THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

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Rev. Zeny Calusay @ FARM, July 29, 2012

RIGHTEOUSNESS
Righteous – always behaving according to moral code, morally upright
Pro 12:28 In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.

NO MAN IS RIGHTEOUS
Only God is righteous
Rev 15:4 Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
The sad reality
Rom 3:10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
No matter how we try
Rom 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law
Mat 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

RIGHTEOUSNESS AS A GIFT FROM GOD
From God
Rom 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Apart from the Law
Rom 3:21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
Comes by Faith
Rom 3:22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
For all
Abraham’s Example
Rom 4:3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)
Testimony of David
Rom 4:6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
All of us who believe
Rom 4:24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND THIS WONDERFUL GIFT 
Rom 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Rom 5:18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

OUR RESPONSE TO THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
Receive it.
Mat 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Mat 21:32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Live for It
1Pe 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness
1Jn 2:29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
2Pe 2:21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
2Pe 3:13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.