Righteousness: What it is and How to Get IT
When we receive Jesus by faith, we receive the Righteousness of God. When we are Born Again, we are born OUT OF the sin nature and IN TO the Righteous nature of God. Jesus has exchanged His righteous nature for our sin nature. When we make Jesus Lord of our lives we are born out of our sin nature and into the righteous nature of God. We are not a person with two natures, but we are NEW, having never existed before! What was before… the sin nature, darkness, lack of power, sin, poverty and lack, failure, and frustration… is dead. Jesus has bought back what Adam lost… and MORE. What God did in us is greater than what satan did in Adam. Where sin abounded… Grace (Righteousness) did much more abound.
Ro 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
There is no truth in the statement that Believers are “only human”… this has been a lie from hell for centuries. We have become partakers of the very Divine Nature of God… God has taken up habitation inside of us and we are possessors of His Perfectness and Righteousness. We are God’s dwelling place. He has chosen to live in us. He has chosen to reproduce Himself in us.
John 1:12. As many as receive Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God…
“Power” here is exousia which means “legal right.” We have received Jesus and therefore we have the legal right to partake (share in) the Divine Nature (Righteousness) of God. Therefore, every believer is a God-person. We have the Supernatural Life of God in us. God has not limited us. There are no boundaries… no lids… no fences… no restraints. What God has made us to be WE CAN BE. We have limited ourselves by saying that we are only human and thereby excuse ourselves for all the weaknesses and temptations we yield to. Satan has constantly fed us the lie that we are “only human” and we have believed it and thought it and said it until we can hardly conceive of the TRUTH that we are more, MUCH MORE than that. We are more than human… we are sharers in the Life of God. Hallelujah.
Righteousness is the Nature of God. God is Righteous and from His Righteousness all His Power emanates… His POWER comes out of His Righteousness. The ONE domain Satan cannot enter is the domain of righteousness. Whatever realm of our life Righteousness is ruling over that is the realm that satan cannot touch. Whatever realm of our life that Righteousness is not ruling over that is the realm that Satan can enter and set up strongholds. Satan has no legal right to come into the Righteousness of God. He cannot and he will not. Satan has no legal right to come into any area of our life that is ruled over by Righteousness. He cannot and he will not. Righteousness is the Power by which and through which we can REIGN in LIFE. Where Righteousness is recognized and accepted and accounted, we are enabled to live the God Life. In the God Life there is no sin, so sickness, no failure, no poverty, no worry, no lack, no demon activity.
The Righteous Nature of God is Imputed as a Gift into the Believer by the GRACE of GOD at the time of Salvation. This transaction is completed as the believer acts on the Power of the Gospel by faith.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them… (Impute: logizomai: To put into one’s account).
Impute means to “Put into one’s account.” If I had a million dollars and I chose to freely put it into your back account with no restrictions you would have the absolute right to spend it as you wished. God has put His Righteousness into your Spiritual Account and you have the absolute right to use it to produce whatever Spiritual Victory you need. God has “imputed” His Righteousness into your account as an act of His Grace in response to your Faith. Remember… it is by His Grace in response to your Faith. “By Grace are ye being save through Faith…” Ephesians 2:8.
Righteousness is not what you do or what you don’t do… RIGHTEOUSNESS is WHO YOU ARE. Righteousness is what God has done in you. Holiness is the outworking of the Believer’s RIGHTEOUS NATURE. Righteousness has nothing to do with works. Righteousness has nothing to do with how you live. Most people are appraised for their righteousness by how good they are. If they are good, they are considered righteous. If they go to church regularly, they are considered righteous. If they tithe and live a clean and holy life, they are considered righteous. This is not what righteousness is. Righteousness is not what you do or what you don’t do… Righteousness is not performance related. Righteousness is WHO YOU ARE.
Righteousness has to do with your inner man, not your outer man. Righteousness is the characteristic of the New Creation Man. Men are holy because holy living comes out of a Righteous Nature. You are Made Righteous by your FAITH not by your WORKS. Abraham BELIEVED (had faith) and because of his believing he was counted Righteous (Romans 4:3). Righteousness is a FREE GIFT from God to every Believer. Righteousness is IMPUTED at the time of the New Birth. It is a Gift from God to the Believer.
