Righteousness

Righteousness

July 23, 2023 Morning Service

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK

Rick Boyne

Message Point: We are made righteous in God’s sight by His work through Jesus Christ.

Focus Passage: 2 Corinthians 5:21

Supplemental Passage: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6 NASB)

Introduction: 1: acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin 2: morally right or justifiable [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/righteous]

1. The quality of being and/or doing things right; holiness, innocence, and just, all wrapped into one. (Rboyne Dictionary)

We must then say the righteousness of God is evident in the way He consistently acts in accord with His own character. God always acts righteously; His every action is consistent with His character. God is always consistently “Godly.” God is not defined by the term “righteous,” as much as the term “righteous” is defined by God. God is not measured by the standard of righteousness; God sets the standard of righteousness. [https://bible.org/seriespage/6-righteousness-god#Introduction]

I. Righteousness of God

a. A chief attribute of God. However, God more defines righteousness than righteousness defines God

b. because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." (1 Peter 1:16 NASB)

c. For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face. (Psalms 11:7 NASB)

II. Self-Righteousness

a. And we are all become as an unclean thing , and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have carried us away; (Isaiah 64:6 Darby)

b. as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; (Romans 3:10 NASB)

c. Every man's way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts. (Proverbs 21:2 NASB)

d. And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:9-14 NASB)

e. 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. (Romans 10:3-4 NASB)

f. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB)

III. Righteousness in God through Jesus

a. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB)

b. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26 NLT)

c. 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." (Romans 1:17 NASB)

d. Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6 NASB)

e. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5 NASB)