What is the one all-governing thing through the whole Bible? Now I’ll tell you: Right standing with God! How can man have right standing with God?  We have a word for it, haven’t we? It’s the great word, it’s the word “righteousness”. Of course that’s a theological word. That’s a word of Christian doctrine. Oh, but it is infinitely more than that! From Genesis to Revelation the one question is: right standing with God. There is God, He is over all. God... perfect in holiness - perfect in every way! How can man stand in God’s presence on right ground and say, “I have a right to be here before God”? That is the meaning of righteousness, it is right standing with God. Is not that your concern? Every day this question arises - being right with God, being able to stand up before God and say “I am quite right. There is no fault that God can find in me.” 

Isn’t that tremendous? You see, because Adam sinned as he did, he put the whole race out of God. The whole race in Adam has no right standing with God. Our New Testament says “There is none righteous, no not one!” Put it in this other way: there is not one who has a right standing with God. That’s the issue of the Bible. How can that be changed? A tremendous thing, isn’t it? Oh, what a marvelous thing if you and I were able to say, “Today I can stand before God without any condemnation!” Do you think that’s too much, too much even to think of? No, that is what Jesus came to do! We are made accepted in the Beloved One.

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