The Real Reason We Can't Earn Righteousness

"If a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law." (Galatians 3:21)

The reason you can't earn righteousness has nothing to do with your failure to behave perfectly. The reason you can't earn righteousness is because God doesn't demand payment. He only seeks to give freely.

Lifted Up to His Glory

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God but all are declared righteous through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24)

Glory can be defined as "Great honor," to honor means to value. We fall short of God's value. Sin devalues us who were originally created in the image of God. So since "all have sinned" all have been devalued, they take on the value of sin. "The worker deserves his wages." The worker's value determines his wages. The value of sin is so low that its payment (wage) is nothing but death.

The only way to regain value is to be separated from sin. God makes us righteous in our spirit which also makes us righteous in the eyes of the law (the power of sin is the law). He makes us one spirit with Him  (1 Corinthians 6:17) & even goes so far as to hide our life in Himself (Colossians 3:3-4). So we are completely separated from sin as Christ is (Hebrews 7:26) thus death has no sting because the sting of death is sin & our sins have been eradicated. So in spirit we never sin and we never die because He has given us the overabundant value of His Son. The value of His Son is so high that His payment (wage) is life. "The wages of the righteous is life" (Proverbs 10:16).

Redeem means to "restore honor, value, & worth." But He not only regains our value by separating us from sin but in His love He gives us the maximum value of Jesus! So redemption is just the beginning because in Him we are also justified (made righteous) & glorified (Romans 8:30). No matter how much we had fallen short of His glory He much more raises us up to His glory!

"All have sinned and are worthy of death because of it. All fall short of the value of God, He is worthy of life. However God freely makes us righteous & lets everybody know it. Through Christ Jesus He freed us from the death penalty for our sins. He gives us His value because of His love for us."

I take God "declaring us righteous" to mean that He not only convinces us of our righteousness (John 16:8-10) but that He shows His kids off to the angels & our family in heaven.

A Righteousness Hand Mirror

The righteousness of God through trust in Jesus Christ is given to all those who trust Him (Romans 3:22).
God is just (righteous) & God is the justifier (the one who makes you righteous, the one who makes you right with God) of anyone who has trust in Jesus (Romans 3:25).
A man is justified (made right with God, made righteous) by trust apart from works of the Law (Romans 3:28).
I do not have a righteousness of my own derived from the Law. My righteousness comes through trust in Christ. Christ's righteousness comes to us from God on the basis of trust. (Philippians 3:9)

Other Meanings of Righteous are:
    innocent, faultless, guiltless, approved of God, acceptable to God

David speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” (Romans 4:6-8)
    "Not take into account" can also mean "not count, not charge, not impute, not reckon."
    "Blessed is the man who by no means the Lord will charge with sin." (Romans 4:8 WEB)

God counts us as righteous if we trust in Him, the One who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Jesus our Lord was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised from the dead to make us right with God, to make us righteous. (Romans 4:24-25)
Those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)
All who receive God's wonderful abundance of grace and his gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)

The Law is Over (In 100 Words)

Colossians 2:14 & Ephesians 2:15 say "the Law of commandments contained in written ordinances" were "against us" and "stood opposed to us." Those also say that Jesus "abolished" the laws, that He "took them away and nailed them to the cross"

2 Corinthians 3 says the law brings condemnation (including the 10 commandments) and is of no comparison with the glorious righteousness brought by Christ.

We are to walk by the spirit not by the law. Burdening yourself with law just leads to self-condemnation. We don't need a to do list or a don't do list when we have a loving Father to walk with.

Psalm 1:6 in the Light of The Messiah

"The Lord knows the way of the righteous." (Psalm 1:6)

The righteous are literally those who are "right with God." We are made permanently right with God when we first trust Jesus. "The way of the righteous" is Jesus. He is The Way (John 14:6). He is our Way.

God spoke these words to Jesus: "This is my Son, whom I love and in whom I delight" (2 Peter 1:17).

"The Father knows me and I know the Father likewise I know my own, and my own know me. I am the Good Shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep" (Jesus, from John 10:14-15).

The Father knew the Son and sent Him to be our way to know the Father so that they can experientially know us. John 17:2-3 says, "Jesus gives eternal life and eternal life is to know the Father who is the only true God & to know Jesus the Messiah whom He has sent."

"The Father knows and delights in Jesus the Messiah who is The Way for people to be made right with God, to know Him, and to experience His love."

