Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit — Zac Poonen

The Gospel of the Kingdom Under the New Covenant

I want to begin with a verse in Luke's Gospel, chapter 16, and verse 16. We all speak much about the New Covenant as compared to the Old Covenant. And we proclaim that in our churches we proclaim the New Covenant, which many never speak about.

The Gospel of the New Covenant is called here in verse 16, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. And the Old Covenant is described by Jesus here as the Law and the Prophets. That's how the Old Covenant was described.

And there was, it was an earthly kingdom. All the promises that God gave Israel were related to this earth. They would be prosperous. They would defeat their earthly enemies. They would be physically healthy.

And all the blessings that earthly people seek for God had promised to Israel. But after that, from the time of John the Baptist, he said the Kingdom of God would be proclaimed, which is called in Matthew's Gospel, it's always called the Kingdom of Heaven.

He rarely uses the expression Kingdom of God, but Kingdom of Heaven is the same thing. And we're familiar with the words of Jesus in Matthew 6 .33, that we must seek that kingdom first and his righteousness, and then everything else we need in life will be added to us.

And he said there in Matthew 6 .32, that the Gentiles, means all the people in the world, think of truly wholehearted Christians and the people of the world. The people of the world are eagerly seeking after many things.

He speaks there about food, clothing, housing, etc. And when you think of that expression, the people of the world eagerly seek after all these things. I remember when I was some years ago, I tried to write down or make a list in my mind of what are the things that the people in the world eagerly seek after?

It's a good exercise for you to do. What are the things that the people in the world eagerly seek after? Not in a very light way, but very eagerly, seriously. And once you make a list of that, and you know the people in the world and you yourself know, having lived in the world, all of us, we know what are the things that the people in the world seek after.

And make a list of all that. And then ask yourself whether you are eagerly seeking after any of those things that you yourself listed there. It's a very good exercise to help us to judge ourselves and to see whether that may be the reason why we are not possessing the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God.

The Gentiles eagerly seek after these things. But it says in Matthew 6 32, your father knows what you need. I mean, if you make a list of 10 things that the world is seeking after, your heavenly father may feel that you need only five or six of those things.

So those things he will provide. But in order for that provision to come to us without our seeking for them, if you seek for them, well, the worldly people do a better job than us. Because they seek after all these things and they get a lot of it.

But here the promise to a wholehearted disciple is that everything that your heavenly father sees that you need, you will get, it will be added to you without your seeking for it, without your pursuing after it, because you spend your life seeking for the kingdom of God first and his righteousness.

It's a fantastic promise. And when I think of the things I need, I'm not just thinking of food and clothes and a house. There are many other things we need. If you have children, we need to get them educated.

We need to prepare them for their own life in the world so that they can earn their bread and food and buy clothing and have a house to live in. We need to prepare our children for, and they will get a little older, to get married to the right person.

All these things we need. And how are we going to get them? In the world, they go after those things and they get it that way. They go after food and house and property and marriage and everything else.

And here the Lord says, you won't have to do that. If you're really wholeheartedly seeking God's kingdom first in amazing ways, the Lord will work it all out that he will arrange that you'll get all these things and you'll get the best.

And I want to say, dear brothers and sisters, that when you come to the end of your life, you should be able to have this testimony that there are many things I needed on this earth for life on this earth and to live for God.

And I never pursued after them. I spent my life seeking the kingdom of God, and I found all these other things God added to me without my pursuing after them. I want to tell you something that there are very few Christians who have that testimony because many Christians are seeking their kingdom of God plus all these other things.

They don't experience this promise that these things are added to you because they feel that if you don't pursue it, we won't get it. Well, I want to tell you my testimony of more than 50 years. I can honestly say I did not seek after the things of the world.

The things that I sought after were the things of the kingdom of God. And I wanted this to be my testimony at the end of my life. If people could examine all the inner areas of my life and my bank account and my private life and everything else, if they could, they can't see it, but if they could see it, they should be able to say, well, here's a person who didn't seek after these earthly necessities, and they were provided for him one way or the other.

And that's not just for me. That's for every single child of God. It's not because I'm in full time Christian work, I say that. I was seeking the kingdom of God when I was working in the Navy. All those years, the kingdom of God was first.

And I realized at a certain time that I would not get promotion in the Navy, which was my ambition. If I lived by God's principles of righteousness, I said, OK, I'll give that up. I'm not going to seek.

