Many people have a desire to walk with God, but they do not understand their need of a hope of righteousness. It is not only believing for initial salvation, but believing also for the completion of that salvation and the way it becomes real to their heart. Certain Scriptures can open up this truth to us. We see the background of this hope in the eighth chapter of Romans, which speaks about the hope that is “in us.” This should transform our thinking, even our whole being, and ultimately bring forth everything that we hope for in God.
Paul wrote in Galatians 5:4: You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. When people use the phrase “you have fallen from grace,” they generally refer to someone who has tumbled into sin. But when Paul said, “You have fallen from grace,” he was speaking about people who had fallen from the high place where the grace of God was operating in their lives. They fell to a low level of the Law where they were trying to work out their righteousness by their own deeds, by their own obedience to the various laws and ordinances of the Old Testament.
Paul also told the Galatians, For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. Verses 5 and 6. What was Paul really saying? Does “waiting for the hope of righteousness” mean that we are waiting to become Christians? No, Paul was not speaking about that. Every one of us becomes aware of our state of grace in God as soon as we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We may be only beginners or babes in Christ; yet we yearn to grow, not only in spiritual stature and activities, but in the quality of the divine nature that is coming forth in us. We want to see it expand, as did the apostle Peter when he said, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18).
We reach into God, believing that there has been a beginning, an impartation of Himself within our lives. We reach in with a hope of righteousness. This hope of righteousness drives us onward. We are made righteous by faith. There is a certain standing we have before God, but there is a further state of being in the righteousness of God that comes as we walk with Him.
We look forward to the time when we will break through to that wonderful position described in Romans 8. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Verses 24 and 25. With perseverance we are waiting eagerly for what our heart is hoping for. What is our heart hoping for? Look at verses 18 through 20: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope. Here we see a hope.
In all of nature, there is a hope which counteracts the deep despair caused by the futility that creation is under. We feel the futility. We feel the despair. But in the midst of it, there is an underlying hope at the core of creation, which we recognize because it leaps within our hearts. It is the hope of redemption, the hope of the complete work of God being done. We are not dissatisfied with the Lord, but with the measure that we have appropriated of Him into our experience and into our very being. Therefore we reach into it—we want it! Oh, how desperately we yearn for it, crying, “O God, complete all that You have begun within me. I am not unhappy with what You have done; but I am unhappy with the limited measure I have possessed of You.”
Paul said, For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Romans 8:20–25. Here we see what we really want. We are seeking this redemption. We want to come into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God. We are anxious to enter into it. In the meantime, however, we do not yet see it.
There are many things in our lives that we believe God for, that we hope for, though we do not see them. Once in a while we are really bothered because we have believed for something that we do not see yet. Still, the faith in our hearts brings many things into view. When we prophesy the Word of the Lord and see things come to us, we no longer hope for them, because we have embraced them. Our faith becomes the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). It reaches into a state of possession where it is materialized.
There is a hope for the thing that you do not see, a reaching into God for something you know He has for you. You know that He will do something for you, and that He loves you. You know that everything is all right, and that you will become a son of God. You will come into it. Paul said, “With perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” With perseverance we press in. We take hold of it! We possess it! We are driven to it! That hope of righteousness is burning in our heart.
This hope of righteousness is real. How can it be fulfilled? How does righteousness really come? It cannot come from anything that is generated by you. It must come through Christ.
I Corinthians 1:27–31 is an important passage for our understanding of the hope of righteousness. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God. No one will boast before the Lord. The Lord will receive all the glory. Does this Scripture mean that the man whom God chooses will go forth and confound the wise men of the world as a foolish man, or even as a half-idiot? No! That man will not be foolish when he confounds the wise. He will not be weak when he overcomes the mighty. Tremendous changes will have been wrought in him.
Paul continued, But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” Christ becomes all of this within us! This hope of righteousness which we want is what Christ will become within us. It is not what He is in us now, but what He is going to become in us. It is our full development. God uses the weak things, the base things, the things that are naught. From a human viewpoint, this is what they were. But from the divine viewpoint, Christ has become in them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption.
Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. He reached in and appropriated righteousness from God. It was not a matter of God keeping books and saying, “Abraham believes Me, so I will look over the ledger; and all the things that were written against him, I will wipe out because he believes Me.” It is true that He wipes them out, but not as a matter of overlooking them; it is a matter of becoming. Do you understand the difference? It is not that God overlooks your weakness; rather, He helps you overcome it by an appropriation of His strength. God does not help you overcome the fact that you are foolish; Christ becomes to you wisdom from God. When the flesh plagues you, God does not say, “You are believing Me, so I will overlook all of these things”; rather, He becomes to you sanctification—the purifying, the cleansing.
Christ becomes all of these things within us so that finally we walk as the wisdom of God, as the sanctification of God, and as the redemption of the Lord. We must believe this; it is our hope of righteousness. This hope is not for something far off in the distance; instead, our faith reaches up and believes God for righteousness to become the reality of our lives now.
When you look at yourself, do you say, “I still see myself fighting the old nature; that is all I see.” Hope is not hope if you can see it. There has to be a burning, living hope within you to possess this righteousness. You cannot expect to come into the sonship of Romans 8 without having that burning hope within you.
Let this be your burning hope: “Oh, I hope to be righteous! I want to be rid of these things that have held me back. I want to throw off every weight and sin that so easily besets me. I do not want to be tormented even by a desire of the flesh to walk in these things that have to go. I want to have one burning hope—the hope of His righteousness. I will walk and live in that hope. It will be real in my life.”
In Romans 4:3 we read, For what does the Scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Abraham believed a Word that had come from God, and that Word became his righteousness. Can you understand this? Do you see that if you believe a Word from God, it will actually turn into righteousness? Prove it to yourself by reading what Peter wrote. He said that you are to conduct yourself in the fear of God, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. I Peter 1:18–23.
Peter said that you were born of the living and abiding Word of God. Your heart became the womb in which an incorruptible seed was planted. Something was generated within you. A Word of God brought forth Christ within your life. How shall you feed that Christ within you and bring Him forth to full maturity? Peter tells us, For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord abides forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you. (It is a living thing.) Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. I Peter 1:24–2:2.
You are to grow in respect to salvation, to the righteousness within you. You were born by the Word and you are fed by the Word—all to bring forth the nature of Christ. This salvation, or redemption, will grow and grow and grow by virtue of the Word! Too often what we start in the Spirit we try to complete in the flesh. We tend to revert to believing it is by willpower that the Christ nature comes forth in us. This is not true! It is fed by the Word of God.
There are some who give no thought to becoming strong, disciplined people; instead, they feed on the Word and listen to tapes of the Living Word. Consequently, they grow rapidly. If you concentrate on your own self-development, often that is all it amounts to. When you try to strengthen good points within you and eliminate bad points, you are falling into the error of the Judaizers who were troubling the Galatians, saying, “Cut it off! Circumcise it! Do something to it! Mutilate it!” Paul said of those Judaizers, “I wish they were cut off. I wish they were mutilated (Galatians 5:12). I wish they were not around to bother you. Do not fall from the grace of God, because there is always the hope of righteousness.”
There is a hope of righteousness, and so we long for the pure Word. It is the incorruptible seed which gave birth to the Christ nature. That seed becomes the milk of the Word which feeds and sustains the Christ nature within us and brings it forth. It brings an impartation of something within the very nature, and a subtle elimination of something that has to go. The old nature is to be crucified; it is to be mortified!
Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Paul wrote, Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. Romans 4:4–5. Do you understand this? If a man works for a set wage, that is what he receives. But he may have certain legal rights of which he is unaware; he may be entitled to a governmental provision. In fact, millions of dollars now support groups organized to keep the elderly and the underprivileged aware of what they can claim (from the government) as theirs. This is a new mentality in America, where people no longer consider, “Well, the government is giving us something.” Instead they say, “We paid our taxes and this is due us. According to law, this belongs to us as citizens; and this is what we want.” They claim it, and because they believe that it is theirs, they get it. They sign a paper or two and it is theirs.
