{"id":12505,"date":"2016-08-17T01:36:11","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-fruit-of-righteousness\/"},"modified":"2016-08-17T01:36:11","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:36:11","slug":"the-fruit-of-righteousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-fruit-of-righteousness\/","title":{"rendered":"THE FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>PROVERBS 11:30<\/b><b>; 13:6; 21:21<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness and honor<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>(Prov. 21:21).<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u201cA person is saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.\u201d The Reformers coined this phrase to counter those who accused them of inventing a system of salvation that allows Christians to continue living profane and sinful lives. The Reformers understood a distinction that was lost to many of their contemporaries. While God declares sinners righteous because they are covered by the righteousness of Christ, He does not leave them in a state of sin. He changes their hearts and enables them to become actually righteous.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>The righteous receive a foreign righteousness that is from above for the salvation of their souls, but they are also changed and enabled by the Spirit of Christ to become righteous. They are redeemed and saved on account of the righteousness of Christ that only comes through faith\u2014a gift of God. But they are not left unchanged. A new day dawns in their souls, and the light that has come into their hearts grows with each passing day. As God dwells within our hearts, we grow in righteousness. We do not trust in <i>this<\/i> righteousness for our salvation, but we will not be saved without it. Those whom God saves and declares righteous will bear fruit for the kingdom of God. By His grace they will walk in the way of holiness and battle the remaining sin that hinders them. \u201cThe true evidence of divine grace on the heart is the practical influence upon the temper and conduct (Titus 3:8),\u201d Bridges wrote. \u201cOur Master\u2019s example is our pattern. And he is a self-deceiving professor who does not labor intensely to follow after it.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u201cBut this following after is not the toiling at a daily task; not a compulsory law, chaining the conscience against the inclinations of the will. It is delight, freedom, and enlargement; the rising flow of the heart with fearless love,\u201d said Bridges. Those who persevere in this righteousness (and those declared righteous by Cod <i>will<\/i> persevere), will receive honor and glory not only in this life but in the life to come. \u201cHe that follows finds life\u2014that which is the life of life\u2014the treasure of the best happiness; fellowship with God; the sunshine of His face; the enjoyment of His love.\u2026 For \u2018if any man serve Me\u2019\u2014saith our divine Master\u2014\u2018him will My Father honor.\u2019&nbsp;\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>2 Kings 20\u201322<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>John 6:52\u201371<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:   18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Do you think that because you\u2019re saved by grace it   doesn\u2019t matter how you live? Read Matthew 7:15\u201329, then James 2:14\u201326. What   do these passages say about the necessity of good works? Today, consider all   the areas of your life, in your heart and actions, that are sinful. Repent of   your sins and confess them to God.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:   normal'><i>For   further study: Matt. 5 \u2022 Titus 2 \u2022 1 Peter 2 \u2022 2 Peter 1<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>friday<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>may<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PROVERBS 11:30; 13:6; 21:21 He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness and honor (Prov. 21:21). \u201cA person is saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.\u201d The Reformers coined this phrase to counter those who accused them of inventing a system of salvation that allows Christians to continue living &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-fruit-of-righteousness\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;THE FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}