Instruction in Righteousness

[Kokavkrystallos]

[This builds on one of the prior messages & goes much deeper, yet I feel I don't do it justice, as the righteousness of God, and our call to righteousness is saturated throughout the Bible, it's an inexhaustable subject!]

INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS - 2 Timothy 3:16

Let's begin with Psalm 24:3-5.
We will focus on verse 5:
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
(Verse 5)
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."

Righteousness there, Hebrew tzadaqah, means justice and righteousness, both as justification, and ethically and morally right, virtue. Both are granted unto us: imputed righteousness by being justified by Christ's blood, and righteousness imparted, which is by the Holy Spirit who gives the power and the desire to overcome sin. Hence, we live righteously.

Righteousness is both a right standing with God, having our sins forgiven and atoned for, and, right living, which also goes right along with the doctrine of sanctification and holiness.

Now I realize some people have issue with imparted righteousness, thinking it means sinless perfection as was taught by John Wesley, Andrew Murray, George Fox, etc. (Though I still read their sermons) That is not the teaching here, but we are called to forsake sin, and Jesus did say, " be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48), and we are called to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1), "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." (Hebrews 3:14) - [That verse also goes into the perseverance of the saints: the true believers will overcome, and persevere in faith.]

I think we all agree Jesus Christ is righteousness in every meaning of the word. It is written, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27), "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27),
Jesus said the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, shall be in you (John 14:16-17) and, "In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." (John 14:20) Jesus goes on to pray, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one...O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:23, 25. 26)

There's a lot of meat here. Too many are being fed just milk, and baby food, never able to mature. And way too many are being fed junk food that's unhealthy - by that I mean false doctrine. We cannot abide such things, and must search out the deep things of God by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10)

Psalm 40:10,
"I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation."
He did not keep God's righteousness to himself. He has not hidden God's righteousness, but proclaims it, by speaking and living it. This is the same Hebrew word, tzadaqah.

"Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times." (Psalm 106:3)
1 John 3:7 tells us, "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous."

I must say, this is NOT salvation by works, as some say it is, and it's not a works based gospel, as some accuse. Salvation is by grace through faith, by BELIEVING Christ died on the cross for your sin, and that He rose from the dead. But Abraham believed God by faith and it was counted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3)
Yet, by believing in faith, Abraham also acted; he was called to leave his homeland, and "obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." (Hebrews 11:8)
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone...faith without works us dead. " (James 2:17 & 20) In fact, read James 2:14-26.

Ephesians 2:8-10. Now lots of people just read verses 8 & 9,
"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
But we must go on to verse 10 to get the full context, or else these 2 verses can be taken out of context to teach it doesnt matter at all what you do.
Verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

The Greek translated into "should walk" is not a suggestion, but paripeteo means to walk, to live, to regulate ones self, to conduct one's life. God has ordained we conduct our lives fruitfully in good works, and that this should be the natural result of having the Spirit within us. This is the righteousness received that we are to walk in daily.

Paul is certainly not preaching an easy grace gospel in Roman's. He is not telling you it don't matter how you live, you can still be saved. He is not telling you that you don't have to keep the 10 commandments. I heard someone last year say in church, "Do you have to keep the 10 commandments? NO!" That is horrific false teaching.

We keep the law by faith. We do not make void the law of God through faith, God forbid! Yea, we establish the law. (Roman's 3:31) All of Roman's 6 deals with this: we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin, to yield our members unto righteousness, alive from the dead, becoming servants of God, having your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life! That's all in Roman's 6.

How about Roman's 8? There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (vs 1) People love the first part of that verse, but will neglect the second half. Go to verse 4 to clarify: "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

We don't keep the law to earn any points, we don't have a covenant of works, but we do keep the law by faith, and by Christ's righteousness in us by the Holy Spirit, who will give us a desire for God's righteousness, and a hatred for sin.

