Lesson 5
The Gift of Righteousness
What is righteousness? It means a person who is right, wise, just, upright, good, true, proper, correct, real, genuine, exact, satisfactory, suitable, well, someone who releases from injustice. A wise person will want to be right, will want to be righteous. Righteousness produces authority. Authority produces power and power effects great change. Let’s look at James 5:16-18:
‘Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.’
The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. Elijah was a man of like nature to us. He prayed fervently that it might not rain: and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.
Jesus had perfect righteousness, He knew no sin. He had authority over all creation and all evil. He turned water into wine, walked on water, calmed the storms and fed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. He had authority to forgive sin. He had authority to cast out demons. He had authority to cast out sickness and heal the sick. He even had power to raise the dead. He waited 4 days before He called Lazarus to come forth from his tomb. Jesus then went on to the cross, was crucified, and died. On the third day He rose in complete and total victory in triumph over every sin, sickness and every demonic thing. He then ascended to the Father where He sits today at His right hand above every rule and authority, power and dominion and above every name that is named. Jesus says in John 14:12:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father”.
But where do we see anyone doing what Jesus did? Why not? Who is walking in the anointing, authority and power of the Holy Spirit to do God’s work without hindrance? We all ask the Lord for a stronger anointing. How are we limiting the anointing that the Lord wants to pour through us? How can we serve the Lord to our fullest calling and potential?
The Lord sometimes speaks to us in the strangest places, probably where He can get our attention best. I was on the London Underground on my way to speak at a church, when the Lord revealed to me something fantastic. As I got off at my destination I just had to stop and write, as hundreds of people went their way. I suddenly realised that the devil has no regard for his own, no respect for them whatever. Let’s read Acts 19:15-16:
‘And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.’
The devil has no respect for a sinner. A sinner the devil can control. If the devil can tempt a man to sin and that man sins, then the devil has authority and power over that man, but he whom the devil does not succeed in causing to sin, he has no power over. In the wilderness the devil tempted Jesus but Jesus would not give in to the temptation. Instead Jesus answered the devil with the Word of God in Scripture and remained sinless. Jesus was not going to give His authority and power to the devil, never. When we pursue righteousness something glorious happens to us. Walking in Christ’s righteousness gives us authority and power over the devil, over demons and sickness and every demonic power. Nothing can harm us. We read in Luke 10:17-20 of how the disciples returned to Jesus after going on mission for Him:
‘Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."’
Does this mean that the more we pursue righteousness and become more righteous in Jesus, the more authority and power we will have over the enemy, and we will see the greater miracles happen?
I believe that we need to have less and less sin within us to hinder God’s miraculous power from moving through us to the ones He loves so much and wants to heal and set free.
God’s ways are different from the world’s ways.
God’s Ways
Love convicts of sin
Love encourages righteousness
The Spirit man looks to God
The cross gives freedom from sin
Righteousness gives authority over sin
Power effects changed lives
How does God deal with sin?
God’s love searches out the lost and hurt
God sent His only Son to die on the cross to set man free
God forgives those who repent
God gives the Bible to correct sin and encourage
A man who accepts Christ learns righteousness, for his heart is changed
A man convicted of sin will turn from it and grow into Christ in righteousness
With God
God deals with man through grace
Forgiveness of sin gives freedom
Freedom from sin gives authority over sin
Authority over sin gives power to live in righteousness
Living in righteousness effects great change in and through one’s life and gives eternal life
Righteousness is light and freedom
The World’s Way
Rules condemn sin
Sin entices the flesh
The fleshly man gratifies self
The world controls with authority
Authority rules man with the law
Power controls man
How does the world deal with sin?
Sin abounds in every form in enticing ways
Man makes laws to control sin
Man puts sinners into prison
A prison sentence hopefully corrects man
A man in jail may or may not learn righteousness for his heart is unchanged
A convicted man with no heart change may do the same evil again
Without God
The world deals with man through the law
Jailing the sinner controls the sin
Sin condemns us, sin controls man
Sin has power to destroy man
The sinner will die in his sin and spend eternity without Christ in Hell
Sin is darkness and bondage
This is why it is so important to reach out to the people in our world with the saving grace of Jesus.
Some time ago, my horse, George, was stolen complete with saddle and bridle, by a very unreasonable lady. (She believed that having a partially disabled daughter, who had fallen in love with him, entitled her to take the horse whilst I was away in Africa.) I knew I would not get far with her by using the police and the law. I went to the Lord. He led me to Matthew 5:40,
“And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.”
“Lord, how will that scripture get George back?” “Wait”, came the reply. So I waited and did nothing for three months. One day the Lord said to me, “Today, put two hundred pounds in ten pound notes in an envelope. Get into your horsebox and drive over to where you horse is and the lady will release your horse to you.” I instantly obeyed and drove over to the stables in anticipation of what would happen.
