Restoration Time - Part III

INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS

LEAD SCRIPTURE: 2 Timothy 3.16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
Ezekiel 18.4-9; Romans 2.13; James 1.22

God is righteous and all His children must walk in righteousness. I John 3.7-12

What is righteousness? From 2 Hebrew words, tsedeq and tsedaqah- rightness; justice; virtue; to give God and man their dues in that which is right. See Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible -12 Facts about God and His righteousness (page 1056)

It is the act of doing what is right in line with the word of God towards God and man. In this world, what is right is skewed; many call evil good and good evil. (list examples).
What they don’t know is that God curses those who do this ‘cos it is in direct opposition to His will. How can man call evil what God says is good and vice versa? It’s unthinkable but man will always strive to go about things in his own way. Isaiah 5.20.

God loves us and has placed boundaries around us for our own protection even the people of the world and our parents or as parents have put some kind of boundaries around our own children? Why? If we can do this why can’t God? (list examples of things God has pronounced bad for us and the consequences).
Isaiah 5.21-23.

It is our own fleshly desires which lead us into unrighteousness. Romans 86.11.14; Romans 8 the whole chapter with special emphasis on verses 4-17. It is our desires that make us selfish, greedy, envious, jealous, etc. and the word of God tells us that all who do such cannot inherit the kingdom of God. I Corinthians 6.9-12.
There are many passages in the word of God warning us of unrighteousness, too many for our little discussion so I’ll go ahead and in a small way help us to understand God’s righteousness.

Jesus becomes our righteousness as soon as we are born again. Romans 3.20-23. We receive this righteousness by faith and Romans 4 explains this very well telling us that Abraham believed God and God counted it as righteousness unto him; in the same way anyone who comes to believe in the Lord Jesus receives His righteousness by faith! This is very very important for us to understand.

Now after this, we move to Romans 12.1-2 where we’re taught on how to go about living this righteousness. We have no choice but to submit and yield ourselves to the Lord for His righteousness to work through us if we say we want to walk with Him Amos 3.3 asks a very poignant question this way “Can two walk together, except they agree?”. We have to renew our minds daily by reading the word of God so we can be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. When our minds are renewed, we then receive the mind of Christ. Philippians 2. This is where humility comes in because Jesus was humble and as we humble ourselves several things begin to happen:

1. We accept God’s verdict on what is right and what is wrong
2. We seek to please Him at all times;
3. We desire to do His will and only His will alone
4. We desire to walk with Him daily
5. We look forward daily to His return
6. We desire to live with Him eternally

And we are told in I John 3.3, Colossians 3 and other scriptures that those who desire such things must purge themselves of iniquity and set our desires on heaven.

We do this by walking in the Spirit. Galatians 5.16 commands us to “Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” and verse 17 goes on to instruct us as to how the Spirit and the flesh are at war. So we have to understand that at anytime in our lives, it’s either the flesh which is ruling or the Spirit. We cannot have both and Romans 8.13 warns us that if we live in the flesh we shall die.

Ways of walking in the Spirit

1. Again read the word of God daily
2. Pray over what you have read and commit to obey what you have read
3. Make a daily commitment to see the Lord rule and win in your life by rejecting sin and unrighteousness
4. Put the devil to shame by ensuring that the following instruments of your life please the Lord.

I. Purge your thoughts and heart of evil by bringing all contrary thoughts under Jesus’ command always
2 Corinthians 10.5
II. Reading only materials which will bring glory to God and eschewing pornographic or materials written against God and those of the occult.
III. Committing to watching ONLY television programs which will keep your heart and thoughts pure.
Psalm 101.3.; Romans 13.14; (what you see, read or hear) Job 31.1; Matthew 5.28.
IV. Avoid defiling your thoughts and yourself by staying away from gossip; at times we gossip and then
Cover our tracks by stating that it’s for prayers. You can simply ask for prayers for someone without
embellishments which can lead to gossip. Galatians 6.1
V. Have godly friends
VI. Have an accountability sister or mentor who can counsel you. Psalm 1.1.
VIII. Stay away from unprofitable discussions e.g. news which often times have biases and if you don’t
take care, you can begin to say libellous things you have no foundation on. Psalm 1.1-3
IX. Let your speech edify your hearers at all times. Colossians 4.6; Ephesians 5.4;Ephesians 4.29; Ecclesiastes 10.12-13.
X. DO NOT LIE!!! Colossians 3.8-9; Revelations 21.27 & Rev.22.15 where liars are counted beside murders, whoremongers, sorcerers etc. God help us!!! Jesus warned us “Let your yes be yes and
your no be no.” Matthew 5.37. Ephesians 4.25
5. Keep your faith sharpened and your light burning at all times. Remember the Parable of the 5 Foolish virgins. Also see Ephesians 5.18-21

10 Blessings of righteousness: See Dake’s Bible page 1056.
21 Facts about the Righteous: Dake’s Bible page 1054

Conclusion: The scripture is full of instructions to walk in righteousness. If you have time and read all the scriptures given here and try to read all the chapters, you’ll receive direct commands on what to do and what not to. Jesus gave us examples in Matthew Chapters 5 & 6. Paul through the Holy Spirit expanded this throughout all his writings, including Peter as well. See Colossians 3. 12-17.
So the most important thing is to know what God has said is right and doing it through His power because we need to remember that without Jesus we cannot do anything! John 15.5.

We must also remember that reading the word cleanses us John 15.3; Ephesians 5.26. BUT if we sin, remember we have an Advocate and a High Priest who is always, always making intercession for us. Hebrews 7.24-25; Hebrews 9.15; Hebrews 12.24; I John 2.1-6.
You must believe this else the devil will make your belief a shipwreck.

May God help us all in Jesus name. Amen!!!