How are you going to obtain righteousness? It is provided for you in the great government of God’s Kingdom. It is stored up for you. You come before God and you claim it: “I want it! The Word says that it is mine!” You stand on that Word. This hope of righteousness is based upon a Word from God. This experience, this nature, this righteous state of being is possible for you because God has provided it for you. For this He sent His Son. His Son ever lives “to make intercession” for you, to save you “to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25), to bring forth the perfect righteousness of God within you. Hope for it. Yearn for it, but not with some wistful feeling, “I would like to be righteous.” Have the definite, concrete, absolute, genuine hope, that God puts within your heart, to be righteous with His righteousness. Are you a long way from His righteousness? Do not let your present state discourage you. What you see is not valid; only what God says is valid.
Paul continued in Romans 4, Just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” Is this blessing then upon the circumcised, or upon the uncircumcised also? Verses 6–9a. Some subtle questions always seem to be raised: “Must I do something? Must I become circumcised? Must I begin to observe some rituals or rules or regulations? If I conform to some pattern of behavior, then will I receive the righteousness of God?” No.
Paul was asking, Is this blessing then upon the circumcised, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.” How then was it reckoned? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised… Romans 4:9–11. It was after Abraham had received the righteousness that he was circumcised. He did not become righteous because he was circumcised; he became circumcised because he was righteous.
Keeping rules and regulations, or avoiding all the things you should not do, will not make you righteous. However, if you become righteous, you will not do them. Do you see what this implies? If you stay away from all the wrong places, that will not make you righteous. If you stay out of a dozen bars, it will not make you righteous. If you stay away from them, it may keep you from being more unrighteous than you are, but it will not make you more righteous. But suppose God gives you His righteousness by faith, and you enter into that fantastic state. Then you become obedient, and your life is disciplined because of the grace of God that is in you. Then you walk straight because the Lord has put it in your heart to walk that way.
We read that Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be reckoned to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised. We see that it is not what we do, but what He becomes in us, that makes us righteous. Then we do the things that are right because of His righteousness which has taken over. Now notice this truth: For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. Romans 4:11–13.
Do you understand this promise to Abraham that “he would be heir of the world”? This is speaking about the sons of God who will rule and reign with Christ because His righteousness will prevail in their hearts. The King shall reign in Zion, and we shall reign with Him as His holy kings and priests. To become an heir of the world will not be through the Law. It will not be by anything we do, but by what we become. And if we become His righteousness in the earth, then His authority will follow. There can be no real manifestation of righteousness and authority in the world where there is disobedience and rebellion.
For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace. It has to be by faith through the grace of God. How are we going to become those sons of God? Do you say, “I am working for it. I am down in the lower ranks now, but I am working to become a son, first-class!” That is not the way it happens. It is a state of being. It is achieved by faith through the grace of God, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. Romans 4:16–17. God will call into being a nature that does not exist within you.
In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief… Verses 18–20. Very realistically he realized that he could not reverse the aging process. He could “take his vitamins” every morning and still be a day older every morning. When he looked at Sarah, he realized that nothing had prolonged her fertility. Realistically he contemplated the deadness of her womb and his own body as good as dead. But with respect to the promises of God, he did not waver in unbelief because the hope was there.
Hope is not based on what you see. What is seen is not hope. Hope is not seen. We only know that something is coming! Something is coming! And with all that we see coming into view, it is still significant that the greater things we are praying for we have not seen. We have a hope of righteousness, a hope of sonship, a hope of the glory of God coming.
Abraham did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. God could do it. He had given a Word, and Abraham believed that God was able to fulfill that Word. Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Romans 4:20b–22. God, looking on Abraham’s faith, reckoned it to him as righteousness. Abraham died a righteous man, not a man wandering around with the same faults that he had had in his earlier years. He became a righteous man by his faith. Righteousness was reckoned to him, and he walked in it. It was a reality.
