Classic Christianity – Book of Romans P3 (10-23-19)
Synopsis
Bob George is sharing from the book of Romans. He shares again that Paul is an ambassador for Christ, appointed by God to bring the gospel, the message of good news, of life in Christ Jesus, to Jews and Gentiles alike. Then he continues to share from Romans, starting at verse 7.
Bob shares how designations get assigned to people. There are designations that God gives to people. God gave the designation of apostle to Paul. God gave the designation of saint to all who are in Christ Jesus. And all of us who are in Christ Jesus are ambassadors. Then there is a designation that religion and false thinking puts on you. Religion puts burdens on you, telling you to burn out for Jesus.
In the world of Christendom, what kind of designations have you believed to be true? Are you just an old sinner saved by grace? First of all, do you understand the gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul is proclaiming? Have you believed and understood the message of grace in Christ Jesus? Are you born again?
If you are born again, then have you been given a new designation? What is that new designation? Saint. Just like a worm has been transformed into a butterfly, a butterfly is no longer called a worm. He has a new designation. So too for someone who has received the offer of eternal life in Christ Jesus. He has become a new creation in Christ Jesus, a saint. So you are not an old sinner, but a saint. You were a sinner, but now you are a saint. How did that happen? By grace through faith. Faith in who? Jesus Christ.
If you are not born again, then what are you? What is your current designation? A sinner. Are you saved? No, not yet. But that is why the book of Romans is written, so that you may hear, understand and believe this message, this good news of the gospel that was first of all foretold by the prophets.
It is not a new gospel. There has always been one gospel, and Paul was appointed to explain it. He was not ashamed of the gospel, for he knew personally how it changed him, from a man who formerly persecuted the people of the Way. He was steeped in legalistic righteousness, a Pharisee of Pharisees, but now having received the righteousness in Christ Jesus that is by faith, he proclaimed the message of grace in Christ Jesus that he once tried to destroy. The gospel of good news, of grace in Christ Jesus, sets you free to walk in the manner of a living, trusting relationship with Christ Jesus. The emphasis is properly placed on what Jesus has done for you.
Bob explains more from Romans 1:7-17. Bob explains the meaning of righteousness. There is no one who is righteousness. Religion tries to tell you that to become right with God you have to do this or that. But Paul was not ashamed to say he had no righteousness of his own. He was not ashamed of the gospel of the Son, of Christ Jesus, the righteous one. The gospel is not about us, but about Him. It is the gospel of Jesus. The good news of what Jesus did for you, not the good news of what you are doing for Jesus.
In the gospel, a righteousness is revealed. The only righteousness, or right standing before God, available to us is the righteousness in Christ Jesus, and that righteousness must be received by faith. That is the grace of God. All of the work is done by Christ Jesus. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
When someone is born again, there is a renewing of the mind that occurs. When one does not understand properly this grace we have now received, they often walk in the pattern of the flesh, with depression and discouragement. But God wants to produce joy in you and through you. Do you know what you have in Christ Jesus? Be thankful for all that you do have.
Again, I say rejoice. Forget what lies behind, press on for what lies ahead. Do not dwell on the future, for that is God’s country. Do not worry about tomorrow, for if God clothes the lilies of the field, which are here today and gone tomorrow, how much more will he clothe you. As Jesus said, “Oh, you of little faith”. The pagans, the non-believers, run after all these things. But you, the righteous one, a saint by calling, are to live by faith.
God is in the process of building our faith. Focus on Him. That is only way to truly live! Live one day at a time.
Again, I say rejoice! Why? We have everything we need for life and godliness through Him who called us into His goodness, mercy and grace. We have Jesus living in us. He is in control of our future, and one day we will be raised up imperishable. We will see him face to face, and the things of this world will be left behind. But today, we have the joy of seeing someone walking in faith. There is no greater joy than that, seeing someone rejoice at a funeral site. Or we have seen someone, who once was steeped in sin, now walking free. You, being a part of that divine privilege, are seeing God at work. God has uniquely given you gifts for God’s good pleasure, to see His love poured into the hearts of men, and seeing lives changed.
