What does the Bible say about righteousness and what exactly is the importance of this? Well, quite frankly the Bible speaks much about righteousness and it is always attributed to the Lord. For instance, the Bible says that "Righteousness and Justice are the foundation of His throne( Psalm 97:2b).", "the heavens declare His righteousness (Psalm 97:6)." Jesus said "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6)", and He said to "seek first the kingdom and God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33)." In addition to that, the Bible says "... God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness...(Acts 17:31)." that "...the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.. (1 Cor.6:9).

Before we go any further it is necessary to define exactly what this word righteousness means, so as to be able to understand fully what the Holy Spirit is teaching us. The word righteous carries with it these meanings; the character or quality of being right or just. This word is used to denote that which is consistent with His (God's) own nature and promises. His righteousness as demonstrated in the death of Christ shows men that He is not indifferent to sin, nor does He regard it lightly. On the contrary, His holiness demands that He condemns sin. The word also means that which conforms to the revealed will of God, and that which is required of God. In the case of salvation it means that man comes to accept God's claim upon his life and therefore repents of his sins and believes upon Christ for salvation. The result, God credits him with righteousness (Romans 4:5). That righteousness being in the person and work of Jesus Christ through His death, burial and resurrection.

If we are to be true and faithful witnesses for the Lord, we must first be grounded in sound teaching which lays the very foundation for what we do in regards to evangelism. In other words, what we believe in regards to God's righteousness and man's unrighteousness will be the very engine that will drive our methods in regards to evangelism. You cannott separate what you believe from what and how you proclaim the gospel. Therefore, this theology of "righteousness" will, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit equip us to use Biblical principles in sharing our faith.

I will be discussing five key principles in regards to righteousness and how this applies to our evangelistic efforts. The first one will be "man's original righteousness", "man's fall from righteousness", "man's attempt at righteousness", "God's gift of righteousness", and the invitation to submit and receive this righteousness from God."

1. Original righteousness: Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7 "Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our very likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the earth, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God, He created  he him; male and female created he them." Genesis 2:7 " And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

We see in these passages of Scripture that the Lord created man originally, in His very image and likeness. When God breathed life into man, He breathed His very nature and character, that of being "righteous." God in His creative power stamped upon the soul of man this righteousness. The Lord being so infinately holy can only commune with holiness and therefore it was necessary that man would be given His very divine nature to commune with his Creator. Man, in this state was free from any corruption, free from lust, pure in all his thoughts, holy in all his actions and pleasing to his Creator. Man's purpose was to reveal the glory of God and enjoy fellowship with Him forever. Man was created eternal.

In addition to that, we read that God blessed man, giving him dominion over the whole earth, giving him a helpmate that was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, and told them to be fruitful and multiply. He also gave him responsibilities to tend the garden, etc..  The Lord in His wisdom gave man a very serious command which is found in Genesis 2:16-17 "And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof you shall surely die." This command from a benevolent Father and Creator should not have been hard to follow. After all, Adam had no reason to question the character of God, nor had he any un-holy faculties that would bring God's goodness into question. Certainly he had tasted and seen that the Lord was good. He would have trusted in His God and had no problem submitting to His command, seeing it was for his safety and good.

First point: Original righteousness: It is of upmost importance that this is understood in regards to what God created man for in the very beginning and the fact that man posessed God-like righteousness stamped upon his very soul.

2. Man's fall from righteousness: "And when the women saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired, to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did it. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked and they sowed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

What took place here? Something radical had happened. What a change we see that took place in Adam and Eve, their very nature was so different, their being, their faculties. What exactly was it that brought this change and cause them to be shameful, guilty, and in fear of their loving Creator? One word sums it up, SIN!!! Earlier in the text we see how satan deceived Eve and gave her two huge promises in which she couldn't resist. Mainly, that "you shall surely not die", and "you shall be as gods (Gen. 3:4-5). What was the result? They were naked and hiding in the trees with fig leaves on them. Worse yet, we see it didn't take them long in this fallen nature of theirs to see the horrific affects of sin and the pollution to the soul that it brought. In Gen. 3:12-13, we see that not only are they naked, in shame and guilt and hiding from God, but when they did come out of the bushes we see they tried to justify their sin to God and really blame it on Him in a sense. Adam, blamed it on Eve, and Eve blamed it on the devil.

