Day 9/40 RIGHTEOUSNESS & HOLINESS

We are righteous and holy in Christ Jesus. The nature of GOD has been imputed and imparted to us, so we are partakers of the divine nature and deity of GOD (2 Peter 1:4). For us to be sons or daughters of GOD we have to be godlike, and we couldn’t be children of GOD unless we took on His nature. We are royal, righteous and holy, because we are children of God.. Christ became righteousness and holiness for us (1 Corinthians 1:30), and it is this nature that we received when we became born again. We are in Christ, it is the will of GOD that we are in Christ, and unless we were in Christ, we could not be children of GOD. We are brand new in Christ, and there is no old part that lingers in a believer according to Scripture (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The church, i.e. the followers of Christ, is a chosen generation and a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). The church is holy. We often do not understand who we really are in Christ, i.e. we also do not understand that we are a new creation, which is altogether righteous and holy. Jesus did not hang on the Cross that we would still struggle with sin, but He dealt a death blow to sin once and for all, so we have been cleansed from sin (1 Corinthians 6:11). Our lives should therefore bear the fruits of righteousness and holiness in Christ. We have to live out, by the grace of GOD, what is already in us. We have to grow and develop in the righteousness and holiness of GOD.

When we receive Jesus, we receive the fullness of GOD, the fullness of the Spirit and the fullness of the Son (Colossians 2:9). GOD did not give us His Son in a measure, but we received the fullness. We are complete in Him, and we do not lack anything. Our confidence and victory are therefore in knowing Christ and who we are in Him. It is in the Gospel that the righteousness of GOD is revealed from one degree of faith to another, so the fivefold must teach knowledge of the Son, which leads to awareness and understanding of who we are in Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13). Christianity is about growing up into Christ in all things, becoming fully like Him in reality. When we see Jesus, we become more aware of who we are in Christ, and we grow in glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). We must therefore keep seeking Him from faith to faith.

Jesus knew who He was in His Father and believed it, so He walked in it. Knowing who we are in Christ is how we overcome and conquer the world. Ours is therefore to grow in the spiritual reality of who we are in GOD. We cannot grow in faith if we are not growing in our identity in Jesus. When we grow in awareness, knowledge and understanding, then we are being transformed. If we cannot see Jesus in the here and now, we will not see Jesus thereafter, so we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13).

RIGHTEOUSNESS & HOLINESS