So let us meet together with other believers! Why? So we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. In the process, we are built up in the unity of the Spirit, with pure doctrine and faith in Christ Jesus. The body of Christ is built up! God is glorified. God is delighted. His creation has been restored in Christ Jesus. Rejoice.
Transcript
If you and I were named, we would be named by the president, by someone in a higher authority, over and above us, to be named by him, to be an ambassador, to go to France and represent the United States of America, to represent that country, and would have the authority to act in that capacity. We would have all the things necessary to speak for the president of the United States. We would be the representative of the president of the United States and the country he is present of in a foreign land. That is the picture we need to get in regards to this thing, Paul the apostle.
Romans 1:1-2
called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God –
In our translation, it is written, “called to be an apostle”. But in the original language, it would be written as “called an apostle„. So it is a designation by God. I called you not to be something. I called you as an apostle. I called you as an ambassador. Not to be one for you might not be one. This is your new identity. An apostle became an identity and not something I am for a period of time. That is who I am. That is a designation. I am an apostle. It says I am set apart and the designation there is permanently set apart. When you are dealing with separated, and that is what that means, set apart. We would also use words like “sanctified” and “holy”. Those are all tied into the same concept that you and I have been set apart for the divine purpose for which God created us. Paul is saying, “I have been permanently set apart, permanently”, and that is a perfect participle in the Greek language. What that means is that it is a past act that is done, done forever, and it has an eternal consequence to it. It is the same thing as forgiveness. It is a past participle. It means it is done. It is over. It does not mean we get forgiven. It means you are a forgiven person. It is done once. I am not doing it again. It has a permanent consequence to it. That is why in translation, sometimes, we miss the dynamic of the meaning of the word of God. If we do not translate those things in that fashion, then it means “if I will do them, God will do”. No, it means “God has already done it and as a result of what He did, we are a part of what He did”. He forgave your sins. Therefore, today, I am a forgiven person.
He was set apart forever, permanently, for the gospel of God. What does the word gospel mean? It is God’s good news. The word “gospel” means the good news of Christ Jesus. Again, there was an inscription that has been found in regards to Augustus, during that period of time. He was one of the rulers there in Rome. It was talking about the good news, that was the celebration of his birthday, and the good news of that, and that word was gospel.
Luke 2:1
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
Romans 1:2
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
The meaning of it is God’s good news. Paul was set apart for the good news of Christ Jesus. It was talked about that this gospel was promised beforehand through his prophets through the holy scriptures. There again, what Paul was trying to say to the readers in Rome is this. This gospel is not new. The understanding of it is new. But the gospel was proclaimed by the prophets. It was proclaimed back in the Old Testament. David proclaimed it. Moses proclaimed it. The minor and major prophets proclaimed it. It was all proclaimed. It was nothing new. He is not saying that there is the old there and the new here. God is saying, “I was proclaimed in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the new”. He promised this beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures.
Again, that is an identification as to what the scriptures are. They too are holy. They too are set apart.
Romans 7:12
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
That holiness does not mean what we think it means. It means set apart. What is it set apart from? All the rest of the garbage that we have in the world today. If you believe this book, your thinking is set apart from the thinking of the entire world, the whole world! This is totally different. Everybody comes along and says, “Oh, that was back in those days. That was old fashioned. Homosexuality is okay today. That is old fashioned today.” Truth is truth. For truth to be truth, it has to be universal. For truth to be truth, it has to be just as true in New Guinea as in New York. Can you go to New Guinea, an impoverished area, and preach a prosperity gospel? Do you think you could? “Just name it and claim it”, they say. Do you think you could? Are we alive? How are you going to preach that in an impoverished nation? So if you cannot preach it there, do not preach it in New York. If you cannot preach it in both New Guinea and New York, then it is not true. One way you know something is true is because it is universally true. Can you go to New Guinea and tell people, “God was in Christ reconciling you unto Himself, not counting your sins against you?” Absolutely! Can you do it in New York? Absolutely! Can you do it 2000 years from now, if the Lord tarries? Absolutely! Can you have done it 2000 years ago? Absolutely! Why? Truth is universal. It is forever. It is not for one place and not another. When you are talking about the scriptures, they are set apart as a unique document. It is the most unique document you and I will ever hold in our hands. You can read all the literature and become all intellectual, of reading all the literature of the world. But I will tell you something. If the writer of that literature is not born again, you will be reading something contrary to this book. This book is truth and truth sets you free from the error that binds you. If you want to be bound up, believe error. If you want to be set free, believe truth.
