If you’ve been coming here for a while now, you have most likely heard (or read) that righteousness is a gift. But what exactly is righteousness? There are many opinions on righteousness from various religious leaders, books have been written on it, and there are all kinds of sides that one can take on the subject.
However, we are not interested in the opinions, theories or ideas of man. Instead we are interested in what the Bible has to say about the subject as the scriptures are the only facts on righteousness that really matter. So if you are truly serious about righteousness and want to finally cut through the murky waters of speculation and get right into the truth, then this message is for you today.
The main point to understand when discussing righteousness is that it is a position that you are placed in, and not a status that you earn. This is stated quite clearly in scripture. This point seems so simple, but it is vital for a proper understanding of sin and righteousness in the Bible. You see my friends, in the scriptures when you see the words “sin” and “righteousness”, they are primarily nouns and not verbs! Furthermore, in the context of the verses where they are found, they are referring to places as in positions.
You see my friends, when we are born into this world, because of the fall of Adam and Eve, we are born into the position of sin. Nothing we can do – no amount of good deeds or well wishes – can change this position, we are tainted from our very core. Yet when we accept Jesus Christ we are “born again” or reborn into a new position, a position of “righteousness”, and likewise, nothing we can do will change this position.
Now inevitably whenever I teach along this line I have at least one person who says “Well, you are giving people a license to sin!” That is the way that people usually think and if you are thinking that way right now, it’s okay, because many pastors and leaders have remained silent and not taught these important truths anymore.
The Apostle Paul had the same question put to him in Romans 6:15, let’s read it now:
“What then? will we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”
This was the question posed by Paul’s critic. And this is also the only place where the word “sin” is a verb and not a noun, and it comes not from the mouth of Paul, but the mouth of his critic. Every single time Paul uses the word “sin” it is a noun; but here when used of the critic asking this question, it is a verb.
See now we come to our first interesting point. We can learn from this verse that in the mind of the one asking the question, sin is still an action, it is still something that you do, instead of a position that you are in. Now the danger in this kind of thinking is that it undercuts the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ. If a person still believes that they can be righteous by what they do, then Jesus’ sacrifice is made void.
Likewise if you are only righteous until your next sinful deed, then we are all doomed because Jesus died before any of us were even born.
Now let’s look at the way that the Apostle Paul answered this question from his critic. Paul’s answer is in the next verse: Romans 6:16:
“Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?”
Now on the surface, this seems to support the idea that we are righteous or sinful based on our actions. Be honest, most of us when we read this verse, it seems to support a merit system, correct? Most of us read this verse and interpret it as “If you sin you die, if you obey and do right, you are righteous”.
However we must remember that again, Paul answered this critic by referring to sin and righteousness as nouns and not verbs, as positions, and not works. The most clear way that I can demonstrate this is through the scripture itself and I suspect that most of you here today would have it no other way. Let’s examine Romans 5:12-19:
“Therefore, 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:
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded to many.
And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences to justification.
For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one will many be made righteous.”
These verses are the foundation of what Paul was referring to in Romans 6. I want you to read these verses carefully, especially 17, 18, and 19 (the last three) and to really ingest what they are saying, these are Paul’s own words, these are scripture, not just something I made up on a slow day when I was bored. Adam’s sin was the offense, and it brought death to all, but Jesus’ obedience brought righteousness and life to all, undoing the works of Adam for all that believe on Jesus Christ.
Now let’s return to Paul’s answer of the critic in Romans 6:16:
“Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?”
What Paul is saying here, is do you believe in the power of Adam’s sin or Jesus’ righteousness?
If you believe that Adam’s original sin is still over you, then you will be a slave to sin all of your life, because it has the power to kill you. On the other hand, if you believe that the righteousness of Jesus Christ has covered you, then you are free and need worry about sin no longer.
Also it is important to notice here that the verse which we just read says “obey”, however the Greek word there actually means “subscribe to”, or “pay attention to”. If you are constantly conscious (paying attention to) sins and death, it will lead to more sins and death, but if you are constantly paying attention to Jesus and His righteousness it will produce more righteousness for you and in you.
My friends, this is the key. For those of us who want to truly (and effortlessly) be free of sin, do not focus on the sin any longer, do not be sin conscious but be Jesus conscious!
If that man who was criticizing Paul was actually paying attention, he would’ve noticed that Paul gave him the secret of living a victorious life in Christ Jesus.
In closing, the very first statement that John the Baptist made of Jesus was “Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world!”. For those of us that have accepted Jesus, we need to start believing that this statement is true. We are either righteous by faith in Jesus Christ alone, or we are still dead in our sins. There is no half-measure or gray-area. The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:5 that the man who trusts in his own strength is cursed.
Today if you are believing that you have to perform perfect to be blessed or that you need to clean yourself before coming to God, well my friend, that is a lie from the enemy. The truth is that you come to Jesus as you are and He cleanses you while you simply receive and say thank you. That is the beauty and majesty of God. That is His grace and love towards you. And that more that we focus on Him and His righteousness then the more we are transformed into His likeness, we find that our old behaviors and bad habits and sin tendencies simply fall away effortlessly like dead leave fall from a tree.
We don’t have to perform perfect to become perfect, He is perfect within us and we effortlessly perform… because we reflect His perfect light. We have no beauty of ourselves, but we are like the moon reflecting the light of the sun.
Praise Jesus for His marvelous Grace and Mercy towards us!