How to gain righteousness

“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6  (N.IV.)

God promised Abram a son through whom all nations would be blessed. Abram believed the Lord to mean the seed who would crush the devil (Genesis 3:15). He was therefore restless until he fully believed the Lord and saw the Lord’s Day from afar. “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." John 8: 56.

This belief in the Lord was credited to Abraham by God as righteousness. Righteousness is not earned. It is imputed in those who have faith in Christ and lay all their guilt upon his cross, and claim his righteousness as their own. We are justified by faith alone.  It is only Jesus Christ who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before God’s glorious presence without fault and with great joy (Jude 1:24). Is your heart restless without God’s son? Have you responded to his call?

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Our peace and confidence are to be found not in our empirical holiness, not in our progress toward perfection, but in the alien righteousness of Jesus Christ that covers our sinfulness and alone makes us acceptable before a holy God. - Donald Bloesch

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