There's a lot of things that can break your heart. You can become broken-hearted through the loss of a loved one. You can become broken-hearted through death of someone close to you. Even finances can break your heart. Lack can be a very heart-breaking thing to have to go through. There are a lot of things that can break your heart. But I believe in my own heart that the most severely broken heart, sometimes never recovered from, is the heart broken through religion. There seems to be no resolve to it.

If you get a broken heart because someone died, you can resolve it. You can finally come to grips with it. When you're ostracized or slandered by religion, and religion deeply wounds you on the inside, it usually happens when your sole intention was the pursuit of knowing more about Jesus. Your desire and intent was to know and understand the truth, and in the process of that you end us extremely wounded on the inside. But, there's good news. Even the heart that has been broken by religion can also be healed.

When you talk about the heart, it is a very wonderful thing, but it can also be something that can be very against you. One of the most horrible things in life is not to have someone else against you, but to have your own heart against you. When what lives right inside your own chest; your own heart, your own feelings, and thoughts, and emotions turn against you, that is horrible. I've had friends turn against me, and it has been hard. It has been hard to deal with what has been said. It's been hard to deal with what has happened. But you can recover. Once your heart turns against you, there's no recovery, until the heart gets delivered; until the heart becomes refocused into the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Romans Chapter 5 is going to be the foundation.

Romans 5:17 For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

5:18 Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; ...

I hate to stop and explain these verses, because they're self-explanatory. They completely tell you what they are saying. It says that by the offense of one judgement came upon all men - the first Adam, the first disobedience brought condemnation on all men. Even so by the righteousness of one Jesus - the second Adam - the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life...

even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound.

It did not come to reconcile anything between God and man. ...the law entered that the offense might abound... not that the offense might be reconciled...

But where sin abounded, ... Where did sin abound? Under the law sin abounded...grace did much more abound;.... and that is after the law has been brought to an end.

5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Once again we establish and re-establish these things. It is very true that there are very basic principles of understanding the gospel that will completely establish the foundation for your understanding. You don't have to go your whole life wondering what the gospel really is, and trying to find another seminar and another seminar. There are only two things called the gospel, and it is the gospel of peace and the gospel of the grace of God. In those two things the Bible tells us about grace, that it reigns through righteousness.

The Book of Romans is a very powerful, powerful understanding of righteousness. It is one that very directly speaks to us that a man will never, ever be justified in God's sight through the works of the law. Never, ever. Before or after your conversion. The flesh will never be justified in God's sight. That's the reason Jesus nailed it to the cross. There is no justification for the flesh.

Some of you are now realizing why being justified was so hard to get. How many of you have tried to get justification for your flesh? There is no justification for your flesh. God, in all of His mercy, took our flesh and nailed it to the cross. Jesus nailed it to the cross, and you are now dead.

One of the greatest revelations you will ever have in your life is that you are dead. You are dead. Now, you pinch yourself, and say, "But I'm not dead." You get hungry and say, "Well, I'm not dead yet." You get up in the morning, and the guys still have to shave, so you say, "Well, I'm not dead yet." Every indication is that we are still alive. In what respect is the Christian dead? You are dead in the flesh in God's view. You don't exist.

There is nothing to give you a good grade on, and there's nothing to give you a bad grade on. A dead man doesn't get good grades, and a dead man doesn't get bad grades. Once you're dead, the grading system is over. How many of you know that the Bible says you are dead? You are dead. The most important thing to understand about being dead is that between you and God now the grading system has ceased to be. You are no longer graded as good because you do good, and you are no longer graded as bad because you do bad. You have been declared righteous by one man's obedience. An incredible thing has happened, an absolutely incredible thing.

We will continue to refer to grace as being undeserved, unmerited favor with God. Paul says that that grace reigns or operates through or rules through righteousness. That righteousness is a gift of righteousness. Is says that back in verse 17 that you will reign in life by an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. So an abundance of grace can only operate through the gift of righteousness.

In other words, you can't do something to gain God's favor. That's your righteousness. God's undeserved, unmerited favor operates through His own righteousness, not ours. We've also touched on the verses of scripture in Romans, Chapter 11.

