- Man Thinks He Can Attain Righteousness on His Own - Rom 10 pinpoints man’s most basic problem - By birth and nature mankind is in defiance to God and His Word, the Bible. Men abhor God’s authority and rulership and do not want to serve Him. Luke 19 highlights the pride of man’s sin-sick heart: Man wickedly and foolishly thinks he can somehow work for his salvation. His arrogance, however, will be sharply arrested by God’s infallible and Holy Law – the Bible – which exposes man’s guilt and degradation, and rewards him with divine retribution. In fact, God is under divine obligation to punish all sin by consigning all who do not have a Savior to eternal damnation in Hell. Nobody Can Keep the Law of God (the Bible) Perfectly. The Bible, as the “two-edged sword” spoken about in Heb 4, can either inflict damnation (by the Law of God) or salvation (by the Grace of God) upon an individual’s soul at God’s discretion. If a person is not being drawn to salvation, he is accountable to the entire Law of God---the Bible and will be found guilty of transgressing it. This is evident by Rom 3:20. Even if someone was guilty of breaking just one of God’s holy commands, he will still be subject to judgment, as Jam 2 highlights. The Bible as the Law of God was never intended to give life – but rather to expose our need for a Savior. Jesus Christ is the only One who could indeed keep the Law of God (the Bible) on our behalf.
Rom 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”
Luke 19:14 “But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, we will not have this man to reign over us.”
Rom 3:19 “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
Rom 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
Jam 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
Gal 3:21b-25 “… for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
- As the Righteous One, Christ Obeyed the Bible Perfectly - The Lord Jesus Christ’s zeal was to love God – as a man – with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength – which means to obey His commandments perfectly. He embodied the admonition in Ecc 12:13, From the moment of His divine conception by the Holy Spirit until He voluntarily gave up the Spirit, every thought, every word, every action that Jesus ever committed was done to the absolute glory and praise of God, His Heavenly Father. The Lord Jesus Christ not only obeyed every “jot and tittle” in the Scriptures, but He came to fulfill them, as Mat 5 indicates.
Ecc 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
John 8:29 “… for I [Lord Jesus Christ] do always those things that please him [God the Father].”
Heb 10:7 “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”
Mat 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”
- God Only Accepts the Righteousness of Christ – Man’s Self and False “Righteousness” Will Be Condemned - As we have just concluded, the only righteousness that can save one from sin, spiritual death, and Hell, is the gift of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This gift each Christian receives is only by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. The magnificent work of salvation that the Lord Jesus accomplished is so unique, so unparalleled, so surpassing that mere human words cannot be found to describe it – we can only turn to the words of the Bible and look in wonder and stare at Him, Who is portrayed in Isa 53. Isa 59 describes the only hope that mankind has. All who do not possess the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior will hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Judge in Mat 7 echoing eternally.
Dan 9:18 “O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.”
Isa 53:4 “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”
Isa 59:16-17 “And he [God and Lord Jesus Christ] saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.”
Mat 7:22-23 “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
- The ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS Needed to Enter Heaven - In Mat 22 we read about the parable of the man who did not have on a wedding garment. This parable is not simply referring to a point of etiquette but is underscoring what is required to gain entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Isa 61 helps us to see this truth with even greater clarity: Notice how God emphasizes the fact that He bestows the “robe of righteousness”, or salvation, upon the unworthy recipients of such grace. Why are we unworthy, you ask? We are unworthy because by nature and birth we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, and because we think that we are good enough to merit God’s acceptance. How fatally flawed this thinking is! The Lord Jesus declared in Mat 5. What kind of “righteousness” did the religious leaders of Jesus’ day possess? It was a man-made, false righteousness, which only leads to Hell. We need the robe of Christ’s righteousness, spoken about in Rev 19. The individual believers who make up the Body, or Bride, of Christ have been clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness – -hence they are saved.
Mat 22:11-14 “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Isa 61:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”
Mat 5:20 “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Rev 19:8 “And to her [the Bride of Christ] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”
- The ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS is Needed to Escape Hell - The robe of Christ’s righteousness is absolutely needed in order for one to escape from the inevitable broad road that leads to Hell. The reason one is on that road is explained in Isa 64. The expression “filthy rags” and “uncleaness” is a fitting description of man’s total depravity and spiritual bankruptcy and his self-righteosuness. God is accurately substantiating how filthy, how polluted, and how foul our sin is in God’s eyes. No wonder God affirms in Rom 3 that we all are sinners. The only person who has actually suffered the rigors of Hell is the Lord Jesus. The phrase “heart of the earth” is a reference to eternal Hell. By “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” as 1 Cor 2:13 instructs, we run across this powerful statement in Jonah 2, which helps us to see, in a small way, the extent of the punishment Christ was bearing in the “belly of Hell”, or “the deep”, for His people. Those whose sins are not payed for and who is not covered with Robe of Christ's Righteousness will be cast into Hell as Mat 22 affirms.
Isa 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Rom 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God…”
2 Cor 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Mat 12:40 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Jon 2:1-4a “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight…”
Mat 22:11-14 “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.”
- God’s People are Called to Live Righteous Lives - After someone has become saved, God’s command to “follow after righteousness” found in 1 Tim 6 begins to manifest itself in the life of one who truly has become a “new creature” (or creation) in Christ. This happens because in his new soul – where salvation has occurred – he lives Righteously. 1 John 2 explains that whosover , "...doeth righteousness is born of him". The spiritual fruit that results from salvation and from God’s working in the Christian’s life is expressed in Rom 6. May God cause us to hunger and thirst for Him and for His Righteousness.
2 Cor 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"
1 John 3:10 "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."
1 John 2:29 "If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him."
1 John 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
Eph 5:9 "(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)"
Rom 6:13 "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
Rom 6:18-19 "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness."
1 Tim 6:11-12 "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses."
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