~ In Jesus We Have Righteousness: Book of Romans ~
Introduction ~ In
this series we look at a few of the verses which state what we have when we are
“in Christ.” Consider our series theme
verse:
“God,
who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by
grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus. 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 2:4-10).
Scripture ~ “Therefore
it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might
be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to
those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is
written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him
whom he believed — God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which
do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so
that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So
shall your descendants be.’ And not
being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was
about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving
glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also
able to perform. And therefore ‘it
was accounted to him for righteousness’” (Romans 4:16-22).
“Therefore,
just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus
death spread to all men, because all sinned — (For until the law sin was in the
world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to
Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the
transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the
offense. For if by the one man's offense
many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man,
Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the
gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense
resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses
resulted in justification. For if by the
one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in
life through the One, Jesus Christ)” (Romans 5:12-17).
Additional
Scripture ~ “And
behold, the word of the Lord came to him [Abram], saying, ‘This one shall not
be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look
now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your
descendants be.’ And he believed in
the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:4-6),
~ Robert
Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT
LIFE NOW blog.
* * * * *
