Here's a chapter from Pastor and Teacher Claudia Baca-Moore's book "Awake Unto Righteousness"...
Putting On Righteousness
Isaiah says, “When You and He make Him an offering for sin…”. He is our offering for sin. Yes, God planned to redeem mankind from sin. That’s why He said, “I’ve come to seek and to save. I have come so that I could give my life as a ransom for many,” (paraphrased from Luke 19:10). How sad that Jesus came and fulfilled His mission, completed the sacrifice –and His people are still preoccupied with a sin problem! The Psalmist said, “When I regard sin in my heart, I cannot hear God,” (Psalm 66:18). When you and I give place to sin in our hearts, we can’t hear God’s voice. God doesn’t want us to be ever conscious of wrongdoing. God wants us to meditate on His power to make us right.
Perhaps you really are struggling with win in your life right now. The Bible gives you the answer. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:34, “Awake to righteousness and sin not.” If we awaken unto who we are, we won’t experience a sin problem. You could concentrate, and concentrate, and concentrate on trying to get rid of sin, but it’ll never happen. What if I told you, “Whatever you do right now, don’t think about red hair.”? If you do think about hair, think about brown hair. Think about blonde hair. Think about bald people. But don’t, under any circumstance, think about red hair.” The more I tell you not to think about hair, guess what? The more you’ll think about red hair! What are you doing right now? I knew it – you’re thinking about red hair! Why? Because I told you not to. The more we talk about all the things we shouldn’t do, the more we think about that very thing. It’s not that we’re rebellious. It’s called “sin consciousness”.
God wants us to be “righteousness conscious” instead. He wants our concentration to be on all the things that Jesus did right in our behalf. He wants our concentration to be on who and what He has made us to be as new creations in Christ. I’m not righteous because of my works. I’m righteous because of His works. I wasn’t such a wonderful person that God had to say, “Okay, I owe it by obligation to make you righteous.” But Jesus did it for me!
When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, resurrection life was in Him. The Spirit of Righteousness rose Him up from the dead. That’s when Jesus became a conqueror over sin. He became a conqueror over the devil. Jesus became the victor over every thing and every area that we needed victory in. And, by virtue of me being in Christ, I too became victorious. The very same Spirit of Righteousness that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me. O, “That I might know Him and the power of His resurrection,” says Philippians 3:10. The power of the resurrection of Jesus is the Spirit of Righteousness. We need to know Jesus and we need to know the Spirit of Righteousness.
Whenever you read about Joshua in the Old Testament, it’s likely that you’re reading a prophecy concerning the Messiah. Joshua is a representation of Jesus. Joshua’s life speaks of a time when the Savior would come, and what would be happening in the spirit in that day. A look at Joshua foretells the time when Jesus would be changed from unrighteousness to righteousness. In Zechariah, the third chapter, the Word of God says, “Then the guiding angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at Joshua’s right hand to be his adversary and accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! Even the Lord who now and habitually chooses Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this [returned captive Joshua] a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the Angel of the Lord. And He spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And He said to Joshua, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel. And I [Zechariah] said, Let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head, and clothed him with rich garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by. And the Angel of the Lord solemnly and earnestly protested and affirmed to Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in My ways and keep my charge, then also you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts, and I will give you access [to My presence] and places to walk among those who stand here. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your colleagues who [usually] sit before you; for they are men who are a sign or omen [types of what is to come]; for behold, I will bring forth My servant the Branch. For behold, upon the stone which I have set before Joshua, upon that one stone…” (Zechariah 3:1-9a, Amplified Bible)
He says later in verse 9, “And I will remove the iniquity and guilt of this land in a single day.” Isn’t that precisely what happened when Jesus came into the presence of the Father after He had become one with our sins? When He came into the presence of the Father, the Father said, “The work is complete. Take the filthy rags of unrighteousness off of Him. Replace the filthy clothes of sin and deception, and put on new clothes. Clothe Him in righteousness.” Furthermore, He said, “And in these clothes, You will stand and be the leader of My people.”
The day that Jesus became our sacrifice was the day that a new and righteous nature could be available to each and every one of us. No longer would we be enslaved by the nature of sin. God is not as interested in the action of sin as we had thought He was. Without a doubt, the action of sin hurts us. That’s why God doesn’t condone sin. But the action of sin does not produce the nature of sin, and that is very important to know as we consider the question of eternal life. I am righteous. I may falter and sin, but that does not put me back into the kingdom of darkness. That sin does not make me unrighteous all over again. It does not make Satan my father as he was before. It just shows that I’m ignorant. I’m not walking in the light that I’ve been given. More proof that if I had a better understanding of my recreated nature, I wouldn’t be sinning!
The concentration of much of Christianity has been centered on all the “do’s-and-don’ts”. It seems that we would rather have people looking right and doing the right thing than to actually be right. We’ve preached Christian morality to the world. Perhaps we should have been preaching Christ instead! We say, “If you’ll stop doing drugs, if you’ll stop having abortions, if you’ll stop committing adultery, if you’ll stop being homosexuals, then God will be pleased with you.” Not true. God is not pleased with righteous actions only. He’s pleased with righteousness, and that only comes by faith in Jesus. As we’ve said, this faith will produce righteous good works. But the truth is, those right actions are meant to bless us – not to please God. Good works are for our benefit, not for His!
The Bible tells us that Jesus, referred to as Joshua, put on new clothes – “rich apparel”, as it’s called in Zechariah 3:5. According to the Word of God, He wears the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians Chapter 6 tells us that we also are to wear the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness is worn as a breastplate because, “Out of our hearts flow the issues of life,” (from Proverbs 4:23). Our life is contained in our hearts. The real you, the real me, is found in our heart. And He says, “This is what I want protecting your heart – righteousness. So you’ll understand that you’re okay; that you’ve been made right. So you will know that posses the very nature of God living inside you.” Knowing that will protect your heart!
Here’s what will break your heart: If you don’t understand righteousness, and somebody comes along and tells you, “The reason you’re not right with God is because you don’t pray enough,” or, “You’re not spending enough time reading the Word,” or, “You’re not witnessing enough,” or whatever, whatever. There’s always something you can be convinced that you’re not doing enough of! Without a doubt, praying, reading the Word, witnessing, are wonderful things to do. There’s a blessing in them! But it’s not what makes you right with God. Righteousness is your heart’s best protection. Knowing that you are righteous will remind you that good works are what you desire to do – not what you have to do!
Conversely, I have to tell you that I just love when people stand up to testify, saying, “You know why things are going so good for me? Because I’ve been witnessing. Because I’ve been giving. Because I’ve been praying.” Well, we’re so proud! But that’s not the real reason that things are going so well for people. Things go good in our lives because we’re “blessed in Christ with every spiritual (Holy Spirit given) blessing in the heavenly realm,” (Ephesians 1:3, Amplified Bible). We’re blessed because Jesus has done it all! Did I say, “Don’t witness. Don’t read your Bible. Don’t pray.”? Not at all! I’m saying that all Christian service must come out of the spirit; out of a heart of righteousness. We’re not trying to be righteous by doing these good works of service. You see, when I know that I am unconditionally loved in a relationship; when I know that a person views me very highly, I have no problem responding accordingly.