Coconut
Member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2005
- Messages
- 4,663
Where Does Righteousness Come From?
It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your
righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deuteronomy 9:5-6)
The Israelites were ready to cross the Jordan and take possession of the Promised Land, but first the Anakites had to be destroyed and driven out. God said He would go before them and fight their battles and give them the victory. Up to this point God had already led His chosen people for many years listening to their grumbling and complaining, seeing them fall into sin again and again and told His people that between the Anakites and them, He would destroy the Anakites instead. It was not
because of His people’s righteousness but because the Anakites were the worst of the two and He promised to fulfill His word to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Forty days and nights later, Moses came down from the mountain and found the Israelites worshipping a golden calf. He broke the stone tablets in fury and disgust. The Israelites were at it again. They could not do good because there was no goodness to be found within them. Nothing we have done or ever will do should make us think we are righteous. Whatever good we do, whatever is honorable, comes from God. He
used the Old Covenant to show us that no matter who we are, we cannot do what pleases Him and sent His Son to that for us. There is no righteousness in us, but the righteousness of God.
“For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
(Philippians 2:13)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
- A "Loosened by Faith" message
It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your
righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deuteronomy 9:5-6)
The Israelites were ready to cross the Jordan and take possession of the Promised Land, but first the Anakites had to be destroyed and driven out. God said He would go before them and fight their battles and give them the victory. Up to this point God had already led His chosen people for many years listening to their grumbling and complaining, seeing them fall into sin again and again and told His people that between the Anakites and them, He would destroy the Anakites instead. It was not
because of His people’s righteousness but because the Anakites were the worst of the two and He promised to fulfill His word to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Forty days and nights later, Moses came down from the mountain and found the Israelites worshipping a golden calf. He broke the stone tablets in fury and disgust. The Israelites were at it again. They could not do good because there was no goodness to be found within them. Nothing we have done or ever will do should make us think we are righteous. Whatever good we do, whatever is honorable, comes from God. He
used the Old Covenant to show us that no matter who we are, we cannot do what pleases Him and sent His Son to that for us. There is no righteousness in us, but the righteousness of God.
“For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
(Philippians 2:13)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
- A "Loosened by Faith" message
