We Are The Righteousness Of God

"Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow (1 Peter 1:11). Jesus came to bring us into glory. It's also interesting to know that the Greek name for glory is "doxa," which also means "magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace." We have the Spirit of Excellence; we're not struggling for it. We're under grace! Bible says "doxa" should follow the suffering of Christ. Glory is also power, splendor, beauty. Jesus said, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." John 17:20-22.

So Jesus prayed for me, talked about me. I have the glory of Jesus because He confirms it from the scripture we just read. Christianity is a life of glory. The Apostle Peter tells us, "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen" (2 Peter 3:18). Peter encourages us to grow more in the grace that Christ brought. He tells us to increase in the knowledge of Christ. Why did he say that? As I discussed with you earlier, the more you know Jesus, the more you know who you are. Who Jesus is, is who you have become. Seek to know more about Him in order to take advantage of the grace He's made available. Without knowledge, you will struggle unnecessarily in life. It's the reason why many Christians have become victims instead of victors.

Paul said to the first Corinthian church, "For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 1:11; 3:1; 5:1; 6:7-8; 6:19). There was no dirty church than the first Corinthian church.

Until you take the Word of God in you, you cannot live the Christian life. Listen, you may sin but you don't stay there! Get up and move on with your life. In the Old Testament, when the presence of God came upon something, it was described to be holy. When the Spirit of the Lord manifested itself at a place, it was regarded as a holy ground. Often in the Old Testament, the Spirit of the Lord came upon the Men of God to accomplish some specific tasks. So if these people were holy men, what about the new creation? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" This makes it clear that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, His dwelling place. Hey!!! This is just too much for the religious man. If in the Old Testament, places and other things were said to be holy due to the presence of the Spirit that once came upon them, what about us?

We that have the Holy Ghost dwelling in us 24 hours a week, 365 days a year, 366 days in a leap year! Then what have we become? Holy! In fact the Apostle Paul confirms it by saying that, "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19). Are we joined to the Spirit of the Lord? Let's find out: "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ..." (Romans 8:17). Hallelujah. We're heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Why do you then look down to yourself? Be bold and confident, knowing who you have become. Every born again person is holy because the Spirit of the Lord rests upon him. You are continually in His presence, which makes you a partaker of His nature. So what's the difference between holiness and righteousness? Holiness is a place, a condition, a character and righteousness is freely imparted. When God separates someone from among the lot unto Himself, that person is called holy.

Every child of God is holy (1 Corinthians 1:2, 6:9-11). Righteousness is God's right. Everything God does is right and when God imparts that nature into a person, that person automatically becomes right with God and one can live that nature out. A person may still live wrongly as far as he's unaware of his current nature. God brings you into His nature, he puts them into you and righteousness becomes your nature. I know some may find it difficult to understand this but I know. "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God made everything in good order and in their time and their seasons. Meaning, man is not able to understand all the things that God has done. God is great and man cannot find out His works from the beginning to the end.

We're never to struggle to live by the law in order to become the righteous people God desires. Bible says that "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Hebrews 10:1, 4). Christ's sacrifice was offered once for all. The blood of bulls and goats, the animals offered in the sacrifices, had no power to cleanse from sin. In their essence the only real efficacy of the bloody sacrifices of the altar was the moral effect upon the people and the fact that they pointed forward to the Lamb of God. The laws were also imperfect and with such sacrifices God dad no pleasure. The holiest of all has been opened by the Blood of Christ.

The Law of Moses only had a shadow of the good things to come. It did not contain the good things, but only the shadow of them. They were typified in the law but exist in the gospel. Scriptures also reveals that such sacrifices can never make the comers thereunto perfect, which means the sacrifices could not free them from sin, and thus perfect their consciences. Peter Likewise wrote, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:18-19). Jesus saved us by His perfect obedience as the Lamb of God. His obedience is seen in His willingness to offer Himself as a Sacrifice to appease God's wrath against sinners. His obedience is also seen in His being without spot and blemish, absolutely sinless under the Law's holy demands.

