God wants righteous people.

Transcription

1 God wants righteous people. Righteousness is holiness, and sin is folly. W. Pink God wants righteous people. The Lord s Prayer is my favorite for the inward sanctification of our lives, our victory over temptation, and our prevailing over the evil one, Lucifer. The Lord s Prayer is very important. Jesus was angry with the Pharisees because they were hypocrites. Thus, they did not have authentic righteousness. Therefore, if we were to ask what the great thing that God wants from us as Christians would be, the answer would be righteousness! And to live righteously for Him and His joy! We don t need to be more spiritual, moral, or ethical; we need to be more righteous! God yearns to see us succeed in righteousness and have victory over the devil, our flesh, and this world. Moreover, He wants us to be eternally free of the bondage and debauchery of sin. Definition: The New Oxford American Dictionary right eous adj. 1 (of a person or conduct) morally right or justifiable; virtuous: he is a good, righteous man, I am sure; feelings of righteous indignation about pay and conditions. ( ). The New Oxford American Dictionary (Kindle Locations ). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition. Definition: self righteous dictionary.com defines as: Confident of one's own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others. from Works of John Bunyan The Reasons of the Point Mercy seems to be out of its proper channel when it deals with self- righteous men; but then it runs with a full stream when it extends itself to the biggest sinners. As God's mercy is not regulated by man's goodness, nor obtained by man's worthiness, so not much set out by saving of any such. (from Works of John Bunyan: Doctrinal Writings, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright 2004, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. and Ages Software, Inc. All rights reserved.) from Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament the "joy of God" is over the sinner who has been led by Jesus to repentance, rather than over the (self-)"righteous" ones. (from Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament 1990 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved.) from Luther's Commentary on Galatians There are three ways in which the Law may be abused. First, by the self- righteous hypocrites who fancy that they can be justified by the Law. Secondly, by those who claim that Christian liberty exempts

2 2 a Christian from the observance of the Law. "These," says Peter, "use their liberty for a cloak of maliciousness," and bring the name and the Gospel of Christ into ill repute. Thirdly, the Law is abused by those who do not understand that the Law is meant to drive us to Christ. When the Law is properly used its value cannot be too highly appraised. It will take me to Christ every time. (from Luther's Commentary on Galatians, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright 1999, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.) Christ wants righteous people. If we were to ask Jesus what our chief priority is for the church, He would say, seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness, and everything will be added unto you. Seeking God s kingdom first and His righteousness is the most important thing we need to focus on. As His church, we are all called to go beyond the righteousness of the Pharisees. The most frightening words to come from Jesus s mouth are the following: AMP Matt 5:20 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness (your uprightness and your right standing with God) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Were the Pharisees righteous? The following quote by Dr. R. C. Sproul was taken from his online sanctification teaching class at Ligonier Connect: Dr.R. C. Sproul: Pharisees were especially devout; they set themselves apart under consecrated zeal to obey the law of God, and because of their single-minded desire toward righteousness, they were named set apart ones, the Pharisees. The Pharisees business in life was the pursuit of righteousness, they majored in it, and there was nothing casual about their zeal to accomplish righteousness. Today there is not one person who has this determination to find righteousness. NIV Matt 23: The Pharisees were evangelistic "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. The Pharisees were evangelistic. They had the zeal for outreach and sought to convert people to God s law and to live life to His standards, but the saving relationship and saving faith that we all have as Christians was absent. They were laboring in vain for the gift we, the believers, received freely. We never earned redemption, but we are all getting way better than we deserve. All grace is undeserved and not earned but by God s grace. We have received it through faith in Christ, and we share it and evangelize the Good News to others because God gave us the Gospel as the means of salvation; it was God s to give, and He gave it to us to share. However, it is only by putting their faith in the Son of Man that the Pharisees could have evangelized a message that imparts righteousness and took our sins away our precious Gospel. 2. The Pharisees would tithe.

