I Walk The Line Series

Series Title: The Line in the Sand

Message Title: I Walk the Line

Scripture: Romans 1:17

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, 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. 11 I long to see you 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. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, 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 at Rome. 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

Introduction:

What is right? What does it mean to be blameless, upright, honorable, honest, good, just, decent and respectable? Should we ask a Major League Baseball player what is right? Maybe those famous baseball players Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens can tell us what is right or what is righteous [both are being investigated by Congress for taking illegal steroids to enhance their performance.]

What about this?

In the summer of 1986, two ships collided in the Black Sea off the coast of Russia. Hundreds of passengers died as they were hurled into the icy waters below. News of the disaster was further darkened when an investigation revealed the cause of the accident. It wasn’t a technology problem like a simple radar malfunction. They didn’t have a light problem since they both could see each other. There wasn’t even a thick fog to hide one from the other.

The cause was human stubbornness. Each captain was aware of the other ship’s presence nearby. Both could have steered clear, but according to news reports, neither captain wanted to give way to the other. Each was too proud to yield first and by the time they came to their senses, it was too late. Both captains felt they were right in what they were doing, and hundreds of people died because of their egotistical actions.

A few years ago, Tom Wolfe wrote a novel about the original Mercury 7 astronauts, which later became a movie in 1983. The title of the book and movie was The Right Stuff. I recall talking to a few people about the movie, and not one of them could really tell me what ‘right’ things make up the right stuff. It sounded like a bunch of prideful, arrogant, egotistical and overconfident men trying to be famous, yet the online plot summary calls them heroes.

What is right? What is righteous? What is righteousness? And, what do they all contain, or what does a person have to do to attain any one of those?

Well, today, we’re going to take a look at righteous and sprinkled in there we may add right, righteous, justify, and justification.