Romans 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief,... Now who was "them all" that he concluded in unbelief? That was everyone born after Adam, under the law, everyone before Jesus Christ,...he concluded them all in unbelief. For what purpose? That seems unfair to declare everyone in unbelief because of one man's disobedience. He declared them all in unbelief, so:

... that he might have mercy upon all

God's wisdom is demonstrated and we just didn't understand it. Why was everyone concluded disobedient because of one man's disobedience? Because God had a plan. That plan was to declare you righteous through one Man's obedience. If even one person would have made it into justification through the law, then the whole world would have had to stay on that plan - trying to justify ourselves with God. God was very merciful and didn't grade on a curve. He graded unanimously, "All are guilty in unbelief," that He might have mercy on all. Verse 33 tells us what that is:

11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?

11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

Who is the person who ever first gave something to God and God was obligated to repay? You know , when I read that verse of scripture a few years ago, it destroyed about fifteen tape series of mine. Who is he that ever first gave something to God that God was then in a position to be obligated to repay or respond to that man's works or deeds? Certainly wasn't any of us, was it? The Bible says that one Man's obedience accomplished all of that for us. One Man's obedience.

There is no one on the face of this earth who has ever done something so good that God said, "Well, I am just obligated to help Him out. I have no choice." We used to have seminars entitled "How to Obligate God." Isn't that amazing? The Bible says that you can't do it, yet we were teaching on "how to". Nobody has ever obligated God to do anything. You don't know anyone who was healed because of something they did. You don't know anyone who received help from God because of their performance. No one.

God's plan through the New Covenant was, "I am not going to give them what they deserve, but I am going to give them what they do not deserve." That is what the gospel is. The plan of the gospel was that through one Man, God would give the human race what we didn't deserve, and take away what we did deserve. We all better be glad that God does not give us good things based on the good things we do. You say, "Well, I really wish He would. You know, if I do something good, it would be really nice if God would give me a promise because I did something good." But you see if God gave you a promise for something good you did, He would also be in a position to have to give you His wrath and judgement because of something bad you did.

The power of the gospel is not wrapped up in that we have learned to do good. The power of the gospel is that the entire grading system has been done away with. How could it be done away with?

Because you're dead. Praise God. Good news? How does grace reign? How does God's undeserved, unmerited favor come to us? Is it through what we do? No. It is through His righteousness.

Turn to Romans, Chapter 1. Some of you thought I wasn't going to get to Romans 1:16. I always get to Romans 1:16.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;

Now, first we must reconcile what is the power of God? The power of God is the gospel. It is the gospel. Now, everyone needs the power of God. You've never met someone who didn't. But because of our lack of understanding of the gospel being the power of God, we have put you on every kind of performance trip to try to find the power of God.

How many of you have tried to find the power of God through doing something good enough? Anybody here tried to fast to get the power of God?

How many of you ever tried to pray long enough to get the power of God?

How many of you tried to quote enough scriptures to get the power of God?

And the list goes on and on and on. Did we ever get it? No. We never experience the power of God.

This doesn't mean that doing some of these things weren't beneficial to our lives, as far as giving us a greater degree of peace at the time. But actually it turns into an absolute bondage, because once you realize that your prayers and your fastings and your giving and your confessing of promises aren't working, then it becomes something that you're not doing good enough. Because, bless God we're not going to change our doctrines. We do not care that they do not work. If they don't work it just means that you're not doing it good enough. You haven't done it long enough, hard enough, strong enough, persistently enough.

Then we tell you about the unjust judge. The unjust judge - "You know how the parable about the unjust judge, how he finally got up and gave the woman what she wanted after she had bugged him, and bugged him and bugged him?" Then we tell you that that's kind of how faith is. You've got to be persistent with God. Do you know what we just called God? An unjust judge. That parable was not written to tell us how God operates. It was written to tell us that if even a unjust judge will finally give you what you need because of persistence, don't you think God is much better than that with His kids? God is not an unjust judge.

Verse 17 tells us why the gospel is the power of God.

What is the gospel? It is the gospel of the grace of God, right? The gospel of the grace of God and the gospel of peace.

Now, we learned that grace reigns through what? Righteousness.

And we reign in life by receiving what? An abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. So here in these verses, we found out that the gospel is the power of God. So the gospel is the grace of God. Paul has explained that in detail. But what makes it the power of God?

Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

This is so vitally important. Why is the gospel the power of God? Because it instructs you how to live a good moral life? If a good moral life brought the power of God, Mother Theresa wouldn't go around visiting the sick. She would go around raising the sick. You know it's not the good moral life that brings the power of God. We are not here in opposition to a good moral life. It is very beneficial to you, but it doesn't bring the power of God to you. What is the power of God? Why is the gospel the power of God? Does it instruct us how to operate a church? Is that what makes the gospel the power of God? It's that we know how to run a church? No. The gospel is the power of God for therein is the righteousness of God demanded? Instructed? No. Revealed.

The power of the gospel is not wrapped up in twelve different revelations. I'll never forget preaching to people and trying to help them find the power of God to be healed. They had to get all the healing verses and flood your brain with healing verses, make sure you quoted them enough, said them enough, denied that you were sick, and finally you'd get healed. Then we said that for each and every one of the promises of God, you had to get into the Bible and find that promise. When you find that promise, begin to confess that promise. If you confess it, then that promise would be yours.

I taught this for fifteen solid years. Do you know how shocking it was to find out that there is not one verse in the Bible that tells you if you confess promises, you'll get them? Nowhere. The verses that we use are taken completely out of context. Romans Chapter 10 tells us about confessions, but that confession is a belief that Jesus Christ is Lord, and with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. We came up with the wrong confession of promises. That confession we were already told at the first part of the verse. That confession was not, "I'm healed. I'm healed. I'm healed." Confession is Jesus Christ is Lord.

"But Brother Mike, the Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue." And we made a very spiritual thing out of that. That verse of scripture is in Proverbs. Proverbs doesn't tell you about how to relate to God. Proverbs is a book of wisdom about how to relate to people. It is about how to relate to kings and how kings relate to people, and don't grab a dog by the ears. What has that to do with a relationship with God? Proverbs is a very good book of sound wisdom pertaining to this life, not about a relationship with God. But it is good instruction. Proverbs says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. He's not saying that if you say something bad, something bad is going to happen, and if you speak life, life is going to happen. He's talking about in relationship to kings, and in relationship to people. Believe you me, if you stand in the presence of the king and say the wrong thing, life and death are in the power of the tongue. And if you're standing before the king and that king is the ultimate judge, life and death are in the power of his tongue. But you do not create life by the things that you speak.

You cannot speak things into existence. We go into the book of Romans, and say, "But it says that Abraham did that. That he believed God and called those things that be not as though they were." How many of you have been taught that Abraham called those things that be not as though they were? You really ought to go back and read it again. It says, "Even God, who quickeneth the dead and called those things that be not as though they were...." Who calls things that be not as though they were? The same one who quickens the dead - God. Now, I don't know why we didn't teach you, that if you can call things that be not as though they were, that you can also quicken the dead. It's all in the same verse. There is no place where it says that Abraham went around saying, "I'm the father of many nations. I'm the father of many nations. I'm the father of many nations." "I AM the father of many nations. I believe it. I confess it. I receive it." Not one place. In fact, he did everything just the opposite to that.

We built an entire movement on confessing promises. I taught it. I tell you I burned more tape series than you see back there on the tape table. You talk about shocking. When I realized that I could not speak things into existence, and only God could speak things into existence. Remember, this simple equation. God is the Creator. There is only One, not a multitude. You are the created. You can become very creative, but you are not a creator. Amen? You are a creation of God, not a creator. Because you are a creation of God, and created in His image, you can become very creative. You've never created anything. God is the Creator. You've never spoken anything unto existence. What you say does not come to pass. Thank God. Can you imagine?

Then we got into the verses of scripture, like "What you fear will come upon you." There's no place that says that. That happened to Job, and it is an observation after the fact. Job said, "What I feared came upon me." There is no doctrinal statement or a belief statement in the Bible that says when fear comes upon you, that is what is going to happen in your life. Job simply made an observation: "What I have feared has come upon me." That is like me saying that if my two daughters were out in the yard playing badminton in spring time. At the corner a car came around, and another car came around the corner, and while they were playing badminton in the front yard, a collision occurred in front of our house. In retrospect, an observation might be: "While my daughters were playing badminton, two cars collided in our front yard. But this would be equal to the foolishness of saying, "What you fear comes upon you." It would be like me going around teaching, "If thy two daughters playeth badminton in the front yard, two cars shall collide in the road." It has as much validity. My doctrine would have as much truth as teaching that, "What you fear will come upon you."

