Virginia, you, as I were taught that we can only be saved through the Righteousness of Messiah. Throughout the ages children of God have been taught that we have no righteousness of our own and are totally covered under His. But is this Scriptural? Is this true? No it is not. In fact the truth is the exact opposite of what we were taught.
In Matthew 3:15 Messiah says “Permit it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fill all righteousness”. This means that John’s part in Messiah’s baptism was counted to John as righteousness.
Mat 21:32 “for John came to you in the way of righteousness…”
In Matthew 5:6 in the Sermon on the Mount Messiah says “blessed are those who thirst after righteousness” and then 4 verses later He tells us that in doing righteousness we will be persecuted and in that persecution for doing righteousness, we will be blessed.
Ok Virginia, I know, you are thinking, well Messiah is speaking to the Jews but do we really know for sure that they were all Jews, that they were all citizens of region of Judea which is the correct and proper definition for the word “Jew(s)” in the bible.
We can quickly understand who Messiah was speaking to by going to the book of Acts. In chapter 10 verses 34-35 we see Peter upholding Messiah’s righteousness teaching He gave during His Sermon on the Mount.
Act 10:34 And opening his mouth, Peter said, “Truly I see that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation, he who fears Him and does righteousness is accepted by Him.
You see Virginia, righteousness simply means doing what is right according to the instructions that the Word of God gave through Moses. (Mt 5:17-20, 22:37-40, 23:1-3) This is what it means to work out our own salvation. With all our heart, mind and strength we strive to do His instructions as He gave them, to do them to the best of our ability and not as a means of salvation but as evidence of our belief in Him that gave them to us to keep us safe and to bless us.
Act 7:37 “This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, YHVH your God shall raise up for you a Prophet (Word of God) like me (Moses) from your brothers. Him (Word of God) you shall hear.’ 38 “This is he (Moses) who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the Messenger (Word of God) who spoke to him (Moses) on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the Living Words to give to us, 39 unto whom our fathers would not become obedient, but thrust away, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt,
Heb 4:2 For indeed the Gospel was brought to us as well as to them (at Mt Sinai), but the word which they heard did not profit them, not having been mixed with belief in those who heard it.
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we saw His esteem, esteem as of an only brought-forth of the Father, complete in favour and truth.
Every parent understands that as a parent, they know what is best for their children and we being children of God, God knows what is best for us. When we say that we know better than God and turn to worship Him and live in society according to our own will and not His, we are acting like ungrateful and rebellious children. What happens when we disobey our parents of the flesh? We are disciplined. The same is for our Father in Heaven. When we disobey Him, we remove ourselves from His safety covering (His grace/favor) from which all blessings flow and in doing so we are left exposed to the curses of the world.
Heb 12:7 If you endure discipline, God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become sharers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Moreover, we indeed had fathers of our flesh disciplining us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they indeed disciplined us for a few days as seemed best to them, but He does it for our profit, so that we might share His apartness.
Now knowing and understanding that in the flesh we can never be perfect as Messiah was perfect, God from the beginning has revealed an additional Righteousness to come. A Righteousness that has now been fulfilled for all to come under, all that have gone before us and all that are to come, as God’s Word and His promises are outside of time. They speak to all generations as if all generations existed at the same time.
Rom 3:21 But now, apart from the Torah, a Righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Torah and the Prophets, 22 and the Righteousness of God is through belief in Yeshua Messiah to all and on all who believe.
Heb 11:1 And belief is the substance of what is expected, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this the elders obtained witness. 3 By belief, we understand that the ages were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made of what is visible…8 By belief, Aḇraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he was about to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Rom 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Aḇraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness … Gen 15:6 And he believed in YHVH, and He reckoned it to him for righteousness. Gen 26:5 because Aḇraham obeyed My voice and guarded My Charge: My commands, My laws, and My Torah.
Who and what was it that Abraham believed and in that belief Abraham obeyed?
Gen 15:1 After these events the Word of YHVH came to Aḇram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Aḇram. I am your shield, your reward is exceedingly great.”
Belief in the Son is belief in His Word as the two are one in the same and through Messiah’s Righteousness and His shed blood, we now have security to know that as long as we strive to do that same righteousness that John the Baptist did by being obedient unto death, as long as we acknowledge our sin, ask forgiveness then go and do that sin no more, we too can reach the goal of eternal life just as His only begotten Son, the Living Word did.
1Jn 2:28 And now, little children, stay in Him, so that when He appears, we might have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone doing righteousness has been born of Him.
1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no one lead you astray. The one doing righteousness is righteous, even as Messiah is righteous… 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Everyone not doing righteousness is not of God,
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible teaches us that there is righteousness for us to attain to. Not for salvation but as evidence thereof. We do what we believe because we believe in what we do. Salvation came in the form of the flesh to instruct and teach us the proper way to do righteousness in the flesh. He did not take it away for if He did then even His own Righteousness which we need in the end is also taken away. If that which defines what sin is according to God (the Father in whose Authority Messiah came in) is gone, then that leaves us in a pretty precarious state as then we have no need of a Messiah at all and everyone can continue to do what is right in their own eyes according to their own will rather than according to God’s will.
Yes Virginia, the Living Word was nailed to the cross, however, that Living Word then resurrected in all its Glory and Splendor as it was in the beginning so that it would forever shine forth throughout the entire world. Through resurrection, the Living Word defeated eternal death thereby obtaining eternal victory over the Adversary of the Living Word.
Know this then, if we are in the Light of the Living Word and He in us, then the Light of the Living Word and all His Righteousness reflects in all that we do because we believe and strive with all our heart, mind and strength, and in humble submission to the One who gave life to both we and His Living Word, if we do this just as the Living Word did while He was in the flesh that was according to what He was supposed to do according to the Father’s instructions, we too will achieve to the same righteousness as our forefathers did and in ‘That Day’ we all together will receive our own crown as Messiah did.
Heb 11:39 And having obtained witness through the belief, all these did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided what is better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
So Virginia, do not let anyone continue to deceive you. You do have your own righteousness in you and this righteousness is a gift, a blessing from God your Father and He is patiently waiting for you to un-wrap this gift, then share this gift from Him with the world.
Constitutionally Speaking 