3 3 NIV Matt 23: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. The Pharisees were scrupulous in obeying God s law of tithing. They would go to their gardens and tithe even 10 percent of their herbs and weeds just to balance the books. They were hyper-religious, but Jesus said that they neglected the most important matters of the law namely, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Offerings made through free will please and honor God; but the things that are true attributes of His charter and that He wants us to have and share are, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Therefore, we offer our lives to Him to be presentable to Him, not herbs and weeds from our garden. ESV John 5: The Pharisees were all Bible students. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. The Pharisees were all Bible students; they would memorize the Scriptures, studying day and night with zeal and passion. However, the Word never got into their bloodstream their spirit was dead. They were blind students of God s Word, ignorant to the Truth and grace supplied for us in Christ Jesus. The Scriptures told them of the Lord, but they never knew Him on an intimate level of faith. It is sad but people today may never see our God becoming flesh, paying for our sin, and redeeming us, but the worst thing is if they study the Holy Scripture and do see the Truth, they reject it and refuse to have faith. So studying the Bible does not mean you have faith. God has ordained the way of redemption and has given us His Son for the remission of our sins. Remember, it is through His only begotten Son; there is nothing more that He can give to satisfy His justice on our behalf because we do not want what is fair or just that is a one-way pass to hell we want justice in the form of mercy and grace. This is why we come to Christ so that we may have life, and the Scriptures testify about Christ. 4. The Pharisees were the ones who prayed. Matthew 6:5-6 New International Version (NIV) Prayer 5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. The Pharisees were the ones who prayed; they prayed long-winded prayers and spent a great deal of time praying to God; they loved to be called upon to pray in public the people would actually applaud. This imagery shows us that humility is not a factor in man s fellowship with our Father, but pride is a factor when we pray. We need to give God adoration and exaltation; this should be the first thing out of our

4 4 mouths. Then we should confess our sin and our need for His Son. We need to humbly give thanks, rejoicing in the goodness of our God. Lastly, finish with supplication, asking for your needs in humility and with reverence, not to hear yourself speak or to amuse others, but to grow in love with God. ESV 1 Peter 3: For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." 13 ESV James 5:16-17 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. ESV 1 Tim 4:4-6 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. The Pharisees were the teachers, the preachers, the prayers, the evangelists, the tithers, and the professional religionists of the day. The following quote by Dr. R. C. Sproul was taken from his online sanctification teaching class at Ligonier Connect: Dr. R. C. Sproul: the only problem that comes out when we look at the New Testament Pharisees is that the Pharisees religion was only external the word Jesus used for them is hypocrites, which means one who is a play actor. It is one who outwardly manifests religion but inwardly never knows or receives righteousness. We need the external and internal; it s the outside and the inside and vice versa. Authentic righteousness is the obedience to commands of God. Our righteousness But our gift of righteousness comes through Christ s sinless life, which He transfers to us the moment the Father regenerates us and comes into the soul of men and women. He is the Savior. He enables faith to produce repentance and repentance to produce the fruits of the Spirit and every good work to prove we are disciples of Jesus Christ. It is by our sanctification that we display authentic righteousness. Matthew 28:18-20 New International Version (NIV) 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

5 5 Definition: The New Adventure Bible: The NIV Study Bible for Kids Righteous: without sin; doing what is right. Dictionary.com Righteous: 1. morally right or justifiable: righteous indignation. 2. acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous: a righteous and godly person. 3. Slang. absolutely genuine or wonderful: (from Luther: Selected Sermons, THE USE AND NECESSITY OF THE LAW. This is a quote from my book, it expresses the extent of our salvation; and the work of therefore Christ has laboured in for every believer under the sun and in heaven above. Book the Lord is our savior memoirs: author/ Kal Czotter Page Therefore, when Christ dies He is not dying for His own sins, but He is dying for our sins, because our sins have been imputed to Him. Hence, He took our sins away and He bore our sins on the cross. He undertook to answer the demands of justice for our sins. However, there is a double imputation that takes place in our redemption; it is the gospel; it is the Good news refined and distilled; it is that Christ s righteousness is imputed to us by faith. This is our justification, that our unrighteousness is clothed in Christ s righteousness, and that His perfect fullness of righteousness is transferred to our bankrupt account. We are all sinners, but by our justification we are clothed in Christ s righteousness. We are fully reconciled and have been made right with the Father. When we look at our sanctification, we are actually being made righteous, unlike our Justification, where we are unrighteous while having the fruits of Christ s labour imputed to us. In our sanctification, we are conforming into the righteousness of Christ by being made into His likeness and image until the day of our glorification when we will actually be perfectly righteous. All these stages of our salvation are a gift graciously given to us by God s grace, the grace that is abundantly supplied in the personal work of Jesus Christ. Amen

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