The righteousness of the Lord

Believers, see the righteousness of the Lord in His word. Micah 6:5 says: "O My people, remember now What Balak king of Moab counseled, And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, From Acacia Grove to Gilgal, That you may know the righteousness of the Lord.”

Remember the story of Balak and Balaam and how the former hired the latter to curse the children of Israel? Balaam tried to curse them from three different locations but ended up blessing them instead, according to God’s will. Check out part of what the Lord caused him to say at his second prophecy- Numbers 23-

20 Behold, I have received a command to bless;

He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

21 “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob,

Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel.

The LORD his God is with him,

And the shout of a King is among them.

God did not observe iniquity in Jacob nor did He see wickedness in Israel. But wait a minute. Look what Moses told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 9:6-7 after Balaam failed in his bid to curse them and as they were about to cross the River Jordan into the Promised Land –

“6Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. 7Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.”

The children of Israel were rebellious and stiff-necked throughout their journey in the wilderness, including their time in Moab when Balaam tried to curse them, yet the Lord did not observe iniquity or see wickedness in them! Believers, if the blood of bulls and goats offered continually year by year could cause our Heavenly Father not to observe iniquity in Jacob, how much more us believers in Christ today that have been cleansed once for all (one-time payment according to Hebrews 10:11-14!) by the blood of His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ?! How much more we who have been blessed with abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness through our Saviour Jesus Christ!

The experience of the children of Israel here is a shadow of our life in Christ today. God sees us as righteous apart from works (Romans 3:28) because His Son and our Saviour Jesus shed His blood to save us. Our being free of the curse and entering our promised land (rest in Christ) has got nothing to do with our own righteousness or the good or bad things we do. It is not earned; much like the children of Israel did not enter their own promised land because of their own righteousness as recorded by Moses in Deuteronomy 9:6 above. We enter Christ’s rest because we believe God loved us so much that He gave His Son to die for us. He took our place on the cross and made us righteous.

Believers in Christ, we are not under law but under grace. In Christ, the Lord has blessed you and no one can reverse it. Like the stiff-necked and rebellious children of Israel whom Balaam could not curse, God does not observe iniquity in you when you sin and mess things up, because our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has satisfied His fiery anger and judgment that should fall on you.

But does this mean that it is okay to be stiff-necked and rebellious because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? Certainly not! God hates sin – stealing, murder, budget padding, running a red light, lying about how you are almost at work when you haven’t even left the house, not loving your neighbor as yourself, all sin. God is against all these things. He sees the damage and death that sin brings to the world that He so loved, so He sent His Son to save us from our sins, as it is written in Matthew 1:21-

"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

You don't need Jesus if you can save yourself from your sins and do right by God's standard all by yourself; Romans 3:20 says- 

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

Many of us think that we are "not that bad," or that God will consider our efforts at living a holy life and bless us as a result of these efforts; we even look down on "core sinners" because our sins are not as heinous as theirs, but think again: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law yet stumble at one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10. 

Being in Christ is not deciding to be good from now on. It is acknowledging that no amount of law-keeping can give us right-standing with God (Romans 3:20;) that we need Christ to save us from our sins (Matt. 1:21;) that we are made righteous by Christ's obedience, not ours (Romans 5:19;) that we are being transformed to the image of His glory, from glory to glory by His Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18) and not by self-will and that with Christ, our Abba Father gives us ALL things FREELY (Romans 8:32.)

Remember Isaiah 64:6 – ‘But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;…” Our righteousnesses are our law-keeping and the good things we do! Thank God for His word in Romans 5:19 "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Imagine a maggot-infested pot (person with sin nature inherited from Adam,) with the maggots crawling all over the outside of the pot (acts of sin and the righteous things that we do, aka filthy rags, to get from God manifested). Christ died to rid us of this sin nature. In Him, we are made righteous, so we bear fruit to righteousnes. What our Saviour does through His Spirit that dwells in us is wash our insides clean and continuously fill it to overflowing with the cleansing of the water of the Word (of faith not the law.) He does it all.

Once the heart is believing right, your actions and behaviour will line up with the Spirit within. The maggots outside the pot will vanish and with none crawling out to replace them because the inside is pure and not stagnant; filled to overflowing with the righteousness of the Lord. Not only will you Live Right and not continue in sin, you will do exploits "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." - Philippians 2:13. ALL OF THESE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR EFFORTS.

With Christ's gift of righteousness comes no condemnation, and it is this gift of no condemnation makes us go and sin no more.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.