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Faith
Building Block 2
Right Standing with God
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.” (2Corinthians 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
In Faith Building Block 1 we saw that we
become New Creations when we are Born Again. At the New Birth, we become “righteous” new creations.
This
will be the subject of Faith Building Block #2 - Righteousness.
Not
only do we become new creations, we also become the very righteousness of
God.
Don’t run away
now. That word scares lots of folks away. It really should not
because righteousness is pretty easy to understand.
Righteousness
simply means to have right standing with God. Pretty simple, huh?
Righteousness also means “equity, innocence and
holiness.”
“Equity” simply means to have the same standing with God
as Jesus does.
It also means that we share Jesus’ innocence and
holiness as well. This is not because of anything that we have done
or could do.
Righteousness isn’t something you do.
Righteousness is something you receive.
Righteousness
is a free gift from God.
"For
if by one man's (Adam) offense 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)
Righteousness
is all based upon what Jesus has done for us. He paid the penalty for our sins so we could be right with God
again. He took our sins and gave us His righteousness.
“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.” (2Corinthians 5:21)
I’ve
heard this referred to as “The Great Exchange.” Seems almost too good
to be true, but God wouldn’t fool us about such a thing.
Another definition
of righteousness is as follows: “The ability to stand in the presence
of God without a sense of guilt or inferiority.”
God doesn’t want us
to feel guilty when we stand in His presence. He doesn’t want us to
feel condemned over the past. That would keep us from receiving from
Him.
God wants us to receive from Him. He loves us. He
gave Jesus for our sin. Why wouldn’t He give us everything else?
(Romans 8:32)
Someone said, “But
I’ve sinned since I was saved. How can I still be the righteousness
of God?”
It’s easy.
Ask your loving Father to forgive you and He’ll
cleanse you of any “un” righteousness behavior.
“If we confess our sins,
He is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Sin is wrong.
I run from it like the plague.
However, sometimes I miss it in
thought, word or deed. When I do, I can promise you this! I
never run FROM God.
I have learned to always run TO Him.
When we do one
thing and confess our sin, God does four things for us. 1) He’s
faithful to us. 2) He’s just to us. 3) He forgives us. 4) He
cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Once we have been cleansed from
unrighteousness, we are righteous once again.
As if becoming a
new creation wasn’t miraculous enough, God also makes us righteous - on
the inside!
Once we become righteous and get tangled up in sin, through repentance He cleanses us from
“un” righteousness.
I don’t know about you, but this makes me love
Him so much I just don’t want to mess with sin anymore. I’d rather
run with Jesus.
Righteousness is
the most misunderstood teaching in the Bible and it just should not
be! It is simple to understand.
It is as simple as it is
miraculous! Now you understand it.
Understanding
righteousness - what it is and what it does, is the second Faith Building
Block that must be laid in order to develop strong faith!
Make this Faith confession daily. “I am a brand
new creation in Christ. I am the righteousness of God.”
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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