Again, we must return to the Garden to address the reasons for Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden which leads to the reason Christ was the sacrifice most pleasing to God.  They violated the requirement for holiness and righteousness. God gave them the way to live in holiness and righteousness, but they decide that they wanted to follow another path. They did and we know the result of that decision.

Every facet of life has a standard by which all things are done. The standard holiness will be one that allows a good life free of turmoil by following God, or it will be the unholy standard of Satan. God gave the standard in the Garden and the serpent presented his which did nothing but lead to destruction for mankind.

It is a given that humans don’t like to follow standards that inhibit their behavior. Cain killed Abel and later the people of the earth became so wicked that God used a flood to destroy all but eight people, Noah and his family. From those eight, the repopulation of the earth took place and again became mired in sin.

Now righteousness again comes into view. A great misunderstanding is present concerning those two words (righteousness and sin), but when the origin of the God’s eternal qualities are properly understood, the work of Christ is easily understood. The operation of God in conjunction with his nature is found in the Old Testament. The laws found in the Old Testament were given to keep the people holy, the people known as the children of Israel that he chose to bring Christ into the world. Though those people were not perfect, God overlooked their shortcomings as long as they observed and followed his righteous laws to the best of their human ability.   

In order to make it possible to deal with sins of the people, God created a system called forbearance, 3:23-25 Romans: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; In other words, as long as the people kept the law and the sacrifices offered by the priests (Hebrews 7:27), the blood of Christ covered them through his sacrifice on the cross. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (Hebrews 10:12)

Through imperfect people who followed the law and who were faithful to God, he brought his son Jesus into the world to satisfy the demands of the law which no human was capable of doing and no human will ever be able to do. Jesus through his sacrifice made it possible, and will forever make it possible for each and every human, who will obey the gospel, to be a child of God. By fulfilling the righteous demands of the law, the righteousness of Jesus can be claimed by anyone who will kneel to God and obey the gospel. As Paul said For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

When Jesus was on the earth, he spoke often about the requirements of righteousness. In Matthew 5:6-20, he used the word righteousness four times.  In verse 6, those who hunger and thirst after righteous will be filled. Verse 10, righteousness will cause persecution but that is part of following God. Then in verse 20, the message is very plain about the quality of righteous. The scribes and the Pharisees were self-righteous and those who wished to be in a relationship with God needed more than the righteousness of the self-righteous. Only the righteous can be a member of God’s family and that righteousness comes by faith in Jesus Christ, not church membership per se. Only the righteous can be members of the Lord’s body and again Jesus addressed that requirement in Matthew 6:33 after explaining that God knows our needs in verses 31-32. Verse 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  One must seek God’s reign and his righteous to be pleasing to the father and become a member of his body, the church (assembly). Nothing else will work no matter what some preacher or other person says about any other belief or way being sufficient.

© 07-08-2009 DEC

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