Okay, in 1st John chapter 3 again
and speaking of the righteousness that we must have and the only
source of righteousness that we have is the Lord himself and
this is the children of God and the children of the devil are
manifest by those that do with righteousness and those who do
not righteousness but in Galatians chapter 3 And starting with verse 5, it
says, he therefore that minister to you the spirit and worketh
miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law or
by the hearing of faith. Even as Abraham believed God
and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying,
in these shall all nations be blessed. So they which be of
faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. And so in contrast here
to the Pharisees that by the flesh, they said they were sons
of Abraham was their father. They might have been able to
trace him back that way in the flesh, but they could not trace
back spiritually that. And as it says here, that Abraham
believed God. And as we've seen many times,
how does that belief come about? By God's grace, he gives us that
faith to believe. And it's not of ourselves. And
it's sure not by the flesh, as we know. But those that claim
to be Abraham's father, and the Lord said, you would do the works
of your father if that was the case. And Abraham believed God,
and it was counted to him for righteousness. And we have the
record of those things that Abraham did, and by faith that they came
about. And we're going to look at some
examples of that. In 1 Corinthians, Let me go the right way. First
Corinthians, just a couple of familiar verses I want to look
at and then a couple of others. First Corinthians, the last part
of chapter one. And up above here, it speaks
about the, in the first chapter, earlier in 1 Corinthians, it
speaks about the preaching of the word and the gospel is how
that comes about by the spirit. And it says that God was pleased
by preaching. the gospel that his people would
be saved by the spirit. And he calls it the foolishness
of preaching. Not foolish preaching as we've
heard before, but it's foolishness to natural man of what the gospel
says. And that God was pleased to do
that in that way. And he uses that means only to
save his people. And then at the end of the chapter
here, speaking about, it says, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. So these things that he says,
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. And in him, we stand in those
things, in those positions. We are sanctified. in him, we
have wisdom of the gospel by the spirit in him, and we have
righteousness, a right standing, and being justified before God, and
that is in him. And there's no, again, the book that we have
is not a how-to book, but it's a who's accomplished what for
his people. and it will ever be that. And
then in chapter two, just following here, in chapter two of 1 Corinthians,
starting with verse nine, It says, but as is written, I
hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them to
us by his spirit. For the spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the
things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we
have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teach, but which the Holy Ghost
teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who
hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But
we have the mind of Christ. And here those things, that righteousness,
that it says that children of God are known by doing righteousness
is indeed standing in him and what the gospel says and not
in anything that can be added to or done or to augment or build
up anything that has been done for our salvation is all in Him
and none of us. And it's spiritually discerned. The gospel is spiritually discerned. Nicodemus, when the Lord was
speaking to him about the new birth, all he could hear without
the Lord revealing to him is, how can that happen? How can
that happen? And the Lord said to him what
he could have said to the Pharisees in that other passage of John.
You guys are the learned guys here and you don't know these
things? thought highly of themselves
and they didn't know the first thing about spiritual things.
And as Nicodemus pointed out there and said that, that's all
you can see without God opening our eyes to these things. And
the only thing that man can see about righteousness is how we
live, what we do. And how many people have said
over the years and say all the time that Maybe my good stuff
will outweigh the bad stuff. Well, that has nothing to do
with righteousness, but that's the perception that man has because
that's all we can perceive, is that something that we can do
or act like or whatever that would produce that righteousness.
And as it says here, Christ is that righteousness. Let's see. In Hebrews chapter 13. We're
going, we're going to go in Hebrews
chapter 13, but we're going to go also to chapter 11, but we're
going to start in 13 for just a couple of verses here. Starting
reading Hebrews 13, Here in the last, or verses 20
and 21 that says, and we've read this a number of times. Now the
God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through
Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. And this
two verses here are gonna bear heavily on not only on righteousness
and our perception of righteousness and what righteousness is, but
later when we see in the book of 1 John, it goes on quite some
length about loving the brethren, a lot about loving the brethren.
And we're gonna spend some time in that. And here it speaks here
when it says, perfect in verse 21, make you perfect in every
good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. It's like prayer. We don't know
how to do this as we ought. If the spirit doesn't direct
us and doesn't cause these things to happen in us, to cause us
to, as it says here, make us perfect and to do his will, we
just don't have it in us if it was directed by the Spirit. And
we think of the love of the brethren, and like I say, this is gonna
be a big topic of a couple of lessons, loving the brethren,
and we think of loving the brethren as I don't know, talking nice
to them or something, or vision of love to brethren might be,
but it goes a lot deeper than that. Like I said, there's a lot spent
on it in the book of 1 John and what that includes of that. It includes the gospel being
preached. It can care for the brethren
in physical ways, like it talks about widows and those that are
destitute, and care that is into it. But a lot of the care is
spiritual care, that we have a burden for the brethren. the
Lord is with them and the Lord strengthens him and does those
things that only he can do and encourages us in each other in
that. And I think that is part and
parcel of that. But in John chapter 17, before we
go back to, we're going to be back in Hebrews, but John chapter
17, John chapter 17, starting with
the first verse, reading a few verses here, of what the Lord praised here
about the church. It says, these words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify thy son that thy son
might also glorify thee. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is eternal life, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me. And then he prays specifically
for the church, but that he has manifested, and the Spirit has
manifested those things to us, and he says, they have believed
this, there were those that were directly with him at that time
in the flesh that he speaks to here. But he speaks on a little
later, he says, I pray not for these only, but those that will
believe by the spirit through the gospel. And that would be
us and anyone since that time, but from that time. And the source
again is that it has to be start and finish with God as the source
of the righteousness because there's no earning or attaining
it or finding a way to get there. The Lord himself and his righteousness
is all that, and our only hope. And then back to Hebrews chapter
11. Hebrews chapter 11. In this chapter,
there's quite a list that we've gone over before and is used
many times about faith and about God's faith given to His people. And I'd like to read just the
first three verses of chapter 11. It says, now, faith is the substance
of things hoped for. the evidence of things not seen.
