Right Standing with God
Man Lost His Right-Standing
Adam lost his standing with God when he sinned.
Abraham’s faith was accounted unto him as righteousness.
Romans 4:3 – “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
Romans 4:17-19 – “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb.”
Jesus paid for Adam’s transgression, and man’s righteousness was restored.
Have You Been Made the Righteousness of God?
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 – “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (v.17). “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (v.21).
Righteousness is the ability to stand in the presence of God without the sense of sin, guilt, or inferiority.
Romans 5:1 – “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Don’t confuse righteousness with holiness.
Jesus’ Righteousness Has Been Imparted to You
1 Corinthians 1:30 – “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”
God provided this righteousness upon legal grounds.
Romans 4:25 (in the literal) – “Who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised when we were declared righteous.”
Righteousness Is a Free Gift
Romans 5:17-19 – “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one…even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteousness.”
If God could not make man righteous and as free from a sin conscience and condemnation as he was before sin entered the world, then Satan’s work in Adam was more effectual than God’s work in Jesus.
Declare His Righteousness
Romans 3:21-26 – “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” (v.22). “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood…” (vv.24-25)
Romans 10:10 – “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness…”
If God is going to have perfect fellowship with man, then man must be righteous.
God is not holding anything against anyone.
2 Corinthians 5:19 – “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them…”
Put Away a Sin Consciousness
Don’t hang on to sin tags such as, “I’m just an ole’ sinner saved by grace.”
Satan has made the Body of Christ think that it is a mark of humility before God to boast of our sinful, weak, unworthy condition.
You are God’s workmanship created unto good works.
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.”
Begin to Develop a Righteousness Consciousness
Hebrews 10:1-2 – “…because that the worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sins” (v.2).
Hebrews 9:11-14 – “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?” (v.14)
Hebrews 1:3 – “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Romans 5:1 (AMP) – “Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy,] peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”
Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
1 Peter 3:12 – “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers…”
James 5:16 – “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Ephesians 6:14 – “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.”
