The Righteousness of Faith
Bible Study Time 6-25-06
Church links:
Bible Study Time 6-25-06
It was the Apostle Paul who first taught the message of salvation through faith in the blood of Christ. In Romans, Chapter 3, he said:
Romans 3:21-22 (NKJ)
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe . . .
Romans 3:24-25 (NKJ)
24 (for we are) justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness . . .
Nothing less than the shed blood of the spotless lamb of God could possibly be accepted by God as an appropriate sacrifice for sin so Jesus Christ offered His blood upon the cross of Calvary to demonstrate the righteousness of God and justify His forgiveness for sin.
Adam and Eve were created without sin in the Garden of Eden, but after they sinned, death passed upon all of their descendants. In spite of this death sentence, however, Adam and Eve and their immediate descendants had much longer life expectancies than we do today. Adam lived for 800 years, Seth lived for 912 years, and Seth’s son, Enosh, lived for 905 years.
If you do the math in the book of Genesis, the flood came only 1500 years after Adam was created, and since Adam lived for 800 years, that means that Adam lived nearly half of the time period between his creation and the flood. Furthermore, it was only 8 generations from Adam to Methuselah, and Methuselah was 113 years old when Adam died. Of coarse, the flood came when Methuselah died.
With these long life spans, people during that time before the flood had plenty of time to fine tune their capacity for evil, and that is exactly what happened. Genesis, Chapter 6 says that by the time Methuselah died,
Genesis 6:5 (NKJ)
5 . . . the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
But then, the Bible holds out a small ray of hope for mankind when it says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. As a result, God told Noah that he should build an ark to protect himself and his family from the great flood which was sure to come. Then Genesis 7 says:
Genesis 7:1 (NKJ)
1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
It is interesting to note that this is the very first time that the word righteous is used in the Bible, and the fact that Noah is found to be righteous in the midst of an extremely wicked world makes this passage even more interesting, especially in the light of the fact that David said:
Psalms 53:1-3 (NKJ)
1 . . . there is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3 Every one of them has turned aside; they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.
Now, if there is none who does good, then how is it that God called Noah righteous? He said, “I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.” To find the answer to this question we need to look at Hebrews, Chapter 11, where we read in verse six that:
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJ)
6 . . . without faith it is impossible to please (God), for he who comes to God must believe that (God) is, and that (God) is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Clearly, no one can possibly hope to be declared righteous in the sight of God on the basis of their good deeds for truly there is none who does good, but there is hope for sinful man, and that hope is to please God on the basis of faith.
Genesis 7 goes on to say:
Genesis 7:7 (NKJ)
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Well, there we have it. Noah became the heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Noah’s obedience resulted in his being saved from the flood, but it was his faith that brought him into the ranks of those who possess eternal life.
Noah believed that it was going to rain even though he had never seen rain. He was divinely warned of things not yet seen, but he believed in that which he had not seen because faith is the evidence of things not seen. Because of his faith, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and he became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Why didn’t God reveal in the book of Genesis that the righteousness of Noah was the righteousness which is according to faith? I believe that the answer is found in the verses we read in Romans, Chapter 3, where Paul says:
Romans 3:21-22 (NKJ)
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed . . .
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
The righteousness which comes by faith could not be revealed until after the death of Christ. This righteousness all hinged upon the shed blood of Christ for it was the blood of Christ which justified God’s forgiveness for sin.
As far as we know, Noah did not know about or believe that Jesus Christ would someday come to die for his sins, but it was the planned sacrifice of Christ that allowed God to forgive Noah’s sins and call him righteous. Noah did not believe that Jesus was going to die for his sins, but he did believe what God told him. God told Noah that it was going to rain, and Noah believed God, and in so doing he became the heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Now, when we get over into the writings of the Apostle Paul, we find that Jesus Christ was and is the Jehovah God of the Old Testament. Therefore, when Noah believed the words of Jehovah, he was also putting his faith in Jesus Christ, and that fits perfectly with the teaching of the Lord Jesus when He said to Thomas:
John 14:6 (NKJ)
6 . . . "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
We read about Noah in Hebrews 11:7, but in the next few verses of Hebrews 11, we read about Abraham, and Abraham was another one of those men who put his faith in Jesus Christ by believing the words of Jehovah. Jehovah told Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and go to the land of promise for eternal blessings. When Abraham believed the words of Jehovah, he was putting his faith in Jesus Christ.
Now Abraham is similar to Noah in that the very first time that the word righteousness is used in the Bible, it is used in reference to Abraham. God told Abraham that he was going to have a son even though Abraham was 99 years old, and Genesis 15:6 says that:
Genesis 15:6 (NKJ)
6 (Abraham) believed in the LORD, and (the LORD) accounted it to him for righteousness.