Part 3 in a Series

The Discipline of the Lord, Our Loving Father Helping Us Grow

"My son, do not lightly regard the discipline of the Lord, nor be irritated or grieved when refuted by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves like a father disciplines a son he is pleased with.” (Proverbs 3:11-12/Hebrews 12:5-6)

Refute (sometimes translated as rebuke) here means to correct, to lead you out of false beliefs. It hurts our ego to be corrected or to find out that we are wrong but God wants us to live in the truth. Discipline here means "the whole training and education of a child." The loving Father raises us as His own beloved children. He nurtures us. He helps us grow.

It is for discipline (God spurring you to growth) that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline (help grow, teach, train, nurture)? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline does not seem to be joyful but sorrowful or irritating, but afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:7-11).

We are already holy because of our birth in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:17). Jesus Himself is our holiness (1 Corinthians 1:30). To "share His holiness" means to share in the experience of His holiness. To reap the benefit of good, pure living as God intends. God may be very harsh with us at times to help us grow but it is never out of anger. God swore to never be angry with us again because of the blood of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 54:9). He disciplines us for our good. He has our best interests in mind.

We are already righteous (Romans 3:22). We are a good tree (Matthew 7:18). God wants righteous and peaceful fruit (love) to come out of us. God walks along side of us in love showing us affection, helping us grow, teaching us, & training us. Him doing this results in us trusting Him more and securely resting in Him (abiding). When we abide in Him we yield much fruit (John 15:5). That fruit is love (Galatians 5:22-23). Our abiding is the result of Him showing His loving kindness (grace) towards us and proving Himself to be trustworthy. His training results in our trusting which He uses to produce our loving. He loves us and His love (raising us as His child) causes us to love.

Jesus said in Revelation 3:19, "I refute and discipline those I love therefore be earnest and change your mind."
Here refute still means to correct, to lead you out of false beliefs. Discipline is a slightly different word that means "to teach and cause to learn." So Jesus was saying, "I lead those I love out of false beliefs and cause them to learn the truth. Let my love motivate you to eager sincerity to change your mind." In other words, Knowing that Jesus' love causes us to learn the beneficial truth. There is no reason for us not to be eager to allow Him to renew our mind.

See Also This Excellent Teaching on The Discipline of the Lord

My Righteous Identity in Christ

These aren't promises of me to God but promises of God to me. He has made me completely righteous in Jesus Christ so now everything He has said about the righteous I am also. These aren't things I strive to be but my true identity that flows out of my genuine self, a righteous child of God.

Christ died once for me & all of my sins, He brought me to God, He put my flesh to death, He made me alive in the spirit.	1 Peter 3:18
I will hold to God's way, I have clean hands and will grow stronger and stronger.	Job 17:9
I see and am glad	Job 22:19
God does not withdraw His eyes from me. He has seated me with kings on the throne forever, and we are exalted.	Job 36:7-8
The LORD loves me; I will behold His face.	Psalm 11:7
God is with me.	Psalm 14:5
God encompasses me with strength and makes my way blameless	Psalm 18:32
The eyes of the LORD are toward me and His ears are open to my cry.	Psalm 34:15
I cry, and the LORD hears and delivers me out of all my troubles.	Psalm 34:17
The LORD sustains me.	Psalm 34:17
I am gracious and I give.	Psalm 37:21
I am not forsaken nor does my family beg for food.	Psalm 37:25
I utter wisdom, and speak justice. My steps do not slip.	Psalm 37:30-31
My salvation is from the LORD; He is my strength in time of trouble. He helps me and delivers me; He saves me, because I trust in Him.	Psalm 37:39  Psalm 37:39
I trust in the loving kindness of God forever and ever.	Psalm 52:8
When I cast my burden upon the LORD He sustains me and will not allow me to be shaken.	Psalm 55:22
I am glad in the LORD and will trust in Him; I shine	Psalm 64:10
I am blessed.	Psalm 112:2
Light arises in the darkness for me; The LORD is gracious and compassionate towards me.	Psalm 112:4
I am gracious and compassionate and right with God.	Psalm 112:4
I will not put forth my hands to do wrong.	Psalm 125:3
I give thanks to God's name and dwell in His presence	Psalm 140:13
The LORD loves me.	Psalm 146:8
The LORD is intimate with me.	Proverbs 3:32
The LORD blesses my house.	Proverbs 3:33
My mouth is a fountain of life.	Proverbs 10:11
I have an everlasting foundation	Proverbs 10:25
My hope is gladness	Proverbs 10:28
I will never be shaken. My mouth flows with wisdom, My lips bring forth goodwill	Proverbs 10:30
I am delivered from trouble. Through knowledge I will be delivered.	Proverbs 11:8
My descendants will be delivered.	Proverbs 11:21
My desire is only good.	Proverbs 11:23
My thoughts are just	Proverbs 12:5
I am a guide to my neighbor	Proverbs 12:26
I will be given good things.	Proverbs 13:21
I have enough to satisfy my appetite.	Proverbs 13:25
My prayer is God's delight.	Proverbs 15:8
My heart ponders how to answer	Proverbs 15:28
The LORD hears my prayers.	Proverbs 15:29
I will inherit good.	Proverbs 28:10
I live by trust.	Habakkuk 2:4
God is my strong fortress and He sets my in His Way (Jesus).	2 Samuel 22:33
I have eternal life.	Matthew 25:46
I am not called to repentance.	Luke 5:32
The Law is not for me.	1Timothy 1:9
My prayer accomplishes much.	James 5:16
I will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of my Father.	Matthew 13:43

