Noone can get to heaven without it. If you have it, God will answer
your prayers.
What is it and how do you get it?
It is "righteousness" and it must be received by faith
as a gift from God.
The scripture tells us:
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17, KJV).
The Apostle Paul tells us:
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? (1 Corinthians 6:9, KJV).
We must have it to enter heaven, because Jesus said:
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20, KJV).
Now we know that the Pharisees were extremely "righteous"
according to the outward appearance. By all standards of religiosity
their performance was excellent. Concerning the traditions they
were blameless. Their church attendance, tithing and giving were
done to perfection. And yet Jesus said that their righteousness
was not good enough to enter the kingdom of heaven.
So what exactly is righteousness? First and foremost, it is being
right with God, or being in a condition acceptable to God. Beyond
that it is "integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness,
correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting." (Thayers Greek
Lexicon)
So what was it about the scribes and Pharisee's righteousness
that fell short of the mark? After all, you would think that a
group of people that religious, so extremely pious, would surely
qualify for a home in God's heaven. But Jesus said that it was
not enough. You must have more righteousness than the scribes
and Pharisees.
Let's look at two scriptures, one from the Old Testament and one
from the New Testament which will begin to shed light on this
question.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6, KJV).
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans
3:23, KJV).
The clear teaching of the Bible is quite simply this: no one is
good enough for heaven. All the religious acts, good deeds and
pious behavior in the world cannot give us access to God's heaven.
We must find it another way.
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they
which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) (Romans 5:17, KJV).
Remember now that first and foremost, righteousness is "being
made right with God." So here in Romans 5:17, we see that
we inherited first of all a "gift" from our great-great-great-great
granddaddy Adam. . . a gift of sin, unrighteousness and death.
Death passed on the human race because of Adam's sin. This is
why we are all sinners. We are born that way. Some of us may be
educated sinners, or rich sinners, or well-dressed sinners, or
even religious sinners, but we are, after all, sinners nonetheless.
We may try and keep the golden rule. We may even memorize the
Bible and fast and pray, but without a Savior, we are lost and
doomed to hell.
So righteousness is not an attainment; it is a gift, which must
be received by faith.
How did God give us this gift? He gave it through His Son, Jesus
Christ.
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, KJV).
He (Jesus) was made sin; we were made righteous. Jesus started
out righteous; He was made sin. We started out sinful; we were
made righteous. This is the Great Exchange. This is the purpose
of the cross of Calvary.
When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him, he said, "Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
(John 1:29, KJV).
Jesus was that sacrificial lamb. His death, His punishment was
for us.
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. 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." (Isaiah 53:4-6, KJV).
He took the punishment that we deserved. He died and was buried
and rose again to procure our righteousness. That is the Good
News of the Gospel. No one has any hope of salvation apart from
Him. He is the only Savior and the only hope of the world.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no
man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6, KJV).
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts
4:12, KJV).
Now, notice once again Romans 5:17, "For if by one man's
offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life
by one, Jesus Christ."
Grace is God's unmerited favor. Having favor with Almighty God
has benefits.
For example, notice what James says:
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another,
that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much. (James 5:16, KJV).
The effectual fervant prayer of what kind of man? A righteous
man. In other words, righteousness puts you on praying ground.
Sin separates us from God. Righteousness unites us with God. When
you live in righteousness, you live in peace with God and experience
all the benefits of His kingdom.
Through righteousness, you reign in life. You can live on top,
instead of the bottom. . . over, instead of under. Righteousness
gives you victory over the forces of darkness and success on the
battle field of faith.
Righteousness is also a spiritual force in your life which produces
"integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness
of thinking feeling, and acting." Righteousness is the foundation
of all true holiness. Being "right" on the inside will
cause you to live right on the outside. This is a power that all
the religion in the world cannot reproduce. This is why the scribes
and Pharisees fell short of God's standard of righteousness. Righteousness
is produced from the inside out, not from the outside in.
Now in Romans 10, we see Paul talking about natural Israel's quest
for righteousness saying:
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." (Romans 10:3, KJV).
They were trying to please God all right, but they were doing
it the wrong way.
People today say, "Oh, there are many paths to God. One is
just as good as the other. You find God your way and I'll find
Him mine."
Well, it's not a question of finding God "your way"
or "my way." It 's a question of finding God "God's
way." After all, He is God. You have to do things "His
way" or not at all.
Israel sought to please God their way, by the keeping of the law,
the ceremonies, the ordinances, but they failed to submit themselves
to the righteousness of God.
Let me ask you a question today. Are you ready to submit yourself
to God's righteousness? Are you ready to receive a free gift that
will open the windows of heaven in your life and give you an entrance
into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ?
You can decide today to accept that free gift. In fact, the decision
is yours. God has done His part. He has procured the gift. He
has given it to you. Now you decide. Will you receive the free
gift of salvation through Jesus Christ?
Now, in Romans 10 again, Paul goes on to tell us exactly how to
receive this free gift of salvation. Contrasting God's method
with Israel's method, he says:
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:) Or, Who shall descend into the
deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) (Romans
10:6-7, KJV).
In other words, don't say that I will receive Christ by my own
self effort. Don't say that I'll climb enough steps on my knees,
or give enough money to charity, or act good enough to earn my
salvation. No, if it's a gift, it must be received, not earned.
And the first key is to realize that you need the gift. This is
where many people miss it. "Oh I'm ok," they say. "
I've never killed anyone." "I've lived a good life."
No, you're a sinner. . . and you are desparately in need of salvation.
Just read the ten commandments. God says if you have broken one
of them, you have broken them all. Have you ever lied. . . or
had an evil desire? Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain?
Just one sin will send you into hell's fire. . . and because of
the sin nature within us, we have all sinned.
So Paul continues:
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; That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans
10:8-10, KJV).
So then, we are saved, not by our own good works, but by the Word
of faith. That Word is near you right now. That Word is the Gospel.
It is that Word that proclaims: Jesus died for your sins.
That Word in your mouth and in your hear. You can receive the
free gift of rightiousness and salvation by believing in Jesus
as Savior and accepting Him as the Lord of your life. Now speak
it out by faith.
Pray this simple prayer.
Dear God, I know I'm a sinner. I need a Savior. I believe Jesus
died for me. He was buried and rose again the third day. I accept
Him as the Lord of my life and as my only Savior. I receive Your
gift of righteousness now, by faith, in Jesus name.