"If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him." 1 John 2:29
“If you know (perceive and are sure) that He [Christ] is [absolutely] righteous [conforming to the Father’s will and purpose, thought, and action], you may also know (be sure) that everyone who does righteously [and is therefore in like manner conformed to the Divine will is born (begotten) of Him [God].” 1 John 2:29 Amplified Bible
As we begin this study let’s first look at what righteousness actually means. According to the Dictionary and Strong’s Concordance righteousness means to be morally upright, virtuous, without guilt or sin, innocent, faultless, approved and accepted by God, one whose thinking, feeling, and acting is conformed to the will of God, and integrity. We can take these meanings and replace them for righteousness and be saying the exact same thing. So with that in mind, we can accurately say for us to know that someone is born again of God they must be morally upright, virtues, guiltless, sinless, innocent, faultless, accepted by God, and one whose thoughts, actions, and feelings are conformed to God’s will, and all of these things must be in a like manner to Christ’s righteousness! God had John write it, so it’s Truth! Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe that most Christians have this mind within them. But as we have done so many times before, we are going to look at God’s Word and we are going to see what the Truth is, and faith will come to us by hearing and studying the Truth of God’s Word. Because God’s Word will give us hope that extends past our own abilities and it will transcend us into the reality of God’s abilities.
“Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:11 Righteousness is by Jesus Christ and it brings praise and glory unto God. Man has no ability to be faultless; yet for those who accept Jesus as Lord, His Blood makes them faultless, Hebrews 13:2. Man has no ability on his own to be sinless, yet for those of us who are born again, who have God’s Seed within us, we cannot sin, 1 John 3:9. Man apart from God cannot be upright and virtuous, but God has given us a new heart and has placed His Spirit within us, and He causes us to walk virtuously and uprightly, Ezekiel 36:26-30. Righteousness and all that it means can only be had by Jesus freely given them, we can’t will them into our lives on our own, we can’t even come close to accomplishing righteousness, our righteousness is as filthy rags. Thank God we are no longer required to operate in our own righteousness, we are filled with His righteousness and since we are, it brings praise and glory unto God. If we were righteous on our own, if we conformed to God’s will through our own efforts, it would bring praise and glory to us, because we did it. But since we can’t, yet righteousness is still the measure of if someone is saved, it brings glory to God. Every bit as much as the Israelites had no ability to part the Red Sea and escape the Egyptian Army, yet it happened and they did escape, so it is with us regarding righteousness! We have escaped the death of sin, by the act of righteousness bestowed on us by God! Through Jesus the righteousness requirements of life have been fully met within us. God just gave me that example of the Red Sea and it is good preaching, thank you Lord!
“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-23 We are freely justified by God’s Grace through Jesus our Lord. Sure we all have fallen short of His glory, which is why Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would have His glory, ours isn’t enough. We need to move on past the principle of Christ that says we have forgiveness of sins, so many dwell there, we need to move on to perfection, walking in the victory and love of the righteousness that has been freely bestowed on us who have been empowered by the Holy Ghost to believe! Freely, without any works, we have been made righteous, virtuous, morally upright, free from guilt and sin, approved and accepted by God, and through Jesus we are faultless. Jesus has saved us to the uttermost and we are one with the One Who is sanctified and Who sanctifies, and He is not ashamed to call us His brethren.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Romans 4:5-8 King David, and all who were under the Old Covenant had to perform works and try to earn righteousness, because the Blood of Jesus had not yet been shed. They longed for what we have, King David, an extremely blessed man, said that we were blessed because of this freedom through Christ. He saw who we would be, as did the other Prophets of old, and they longed for it, and were willing to be persecuted just for talking about it. “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:4 The thing they could never achieve, righteousness fulfilled, has been fulfilled within us by the Holy Spirit.
“Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Romans 6:18 This does not get preached nearly enough, we are free form sin, we should consider ourselves dead to it, Romans 6:11, Christ has broken the relationship that we had with it. Our bodies which could sin have been destroyed, Romans 6:6. We are now members of Righteousness body, flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones. We are now the Temples of Righteousness. Righteousness is now our Head, we have the Spirit of Righteousness, the Mind of Righteousness, and as Righteousness walked so to should we walk. The requirements of righteousness have been fully met within us, freely and without any works!