In other words, Abraham believed in Jehovah when he believed the words of Jehovah. No one can say that they believe in God if they don’t believe the word of God. That’s why we study the Bible. The Bible is the word of God, and how can we say that we believe in God if we don’t know and believe His word. Abraham believed in the LORD, and the LORD accounted to him for righteousness.
The Jews never understood the real impact of this verse until the Apostle Paul revealed the righteousness of God which comes through faith in Christ. Paul made good use of this verse in Romans, Chapter 4. In Romans 4, verse 1, we read:
Romans 4:1-6 (NKJ)
1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
And in Galatians, Chapter 3, Paul said:
Galatians 3:5-9 (NKJ)
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?--
6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Both of these passages were written by the Apostle Paul while he was going out to the Gentiles as a minister of the New Covenant. He knew that as long as he was preaching the kingdom which was promised to Abraham, the means by which Abraham was accepted by God was of critical importance.
Paul could see that if simple faith in the LORD, Jehovah, could bring to Abraham the righteousness of God and the promise of the kingdom before he was circumcised and before the Law was given, then certainly that same simple faith in the LORD, Jesus Christ, could bring the salvation of God apart from the Law to the uncircumcised Gentiles.
After the nation of Israel rejected Christ as her Messiah, God temporarily set aside Israel’s hope of the New Covenant Kingdom. At that point, the question of whether a person was a Jew or a Gentile was beside the point because God starting calling out the Church which is the Body of Christ in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
Throughout the Acts period, the Jews had continued practicing the rituals and ceremonies of the Law, but when Israel’s hope of the New Covenant Kingdom was set aside at the end of the Acts period, there was no longer any valid reason for the Jews to continue observing the practices of the Law. Therefore, Paul said in Ephesians 2:
Ephesians 2:14-16 (NKJ)
14 For (Christ) Himself is our peace, who has made both (Jew and Gentile) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
Today, salvation is offered to all people everywhere on the basis of faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. So if you’re listening today without the assurance of your own personal salvation, you can take God at His word, like Noah did and like Abraham did. You can believe that Christ died for your sins, and then you can rest in the assurance that God sees you as perfectly righteous, and He has made you an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Then you can say with Paul, “My standing before God is not based in my own righteousness, but it is based in the righteousness which is from God by faith.”
I see our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Romans 3:21-22 (NKJ)
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe . . .
Romans 3:24-25 (NKJ)
24 (for we are) justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness . . .
Nothing less than the shed blood of the spotless lamb of God could possibly be accepted by God as an appropriate sacrifice for sin so Jesus Christ offered His blood upon the cross of Calvary to demonstrate the righteousness of God and justify His forgiveness for sin.
Adam and Eve were created without sin in the Garden of Eden, but after they sinned, death passed upon all of their descendants. In spite of this death sentence, however, Adam and Eve and their immediate descendants had much longer life expectancies than we do today. Adam lived for 800 years, Seth lived for 912 years, and Seth’s son, Enosh, lived for 905 years.
If you do the math in the book of Genesis, the flood came only 1500 years after Adam was created, and since Adam lived for 800 years, that means that Adam lived nearly half of the time period between his creation and the flood. Furthermore, it was only 8 generations from Adam to Methuselah, and Methuselah was 113 years old when Adam died. Of coarse, the flood came when Methuselah died.
With these long life spans, people during that time before the flood had plenty of time to fine tune their capacity for evil, and that is exactly what happened. Genesis, Chapter 6 says that by the time Methuselah died,
Genesis 6:5 (NKJ)
5 . . . the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
But then, the Bible holds out a small ray of hope for mankind when it says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. As a result, God told Noah that he should build an ark to protect himself and his family from the great flood which was sure to come. Then Genesis 7 says:
Genesis 7:1 (NKJ)
1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
It is interesting to note that this is the very first time that the word righteous is used in the Bible, and the fact that Noah is found to be righteous in the midst of an extremely wicked world makes this passage even more interesting, especially in the light of the fact that David said:
Psalms 53:1-3 (NKJ)
1 . . . there is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3 Every one of them has turned aside; they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.
Now, if there is none who does good, then how is it that God called Noah righteous? He said, “I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.” To find the answer to this question we need to look at Hebrews, Chapter 11, where we read in verse six that:
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJ)
6 . . . without faith it is impossible to please (God), for he who comes to God must believe that (God) is, and that (God) is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Clearly, no one can possibly hope to be declared righteous in the sight of God on the basis of their good deeds for truly there is none who does good, but there is hope for sinful man, and that hope is to please God on the basis of faith.