God is not a hypocrite. He calls things into being that are not. He calls things that are not as though they were. That is not hypocrisy, because when He finishes, they are there. If He says, “Let there be light,” you had better put on your sunglasses. If God says that you are righteous, you will be righteous. When you believe the Word of God and it comes to pass, it is a reality. Do not think, “Well, God says I am righteous, but I am still walking in the same sins as this other man who has no faith.” This is not true. This is not what will be. You have that hope of righteousness. Look to God for it; it has begun within you. He who has begun a good work within you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). It will be completed in your heart. God will sanctify you wholly so that your spirit, soul, and body will be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (I Thessalonians 5:23).
Concerning Abraham, Paul also said, Now not for his sake only was it written, that “it was reckoned to him,” but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace (we have not entered into all of it, but we have been introduced into this grace) in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. We are rejoicing in this hope of the glory of God. And this cannot lead in any other direction but to the eighth chapter of Romans. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope. Romans 4:23–5:4.
Hope is not a matter of tying a knot on the end of a rope and hanging on a little longer. Ours is a living, driving hope of the righteousness and glory of God coming forth within us! When we go through tribulations, they work perseverance; and the perseverance, a proven character; and from a proven character comes hope. This hope exists within the mature. This hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has given it.
If you look in the mirror, you will become discouraged because of the flesh nature that you see. But if you look into the Word and into your heart, you will believe God, because there is a living vital hope, a hope of the glory, a hope of the righteousness to come. We keep crying for it: “Lord, we will be holy in Your sight.” If you have not been growing much lately, get back into the Word! You were born by the incorruptible seed; it pertains to your salvation, and you will grow by your thirst for the pure milk of the Word. Absorb it. Listen to tapes of the basic Living Word that God is speaking in this hour. Get into the flow of the Word. Love it! There is nothing so wrong with you that it cannot be helped if you press into the Word. Move in with faith. Appropriate this living hope of righteousness. You will be changed by the Lord.
How does this word apply to our repentance? If you just repent of sin and mourn over your shortcomings, and God forgives them, you have only come up to zero. This hope of righteousness is not speaking of reaching zero; it speaks of reaching the top! It brings you into the nature of Christ. There is a vast difference between seeing the sins covered and forgiven, and coming into the righteousness of God. Should you repent? Yes, but your repentance should have this additional aspect. Instead of mourning for sin, demand righteousness. Repent of sin, but demand to be righteous. It is God’s provision that you be righteous. Be determined to be righteous because it is included in the provision of your redemption. Repent with all your heart. Bow down and mourn for sin, but do not stop there. Demand to be holy, demand to be righteous, demand to break through into all that God has for you.
This is the provision of God. Since He has given you His Word, then you can assume with all your heart to become righteous in God. Let His righteousness take over. Do not be discouraged. It makes no difference what pattern of defeat has existed in the old nature. That has nothing to do with the victory that comes to the new nature. The Word is very explicit that this is not a reformation of the old nature, but rather the coming forth of a new nature.
Jesus said, “Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3). The Word constantly cleanses and purges. The Bride will be pure, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, by the washing of water by the Word (Ephesians 5:26–27). The Word will cleanse us. The purity of the Word will bring our purity.
The issue is not what we say as much as what we become because of the Word in us. We are the Bride of Christ. But when Christ takes the Bride, she is not yet pure. She becomes pure. The Bride makes herself ready. Christ presents her to Himself without spot or wrinkle, but she does not start out that way. By the washing of water by the Word, she comes into righteousness and purity.
Press into righteousness with all your heart. It comes by the Word. Believe it! Believe that God’s righteousness can be reckoned to you. Believe the Word! Believe the Word with all your heart! Believe the Word! Believe this wonderful principle of the Kingdom: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). This Scripture has not always been seen in its proper light. Many people may seek the Kingdom of God and yet never attain it because they are not seeking for the righteousness that comes by faith. Kingdom righteousness is our emphasis now. We are not far from the Kingdom now. We are reaching into changes and embracing the release that will come.