We did nothing to be counted righteous. Titus 3:5 says we were made righteous, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Hallelujah! Jesus himself said, "...as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). Jesus never said so that he who works will be saved, but he who believes. Obviously Jesus was alluding to His death on the cross. On that cruel tree, Jesus was made a curse for us. He as our Substitute bore the penalty of our sins. He took our place, and did all that had to be done to redeem us. Now it is only a matter of simply believing in Him if we want to be saved.

Do you remember the story of Jacob and Esau? There is a deep revelation in that story as it portrays the relationship between man and God. Maybe you've heard or read the story several times but I want to share something very important with you from it. From the story, Isaac had two sons, one Esau and the other Jacob. Esau was a hunter, while Jacob stayed home, holding onto his mother's skirt. Nearing the end of Isaac's life, he said to Esau his son, "...Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die" (Genesis 27:2-4). Upon hearing this, Esau immediately ran out to the hunting grounds. But Rebekah, Isaac's wife, Jacob and Esau's mother, heard everything that was discussed between Isaac and Esau.

Rebekah immediately called Jacob, informed him about the conversation and told him, "Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death" (Genesis 27:9-10). Jacob found this impossible because Esau was hairy whereas he was a smooth man, and his father would certainly find out and curse him instead of blessing. When Jacob feared to be cursed, Bible says, "And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them" (Genesis 27:13). The mother proves her real love. So Jacob quickly brought the kid goats, his mother slaughtered them and made it into his father's favourite dish.

Since Esau was hairy and Jacob was not, Bible says, "And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck" (Genesis 27:15-16). Rebekah covered Jacob completely, after which he took the meal, went forward to his father, presented it to him, acted as if he were Esau and asked his father to bless him after enjoying the meal. Isaac was surprised the food was ready so quick because he knew hunting wasn't going to be easy. Jacob then told him it was very easy to get the animal for God provided it. Since Isaac wasn't sure it was Esau, he decided to touch his body to feel if he was truly his son. But when Isaac touched him, there was hair and that made him believe it. He then ate the food and blessed Jacob instead of Esau.

I read a story where a small sailboat entered the Amazon River which flows through Brazil. It is said that the width of the river at its mouth is more than 25 miles and since these people have been sailing on it for many days, they had completely run out of water. Soon, they saw a boat coming toward them and begged them for water, saying, they would give them whatever money required so that they would give them some gallons of water. The sailors of the oncoming boat laughed and told them to draw some water up and drink. They looked so disappointed and resentful as the oncoming boat passed them by. One young sailor who couldn't take it anymore dropped a bucket into the river, drew up some water and drank. After drinking, he threw the bucket and cried out, "This is river water!" The boat had already entered the river but the sailors thought they were still in the ocean because the river was so vast.

These people were dying from thirst even though they were actually sleeping on a river which is full of water. We are not far from the blessings of God today and there are a lot of people in the world today who are just like the sailors on the river, who almost died of thirst. We've got to take the Word of God as it is because through it we find the solution to every problem in the world. Some people are just working so hard for nothing! They think they can earn their own righteousness through that; they weep all day long because they think they're too lowly to go before God. Although we have come before Jesus who has forgiven our sins and blessed us, there is a certain level that our thoughts have not reached. Although God gave us His amazing blessings, we can't receive them because we are adding our own thoughts to the Word of God; and we wind up very far from God's intentions because of that.

Some people are looking for God as through He were somewhere very far, just like the people who were suffering and struggling from thirst. The reason we can't meet God is because even though He is close, we have different thoughts from Him. This story is just like that of Jacob and Esau. When Esau received the message from his father to cook for him so that he would bless him afterwards, he immediately went out as he was told. He actually obeyed because his heart truly wanted to receive the blessings. While the conversation was going on, Isaacs's wife, Rebekah, was around so she overheard everything and made a perfect move. We can see that Jacob had everything prepared for him without struggling at all. Meanwhile, what did Esau do? He was sweating and running around trying to catch a boar, a deer, or a rabbit, right? How much suffering must he have gone through, crossing hills and running around in the mountains?