God is Love Means God Loves You

God is Worthy by His Love
If the #1 thing God wanted was worship He would have only created angels to sing to Him. If the #1 thing God wanted was obedience and servanthood He would have only created robots. God foremost wants relationship. He wants to show His love to us and share His love with us.

The purpose of life isn't to glorify God. It is to experience God's love. Because of His love we understand God and automatically give Him glory, honor, and praise. God's love is what makes Him worthy of those things. Many hint that just because He is God, the creator, that he is worthy. God is not worthy if He is not perfectly loving. His love makes Him worthy and His love makes Him holy. If God had not love He would be nothing.

God is Not Self-Seeking
1 Corinthians 13 says, "Love is not self-seeking." Is God love?

The Father glorified the Son because the Father loves the Son. The Son glorified the Father because the Son loves the Father. God has such great love that He wants to lavish it upon us all.

God is more concerned with giving love than He is with getting worship. Why would we love if He didn't first love us? Why would we worship Him if He wasn't good? Because we are supposed to? Are we supposed to be better than God? How are we supposed to love if He Himself is not loving first? Think of the many times Jesus shows love without ever saying "Now bow down and worship me! Praise me!" He healed hundreds of people from compassion not an insecure need to be worshiped.

When God said, "I'm a jealous God. You shall have no other God's before me." God isn't insecurely saying "You must worship me." He is saying, "Everything else out there is going to own you. I want to give you life and I want to give you peace. Those are only found in real relationship with me." His jealousy isn't insecurity on His part. He is jealous for us, out of His love, for our benefit and protection.

What Worship Is
Worship is our love responding to God's love. What is the natural response to someone saying, "I love you," it is to say "I love you too." That is worship, us saying "I love you too God."

Worship is seeing how valuable God is by seeing how loving He is and knowing that He is the only source of good. Worship is clear seeing. When I see God for who He is the natural response is "Wow! Amazing! You are Awesome God!" Worship is good for us because recognizing who God is will bring love and liberty into our lives.

God accepts worship not because He is an egomaniac but because His love and goodness are so great He knows that He is the best thing for us. A wise and loving parent knows what is best for their children. God is as wise and loving as someone gets! Knowing and trusting Him to receive His love is what is best for us. True worship isn't the picture of a tyrant saying "Bow down to me lowly beings!" It is the picture of a child saying, "Thank you for loving me daddy."

We Are Significant by His Son
The beauty of salvation offered through Jesus Christ is that God makes it known how incredibly significant people are to Him. Because of God's great value placed on mankind Jesus laid down His life for us all.

The idea that man is insignificant devalues the cross, it devalues God's love for us, thus it devalues God Himself. The lower you make man the lower you make God because the greatness of God is His love. In His own words, if God has not love He is nothing. But God is love. The more devalued or insignificant we find ourselves the less we understand God's great love for us. If you want to know how significant you are look at the price Jesus paid for you.

God shares His glory with us. The Father loves us just as much as He loves the Son (John 17:20-23). Jesus loves us just as much as the Father has loved Him (John 15:9). Did Jesus say or even hint that people are insignificant to Him?

