Righteous/Just
Notes
Transcript
Attributes of God - Righteousness/Just
Attributes of God - Righteousness/Just
Intro
Hello
Recap
God is righteous and just.
What is righteousness and what does it mean to be just?
This week we will be talking about God being righteous and just.
According to Webster, the definition of Righteousness is “The quality of being morally right or justifiable.”
Righteous “Morally right or justifiable; virtuous.”
Just “Based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair.”
Notice how the word “Just” was used in the definition for righteous (Technically justifiable). Also, the word “Right” was used in the definition for Just.
The reason is because they go hand and hand.
God is righteous.
We like justice, but we don’t like God being just.
If God is righteous and just, why do people, why do WE have a problem with that?
If someone does something against you or someone you love, do you not want justice? Of course! This happens every day in our lives.
But for some reason, when it applies to God, we have different standards.
We don’t like view God as a wrathful God. The Bible talks about God’s wrath all over. But we don’t like painting God in that light. But what happens when you do that, is one, it paints an incorrect version of God. But two, it actually takes away from the fact that He is a loving God, He is patient, slow to anger. So why do we do it? Because when we don’t talk about God’s wrath along with His other attributes, we get painted in a better light. Our sin isn’t as bad.
Also, I think the other reason we struggle with God’s wrath, is because it is hard for us to be angry and not sin. It is possible, but for me, 90 plus percent of the time, when I am angry, I end up sinning.
We are unrighteous, but we can receive Jesus’ righteousness.
That begs the question: If God is Just, and we are sinful, are we in trouble?
Yes, we are unrighteous. We are sinful. We deserve to be punished. And not only does God have the right to punish us, but He should!
Alright, let’s pray and dismiss into groups.
I’m kidding. And that’s the crazy thing. The story could end there, but it doesn’t.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus came, and payed the price for our sins. God’s wrath is fully satisfied.
Not only that, but Jesus’ righteousness was applied to anyone who puts their trust in Him.
Conclusion
Righteous are you, O Lord,
and right are your rules.
“The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Your righteousness is righteous forever,
and your law is true.
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.
before the Lord, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
The King in his might loves justice.
You have established equity;
you have executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
The Lord is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked.
Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.
But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord, your Redeemer.
Questions
Why do we sometimes doubt that God is really righteous and just?
How does God being righteous and just impact our relationship with God?
How does God being righteous impact how we interact with others?
How does Jesus’ righteousness being applied to us impact us?