Fruit Of The Spirit ... Righteousness

January 14, 2016

Sometimes there is a word or concept that you know what it means but you just can not find the best way to describe it to someone else !  One of those words for me is sanctification. I have taught for years and still I come up short when trying to explain this !!  The word righteousness is another of those words. So I have learned that whenever I teach on these words..... I pull out my bible dictionary and read directly from it. This week was no exception : As we started class I read the entire passage to the class before we read the passages.  Here I will not do the whole passage, but will write enough that you will get a good idea ! Then we will cover 4 or 5 passages from God's word that will show different aspects of righteousness.

"RIGHTEOUSNESS - Holy and upright living, in accordance with God's standard. The word righteousness comes from a root word that means " straightness". It refers to a state that conforms to an authoritative standard. Righteousness is a moral concept. God's character is the definition and source of all righteousness (Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Rom. 9:14). Therefore, man's righteousness is defined in terms of God's.......God accounts or transfers the righteousness of Christ to those who trust in Him. ( Rom. 4:3-22; Gal. 3:6; Phil. 3:9) We do not become righteous because of our inherent goodness; God sees us as righteous because of our identification by faith with His Son."  (Nelson's Illustrated Dictionary of the Bible   page 918 )

" Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."    Hebrews 12 : 11
When we were children, our parents would chasten us to teach us the difference between good and bad behavior.  It was never fun !!! In fact it usually hurt. The key to this passage , however, is the last part... to those who are trained by it.  If as a child your parents chastened you over and over and you did not learn the message...Then your behavior was not changed. God treats us the same way. He chastens us in many ways to teach us what He wants from our behavior. If we listen and obey, then we will reflect His righteousness !!!

" For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."   ( Romans 5 : 17 )
When Adam sinned he brought universal sin into the world. When God said that he (Adam) will surely die Satan convinced him God meant physically and not spiritually. But that was not the case so now all men will surely die spiritually until one man Jesus, came and died for our sins. So, no life is given abundantly to those who believe in Jesus. Death was given by one man and life given more abundantly through Jesus ! Because of this the fruit of righteousness is now available to the ones who believe in Jesus !!

" For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness."   ( Romans 6 : 20 )
This passage draws the sharp contrast between those who are saved and those who are not. Those who are saved have the Fruit of the Spirit, those that are not have the fruit of Satan. For every good thing God gives his followers Satan has a cheap imitation. Satan's fruit leads to death and destruction.
God's fruit leads to life and eternity with Jesus !  Again.... the Fruit of the Spirit is available ONLY to those who are saved and have given their life to Jesus. IS THAT YOU ????

" and said,"O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord ?     ( Acts 13 : 10 )
Here the Holy Spirit is speaking through Paul and tells us the goal of Satan and hi phony fruit ! As we showed earlier Satan has much fruit that leads to death and destruction, here Paul calls out 2 of them.....deceit and fraud. The goal of Satan is stated here is to pervert the straight ways of the Lord.

Next week we will finish up our study of righteousness ! Be blessed and if you want to know more about us and what we do you can find us at www.prayerboxministry.org.