I arrived. The lady, daughter and George were there. I prayed and I approached the lady and sat on a straw bale beside her. “I know that you are really a good lady,” I said. “And I know you are going to do the right thing concerning George so I have brought you this gift as I know that you are going to release George to me today so that I can take him home with me this morning.”
She took the envelope and counted the money slowly and looked up and said, “Yes, I will release your horse to you. You can take him with you now.” The excitement surged as I took my horse who seemed to sense he was coming home and eagerly walked straight up the ramp into the horsebox.
Next day the phone rang. The lady who had stolen George said, “Suzanne, I need to ask you a question that really has been puzzling me. I stole George from you, I did wrong and you, you did nothing for three months and then after all that you come and give me a gift of money? How could you do that to someone who has stolen your best horse?” I replied, “Because Jesus loves you and Jesus loves your daughter so much, He told me to do it that way.” “Jesus loves ME? You mean to say Jesus loves me after all the wrong I have done?” “Yes, Jesus loves you so much that He died on the cross, so that if you will turn from sin, believe in Him, He will forgive you and give you eternal life.” “I want to turn from sin right now,” she blurted out. “I want to believe in Jesus right now. I promise you I will never hurt you or anyone else again. Please will you pray for me?” I prayed with her and led her to Jesus, and now I can trust her.
The love of God and His righteousness overcomes every sin, every barrier. His love turns the heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
This experience really taught me how much God is in control of every single thing when we trust Him and obey Him. During those three months the Lord caused George to refuse to jump anything for the lady’s daughter, so she did not like the horse so much any more. She could release him more easily; yet as soon as George came home he jumped all the jumps normally. This also showed me that the Lord cared enough for me to bring my horse back to me, so I no longer had to take out horseback riders whilst on foot myself.
God’s ways of doing things are very different from the world’s way of doing things. It does take time to learn God’s ways and then to do things His way – His ways always work.
In all the problems that life may throw your way, Jesus was faced with a type of them too. If you go to the gospels with your situation and find out where Jesus faced a similar problem and you then handle that problem in a similar way to the way Jesus did, then you will be guaranteed the same success as Jesus was. This is now the way that I go through life and handle things. I simply do it ‘JESUS’ WAY’.
Jesus’ way of doing things is always the righteous way, the way of love and forgiveness. This is the way that causes sinners to repent and be reconciled to God. In fact righteousness is a gift that is more precious than a diamond – spotless, transparent, reflecting light in every direction, flawless, extravagant, shining forth its beauty to all.
It takes much work to cut a diamond. Every flaw must be removed. Nothing must mar its beauty, and nothing must limit its reflection. A diamond is a gift of flawless beauty; the transparency brings life to light in its reflection of it. So God works in our lives to fashion and perfect us into all righteousness that we may become a true transparent reflection of His glorious light and love and purity. It is then that we become as a diamond in His hands as we are reminded in 2 Corinthians 3:18:
‘But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. How can we be changed into His likeness from one degree of glory into another?’
1 Corinthians 1:30 advises us:
‘But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.’
‘To sanctify’ is to make holy and set apart for God. ‘Redemption’ rescues and delivers us from evil. Proverbs 2:9-10 says:
Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.’
Psalm 112:1 says:
‘Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who delights greatly in His commandments.’
To ‘fear the Lord’ is wisdom and ‘to shun all evil’ is understanding. This means to fear to hurt God by any sin or unrighteousness and to seek His righteousness instead. Proverbs 21:21 advises:
‘He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness and honour.’
2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us:
‘For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’
How can we become the righteousness of God? Romans 5:18-19 gives us an insight into this:
Therefore, as through one man's offence judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.’
Jesus made this possible on the cross by dying in our place, to give Man a second chance to obey after what Adam and Eve had brought upon mankind by eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The gift of salvation is the saving of people from the effect of evil and wrongdoing. The gift of righteousness is freedom from wrongdoing and the doing of right things like kindness, truthfulness, justice and care for others. We have all been taught to turn from evil as it is written in the following verses: Proverbs 12:28:
‘In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.’
Proverbs 11:19:
‘As righteousness leads to life, so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death.’
Proverbs 10:2:
‘Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.’
We need to turn our backs on all evil and pursue God and His righteousness every moment of our lives. As we yield to God’s ways and guidance we will come under His protection and be made more and more righteous. As we are reminded in 2 Timothy 3:16:
‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’
And again in 1Timothy 6:11:
‘But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.’
How do we actively pursue righteousness?
What happens when we do something wrong? We will come out of the presence of God and guilt will take hold of us. This can cause many reactions. Some may confess their sin, and others may try to excuse their sin. Note that in Philippians 3:9 Paul emphasised:
‘…not having my own righteousness, which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.’