So it's not for full time Christian workers. It's for everybody. Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Now, the word righteousness is something that's found about 200 times in the Old Testament.

Old Covenant and New Covenant Righteousness

There is an old covenant righteousness and the righteous that that's not evil. The old covenant righteousness is not an evil thing. It's righteousness is being right. But yet it's different from new covenant righteousness.

And it's very easy for us to mistake our righteousness to be the new covenant righteousness. What does it mean, first of all, to seek the kingdom of God first? For many years, I thought it meant becoming a missionary or even if you're not a missionary, sharing the gospel with others and being burdened to proclaim the gospel in the open air or invite people to the church and give them tracts and things like that.

That's how I seek God's kingdom first. And that was an idea that I got from my own mind. And from what other way I was a young Christian those days and other Christians thought that way. But when I began to study the scriptures and I said scripture must interpret scripture.

I don't find that definition of the kingdom of God anywhere. But the definition of the kingdom of God I found in scripture is in Romans 14 and verse 17. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14 verse 17. A righteousness produced in me by the Holy Spirit, not my own. My own is the righteousness of the law. Anything that I've accomplished without the help of God, you know, there are a lot of people in the world who live pretty upright lives.

And sometimes their behavior is better than the behavior of some who call themselves Christians. There is a righteousness that I can accomplish, that I can achieve by my own self-denial and my own effort.

By my denying myself. See, self-denial is not a peculiarly Christian teaching. Many Hindus teach self-denial. Many types of self-denial. But it's not the self-denial that Jesus talked about. It's an external self-denial.

Where self still sits on the throne, untouched. But denying myself in many ways on the outside. That's not the self-denial that Jesus spoke about. Jesus went to the root of the problem. He put an ax to the root.

And it's the self inside that he wants to remove. So there is a righteousness in the old covenant. And there's a righteousness in the new covenant. There's a joy in the old covenant. There's a joy in the new covenant.

There's a type of peace in the old covenant. And there's a type of peace in the new covenant. The kingdom of God, which we have to seek first. Seek first the kingdom of God. It is a righteousness produced by the Holy Spirit.

And a peace and a joy produced by the Holy Spirit. If I'm not actively, earnestly seeking that, I'm not seeking the kingdom of God. But if I do seek that, the Lord has promised that all the other things I ever need on earth.

Including the measure of health that I need to live on this earth. God will give it to me. I'm absolutely sure. Because that's God's promise. Turn with me now to Philippians in chapter 3. Where Paul speaks about these two types of righteousness.

The kingdom of God is righteousness in the Holy Spirit. And Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 of his own testimony. He says when he came to know Christ. He counted for this. I'm reading from Philippians 3 verse 7 onwards.

Everything that I counted as gain for me in the olden days. I now count as loss for the sake of Christ. And he says knowing Christ verse 8 is such a precious thing. That all the other things are useless.

And he says I counted verse 8 as rubbish. That righteousness I had as a Pharisee is rubbish. That I may gain Christ. And now verse 9. Now you see verse 9. He speaks of the two types of righteousness here.

The old covenant one and the new covenant one. I want to be found in Christ now. Not having a righteousness of my own. Which I got from the law. Now we may never have been Jews. And never been under the Old Testament law.

But there is a righteousness that we can have. By keeping the letter of the law. Even by the letter of the new covenant. I can take words in the new covenant. And try to keep them. For example. You read about Jesus saying that we shouldn't.

Or the word of God says we shouldn't get angry. Do you know there are a lot of. Hindus who believe that they shouldn't get angry. I know a brother who came to our church. Who was a Hindu first. He said I overcame anger with yoga and self-discipline.

Long before I became a Christian. That was I mean externally. He wasn't getting angry. There were other Christians around him who were getting angry. But he wasn't. But he says when he came to Christ.

He realized that was not the righteousness. That was not the type of overcoming anger that Jesus spoke about. Because it is only on the outside. It's controlling one's tongue. And controlling expressions of anger.

Whereas the anger that Jesus spoke about is in the heart. And there's no amount of discipline of any religion. Or any yoga or anything that will remove it from there. Anything that's merely on the outside.

Is a righteousness of the law. You must remember this. If it doesn't come from within. It's old covenant righteousness. I don't want to be found having a righteousness of my own. Which is from the law.