Now, how many of you as a child lay in bed with sweat running off your face, because there was a monster under your bed? How many of you? Let me tell you something, if what you fear comes upon you, then none of us would have made it past the age of five. We'd have been eaten by monsters. How many of you have been afraid that somebody was going to break into your house?

Do you see the bondage of that? To teach a doctrine that what you fear is going to come upon you! So what are you going to do when you get afraid that you're going to get afraid? So if you get afraid that you're going to get afraid, then fear is going to come upon you. It's a wild, mind-bending mess. I don't know how in the world I fell for that. Yes, I do know how I fell for that. I didn't know the gospel. And when you don't know the gospel, you'll fall for every wind of doctrine.

Why is the gospel the power of God? Because it tells you what to do to be righteous.

Why is the gospel the power of God? For therein is the righteousness of God revealed.

What does the gospel do? It reveals to you that you have become righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. This is the power of God, and it is also the opinion of God. When God looks at you, dear brother and sister, He does not look at you based on what you did today. He looks at you forever from the point that you believe in Jesus Christ, He never sees you as anything but holy and righteous in His sight. By one Man's obedience you have been made the righteousness of God.

And God doesn't say, "Oh, yeah, yeah......uh-huh...that is all true, BUT...." Now that's what we say. That is not what God says. God deals with you based on the righteousness of God. When are we going to stop dealing with God based on our own righteousness? Doesn't it seem a little bit foolish? When God has chosen to deal with based on His own righteousness, that I would be so foolish to try to relate to Him based on my own? It's like rejecting a free gift, because that is what it is. It is the gift of righteousness.

Look at Romans, Chapter 4.

Romans 4:1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

4:2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

Do your works give you any room to glory before God? No. He said you may do good works, but it will give you no room to glory before God.

4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him....

For healing? For prosperity? For protection? No. Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

4:4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

How does grace operate? Through righteousness. But if you work to get something from God, can you say it was grace anymore? No. What has it become, if you have done something to get it? It's a debt. And nobody has ever put God in debt.

4:5 But to him that worketh not....

Oh, my God, that's what we're all afraid of is those "worketh notters." Isn't that what churcheth is all abouteth? To getteth useth to worketh?

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth ....those that try? Isn't that what we told you? What is grace? "Grace is that part that takes up when you've done your best, then grace will take over, but grace can't take over until you've done your best." Ever heard that doctrine?

It's a lie. Because your best isn't good enough for anything for God.

....But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly; ...

Who does God justify through Jesus Christ? Ungodly people. ....his faith is counted for ..What? Righteousness. Ungodly people become what? Because they changed? Does an ungodly person become righteous in God's eyes because they "clean up their act?" No. An ungodly person becomes righteous in God's eyes because he believes. Isn't that clear? Isn't that amazing? It just says it.

4:6 Even as David... Even as who? David. Is David an Old Testament or a New Testament character? An Old Testament character. But David found something out under the law.

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.

4:7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. (PsALM 32:1,2)

The word, impute, means to hold to someone's account. David got an incredible revelation. Did he get this revelation right after he was a mighty man of valor and went out and destroyed all these other armies and became greater than Saul? Is that when he got this revelation? Did he get a revelation about God making a man righteous, when he had done so much so right? No. Do you know when he got it? When he had committed adultery, fornication and murder. And when the law called for his death on all three counts, and he didn't get it at all, he got a revelation. Blessed is the man that God makes righteous that hasn't done it right, and blessed is the man, that when he sins, God doesn't hold it against him.

I spent my childhood in a church. I spent my life from the age of 21 on in fifteen years of meetings on every subject under the sun, and no one ever told me that when I sinned, God doesn't hold it against me. Nobody, ever told me. You know the thing that upset me so much, was that a man 2000 years before the cross found out. And here I was 2000 years after the cross, 4000 years later, and I still didn't know! That the blessedness of the Christian life isn't when everything turns out good, thank God for when things turn out good, it's better than when things turn out bad. But there's a lot of people who have a lot of things turn out good for them, and they are still miserable.

