Righteousness – it’s one of the main focuses of the Christian life, and many people are constantly striving towards the goal of being righteous; or being more righteous. There are entire books, study guides and conferences all centered around living righteously, and learning how to be more righteous.
There are countless numbers of Christians today who are on a quest to “better themselves”, to be more righteous, and be more like God and please Him. I used to be one of those people, as well. I know exactly how it feels, and it seems right; it seems like a very good thing. You may even be asking right now “why wouldn’t that be a good thing?! We need more righteous people, who want to please God!”
And I do agree that it is a very good thing for people to be righteous, and of course to please God – we all want that. However, the question isn’t really whether that’s a good thing or not; but rather how do we accomplish it?
You see, no-one is questioning the importance of being righteous, but rather where we diverge is how to be righteous. Because when you ask this question, most people immediately jump to their own works and performance, and what they need to do for God.
So today, we will be examining what the scriptures actually say about how to be righteous; and the answer may surprise you!
Are you fearful of God’s judgment? Surely the thought of His judgment is something to be afraid of. However as believers in Christ who have been redeemed by His blood; who have received His atoning sacrifice for us, are we still fearful that somehow we will not escape His judgment? For many, the answer is still “yes.” There are many believers today, who still in one way or another, for one reason or another, believe that God’s judgment can still come upon them – or that they are even under His judgment right now. This often gives them a crippling fear and sabotages the wonderful relationship that Jesus Christ came to restore us to with God.
This is why in this study today we will be examining the Biblical truth, that because of what Jesus has done, you will never be subject to the judgment of God. Jesus took all of the judgment upon Himself in your place. He drew all of God’s holy wrath and punishment for sin to Himself and bore it all in His own body on the cross so that you would be spared. And as I like to say, there’s no reason for two people to pay the same debt twice! This is what we will be taking a look at today.
There’s a statement I often say that sometimes offends people… that the Gospel is simple, and there is great simplicity in Christ. This sometimes offends people because they are thinking of the word “simple” to mean stupid. This sometimes also offends people because they have spent their entire lives working hard and studying the scriptures, yet the Gospel is so simple that even a child can understand. So with one single statement I have managed to offend a wide audience. Yet in no way am I suggesting that the Gospel of Christ or Christ Himself are stupid, nor am I suggesting that studying the Gospel is of no value. It may in-fact surprise you to learn that my statement does not originate with me, but it is from the scriptures themselves.
The simplicity of the Gospel of Christ has been largely corrupted in modern Christianity today; replaced by something complicated, convoluted and full of man's efforts… not at all what Jesus intended. This is what we will be studying today. We will be taking a look at what the true simplicity of the Gospel is, and by seeing this we will also be able to see some of the ways man has complicated what God has made simple.
How would you define success? Is it the amount of money you have? The number of people who like or love you? Is it the height that you can climb in your job? Is it the titles or degrees that you have behind your name? The world often judges success by these standards, but is that what success truly is? Many of these things are the results, the fruits of success, but they themselves are not success itself from a Biblical standpoint.
The difference is this, if we are judging our success purely by our worldly status, then we can be deceived and misled. If we are judging our success purely by what we have, or what we have achieved, then it will not always portray an accurate picture according to the truth of God. It may seem as though we have nothing at the moment. However the reality is that you actually have everything. This is what we will be looking at today in scripture.