me, "Did you notice there was another creation after Genesis 1?" Some of you are looking at me right now: what is he talking about? God created a different type of being after Genesis 1. I'm going to whet your appetite and leave it there. It's not heresy. It's right in your Bible. You quote it all the time and don't know it.

You said it. We are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). There's a type of being created after Adam, and there's a type of being created after Christ. And just as God prepared an earth for Adam, the Bible says he's created a new heaven and a new earth for this type of creation (Revelation 21:1). I'm going to develop that later, because there are so many implications in what the Lord was talking to me about this morning.

Now we are children of God (1 John 3:2)

"Beloved, now we are children of God" (1 John 3:2).

Wait, wait, wait. You're reading that. When are you children of God? When you get to heaven? These are the kinds of things we sometimes don't understand. Some people are waiting to die.

That's why the teaching on the new creation is one I need to unpack before I start teaching it. Because if you're children of God now, as 1 John 4:17 says, "as he is, so are we in this world," there are big implications. If we're now children of God, something needs to change in our mind. There needs to be a renewing.

Too many of us are walking after the flesh, walking after the senses, walking after what we see and hear, walking after what we believe to be us. This is good news, and we can't believe it, so we try to change it. You know why? Because religion says to us, "This can't be true, because of what's happening to you right now."

But the Bible didn't say you'll be children of God one day. The Bible says, "Behold, now we are." Tell your neighbour, "You don't know me like you should know me." Paul said, "From now on we regard no one according to the flesh" (2 Corinthians 5:16). Stop looking at me like that. I'm more than what you can see with natural eyes. I'm a child of God.

"And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be." Hold on. That's why you can't look at me the way you looked at me and judge me the way you judged me. There's something about me you cannot see clearly yet. You get a little glimpse here and there. But the time is coming. "We know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

Built for him

That's why I want to develop this. When Adam saw Eve, what did he say? "This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23). When Jesus sees you: excellence of my excellence, glory of my glory, light of my light.

The Bible says you are the bride of Christ. When you're revealed, you won't be something that looks ugly and unkempt. You'll look like someone who matches his glory and his excellence, built and created for him.

It won't be like some of the weddings you go to, where you look at the groom and the bride and wonder what kind of mismatch this is. How did he find she, or she find him? There's a disconnect. Something is wrong here. You look at the groom and realise he's not there. You look at the bride and realise she's not there. They want to escape. You can tell with your own eyes it would be better if one escaped and left the other. I'm going to leave it there.

But this marriage will be beautiful. Built for one another. The Bible tells us our Father will have a big wedding celebration in heaven, preparing the church, the bride, for his Son (Revelation 19:7-9). You'll be built and prepared for him. That's going to be a match truly made in heaven.

"We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." You are more privileged than Moses. Moses asked to see his face, and God said no one can see my face and live (Exodus 33:20). But the Bible is saying here, because you've been recreated, because you've been made like him, you can see him and not die, because life lives in you. Eternal life lives in you. I'm so excited about this, but I need to bring it back some other time. I want to stay on course.

He who has this hope purifies himself (1 John 3:3)

"And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure" (1 John 3:3).

Now we're going into the aspect of righteousness where it has to be worked out. Anyone who has this hope, what hope? That a day is coming when I'll be just like him.

When you understand this, you share the gospel with passion. And you stop telling people just to come to church to go to heaven, because heaven is not the big thing about the gospel. Heaven is just a perk. The big thing about the gospel is that God sent his Son to make more sons, to enlarge the family.

Just as we call him the Son of God, Jesus said the Father loved them just as he loves him (John 17:23). The same love the Father has for the Son, he has for us. When we understand this, we understand God is not just preparing a place for us. He's preparing us for that place.

So you purify daily. If you have this hope, you need to purify yourself. Remove every contaminant, everything that defiles your life, everything that makes you not look right. Every bride makes herself look her best. When you see her that day, she wants to look her best. Because I am his beloved, every day I want to look my best.

I've never seen a bride, just before the wedding, realise there's garbage in the yard, go outside and light it, and then show up smelling like garbage smoke. No. She purifies herself. When they were preparing the women for King Ahasuerus, they bathed them in oils and perfumes for many days to present them to the king (Esther 2:12). Carry the fragrance of God.

He was manifested to take away our sins (1 John 3:4-5)

"Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4). I know some of you are saying this passage is hitting home now and looking almost impossible. Whoever commits sin is breaking the law. You're a lawbreaker.

