Righteousness
Matthew 5:20
The scribes and Pharisees were, in their
day, the most highly respected and admired religious leaders in the world.
Everyone stood in awe of them. But our Lord said to his disciples, "Except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Those words must
have been astounding to the people who first heard them. The scribes were the
religious scholars of the day. They were the men who copied and expounded the
scriptures. They gave their lives entirely to this one great work for God and
his people. They consecrated themselves to this one noble work. The Pharisees
were the strictest sect of the Jews. No one exceeded the Pharisee in outward
morality, obedience to the law, saying of prayers, tithing, sabbath
keeping, scripture memory, personal righteousness and public approval. Yet, our
Lord declares, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you cannot be saved!"
Is the Lord telling us that we must do
more and be better than the scribes and Pharisees? Is he saying that we must
gain a greater measure of personal holiness than those men had? Not at all. In fact, he is saying just the opposite! The
Lord is telling us that it is utterly impossible for any man to gain favor with
God on the basis of his own, personal righteousness. There never has been a
child of Adam upon this earth good enough, righteous enough, holy enough to
inherit or inhabit the kingdom of heaven, and there never shall be. You and I
must get every thought of personal righteousness out of our minds, and the very
word "good" out of our vocabulary, when we think or speak of any
human being in God' s sight! We have no righteousness
of our own before God, and no ability to produce righteousness. If we would be
saved, we must have the righteousness of God in Christ imputed and imparted to
us. It is this righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees! Do what you may, without the righteousness of God in Christ, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
We Lost All Righteousness In Adam
Romans 5:12
By the sin and fall of our father Adam, we
all suffered a threefold loss of righteousness. And until righteousness is
recovered and restored to us, we can never be accepted in the presence of the
holy God.
1. WHEN ADAM SINNED IN
THE GARDEN, MAN LOST HIS RIGHTEOUS NATURE. Man before the fall was much more
than an innocent creature. He was holy, righteous, good and well-pleasing to
God (Gen. 1:31). But after the fall man was guilty, sinful, corrupt, repulsive to and condemned by God. And that which was true
of fallen Adam is true of all the fallen sons of Adam. Every faculty of man's
being is corrupted, defiled, twisted and deformed as the result of the fall. We
lost all natural, moral, spiritual goodness in the fall. Fallen man has a
perverted heart, corrupt will and vile nature. There is no righteousness,
goodness, or possibility of goodness in any of us by nature. In our flesh
"dwelleth no good thing".
2. IN THE MOMENT ADAM
SINNED WE ALSO LOST ALL RIGHTIOUSNESS IN GOD'S SIGHT (Rom.
3. AND FALLEN MAN HAS
NO UNDERSTANDING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (
Forsaking All
Luke 14: 25-33
I recall hearing someone, when I was a boy, say that faith should be spelled "Forsaking All I
Take Him". That is exactly what faith in Christ involves, giving up all to
Christ and for Christ. Our Lord said, "Whosoever he be
of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."
That simply means this: Either we will be servants under the dominion of King
Jesus, voluntarily giving up all to his claims, or we cannot be saved. We may
not be required to give up anything literally. But surrender to Christ must be
just as real in our hearts, as if we had actually given up everything, down to
life itself. Our Lord demands total, unreserved, unqualified surrender. The
rich young ruler did not perish because he would not believe on Jesus to save
him, but because he would not bow to Christ the Lord as sovereign over him
(Luke
"Being Ignorant Of God's
Righteousness"
Romans 10:3
Fallen man has no righteousness of his
own. And he is totally ignorant of God's righteousness. He is ignorant of God' s character of righteousness, God' s requirement of
righteousness, and God's accomplishment of righteousness in Christ. Being
ignorant of both the righteousness of God and his own sinfulness, fallen man
ever goes about to establish his own righteousness. Fallen man made an apron of
fig leaves, by which he hoped to meet with God's approval. His firstborn son
followed the example and nature he had received from his fallen father. Cain
offered God a bloodless sacrifice which he had produced by the works of his own
hands. But God despised it.
No one will ever trust Christ until he
sees that he has no righteousness of his own and that it is utterly impossible
for him to produce any righteous work acceptable to God. Yet, fallen, ignorant,
sinful men and women continue the vain, futile work of trying to establish
their own righteousness. They take bricks from the kiln of their corrupt hearts
and slime of their defiled hands for mortar, and try to build a
God Requires Perfect Righteousness
Leviticus 22:21
How good does a person have to be to get
to heaven? Basically good? Sincerely
good? Outwardly good? No. He has to be
perfectly good, as good as God himself. That which man looks upon as and calls
his "personal righteousness" is of absolutely no value in the sight
of God (Isa. 64:6).
Man's definition of righteousness depends
entirely upon his definition and understanding of God. The problem is, most have never seen God in his glorious holiness. Once a
sinner sees God in his holiness, he will cease forever to speak of his own
goodness, personal holiness and self-righteousness. With Isaiah, he will cry,
"Woe is me! I am undone!" (Isa. 6:1-6). With Job, he will say,
"I have heard, of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth
thee. Wherefore I abhor myself" (Job 42:5-6). "Behold, I am
vile!" (Job 40:4). Who can stand in the presence of the holy Lord God?