Romans 5:17 speaks of righteousness as a gift:
"For 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."
That is, making one right with God by His abundant grace. Immediately after this chapter Paul goes into 6 which we already mentioned, and chapter 6 starts out with,
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (vs 1 & 2)
And in verse 13 we are instructed to yield ourselves unto God, as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Galatians 5 lists the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, giving a stark contrast between the two. The interesting thing here is Galatians is the book that the easy grace antinomians go to in an attempt to justify their false teaching and their sins! Yet Paul makes clear immediately after saying "if ye are led if the Spirit, ye are not under the law", in verse 18, (watch the context here,)

"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
(Galatians 5:18-26)

This is not a lists of dos and donts. It's showing the principle that those who live in these sins are not saved, and those who walk in the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit are.

Furthermore, if we look back in Galatians 2:17, right after Paul says by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified (vs 16),
"But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid."

1 John bears this out in a number of verses:
2:1,
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2:3,
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

2:29,
If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

3:6-10, Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

3:18,
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

5:2-4,
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

*Now in case you're thinking that's only in John's letters, Paul writes, "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, and SIN NOT; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." (1 Corinthians 15:33-34)

We can go on then to 2 John 9,
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

3rd John 11 also continues this: Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

Now the doctrine of Christ can be broken down into two parts: His deity, that He is God the Word come in the flesh, and who died for our sins and rose from the dead, ascending then to heaven according to the Scriptures, and second, that we are to be obedient to Christ's commandments and live according to His righteousness, being clothed with His righteousness, which begins with repentance and being born again, believing by faith in Christ.

We need to know this doctrine of righteousness, for it is part of our faith, and righteousness cannot be separated from faith. We both know it and live it. It's not enough to just know it. Then we apply it in practice, so that it becomes our experience.

Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5) and by his obedience and experience his acts are recorded in the faith chapter, Hebrews 11:7,
"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

This is the experiental righteousness we live by our conduct, also known as having our conversation (that is, behavior, lifestyle) holy and in godliness (2 Peter 3:11)

I'll conclude with 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.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
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."
Amen.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

[This builds on one of the prior messages & goes much deeper, yet I feel I don't do it justice, as the righteousness of God, and our call to righteousness is saturated throughout the Bible, it's an inexhaustable subject!]

INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS - 2 Timothy 3:16

Let's begin with Psalm 24:3-5.
We will focus on verse 5:
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
(Verse 5)
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."

Righteousness there, Hebrew tzadaqah, means justice and righteousness, both as justification, and ethically and morally right, virtue. Both are granted unto us: imputed righteousness by being justified by Christ's blood, and righteousness imparted, which is by the Holy Spirit who gives the power and the desire to overcome sin. Hence, we live righteously.

Righteousness is both a right standing with God, having our sins forgiven and atoned for, and, right living, which also goes right along with the doctrine of sanctification and holiness.

Now I realize some people have issue with imparted righteousness, thinking it means sinless perfection as was taught by John Wesley, Andrew Murray, George Fox, etc. (Though I still read their sermons) That is not the teaching here, but we are called to forsake sin, and Jesus did say, " be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48), and we are called to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1), "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." (Hebrews 3:14) - [That verse also goes into the perseverance of the saints: the true believers will overcome, and persevere in faith.]

I think we all agree Jesus Christ is righteousness in every meaning of the word. It is written, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27), "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27),
Jesus said the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, shall be in you (John 14:16-17) and, "In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." (John 14:20) Jesus goes on to pray, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one...O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:23, 25. 26)

There's a lot of meat here. Too many are being fed just milk, and baby food, never able to mature. And way too many are being fed junk food that's unhealthy - by that I mean false doctrine. We cannot abide such things, and must search out the deep things of God by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10)

Psalm 40:10,
"I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation."
He did not keep God's righteousness to himself. He has not hidden God's righteousness, but proclaims it, by speaking and living it. This is the same Hebrew word, tzadaqah.

"Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times." (Psalm 106:3)
1 John 3:7 tells us, "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous."

I must say, this is NOT salvation by works, as some say it is, and it's not a works based gospel, as some accuse. Salvation is by grace through faith, by BELIEVING Christ died on the cross for your sin, and that He rose from the dead. But Abraham believed God by faith and it was counted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3)
Yet, by believing in faith, Abraham also acted; he was called to leave his homeland, and "obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." (Hebrews 11:8)
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone...faith without works us dead. " (James 2:17 & 20) In fact, read James 2:14-26.

