08/07/2023
TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS 03
The summary of the entire scriptures is salvation and the same thing is captured in the Epistles. You will see salvation as the anchor of all the Epistles put together.
We have established the fact the if salvation is the ultimate message or subject of the Bible, that means there are sub-subjects and righteousness is one of them.
From the texts below, Apostle Paul established that God's righteousness is revealed in the gospel of Jesus.
Romans 1:16-17 (KJV)
16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 - For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
The righteousness of God being revealed from "faith to faith" means from a faith built upon a promise into a faith fulfilled".
In other words, from Faith on a promising note into Faith an established or fulfilled promise. While the old testament saints have their faith upon the promise of God, we in the dispensation of the resurrection do have our faith upon a past event. That is on Jesus death, burial and resurrection.
So God's righteousness has been revealed from that faith into this faith.
Just as Paul the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that we are changed into the image we beyond in the glass from "glory to glory."
The first glory speaks of the fading glory that was beheld on Moses' face; that glory of the ministration of death and condemnation which is done away with. While the second speaks of the glory of the ministration of the Spirit which is rather more glorious. The greater glory is the glory we behold in the glass and are being changed into.
Now, this righteousness being revealed from faith to faith is revealed without the law. It was not the law that revealed the righteousness of God.
Remember, there are two kinds of righteousness:
1. Righteousness through faith in Christ Jesus (Righteousness of God).
2. Righteousness by the works of the law (Righteousness of man).
So, Apostle Paul was saying the righteousness of God is revealed without the law.
Romans 3:21
21- But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
God's righteousness is being made manifest without the law.
The law was given by Moses but before the law was administered, Abraham was declared righteous.
Genesis 15:1-6 (KJV)
1 - After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2 - And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 - And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
4 - And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5 - And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6 - And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Now, this is explained as God preaching the gospel to Abraham if you read the details.
See Galatians 3:8.
For instance, Abel and Noah lived before the law but were called righteous because of their faith.
This shows that the righteousness of God has nothing to do with the law because before the law was given, there is something called the righteousness of God. Men were found righteous not because of their conduct nor because of their purity in the flesh but because they believed in God. They had faith in God that He was able to fulfil His promise. So, their faith was their righteousness.
Moses gave the law and before Moses was born several people has been made righteous. So, what was the law for?
You must understand that God did not give the law because He knows that it is not in man's power to attain to His righteousness by works.
There's something called righteousness before the law. Now if nobody have been found righteous before the law, then we can say the law was given to make people righteous but the law wasn't given to make people righteous because believing God was the way to be righteous. And Moses who gave the law knew that. So, why was he giving laws? I'm going to tell you why he did that?
Meanwhile, circumcision was not even the point because righteousness was imputed to Abraham in uncircumcision.
Remember, Abraham has not kept any law. He was an idol worshipper who just turned to believe God and God declared him righteous. So, he has not kept any law, he only believed in the gospel God had preached to him.
Believing in the gospel of Jesus is what makes you righteous.
However, doing what is right, doing what is pure and moral, abstaining from sinful habits are the byproduct of God's righteousness.
"The works of righteousness is the byproduct of the gift of righteousness".
The works don't come before the gift, rather the gift comes before the works.
Because it was after Abraham has been declared righteous that he began to walk righteously. But righteousness was already imputed to him.
Romans 3: 19-31
19 - Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 - Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 - But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 -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:
23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 - Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 - Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 - To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
27 - Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 - Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
29 - Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
30 - Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
31 - Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Romans 4:1-17
1 - What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
2 - For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
3 - For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
4 - Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
5 - But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
6 - Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
7 - Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
8 - Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
9 - Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
10 - How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
11 - And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:
12 - And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
13 - For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
14 - For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
15 - Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
16 - Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
17 - (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Galatians 3:6-9
6 - Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 - Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 - And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9 - So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
So, God never imput sin. God imputs righteousness. Who or what then imputs sin? The law imput sin - Romans 4:15
Sin is strengthened by the knowledge or awareness of the law. It is the law that brought to you "do's and don'ts" and holds you chargeable when you do the don'ts.
See Romans 7.
God imput righteousness. To be righteous in the sight of God today, all you need to do is to have faith and believe what God has done in His Son Jesus Christ.
Now, are we saying believe God and be righteous. After that forget it and live unrighteously? No!
We have seen in this series that there are works of righteousness in the gift of righteousness.
But what does the Bible says about the righteousness of man? Bible says it is a filthy rag in the sight of God. So, man's righteousness is dirty. That is why you cannot do anything in your power to be pure before God. Nothing!
God has already told you that your righteousness is dirty. If you don't want to be dirty, what do you do? Submit your righteousness and come to His own righteousness which is by faith through Christ Jesus without which you are dirty, unholy, and stained.
Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:9 that "I don't want to be found with my own righteousness".
That means it is possible you're found with your own righteousness.
You think the things you don't do are what makes you a righteous person. No! Your believing in the works of Jesus is what makes you a righteous man or woman.
It is not the do's and don'ts of the law. So, God never demanded good conducts from a man to make him righteous. He demanded believing. That believing is good conducts before God.
Romans 5:12-13
12 - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 - (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
There is no sin unless the law had awaken it.
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
11 - For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
12 - It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13 - Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
14 -But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
15 - See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 - In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 - But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 - I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19 - I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 - That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Deuteronomy 30:11:20 explained how Moses preached to the children of Israel and told them what to do to be righteous - believing in the promise of God.
Moses' logical statement was that to be righteous, believe with your heart. But if you find it difficult, obey the law. Hence he said he set before them good and evil, death and life but choose life.
So, why was the law given? Because of the hardness of their hearts.
Moses gave them lots of laws but he knew they cannot fulfill them.
Moses only tried as much as possible to communicate things to them in the blindness of their eyes and hardness of their heart but they were entangled with unbelieve.
Romans 10:1-10 - Apostle Paul here is preaching the word of faith that Moses preached to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 30:11-20
Hebrews 4:1-2
1 - Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
The writer of Hebrews also captured how that Moses truly preached to them but they did not receive God's righteousness he preached to them.
In summary, you become righteous by believing in the fulfilled promise of God (Christ burial, death, and resurrection) only and not by your own deeds of righteousness in regards to the law.
(An excerpt from the teaching series - Two Kinds Of Righteousness 03 by Pastor Temisan Amagbejuya).
SUNDAY SERVICE - March 26th, 2023
GLORY HOUSE CHURCH