Press in! Possess this righteousness! Possess it! It is reckoned to you by God. This is God’s response. He takes His righteousness and reckons it to you. It is not a system of bookkeeping, by which God crosses out a few things that are wrong. Instead, He writes in the ledger, “This man is righteous! This man is righteous!” It comes by faith. You believe God! You do not stagger at His promises. You do not draw back from them. You believe the Word. He provided it for you. The blood comes to cover. You are cleansed by the blood!
All of the foregoing is closely related to resurrection life. The following Scripture may seem unrelated; however, it also speaks about hope. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. II Corinthians 4:17–18. It is amazing that this verse would occur here, because in the previous chapter Paul told how Moses saw the glory of God and was changed, and also how we are “changed from glory to glory” as we behold a revelation of the Lord.
Then Paul started the fourth chapter saying, Therefore, since we have this ministry (the ministry of bringing forth Christ in the life), as we received mercy, we do not lose heart. At the end of the chapter he was saying, in effect, “Now we have hope; but we do not see the thing.” Then we read, For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. II Corinthians 5:1. He had said that in verse 16 of the preceding chapter: Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. Paul was actually saying that the Word and the revelation of the Lord are feeding the inner man, and the inner man is being renewed and brought forth. What we see seems to be decaying and withering away. The outer man is perishing, but the inner man is being renewed. Paul said that we are groaning, not to lay off our present body, but to be clothed with the body which is from above (II Corinthians 5:4).
We see that it is the inner man being renewed which reaches the state of righteousness that can appropriate resurrection life. The promises of Romans 8 come forth as a result of this. This is why in Romans 7, the prelude to Romans 8 (the glorious manifestation of the sons of God), is found that woeful lamentation. Paul sees the flesh incapable of pleasing God or walking in the will of God, and he finds himself, because of bondage to the flesh, doing the things that he did not want to do and failing to do the things that he wanted to do (Romans 7:15). But he began to reach in, saying, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ the Lord” (Romans 7:24–25). Immediately he went into Romans 8.
We are not passing from one experience to another. It seems to be a twofold process by which the inner man is being renewed while the outer man is perishing. The outer man is perishing in the work of the cross; it is not that he is dying. We do not want to die. We want to be clothed upon with resurrection life, to put it on over the whole being. This is what God is speaking about. If Romans 8 means anything at all, it means that we are ready to appropriate life, not to see this body pepped up with vitamins so that it does not look so bad, but to see the inner man renewed, so that it reaches a place of transformation.
We demand the righteousness that God demands of us. We hope for it. We yearn to be righteous as He yearns for us to be righteous. We yearn for the sonship that He travails over, too.
The Living Word is a breakthrough for us. When the Word comes to us, we feast on the Word. We meditate on it, but not analytically to discover all of the little shades of meaning. We want to find the heart of it. We seek to appropriate its life. We want the Word to really work. We do not need to highlight or pinpoint our need—where we are off or where we are wrong. The positive focus clears away the fog and gives us the assurance that we can be righteous in God. It is no great trick; it is just an impartation from God.
The time has come for the impartation of His righteousness to become a dispensational outpouring. The time has come “to seek the Lord until He comes and rains righteousness upon us.” If we yearn for the Lord to rain righteousness upon us, we will forget about merely praying for a blessing. The emphasis in this hour is not so much on being blessed. We are not seeking a blessing; we are seeking for impartation. The general cry of the heart is for impartation rather than for blessings. In times past we were sustained by that which picked us up a little and gave us a spiritual lift and helped us to go on. But we are not sustained by that anymore. We are not satisfied with that any longer. Let us cry for the Lord to rain righteousness upon us. It is a living promise that the Lord has given to us, and it will work for us. Believe it!