THE CONVICTION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

We have already made known that the struggle of righteousness is more than just obeying the commandments of God - it has to do with a rightness in our being, a sense of rightness and in the right things to do, even in areas stipulated beyond the Ten Commandments. In our daily life, there is always some righteousness to observe, some right way of doing certain things and some right thinking, right attitudes, right behaviors, and right perceptions to follow.

Rom. 5:17 says,  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. In order to have victory in this life we must understand two things, the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. And we all are supposed to rule and reign in this life.

I Cor. 8:7 speaks about a conciousness that we must have.  

Verse 7 with a word substitution for clarification… However, there is not in everyone that knowledge, for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to idol; and their consciousness being weak is defiled. Also verse 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the consciousness of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died?

when you have spent a lot of time with God, or in the presence of God in a prayer meeting or in a worship service,or in your own prayer time, you carry that consciousness of God with you throughout whatever you do.

The secret to ruling and reigning in Jesus is to maintain that consciousness 24 hours a day. That consciousness is the result of the gift of righteousness that we can partake of in God. The gift of righteousness imparts a sense of consciousness of God.

Jn. 16:8 And when He has come He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.  In verses 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the gospel of John 16, there are three types of conviction. There is a conviction of sin, which many of us know experientially. We were convicted of sin. The conviction of sin brings certain feeling of remorse and brokenness and consciousness of guilt, condemnation and failures. Conviction always brings a part of the consciousness of God. Most of us know what a conviction of sin is like. We use our salvation experience as an example.

The conviction of righteousness brings to the situation a different dimension. The conviction of judgment, which is a sense of victory over the devil. Notice that these three types of convictions are progressive. We first learn to be sensitive to the conviction of sin. Then we learn to be sensitive to the conviction of righteousness. And as that becomes more and more a part of our first nature, we become conscious of our victory over Satan and recognize that Satan is completely defeated. So, these convictions are progressive.

Conviction of sin makes us conscious of what we have done wrong. Conviction of righteousness makes us conscious of who we are in Christ. Conviction of judgment makes us conscious of the defeat of the devil. Each conviction brings a different dimension of consciousness of God.

Verse 14 Solid food belongs to those who are of full age that is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. I’ll call it the organ of righteousness that senses right and wrong. Because it has to be like a body part..that stays with us wherever we go and what ever we do. Beyond the law, there is that sense of righteousness that needs to come into our life. Now the good news in the New Testament is that this sense of righteousness, this consciousness and this gift of righteousness is a free gift. You don’t have to do anything to get it. You only have to believe and receive. You don’t have to pray twenty –four hours in order to get a sense of it. You don’t have to do good works for twenty or thirty some odd years to get a sense of it. Although praying and doing good works does help that sense. The fact remains that it’s a gift from God for us.