Righteousness by Faith: Receiving God’s Gift and Sharing It Boldly

Summary

Although God is sovereign, believers have a clear responsibility to receive righteousness by faith and share it with others. Scripture shows that religious effort, tradition, and zeal cannot save. Only trusting in Christ’s finished work can. Confession and belief produce transformed lives that obey and serve. God calls every Christian to speak the gospel boldly, because faith comes through hearing, and silence about Jesus leads people astray

God’s Sovereignty and Our Responsibility

God is in control (Romans 9:14-29). That does not mean Christians can sit down, prop their feet, and sip iced tea until He calls them home.

Righteousness by Faith

We have a spiritual to-do list. It includes receiving faith righteousness as a gift and telling others how they can receive it too.

Picture a runner who does not even dream of winning a marathon and does not practice. Contrary to everyone’s expectations, he beats a dedicated runner who practices daily.

That is a picture of the Gentiles’ receiving righteous standing in God’s sight. Meanwhile, the Jews could not obtain it because they refused to accept it as a gift.

When Religion Replaces Christ

Most Jews could not accept that Jews and Gentiles enter God’s kingdom the same way. After all, they were God’s chosen people! They substituted religious customs and traditions for Christ and righteousness by faith.

Many today do the same. Church attendance, church work, giving a tenth of your income to the church, being nice, and being good are not enough.

Enough is trusting in what Jesus has done for us, receiving His righteousness as God’s gift, and sharing His victory. Jesus is the cornerstone on which we build our lives, or a stone we trip over to our ultimate ruin.

Israel needed Christ and His righteousness. We do too. Israel had zeal for God but did not know Him. They did not let the law bring them to Christ.

They worshipped the law, but they could not meet all its demands. Their zeal for it led to self-deception and pride.

Many religious people are proud and self-deceived. They have invested too much in their religion to admit they are wrong.

Knowing the truth sets people free (John 8:32), not sincerity or devotion. We do better by staggering toward the truth than sprinting in any other direction.

Confessing, Believing, and Living the Truth

The truth that sets us free includes confession and belief. We publicly confess Jesus is Lord.

Behind confessing Him is a life-changing faith that motivates obeying Him and serving Him and others. Christians can keep their age and weight secret, but not their faith!

Why Sharing the Gospel Matters

To trust Jesus for salvation, people must know who He is and what He has done. They do not trust a stranger with their wallet or an unknown Jesus with their eternal destiny.

Jesus commissions His followers to tell others who He is and about His saving power. He describes their feet as beautiful (Romans 10:15).

Not everyone has a beautiful face, but every believer can have lovely feet! Silence about Jesus is not golden.

It is satanic. Satan tries to minimize people’s exposure to the gospel. That is because he knows God’s word creates faith in the hearer’s heart (Romans 10:17).

Our spiritual to-do list includes receiving righteousness by faith as a gift and telling others how they can receive it too.

Photo: Image Creator (microsoft.com)