Righteousness is another Bible word that can confuse many people. I want to dig out the hidden treasure in this word just as we did with redemption.

One of our enemy’s most common tactics is to attempt to deny our right standing with God by lying to us. He attempts to convince us that we are made righteous with God by what we do and how we perform. That is religion! Religion says that we have not really changed, but we merely adapted and subscribed to someone’s theory of God or Heaven or something. It is like joining a club or choosing a church, you just choose a religion. That is not Christianity! We have been changed supernaturally by a supernatural act of God. It is really too good to be true, but it is true. Religion, even some forms of so called "Christianity" says that we must do something to be righteous, and probably none of us can ever achieve that except maybe, just maybe some special saint.

Nothing could be further from the truth! We were re-created and saved by God’s grace and we progress with our growth with God by grace. Paul was very harsh on the Galatians who allowed the enemy to steal this idea from them. "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8). Those are harsh words!

What did we receive in Christ when He purchased us?

We became heirs, joint heirs, and children! But it is up to us to choose this position. We will be slaves to someone; the only choice we have is to whom. If we know what Christ did for us, and the gift He holds out for us to receive, we will choose life and righteousness. If we do not we will be a slave to someone or something who does not love us.

Romans 8:15-17 says, "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and joint (co)-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

We were redeemed in order to be made righteous. The word righteous, when applied to our relationship to God, simply means to be in right standing with Him. In the Old Testament one dared not come near the presence of God lest he be consumed with fire and die. God is too awesome and powerful to confront without being in right standing with Him. I understand that the part of Mount Sinai where God came down is still a charred ruin where nothing will grow.

There are many religious and theologically correct definitions of righteousness, but I believe it can accurately be describe it as follows. Righteousness is simply being made right with God by becoming a part of His blood family and becoming His son or daughter. My children are righteous in my family just because they are my children. It does not depend upon how they act. How they act affects our fellowship, but it does not change our relationship.

An example I like to use is the one about the next door neighbor. Imagine that my own son has not been acting right lately and has brought home some bad grades from school. Further imagine that he wants to say goodnight to me while I am in bed reading. He comes and jumps on me and tickles me. He has a right to do that affectionate thing because he is my son. Now imagine that the next door neighbor’s son was perfectly obedient and brought home a straight A report card from school. Imagine that he came crashing though the front door, came upstairs and started to tickle me. I would tell him to get out. He is not my son, he is not part of my family. He may be a perfect performer, but in my family he is not righteous. Being righteous with God is something that comes with your spiritual birthright.

Most people error on the side of legalism and performance, that is they feel that they must do something, or act a certain way in order to earn righteousness. That is more than foolish! Just read the Book of Galatians. "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" "just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham" (Galatians 3:1,2,6-7).

God declared Abraham righteous hundreds of years before He even gave the Law to Moses in the desert trek. God accounted righteousness to Abraham when he believed God’s promise. It was all by faith as recorded in Genesis 15. "Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:5,6). The balance of Genesis chapter 15 records the blood covenant God made with Abraham. Righteousness comes by blood covenant. Notice also in this particular covenant, Abraham had very little to do with it. Abraham cut the covenant animals and kept the birds from eating them (spiritual warfare). But while Abraham was in a deep sleep, God caused the smoking oven and the burning torch passed down the trench filled with the blood of the sacrificial animals. Normally both parties walked down this trench in a blood covenant, but God, in the person of the Holy Spirit did the walking. God’s grace and love accomplished it all.

Those that say we must perform certain things to be righteous are dead wrong! The Law was not given until after Abraham’s descendant’s went to Egypt and after 400 years were brought out.

Abraham was even declared righteous before he was circumcised, which was a sign of his part of the covenant. "…For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also."

What did Abraham do as his part of becoming righteous? He believed. Believe is a very strong word. It means to nurture and nourish a firm and reliable trust. It means to rely upon God and nothing else. You might say, "But Abraham did not do righteous deeds, he sinned and missed God many times." Remember, there was no law at that time, and without the law there is no knowledge of sin. If and when Abraham sinned, he still got back into "believing." All he had to do was believe the facts that God spoke. Galatians 3:8 says that God spoke the Gospel to Abraham. Abraham believed. He was righteous. End of argument!