For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith,
we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God
so that things which are seen were not made of things which
do appear. And then it goes down and Abel
and Enoch and all the rest of them, it talks about what they
did by faith, action that they took. It brought some action
that is spoken of here. And then verse 13, It says, these all died in faith. not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers, and
pilgrims on the earth. And that has not changed since
Adam and Eve, and at least Abel's day, down to the, till the last
sheep be called in, that having been persuaded of them, and not
just, not taught, or directed, or, preached or lessons taught, but
the Lord himself having persuaded us of these things and of here,
of not only creation and all things, but persuaded and embraced
by his people because of what he has done and the faith that
he gives it. And then verse 39 of the same chapter, it says, Speaking of all these
up above here, of the things that they did by faith, all these,
having obtained a good report through faith, receive not the
promise. God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
But here, these all having obtained a good report through faith,
receive not the promise. But the point being here, they
obtained the good report by the faith that God granted them,
by his grace, to believe these things. That's the only good
report we have, is that we believe the gospel, the word that he
has delivered to us. And that's where these all stood,
and that's where God's people of all times stand. in 2 Corinthians, in the book
of 2 Corinthians. So the good report or the working
out of righteousness that is seen in God's children are the repeating of these things
and the belief of these things that he grants to us. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, starting with verse 17. And it speaks about the, this
is gonna fit with the working out and the seeing of righteousness
in God's people by how they stand and who they stand in. It says,
therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we did pray for you
in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. 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. And he's here speaking about
that God has done the reconciling. Man, we have not done the reconciling. God has reconciled us to him.
And not only that, and that's the ministry of what the gospel
is, that God is, that's the good news of the gospel, that there
is reconciliation. There is justification. There is righteousness in him.
And then here, that, verse 21, he that knew, made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And he was imputed to him our
sin, we imputed to us his righteousness. And that was, there was a message
or I think a, alluded to a message that Brother Loren talked about
of the great trade or the great swap, and that was our sin for
his righteousness, and that's the mark of God's children. is not that we are necessarily
shining examples of how we live our daily life. We're still sinners,
but the mark of it is who we stand in, who our hope is in,
and that righteousness of His. And then, we're just about done with this
spot, but in John 19, we're gonna look at three others. short places
in wrapping up today's, but in John chapter 19, the crucifixion. When he said on the cross, the
last thing he said in verse 30, he said, when therefore he received
the vicary, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. And when he said it's finished, all was accomplished
that needed to be accomplished for our righteousness, for our
salvation. and our justification. And then,
in 1 Corinthians 15, well, that thought's in your
mind. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
it says here, starting with verse 1, Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received, and wherein ye stand. By which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory that which I preached unto you, unless you
have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, And after that, scene of above
500 brethren at once. But here particularly, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, how they was
buried and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures. And that's We're going to hear
a little more of that in the next hour. But that's, as you
said, it's finished in John there. And then here, that's what we
stand in according to that. And then lastly, turn to Romans
chapter four, if you would, please. And this is ground that we've
been over. a number of times and recently,
and we might wear the pages out,
but we don't wear out what it means to His people, means to
us. Romans 4, starting at verse 20. Romans 4.20. It says, he staggered not at
the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. This is speaking again of Abraham. And being fully persuaded that
what he had promised he was able to perform. And therefore it
was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him. but for us also to whom it shall
be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord
from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. In chapter five, the first couple
of verses, it says, therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also
we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and
rejoice in hope of the glory of God. But here as above, that
he was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. It says we have peace with God
in verse one of chapter five, peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. And the only avenue or way or
means possible of reconciliation and peace with God is being righteous
in his eyes. And the Lord is the only, source
of that, and he is that source to his people. And he alone,
as Lauren brought out about the two covenants and about the grace
or works, it's all of God's doing that delivers this to his people. So again, in 1 John 3.10 where
it says, This is how you can tell the
people of God, children of God and children of the devil is
if they stand in righteousness, if they do righteousness or they
do not. And thank God he has a people and
he's revealing himself to us. Thank you for your attention
today.