Jacob calmly brought over kids and his mother prepared everything on his behalf so as to be blessed by his father. After Jacob had been blessed, Esau returned from hunting. After preparing the food, he went straight to his father and asked him to eat his food and bless him. "What? Are you Esau?" His father was amazed! He was shocked and came to the realization that Jacob, Esau's brother had done this. Esau cried bitterly, asking his father if he had nothing for him. Bible says, "And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck" (Genesis 27:39-40). Ouch! That's a curse! Isaac didn't bless Esau but cursed him.

Both sons wanted to be blessed but the one, who seemed to work hard was cursed. Even though we may all give our tithes and keep the Sabbath Day diligently, some are filled with grace and receive a blessing, but there are others who receive a curse. What then must we do to be blessed, and how do we come to be cursed? If we don't know the spiritual meaning of the Bible, no matter what we do or how hard we try, nothing works. Some would go to church and show unconditional zeal. They would pray and cry all night, fast, make offerings and do volunteer work. However, whenever God sees that, He wants to say, "Your sincerity is admirable, but those are not my ways." How then should we come to God? Because men don't know the way to go out to God, they go before Him according to what they know. If God tells the story of how one was blessed and the other cursed between two people who came to be blessed, then He wants us to learn something from it.

He knew that people would realize through the story, and know how He wants us to approach Him. That's exactly why God recorded these words in the Bible. Sometime people just quick read through the Bible, ending it without getting anything. God didn't write the words of the Bible because people were bored, and He wanted them to have fun. The characters we find in this story clearly define us. The father in the story is depicted as the image of God. The mother is the image of Jesus Christ. The older brother, Esau, is the image of a man who tries to receive blessings by working hard, and the younger brother, Jacob, is the image of a man who receives blessing by the help of Jesus, although he doesn't do anything himself. This is clearly the secret underlying today's Christian life. Let's liken the Bible to a chestnut. Most theologians only present us with the "shell" of the chestnut (Bible).

How then are we able to have the true taste without presenting us with the "nut?" Providing us with both will make us have the actual taste of the chestnut! Beware of such folks, who appear to be good but inwardly, are full of iniquity. Chewing on the "shell" without eating the "nut" of the Bible is not good at all. The "nut" in the Bible is what is referred to as spiritual secrets. Esau did what his father had told him to do, right? He worked hard, right? He labored, right? But was he blessed or cursed? His father said, "And by thy sword shalt thou live..." This is a terrible curse! This curse means that unless Esau had a sword in his hands, he will feel insecure because of his enemies, and will not be able to sleep. The dew of heaven will not come upon him, and even though he plows a field, it will not bring forth fruit. That was the curse that was put upon him. Was Isaac wicked?

If he didn't have a blessing to give his son, couldn't he at least say, "Have a lot of children," "become wealthy," or "stay healthy" or something? Isaac didn't bless him in that manner. Esau went out to hunt and obeyed his words but he ended up being cursed by his father. This means that although I try to keep and obey the Word of God, I can only end up being cursed before God. It's because we cannot obey or keep the Word of God. Jacob was a problem child and a sinner, that's why the father loved the elder son, Esau. We realize also from the story that the mother loved the younger son who was a sinner. As we read our Bible, we find out that God loves good people and Jesus loves sinners. Isn't that right? Yes, that's right. This person Esau is a person who tries to go to God with his own efforts, but God does not like people who come to Him with their own efforts. You must come to God through Jesus.

The second son received a tremendous blessing from the father. He received every blessing there was to receive so the father had no more blessing to give. Jacob did nothing to be blessed. Spiritually speaking, he brought forth only what Jesus (his mother) had prepared for him in order to be blessed by God (his father). That's the revelation - we accepting all Jesus has done in order to be accepted and blessed by God!