So many are preaching that we should walk righteously, as if by our own power we have an ability too. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:3-4 The righteousness that is trying to be established is this, we will sin, yet we will be righteous as long as we repent and ask God for forgiveness. What is the difference between that work or going out and offering up a goat or cow as a sin offering? There is none. God doesn’t say that we will know who is born of Him by the way they repent, He says that we will know them by the way they are empowered by Him to walk righteously, as Jesus was empowered by God to walk righteously. Jesus didn’t earn His righteousness, He was born with it, He was born of God, He was and is God! He can’t help but be righteous, He is one with it, it’s in Him, and now who are we one with? People are trying to go out and earn righteousness, they are ignorant of the Truth of God and they will fail each and every time. You want to be righteous, look unto to Jesus to Author and Finish the faith within you that will allow you to see who God has made you! Than will you walk as Jesus, in an unshakeable knowledge of who you are in God!
“So that no mortal man should have [pretense for glorying and] boast in the presence of God. But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus. Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [this making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin.] 1 Corinthians 1:29-30 Amplified Bible When Jesus walked down the street people were healed by just touching His garments, and as they did, He said He perceived that virtue had gone from Him. Jesus had not gone to the Cross yet, the only thing Jesus had done was be born. He had done no work to earn righteousness, the Old Covenant was still in place, so there was no work that could be done, mans righteousness was as filthy rags! The only thing Jesus did was be born of God, born of a woman and of the Holy Spirit, just as we have been born again! We cannot glory before God, as Jesus couldn’t glory before Him. That is why Jesus said that He wasn’t good, that only God was. This is why Jesus said He didn’t do the works, but that it was the Father within Him doing the works!
When you study, as the Spirit leads you, allow Jesus to reveal to you the power of these Truths, life changing is an understatement! You talk about entering God’s rest! The burden is gone, and the living begins! Jesus said to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven we have to be the biggest servants; this is the only way we will ever be able to serve! We need to stop trying to be righteous on our own, through works, and allow God to bring to fullness His righteousness within us. How do we do it, we allow Him to lead us into the paths of righteousness for His Name sake. Then works will come and they will be the works that Jesus did and even greater ones, because He has gone unto the Father!
Be blessed, if you have said yes to Jesus, righteousness is born into you. It may not be mature, but God is pouring His Spirit out on all men, and the glorious Church without spot, wrinkle, or blemish is coming into its fullness! "No weapon that is formed against us shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord." Isaiah 54:17 "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Psalm 23:1-3
“If you know (perceive and are sure) that He [Christ] is [absolutely] righteous [conforming to the Father’s will and purpose, thought, and action], you may also know (be sure) that everyone who does righteously [and is therefore in like manner conformed to the Divine will is born (begotten) of Him [God].” 1 John 2:29 Amplified Bible
As we begin this study let’s first look at what righteousness actually means. According to the Dictionary and Strong’s Concordance righteousness means to be morally upright, virtuous, without guilt or sin, innocent, faultless, approved and accepted by God, one whose thinking, feeling, and acting is conformed to the will of God, and integrity. We can take these meanings and replace them for righteousness and be saying the exact same thing. So with that in mind, we can accurately say for us to know that someone is born again of God they must be morally upright, virtues, guiltless, sinless, innocent, faultless, accepted by God, and one whose thoughts, actions, and feelings are conformed to God’s will, and all of these things must be in a like manner to Christ’s righteousness! God had John write it, so it’s Truth! Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe that most Christians have this mind within them. But as we have done so many times before, we are going to look at God’s Word and we are going to see what the Truth is, and faith will come to us by hearing and studying the Truth of God’s Word. Because God’s Word will give us hope that extends past our own abilities and it will transcend us into the reality of God’s abilities.
“Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:11 Righteousness is by Jesus Christ and it brings praise and glory unto God. Man has no ability to be faultless; yet for those who accept Jesus as Lord, His Blood makes them faultless, Hebrews 13:2. Man has no ability on his own to be sinless, yet for those of us who are born again, who have God’s Seed within us, we cannot sin, 1 John 3:9. Man apart from God cannot be upright and virtuous, but God has given us a new heart and has placed His Spirit within us, and He causes us to walk virtuously and uprightly, Ezekiel 36:26-30. Righteousness and all that it means can only be had by Jesus freely given them, we can’t will them into our lives on our own, we can’t even come close to accomplishing righteousness, our righteousness is as filthy rags. Thank God we are no longer required to operate in our own righteousness, we are filled with His righteousness and since we are, it brings praise and glory unto God. If we were righteous on our own, if we conformed to God’s will through our own efforts, it would bring praise and glory to us, because we did it. But since we can’t, yet righteousness is still the measure of if someone is saved, it brings glory to God. Every bit as much as the Israelites had no ability to part the Red Sea and escape the Egyptian Army, yet it happened and they did escape, so it is with us regarding righteousness! We have escaped the death of sin, by the act of righteousness bestowed on us by God! Through Jesus the righteousness requirements of life have been fully met within us. God just gave me that example of the Red Sea and it is good preaching, thank you Lord!