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever trusts in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Jesus died for the whole world (1 John 2:1-2).

God loves everyone. Whether you want them to be loved or think they deserve His love doesn't matter. God does have a special love for those who trust Him because trust allows them to experience His love. If you ever question as to whether you are worthy of love or anything else say to yourself, "Is God worthy? He has given me His righteousness. I am in Christ and Christ is in me." You are worthy of love because God has deemed you so. You are worthy of love because God is so great at loving. It is the lover that determines the value of the one loved. You cannot stop God from loving you!

As a Christian God makes me more significant, almost as significant as His Son (we are loved as he is loved and co-heris with Him) so am I to focus on how insignificant I am compared to God or how greatly He loves me and has honored me? God's goal isn't to make us happy moment to moment but he does want our joy to be full. Life isn't all about me as an individual but in no way imaginable does the greatness of God make a person less significant.

"God raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).
Devaluing myself does not bring praise to God. Since He raised me up why should I ever down or devalue myself as His dearly loved child? Devaluing myself actually ignores the miracle of who He has made me to be in Christ. Recognizing how He has given me significance is me focusing on the greatness of God. Why does God deserve praise? Because He is love.

So to say "It's all about God and not about me," or "It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man," actually takes away from our perception of God's greatness! God's greatness includes the significance He puts on mankind! Part of why God is so great is because He values mankind so dearly. May I never devalue myself as His child. May I never devalue His other children or anyone.

Saying "It's all about God and not about me," says "God does not care about me as a person, He doesn't want a relationship with me, He just wants me to shut up and serve Him like a robot and worship Him like the angels do." We are in Christ! To say "It's all about God and not about me," means I see myself outside of Christ! What a sad, Godless way to see ourselves. God made it about me to show His love for me. We could, however, rightly say, "It is not about us being in control" or "us getting everything we want." God isn't going to serve my every whim but He is going to give me what is best for me when I trust Him. Even when I don't trust Him He will still work everything to my good.

God first loved us. He is the instigator. Who did He love? Us. It is all about God's relationship WITH US! You could rightly say, "It is all about what God has done." Who did He do it for? He did it for us!

If we have a deep relationship with Father we are going to have deep security. We are going to be secure and feel significant to the degree that we have that relationship with Him. When you feel insecure and insignificant you will find anything to hang on to including rules, rituals, traditions, and shame (the real false humility). God wants to draw us into a loving intimacy with Him that supersedes and overcomes everything else. What a privileged, simple, and wonderful thing!

Not Servants but Friends.
Our relationship with God isn't servanthood, it isn't even just the status of being His child. Our relationship with God is friendship.

Jesus Himself began this friendship, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). "You are no longer a servant, but God’s child" (Galatians 4:7). Jesus said in John 15:15, "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. I instead call you my friends."

A servant, or slave, serves out of obligation. A friend serves out of love. A friend is free. This is why all of the New Testament writers that acknowledged themselves as the authors of their writings called themselves bond-slaves or bond-servants of God. A bond-servant is someone who is set free but chooses to serve the one who set him free. A bond-servant is someone who has been loved so greatly as a friend that they serve their friend out of that love and friendship. We find our significance not by serving God but by being His friend.

We Are Holy Because He is Holy
Jesus did far more on the cross than simply take away our sins. The Christian is Holy and perfect in God's eyes & God's eyes are the correct eyes, He isn't going to deceive Himself or you.

The word "saint" which we are called dozens of times in scripture, means "holy one." 2 Thessalonians 1:10 tells us that "God's holy people (His saints)" are all those who have trusted Him. That means every single Christian is holy. "We are holy and dearly loved" (Colossians 3:12). "God's temple is holy, and we are His temple" (1 Corinthians 3:17, 6:19-20). "We are a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9).
"Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15)
“You shall be holy, for I am holy.” is a scripture from before the cross. Now the prophecy of "you shall be holy.." is "you are holy, for I am holy." "Be holy" is not a command but a reinforcing statement of truth. Like God telling you to "Be yourself." It does say to "be holy in all your behavior" because you, as a Christian, are holy in Christ. So since you are holy behave holy.

The Importance of Identity
Christians can still behave destructively and hurt others but their behavior doesn't determine their identity. Our identity in God does not come from our behavior but by our birth. We don't have to strive to be holy, we use the holiness that God has already given us to be holy in our behavior. We don't live to gain, we live to give. God has given us His infinite life to live by. "We already have everything we need for life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). A Christian lives out of an abundance.

