| How
many times have you heard another brother or sister in Christ, or
maybe one who thought he or she was in Him, declare to you that,
because your behavior was not measuring up to the commands of God,
you needed to "get right with Him?" Something you had
done, were doing, were thinking about the possibility of doing, or
had not done now placed you in a state of being "not right
with the Lord."
Panic and fear begin to race
through your mind as you consider the horrid consequences of your
failing to measure up once again to the righteousness God
requires. But as you made another re-commitment to read your Bible
more, go to church more, witness more, ask God to forgive you
more, tithe more (along with working more to stop doing what you
were doing to make yourself "not right with God"), did
it ever dawn on you that all your doing or not doing would never
be enough?
For whoever keeps the whole law
and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all
(James 2:10)
Nevertheless knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in
Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may
be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the
Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified
(Gal. 2:16)
It was a sobering, sorrowful, and
yet thrilling day when the Spirit of God convinced me that every
one of my attempts to earn right standing before him through my
deeds amounted to one long trail of cow chips. Sobering because
I had been intoxicated with how wonderful my flesh could perform
but God was now telling me that the flesh profits nothing (John
6:63). Sorrowful because I saw that I had been placing
some confidence in my own works for righteousness and acceptance
in addition to my Savior’s. And thrilling because I had
now given up on any hope in my flesh being able to gain or
maintain right standing before my Lord. There I found freedom,
rest, peace, and joy in the Lord!
What is
"righteousness" anyway? It means rightness or being
right. Its' source is God himself. He is righteousness, rightness,
and right. All righteousness begins and ends in Him. And
since He has the market cornered on it and we could never achieve
it, we must receive it…as a gift. Through Christ, through the
cross, He has made us right. He has made us acceptable. He has
done all that was required to make you right. He is our only hope
of righteousness.
For some of us, it is a startling
truth of Scripture that our righteousness before God is not
dependent upon our performance but Christ’s, not our obedience,
but His!
So then as through one
transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so
through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of
life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the
many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One
the many will be made righteous (Romans 5:18-19)
And being found in appearance
as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8).
He has performed for you. He has
acted on your behalf. His obedience unto to death has provided
righteousness for all who will take him up on the offer void of
any works.
Could it be that the reason we
see so many saints struggling with the deeds of the flesh (Gal.
5:19) is that they continue to rely upon the flesh as a means
to attaining righteousness and acceptance with God? Why do they do
so? Because they are not believing and trusting implicitly in the
unalterable, eternal righteousness they already have in Him as a
gift. They are believing a lie that says a man’s adherence to
codes, rules, regulations, or commandments determines whether or
not he is right with God. Has anything changed throughout history?
Has not man stubbornly, desperately sought to make himself right
either in the eyes of men or in the eyes of God …or both! Can a
man truly be saved trusting both in Christ’s work and
some degree of his own?
Why do you think Paul proclaimed
that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24)? Could it be
because the flesh wants to be right? It wants to have a
righteousness of its own. It has a passion, a desire, a lusting to
have some role in attaining righteousness in lieu of, or in
addition to, the work of the Spirit (Gal. 3:1-7; 5:16-17).
And to fall into that trap of relying upon the flesh for any
contribution toward our righteousness is unbelief, foolishness,
and at worst, evidence that maybe we have never given up on
ourselves, never come to die that we might have life.
Righteousness is a gift for which
you do not work, not a wage that you earn.
Now to the one who works, his
wage is not reckoned as a favor but as what is due. But to the
one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the
ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness (Romans 4:4-5).
If anyone ever tells you again
that you need to get right with God, stand on the truth that you
already are right with Him through His Son’s obedience, not
yours! I have a dear friend in Christ who reminded me several
months ago that in matters pertaining to the object of our faith,
Jesus Christ, we cannot separate the person of Christ from His
work. In other words, are you trusting in the risen, glorified
Savior who justifies the ungodly through simple faith in His
already completed work, or are you trusting in the Jesus who
taught under the law, demanded that men be perfect, and had not
yet fulfilled the work of redemption through the cross? Are you
placing your faith in the baby in a manger or the One who was the
final sacrifice for sins, the Redeemer, the Reconciler, the
Sanctifier, the Giver of Life Eternal?!
In his most recent book, An
Urgent Call to a Serious Faith, author and lecturer Dave Hunt
says that "to 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ' (Acts
16:31) includes who He is and what He has done."
The Jesus who saves the wicked is the Jesus who has already paid
our sin debt in full, has crucified the old vile sinner-man we
used to be, has buried you and your sins never to see them or the
old you again, has made you a new creation, holy and blameless in
His sight, and has seated you securely in heaven in Him! His
righteousness is obtained through faith in His works, not yours.
And once you have been made right, you cannot do anything to gain
or maintain that righteousness. It is a gift, it is His grace, it
is His perfect love toward you demonstrated in the cross of
Christ.
In fact, any man who seeks to
work for righteousness will not reach his goal because it can only
be acquired through faith in Jesus Christ. Folks, God’s offer of
perfect righteousness could not be any simpler yet we have made it
so complex. He is telling us not to work for righteousness if you
want His! Stop working, stop striving to earn something that, if
you are in Christ, you have had since the day He saved you…the
gift of righteousness. If, tragically, you choose to work for it,
you will never gain it!
What shall we say then? That
Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained
righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but
Israel pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that
law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though
it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just
as it is written, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF
STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL
NOT BE DISAPPOINTED" (Romans 9:30-33)
Those who have trusted in and are
solely dependent upon the finished work of Jesus Christ via the
cross on their behalf plus nothing are eternally right with
God! Perfect performance and perfect obedience will never gain,
maintain, or improve your right standing with God. Neither will
imperfect performance and imperfect obedience cause you to lose,
forfeit, or lessen your right standing before God. It is His
performance, His obedience on Calvary’s cross almost 2,000 years
ago plus nothing that has provided the gift of righteousness to
all who would receive it by faith!
So how do those who have trusted
in the completed work of Christ for salvation "get
right" with God? They don’t do anything to get right with
Him. Why? Because they already are through faith in the working
of God (Col. 2:12, NASB), not themselves! It is the one who
does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, (whose)
faith is reckoned as righteousness (Rom. 4:5).
So what about you? Have you
stumbled over the stumbling stone? Have you been trying to add to
His perfect righteousness with a dash or two of your own? Have you
been working and doing in order to "get right with God?"
If so, get up and come to the cross. It’s time to die, that you
might have new life. It’s time to be done with trusting in
anything you can do to become right with God, and once-and-for-all
rely completely on what He has done… once-and-for-all.
Love,
John
Moneypenny
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