NO SON OF ADAM CAN EVER STAND IN THE
PRESENCE OF GOD, BECAUSE WE ARE ALL CURSED (Gal.
ONLY ONE WHO IS HIMSELF
EQUAL TO GOD CAN STAND IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND PLEASE HIM (Psa. 24:3-5;
Matt. 17:5). That righteousness which God requires, only God can give. Yet, it
must be the work of a man, or it is of no value to men. Blessed be God! There
is a Man who is himself God, who has magnified the law and made it honorable.
He has brought in an everlasting righteousness by his perfect obedience to the
law as a man, even the; very righteousness of God! He has satisfied the law's
justice, by dying under its curse. And he lives forever to give righteousness
and eternal life to sinners. That Man-God is Jesus Christ the Lord.
Imputed Righteousness
Roman 4:22
The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world
for the purpose of fulfilling all righteousness as the Representative of God's
elect. And he did it! He brought in, established and finished the work of
righteousness for all his people by his obedience to the Father as our Federal
Head. It is this righteousness, the righteousness of God in Christ,
that is proclaimed to sinners in the preaching of the gospel (Rom.
1. ADAM'S SIN HAS BEEN
IMPUTED TO ALL MEN (Rom.
2. ALL THE SINS OF
GOD'S ELECT WERE IMUTED TO CHRIST ON THE CROSS (Isa. 53:6, 8). Our Lord Jesus
never committed any act of sin. But he was made to be sin as our Substitute, by
our sins being charged to his account. Once he was made to be sin, he had to
suffer the just consequences of sin. He died under the curse of the law (Gal.
3. AND THE
RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST IS IMPUTED TO EVERY BELIEVER (Rom.
Imparted Righteousness
II Peter 1:3-4
Just as the fallen, unrighteous nature of
Adam was imparted to all men by natural birth, the holy, righteous nature of
Christ is imparted to all God's elect in the new birth. The righteousness of
Christ is imputed to us for
justification. And the righteousness of Christ is imparted to us in regeneration, by the irresistible power and
effectual grace of God the Holy Spirit (I Pet.
I
am not saying that the believer is without sin! He is not. Sin is what we are by nature.
Sin is mixed with all we do. Sin mars our best thoughts, blackens our best
deeds, corrupts our best words, and defiles our best aspirations. I am not saying that the old nature is
changed in regeneration; It is not. Flesh is always flesh. It never
improves. It never becomes spirit. It only corrupts,
rots and, thank God, in time dies. I am
not saying that the believer's works can ever be accepted before God upon their
own merit! They are not. We offer up our prayers and sacrifices to God,
which are accepted by him, only upon the merits of Christ's righteousness and
blood atonement (I Pet. 2:5). But I am saying that the person who is born of
God is a new creature in Christ (II Cor.
Our Fourfold Message Of
Grace
Isaiah 40:1-2
The Lord God commands all who preach the
gospel, saying, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people... Speak ye comfortably to
1. PERFECT ATONEMENT!
The Lord Jesus Christ
took our sins upon himself, paid for them, completely
satisfying the just demands of God's holy law, and forever put them away.
Redemption is accomplished! We are redeemed by the blood of Christ (II Cor.
2. PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS!
It is not enough for the
sinner to be pardoned. We are required to keep the law. "Cursed is he that
continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them" (Gal.
3. PERFECT IMPUTATION!
Christ has given us
life, light and understanding by the gospel, enabling us to see and receive the
imputation of his righteousness to us by faith in him (Rom.
4. PERFECT
Since justice has been
satisfied, the law has been honored, and righteousness has been imputed to us,
God's elect are completely freed from all possibility of condemnation (Rom.
8:1-4). Where there is no debt, there is no liability. Where there is no sin,
there is no curse. Where there is no guilt, there is no fear. And where there
is no fear, there is perfect liberty.
Christ Is Made Unto Us...
I Corithians 1: 30
"But of him are ye in Christ
Jesus," by electing love and regenerating grace, "who of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
God has put all things in Christ, made Christ to be all things to all his
people, and given us all things in Christ. We are complete in him.
1. CHRIST IS OUR WISDOM!
"The fear of the
Lord," that is faith in Christ, "is the beginning of wisdom. Christ
is the Revelation of God. And he shows us the wisdom of God in redemption,
causing us to see how that God can be just and the Justifier of all who
believe, making us wise unto salvation.
2. CHRIST IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
We have no
righteousness of our own, But Christ is "THE
LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS". His righteousness has been so thoroughly and
perfectly imputed to us that we are "the righteousness of God in
him." With his spotless garments on, we are as holy as God's dear Son!
3. CHRIST IS OUR SANCTIFICATION.
Not only has his
righteousness been imputed to us for justification, it has been imparted to us
in sanctification by the grace of God. In the new birth, God gave us a holy
nature. And that nature is Christ' Our sanctification
in Christ is threefold. We were set apart in him by eternal election, declared
to be holy in him by redemption, and made holy by him in regeneration.
4. CHRIST IS OUR REDEMPTION.
The word redemption
means deliverance. Christ has delivered us from the penalty of sin, by his
death as our Substitute. He has delivered US from the reigning power of sin, by
his almighty grace in conversion. And he shall deliver us from all the
consequences of sin, the presence of sin, the being of sin, and death itself by
his glorious resurrection in the last day.
What shall we say to these things? "He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord!"