The gift of righteousness carries with it great promises:
"4Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more." (Isaiah 54: 5)
Man's greatest fear is shame, reproach, and condemnation. Man's greatest need is acceptance, and from Adam to the present day, every Son of Adam struggles with condemnation, which in turn produces self-righteousness, or the notion that we can achieve a status of peace in our lives through our efforts.
I have expounded on this verse before, pointing out that references to shame appear five times. Five is the number of grace, and grace speaks to every source of shame in our lives.
This grace is a gift, which we receive and receive some more through what Jesus did at the Cross!
Why do we know that all our shame has been exhausted away from us?
The Cross:
"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." (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
What I am starting to learn more and more about the twin gifts of grace and righteousness is that when Jesus died on the Cross, He took not just our sin, but also the penalty, and the record.
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10For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
There is one thing that I have struggled with, and struggling merely speaks to holding onto flesh when God wants us to receive more of His Spirit:
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21And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she
was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If
it be so, why
am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.
23And the LORD said unto her, Two nations
are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and
the one people shall be stronger than
the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." (Genesis 25: 21-23)
Isn't that something? While Abraham and Sarah had struggled for years to have one child, Issac simply prayed to God, and Rebekah conceived. Then she discovered that she had twins, and there were great wrestlings in her body over the two in her womb. This struggling is much like our trials when leaving a life of depending on our efforts to resting in God's favor for us. Jacob was the child of promise, while Esau the older brother represents our old man nature, flesh which lusts rather than spirit which rests and receives.
In the same manner, I have heard that many people struggle with guilt or shame about their past. They look to other people to fulfill their needs, to give them some kind of peace. Some cults are founded on this terrible principle, that other people can grant us peace, or establish His peace through righteousness.
Wrong. God's righteousness is much better than anything that someone else can give us.
No shame in Christ. None!
And there's more:
"7For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
"8In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer." (Isaiah 54: 7-8)
I still have a hard time with this statement. Everlasting kindness? Wow! I have a hard time thinking about the future, yet for God, our future has nothing but everlasting kindness waiting for us with both hands open!
Check this one out:
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10For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee." (Isaiah 54: 10)
A Covenant of God's Peace?! Forget about someone else's peace. Forget about running to someone else for peace: He is our peace:
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14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us
Of course, in Isaiah you can find out more about His peace:
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9: 6)
and also
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
That perfect peace is Christ, and He lives in everyone of us who believe on Him.
We find established peace in the gift of righteousness:
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11O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest,
and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires."
This statement ties righteousness to the stability which ends the waving and flailing of immature Christians:
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14That we
henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men,
and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head,
even Christ:" (Ephesians 4: 14-15)
In verse eleven, there are references to fair stones, which speak of the High Priest's breastplate (Exodus 28: 15-20), and this breastplate is tied to righteousness in the Old Testament (Isaiah 59: 17)in the New Testament (Ephesians 6: 14), as well
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14In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee."
Notice that we are established in righteousness. We do not establish ourselves in this righteousness, but God does it for us:
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15But not as the offence, so also
is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace,
which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16And not as
it was by one that sinned,
so is the gift: for the judgment
was by one to condemnation, but the free gift
is of many offences unto justification.
17For if by one man's offence 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: 15-17)
Keep on reading!
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15Behold, they shall surely gather together,
but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake."
People will come at you, but they will fall — all of them! Because of us, that we are steeped in righteousnes, God ensures that they will fall, the will fail, they will flail!
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17No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue
that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This
is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the LORD."
Seventeen is the number of victory, and because of His righteousness, we are more than conquerors. People will rise in judgment against us, but we will condemn those who condemn us. Already, I have experienced this blessing, and I trust that He will keep on blessing through His gift of righteousness.
Now, I am growing to understand that even when we do things wrong, the gift of righteousness not only protects us from death, but that His grace will lead us to live righteously (Titus 2: 11-12), and even when people want to bring up what you have done, you can point to the Cross, and let His death be the signal that God has already paid for your every sin, taken the penalty, and removed the record.
Sin, penalty, and record, all wrapped up into one. Most people do not preach this part, for fear that if we tell people that everything has been removed in their lives, they will continue in sin.
What people do not realize, however, is that people are still sinning, even with the record against them still outstanding against them.
Too many people have too little an opinion of God's grace:
"11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2: 11-14)
God accords us His favor, and we in turn bless others greatly. He loved me, then I love others (1 John 4: 19)
Understand more about how much God loves you, then you can love others, too!
Righteousness defines God's love for us, by the way:
"9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 9-10)
I do not claim to have a full handle on these revelations, but I know they are breaking forth in my life to greater fullfillment!
Keep receiving the gifts of his righteousness and grace, and watch Him take you places you had never expected before!
