The Reign of Righteousness
Jesus wants us to reign on this earth in His righteousness. Today we are going to talk about your being the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
Just exactly what does it mean to be righteous? When you accepted Jesus as your Savior, you became a child of God the Father. He is your Heavenly Father now. He has given you all the rights as a child in His household. You are in right standing with Him. Because of Jesus, the Father considers you as perfection itself, free from blemishes and spots. It is because of Jesus, and only because of Jesus that you are righteous. He took every bit of sin and sickness and disease and all that is the curse on Himself so that we could be free. We are free of all encumbrances that would weigh us down. We are in right relationship with God. Isn’t that awesome! What a God! What a plan! He is our wonderful Heavenly Father.
In Ephesians 4:24 Paul tells us that we are to put on the new man, the new nature of God, and that we are created in God’s image of righteousness and true holiness. As God’s child, you and I have His nature, the whole essence of Himself, of Who He is. The image of God is holiness and righteousness, truth and love and goodness and mercy and life and light. We could go on with the list, but that would take all eternity. In the final analysis, God is Love and Love Himself is dwelling in us to produce the nature of God in us, as we yield to Him. The perfecting is in the yielding. When we yield to Love Himself, we are yielding to being righteous because He is righteous. You know what this really means: He is right. And since He is right, when we listen to Him, when we obey Him, we will be right. We will live right. We will talk right. We will act right. We will think right. We will do what is right.
After we are born again, we continue to grow in our understanding of righteousness, of who we really are in Christ Jesus and Who He really is in us. And how do we do that growing? In 2 Timothy 3:16 we are told that the scripture is profitable for instruction in righteousness, in addition to the scripture being given for reproof and conviction and correction and discipline in obedience. In the Amplified Bible where this verse is concerned, we read that the scripture is given for training in righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose and action. I would say that summarizes it very clearly. And what is the purpose of that training? That training brings us into a place of being a mature child of God who is complete and proficient and well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
There is something I must emphasize here. You will not be any more righteous a year from now or years from now than you are right now or the minute you were born again, when you accepted Jesus as your Savior. What you are growing in is the knowledge of your righteousness, what you truly are and what you have. That is what the Word does for us. The Word is God’s instruction manual which tells us what we have, who we are and how to do complete our assignment here on this earth in victory and leave in victory when we are finished.
There is a scripture in Psalm 85:13 which I love regarding righteousness. I must insert it here as we are talking about growing in the knowledge of our righteousness. This word refers to Jesus and us. Listen to it: Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps. In the Amplified Bible we read: Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.
Or how about Isaiah 58:8? Let’s read the part of that verse referring to righteousness from the Amplified Bible---your righteousness (your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God) shall go before you [conducting you to peace and prosperity]. Do you see the results of righteousness here? The righteousness of God leads you and me to peace and prosperity, conducts the way. And peace here is the wholeness of God, with nothing missing, nothing broken.
There are so many verses in Psalms and Proverbs telling us about the results of righteousness. Let’s look at a few of them as we close today.
Psalms 5:12 The Lord blesses the righteous. He surrounds the righteous with favor.
Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry for help and the Lord hears them and delivers them our of their troubles.
Psalm 37:17 The Lord upholds the righteous.
Psalm 37:29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.
Psalm 72:7 and Psalm 92:12-15 The righteous shall flourish, be long-lived, stately, upright, useful, and fruitful; shall grow and be majestic, stable, durable and incorruptible; shall still bring forth fruit in old age; be full of spiritual vitality and in the vigorous growing condition of trust, love and contentment. They are living memorials to show that the Lord is faithful to His promise. Amplified Bible.
I don’t know about you but that last word in Psalm 92:12-15 is enough to tell us the benefits of being right with God. Do a study of Psalms and Proverbs to see all the benefits you have as God’s righteous child.
Just exactly what does it mean to be righteous? When you accepted Jesus as your Savior, you became a child of God the Father. He is your Heavenly Father now. He has given you all the rights as a child in His household. You are in right standing with Him. Because of Jesus, the Father considers you as perfection itself, free from blemishes and spots. It is because of Jesus, and only because of Jesus that you are righteous. He took every bit of sin and sickness and disease and all that is the curse on Himself so that we could be free. We are free of all encumbrances that would weigh us down. We are in right relationship with God. Isn’t that awesome! What a God! What a plan! He is our wonderful Heavenly Father.
In Ephesians 4:24 Paul tells us that we are to put on the new man, the new nature of God, and that we are created in God’s image of righteousness and true holiness. As God’s child, you and I have His nature, the whole essence of Himself, of Who He is. The image of God is holiness and righteousness, truth and love and goodness and mercy and life and light. We could go on with the list, but that would take all eternity. In the final analysis, God is Love and Love Himself is dwelling in us to produce the nature of God in us, as we yield to Him. The perfecting is in the yielding. When we yield to Love Himself, we are yielding to being righteous because He is righteous. You know what this really means: He is right. And since He is right, when we listen to Him, when we obey Him, we will be right. We will live right. We will talk right. We will act right. We will think right. We will do what is right.
After we are born again, we continue to grow in our understanding of righteousness, of who we really are in Christ Jesus and Who He really is in us. And how do we do that growing? In 2 Timothy 3:16 we are told that the scripture is profitable for instruction in righteousness, in addition to the scripture being given for reproof and conviction and correction and discipline in obedience. In the Amplified Bible where this verse is concerned, we read that the scripture is given for training in righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose and action. I would say that summarizes it very clearly. And what is the purpose of that training? That training brings us into a place of being a mature child of God who is complete and proficient and well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
There is something I must emphasize here. You will not be any more righteous a year from now or years from now than you are right now or the minute you were born again, when you accepted Jesus as your Savior. What you are growing in is the knowledge of your righteousness, what you truly are and what you have. That is what the Word does for us. The Word is God’s instruction manual which tells us what we have, who we are and how to do complete our assignment here on this earth in victory and leave in victory when we are finished.
There is a scripture in Psalm 85:13 which I love regarding righteousness. I must insert it here as we are talking about growing in the knowledge of our righteousness. This word refers to Jesus and us. Listen to it: Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps. In the Amplified Bible we read: Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.
Or how about Isaiah 58:8? Let’s read the part of that verse referring to righteousness from the Amplified Bible---your righteousness (your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God) shall go before you [conducting you to peace and prosperity]. Do you see the results of righteousness here? The righteousness of God leads you and me to peace and prosperity, conducts the way. And peace here is the wholeness of God, with nothing missing, nothing broken.
There are so many verses in Psalms and Proverbs telling us about the results of righteousness. Let’s look at a few of them as we close today.
Psalms 5:12 The Lord blesses the righteous. He surrounds the righteous with favor.
Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry for help and the Lord hears them and delivers them our of their troubles.
Psalm 37:17 The Lord upholds the righteous.
Psalm 37:29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.
Psalm 72:7 and Psalm 92:12-15 The righteous shall flourish, be long-lived, stately, upright, useful, and fruitful; shall grow and be majestic, stable, durable and incorruptible; shall still bring forth fruit in old age; be full of spiritual vitality and in the vigorous growing condition of trust, love and contentment. They are living memorials to show that the Lord is faithful to His promise. Amplified Bible.
I don’t know about you but that last word in Psalm 92:12-15 is enough to tell us the benefits of being right with God. Do a study of Psalms and Proverbs to see all the benefits you have as God’s righteous child.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 6:29 PM
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