What is the blessedness of the Christian life? Blessed is the man who God makes righteous, who hasn't done anything right. But that's not all. Blessed is the man, who when he sins, God doesn't put it in an account against him.

Do you know what all religion is based on? A lack of that one revelation. Religion wants to make you righteous by your deeds. Now the Protestant churches for the most part, accept that we become right with God through Jesus Christ, but we believe that you have to maintain it with your works. That is not true. But even the Protestant churches do not preach the revelation that David had 2000 years before the cross. Blessed is the man that God makes righteous who hasn't done it right, and blessed is the man, who when he fails, God doesn't hold it against him. All of the religions of the world are based on a lack of righteousness by faith. Most Protestant denominations, and non-denominations I might add, are based on a lack of revelation that when you fail, God doesn't hold it against you. Because we have all of these ways that you can get it straightened out again with God all over again.

If you sinned, we really believe that God is on a swivel chair. His throne swivels. Do you know that God's throne swivels? When you're doing good, He's sitting on His throne, smiling at you. But when you do bad, He turns His back on you. He waits till you get your act together, and He's back again, smiling on you. However, the Bible says that God has no shadow of turning. No shadow of turning. Never will He turn from you. Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Guess whose righteousness He based that promise on? It's on His own righteousness. Greatest news the world ever heard: Blessed is the man who God makes righteous who hasn't done it right. The greatest news that the Christian world is hearing now, that for some reason no one wanted to preach it to us, is blessed is the man, who when he fails, God doesn't take it in account against him.

How many of you believed in your Christian life, that as long as you were doing good, you could fellowship with God? And when you do bad, your fellowship is broken? How many of you have been told that your salvation depends on the blood of Jesus, but your fellowship with God depends on your deeds? Oh, sure...If your relationship with God could not be gained through your works, how could your fellowship with God be gained through your works? Neither can be gained through your works! Your relationship, your fellowship with God are all completely engulfed in the obedience of one Man, Jesus Christ. Broken fellowship gone.

Sometimes I just feel that I have to stop and stand in front of you in behalf of all the ministries and apologize. Just apologize to you. Because we created a religion out of a lack of revelation. We created churches out of a lack of revelation of the gospel. A lack of revelation that when a man fails, God doesn't hold it against Him. The Catholics go through "Hail Marys". Don't look down on the Catholics for their dead works, because all Protestantism has become is a reformed version of Catholicism. We just took it out of the confessional booths, and that's about all we did. It's Catholicism. The man who got that revelation, and his name was David. He gives us a description of something that happened to him and I think it's vitally important that we look at it.

Look at Psalms 31:9. David describes his broken heart. He tells us what broke his heart, and it is a powerful insight.

Psalms 31:9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble:.... Do you know where you're going to find most broken-hearted people? They're in trouble. You know where they're going to be when they get out of trouble? In trouble again. It's just trouble to trouble to trouble.

... mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

Many of you can identify with these feelings.

31:10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing; my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

31:11 I was a reproach among mine enemies,...

These verses are so powerful, because he tells us what his broken heart has done to him. He says it has caused his strength to fail. How many of you have ever had a broken heart? And you just lose all your strength. He says "my bones are consumed." This verse and others in the Word of God tell us that one of the reasons for sicknesses and diseases can be a broken heart. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken heart dries the bones. Then he tells us in verse 11 about his relationships with other people when a broken heart is there.

31:11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies,...

Do you know what? You may never know who your enemies are until you have a broken heart. And then you find out who they are then. Because your enemies may not have been willing to say what they think about you, as long as you're strong, but the moment you are broken-hearted, you're going to hear what everybody thinks about you. You ever notice that? He says:

...but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.

One thing a broken heart will produce is the inability of other people to be around you. When you need somebody the most, is when people cannot handle being around you. Isn't that wild? Then he tells us what his perception was in his own heart.

31:12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind:

You know, broken-hearted people are convinced that nobody ever thinks about them. I know what it's like to have a broken heart. I was totally convinced that my face or my name never crossed anybody's mind. I felt completely isolated. What has produced this condition? He says,

...I am like a broken vessel.

David, what broke your heart?