When your identity is misplaced so is your relationship. Even in the midst of your failure know that your actions do not define you, Jesus defines who you are. The way that we live is to be an outflow of what we know about our identity in Christ. We are one with Christ. We are in Christ and He is in us. Now we simply have to act like it, walk in it, participate in reality. We have Him in us, let Him live His life.

Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to clean up our flesh so we can walk in the spirit. Instead, it says, 'Walk in the spirit, then you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh' (Galatians 5:16). The reason the bible says that is because sins were taken away at the cross forever and God doesn't deal with us on the basis of sin, He deals with us on the basis of our righteousness, our identity in him. So we can walk in the spirit. It's the Spirit and the truth, and knowing our true identity in Jesus, in which we experience victory.

God says in Hosea 4:6: "My people are destroyed for lack of Knowledge." When we lack knowledge of who we are in Christ and how much we are loved, we don't experience the life Jesus came to give us. The devil challenges our identity just as He did Jesus' identity. "If you are the Son of God then do..." But when we realize that Jesus came to destroy sin's power in our lives, we will no longer allow the enemy to deceive us into believing that we are not who God says we are. Sin has lost its power to condemn us or cause shame in our hearts because we have been made righteous in Christ. Our Heavenly Father sees us as very good and without fault because of Jesus! What more could He do for us to prove His great love?

God's primary interest isn't in what we do for Him or even what we do with Him. It is in who we are. We are the beloved bride in the Song of Solomon. He knows ever hair on our head not because He is all knowing but because He has paid loving attention to us. God is love means God loves You.

By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are made holy (Hebrews 10:14).

Who God Has Made Us

The moment we are saved God changes us. To know God better we must know who God has made us. If we have the wrong perspective of ourselves we will have difficulty knowing God better.

Eternal Life is a Gift from God
First we must realize that we did not earn the eternal life God has given us.
Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9 says, "God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in sins, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved through trust, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast."

We are saved, from sin and death, because God is rich in mercy. Mercy is when we don't get something we do deserve. We do not have to get the punishment we deserve for the sins we have committed because Jesus mercifully forgave sins on the cross.

We are saved by grace. Grace is unearned favor, it is getting something good that you do not deserve. It is given to us because God is gracious, He gives, He loves, and He loves to give. We are saved by grace through trust, through faith. We possess and utilize the trust to be saved but we are not the originators of the trust. Hebrews 12:2 says, Jesus is the author, the originator of our trust in Him. This is because God showed us His love and trustworthiness. Both the grace and the trust are gifts from God. We did not earn them, we did no single or multitude of good works to receive them.

Forgiven and Righteous
When we trust Jesus we receive the forgiveness for our sins that He bought at the cross. Accepting His payment removes our punishment. God says in Isaiah 43:25, "I will not remember your sins." Romans 8:1 says, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 5:9 says, "Since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment."

When we trust Jesus we are made right with God, which is also referred to as being declared righteous or being justified. Romans 4:25-5:1 says, "Jesus was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by trust, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us." Philippians 3:9 says that, "God’s way of making us right with himself depends on trust." Galatians 2:16 says, "We become right with God, not by doing what the law commands, but by trust in Jesus Christ, because by observing the law no-one will be made right with God."

Christ is Your Life

God is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus. God is the reason that you are in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ has become our wisdom from God and our righteousness and our purity and our redemption (see 1 Corinthians 1:30).

You have probably heard the saying from Isaiah 64:6, "All of our righteousness is like filthy rags." Who is that talking about? That is not talking about children of God. Our righteousness is not like filthy rags. Our righteousness is Christ's righteousness. This means we are completely acceptable to God. God sees the perfection of His Son and receives us into a relationship with Himself. Philippians 3:9 says, "I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness."

When you love your spouse do you love him or her to the extent that you do based on their position as your spouse, that is because you have a marriage certificate? No you love your spouse because of who you see him or her to be. It is full reality to you. You consider your spouse to be wonderful and you can't be convinced otherwise.

God is the same way. He loves us based on who He sees us to be. Our lives are hidden with Jesus Christ in God. Christ is our life (see Colossians 3:3-4). 1 John 5:12 says, "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life." 1 John 4:9 says, "God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him."