“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-23 We are freely justified by God’s Grace through Jesus our Lord. Sure we all have fallen short of His glory, which is why Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would have His glory, ours isn’t enough. We need to move on past the principle of Christ that says we have forgiveness of sins, so many dwell there, we need to move on to perfection, walking in the victory and love of the righteousness that has been freely bestowed on us who have been empowered by the Holy Ghost to believe! Freely, without any works, we have been made righteous, virtuous, morally upright, free from guilt and sin, approved and accepted by God, and through Jesus we are faultless. Jesus has saved us to the uttermost and we are one with the One Who is sanctified and Who sanctifies, and He is not ashamed to call us His brethren.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Romans 4:5-8 King David, and all who were under the Old Covenant had to perform works and try to earn righteousness, because the Blood of Jesus had not yet been shed. They longed for what we have, King David, an extremely blessed man, said that we were blessed because of this freedom through Christ. He saw who we would be, as did the other Prophets of old, and they longed for it, and were willing to be persecuted just for talking about it. “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:4 The thing they could never achieve, righteousness fulfilled, has been fulfilled within us by the Holy Spirit.
“Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Romans 6:18 This does not get preached nearly enough, we are free form sin, we should consider ourselves dead to it, Romans 6:11, Christ has broken the relationship that we had with it. Our bodies which could sin have been destroyed, Romans 6:6. We are now members of Righteousness body, flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones. We are now the Temples of Righteousness. Righteousness is now our Head, we have the Spirit of Righteousness, the Mind of Righteousness, and as Righteousness walked so to should we walk. The requirements of righteousness have been fully met within us, freely and without any works!
So many are preaching that we should walk righteously, as if by our own power we have an ability too. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:3-4 The righteousness that is trying to be established is this, we will sin, yet we will be righteous as long as we repent and ask God for forgiveness. What is the difference between that work or going out and offering up a goat or cow as a sin offering? There is none. God doesn’t say that we will know who is born of Him by the way they repent, He says that we will know them by the way they are empowered by Him to walk righteously, as Jesus was empowered by God to walk righteously. Jesus didn’t earn His righteousness, He was born with it, He was born of God, He was and is God! He can’t help but be righteous, He is one with it, it’s in Him, and now who are we one with? People are trying to go out and earn righteousness, they are ignorant of the Truth of God and they will fail each and every time. You want to be righteous, look unto to Jesus to Author and Finish the faith within you that will allow you to see who God has made you! Than will you walk as Jesus, in an unshakeable knowledge of who you are in God!
“So that no mortal man should have [pretense for glorying and] boast in the presence of God. But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus. Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [this making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin.] 1 Corinthians 1:29-30 Amplified Bible When Jesus walked down the street people were healed by just touching His garments, and as they did, He said He perceived that virtue had gone from Him. Jesus had not gone to the Cross yet, the only thing Jesus had done was be born. He had done no work to earn righteousness, the Old Covenant was still in place, so there was no work that could be done, mans righteousness was as filthy rags! The only thing Jesus did was be born of God, born of a woman and of the Holy Spirit, just as we have been born again! We cannot glory before God, as Jesus couldn’t glory before Him. That is why Jesus said that He wasn’t good, that only God was. This is why Jesus said He didn’t do the works, but that it was the Father within Him doing the works!
When you study, as the Spirit leads you, allow Jesus to reveal to you the power of these Truths, life changing is an understatement! You talk about entering God’s rest! The burden is gone, and the living begins! Jesus said to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven we have to be the biggest servants; this is the only way we will ever be able to serve! We need to stop trying to be righteous on our own, through works, and allow God to bring to fullness His righteousness within us. How do we do it, we allow Him to lead us into the paths of righteousness for His Name sake. Then works will come and they will be the works that Jesus did and even greater ones, because He has gone unto the Father!
Be blessed, if you have said yes to Jesus, righteousness is born into you. It may not be mature, but God is pouring His Spirit out on all men, and the glorious Church without spot, wrinkle, or blemish is coming into its fullness! "No weapon that is formed against us shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord." Isaiah 54:17 "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Psalm 23:1-3
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