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Jehovah-Tsidkenu – “The Lord Our Righteousness” (Part 2)

by Chris Simmons

In the previous article, it was discussed that there are four main points God’s word reveals about the righteousness of God. The first two points were:

  1. God alone establishes righteousness,

  2. God’s righteousness stands in contrast to man’s sinful choices.

There are two other very important points we need to understand and make application of in our lives:

  1. God, through His grace, has defined how sinful man can be made righteous, thus becoming our righteousness. Though all men, by choice, have turned to that which is sinful and become unrighteous in God’s sight, we need to remember that God desires the return of the unrighteous to Him. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD and He will have compassion on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” “It is quite impossible that any man can in himself be right who does not render pure, perfect, perpetual, and personal obedience to the precepts of God’s law, since it is inconceivable that God could be satisfied with less. How then can man be acquitted of his unrighteousness and become righteous before God?” (Names of God). It’s clear, we can’t establish our own righteousness and we must seek the righteousness that God has afforded man through His Son Jesus Christ. Romans 10:3-4, “For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” The point is that God deserves perfect obedience and when we fail to do so, it’s up to God to determine how man can be forgiven and once again become righteous in God’s eyes.

    Paul once held his own righteousness in the law in high regard but came to realize it was worthless and it became but refuse to him. Paul was presented with the opportunity to obtain the righteousness found through his faith and obedience to Christ and he never looked back. “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:7-9). This is not to suggest that there wasn’t anything Paul “must do” (Acts 9:6; 22:16) but Paul never forgot that that his righteousness was God’s own doing through Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 1:30-31, But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”

    It’s only in Christ that man can be justified and made righteous. Notice the prophecy of Isaiah in Isaiah 45:24-25, “They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’ Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him shall be put to shame. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be justified, and will glory.” No man could stand righteous by the Old Law and the Old Law could not justify man. Thus, Paul proclaimed in Romans 3:19-26, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Justice demanded that the penalty of death be paid. God demonstrated that He is also the justifier in that He was willing to allow His Son, who overcame sin, to pay the penalty that sin demanded – that is death.

    We learn all this through God’s word because the gospel is not only God’s pronunciation of what is righteous, but His revelation of how sinful man can be made righteous. Paul wrote in Romans 1:16-17, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith’” (cf. Hebrews 5:13; II Timothy 3:16). From the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) on, man has never been made righteous apart from the preaching of the gospel.

  2. What does God’s righteousness demand of us? It demands our faith and obedience. Paul wrote in Romans 10:9-10, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” To aspire to the righteousness of God therefore is to seek God’s salvation. Our righteousness or salvation is only possible to those who “obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9). As Moses stated in Deuteronomy 6:25, “it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.”

    God’s righteousness requires that we seek to spread the good new of the righteousness and salvation that are made possible by the blood of Jesus Christ. Paul understood it was man’s responsibility to plead and beg with others to accept God’s righteousness and reconciliation in Christ. II Corinthians 5:20-21, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

    It also requires that we have the courage and will to make the changes demanded by God’s righteousness. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:22-24, “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” God’s righteousness demands true repentance (Acts 17:30-31; II Corinthians 7:10-11) and a genuine transformation of our life (Romans 12:1-2).

Simply put God’s righteousness demands that we put Him and His righteousness first in our lives. Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” Making things right with God has to come first or it comes not at all.

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