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Righteousness
Simple
Enough for a Child to Understand
by
Pastor John Hamel
“For
He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
"Once
you discover what God has done for you on the inside, you'll spend the rest
of your life being successful at prayer on the outside." - Pastor John
Hamel
Righteousness. Some people look at
that word and think, “What’s up with that?” Others think it’s just
some mysterious, religious word that can’t really ever be fully
understood.
Actually “Righteousness” is one of the simplest teachings
in the Bible. So simple, in fact, that a child can understand
it.
Righteousness simply means to have “right standing” with
God.
It’s just that simple. The Bible says
that Jesus Christ has made it possible for all who believe to come back into the place of “right standing” with
God.
When God created the Heavens and the Earth,
He placed man in the center of the Earth as its Caretaker. Man was
created in God’s image and was to keep out all intruders and exercise
dominion over all creation.
God placed two trees in the Garden.
One was called “The Tree of Life.” The other was called “The Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”
Man was to freely eat of “The Tree of Life”
and was to avoid at all costs “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”
Man had free will, just like God, and could choose to obey or rebel.
God made him this way because
He wanted man to choose to love Him as a conscious act of his God-given
free will.
Unfortunately, with the right to choose came the potential
for making wrong choices. God’s man made a wrong choice and partook
of “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” By doing so he lost
his “righteousness,” his “right standing” with God. (Genesis 1:26;
3:1-24)
God was now faced with the Crisis of the
Ages.
God’s Justice said,
“I must punish his disobedience or he’ll continue to disobey Me.”
God’s Mercy said, “I want to forgive his disobedience or the next time he
gets into trouble, he’ll run from Me and not to Me!” What a
dilemma!
However, God’s Love said, “I’ll become a man and pay the
penalty of death for them Myself. (Romans 6:23) That way My Justice
will be satisfied because a perfect man
will have paid the penalty for fallen man’s sin. My Mercy will also
be satisfied because I can simply forgive all who accept My
sacrifice as their own.”
Can you see it? The Justice of God
and the Mercy of God were equally satisfied by the Love of God.
Man was now restored to his original
position of right standing with his Creator.
No one can “earn” this place of right
standing with God, either. (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 4:5) However, anyone
can receive the free “gift” of right standing with God by faith.
“For if by one man's [Adam] offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ.” (Romans 5:17)
It’s clear from the above verse that
righteousness is not something we must do.
Righteousness is something we must receive by faith at the time of
the New Birth.
Jesus’ substitutionary
work at Calvary far outweighs Satan’s attempt to steal
man’s righteousness in the Garden.
The Bible says, “Whoever shall
call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13) This
means you can be saved from the penalty of your inherited sin by accepting
the righteousness God is offering you through Jesus.
By simply saying, “Jesus, You’re my choice”
you’ll be supernaturally restored to a position of “right standing” with
God.
This is the same position of dominion and
authority originally held by Adam and Eve, a position of power, provision and protection. (Psalm 91; 103:1-5; Mark
16:15-20; Ephesians 2:4-6)
This is why the Bible boldly states, “…
our standing in the world is identical to Christ’s.” (1John 4:17 Message Bible)
Because of Jesus, we can stand before our
Heavenly Father without a sense of guilt or inferiority. We can stand
before Him in the righteousness of Jesus.
What a wonderful gift! Once we
understand that righteousness is a gift and not something we do, we’ll
begin to pray with the
type of confidence that brings results.
Once
you discover what God has done for you on the inside, you'll spend the rest
of your life being successful at prayer on the outside.
Hallelujah!
Be Blessed ... John and Barbara Hamel
How
to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
How
to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
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