“Righteousness, Which is of Faith”
Romans 10:1-8
1)
Brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for
2)
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge.
3)
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God.
4)
For Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
5)
For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
6)
But the
righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this
wise, Say not in thine heart, Who
shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ
down from above:)
7)
Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that
is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8)
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in
thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Introduction
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veryone
wants to be a “winner,” even if he is wrong. Something needs to change if what
one is doing is not beneficial to the kingdom. If one follows the Word, and his
faith and confidence is in the Lord, he will never lose.
Main Thought
One never becomes righteous by any
kind of human effort. One cannot serve God through human effort. After all of
this time, Man still has not realized that salvation is by faith only.
Because as humans we are the type of
creatures that we are, we just “assume” that because we cannot physically see
them, things haven’t been done. Whenever we cannot identify what we believe we
need to have, we look to exercise our own plan, in our own “way.”
Whenever we are trying to “deal” with
“stuff” (in order to “take care of” it), God is always going to tell us to let
Him “handle” it. Too often, when things are allowed to come to us, we act
surprised and the instinct (human) to do something takes over. This is an
indication that we have forgotten that the Lord has already taken care of our
problems.
Any difficulties
that we have after salvation come because of how we think. We get too
involved in what does and does not “make sense” to us as human beings. This, despite the fact that our entrance into salvation was about
anything but what we could understand.
The reason that God has made salvation
outside of the realm of human thinking, reasoning, and ability is so that it
would also be “outside” of our right to “brag.” You see, in order to get the
praise that He deserves, the Lord knows that what He does, has to be impossible
for Man to perform. Why? Because that for which he (man) can take credit, he
will.
We must always be aware that there is
nothing that we can do to “make” ourselves worthy of God. Man’s “righteousness”
in God will always be a function of his obedience—nothing more, nothing less.
Partnered with obedience, is “faith.”
You see, unless one has “faith in God,” he will be “hard-pressed” to be
obedient. After all, if one does not trust the one to whom he must answer, how
will he be able to bring himself to do as he asks?
“The righteousness which is of faith”
requires little but that we are willing to serve Him. All that God wants to see
is our “faith in action.” Many have zeal and a strong desire to “do” something
for the Lord. However, what separates those who are blessed from those who are
not is the “power of commitment.” There is nothing in life that can be
successfully accomplished without commitment—lease of all a work for the Lord.
There is no one who is willing to
commit to righteousness who will not find himself blessed beyond measure. What
we cannot do is to “discard” God’ s righteousness and
attempt to “manufacture” our own.
“Righteousness” will
be conferred upon one who determines to “do things God’s way.”
Sometimes, however, we forget that Man often gets “confused” concerning what is
“God’s way.” The only way that we become alerted to whether or not we are
“measuring up” to God’s stature is through our trials and tests. You see, it is
through these that God is “revealed” to us in all of His attributes—and it is through
our “performance” in these tests that our “godly character” is revealed.
“The righteousness which is of faith”
is very specific and very “directed.” God has planned His “program” so that one
will become righteous through neither accident, nor “luck.” Anyone who comes to
enjoy righteousness will do so because he makes a conscious choice to be
obedient to God. As with all other “choices” that one makes, how “soon” it is
made, and indeed, if it is made, will be a function of how “important” it is.