In fact he says here I want to count it as rubbish. In verse 8. I want to count this external self-control of my anger as rubbish. It only brings me the honor of men. That here is a person whose mild temper never gets angry.

I have to consider that honor of men as garbage. I'm not interested. I just want to mention this here my dear brothers and sisters. That you'll never come into the righteousness of God. Unless first of all you recognize that the opinions of men are garbage.

Very very important. We cannot you know proceed further. If I don't first deal with this. I have to recognize that the honor of all the brothers in the church. Or sisters in the church. Is absolute garbage.

Fit for the trash can. Do they think I'm a person who controls my temper? Do they think I'm a very generous person? Do they think that I'm a very nice helpful type of person? Or whatever else. They think I'm a great preacher.

Take all of that and put it in the garbage. Then I can come to the righteousness of God. Because that is inward. It is only before God's face. That I don't want to have a righteousness of my own. Which brings me the honor of men.

But that which is through faith in Christ. Faith means dependence upon Christ. A righteousness produced in me by Christ. Which will not be there if Christ removes his power. And you often heard me use the example of the branch in the tree.

It's the example Jesus used. You are the branches and he's the main tree. And that sap flowing from the tree into the branch is what produces the fruit. So that's a picture of the Holy Spirit. Flowing into me into my inner being through from Christ.

Producing righteousness in me. That is why to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Was the most important thing that the apostles emphasized. I say once you're born again. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. It's what Jesus spoke about. When he said the rivers of living water will flow from your innermost being. That could not be true in the old covenant.

And the old covenant is all on the outside. So that's what he speaks here. A righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. Which comes by from God on the basis of dependence upon God. In other words, every bit of my righteousness must come by dependence upon God.

Lord, I can't be holy if you don't make me holy. I can never overcome anger in my life. Unless you deal with me in the inside. I can overcome it on the outside with yoga and discipline. And get a tremendous reputation even in the church.

Oh, there's such a mild-mannered brother who never gets angry. What's the use of that opinion? It's trash. Paul says, I count it as rubbish. It's not just that I don't value it. That itself is not sufficient.

I count it as rubbish. Verse 8. That honor I get for something I produce myself. I count it as rubbish. You know, I can read scripture and produce some very clever idea from it. And present that clever idea to people.

And people honor me from rubbish. If it has not produced life in people. If it has not gone out from my heart and brought life to people. However, people appreciate it and say, wow. What a wonderful way he presented that.

Or how gracious his speech is. It's all rubbish. Anything that comes from within myself, refined self, is rubbish. It must come from Christ. It must come from God. It must come from the Holy Spirit. That's why a true disciple of Jesus will be desperate to be filled with the Holy Spirit continuously.

I mean, if he's only concerned about his testimony before men, he doesn't need the Holy Spirit. Because I tell you, you can live a pretty good life. Without the Holy Spirit's power. On the outside. And you can get a good testimony even in a new covenant church.

Without being filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, if your temperament is sort of more subdued and inward looking, you can look like a good Christian. But you may discover when Christ comes again that you had nothing of the righteousness of Christ.

Poverty of Spirit and Hunger for Righteousness

Because, see, let me show you a couple of verses. It's the very first words that Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount. How can we possess the Kingdom of God? Matthew chapter 5. We're talking about the Kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

It's called the Kingdom of Heaven in the Gospel of Matthew. The first sentence in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 .3, is the gate. It's the master key. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Theirs is the Kingdom of God. They are the ones who are going to get the righteousness of God, the new covenant righteousness. What is the requirement? I'm constantly aware of my need. That is the meaning of being poor in spirit.

Think of a poor homeless man standing on the streets. If he's not a fake and he's really homeless or sitting beside some building, he's aware of his need all the time. And the equivalent of that in a spiritual life, Lord, I'm constantly aware of my need.

I don't have to say it. It's a way of life. It's like that poor homeless man or a beggar. You don't have to convince him, hey, you know, you're poor, you're in need, you're in constant need. You don't have to convince him about anything.

He's perfectly aware that he's a needy person. He doesn't have money to get food. He doesn't have money to meet his needs. Something like that, something of the equivalent of that, I don't have it, Lord, in me to make me like Jesus.

