You Need HIS Righteousness!

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS; and all these things shall be added unto you.” —Matthew 6:33

       Please notice carefully that Matthew 6:33 does NOT say, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and OUR righteousness...” Rather, the Bible says ... seek HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. We are to seek Jesus' righteousness. 2nd Corinthians 5:21 states, “For He (God the Father) hath made Him (God the Son) to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Amen!

This speaks of Christ's imputed righteousness (i.e., our sins are placed upon Christ's record, and His righteousness is placed upon our record at the moment of salvation). 

You see my friend, we have no righteousness of our own to offer God. Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, andALL OUR RIGHTEOUSNESSES ARE AS FILTHY RAGS; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” No amount of good works on your part can undo, nor make-up for, the sins you've committed throughout your life. Even one sin can send a person to Hell forever (James 2:10). That's why we all need HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, i.e., the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus paid it all.

We are JUSTIFIED in the eyes of God by faith, just-if-I'd never sinned. The precious literal blood of Jesus takes our sins away forever (1st Peter 1:18,19; Hebrews 9:12,24). This is true righteousness, and it is found ONLY in Christ Jesus! We are commanded to seek HIS righteousness if we want to obtain the Kingdom of God. “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and RIGHTEOUSNESS, and sanctification, and redemption” (1st Corinthians 1:30).

The Bible proclaims that Jesus died, was buried and rose again. This is the good news (the gospel)...

1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

Jesus died, He was buried and He rose again three days later. Blessed be the Lord! A cross-less gospel is a false gospel. Any generic gospel which leads a sinner to “trust in Jesus” is a false gospel if it leaves out the cross that Jesus bled and died upon for our sins. You must accept the Biblical truth that Jesus died for your sins friend. Jesus was buried in a tomb, which officiated His death. And then, hallelujah, Jesus Christ arose from the dead triumphant three days later!!! That is the gospel according to 1st Corinthians 15:1-4. There are many gospels being taught today which leave out the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Such a false gospel (another gospel) is “cursed” according to Galatians 1:7-9.

Many Will Seek to Enter Heaven, But Few Will Be Able

Biblical repentance is the recognition of my sinnership—the owning before God that I am as vile as He has declared me to be in His holy Word. Repentance is a change of mind, not a change of life. God will forgive anybody who looks to Jesus to be saved, no matter how deep in sin you may be. The Word of God plainly teaches that eternal life is a FREE GIFT (Romans 5:15), paid for by Jesus' precious blood (1st Peter 1:18,19). Amen! Salvation is receiving, not giving. It is not what we do that saves us; but rather, what Christ has done for us in His work of redemption.

You need Christ's righteousness my friend. We all need Christ's righteousness to enter into the kingdom of God. Matthew 6:33 wonderfully teaches that we are saved by Jesus' IMPUTED righteousness and not by any self-righteousness of our own (for we have none to offer God). The word “impute” means “to pass to one’s account, to count over” It means that Christ's righteousness is placed upon our record when we trust upon Him...

Romans 4:4-5, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.”

Romans 4:5 declares that God only saves bad people... THE UNGODLY! All men have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). If it were possible for a man to redeem himself, then Christ would not have had to enter the world and die on the cross. Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt that we could not pay.

Salvation is of the Lord, not man. A person does not have to stop living in sin to be saved, for that would make salvation a reward instead of a free gift. A changed life is the result of genuine repentance, and not a part of saving-faith (2nd Corinthians 5:17). We don't give up our sins to get saved; we give up our sins because WE ARE SAVED. God makes the change. Salvation is by grace through faith alone in Christ (Ephesians 2:8,9). We are saved by grace through faith PLUS NOTHING!
Evangelist Lester Roloff beautifully put it this way... “Real repentance is putting your trust in Jesus Christ so you will not live like that anymore.” Departing from a sinful lifestyle is a matter of appreciation for what the Lord has done for us, of obeying God as His child, and not as a condition of saving-faith. Eternal life is a free gift.
Many religions today falsely teach that a person must be water baptized in order to go to Heaven. Other false prophets teach that a person is required to turn over a new leaf, amend their sinful ways, make a full surrender to Christ or give up the world in order to go to Heaven. That's not what the Bible teaches. We don't have to give up anything to be saved; God gave up His only begotten Son to pay our sin debt... 

John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

If you have “just enough”... just enough faith to call (rely) upon the name of the Lord to be saved, because of what He did on Calvary, then God promises to save you.

Romans 10:13,“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Some religions errantly require a person to observe the Sabbath, tithe, partake of Sacraments, do good works or join a certain religious denomination to go to Heaven. These are all lies of the Devil who is the father of all liars (John 8:44). Eternal life is a free gift (Romans 5:15; 6:23)... freely given, freely offered and freely received.
The truth of God's Word is that we need Jesus' righteousness in order to be saved and go to Heaven one day. This is because we have no righteousness of our own to offer God (Romans 3:10; James 2:10). All we can offer God is our own self-righteousness, which is not acceptable to God (Isaiah 64:6).
We need Jesus' righteousness, which is by faith in Him alone for salvation...

“For he [God the Father] hath made him [Jesus the Son] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Jesus became as sin for us, Who knew no sin...

1st Peter 1:21-22, “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.”

It is tragic that so many people today openly reject Jesus as the Christ. They are choosing their own eternal doom (2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9). The Lord paid for their sins and eternal life is freely available to them; yet they reject Christ. Jesus said, “ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40). Jesus didn't say 'ye cannot,' but rather, 'YE WILL NOT!' ...

John 1:10, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”

Jesus paid for our sins with His precious, literal, physical, blood...

1st Peter 1:18-19,“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

We read in Romans 10:3-4, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
Salvation is found ONLY in Jesus Christ! Would you like to be saved?
Admit that you are a GUILTY sinner, under the condemnation of God's Law, deserving of Hellfire.
You can believe in Christ all you want and still go to Hell. You must receive what Jesus Christ has done for you upon the cross as payment for YOUR SINS. THE GOSPEL (good news) teaches that Jesus died, was buried and resurrected after three days (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). There can be no salvation without the cross. Believe on the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to have your sins forgiven...

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." —John 1:12

Christ died, that's history; Christ died for me, that's salvation!

By David J. Stewart
Source: www.jesus-is-savior.com