Notes for
Divine Directives-4
The Rewards of Righteousness
Revelation 2:7 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.
Isaiah 45:19 I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a person, But its end is the way of death.
If everything has already been done by Jesus and we have no role in it by the way we live, God never would have told us to pursue holiness.
Hebrews 12:14 Pursue … holiness, without which no one will see the Lord
2 Timothy 2:19 God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Amplified: And in accordance with this will [of God] we [who believe in the message of salvation] have been sanctified [that is, set apart as holy for God and His purposes] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) once for all.
When you received Christ, because of Christ’s sacrifice for you, God was able to give you the same position of holiness that Jesus had.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
I Peter 1:14-15 Amplified Live as children of obedience to God; do not conform yourselves to the evil desires that governed you in your former ignorance when you did not know the requirements of the Gospel. But as the One Who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living.
We have the position of holy, but God is telling us that we must also pursue the behavior of holy.
Hebrews 12:14-15 Pursue … holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
We fall short of God’s grace by not understanding how grace works in our life. Grace is God’s unmerited favor, but it is also God’s divine empowerment in our life to help us live a godly life.
2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Peter 1:2-3 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness
Acts 11:23 “When he came and had seen the grace of God”
Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and
godly lives in this present age,
There is a power over sin that we can tap into in God that breaks every chain of sin in our life. It gives us the power to say “NO.” It is God’s grace.
I John 2:27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you.
Here is where most of us fail: we are trying to live a holy life in our own strength and we can’t.
I Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
Here God tells us how to be blameless: fear God and every time you are confronted with evil or sin, turn away from it.
One: there are financial rewards to living a holy life.
Deuteronomy 26:3-10 “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
“‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
“‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.
Two: there are spiritual rewards to living a holy life.
Hebrews 12:14 Pursue … holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Holiness is not an end in itself. It's the doorway to intimacy with God.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.
James 4:4 says You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means hatred against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Righteousness will save you from death in a day of wrath.
Proverbs 11:4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
Righteousness keeps Satan and demonic activity away from you.
Job 1:9-10 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?
Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light
Proverbs 4:19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes
them stumble.
Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
I John 2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.
Ephesians 4:26-27 “In your anger do not sin”… and do not give the devil a foothold.
John 14:30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me,
Amplified: I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of the world (Satan) is coming. And he has no claim on Me [no power over Me nor anything that he can use against Me];
When Satan gets a legal foothold in our lives through our sin, he does so so that he can then legally steal from us, then kill and destroy.
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness
2 Corinthians 6:16-18 For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
