BE RIGHTEOUS, NOT RELIGIOUS

If you want to know what the Bible has to say about righteousness, focus your study on Psalms, Isaiah, and Romans. "Righteousness" appears 207 times in the Old Testament, with Psalms having a third of them (70), and Isaiah having about a fourth of them (51). The word appears 91 times in the New Testament, with over half of them being in Romans (33). "Righteousness" may be defined as "a state of being in which a man is morally perfect, that is, without sin."

Man inherently knows that he fails to meet God's "standards for admission to heaven," and he is continually coming up with schemes to "qualify" himself. We call these schemes, religions. A religion consists of a list of things required for "admission," coupled with a list of things which "disqualify" an "applicant." The list of requirements is called "Works," and the list of "deal-breakers" is called "Sins."

The Bible agrees concerning the state of man, saying "there is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10). The Word of God, in describing man's righteousness, says, "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6). If a man could become righteous through religious works, he would receive the glory (Rom. 3:27; Eph. 2:9), but he cannot earn his way into heaven. The Scriptures say that by the works of the law shall no man be justified (Gal. 2:16).

So how is man supposed to get into God's heaven if he cannot earn it? He must trust what the Gospel tells us; Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead, for us, according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Like Abraham, we must believe God, and we, like him, will be counted as righteous (Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; Jam. 2:23). God, through His awesome love for us, has poured out His grace on us, and provided us with the free gift of righteousness. Paul wrote, "For He (God) hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus)" (2 Cor. 5:21). Allow me to use a quote from Paul's letter to the Romans to summarize:

"For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered" (Rom. 4:2-7).

DON'T BE RELIGIOUS. BE RIGHTEOUS BY TRUSTING IN JESUS CHRIST!