This gospel was promised to us by the prophets and the holy scriptures regarding his Son. Now he is going to identify Jesus as God.
Romans 1:3
3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,
That is the meaning of going into the genealogy through Joseph. That enabled him to become in the bloodline of David.
Romans 1:4
4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Was Jesus the son of God before the resurrection? Was he? He has always been the Son of God. The designation is not just saying who he is but it is saying what he is. Do you see the difference? What is that? It is above. What is its name? Caterpillar. Do you see the difference in what it is and who it is? The designation of the Son of God through the resurrection declared what he is. He is God. What is his name? Jesus, the Son of God. So it is a declaration that the apostle Paul makes that by his resurrection, that was the final thing that anyone needed to declare him what he is and who he is. He is God. He is God who took upon himself the nature of man and there he who knew no sin became sin for us at the cross and through his resurrection, he is able to give us eternal life in Him.
Philippians 2:8
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
John 17:3
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
The good news of the gospel. God has appeared to us. God has shown us what perfect righteousness in him, and in so doing, showing us our own unrighteousness, so we will be prepared to come to him and get his righteousness, through the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 1:5
5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.
In other words, an ambassadorship, to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes through faith. Where does obedience come from? Faith. The love of God that results in dependency upon God that then results in obedience to God. Obedience without love is nothing but legalistic obedience. It is the love of God.
1 John 4:19
19 We love because he first loved us.
1 John 4:10
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Not that we loved Him, but He loved us first. That results in dependency. When I know someone who loves me perfectly, then I can learn to depend upon Him. If I can learn to depend on Him, then I can learn to obey him.
Now religion says to forget that other garbage. Religion says, “Just get into obedience. I do not care if you love Him or depend upon Him, just do what I tell you to do. And do it here. What you do at home is your own business. Do it here. Look good here”. That is what religion does. Look good in the group. He is saying that is not true. We are talking about obedience that comes from faith.
Again, faith in who? Faith in Jesus. Again, when Jesus was here on this earth, he walked in total dependence on, did he not, upon his Father? Jesus said, “I do not do anything unless the Father tells me to do it (John 5:19). I do not say anything unless the Father tells me to say it and how to say it” (John 8:28).
John 5:19
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
John 8:28
28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”
That was Jesus, the Son of God. Not too bad for a Christian. How did he walk? In total dependence upon his Father. How does he want you and me to walk? In total dependence on the Father. What did that total dependence on the Father do? It created obedience. “If I do not do anything unless the Father tells me”, that is my mindset. I am not going to do anything until God tells me to do something. So when God tells you to do something and you already have a policy that you will not do something unless he tells you to do it, and then when he tells you to do it, what do you do? You do it. What is that called? Obedience. What does it come from ? Faith. Faith in Him. So he says obedience that comes from faith.
Now he is identifying that that is my mission that God gave me to take this good news to the Gentiles. I am a slave to this, I am set apart from the entire world and I am set apart to do nothing except take the good news of the gospel to people. That is what I am set apart for. The world has no meaning to me. I am set apart from it. I am here for one purpose and one purpose only. I am not here to politic. I am not here to change the world. I am here to give out the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is how he saw himself and that was his mission.
Romans 1:6
6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
He says now, you too are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. He is talking also to the Gentile world, also applicable to the Jewish world. That is a summary of what Paul is going to deal with in the whole book of Romans. Now, he says, I am going to address this to Rome.
Romans 1:7
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Who are the people in Rome called to be? Saints, or holy people. When you come to Christ, what does God call you? You have a designation. What are you called? Saint.