Romans 5:17 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.)
The Gift of Righteousness is the Energizing Force that gives us the ABILITY to REIGN and RULE in LIFE. Righteousness is the SEAT and SOURCE of the BELIEVER’S AUTHORITY and POWER. Just what is reigning and ruling in life? Reigning and Ruling in LIFE is DOING the Word and RECEIVING WORD RESULTS… it is doing what Jesus did with the same FAITH, with the same AUTHORITY with the same POWER with the same CONSISTENCY and with the same RESULTS.
Reigning in Life is total living in total Covenant Confidence.
Righteousness is a Force. Righteousness produces Good Works… Good Works do not product righteousness.
“Awake to Righteousness and sin not…” (I Cor 15:34)
We can be RIGHTEOUS and not AWAKE to it. We can be RIGHTEOUS and still have a carnal mind and a flesh-ruled body. Our carnal mind and our flesh-ruled body will SUPPRESS our RIGHTEOUS NATURE and prevent it from producing the FRUITS of RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Phil 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
The FRUITS of RIGHTEOUSNESS are the RESULTS of RIGHTEOUSNESS. The FRUITS of Righteousness are the products of Righteousness. They are what Righteousness produces. (Deliverance from sin…Right standing with God…Health… prosperity… protection… peace of mind… forgiveness… Holy Spirit Power… Faith…)
“Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the POWER that WORKETH IN US…” (Eph 3:20)
What is the POWER that WORKETH IN US? It is the POWER of RIGHTEOUSNESS! Until a man is RIGHTEOUS and KNOWS IT, Satan reigns over him and sin and sickness are his masters. The very MOMENT a BELIEVER KNOWS that he is RIGHTEOUS and what it means to BE RIGHTEOUS, Satan is defeated.
If Believers were as conscious of their RIGHTEOUSNESS as they are conscious of their WEAKNESS and UNWORTHINESS they would never be sick or in bondage to poverty and lack. Most preaching and teaching over the years has dealt with sin, described sin, and denounced sin. This kind of teaching and preaching has made those who heard it and believed it more conscious of sin than they are conscious of God. It has produced an awareness of weakness and unworthiness instead of an awareness of boldness, confidence, and faith. If Believers were as conscious of their IDENTIFICATION with CHRIST and their ONENESS with HIM as they are conscious of their physical weakness and physical need they would never have pain and never mention need again.
Most have approached Christian Living from the SIN POSITION instead of the RIGHTEOUSNESS POSITION. We were taught and told what we were instead of who we are. We have been ignorant about righteousness. The revelation of Righteousness is what turned the Apostle Paul into the Revelator of Justification by Faith. We were taught in the past that if we did good things we were righteous and if we did bad things we were unrighteous. We were taught that God would “bless us” us we did good things and that God would punish us if we did bad things. (Santa Clause Theology) We do not please God by doing things we please God through our faith in what He says about who we are. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him…” See Romans Chapter 4.
Righteousness comes out of unshakable Faith in the Finished Work of Christ.
Never forget that Satan’s first line attack is to attempt to make us doubt who we are. He tried to make Jesus doubt about who He was. One of the temptations he presented to Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 was “If thou be the son of God…” If we operate in doubt we will always be defeated. Doubt slanders every promise in the Word of God and negates faith. Doubt is faith in reverse. Doubt is the antithesis of believing. When we doubt we move out of the supernatural into the natural. Doubt purchases sickness, sadness, depression, defeat, demonic activity, and every other thing that is opposed to God and God’s Word.
Doubt makes us forget who we are and whose we are.
Jas1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
Jas1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Hearing and not doing comes out of doubt and unbelief. We can move in wonderful times of revelation and faith, but if we veer away from the revelation of who we are and What Jesus has done for us we will “forget” what we have known and fall into the realm of natural reasoning and carnal thinking.
When we were Born Again the King of kings and the Lord of lords came into our human spirit and recreated it. Our recreated human spirit was made a king who has the ability to rule and reign with Jesus through the power of His Righteous Nature that now abides within us.