31:13 For I have heard the slander of many:

Do you know what slander is? Something that is not true. Slander will break your heart. And do you know where most of have been slandered the most? In gospel services. Because every time we pointed out your fault, and told you that it was a liability between you and God, it was a slander against you. It wasn't true. Every time we pointed out that the reason you're not healed is because you haven't forgiven somebody, that was slander. Because the Bible says that blessed is the man, who God makes righteous, when he hasn't done anything right, and blessed is the man, who when he hasn't done anything right, God doesn't hold it against him. So when we start pointing out your faults and saying that's why God can't help you, what is that? It's slander. Isn't it funny? You felt slandered, but you didn't know why. He said:

For I have heard the slander of many:...

Has anybody here sat through messages that revealed to you the things that had to change for you to be right with God? Has anybody sat through those services? Do you know what they are? They are slander. Now I'm not challenging whether or not you needed to change, you probably still need to change. But when we began to tell you that you had to change these things to be right with God, we were slandering you. Because God said that you are righteous by faith, not because you change. And you know what? I believe it did to you exactly what it did to David. I think it broke your heart.

You know it's awful to love somebody like we've loved Jesus, and then have somebody to stand up in front of us and tell us what all Jesus hates about us. If it wasn't somebody we didn't love - how many of you have heard about people that you don't know and don't really care what their opinion really is, and you've heard what they had to say about you, and it's just like "Big deal. Tell them to get a life."

But what about when it's somebody you love with all your heart, and you start finding out about all the things that they find fault with you about? Folks, it's hard enough to deal with it when it's just human beings, knowing that they have failures too. But when you are in love with Jesus, and you start going to gospel services and hearing about everything that God hates about you, it will break your heart.

Then we have altar calls, because you "surely want to change. You don't want to hurt Jesus like that do you?" Then we make you get up, weeping and wailing about what you did wrong, so that you can get right with God again. And you don't go away with this great sense of rejoicing. You still go away broken-hearted, even though you've promised that you'll do better the next time. Even though you have asked forgiveness, and said, "Jesus, I won't ever do it again." And after a few years, somebody that you were so desperately in love with, you really don't care what He thinks anymore. Because it's hard to be in love with somebody who constantly finds fault.

David said that he had heard the slander of many. I'll tell you what, folks, it's hard for me to get through these verses. Because I know the slander that some of you have been through. I know the slander that we all have been through. And the reason that it's hard for me to get through, is not because I have been through it myself, because I have. It's hard for me to get through, because I spent fifteen years slandering the body of Christ, pointing out all the things they had to change, so God could help them.

Paul said that when somebody dies in the Christian world, that we shouldn't sorrow as the Gentiles do. Do you know what we did to you in the "word of faith" movement? When somebody died that you loved, you sorrowed worse than the world did. You know why? Because if you had just had enough faith, they would have been healed. And the broken heart from the death is nothing compared to the broken heart that you feel because you didn't do good enough to help.

David said that he heard the slander of many and fear was on every side. I know exactly what happened to you. I know what happened to you when you met Jesus. Joy came to your heart. You fell in love so deeply that you didn't know what to do. Nobody had to tell you what to do and what not to do. You were just in love.

Then after we started pointing out everything that was wrong with you, fear started gripping your heart. "How can I do better? Oh, God, I'll never get it right. Jesus I love you, I love you. Please take control of my life. Change me Jesus. Please change me, Jesus." He didn't change us. The problems we had when they were pointed out - we've still got them. You say, "Brother Mike, why didn't He change me? I told Him He could. I gave Him permission to. I told Him change this part of me. Change me, Jesus. Change me, Jesus. He didn't change me. Why?" Because if He had changed you, you would have believed the rest of your life, that the reason for your relationship with Him was because you changed.

Jesus didn't want to change you. He wanted to give you a revelation: Blessed is the man that God makes righteous who hasn't changed. Blessed is the man, who even when he fails, God doesn't hold it against him. It gets so scary out there, when after you've fallen in love with Jesus and you start finding out that so many things are wrong with you. And you know that you'll never be able to get it right. But you knew you needed to change, so you kept going to seminars: "How to Defeat the Devil and How to and How to and How to and How to..." And you kept getting pressed lower and lower and lower, wondering what in the world to do with this love of somebody that you met so many years ago, that you now believe can't help you because of your inability to change. He can't love you. He can't accept you. He can't heal you. He can't prosper you. Because you can't change.