Colossians 1:1
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colossae
1 Corinthians 2:2
2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
1 Corinthians 2:1-2
1 To all God’’ holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice he did not address all the old sinners saved by grace in Colossae. He did not address all the old sinners saved by grace in Corinth. He did not address all the old sinners saved by grace in Phillipi. Why did he not say that? For that is not who you are. You are called a saint. How did you become a saint? I was an old sinner that was saved by grace. But now I am a new creature.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
It is just like the butterfly. It is now a butterfly. What did it used to be? A worm. A caterpillar. What is it now? A butterfly. You do not call it an old sinner saved by grace, an old worm saved by grace. You call it for what it is, a butterfly. A new designation has been given. How did it get to be one? How did it, an old worm, a sinner, get to be one? By grace, saved by grace, and with a new designation, a butterfly, a saint. That is what God calls us. We sit around saying, “I am just an old sinner saved by grace”. By grace, that is how you got to be a saint. But God called you to be a saint. You were an old sinner. You were saved by grace. Now you have a new designation, called a saint. Now is that good news! So we can quit walking around calling ourselves “an old sinner saved by grace” unless you are lost. And if you are lost, you cannot say you are a person saved by grace, just because you call yourself an old sinner.
Romans 1:7
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, it is interesting because the Jewish salutation is always Shalom, meaning peace. If you go to Israel today, that is how they will greet you, Shalom, peace. But Paul never just said Shalom. That was the normal greeting. He always said grace and peace be unto you. Why? Paul knew that there was no peace apart from grace. His designation was always therefore, grace and peace be unto you. Grace and peace be unto you. In all of his writings you will read the same salutation, grace and peace be unto you, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:8-9
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith [in Christ] is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit [in my whole heart] in preaching the gospel of his Son,
That is all what the gospel is, the gospel of his Son. It is not the gospel of do this and do that. It is the gospel of Jesus. The good news of what Jesus did for you, not the good news of what you are doing for Jesus.
In religion, all that is talked about, is after someone comes to Christ, you show him the tithing box, and hand him tithing envelopes, and tell him to go get them for Jesus. You never do learn what He did for you but just learn what you are supposed to be doing for Him. And after awhile, then the bar keeps getting lifted, especially the bigger the congregation, because more people get doing more. It seems that is all some people do, is do things for God. But if that is the bar, then what are you doing for Jesus? So there are great guilt trips put on people.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
The emphasis on Christianity is not what you are doing for God. The emphasis of Christianity is what God has done for you. This is a gospel of Jesus not of you. It is a gospel of what God has accomplished for you that you could never have accomplished for yourself. It is not come to Jesus and go work yourself to death. You have probably heard someone say, “Burn out for Jesus”. Some people take pride in that, “I burn out for Jesus.” You look like someone who burnt out for Jesus. I want to tell you something. The Spirit does not burn out. Only flesh burns out. If you are burnt out, it is because you have been functioning for Jesus in the flesh. So we have to understand here what He is talking to us about. I am grateful for your faith that is being reported all over the world because I serve with my whole heart, God, and this message that He gave me to preach, is the gospel of who? His Son!
Romans 1:9-10
is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
That was one of the things Paul was praying for. I am praying for these believers in Rome, and I am praying that in due time, I will be able to come to be with them. He had been detained from that. I am praying that I will be able to come see you.
Romans 1:11
11 I long to see you
Here is why I am longing to see you.
Romans 1:11-12
so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
So what is the encouraging fact to us? What is it that encourages us more than anything else in another believer? Watching them walk by faith.
3 John 1:4
4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
What is encouraging to me is watching people go through death experiences with joy in their heart. Watching people, like Bill Bright, who recently went to be with Jesus, and seeing a memorial service of people just joyfully celebrating the fact that Bill had gone into the presence of Christ, to see sin no more, to see death no more. Not having to raise support any more, but just joyfully being in the presence of Christ. Is that something to rejoice about? Absolutely. What does it do for your heart when you see a Christian walk in that way? It does soemthing for your heart, doesn’t it?