"And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin" (1 John 3:5). Tell your neighbour, in him there is no sin. If he made me free, I'm free indeed (John 8:36).

(Ephesians 2:4-7, read aloud. He asks for the King James rather than the Amplified: "When we read the Amplified for ourselves we understand it, but reading to an audience there are so many things in parentheses that it brings confusion.")

Everything is in and through Christ. We need to understand this, because when Jesus went to the cross, he wasn't on the cross alone. Many Christians only see the two thieves, but there were more than two thieves on the cross. There was a whole world of thieves. Past, present and future hung there with him.

The Bible says we were crucified with him (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:6). We need to understand that to understand why he said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). It was our sin. It was us there the Father was turning his back on.

So on that cross he died, and all of us died with him. All of us went down with him. You need to understand this to understand the gospel. God executed every human being on the cross in Christ. And when he rose from the dead, each one of them rose with him. God did everything necessary for salvation and eternal life on the cross in Christ Jesus. Everything is there. It only remains for you to decide whether you'll take it.

That's what the Christian life is about. Jesus didn't have to die. Jesus could have skipped the crucifixion, but he went there for us.

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The only way he could take away sins was by dying. God executed all of us in him, buried all of us, and raised us. Now he's given an invitation: "I've made everything available for you. You either take it or leave it." That's why God sends no human being to hell. He made every provision for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) and says to you, "Here it is." You can take it, or you can go along and take death.

And when you read Ephesians 2:4-7, it says we are in him. And if I'm in him, and there's no sin in him...

"That can't be true, you know what you did yesterday"

Now we're getting to the point you want. I see some of you: "Let me see where this is going, because of what happened yesterday."

When you hear sermons like this, the enemy says it cannot be true, because you know what you did yesterday. You know what you did last week. When I was younger and read this scripture, I used to say to myself, "There have to be some typos in here. Somebody made mistakes in the translation. Because if I am in Christ, I know myself."

But now that I've matured in God, I understand. Indeed I know myself. And the person the enemy is reminding me about died. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). Reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11).

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning (1 John 3:6)

"Whoever abides in him does not sin" (1 John 3:6). You just read that and something cringed inside of you. Now you're wondering, am I really a child of God?

Give me the ESV. "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." This is what I want to get to you. The King James is a lovely version and I encourage you to read it. But when you look at the Greek of that word, it means that if you continue sinning, it has become your nature. Whoever abides in him does not continue sinning.

So if you keep on sinning, you have neither seen nor known God. Just look around. Don't say anything. Just look at a neighbour. Don't tell them anything.

Some people say, "Don't judge me. Only God can judge me. Only God knows if I'm a Christian." You can know if people are Christians. By their fruits (Matthew 7:16). If you continue sinning, the Bible says you don't know God. You have not seen him.

Practise righteousness (1 John 3:7)

"Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practises righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous" (1 John 3:7).

Talk to the scripture. Don't let nobody deceive you, Marshall. Whoever practises righteousness is righteous, because he is righteous. Not talks righteousness. Practises righteousness, because God is righteous.

I am a practitioner of righteousness. I live righteously. I speak righteously. I do righteous things. I am righteous inside and outside. You made me righteous, and this righteousness is oozing out of every part of my life. In my words. In my actions. In every part of me.

I don't look like one thing and when you bite me you get something else. I ain't no mixed fruit. We have too many grafted Christians. You look at them and think it's an orange, and when you bite them you get lime. That's not us.

The burger at Giftland

When you bite me, you get exactly what it is. I don't advertise one thing and sell another.

I was at a place the other day in Giftland, and they were selling burgers. I saw the nice sign. It looked lovely. I said to the staff, "Can I have one just like that?" She looked at me and said, "We don't have like that." I said, "What you mean you don't have like that? All right, it may not be big like that, but give me everything that's in that one." She laughed. "Sir, we don't have none like that." She told me what I could get in one. When I got it, it didn't even have what she told me. I said to myself, I'm never going back there to buy again. They're advertising what they're not selling. And the one version they told you they could give you was watered down further when you got it, for the same price.

God is not like that, and he doesn't want us to be like that. Whatever you are, if you're righteous, be righteous.

Here's what some Christians do. They do the wrong thing and then say, "Brother, I'm working out my righteousness." That's unbiblical. You're either righteous or you're not.