Ephesians 2:8-10. Now lots of people just read verses 8 & 9,
"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
But we must go on to verse 10 to get the full context, or else these 2 verses can be taken out of context to teach it doesnt matter at all what you do.
Verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

The Greek translated into "should walk" is not a suggestion, but paripeteo means to walk, to live, to regulate ones self, to conduct one's life. God has ordained we conduct our lives fruitfully in good works, and that this should be the natural result of having the Spirit within us. This is the righteousness received that we are to walk in daily.

Paul is certainly not preaching an easy grace gospel in Roman's. He is not telling you it don't matter how you live, you can still be saved. He is not telling you that you don't have to keep the 10 commandments. I heard someone last year say in church, "Do you have to keep the 10 commandments? NO!" That is horrific false teaching.

We keep the law by faith. We do not make void the law of God through faith, God forbid! Yea, we establish the law. (Roman's 3:31) All of Roman's 6 deals with this: we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin, to yield our members unto righteousness, alive from the dead, becoming servants of God, having your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life! That's all in Roman's 6.

How about Roman's 8? There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (vs 1) People love the first part of that verse, but will neglect the second half. Go to verse 4 to clarify: "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

We don't keep the law to earn any points, we don't have a covenant of works, but we do keep the law by faith, and by Christ's righteousness in us by the Holy Spirit, who will give us a desire for God's righteousness, and a hatred for sin.

Romans 5:17 speaks of righteousness as a gift:
"For 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."
That is, making one right with God by His abundant grace. Immediately after this chapter Paul goes into 6 which we already mentioned, and chapter 6 starts out with,
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (vs 1 & 2)
And in verse 13 we are instructed to yield ourselves unto God, as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Galatians 5 lists the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, giving a stark contrast between the two. The interesting thing here is Galatians is the book that the easy grace antinomians go to in an attempt to justify their false teaching and their sins! Yet Paul makes clear immediately after saying "if ye are led if the Spirit, ye are not under the law", in verse 18, (watch the context here,)

"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
(Galatians 5:18-26)

This is not a lists of dos and donts. It's showing the principle that those who live in these sins are not saved, and those who walk in the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit are.

Furthermore, if we look back in Galatians 2:17, right after Paul says by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified (vs 16),
"But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid."

1 John bears this out in a number of verses:
2:1,
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2:3,
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

2:29,
If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

3:6-10, Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

3:18,
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

5:2-4,
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

*Now in case you're thinking that's only in John's letters, Paul writes, "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, and SIN NOT; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." (1 Corinthians 15:33-34)

We can go on then to 2 John 9,
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

3rd John 11 also continues this: Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

Now the doctrine of Christ can be broken down into two parts: His deity, that He is God the Word come in the flesh, and who died for our sins and rose from the dead, ascending then to heaven according to the Scriptures, and second, that we are to be obedient to Christ's commandments and live according to His righteousness, being clothed with His righteousness, which begins with repentance and being born again, believing by faith in Christ.

We need to know this doctrine of righteousness, for it is part of our faith, and righteousness cannot be separated from faith. We both know it and live it. It's not enough to just know it. Then we apply it in practice, so that it becomes our experience.

Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5) and by his obedience and experience his acts are recorded in the faith chapter, Hebrews 11:7,
"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

This is the experiental righteousness we live by our conduct, also known as having our conversation (that is, behavior, lifestyle) holy and in godliness (2 Peter 3:11)

I'll conclude with 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.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
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."
Amen.

I believe there are two aspects of salvation believers need to be concerned with.
If you are interested, here is a thread I created on that.

Two Aspects of Salvation (Believers Need to Be Concerned With):

The Two Aspects of Salvation: (Believers Need to Be Concerned With): #1. God's Grace Through Faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior (Initial Salvation, and or Foundational Salvation). (The 1st synergistic work of GOD done in a believer). Being saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus as ones...

www.christianforums.com

May the Lord Jesus Christ (God) bless you and your family, richly.