Freely receive God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ.

Believers, God didn’t give us His righteousness as a reward for our own obedience. It’s a gift – Romans 5:17! It’s not given because of our law-keeping or our good works. His righteousness is not a salary. We do not deserve it. We cannot earn it. It was given because He loves us so much and He gave His own Son to die for our sins. Romans 5:9 tells us how our heavenly Father in Christ sees all believers in Christ:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Beware of "men of God" who teach that you whom God has made godly/righteous in Christ need to do some things by human effort in order to be godly (be like God.) Beware of "men of God" who tell you that you who are in Christ Jesus, having Him as your righteousness, will experience God's wrath/ punishment for whatever reason.

In Christ, we are righteous in God's sight because our Heavenly Father made our Lord Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us – 2 Corinthians 5:21. The best thing we can do is receive His wonderful gift and say “Thank you, Father!” Only when we stop trying so hard to get right with God with our ‘filthy rags” efforts at keeping the law and rest in His gift of righteousness given to us through Christ do we get to live in triumph over sin and death (Romans 5:17) With His gift of righteousness comes every blessing that is attached to the righteous man in the bible:

Remember Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD." Did you notice that the promise is an inheritance (heritage) for those whose righteousness is from our Lord God and not those who depend on their works to receive from or get right with God?

Remember Proverbs 11:21 – “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” That’s your seed (children) being delivered through no effort of yours but by God's saving grace! So many more blessings on the righteous in the Word!

When your clothes are dirty (our own righteousnesses from keeping the law are like filthy rags in God's sight according to Isaiah 64:6), you don’t mind rolling around in the mud (sinning), because you are already dirty anyway. But being clothed in God’s righteousness is like wearing your Sunday best everyday. You instinctively do not want to get dirty (continue sinning). When your children know who their Heavenly Father is and how clean they are in Christ, they will not give away their virtue away or live recklessly. With Him as our righteousness, the moral requirements of the Law are fulfilled in us, but not by us. We become righteous by accident; we live right without even knowing it because His Spirit transforms us to the image of His glory, from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18); because "It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me."

Believer, let’s receive our heavenly Father’s gift of righteousness to us in Christ with thanksgiving. He knows we don’t deserve it. He knows we can never be righteous in His sight by our own useless efforts at keeping the law, "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.". Romans 3:20. Our thinking that there is some good in us when the bible says ‘there is none good but God’ is the height of foolishness, pride and hypocrisy.

Romans 5:9 says of our heavenly Father: "And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

When we depend on our own ability to keep the law and our good works to get right with God and escape His punishment that we fully deserve, we tell Him that what Jesus did to make us righteous and save us from punishment is not enough!

But God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ is not for us to continue to wallow in sin. Never. Some people misinterpret the gospel and respond to God's grace with statements like: "So it is okay for a pastor that is fornicating to continue to fornicate because of God's grace?" This is akin to asking: "So it is okay for Sarah that is barren to remain barren because of God's grace?" Being under grace and not living right and bearing fruit to God is akin to jumping into the sea naked without getting wet.

Like Sarah who would have remained barren for life without God's grace, the pastor who is fornicating will continue to fornicate and even commit worse sins forever, no matter how hard he tries to keep the law and stop fornicating, if he is not saved by grace through faith. The law is not of faith. Peter learned not to trust himself the hard way. He thought and knew 100% that he would never deny Jesus when circumstances were still favourable. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, he seemed to be making good on his promise, even cut off someone's ear, ready to fight for Jesus:) But when he got tempted beyond what he could bear, he lied profusely. To any who think that some sins are beneath them and even seem like they are doing well at keeping the law, think again. The reason why we are not committing particular sins is because we have not been tempted beyond what we can bear in those areas. Nobody is good by themselves. The potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that some sins are beneath them and that they can 'at least try' to keep the law.

God's saving grace is our victory over sin.

But many "men of God" reject the power of God to save and transform even the vilest offender who believes to live right and tell you to depend on the arm of flesh (human effort at keeping the law in order to be godly) that will fail.

Grace saves from sins and every earthly ill. Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him - "God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone." Even salvation from sins as we see in verse 14 of the same Titus 2:

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

All who receive God's abundance of grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ get to live in triumph over sin and death (sickness, lack, depression, oppression and all earthly ills are "death begun") through Jesus Christ -

"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

By God's grace, let’s translate this attitude of freely receiving that which is freely given to us by God into our everyday lives too, especially with our children. Many parents wonder how their kids have such low regard (inferiority complex) for themselves. If a friend or family member buys a gift for your children, never say things like “Ah, this is too much” or “don’t waste money like this, now.” It’s a gift. Of course they don’t deserve it! A simple thank you will do. They will grow up knowing that nothing and no one is too good for them, and in a healthy, godly manner too:) The Lord is our strength.

In closing, as believers in Christ, we are not running a race in our own strength where the finish line is righteousness. Without Jesus, we can do nothing. No one can fulfill the Law on their own. In Christ, we start from the finish line - we are 100% righteous in Him. Seek this righteousness and all other things, including the grace to live right, will be added unto you.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.