Do you understand what righteousness means to the believer?  Are you able to enjoy your identity in righteousness as a Christian?  Righteousness, our new nature, gives us standing with the Father as His sons.  Let’s read from Romans 5:17, “For if by one man’s offense death reigned through one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”  Yes, the gift of righteousness means that the believer can reign in life.  To enjoy this gift from God that is ours through the new birth, we must know how to live in righteousness.  To do this we must understand our position in Christ.

  Righteousness restores all that was lost in the fall of man, plus a new relationship as a son with all its privileges Adam originally enjoyed an intimate relationship with his creator.  After the fall, Adam lost his standing and was separated from God by sin.  Fear and guilt reigned supreme.  Fallen man came under the dominion of Satan.  But now as we receive Jesus, and the new birth, man receives a new nature.  The Bible refers to this new nature in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Because of the gift of righteousness, we are able to become new creations in Jesus.

  Any believer who senses guilt, inferiority, failure and weakness does not have a reality of righteousness.  He will never take his place as a joint heir with Jesus.  He will never be able to pray in faith. His life will reflect defeat on many levels. Acts 26:18 describes the commission of Paul by Jesus, “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”  The epistles of Paul, especially Romans, accomplish this purpose.  He wrote to teach us of our righteousness in Christ, that our eyes might be opened.

   As our eyes are opened, we will enjoy a new freedom with the Lord on the same ground that Jesus did.  This can be likened unto a child who approaches is parent.  What parent ever denies his children the right to be in his presence?  Access is granted to the Lord, anytime or anyplace we choose.  We can see this means that our fellowship with the Lord is restored through righteousness.  We can abide in His presence.  It is the gift of righteousness that allows the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts.
 Hebrews 4:16 reveals that we should come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  The gift of righteousness enables us to approach God boldly during times of weakness and temptation.  It imparts to us the knowledge that we have everything we need to overcome in any circumstance. It also gives the right to come and ask for forgiveness when we miss it.  We need to deal with sin in our lives based on righteousness not guilt.  That means we ask forgiveness, make the appropriate changes and he doesn’t remember the sin any longer.  Guilt and inferiority have no place in our relationship with the heavenly Father.

  By understanding righteousness, you can live in the power of God.  The touch of the Lord will be with you.  You can have dominion over the works of Satan.  We find in 1 John 3:8  that Jesus was made manifest to destroy Satan’s works.  Learning to appropriate your privileges in righteousness results from allowing God’s Word to dominate your life.  It is crucial for you to come to a realization of righteousness.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”