Established in Righteousness (part 2)

Seven things we need to know about righteousness

10.22.2023

 

Review

I am continuing what I started last week!

We need to live from a firm foundation of who we are in Jesus!

Colossians 2:6-7 (NKJV)

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:6-7 (NLT)

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

1. Are you challenged with guilt, condemnation, and inferiority?

2. Are you confident in your relationship with God, or at times do you question where you stand with Him?

3. Do you experience peace in your relationship with Jesus, or do you still struggle with thoughts and feelings of insecurity?

4. Are you established in your right standing with God, living with a confidence in God that produces stability in your personal relationships?

Ephesians 6:14 (NKJV)

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

As we head into our future, we will need God’s help like perhaps never before! To be able to trust Him, our life foundation must be established in righteousness!

Proverbs 28:1 (NKJV)

The wicked flee when no one pursues,

But the righteous are bold as a lion.

Isaiah 54:14 (NKJV)

In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

Synonyms of Established:

deep-rooted, entrenched, fixed, ingrained, permanent, rooted, secure, set, settled, stable, unshakable, well-established.

Righteousness – Definition

The ability to stand before God without the sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority, just as though you had never done wrong!

It is not earned. It’s a free gift.

Here are seven important things we need to know about righteousness:

1. Guilt and condemnation are the main enemies to a strong relationship with God and a positive change in your life!

Do you wrestle with personal guilt?

Do you have a sense of condemnation about you?

Psychologists tell us that guilt and condemnation are the main demotivators of human behavior.

Guilt and condemnation are the main enemies of your faith in God. They will pull the rug out from under you spiritually.

Guilt and condemnation will rob you of confidence before God.

You would rather not be around a person that you think doesn’t like you or is constantly critical of you!

Guilt and condemnation keep you from being a bold witness for Jesus.

I was taught in church as a child that I was a sinner saved by grace.

Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV)

But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

I NEVER heard that God made me righteous when I became a Christian until I was 18 years old!

I WAS a sinner, but I got SAVED by grace, and now I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ.

2. Knowing that you are righteous in Christ can give you an inward confidence that will boost your spiritual life and enable you to:

• Live with a confidence that God is for and not against you.
• Be free from self-condemnation and guilt.
• Be released from your past failures and mistakes.
• Approach God in prayer with the innocence of a child.
• Exercise consistent faith in the most trying circumstances.
• Not be swayed by critics.

Obsessive thinking in my past caused me to become steeped in self-condemnation and guilt. I was my worst critic.

 

Guilt de-motivates! It creates a potential downward spiral. I can never do right, so why try!

Many people seek to escape guilt through looking for pleasure to numb it.

Alcohol, drugs, overeating, overworking.

Some people stay busy working in the church, so that they won’t think about the guilt and condemnation. All of these could be ways that a person seeks to numb the pain of guilt and condemnation.

For me, when I came to Jesus, I felt that I must always be reading or praying so God would like me. I was obsessed with a sense of guilt and condemnation.

(If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin, then you will sense personal guilt when the Holy Spirit is working in your life!) If you do not, then you have become calloused and hardened spiritually. An awakened conscience is the first sign that the Holy Spirit is dealing with you!

I was in my room reading on my day off as a new Christian (I felt that I needed to DO something to be pleasing to the Lord), and I sensed the Lord urging me to go outside and rake leaves with my mom whom I heard outside.

Titus 3:4-5 (NKJV)

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Jesus wants you to be free from condemnation!

3. Righteousness produces a personal confidence and assurance that brings peace into your daily life.

 

Isaiah 32:17 (NKJV)

The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.

What (thoughts) is/are keeping you from personal peace?

What keeps you afraid to really get quiet with God?

What keeps you from knowing that you are loved and favored by God your Father?

 

Isaiah 32:17 (AMPC)

And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever.

Assurance definition:

1. A positive declaration intended to give confidence:

2. Promise or pledge; guaranty; surety

3. Full confidence; freedom from doubt; certainty: to act in the assurance of success

4. Freedom from timidity; self-confidence; belief in one’s abilities

4. Righteousness brings two kinds of peace into daily living.

 

1) Peace with God

2) the Peace of God

 

Peace with God comes from knowing that your sins are cleansed!

 

Romans 5:1

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

 

The peace of God comes from relating the right way to the Holy Spirit…by keeping sin confessed and cleansed moment by moment.

 

Colossians 3:15 (NKJV)

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Guilt produces inner turmoil.

Isaiah 57:20-21 (NKJV)

But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace,

says my God, for the wicked.

And that inner turmoil can also affect your relationships with people.

