According to the Bible mankind's greatest need is for righteousness, that is, to be in right-standing, or a right-relationship with a Holy God. Why? According to scripture, "all have sinned." (Romans 3:23) God sees all men as lost, without hope and without God in this world. (Ephesians 2:12) We are sinners by nature through the fall of one man, Adam. It is also true that we are sinners by practice, that is, our actions and deeds also fall short of the standard of God's perfection. You cannot say, "I am basically a good person!" when the scriptures declare, "all are falling short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23b) and "There is none righteous, no, not one." (Romans 3:10)

My friend, do you see that you need a personal Savior, one who will save you from your sins?

God offers us, as a gift, the righteousness that we all so desperately need. In fact this righteousness is not the righteousness that you can produce (Read Titus 3:5), rather, it is a righteous that equals God's righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:21) In fact it is God's own righteousness that He offers us freely through faith in Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:22)

Notice what the scripture says, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested (that is, revealed)" (Romans 3:21). The first thing we notice here about God's righteousness is that it is not derived from the law. There is no definite article in this verse, in the Greek text, which would indicate that the righteousness which God offers man is apart from the law or the principle of law. Therefore this scripture may read, "But now the righteousness of God without law is revealed." AND What is the principle of law? The principle of the law says that men are accepted by God by doing, achieving, or fulfilling certain standards. So if men are not made righteous of the law, that is, by being and doing righteous acts, then how are we made righteous before a Holy God? Romans 3:22 gives a description of the kind of righteousness that God offers, it is a "by faith in Jesus Christ righteousness." These five words in the Greek text are a combined adjectival phrase which modifies the righteousness of God. In other words this phrase describes the kind of righteousness God offers by saying it is a through faith in Jesus Christ righteousness that makes men acceptable before God.

Are you tired of dealing with guilt? Would you like to come to the Savior to be totally righteous and have right standing with God? The blood of Jesus was shed in order to provide this gift for you. (Ephesians 1:7) This is what the scripture says, "This gift is from God, and it is very important to me because if the law could have made us right with God then Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21)

Have you ever considered repenting from your dead works? (Hebrews 6:1) Dead works are the things people trust in to get them to heaven. They may involve living a good life, keeping the Ten Commandments, loving others, church attendance, etc. Can you see that none of these things will meet the standard of God's own righteousness? It will take God's own righteousness to get you to heaven.

The Bible says, "It is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence of one man's fall (Adam), it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will cause everyone to reign in life who receives the free gift that he does not deserve, of being made righteous." (Romans 5:17, Jerusalem Bible)

My friend, when we all stand before God we will be anything but innocent, in fact we will be utterly guilty. Yet God in His amazing grace, offers to treat you as if you were an innocent man because of the blood of Jesus shed for you. (Romans 5:9)

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(Tract No. 32 by Don Krow)