Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 25 – The essence of God – Righteousness. Rom 1:17; Psa 25:8; 34:8; 1Jn 2:29; Isa 64:6.

Title: Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 25 - The essence of God - Righteousness. ROM 1:17; PSA 25:8; 34:8; 1Jn 2:29; ISA 64:6.

 

F. Righteousness: God is infinitely perfect in both His person and character and absolute good. He cannot sin nor have anything to do with sin except to judge it.

 

The righteousness of God is only introduced to man through the gospel and then realized through maturity adjustment to the grace of God, ROM 1:17.

 

ROM 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

 

When a person is ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ, is afraid of being ridiculed, of being considered a little strange, he obviously doesn’t have enough Bible doctrine to know what it is all about. The gospel is the good news about the person and work of Jesus Christ so it is a word that contains all aspects of soteriology. The maturing believer has enough doctrine to not be ashamed of any of it, for it is the power of God for salvation.

 

ROM 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith."

 

 “from faith to faith” - from active faith in the gospel to passive or receptive inculcation of doctrine. [R.B. Theime]

 

The reality presented here is from salvation adjustment to the justice of God to maturity adjustment to the grace of God.

 

The word for righteousness, dikaiosune, means the righteous thinking of a judge and therefore judicial righteousness. What the +R of God demands the +J of God executes.

 

The believer is always justified before God and so his growth to maturity is based on grace, which the justice of God as established as the policy for the plan of God since the flesh can do nothing to please Him. The one who is experientially justified is the one who lives by grace under his graciously given predestination.

 

Maturity in the spiritual life is not a result of action, but it is always the result of tremendous responsiveness to doctrine, which is why the verb in ROM 12:2 is in the passive voice.

 

ROM 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

 “transformed” - metamorfo,w[metamorphoo; present passive imperative] = a command to have your soul transformed by the inculcation of Bible doctrine.

 

And the purpose … so that you may reveal the purity of the personality of God, that which is good, His sensibility, that which is acceptable or pleasing to Him, His intellect, and that which is complete or perfected, His will.

 

PSA 119:9

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By keeping it according to Thy word.

 

Sure there is action in application of doctrine, but is it really the result of your action or of your perseverance in learning? If my soul is transformed by consistent inculcation of doctrine am I not going to naturally act as the creature I am - a new creature in Christ? Am I living as one who is already righteous or as one that is attempting to become righteous?

 

So, again:

The righteousness of God is only introduced to man through the gospel and then realized through maturity adjustment to the grace of God, ROM 1:17.

 

Attempting to establish his own righteousness the religious man never sees the +R of God, ROM 10:3.

 

ROM 10:3 For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own [religious Jews], they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

 

The course of all nations are under His control and He deals with them righteously, PSA 47:8.

 

PSA 47:8 God reigns over the nations,

God sits on His holy throne.

 

God’s perfect righteousness leads the humble believer through life, though he fails often, PSA 25:8.

 

PSA 25:8 Good and upright is the Lord;

Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.

 

PSA 25:9 He leads the humble in justice,

And He teaches the humble His way.

 

PSA 25:10 All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth

To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

 

PSA 25:11 For Thy name's sake, O Lord,

Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

 

There are things we learn in failure that we do not learn when we refuse to love more, have more power, have more faith, or have more spiritual growth.

 

You should be perfectly content with where you are spiritually while maintaining an attitude of pressing on towards the goal of the upward call in Christ Jesus. The above statement is not aimed at a person who is never satisfied or content and feels guilty because they always think they should have done more, that’s a subtle form of arrogance. It is aimed at Christians who do not want any problems or any challenges and just want things to progress easily and without variation.

 

“Children with fixed mindsets would rather redo an easy jigsaw puzzle than try a harder one. Students with fixed mindsets would rather not learn new languages. CEOs with fixed mindsets will surround themselves with people who agree with them. They feel smart when they get it right.” Why you need to fail, Richard Bregman.

 

PSA 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;

How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

 

I take refuge in Him because I can’t do very much in my own flesh nor can I protect myself very well from the evil in this world.

 

PSA 34:9 O fear the Lord, you His saints [humility in awe];

For to those who fear Him, there is no want.

 

PSA 34:10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger [strong and energetic]; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.

 

Experiential righteousness is the barometer that reveals to the positive believer the false and deceiving, 1Jn 2:29.

 

1Jn 2:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

 

1Jn 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.

 

2 Cor 11:15

Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.

 

This is not a green light to judge obviously, but it is an indication when you have been around certain people long enough the fruit of their lives eventually becomes evident. 1Jn was written to refute Gnosticism, which revealed itself in the hearts of people fairly quickly as it taught that all matter was evil and so Christ was not actually in the flesh, nor did He actually die, but was the pure logos, which was there word for a sort of nirvana spiritual world. It took a piece of several religions and Christianity and blended them to make a pseudo-spiritual buffet for everyone.

 

What does it mean to practice righteousness?

 

Practice righteousness - maturity adjustment to the grace of God in which election in Christ is realized to its fullness. It is not morality alone or do-goody-ness.

 

Human righteousness in comparison to God’s.

 

It was inevitable that mankind would develop a system of good and evil or good and bad from his own viewpoint. As God and satan were in contact with mankind in the beginning, the human mind was given choices and it is inevitable that he would forsake one or the other and develop his own righteous and unrighteous standards. Unless they are from God, these standards are not divine in origin and therefore faulty, false, and ultimately evil.

 

When the unbeliever is compliant with the laws of divine establishment he avoids certain disciplines from God, however, without faith in Christ, he cannot escape eternal judgment and condemnation. Yet remember, God gave man the laws of divine establishment by grace. Man did not discover these on his own.

 

Therefore, as perfect and absolute righteousness, God rejects all relative standards of righteousness, and therefore, all human standards of righteousness, ISA 64:6.

 

ISA 64:6

For all of us have become like one who is unclean,

And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;

And all of us wither like a leaf,

And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

 

Following divine establishment principles does not make a person righteous. It makes him moral.

 

There is a vast difference. I may be a good husband, wife, parent, child, worker, boss, citizen, government official, and I may keep my nose out of other people’s business, but that does not make me righteous by divine standard. Other humans may consider me good and righteous but God does not. Righteousness only comes by means of faith in Christ and experiential righteousness is only the status of the believer who is residing in the plan of God, which is an outgrowth of imputed righteousness.  

 

Morality is good for avoiding certain pains that result from the violation of natural law, but it is no good for righteousness.

 

Pains: physical illnesses, divorce, unruly children, poverty, economic inequality, loss of freedoms, tyranny, taxation without representation, and criminality.

 

All these things are painful, but avoiding them through divine establishment law does not make a man righteous by God’s standards.