Some error on the side of righteousness only being a legal fact but not one in reality. They say that when God looks at you He must see you through Jesus. Deep down inside they feel like if God were to really look at them that He would see some old dirty sinner. That is not true, you are a righteous person! While it is true that without Jesus and His work we would have no righteousness, it is also true that His work is finished.

Too many people focus on the wrong issue. They tend to focus on their shortcomings and their sin. The Word instructs us to do just the opposite. "Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame" (1 Corinthians 15:34). To focus on sin is to lack the knowledge of God, but to focus on righteousness is to nurture the knowledge of God. As you nurture that knowledge, righteousness will become a way of life for you and your sin will be starved to death! If you continue to focus on your negative issues, your bad habits, and the things in your life that are not pleasing to God, you will merely strengthen them. Colossians 3:5 (KJV) says, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry" Mortify means to put to death by ignoring. Study Colossians 2:20-23 which says that all of our self imposed restrictions against the flesh and things of the flesh simply works to strengthen the flesh and has no value. We should instead seek those things which are above (Colossians 3:1) and starve our flesh.

You are righteous.

A son (or daughter) is righteous with his father by birth. He is in the family and he has a right standing that the neighbor does not have. We are righteous by our new birth, not by anything we have done. We are righteous because God put His life in us, not because of the way we act or live. The moment we were born again we became the righteousness of God, not by what we did but by what God planted inside of us, nothing less than Himself.

Romans 3:21 says, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets."

Romans 4:3-6 says, "For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.’"

What can we learn from Job about righteousness?

We need to give Job a lot of credit for have a "perfect heart," however he did change radically between the time his fiery trial began and the time he was delivered. I think one of the biggest lessons he learned was about righteousness.

Job suffered greatly, and his three so-called friends who came to comfort him did just the opposite. They poured condemnation on him, stating that he must have some sin or error in his life, otherwise he would not be suffering.

To Job’s credit he lived the best he could with the knowledge he had. He continually defending himself with his good works of righteousness, stating that he had always been good to the poor, and bringing up such other philanthropic works. I submit that Job had a knowledge of God, but only at a certain level.

Job continually spoke about his righteousness, connecting it to his good works (Job 27:6, 29:14, 32:1, 32:2). He could not understand why God would allow him to suffer so in view of his good works. He even questioned if his good works were worth it, and then he wanted to die, even cursing the day he was born (Job 34:5, 35:2-3).

Then beginning in Job chapter 38, God spoke to Job, it says out of a whirlwind. God’s main subject matter was to compare His greatness to Job’s humanness. God asks such questions as, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth; Or who shut in the sea with doors; Have you commanded the morning since your days began?; Who can number the clouds by his wisdom?" God continues to reveal Himself to Job and at the same time reveal Job’s real condition to himself.

Job’s response in Job 40:3-5 includes, "What shall I answer You, behold I am vile." Finally after more from God, Job says, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5,6). After that God affirmed Job to Job’s friends and chastised them for their misrepresentation of His character. God basically said to the three friends, "You have misrepresented Me, which Job did not do." Obviously from the text in Chapter 42, Job received the blessings of a righteous man.

My question to God was, "How did Job discover that You made Him righteous be faith, and that his righteousness was as filthy rags? I don’t see You giving Job a theological lesson about righteousness."

I believe the answer is this. When the presence of God through His Holy Spirit is manifested in your life you will realize that you trying to become righteous by your works is as filthy rages. But at the same time you will realize God’s love, His grace and the sacrifice of His only Son makes you righteous in Him. It is a free gift! Job said in Job 3:25 that what he had feared came upon him. 1 John 4:18 says that perfect loves casts out fear. Job needed a clearer picture of God’s love, and he received that. His presence supercedes words. His presence speaks without words!

Isaiah learned the same lesson in Isaiah chapter 6, when while in the presence of God he saw that he was a man of unclean lips, and then immediately, he saw an angel cleanse him with a coal from the altar. God’s holiness convicts you and cleanses you. Only He can do that, no human can!

