The word ~ Righteousness ~ has become a Religious cliché that has lost
its meaning to many people. Even Christians are confused about what
Righteousness  is and how to Receive it. This has left our society
without a clear Understanding of what it takes to have a Relationship
with God . 
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This is reflected in our nation’s moral collapse. It’s
imperative that we get back to the basics of Righteousness .
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~ Righteousness ~ and its counterpart, ~ Righteous ,~ appear 540 times in
520 verses of the Bible . In contrast, ~ Faith ,~ ~ Faithfulness ,~ and
~ Faithful ~ are only used 348 times in 328 verses. This means that there
are 1.5 times as many Scriptures about Righteousness as there are
about Faith .  Righteousness is important.
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A layman’s definition of Righteousness is simply, ~right standing
with God .~ Righteousness is the condition of being in right Relationship with the Lord . This can only happen through <b>total</b> Faith
and dependence upon Christ . There is no other way, and there is nothing
we can add to our Faith to obtain right Relationship with the Lord 
(Rom. 11:6).
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One of the things that blinds people to a true Understanding of Righteousness is confusion about how we become right in the sight of
God . It is commonly thought that our actions are the determining factor
in God’s Judgment of our Righteousness .
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That’s not True . There is a Relationship between our actions and our right standing with God, but
right Relationship with God produces actions, not the other way around.
That is to say, we are not made Righteous by what we do.
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 Righteousness  is a Gift that comes from the Lord to those who accept
what Jesus has done for them by Faith (Rom. 5:17-18). The Gift of
Salvation produces a changed Heart that, in turn, changes our actions.
Actions cannot change our Hearts  . 
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It’s the Heart of man that God looks upon (1 Sam. 16:7), and we must be Righteous in our Hearts to truly
Worship God (John 4:24).
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The mistake of thinking that doing right makes us right is the same
error the Pharisees made. Religion has always preached that if we clean
up our actions, our Hearts will become clean too. Jesus taught just the
opposite (Matt. 23:25-26). . 
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It’s through a changed Heart that our
actions change. The Heart is the issue. Actions are only an indication
of what is in our Hearts . Actions are the Fruit the Heart produces.
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Modern-day Christianity often puts the emphasis on actions instead of
issues of the Heart . This is reflected in Christians’ excessive efforts
to Legislate change in people’s actions instead of changing their
Hearts by the Preaching of the Gospel . 
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It’s the Gospel that contains
the Power of God  not Political action groups (Rom. 1:16). Laws only
affect actions. The Gospel changes Hearts . Once Hearts are changed,
actions change.
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Contrary to popular belief, Christianity does not promote receiving
Justice from the Lord. Praise God for that! The Lord has a much better
plan. We get what we Believe .
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I once developed pictures in a photography studio for a living. People
would come into the studio to look at their proofs and say things like,
~This picture doesn’t do me Justice .~ I never had the nerve to say
this, but I often thought, Lady, you don’t need Justice , you need Mercy .
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That’s the way it is with God . We sometimes call for Justice but that’s
not what we need. As the Scriptures say, ~All we like sheep have gone
astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid
on him the Iniquity of us all~ (Is. 53:6). 
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Again, in Romans 3:23 the
Scriptures say, ~For all have Sinned and come short of the Glory of God .~ 
~There is none Righteous , no, not one~ (Rom. 3:10).
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The wonderful plan of Salvation is that those who put their Faith in
Jesus and what He did for us get what He deserves. On the other hand,
those who do not put their total Faith in Christ will ultimately get
what they deserve. Believe me, that is not what they want. . 
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 Religion has
subtly instructed people to Trust in their own Goodness instead of
God’s. This will never work. ~For all have Sinned and come short of the
Glory of God ~ (Rom. 3:23).
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The Biblical story of the handwriting on the wall illustrates this
point (Dan. 5:1-31). Belshazzar was the king of Babylon. His father,
Nebuchadnezzar, had conquered the nation of Israel and brought all the
wealth of the temple, along with most of the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
back to Babylon. . 
