As a result of revelation, Saul of Tarsus experienced a tremendous upheaval in his personal life

This reference from Habakkuk 2:4 is the summat= ion of God’s gospel to us. = How glorious that through the hearing of faith, God, embodied in His Son, Jesus Christ, who through death and resurrection became the life-giving Spirit as life is transmitted into our being causing us to become a new creation, that will live, walk and move as the very expression of God on the earth. That we poor, vile, religious, dea= d, impotent and fallen sinners have been rescued to become God’s righteousness.

God's righteousness, which is solid and steadf= ast, is the foundation of His throne (Psa. 89:14) and the base on which His king= dom is built (Rom. 14:17). Righteousness is to be right by living, walking, and doing things in the way God has ordained. In the Old Testament, to be right= eous was to keep the law that God had given. Justification is God's action where= by He approves you according to His standard of righteousness. God can do this= on the basis of the redemption of Christ.

It is impossible for your natural life to gain this surpassing righteousness; it can be produced only by a higher life, the resurrection life of Christ. It is a mistake to think that improved, proper behavior especially related to the things of God is to be righteous.

When you hear Him= , know Him, appreciate Him, and treasure Him, then God causes faith to be generated in you, enabling you to believe in Him. Thus, He becomes the fait= h in you by which you believe in Him. The law cannot give life to people (Gal. 3:21), that people can only have life by faith. We all ha= ve been justified and we all have received the divine life. =

The Righteous one shall have life by faith and live by faith. The righteous one has God’s life, lives God’s li= fe and is alive to God. When you= have life and are living then God accounts that to you as righteousness. Our goal is not to have a proper behavior concerning things of God. Our goal is God Himself. Everything of God’s very nature will spontaneously live out through us “the righteous ones”.

Two garments in the New Testament that we must= pay attention to: 1) the robe in Luke 15:22, which allowed the poor prodigal to match his rich father and qualified him to enter the father's house and fea= st with the father (God's salvation adorns us with Christ and the Spirit that = we may enjoy the riches in His house) and 2) the wedding garment in Matt 22:11 this man not clothed with a wedding garment is saved, because he has come to the wedding feast, he has received Christ as his righteousness that he migh= t be justified before God (1Cor. 1:30; Rom. 3:26), but he has not lived Christ o= ut as his subjective righteousness (Phil.3:9) that he might participate in the enjoyment of the kingdom of the heavens.&n= bsp; The robe at the beginning of our salvation eventually becomes our wedding garment. Our salvation begins with our realization of Who God the Father is and ends with our abso= lute commitment of love for the Son.

Matthew 7:21-23 indicate that it is not enough= to just have the divine life of God initially, but that we also have the living o= f that life so that we can enter into the kingdom of the heavens. The church in Ephesus had an outstanding church life = and only lacked one thing – they lost their first love.=

Thank the Lord that we have had such a good beginning receiving the hearing of faith which imparted Christ as life into us. May the Lord continue in = us as the supplying Spirit through the hearing of faith living out God’s li= fe in us as His righteousness.