Genesis 7 goes on to say:
Genesis 7:7 (NKJ)
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Well, there we have it. Noah became the heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Noah’s obedience resulted in his being saved from the flood, but it was his faith that brought him into the ranks of those who possess eternal life.
Noah believed that it was going to rain even though he had never seen rain. He was divinely warned of things not yet seen, but he believed in that which he had not seen because faith is the evidence of things not seen. Because of his faith, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and he became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Why didn’t God reveal in the book of Genesis that the righteousness of Noah was the righteousness which is according to faith? I believe that the answer is found in the verses we read in Romans, Chapter 3, where Paul says:
Romans 3:21-22 (NKJ)
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed . . .
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
The righteousness which comes by faith could not be revealed until after the death of Christ. This righteousness all hinged upon the shed blood of Christ for it was the blood of Christ which justified God’s forgiveness for sin.
As far as we know, Noah did not know about or believe that Jesus Christ would someday come to die for his sins, but it was the planned sacrifice of Christ that allowed God to forgive Noah’s sins and call him righteous. Noah did not believe that Jesus was going to die for his sins, but he did believe what God told him. God told Noah that it was going to rain, and Noah believed God, and in so doing he became the heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Now, when we get over into the writings of the Apostle Paul, we find that Jesus Christ was and is the Jehovah God of the Old Testament. Therefore, when Noah believed the words of Jehovah, he was also putting his faith in Jesus Christ, and that fits perfectly with the teaching of the Lord Jesus when He said to Thomas:
John 14:6 (NKJ)
6 . . . "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
We read about Noah in Hebrews 11:7, but in the next few verses of Hebrews 11, we read about Abraham, and Abraham was another one of those men who put his faith in Jesus Christ by believing the words of Jehovah. Jehovah told Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and go to the land of promise for eternal blessings. When Abraham believed the words of Jehovah, he was putting his faith in Jesus Christ.
Now Abraham is similar to Noah in that the very first time that the word righteousness is used in the Bible, it is used in reference to Abraham. God told Abraham that he was going to have a son even though Abraham was 99 years old, and Genesis 15:6 says that:
Genesis 15:6 (NKJ)
6 (Abraham) believed in the LORD, and (the LORD) accounted it to him for righteousness.
In other words, Abraham believed in Jehovah when he believed the words of Jehovah. No one can say that they believe in God if they don’t believe the word of God. That’s why we study the Bible. The Bible is the word of God, and how can we say that we believe in God if we don’t know and believe His word. Abraham believed in the LORD, and the LORD accounted to him for righteousness.
The Jews never understood the real impact of this verse until the Apostle Paul revealed the righteousness of God which comes through faith in Christ. Paul made good use of this verse in Romans, Chapter 4. In Romans 4, verse 1, we read:
Romans 4:1-6 (NKJ)
1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
And in Galatians, Chapter 3, Paul said:
Galatians 3:5-9 (NKJ)
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?--
6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Both of these passages were written by the Apostle Paul while he was going out to the Gentiles as a minister of the New Covenant. He knew that as long as he was preaching the kingdom which was promised to Abraham, the means by which Abraham was accepted by God was of critical importance.
Paul could see that if simple faith in the LORD, Jehovah, could bring to Abraham the righteousness of God and the promise of the kingdom before he was circumcised and before the Law was given, then certainly that same simple faith in the LORD, Jesus Christ, could bring the salvation of God apart from the Law to the uncircumcised Gentiles.
After the nation of Israel rejected Christ as her Messiah, God temporarily set aside Israel’s hope of the New Covenant Kingdom. At that point, the question of whether a person was a Jew or a Gentile was beside the point because God starting calling out the Church which is the Body of Christ in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
Throughout the Acts period, the Jews had continued practicing the rituals and ceremonies of the Law, but when Israel’s hope of the New Covenant Kingdom was set aside at the end of the Acts period, there was no longer any valid reason for the Jews to continue observing the practices of the Law. Therefore, Paul said in Ephesians 2:
Ephesians 2:14-16 (NKJ)
14 For (Christ) Himself is our peace, who has made both (Jew and Gentile) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
Today, salvation is offered to all people everywhere on the basis of faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. So if you’re listening today without the assurance of your own personal salvation, you can take God at His word, like Noah did and like Abraham did. You can believe that Christ died for your sins, and then you can rest in the assurance that God sees you as perfectly righteous, and He has made you an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Then you can say with Paul, “My standing before God is not based in my own righteousness, but it is based in the righteousness which is from God by faith.”
I see our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
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