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During an extravagant feast, with 1,000 of his lords
in attendance, Belshazzar chose to toast his gods using the golden
vessels from the temple in Jerusalem, which was in open defiance of the
God of Israel.
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The Lord moved swiftly and dramatically by creating an Image of a man’s
hand, with fingers that wrote on the wall in front of Belshazzar and
all his guests. Belshazzar called on all his magicians and wise men to
decipher the writing, but none could. 
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Then the queen reminded
Belshazzar about Daniel who had interpreted the dreams and Visions of
Nebuchadnezzar when no one else could. Daniel was summoned and the
writing explained.
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The message from God revealed that Belshazzar had been weighed in the
balances and was found wanting. Therefore, his Kingdom was divided and
given to the Medes and Persians. This came to pass that very night.
Belshazzar was overthrown, and Darius, the Mede (Persian), took
control.
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If we were weighed in the balances against God’s Righteousness  as
Belshazzar was, we too would come up short. God’s Righteousness  is
always more in quantity and quality than ours will ever be. Our
Righteousness  is as filthy rags compared to God’s Righteousness  (Is.
64:6).
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Someone might say, ~That’s not fair. No one can compete with God’s
Righteousness .~ That’s exactly right! However, God’s  Righteousness
is the standard by which everyone must be measured. So then, how can
anyone be saved? The answer is that no one can be Saved , if they are
trusting in their own Righteousness . 
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We all must have a
Righteousness  that exceeds anything we could ever produce through our
own effort. That’s where Jesus enters.
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Jesus was in right Relationship with God as no one else can be. He is
the Son of God . He is God Manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). He is
Holy and Pure and without Sin , yet He became Sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21),
through no wrongdoing on His part. . 
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He took our Sin in His own body on
the cross (1 Pet. 2:24). ~Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our Sorrows : yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God , and
afflicted. But he was wounded for our Transgressions , he was bruised
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our Peace was upon him; and
with his stripes we are Healed ~ (Is. 53:4-5).
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In return for Jesus taking our Sin, those who put their Faith in Him
get His  Righteousness  instead of their own. It’s not our actions that
make us acceptable to the Father . It’s our Trust in Jesus that imparts
the  Righteousness of Jesus into our BornAgain Spirits that makes us
in right standing with God .
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Those who don’t Understand this  Righteousness , which comes from God
as a gift, become frustrated trying to establish their own
Righteousness  through Good Works (Rom. 10:3). It won’t work. It’s an
all or nothing situation (Rom. 11:6). 
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We must Trust completely in what Jesus did for us to obtain right
 Relationship with God . Any Trust in  our own Goodness will void the 
Atonement Christ made for us (Gal. 5:4).
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This is precisely the condition of millions of people in the body of
Christ today. They Receive Salvation by putting total Faith in Christ
for the Forgiveness of their Sins, but then they return to believing
that the Lord still relates to them on the basis of their Works , even
after their Salvation . That’s not True .
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Colossians 2:6 says, ~As ye have therefore Received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk ye in him.~ That means if you were Saved by putting Faith
in God’s Grace alone, then you maintain that Relationship in the same
way. Some people Sing ~Just As I Am Without One Plea~ when they are
BornAgain . They need to Sing this song all the way through their
Christian Lives .
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Failure to Understand this Truth is at the root of all Guilt and
Condemnation . Satan’s only inroad into our Lives is Sin. If we
Understand our right standing with God on the basis of what Jesus did
for us, and not by our own actions, then Satan’s Power to Condemn is
gone. . 
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Those who Live with a feeling of unworthiness are not trusting in
God’s  Righteousness  but are looking to their own actions to obtain
right standing with God . That will never work.
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-- Andrew Wommack<br>
Capitalization of keywords by Randy Lucas 