The NEW BIRTH EXPERIENCE is compared to the Old Testament law of circumcision.
(Rom 2:28-29) For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit…
Just as there is a cutting away of the flesh in physical circumcision, there is a cutting away of the flesh in the Circumcision of the heart. The Sword of the Word cuts away forever the sin nature in us and we are made righteous. We do not have two spirits (a flesh spirit and a spiritual spirit)… we have one Spirit… and that Spirit is the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST. “But he that is JOINED unto the LORD is ONE SPIRIT…” (I Cor 6:17)
Just as our SPIRIT was dead to God before the New Birth so was our MIND darkened and blinded because of sin.
It was bound and limited to operate by reason and emotion and sense knowledge. As our Spirit was quickened (made alive) and joined to the Lord, our soul (our mind, will and emotions) was also joined to Jesus. As our Spirit took on the image of Jesus Christ our mind (soul) took on the Mind of Christ capable of thinking God thoughts and storing up Word Truth.
I Cor 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the LORD that He may instruct him? But we have the MIND of CHRIST…
When we consider just what kind of mind Jesus had, we come into an understanding of what kind of mind we are capable of having. He Knew Who He was. He knew what He could do. He knew what God had provided for Him. He knew the devil was defeated and that demonic forces were powerless. He knew what was coming in the future. He had knowledge of the Word that surpassed mere human capability. He knew what He was born for and what His purpose in life was. He had a mind that was constantly being renewed with and by the Word. He had a fully functioning mind that worked without limitations imposed on it by emotions, feelings, reasonings or doubt. He had a mind that was perfectly conformed to the will of God.
Our unsaved PHYSICAL BODY also functioned in slavery and darkness and bondage to sin. Its appetites and desires were unchecked and undisciplined. It was subject to Satan’s dominion and control and it was destined to die. But now we are “members of His Body, of His Flesh, and of His Bones…” (Eph 5:30) Our physical body has become the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
I Cor 6:19-20 What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which (who) is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s… “Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (I Cor 3:16)
And now, as a result of our inborn righteous nature, we are enabled to “bring our body under” or to suppress the ungodly and carnal appetites and desires of the flesh. The Bible declares that we have overcome the world…
1Jo 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
The Inborn Righteous Nature of the New Creation drives out the Old Nature and takes possession of all Redemptive Benefits and Covenant Provisions just as Israel drove out the illegal inhabitants of the land that was promised to them and then took possession of it. The Righteous Nature that God imparted to every believer can drive out all the illegal inhabitants in the realm of human experience…. The Force of Righteousness released in the believer can and will retrieve and restore all that Satan has stolen and suppressed.
Paul tells us to “put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to STAND…” (Eph 6:11) Part of this Armor is the Breastplate of Righteousness. (Eph 6:14) This is one of the most important pieces of armor because it covers the vital part of the Christian’s identity… his right to the Authority provided by the Righteousness of Christ in him. When you become conscious of your Righteous Position in Christ you have the boldness and courage to stand against the devil.
Conformity with God is a much higher form of living than merely being in submission to Him. Jesus prayed for us in John 17 that we “all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee… ” He goes on and prays “Father, show them that you love them as much as you love me.” God loves us as much as He loves Jesus. God sees us as equal with Jesus… there is no difference in His eyes. This is because of our Righteous Nature …. begin to see yourself as God sees you and then ACT ACCORDINGLY.
Some common causes of failure in the believer’s life:
1. Lack of Knowledge (epiginosko: full understanding) about the Righteous Nature of the Believer.
Ho 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
2. Failure to apply the Word to failing situations.
Heb 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
3. Unwillingness to continue (abide) in the Word.
Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
4. Wavering in faith.
Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
We are New Creation People… He has created us and equipped us so that we can accomplish the impossible without outside help. He has imparted to every one of His Children the Power that taps into and connects with His Ability; His ability to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think…. This power is in us. Now. This minute. The primary purpose God has imparted this Power to us is so that we might take Dominion over all things and bring His Will to pass on planet earth…
Let’s do it.
dickbraswell 
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