Philippians 4:4-5
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
When you see someone moping around, without any feeling, very slowly singing, if you can even call it singing, “I got the joy, joy, joy in my heart”. Is that encouraging? God called us to joy. He called us to be people who walk by faith instead of by feeling. That is why he tells us many times to forget the past. Why? The past ruins your joy today. If I sat around and thought about all the stuff I have ever done in my past, I would probably commit suicide, how about you? He says forget it and press on to the high calling of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
You cannot change what happened yesterday. Why are you dwelling on it? Why are you thinking about it? Why are you bringing it up? You are not bringing it up. Satan is bringing it up. There is a way he can destroy your today and that is a preoccupation of your failures of yesterday. So God says forget it. We say “Uh! Uh! No, I am going to keep it in there. I want to think about it. It makes me feel miserable and I just like that miserable feeling”. And that is the way we are. What is wrong in this? I do not not want to be sitting around being miserable but that is what makes you miserable, thinking of the failures of the past. You cannot change the past. Live one day at a time and forget about tomorrow. That is God’s country. So we are sitting here fantasizing about what is going to happen tomorrow. That ruins today. So you want to ruin today? Then go back to yesterday and think about tomorrow. He said, “live a day at time”.
Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
One day at a time with Jesus, resting with Jesus, that is all I am asking. That is the only way you are going to experience happiness, to live a day at a time. How do you live a day at a time? By faith, thanking Jesus for the gifts he has given us. Thanking Jesus for the goodness to us.
Philippians 4:4-5
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Thank Jesus for the fact he took away our sins never to see them again. Thank Jesus for the fact that he was raised from the dead to give me life that I did not have until the day I was regenerated in Christ Jesus. Thank Jesus for the fact that one of these days you and I are going to be absent from this body and present with the Lord, never to see sin and death again. Thank Jesus for what you have today. Forget about what you did not have yesterday, or what you don’t think you are going to have tomorrow. He said that is going to bring joy and happiness to your heart. Until you stop doing that, you are going to be miserable. Am I right or wrong? So he says, I long to be with you so that we can be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
Romans 1:13-15
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
(Chuckling) I wonder if he says this, because he is obligated to preach the gospel to all men, both to the wise and the foolish, and that is why he is says, I am coming to Rome.
Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
This is the key to the theme of the whole book of Romans. This gospel is for everyone, and I am not ashamed of it. It is the power of God that brings salvation.
Romans 1:17
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed
What do you do under religion? You try to show people how righteous we are, what righteous deeds we do, and how good we are. “No”, said Paul, a man who was formerly steeped in legalistic righteousness, but set that aside and called it nothing but dung in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus His Lord.
Philippians 3:7-9
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
I believe in a gospel of righteousness from God. Quite frankly, we do not have any righteousness of our own. The bible says there is no one who is righteous, no not one.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
Romans 3:10-11
10 As it is written:“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.”
So I do not know why we are sitting around saying we have any righteousness, but rather we are indwelt by the righteousness of Jesus. This is the gospel and I am not ashamed of it. It is a gospel of righteousness. I am not ashamed to say there is no righteousness in Bob George. I am not ashamed to say that. That is truth. The only righteousness I have in me is the righteousness that came from God. So we do not have to walk around bragging about how good we are, do we? Or how wonderful we are because we are not. I am going to write a book, “You are not okay. I am not okay. But that is okay.” I am not ashamed of that. Most people would say, “I am ashamed of that”. No, I am not ashamed of the fact I have no righteousness. That is truth. I am not ashamed of it. I am glad to proclaim it so we are going to go free. But I do possess the righteousness that came from God, the righteous one. A righteousness has been revealed.
Romans 1:17
– a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
God’s
Faith in what? Faith that I do not have any righteousness. I got faith in that. I do not need a lot of faith for that. But I got a faith in that. But I do have faith that the righteousness I do possess comes from Jesus. It is because of him we are in Christ Jesus who has become for us our righteousness, a right standing before God.
1 Corinthians 1:30
30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Religion is trying to give you right standing before God by what you are doing for God. God says “no”. Right standing before God is going to come by accepting what God has done for you. We stand today clothed in the righteousness of Christ. What clothing is is a covering. When God looks at you, He sees the righteousness of His Son, Jesus.
Isaiah 61:10
10 I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Galatians 3:27
27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:54
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
