Have You Submitted To The Righteousness Of God?
Paul described the Jews as having, "a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge".
Like many religious people, they were sincere but sincerely wrong.
Paul then went on to identify the main area where their misguided zeal was most evident.
He said: "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God" (Rom.
10:3).
The Gentiles were characterized by unrighteousness, but the Jews by self-righteousness.
The Gentiles ate from the 'evil' side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Jews ate from the 'good' side of the same tree.
Satan doesn't mind which side you eat from as long as you eat from that tree.
God wants us to partake of the Tree of Life, i.
e.
Jesus Christ, for He is our righteousness.
The Jews sought to establish their own righteousness because they were ignorant of the righteousness of God in Christ.
Sadly, the efforts of man to establish his own righteousness are not confined to the Jews.
It is the very essence and heart of all religion.
That's why the message of the gospel of grace is so unique and so beautiful.
Righteousness will never be attained by our endeavors.
Our best efforts will never be good enough.
We will always fall far short of the glory of God.
But God gave us Jesus Christ to be our righteousness! God's Lamb - God's Righteousness When a Jew brought a lamb to a priest to be offered up for his sins, the moment the priest took the lamb from the Israelite he was no longer under investigation.
From that point on the focus turned to the lamb, and the only thing that mattered was whether the lamb was without spot or blemish.
Jesus is the spotless Lamb of God.
He did no sin, He knew no sin and in Him there was no sin.
He fulfilled righteousness by His perfect obedience to God throughout the entirety of His life.
He was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross where our sin was dealt with once and for all.
This is the righteousness of God.
He is the righteousness of God! All that God's righteousness has ever demanded from a human being was totally fulfilled by Jesus.
In Him God is well pleased, and we are complete in Him! What took place on the Cross has been referred to as the great exchange.
God made Him, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, in order that our sin might be judged and done away with forever.
And in return His righteousness was imputed to us.
He is now our righteousness (1 Cor.
1:30).
That's His name, Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness.
By Whose Obedience Are You Righteous? Which of our sins did Jesus commit in order to become sin? None.
Our sins were credited to Him.
Which of His righteous deeds did we fulfill in order to become righteous? None.
His righteousness was imputed to us, or put into our account.
On the basis of the great exchange God has justified us, i.
e.
declared us to be righteous.
This is His 'forever statement' concerning us.
Furthermore, He will always treat us as righteous, because that is what we now are.
The Jews, like most religious people, made the mistake of thinking that they became righteous by their behavior, especially by their obedience to the law.
They made this mistake because they were ignorant of the righteousness of God.
God's way of righteousness is not through behavior but through believing in Christ.
We all make many mistakes in our lifetime.
This is one mistake we cannot afford to make.
We must get this right! By whose obedience are you made righteous? Yours, or His? Settle it once and for all.
"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous" (Rom.
5:19).
Have you submitted to the righteousness of God?
Like many religious people, they were sincere but sincerely wrong.
Paul then went on to identify the main area where their misguided zeal was most evident.
He said: "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God" (Rom.
10:3).
The Gentiles were characterized by unrighteousness, but the Jews by self-righteousness.
The Gentiles ate from the 'evil' side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Jews ate from the 'good' side of the same tree.
Satan doesn't mind which side you eat from as long as you eat from that tree.
God wants us to partake of the Tree of Life, i.
e.
Jesus Christ, for He is our righteousness.
The Jews sought to establish their own righteousness because they were ignorant of the righteousness of God in Christ.
Sadly, the efforts of man to establish his own righteousness are not confined to the Jews.
It is the very essence and heart of all religion.
That's why the message of the gospel of grace is so unique and so beautiful.
Righteousness will never be attained by our endeavors.
Our best efforts will never be good enough.
We will always fall far short of the glory of God.
But God gave us Jesus Christ to be our righteousness! God's Lamb - God's Righteousness When a Jew brought a lamb to a priest to be offered up for his sins, the moment the priest took the lamb from the Israelite he was no longer under investigation.
From that point on the focus turned to the lamb, and the only thing that mattered was whether the lamb was without spot or blemish.
Jesus is the spotless Lamb of God.
He did no sin, He knew no sin and in Him there was no sin.
He fulfilled righteousness by His perfect obedience to God throughout the entirety of His life.
He was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross where our sin was dealt with once and for all.
This is the righteousness of God.
He is the righteousness of God! All that God's righteousness has ever demanded from a human being was totally fulfilled by Jesus.
In Him God is well pleased, and we are complete in Him! What took place on the Cross has been referred to as the great exchange.
God made Him, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, in order that our sin might be judged and done away with forever.
And in return His righteousness was imputed to us.
He is now our righteousness (1 Cor.
1:30).
That's His name, Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness.
By Whose Obedience Are You Righteous? Which of our sins did Jesus commit in order to become sin? None.
Our sins were credited to Him.
Which of His righteous deeds did we fulfill in order to become righteous? None.
His righteousness was imputed to us, or put into our account.
On the basis of the great exchange God has justified us, i.
e.
declared us to be righteous.
This is His 'forever statement' concerning us.
Furthermore, He will always treat us as righteous, because that is what we now are.
The Jews, like most religious people, made the mistake of thinking that they became righteous by their behavior, especially by their obedience to the law.
They made this mistake because they were ignorant of the righteousness of God.
God's way of righteousness is not through behavior but through believing in Christ.
We all make many mistakes in our lifetime.
This is one mistake we cannot afford to make.
We must get this right! By whose obedience are you made righteous? Yours, or His? Settle it once and for all.
"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous" (Rom.
5:19).
Have you submitted to the righteousness of God?
