Submitting to God's Righteousness

“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” (Romans 10:1-3 NIV)

Under the Old Covenant that God had with his people Israel, the Jews had to obey all sorts of liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, including the requirement for circumcision. All of that was done away with when Jesus Christ was crucified on that cross for our sins for when we believe in Christ as Lord and Savior and we enter into the New Covenant relationship with God. So, we are not required to obey all those liturgical laws and customs the Jews were required to obey.

Now this was written about the Israelites of Paul’s day, so that does not necessarily translate into the Israelites of today’s world. For the Jewish nation of today is more political in nature, I believe, rather than particularly religious in nature, as they were in the time of Jesus and of the NT apostles. But the majority of those born as Jews still do not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Messiah (the Christ), and so the majority of them do not even believe in God. Many are atheists. Yet I do not have statistics on this.

But we do have a parallel situation today in the “Christian” world that fits with what Paul was saying about the Israelites, not necessarily that they all have a zeal for God that is misled, but that the majority appear to not be intimately acquainted with the true righteousness of God but they have sought to establish their own. And it appears that the majority of those calling themselves “Christians” are not in the practice of submitting to God’s righteousness, for they are being taught that they don’t have to.

So, what is the righteousness of God? Basically, it is the divine approval of God, his judicial approval, and it refers to what is deemed right by the Lord after his examination, i.e. what is approved in his eyes. And what he approves is submission and obedience to him as Lord, self-denial, dying daily to sin, and walking in obedience to him and to his commands in holy living, in daily practice. And what he prefers is all that is godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to his New Covenant commands.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Yet many people professing faith in Jesus Christ are not intimately acquainted with the righteousness of God through genuine God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, but they have sought and they are still seeking to establish their own righteousness, and their own gospel of Christ, and their own plan of salvation which do not agree with God’s righteousness and his gospel message and his plan of salvation. And so they do not submit to God’s righteousness which requires death to sin and living to God.

Therefore, many of them are now teaching the following two Scripture verses as the gospel message, but taught out of context and misinterpreted to say that all that one has to do to believe in Jesus and to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God is to say with their lips, “Jesus is Lord,” and to claim that they believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. But Jesus said that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one DOING God’s will (Matthew 7:21-23).

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10 NIV)

And Paul taught in Romans 6 that true faith in Jesus Christ culminates in us being crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So we who are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ are no longer to let sin reign (be in control) in our mortal bodies to where we obey its evil desires. For if sin is what we obey, it will lead to death. But if we obey obedience to God, its end is eternal life with God (Romans 6:1-23).

And he taught in Romans 8 that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who walk (in conduct, in practice) not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh, and that results in death, not in life eternal with God. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8). And we are to live to please God in what we do.

“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (Romans 8:12-14 ESV)

And Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For when Jesus took up his cross it was to put our sins to death with him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and walk (in conduct) in obedience to our Lord, then we have eternal life with God (see Luke 9:23-26). 

And Peter said, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). 

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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