As you go through John's writing you'll see a progression. He talks to little children, to young men, and to those who are fully grown (1 John 2:12-14). To the little children he says, "Let no one deceive you. He who practises righteousness is righteous, just as God is righteous."

Two natures (1 John 3:8)

"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil" (1 John 3:8). Hold on. That's your Bible. Here we see two natures at work. Some people, when you tell them "no, no, that's devilish," will say, "Who you judging?" The Bible says it.

I asked a young man at the burger place, "Do you have beef burgers?" He looked at me strange and said, "Of course." I asked again, "Is it beef like how we know it in Guyana?" He said yes. I asked again, because I remember last year, waiting on a plane in Dubai, I bought a burger from McDonald's, and when I bit it I threw the thing in the garbage. Waste of time. Whatever they were thinking, whatever it was, it tasted unnatural. I threw it away and drank my drink, and even that was something else by our standard here.

So I said to him, "It's not like those McDonald's things that tell you it's beef?" He said, "No, man, we're Chinese. It's all good in there." When I got it, it had sprinkles of beef and something else. You call it a beef patty? You should call it a patty sprinkled with beef. If you say beef patty, I'm expecting the majority of the ingredient to be beef.

Don't let a Christian walk be like that. When we say we're children of God, don't be plenty sons and plenty daughters but a little bit of God.

You know when some people say they're related to a certain family, and you say, "But I don't see the resemblance"? "Yes, I'm a long, far-off family." They're related to somebody who's related to somebody, and they think they have a little resemblance. God doesn't want us to be like that. He made us children. He made us sons. Not great-great-great-great, fifteen generations down, where you see no resemblance of the Father. When he looks at you he sees his Son, Christ Jesus. You were made in his image and his likeness. When people reach you, they must reach God.

Too much self

Let me give you an example. Jesus went up the mountain and was transfigured, with Peter, James and John. As soon as he came down there was a father. "Jesus, I need your help. I came with my son, and your disciples weren't able to help me." Jesus looked at them and said, "How long will I be with you?" In other words, "You haven't learned anything. I've been imparting and imparting, but nothing is coming out. Nothing is being produced like me." He took the child and healed him.

And I love the disciples. They understood that being like him, they should be doing what he's doing. They asked, "Master, why weren't we able to do this?" He said, "This kind comes out only by prayer and fasting" (Mark 9:29; Matthew 17:21). You know what he was telling them? Tell your neighbour. He was telling them there's too much self in you. There's too much "I" in you. Let self die. Starve it. Let Christ be seen. If you let one nature die, the other one comes through.

Destroy the works of the devil

"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). Notice it's continuous. The devil has been sinning from the beginning, and the devil had a lot of children. Go back and read Ephesians chapter 2 (Ephesians 2:1-3). We were all once children of disobedience, carried away with our passions. Jesus came to destroy that.

So if there's anything operating in your life that looks a little devilish, let the finished work of Jesus take control of it. Let it be destroyed. I know sometimes some of us don't want it destroyed, because it's giving us a little earthly benefit. A little earthly pleasure. It's a little sweet.

You know how you eat some things and you know you shouldn't eat them? Like me with milk. I used to drink milk plenty, plenty, plenty. I'd eat curry,, drink milk, and just settle. Then I went on a prolonged fast, and when I came off the fast, from the time the milk went in, it came out. And I know that was deliverance. But I like the milk. So from time to time I still take a little, and then you have to brace yourself. You can't drink it at certain times in certain places.

Some of us treat sin like that. It's nice, we don't want to leave it alone. But there are repercussions. Be very careful.

Sin is foreign to you (1 John 3:9)

"No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God" (1 John 3:9). Let's say that loudly. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.

When you understand it this way: tell your neighbour, it's foreign to you. Let me tell you what sin is like. When you're born of God and sin tries to attach itself to you, you reject it.

For those in the medical field: if they give you somebody's heart or kidney, what do they have to give you for life? (A sister in the medical field answers: medication so your antibodies don't fight against the new organ.) Why do they have to give you that? Because your body is telling you that organ does not belong to you. It's foreign.

It's like sin. For a Christian, sin is foreign to the body. It's foreign to the spirit. So right away, in those born of God, there's an adverse reaction. That's how you know you're born again. The only way you could continue sinning is to force yourself, or get something to help you accept it and fight against the rejection.