We see the two-fold affect that their disobedience (sin) brought about. That being death, eventually they would die physically because of the curse that sin brought upon themselves and humanity and also the spiritual death that they died the very day they ate of the forbidden fruit. This came about just as the Lord had forewarned them it would. Another way to look at it is in regard to "righteousness" and that is they no longer had the pure, divine nature or God-like righteousness. Adam complained about this in that he tried to cover up this nakedness with fig leaves. One thing the fig leaves couldn't cover up was the guilt and shame that now inhabited his soul because of sin.

The problem was not so much of external nakedness, but that of internal corruption and the fig leaves couldn't hide it. Adam was spiritually dead and no longer in fellowship with His Creator. The nature he possessed now was under the power of satan. Jesus said "Whosoever committeth sin is a servant (slave) to sin."  John 8:34. How many sins does it take to be a servant or salve to sin? One!!! 1 John 3:8 "He that committeth sin is of the devil.." It didn't take long for us to see the horrific affects of our sin nature. Cain slew Abel and in Gen. 6:5 the Bible says "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

What a drastic and terrifying result of sin. Man's heart, the very seedbed of his spirit and soul was so tainted and polluted by sin that "every imagination" was "evil continually." The Bible goes on to say that all of humanity is that way because all have sinned and therefore all show this problem of the heart. Romans 5:12, 17a, 18a confirm this and the consequences that came about because of sin. Romans 5:12 " Wherefore, as by one man sin entered unto the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all men have sinned." 17a "For if by one man's offense death reigned by one", 18a "Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation..."

The conclusion of this is, that man no longer in his fallen state possesses God-like righteousness or that divine spiritual nature that God breathed into Adam and stamped upon his soul.  Mankind is fallen from a state of Grace through sin and the consequence is judgment and condemnation. Not only physical death as part of the curse but eternal condemnation in a place called hell where the sinner will pay for his sins without the opportunity to be reconciled to God. Romans 3:10-12, 18 says "As it is written, There is none that is righteous no, not one. There is none that understandeth, ther eis none that seek after God. Theya re all gone out of their way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no , not one. There is no fear of God before their eyes." Ephesians 2:1 says "we are dead in trespasses and sins."

God in upholding His honor, holiness and His justice demands a payment for sins.

2nd point Man's fall from righteousness: All men are fallen, all men have sinned, all men in this state are under judgment and condemnation, man's heart (his very soul and spirit) is dead to God and polluted by its very sin nature and cannott please God in anyway in this state of enmity against God. Man proves by his willful sinning against God that he lives in a state of rebellion.

You might be asking well, How is this relevant in evangelism? First thing we need to rememeber is that God will judge the world in righteousness one day. Man, as shown here does not possess this in his fallen nature, nor can he do anything to earn it. Secondly, the issue that we are dealing with is one of the heart, man needs a new heart.

So how do we reveal this truth about the very fallen nature to men? We reveal this to men by using the law of God to speak to the conscience of the individual and in doing so, confirm that they indeed, as we all, have a heart problem.

3. Using the moral or divine law to reveal un-righteousness. The divine law that we are talking about specifically is that of the ten commandments. Romans 3:19-20 "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world  may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall be no flesh justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

What does the law do? It stops the mouth of mankind and shows him his guilt and it reveals the knowledge of sin. By coming to an understanding of the knowledge of sin I therefore, in love, show why it is we do sin, why we are un-righteous and that it lies in the very heart of man, our fallen nature. Matthew 15:19 "For out of the heart proceed  evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." This text that our Lord spoke coincides with Genesis 6:5 earlier. Therefore, it makes sense to reveal this by using the law of God, and allowing the person's very own conscience to convict them. This reveals that man does not measure up in his fallen nature to the God-like righteousness that God will expect on the day of judgment.

3rd point the law reveals sin, our un-righteousness, and the problem with our heart.

4. Man's attempt at righteousness: Romans 10:3 " For they being ignorant of  God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God."

You can go to any corner of the world and find men, women and children going about through religion to establish their own righteousness. What are we talking about here? A righteousness that comes by human effort and works based. In other words whether one is a buddhist, hindu, mormom, catholic or whatever false religion they aspire to, you will find their attempts to appease their guilty conscience is based on a works salvation.

This was the problem with the Jews as they were so steeped in their "man made traditions" that they could never come to understand the intended purpose of the law. Galatians 3:24 "wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." They thought in all their outward acts of piety and religious observances they earned the favor of God. They were blinded to the fact that the law makes no one perfect. Today, we have so many fasle religions, false teachers presenting false christ's that it is no wonder there is so much confusion out there. Exactly what the enemy wants to do. The sad thing is, that many believe themsleves on the way to heaven who have given themselves a false peace, who will one day wake up face to face with God and be cast in hell for eternity (Matthew 7:21-23).