We call people who left the church and go back into the world, "backsliders." The term, backsliding, is not even a New Testament word. It is an Old Testament word. We say they turned their back on Jesus. I think not. I don't think it's Jesus. I don't think that once someone encounters the love of Jesus and has a revelation of that love can ever turn their back. What is there to turn their back on? Perfect love?

Go to the bar. You'll find them. They're lined with born-again Christians. Go to the mental institutions. You'll find them. A statistic that came out about four or five years ago, said that 70% of all people in mental institutions in America are born-again believers in Jesus Christ. No wonder the doctors believe that Christianity is the most deadly thing to mental and emotional health. But it is not Christianity that is deadly to mental and emotional health. It is the only help for mental and emotional stability. It is religion that is deadly to the mental and emotional health of the Christian. It is the slander that constantly comes from pulpits all over America, all over the world.

America has been labeled as the great exporter of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I challenge that perception. We are the greatest exporters of religion that has ever been on the face of the earth. When the doors of the Soviet Union and the bonds of Communism fell off those people in those nations, people were rejoicing. Every kind of evangelist was welcome in the Soviet Union. I will never forget it when I saw it on CNN. I broke and wept and cried. I said, "My God, these people have spent 72 years in bondage to government, and now America is ready to export our bondage to religion in Jesus' Name."

I was quite impressed when I was here in Canada a year ago, in Edmonton. There was a lady there who sat through the meetings. I am just going to tell you what she told me. She told me that she was from Kiev. She told me that she had been born again as a little girl, and believed in Jesus Christ all the way through her childhood. She's now in her forties or fifties. She said, "Mike, I got here and settled in and I wanted to go to church. I just thought that going to church in the Americas...Oh, how wonderful! I just can't wait to get to where the gospel is free." This is what she said. She said, "Mike, I went to a word of faith' church. I sat there for three months. I listened to everything that he said, and at the end of three months, I approached the pastor. With all the love that I had in my heart, I said, "Dear sir, I have listened to you for three months. And what you are preaching is no different than Communism." Think about it for just a minute. She said, "It's no different than Communism."

Psalm 31:13 For I have heard the slander of many; fear was on every side; while they took counsel together against me,..

What did you feel like after you heard all of these things that were wrong with you? You felt like everything in life was against you. No matter what you did, everything was against you.

....they devised to take away my life.

What happens when you begin to hear slander contrary to the fact that you are the righteousness of God? It begins to rob you of the very life of God out of your heart. What a devastating thing!

But look at what the same man says. Drop down to verse 19. Something happens to this man. I hope it happens to you tonight.

Psa 31:19 Oh how great is thy goodness,

No more slander, you see. He knows what God's view is. He knows this great God again.

Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

31:20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man:

What is the pride of men? It is self-righteousness, folks. God wants to hide you in a pavilion from self-righteousness.

...thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

What broke his heart? It's what other people said.

31:21 Blessed be the LORD: for he hath showed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city.

31:22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes:

Let me repeat that again. What did David say? David said that "I have said in my haste, I am cut off from God." How many of you here have felt cut off from God. You came to that conclusion too hastily. Because you weren't.

....nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee,

31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

31:24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

My goodness, what brought such a great change? One moment he's devastated with slander. The next minute, he has nothing but hope. You have to read the next two verses to find out what brought him from such devastation of slander.

32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity,...

You may have heard the slander of many, even people like me. You may have set through service after service trying to find out what was wrong between you and God. We dished it out and told you what it was. But I can assure you, it was nothing but slander. Your heart can recover.

You've been instructed to forgive the people who hurt you, while your heart is still hurting. That is not possible. It is not possible. But once the pain is gone, you'll be able to forgive. I've had a lot of people come up to me and say, "Brother Mike, what do I do with all of this anger in my heart? Once I heard the gospel I got angry. I got angry at people who had put me in bondage. I got angry that people had stood up in the pulpit and lied."

I kind of wish I was in your position, to only have to deal with the anger of what people said to me. But you see, I have something more to deal with than to just be upset with what people said to me. I've had to deal with fifteen years of putting people in bondage. Fifteen years. Of believing and trusting with everything that was within me, that everything I was doing was right, and I was trying to help people. But fifteen years proved that I was helping no one.