That's when you watch Netflix. There are certain things Christians hate, and you know you hate them. So they spring it up on you until you accept it.

If there's no turning inside of you, no push back inside of you, it means that thing is not foreign to you. You and that thing carry the same nature and DNA. If there's no cringing, no uneasiness with sin in your life, you and that thing carry the same nature, the same DNA.

Christians know when they sin. How? Your conscience is being renewed. It was recreated in the righteousness of God. The Bible says you now have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). You don't have to wait for somebody to preach to tell you it's wrong. Up here tells you it's wrong. Then you have to force yourself and override certain things to do it. That's why many times when we do certain things, we hide. We don't want people to see, because we know it's wrong. So we try to cover it and keep it private.

Nothing is private

But let me tell you something I'm realising over and over. There ain't nothing private. God sees. And some of the people you walk on the road with don't tell you anything. Your wife, your father, your mother, your sister, your brother, your daughter. They just don't tell you anything. And from the time you make a mistake, by the time you reach home: "How did they know? There was no one there that I knew." But people knew you.

You think people don't know you? From the time you walk out of your house: "Hey, this is a Green. This is a Washington. This is a Smart. She look just like her mother. She can't hide at all.. I know them. Those sisters can't hide at all, and the brothers look everything like the father." You may not know the people, but the people know you, and they know exactly who to call and who to tell.

And then you go to the obeah house, and the obeah man tells you it's somebody who doesn't like you. You ever notice the obeah man always tells you it's somebody who loves your husband, or a woman who likes your husband, who did you something? Anyhow, let me leave that there. Nobody needs to know your husband or your wife. They know you.

So ask yourself the question out loud. Am I born of God? Do I continue to practise sin?

(A sister reads the definition of practice: "performing an action repeatedly to acquire or improve a skill, or the habitual application of a method or belief.") Practice makes perfect. That's simply what it says.

We must be able to say sin is foreign to me. It's interesting that your body can distinguish a part that came from another body and rejects it, and the only way it can remain is if they give you that medication to fight against the rejection. You were created in the image and likeness of God. When the Bible says God hates sin, you should hate sin too. It's not that one day you wake up and decide, "Let me fight against sin because I don't like sin." It's his nature. It's foreign to him, and it should be foreign to us.

It is evident (1 John 3:10)

"By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil" (1 John 3:10).

Hold on. So we can know who are the children of God? Yes. And if we can know who are the children of God, we can know if we are a child of God. It would be foolish to be able to judge others and say "that's a child of God," and not know if you are.

This is tickling. Some people want to say amen. Some people want to say, "I'm not too sure." Some want to say, "I'm getting there." You're either there or you're not. You either are or you're not. It's like I said when we went through Revelation chapter 2, the Ephesian church: there are some who are apostles and some who are not (Revelation 2:2). There are children of God and there are children of the devil.

Are you a devil's seed, or are you a righteous branch? We are the righteous branch. We are the righteousness of God in Christ.

"Whoever does not practise righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother." We can leave it there for today.

Righteousness is a gift, and it must be practised

So even though righteousness is a gift, it must be practised. I can't say I'm born of God and not do God things, not operate like him.

Many times I don't sin not because I can't. God gave all of us free will. But I do righteousness instinctively.

In this epistle he is speaking to three categories of people: children, young men, and fathers (1 John 2:12-14; he says "Paul" here). When you're a child he speaks a certain way to you. Young men, you have a lot of strength but not so much wisdom. When you're older you have a lot of wisdom but not a lot of strength. He's speaking to you too.

You are righteous. I am righteous. We need to walk it out. Live it out. When people interact with us, they must know that.

Set your eyes on the prize

You can have fun. You can smile. The other night at the sports with the dominoes and, Minister Boris, we went home laughing. Throne Room people are very competitive. We had fun.

I'll give you a little secret. My daughter was running a race and I saw her getting ahead, and I shouted, ", what are you doing? What are you doing?" She slowed down to look at me, and my team ran right past her, and I cheered.

It wasn't a cheat. I was shouting to her, "You cannot win this race, you're not on my team." But she didn't hear what I was saying. She slowed down to listen to her loving father, and her loving father celebrated when the red jersey passed.

No. I taught my daughter something valuable in life that day. Set your eyes on the prize. Put the things that are behind to the side and press forward (Philippians 3:13-14).

There are certain things that are difficult to teach in theory. I love you guys. Go have a good day.