No. My wholeheartedness and my zeal is not going to make me like Jesus. No. It has to come from God. Otherwise, it'll be an artificial plastic fruit that I tie on the tree, a beautiful painted apple made of plastic that I hang up on the tree to fool people that I've got a lot of apples in my tree.

That's all it is. It's fake. And a lot of what many Christians call their righteousness is not the righteousness of God. Paul said it's rubbish. It's garbage. And that's why, I'll come to that in a moment, why their lives are not so satisfying.

And also, that's why they don't make spiritual progress. They seem to be in the same position year after year after year. They were good people at a certain time. Twenty-five years later, they're good people.

They've never made any progress in their Christian life. So, that can only come through poverty of spirit. If I'm really poor in spirit, means constantly aware of my need, the kingdom of heaven is mine, Jesus said.

This kingdom of God, of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit will be mine if I'm poor in spirit. That's number one. And the other thing it says here in verse 6 of Matthew 5 is, I've got a hunger and thirst for this righteousness.

It's not going to come to the person who lazily asks God once in a while, yeah, Lord, I'd like to be a little more righteous. No. That's not hungering and thirsting. Those who hunger and thirst for this type of righteousness, which brings the approval of God, they will be satisfied.

They will get more than they want. So, what are the two things he said? I have to be aware of my need, poor in spirit, and I have to hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God, which means I'm not satisfied with that which I produce myself.

I'm not satisfied with the opinions of men. I want the approval of God in my life. This is one of the most important things if we want to avoid being deceived. You know, the Bible speaks about a person deceiving himself.

Self-Deception and God's Discipline

There are a number of places where it says that. I'll show you one example of that in Galatians in chapter 6. In Galatians in chapter 6, it says, verse 3, if anyone thinks, he's talking to believers. He's talking to born-again believers.

The first verse says that, brethren, my dear brethren, my dear fellow believers in the churches in Galatia, I want to say to you, if any of you, verse Galatians 6, 3, think that you're a somebody, when actually you're a nobody, you're deceiving yourself.

Is it possible for a believer today in your church, you perhaps, to deceive yourself that you're a somebody, that you're very spiritual? I've met numerous people like that, who think they're spiritual when I can see through them they're not.

Particularly when a young person has a lot of zeal, he thinks he's spiritual. Zeal is not spirituality. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It's an inner righteousness and peace and joy, which nothing in the world can take away.

That's what makes a man spiritual. And Paul said, you know, combine these verses that we've been looking at, I count everything else as rubbish, in order that I may gain this. And that's how he manifested the righteousness of God in his own life.

But the other way to test it is, well, before I come to that, you know, the Bible says in Hebrews and chapter 12, that one reason why God disciplines us, Hebrews and chapter 12, that our heavenly father, I'm talking about verse 9 and 10, our heavenly father disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share or partake of the holiness that comes through his Holy Spirit.

That's why whenever you find God disciplining you in some way, accept it, bow your head there. I've learned to do that through the years. For example, if I've lost a large amount of money in whatever business I do or carelessness or anything, Lord, you're trying to teach me something.

Or I used to ride a scooter in India. And if I had an accident, Lord, what are you trying to teach me? Or even if I have a fever, what are you trying to teach me, Lord? Is there, maybe it's just, it has no meaning to it, but perhaps God is trying to teach me something.

And many times he is trying to teach me. He disciplines us that I might partake of his holiness, his holiness. Nobody in the old covenant could have that. Imagine this phrase here in Hebrews 12, 10, that I can share his holiness.

The sap from the tree flowing into the branch, not a holiness of my own, which I manufactured through a lot of self-discipline and study of the Bible. No, which I share, partake of his holiness. Exactly like the branch, which can not produce a single fruit, but produces a lot of fruit because it's in the tree.

I may share his holiness, God disciplines us. And that's why I say to all of you, as I say to myself, never despise the discipline of God. Ask yourself, Lord, why have you allowed this? Help me to learn what you have allowed in my life.

I accept it joyfully because I want to partake of your holiness, I'm passionate about that. That is to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Even concerning the fullness of the spirit, Jesus said, you must thirst for it.

If you're thirsty, come to me and believe. You can be filled with the Holy Spirit all the time. So now I want to turn back to Romans 14, 17. We looked at that verse in Romans 14 and verse 17. We saw that the Holy Spirit defines the kingdom of God like this.