If you don’t like yourself, you may condemn yourself, and then because you feel badly about yourself, you treat others badly too. You down others to lift self.

Romans 2:1 (AMPC)

Therefore you have no excuse or defense or justification, O man, whoever you are who judges and condemns another. For in posing as judge and passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge are habitually practicing the very same things [that you censure and denounce].

The way you think about yourself you may unconsciously project onto others.

I did this as a young believer.

 

Righteousness gives you an ability to no longer judge yourself. And that can stop you from judging others!

You know that God is no longer mad at you.

He’s not holding your past against you.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (NLT)

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

This set me free!

The reason I came to Jesus is because a guy told me that God was no longer mad at me.

I was in church all of my young years and did not know that!

 

5. When you are established in righteousness, Satan and others can no longer control you!

No one will be able to gaslight you!

Gaslighting is when others seek to manipulate you into thinking that you are the problem!

Isaiah 54:14

In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

 

* You’ll stop condemning yourself.

* Guilt, condemnation, and inferiority will leave!

 

Romans 8:1 (NLT)

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1 (NKJV)

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

(If you are walking in the flesh, or are allowing sin to remain in your life, you will have a sense of condemnation.)

Sin hardens a person so that they think they are ok when they are not ok.

Sin breeds deception. It breeds a false sense of peace!

Hebrews 3:13 (NKJV)

But exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

 

*Satan can no longer terrorize you when you know who you are!

 

Revelation 12:10 (NLT)

Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, It has come at last— salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth— the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

 

* You’ll be able to stop blame-shifting and take responsibility for your mistakes because you know that the Father will forgive you.

Righteousness enables you to “own it” when you do wrong!

When Adam sinned – he immediately shifted the blame for his action to Eve his wife!

And Eve shifted the blame for her actions to Satan!

Genesis 3:8-13 (NKJV)

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Until you take responsibility for what you do, you cannot move forward in life and change.

Knowing God’s mercy and gift of righteousness can motivate us to own our mistakes – because we know that God forgives and forgets.

If you are dealing with guilt and condemnation, make these passages a part of your heart life!

1 John 1:8-9 (NKJV)

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 2:1-2 (NKJV)

1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

1 John 2:1-2 (NLT)

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

Hebrews 10:17 (NKJV)

Then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Psalms 103:3 (NKJV)

Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

Psalms 103:8-12 (NKJV)

The LORD is merciful and gracious,

Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

9 He will not always strive with us,

Nor will He keep His anger forever.

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

12 As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Isaiah 43:25 (NKJV)

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

Psalms 145:8-9 (NKJV)

The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,

Slow to anger and great in mercy.

9 The LORD is good to all,

And His tender mercies are over all His works.

Micah 7:19-20 (NKJV)

He will again have compassion on us,

And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins

Into the depths of the sea.

 

6. There are six words in the New Testament that refer to righteousness;

Just, justify, justification, right, righteous, righteousness

 

Definitions:

Justification:

The action that acquits or frees from the penalty of sin and that places to your credit Jesus’ standing before God.

 

Righteousness:

The ability to stand before God without sin, inferiority, or condemnation, as though sin never existed.

Scripture:

Romans 3:23-26

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

 

Romans 4:5-8 (NKJV)

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

 

Romans 4:23-25 (NKJV)

Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

 

Romans 5:1 (NKJV)

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

Romans 5:8-9 (NKJV)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

 

Romans 5:16-19 (NKJV)

And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

 

Romans 8:29-34 (NKJV)

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

 

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NLT)

Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

 

Titus 3:4-7 (NLT)

But—”When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”

 

7. Righteousness does two major things for you:

1. Delivers you from the penalty of sin (hell)

 

2. Gives you and Jesus same standing before God – Righteous!

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

 

Jesus bears and personally pays my sin penalty for me. Once it’s paid, it is no longer owed!

 

My sins are expunged!

 

All evidence of sin and wrongdoing are completely wiped out, as though they never existed!

 

Illustration

Man in Canada

 

No sin is forgiven without first being judged.

God forgives sinners, but judges sin!

 

All sin must be paid for if God is to be completely just!

 

Our forgiveness is based on God’s justice. Our punishment for sin was placed on Jesus and paid for when He went to the cross.

 

Action Points:

1. Are you challenged with guilt, condemnation, and inferiority?
2. Are you confident in your relationship with God, or at times do you question where you stand with Him?
3. Do you experience peace in your relationship with Jesus, or do you still struggle with thoughts and feelings of insecurity?
4. Are you established in your right standing with God, living with a confidence in God that produces stability in your personal relationships?