What is this scripture saying? What does a child do when he does something wrong? Does he plead for forgiveness over and over? Is he afraid he will be thrown out of the house? No, he runs crying into his parents’ arms where his parents will comfort and warn him of the dangers of what he has done and hopefully the child will never do that thing again, but has learned a lesson in righteousness and will walk in the area of righteousness. God treats us the same, though the consequence of that sin we still have to bear, even though we are forgiven.
Romans 4:3-8 speaks into the situation thus:
‘For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."’
The reason for this is what the Lord has made available to us through Jesus, as it says in Romans 3:21-26:
‘But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.’
This is glorious news for us. Salvation and righteousness are linked together and both are received by faith. Further encouragement comes from Romans 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.”’(NIV)
How should we then live? Romans 6:19 cautions us:
‘I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.’
As we yield ourselves to the holiness of the Lord day by day by coming into His presence daily in prayer, He will enable us to become more and more righteous. Paul in Ephesians 4:24 exhorts:
‘…that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.’
When we spend time with God daily in prayer, we will take on His nature, just as we would by spending time with any person whom we admire.
Daniel 4:27 teaches us through words addressed to a king:
“Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity."
What will be the result of living in righteousness? The answer can be provided through three passages of scripture: Isaiah 54:14:
In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.’
Isaiah 61:10:
‘I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.’
Job 29:14-16:
‘I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the case that I did not know.’
Righteousness changes us. Righteousness frees us. Righteousness brings us closer to Jesus, and then we come to see life as He sees life. We come to think as He would think. We come to love others as He loves others. Suddenly our priorities change. We no longer think of ourselves for we are happy and content in Christ. Now we see others before ourselves and want to go out in Jesus’ name to preach, bring salvation, healing, deliverance and help to others who are dying in the clutches of evil. The following passages provide further help and insight:
Amos 5:24,
But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.’
Psalm 71:19:
‘Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?’
Psalm 50:6:
‘Let the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is Judge’
Psalm 36:5-6:
‘Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O LORD, You preserve man and beast.’
We don’t just receive the gift of righteousness, we have to walk in it and live in it. A child cannot learn to walk unless he puts one leg in front of the other.
As we live in righteousness daily, pursuing it with all our hearts, so we become a treasure to our Lord and the Lord receives us as His treasure and gives to us the treasures of His love, joy, peace and also the Holy Spirit, to help us in the works He gives us to do. We see this in Exodus 19:5:
‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.’
We become His ambassadors to the nations in whatever giftings God gives us. The more we live in righteousness, the greater God’s power and authority will be manifested through our mere human frames and we will know the truth of 2 Corinthians 4:7:
‘But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.’
Let us aim to live in the righteousness of God.
True Freedom
The gift of salvation and the gift of righteousness are the two greatest gifts in the universe, for it is these two gifts that bring us into true freedom in Christ.
John 8:31-36:
Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free?’” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”’
Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. This is not talking about political freedom or even freedom from prison bars, it is something much deeper, something from within. In the Philippines I visited the prison, “Why are you here?” I asked. “I did this or that wrong.” (i.e. I sinned) “Why did you do it?” “I don’t know. I just did it.” “Did you want to do it?” “No.” “Then, why did you do it?” “Something made me do it.” “Who? What made you do it?” “I don’t know.” This was the case with most of the prisoners. Then I asked, “Have you been in prison before.” “Oh yes three or four times.” “Why do keep coming back?” “I don’t know, I just keep doing the same thing.” “Did you want to?” “No.” “So, what are you doing here?” “I don’t know. I wish I knew.”
Now I have their attention, now I can explain how they became a slave to sin, give the Fall of Man and God’s answer by sending Jesus. I said to them, “Only Christ can set us free from the bondage and slavery of sin. Salvation is the act of saving us from destruction, delivering us from sin and its consequences; and preserving us for everlasting life. Redemption is salvation from sin, a release by purchase. Jesus redeemed us, He bought us back from Satan by paying a price to deliver us from sin and its penalty. He did this by going to the cross”. All these prisoners responded to my invitation to receive Jesus as Lord.
So Redemption and the gift of salvation is forgiveness of sin and deliverance from sin. And the gift of righteousness is freedom from sin as we die to the desires of the flesh and take up our cross and follow Him.
1 Corinthians 1:30:
‘But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.’
2 Corinthians 5:17:
‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.’
Jesus is our salvation, redemption, righteousness and true freedom.
Acts 13:37-39:
‘but He whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.’
Jesus is our true freedom from everything from which we could not be freed by the Law of Moses; freedom from sin, freedom from eternal death, freedom from every clutch of the devil, freedom to live in Christ.
Romans 5:17:
‘For if by the one man’s offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.’
For freedom Christ has set us free, so let us receive and pursue the gift of righteousness every day of our lives so that God may raise us up in freedom in Him, over every sin, for if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.
Some Questions to Think About
What happens when we pursue righteousness?
Explain the difference between Law and Grace.
Name three things we should do to live in righteousness.
What will be the results of living in righteousness?