Peace as Evidence of the Spirit's Righteousness

The kingdom of God that we must seek first and have all the other things added to us. Matthew 6 .33, seek first the kingdom of God. Never forget this. What am I supposed to seek? Not the spreading the gospel.

That's a secondary thing. But first of all, that I might seek for righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Like I just mentioned to you, it's the righteousness produced by the Holy Spirit. Now, how will I know this is produced by the Holy Spirit or not?

Well, it gives me a little indication here. There'll be a peace and there'll be a joy. It'll not be, it won't make me miserable. A lot of people who claim to be righteous, but they look so miserable. Righteousness is, which is always making people fight with others and have conflict with others.

Even over doctrine. There are people who get into arguments over doctrine. I say, no, I'm not interested. I'm not interested in conflict with anybody over any issue. I've had people come to my house in India many times who want to argue about doctrine.

I say, no, let's pursue peace. Do you want me to explain to you the reason why I believe certain things? I'll spend any amount of time to explain to you. But if you're coming here to convince me that I'm wrong and you want to argue with me, I'm sorry.

I say, let's talk about something else that we both agree on. In India, that's usually cricket or something like that. Let's talk about some subject that you and I will be agreed on. Because I don't want to argue with you.

I hate strife. I want to avoid strife like I'd avoid the coronavirus or the plague. No. Peace. If you really have the righteousness of God, there'll be peace in your heart and peace outside. You know that when the angels came to declare to the shepherds about Jesus having been born, you know what they proclaimed there?

The angels proclaimed, Glory to God in the highest. We read there the shepherds. Don't be afraid. This is Luke chapter 2. Glory to God in the highest. Verse 14, Luke 2, 14. And on earth, peace among whom?

Only among those men. Read Luke 2, 14. Peace among those men with whom God is well pleased. It's one of the marks of God's pleasure in my life or your life. That he gives you a peace in your heart. There's no tension in your heart.

There's no strife. That is a mark of the righteousness of God. The Holy Spirit brings right from the beginning of Jesus' birth. The phrase is, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those men with whom God is well pleased.

That's one mark. It's not the only mark. It's one of the marks of God being pleased with us. That I have a peace in my heart. That my conscience does not trouble me about anything. If your conscience troubles you about a wee little thing, think of it like a speck in your eye.

Think of it like a thorn in your foot. It should make you uncomfortable. If a thorn in your foot does not make you uncomfortable, you've got leprosy. Because people with leprosy don't have any sensation.

But a person with sensation feels even a small little pinprick, leave alone a thorn. I want to be like that. I want to feel even a pinprick in my conscience and settle it immediately. Peace, that's how I know God is pleased with me.

I want to urge you, my brothers and sisters, seek for that righteousness of the Holy Spirit. One mark of which is peace in your spirit at all times. And not only in your spirit, but like I said earlier, with other people around me also, because it says in Romans 12 and verse 18, if possible, by the way, this is the only command in the entire Bible which says do it if possible.

There's no other command like that. If possible, don't get angry, no. If possible, don't lust after women, no. If possible, be honest, no. But one command, if possible, be at peace with all men. Peace in your heart, there's no if possible.

We must have peace in our heart 24 -7, all the time. But peace with others, that depends on the other person. That's why it's not possible all the time. Jesus was never in peace with the Pharisees. The perfect Son of God who was filled with the Holy Spirit could not be at peace with most of the people in Israel.

But on his side, he was peaceful. When they called him the devil, prince of devils, Beelzebub, he was at peace. He said, have you spoken a word against the Son of Man? You're forgiven. There was peace there, but he was not at peace with them.

They were not at peace with him. And they slapped him on his face. He said, why did you slap me? If I said what was right. There was inner peace, but he was not at peace with all the people. They hated him so much, they killed him.

But as much as it lies in us, that means from my side, I want peace with everybody. Everyone. I don't care whether they hate me, they spoke evil of me, they did harm to me. I want peace. Peace does not mean fellowship.

No. Jesus had zero fellowship with the Pharisees. There are many Christians I can't have fellowship with. I'll tell you honestly, they may claim to be believers, but they're not walking in the light. Because fellowship is very clear in 1 John chapter 1.

If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And with God. But if a person does not walk to walk in the light, well, I don't believe he has fellowship with God, and he can't have fellowship with me.

