Righteousness

Let’s talk about righteousness today.  The Bible says in Romans 3:9-10, Paul speaking, “What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.”  It also says in Isaiah 64:5-7, Isaiah speaking, “You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways.  But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry.  How then can we be saved?  All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.”

If the Word claims that we are not righteous then what can we do to obtain righteousness?  What does the word righteous mean or imply?  It means: 1.    a. characterized by, proceeding from, or in accordance with accepted standards of morality, justice, or uprightness; virtuous: a righteous man  b. ( as collective noun ; preceded by the ): the righteous  2. morally justifiable or right, esp from one's own point of view: righteous indignation.

So if our righteousness (WORKS) means nothing in the Lord’s sight, what can we ever do to please the Lord?  There are a lot of people thinking that they are going to go to heaven because of their own righteousness, or their good works, this is nothing but false doctrine.  Think of this, if we could get to heaven by what we have accomplished, or by our good works, most everyone would be in heaven because most everyone has helped someone in their lifetime.  I remember when I was living for the devil I did a lot of good works and I helped a lot of people.  So if I could have gotten into heaven because of my own righteousness, or good works, I could still be out in the world doing my own thing living my freakish lifestyle and still be on my way to heaven; that is absurd.  And think of this, if you could work your way to heaven how would you know how much work you would have to do?  It would be terrible to stand before the Lord someday and find out you did 999 good works but you needed 1,000 to get in, I am talking like a foolish man here because this is impossible.  If this was true I could sure do some bragging and boasting about how I got myself into heaven, enough of this nonsense there is no way it can happen through works, good or bad.  

In Ephesians 2:8-9 it says this, Paul speaking, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Paul has made it very simple and very clear that it is not by our righteousness (WORKS) that we can get to heaven.  This cannot be over stressed because many people have been deceived into thinking this is true.  

There is only one way that we can become righteous and that is to be clothed with the righteous garment of Christ.  And that will only happen at your conversion, when you have been taken from darkness into God’s marvelous light.  I say this because Satan blinds the minds of the unbeliever so that they cannot see and receive the good news.  It says in 2 Corinthians 4:4-6, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

So unless Jesus removes the veil from the unbeliever’s mind and opens their spiritual eyes they cannot receive the Word, it will be foolishness to them.  But, praise the Lord, that is why He came, to set the captive free, to open the eyes of the blind and to give His life a ransom for all who would believe along with other things that were very important.  So receiving the Lord by faith and repentance is the only way a person can become righteous, then they will do good works and glorify their Lord and Savior.

But remember this, even your good works after being born-again doesn’t get you into heaven, they will just show that you have faith and in the end, if done with the right motive, will get you rewards which are very important.  It is only the grace of God and faith that will get you in heaven and cause you to be covered with righteousness, so don’t be taken in by the false doctrine about works getting you into heaven.  God bless you and yours, and have a great day.