How many church going people believe that their baptism, confirmation or sacrament keeping have met the standard that God has asked of them and believe themselves to be heaven bound? Oh, that God would bring a second reformation to the dead churches that name the name of Christ.

4th point Man's religion will fail. It cannott establish nor produce the righteousness that God requires.

5. God's gift of righteousness: Romans 6:23b, 5:17b, 18b "...but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." "..much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by , Jesus Christ," "even so by the righteousness of one the FREE GIFT came upon all men unto justification of life."

Here we see, that eternal life is a gift from God, that it is also called the gift of righteousness, and that it comes through One being righteous, Jesus Christ God's Son. This is the good news of the Gospel. The Lord knowing that all men have sinned, and all men are under His just punishment, and knowing we cannott produce this righteousness within ourselves, through our own efforts, offers a righteousness apart from the law or human effort found in His Son Jesus Christ.

What was the motive of God in doing this? The motive of God in doing this was love (John 3:16, Romans 5:8). Not only is God holy, righteous and a hater of sin and wickedness, but He is also merciful, forgiving and loving. The Bible says, "He takes no delight in the punishment of the wicked or sinners."

So how does this come about? This comes about through the great exchange. 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." The penalty of sin still had to be met to appease the holy wrath of God. God would be an un-just judge if He declared something and then looked the other way. This payment had to be a perfect sacrifice (for without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins) and being that all of humanity is sinful, the only one that could offer Himself as that perfect sacrifice was Jesus Christ Himself, God's very own Son. Christ lived a sinless life and therefore could pay the ransom price for sinners. He did just that by dieing on a cross, taking the punishment we deserve and paying the penalty we could never pay. God became sin for us. In other words, He took upon Himself flesh (humanity) so that His very body could be condemned on behalf of sinners so that the righteous requirement of the law could be fulfilled (Gal. 4:4).

As we know, it didn't stop there. The Lord died and was buried and on the third day He arose again. In this resurrection He proved Himself to be God, to have conquered sin, death and hell. Did you notice in the scripture that Christ became sin for us, so that we could become the righteousness of God through Him. This is the righteousness that we need to enter into heaven and be with a loving Father for all of eternity. How is this appropriated? The Bible says by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Eph. 2:8 "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God."

It is important for us to understand that in salvation two important things were accomplished by Our Lord. The first thing accomplished was "payment in full", and the second thing accomplished was "power over sin which leads ot death."

Payment of sin: equates to appeasing God's wrath against sin, therefore forgiveness of sins can be granted.

Power of sin: equates to the resurrected life the individual receives when he turns to Christ to be saved. This is applied by the Holy Spirit who will indwell the believer and give him that new nature, new heart, new will that will have new affections which result in new actions. Man must be forgiven but also freed from the power of sin in his life (Romans 6:22, Eph. 1:19-21). For the Lord said, "if the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36. When one is forgiven and freed along with that comes the clearing of the conscious in regards to guilt and shame as well, thus freeing him up to approach His Father without condemnation.

6. The call to righteousness-invitation to receive Christ. 2 Cor. 6:2 "For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I sucoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time: behold now is the day of salvation.)

We are to present the righteousness of God and then offer the righteousness of God to those who will receive. How can they receive this gift of righteousness? John 1:12 "but as many as received Him to them He gave the power to become the Sons of God..." Man, needs to accept the claims that God has upon his life, repent of his sin toward God and believe in Christ for salvation and God will grant him the gift of righteousness, eternal life through Jesus Christ. He is forgiven, freed and forever the Lord's. God has promised to remember his sins no more and adopt him into His family with all the rights of a child. Romans 10:8-13, Ephesians 1:13-14, John 3:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17.

In explaining this to your loved ones, friends, or whomever the Lord would puts in your path always remember to first throw out a non-offensive question to see if they are interested in the things of eternity, etc.. From there ask about what they think God's requirement into heaven is. Then tell them the Bible says it is to be perfectly righteous and proceed to go through, man's original righteousness, His fall from righteousness, how the law reveals our un-righteousness, man's attempt at righteousness, God's gift of righteousness and then offer that to them.

May the Lord bless this to you and may it prepare you to be ready to give an answer of the hope that is in you.