It is only the awesome presence of God that can convict you of true righteousness, as John 16:8 says, "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:" That is the Holy Spirit’s job, and only He can do that. Reading this book or any other book will not accomplish that, you must hear from God Himself to be totally convicted of who you really are in Christ! I pray that for you right now as you are reading this.

We are coming back to that ever-important issue discussed in the previous chapter, identity. In the natural, we look just like everybody else in the world around us, but indeed we are very different. We are righteous and they are not. This is in no way to make us feel superior, but I mention it because it is so easy to forget who we are. "They" make us feel like them. The fact is that we belong to an entire different race and species of being, we are New Creations in Christ, and therefore we are righteous. An accurate view or our self identity is vital for our spiritual health, and is necessary if we are to stand long enough to overcome.

Remember that in a previous chapter we told the story of Mephibosheth. He did not realize that he was part of the family of David due to the blood covenant David and Jonathon had made. We can easily forget that we are part of the family of the righteous.

There is a story of a poor woman living in a junky old New York apartment. When she died the people found a framed document on her wall. It said that she was related to the Queen of England, and that if she ever needed anything that she could call on that relationship, present this document, and receive whatever help or funds she needed. Yet she lived and died in poverty! She could not read and therefore she did not know who she was! Make sure you read your document, your covenant with God, and call upon Him as His righteous son/daughter.

We are just as righteous as Jesus! We have the same righteousness He has. I am not saying that we are equal to Him, He is the Potter and we are the clay. However it is His righteousness that we have inherited through the new birth. Remember 1 Corinthians 15:34 says, "Awake to righteousness…" We need to awake to who we are, and when we do we will live like who we are.

Awake to the benefits of righteousness.

If you are a member of a wealthy family, you do not wake up every morning afraid that you will not have food to eat or a home to live in. It should be that way for every believer in Christ. I have been studying righteousness and writing about it since 1979, and it continues to grow inside of me. This very day I awoke with a new consciousness of my righteousness. The Lord spoke it to me as I was half-awake this morning, the morning I wrote this paragraph. Listen, you can read about righteousness, you can listen to me, your pastor, your friend, but there is nothing like hearing from God Himself!

When God speaks, everything changes. Romans 10: 17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). When God speaks His rhema, His personal formed word to you, faith comes. Rhema is the word used for "word" in this Scripture. Seek His voice, seek His face, and you will hear. But you must seek! When He speaks, peace comes, the storms calm, and you know that everything will be alright.

How can we rely on what God speaks? Listen, if God came to you on Friday and said that it was Saturday, Friday would have to vanish, and Saturday would be. When God says you are righteous, you are righteous, period!

This applies to you as well. "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all" (Romans 4:9b-11,16).

What are some of the benefits?

1. You have all these "things." In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). What things do you think Jesus was referring to? In the previous verses He said that we should not worry about the necessities of life, like food and clothes, etc. Then He said that these were the things that Gentiles seek. "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things" (Matthew 6:32). A Gentile is one who does not have a covenant with God. You may have been a Gentile, but you no longer are. People who do not have a covenant or those who do not know their covenant and family benefits are continually seeking the necessities of life. They spend their entire life seeking things. Jesus said instead of seeking things, seek righteousness and God’s Kingdom. Psalms 112:3 says, "Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever."

2. The care, safety and security of the Lord. "Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation" (Genesis 7:1). Out of the multitudes of people who lived on the earth, the Lord chose only Noah and his family to go into the Ark. Why? He was considered righteous. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (Genesis 6:8). Why did he find grace and why was he considered righteous? I submit it was not due to his perfect conduct, but it was due to that fact that he respected the covenant with God and habitually sacrificed animals unto the Lord. "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar" (Genesis 8:20). No doubt Noah obeyed God and lived a decent life, but I submit it was because he knew who he was.

3. You are protected from the attacks of Satan. James 4:7 says, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." When you resist the devil with God’s Word, it carries the same righteous force as if Jesus were speaking.