Peace, Discernment, and Fellowship

Yeah, that's very important. So, I'll be at peace with him. I'll have nothing against my heart. My heart is absolutely clear. I can love him, and wish no evil for him, wish the best for him and his family, and everything else, but I have no fellowship.

So if possible, be at peace with all men. In other words, I long, for example, I long to fellowship with every single born-again believer in the world, but I found it's not possible. Because most of them don't want righteousness.

They want to do things which are unrighteous. I can't work together with lots and lots of believers in India. I remember the years when they used to have these public gatherings for what they called healing meetings.

In India, some preacher would come from the United States to preach in India, and all the churches, all the pastors would join together, and they would organize big meetings, thousands and thousands of people in some public grounds, and they would also ask me, and I say, I'm sorry, I can't come, because of one thing.

Well, two things. First of all, you collect money from these people. Jesus never collected money from people when he preached to them. If you don't collect money, that's the number one condition, and secondly, when Jesus healed somebody, they were really healed.

But as you go into these healing meetings, and you say somebody's healed, and 99 of them are not healed, you're fooling people. That's why I cannot join with you. I cannot work with you. I can't fellowship, that's why I said, I cannot work with many, many Christians, because there's unrighteousness there.

I can't work with a Christian group that's always sending prayer letters to other places, advertising their work, and when Jesus said that we must not let other people know what we have done, only the Lord must know.

And here they advertise it, and they ask for money, we need this, we need this. I say, Jesus and Paul never did that. So that's the reason why I find myself in working and fellowshipping with Christians, I'm limited to a very, very few people what to do.

I wish there were more, but I'm not going to sacrifice righteous principles in order to increase the number. That's why the church that preaches the new covenant will never be a megachurch. Impossible.

You're allowed to please people to make it a megachurch. So, a lot of things that you see as Christianity that a lot of people admire are people who don't have any discernment. The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace.

So I explained a little bit of that, what that peace means. And the other is joy, and the Holy Spirit. The peace produced by the Holy Spirit, and the third is joy. Righteousness, peace, and joy. So righteousness that comes from God, if it is really from God, will produce peace in my heart.

It'll give me a peace in my conscience 24 -7. Let me just emphasize that in Acts 24, and verse 16. The Apostle Paul, when he was giving his testimony before Felix, he said, I do my best, Acts 24 -16, to keep my conscience always at peace before God and before men, blameless.

He would not allow even a small prick to come in his conscience. He'd settle it immediately. Like Jesus said, when you come to pray, if you remember that somebody's got something against you, you go and settle it immediately before you pray.

I don't know how many Christians practice that. That's what it means to pursue peace with all men. And he said, I keep my conscience absolutely clear, peace inside. And he says, that is how I know for sure, verse 15, Acts 24 -15, I will be in the resurrection of the righteous.

Righteousness and peace come together here also. If I have peace in my conscience, Acts 24 -15 and 16, I will be in the resurrection of the righteous. There is another resurrection that's going to take place later, and that's called in Acts 24 -15, the resurrection of the wicked.

So listen to this, what Paul says, I know there's going to be two resurrections. There are going to be two resurrections, one the resurrection of the righteous and the other resurrection of the wicked.

And he says, in view of this, because I want to be in the resurrection of the righteous, I keep my conscience free from anything that tricks me before God and before men 24 -7, always. Yeah. I can say that's the way I seek to live and you should be, you should have that testimony too.

That as soon as you hurt somebody, you'll ask his forgiveness. If it's your wife or your husband you hurt, ask forgiveness immediately. And if you haven't forgiven someone and it comes to your mind, forgive that person immediately.

You can't remove the memory from your mind, but forgive and wish the best for that person. That's peace in your heart and your conscience. So righteousness and peace, peace is a mark of the righteousness of God and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Joy Beyond Circumstances

This feeling of that I'm not good enough, I'm not good enough, condemning ourselves and getting discouraged is not from God. There's nothing spiritual about it. You know, when we speak about judging ourselves, we speak a lot in the church about judging ourselves.

It says, it says in 1 Peter chapter, 1 Peter 4, that people who belong to the household of God judge themselves first. 1 Peter 4, 17, the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God.

I'm also part of that. Judgment must begin with me first. It must begin with us first. In the world, people put themselves first in everything. Others are second, me and my family first. Except in judgment.