A Key To Victory

UNDERSTANDING RIGHTEOUSNESS:
A KEY TO VICTORY

One of the most important keys to living in total victory is the reality of righteousness. In the past, the Body of Christ has failed to see this Bible truth, and because of it, was taken captive by sickness, poverty, failure, and defeat. When righteousness becomes a reality in the heart of the believer, then and only then, will they begin to walk in the full inheritance.

In the eyes of God, righteousness simply means right standing. Righteousness gives the believer the right to stand in the presence of God without a sense of fear, guilt, sin, or condemnation. Once you develop an attitude of right standing with God, you will begin to enjoy victory instead of defeat.

Someone always says, “But I thought the Bible said, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’”

²¹But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ²²even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: ²³ for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; ²⁴ being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; ²⁶ to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ²⁷Where is your boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Romans 3:21-27

When Adam was created, he enjoyed a right standing relationship with God. This relationship was broken when he committed high treason in the Garden of Eden. Everything about the man became perverted. His faith was perverted to fear, and his righteousness was perverted to sin – the nature of Satan. Spiritual death was lodged in the heart of mankind.

This created a great need for a redeemer; one who would be born without this sin nature, and through his shed blood, man’s right standing with God would be restored.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his (Jesus’) own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Hebrews 9:12

Jesus paid the price for Adam’s transgression and provided a way for man to enjoy right standing with God once again.

For he hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

You may be asking the question, “How do I become righteous?” Let’s look once again at the scripture we read in Romans 3:22, Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe…

Notice that this righteousness has come upon all men, and it is received by faith. Righteousness is received the same way in which you received salvation.

⁸But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; ⁹ that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:8-10 

The Bible also tells us that righteousness is a free gift. Let’s read Romans 5:12-19 (emphasis added):

¹²Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ¹³(for until the law, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. ¹⁵But not as the offence, so also is the FREE GIFT. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the GIFT by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. ¹⁶And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the GIFT: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the FREE GIFT is of many offences unto justification. ¹⁷For if by one man’s offence 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.)¹⁸therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the FREE GIFT came upon all men unto justification of life. ¹⁹For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Praise God! It is up to you to receive now, by faith, the free gift of righteousness.

Some Christians have said, “I couldn’t be righteous; I don’t feel righteous.” Your feelings have nothing to do with it. The Bible says you are righteous regardless of how you feel. Your feelings will rob you of the blessings of God if you continue to base your faith upon them. Some people think they are being humble by saying they’re not righteous. That is not humility –

that is ignorance! The truly humble man says, “I know I don’t look righteous, and I don’t feel righteous, but the Bible says I am righteous; therefore, I am righteous.”

Developing a righteousness consciousness will create a victory consciousness. Jesus was very much aware of His right standing with the Father, and because of this awareness, He lived in total victory. Some say, “Yes, but He was the Son of God.” Yes, He was, but so are you! You should be just as aware of your right standing as Jesus was, and as you do this, you will begin to live in total victory as He did during His earthly ministry.

Let’s find out from the Word how we can develop a righteousness consciousness. We will begin by reading Hebrews 10:1-4:

¹For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. ²For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. ³But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. ⁴For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

From this we understand that the sacrifices offered under the law could never do away with sin. The blood of bulls and goats could only cover (atone) for the sins of the people but could never remit them. The writer stated that if the blood of bulls and goats could do away with sin, then there would be no reason to offer sacrifices any longer because the people would be free from sin. But the writer says that this could never happen under the law.

Now let’s look at something that is very exciting in Hebrews 9:11-14 (emphasis added):

¹¹But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;¹² neither by the blood of goats and calves, but BY HIS OWN BLOOD he entered in once into the holy place, HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION FOR US. ¹³For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: ¹⁴ how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, PURGE YOUR CONSCIENCE from dead works to serve the living God?

Praise God! Did you notice that the blood of Jesus obtained an eternal redemption for us? The blood of bulls and goats could never do this, but thank God, the blood of Jesus did it! Therefore, we should not have a sin consciousness for His blood has remitted our sins by blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us (Colossians 2:14).

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6:14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Praise the Lord, we are totally free from the bondage of sin! For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

The very first step in developing a righteousness consciousness is to put away all the sin tags. For example, “I’m just an ‘old’ sinner saved by grace.” Well, that statement is not entirely true. It is true that we were sinners, and we were saved by grace, but thank God, He didn’t leave us an “old sinner.” He made us the righteousness of God.

Another sin tag that you should get rid of is, “I’m just a worm, and an old dog; I’m so unworthy.” Actually, when a believer makes that confession he is acting as a hypocrite. The Word of God says in Ephesians 2:10, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Have you ever seen anything that God created that turned out unworthy and no good? No, thank God. He didn’t leave us unworthy, but He has created us in His very own image and because of this, we can stand in His presence with a sense of belonging.

How will the development of a righteousness consciousness affect your prayer life? First of all, you can be assured of God’s attention to your prayer. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers (1 Peter 3:12). You can be confident that you are welcome to bring your request right into the very throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). You can also know that your prayers will avail much. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James. 5:16).

Praise God! It should be very clear to you that the reality of having right standing with God is definitely a KEY TO VICTORY. Lean hard on your right standing, and you will begin to enjoy victory!