There's healing for your heart tonight for the slander of all men. Where does that healing lie? In one revelation. Blessed is the man that God makes righteous, who hasn't done it right. And blessed is the man, who when he fails, God doesn't hold it against him.

Once you realize that God doesn't hold anything against you, do you know what you'll be able to do? You'll be able to hold nothing against any man. Because you'll give out of what you have been given. If you have freely been given a gift from God that holds no faults against you, you are not going to be a fault-finder any more. How many of you became a fault-finder? I did. How many of you felt like you were right when you did it, but when it was over, you felt really rotten inside? But you had to justify what you said and did, because "Bless God, you had to be right."

My mind races sometimes over the situations of things I've told people. I never will forget hearing my "word of faith" teachers. I was in that movement for fifteen years. I'm not speaking of someone else's teaching. I'm speaking of my teaching, not someone else. Don't anyone go from here and say, "Brother Mike is speaking against what brother so and so teaches and what brother so and so teaches. I haven't mentioned anybody's name but my own."

Probably about fifteen years ago in the height of my excitement about the "word of faith" movement, one of my favorite teachers came on TV. He said that a young woman came up to him who had given birth to a child. The child was born with some deformities, and they did everything that they were told to do in confession and standing and believing and speaking the word and calling those things that be not as though they were. This lady was sharing this with tears in their eyes, and she said, "I did everything I was told to do." This lady said, "All of a sudden, the Holy Ghost rose up in me and said, Well you just didn't know enough to do.'" I trumpeted that revelation. I thought, "Wow. Yes!" One year went by and I didn't feel so good about that revelation. Two years went by, and I felt less good about that revelation. Ten years passed and I was totally ashamed of that revelation. There's got to be something wrong with a doctrine, that in your greatest hour of need and failure, that that doctrine pushes you down farther than you have ever been in your life. There's got to be something wrong with it.

Blessed is the man that God makes righteous, who has done nothing right, and blessed is that man who when he sins, God does not hold it against him.

I don't know how to heal broken hearts, but Jesus does. Especially if it's been from the slander of men, contrary to the revelation of righteousness by faith. You can be healed. The fear can leave, and you can live again. If you've been wounded or hurt by religion, by laws and demands; if you've been wounded by religion that has pointed out what God just can't stand about you; if you've been wounded by religion that's pointed out why God can't heal you, why God can't help you, why God can't bless you or prosper you, you've heard the slander of many, if you have. It's time to be healed. It's time to put it behind us, folks, and get on with life. You have a life to live with joy and peace.

If you've been a victim of such things, and you know that the only hope you have is Jesus Who said that "I have come to heal the broken-hearted and set at liberty them that are bruised:" if you know that that's the only hope for your heart, I want you to stand to your feet right where you are, if that's you.

For I have heard the slander of many, felt like everybody was against me. That time is over, dear brother and sister. It is over. Folks, we are the body of Christ. I have no more power in me than you have in you. Now standing here are about fifteen people. There are plenty of us left here. You've got the love of Jesus in you, just like they do. That love needs to be communicated now through touch, through laying on of hands. I want you to look around you for just a minute. Those of you who are sitting in front, I want you to turn around and look. I want you to see. See there are some folks standing up. You are the body of Christ. Do what the body of Christ would do.

Thank you, Jesus. You came to set at liberty those who are bruised, to take out all the pain. Jesus, some of these people have tried as hard as they knew how to do, to please you. They tried as hard as they knew. Now, Father, we thank you, for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. That Jesus the healer of the broken-hearted is now through the revelation of righteousness healing the broken-hearted, and setting at liberty all those that are bruised. Thank you, Father.

Folks, I tell you what, this is the revelation of the gospel: Blessed is the man that God makes righteous that hasn't done it right, and blessed is the man, who when he fails, God doesn't hold it against him. You'll know that Jesus loves you for more reasons than the fact that you read it in the Bible. You'll know that Jesus loves you because your own heart is absolutely convinced of it. Amen? Praise the Lord. How many of you believe the Lord is good? Yes. We bless you, Lord Jesus. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. Great is the Lord.