Jesus rules with a scepter of righteousness. "But to the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom" (Hebrews 1:8). The king always used a scepter, a rod, to point to one before his court in order to grant them authority and permission to speak. Jesus points His scepter at you and me, and says, "Speak in My Name." When a righteous person speaks God’s words, Satan must yield as if it were Jesus speaking.

4. Your righteousness will be like the waves of the sea. "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea…" (Isaiah (48:17-19a). Waves carry a powerful force, one that no natural barrier can restrain. You may not even know the effect of your righteousness. The gates of Hell cannot prevail against your waves of righteousness.

A righteous person will love like Jesus loves; he will forgive as Jesus does. The fruit of the Holy Spirit will impact those lives in your realm of influence like the waves of the sea.

5. You receive blessings and not curses. "For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield" (Psalms 5:12).

6. "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD." (Isaiah 54:17).

7. Your house is blessed. This includes both physical and family. "The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the just" (Proverbs 3:33). "The wicked are overthrown and are no more, But the house of the righteous will stand" (Proverbs 12:7).

8. Your children are blessed. "The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him" (Proverbs 20:7). "But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children" (Psalms 103:17).

9. There are many, many other Scriptures. Do a study in Psalms and Proverbs and you will find dozens like these. "The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the name of the wicked will rot" (Proverbs 10:7). "The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1).

10. You enjoy the law of resurrection. Whatever comes into our lives to hurt us, when it touches our righteousness, or the life of Jesus in us, will be turned into a blessing. Think of it this way. Think of yourself as a rubber ball in a lake. When someone immerses you and holds you down it does not feel good. But as soon as they let go, you rise to the top. That is the law of physics. It is the same with the law of resurrection. You will rise each time you are held down. When you resist Satan, he must flee. He will eventually compromise if you do not.

11. You will have peace and assurance. "The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever" (Isaiah 32:17).

12. You will live in Heaven for eternity with God.

What does the Cross have to do with redemption and righteousness?

Redemption and righteousness are two great works of the Cross of Jesus. On the Cross Jesus purchased us with His blood. On the Cross He became sin so that we could become righteous. Jesus never sinned, but He became sin for us, He inherited our sin nature so that we could, by blood covenant, inherit His righteous nature. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him"(2 Corinthians 5:21).

Being honest will maintain our righteousness consciousness.

Often we feel like we are not righteous when we sin. When we sin it is like getting dirt on a valuable jewel and watching it lose its shine and brilliance. It is still the jewel, but it is just dirty and needs to be cleaned. We need to develop great faith in 1 John 1:9 which says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Our present sin goes on Jesus again, and He cuts away everything that is unrighteous, and we become just as we have never sinned!

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:10-14).

In order to overcome, we must continually humble ourselves before man and God. If we keep short accounts with men and God regarding our sin, we will win, if not, we will lose! Satan can stop the blessings of righteousness if we are not honest with God about our sin.

Why do I not feel righteous? That is an important question. It took years for you to get the world’s view of yourself. You were trained with a guilt, sin, fear and curse consciousness, and it will take some time to get your mind renewed to the truth. From Satan’s point of view, he is trying to steal the seed of the Word out of your heart. If he puts enough pressure on you with circumstances and guilt, you may stop believing. Sin makes you feel like a coward. You will fail to stand up for what is rightfully yours. When you sin, run to God and allow Him to cleanse you.

"Truth shall spring out of the earth, And righteousness shall look down from heaven" (Psalms 85:11). Send the truth of your sin up to God, and His righteousness will rain down upon you!

"Rain down, you heavens, from above, And let the skies pour down righteousness; Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, And let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it" (Isaiah 45:8).

 Larry Chkoreff - January, 2002

What stood out to you in reading this chapter?

List some areas in your life where you have struggled with the results of not "feeling righteous."

How can you help others realize their true righteousness in Christ rather than self-righteousness and/or condemnation before God? List some changes you can make in the way you treat others that may have been making them feel unrighteous.

List the questions you might have for this chapter, and/or difficulties you may have regarding the above questioning statements.