Looking For What's Right

Since the fall of man, the desire within him has been to have right standing before God. This is evidences through the world religions of paganism, metaphysics, as well as all the philosophical religions of today. Basically, people want to feel good about themselves, when in fact none of mans best efforts to appease his conscience from sin will ever bring him to the place of right standing before God. There is only one way for man to have right standing before God, "...having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1) Man is justified, made righteousness, given right standing only by faith in Jesus Christ.

Righteousness restores to man all that was lost at the fall of man. It restores his standing before God giving him the same ground that Jesus enjoyed with the Father during His earth walk. (1 John 4:17) Being made righteous through faith in Christ takes away sin consciousness, that is, the feeling of guilt, condemnation, shame and inferiority that has robbed man of coming with confidence into God's presence. (Romans 8:1) It assures man of his standing before the Father, because in Christ he now has a legal right to come into the Father's presence. (Hebrews 4:16) It positions man as the master of Satan and all his forces. (Luke 10:19) It gives man boldness to stand in the presences of sickness, disease and even death without fear. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Righteousness restores to man his lost relationship and fellowship with the Father. It gives him the same confidence to approach the Father in the same way that Jesus approached the Father. We can approach the Father with the freedom that a child has approaching his own parent(s). (1 John 1:3) It restores to man his lost faith, not the faith that Thomas exhibited after the resurrection, which was rooted in his five senses, (John 20:25) but the faith that pleases God and moves mountains. (Mark 11:23; Hebrews 11:6) It restores peace with God. (Romans 5:1) It restores quietness and rest to the spirit. (Philippians 4:6-7) We are no longer afraid of bills, no longer afraid of circumstances. Faith rises unconsciously and we face the most adverse conditions with unwavering resolve.

Righteousness restores freedom to man. (John 8:36; Galatians 5:1) It is the freedom that is only found in Christ. His freedom gives the courage never to fear Satan again as well as freedom from the fear of man because we trust in God with all our hearts and do not lean on our own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Righteousness give us one of the most incredible things, it restores sonship with God. (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1) God is our Father and we are His sons (and daughters). We are His children. We are in His family and we know that our Father loves us. (Romans 8:38-39;1 John 4:10) Knowing these truths in our heart releases unspeakable joy and we come to truly understand what it means to walk in freedom.

But we must keep in mind, this all comes about only one way as stated above, "...having been declared righteousness by faith...through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1) In other words, God made Jesus sin with our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) He was made unrighteous with our unrighteousness. As man's substitute for sin, He suffered until every crime against humanity had been met and justice had been satisfied. It was Deity suffering for humanity because this was the only way that man's sin debt could be paid. When God declared that man's sin had been paid in Christ, and every demand of justice was satisfied, Jesus was justified or made Righteous. (Romans 4:25) He was "justified in the spirit" (1 Timothy 3:16) He was "made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18) He was "the first born from the dead." (Colossians 1:18) 

When a person confesses Jesus as lord and receives Him as their Savior, God then declares that one to be righteous solely on the grounds of what Jesus did. This is called being born again and what scripture calls the "New Creation" in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) The believer also becomes a partaker of the divine nature of God. (2 Peter 1:4) In this, the believer becomes righteous by nature and by faith. God declares that we were made righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that He made possible through Jesus Christ. Now we can stand in His presence without any sin consciousness. When believers come to truly understand and act upon these truths, they will experience tremendous growth in their faith and will step into the Father's presence without any trepidation, because we fully know that "there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus..." (Romans 8:1) Therefore, let us stop looking for what is right and put our faith in Jesus Christ the righteous and be free of guilt, condemnation, shame and inferiority. Let us make our confession sure. Let us make our confession bold, "I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:21)