Well, if you ever wonder about
the success of the church, even in the final glory, just go back
and read that Psalm and meditate on it a little bit that Brother
Jim read there. That's a beautiful picture of the church in the
last days, as he said. And as he said, I'll be preaching
on the subject of righteousness. I told Brother Andy a while ago,
he asked me, what was I preaching on? I said, righteousness. He
said, well, that's what we preach on every time. And that's true.
It is what we preach on. But this is a little more specifically
aimed at a certain righteousness. being convinced of righteousness.
Most of you who followed along with me, I'm in a little series
of messages. Might not better call it little.
It's been a few and I got about three more, I think, Lord willing
in this series. But I've been talking to you
about the Lord being known by the judgment which he executes
from started in Psalm nine and verse 16. The Lord is known by
the judgment which he executes. The wicked is snared by the work
of his own hands. And we We looked at the Lord
being known by his judgment against sin, first of all, where Christ
bore the sins of his people unto death and brought forth the righteousness
by which God justifies. And then we looked at that The
second way God is made known by the judgment he executes is
his judgment in the justification of sinners, ungodly sinners,
he says, based on that righteousness Christ worked out. And then we've
preached one message in this last way that the Lord makes
himself known, and that's in, he executes his judgment in the
heart. of his people in regeneration. In each successive generation,
he comes to his people in the Spirit and he executes his judgment
in them. And last time we looked at, he
executes that judgment when he sends the Spirit of God to convince
us of sin. And that sin is not just the
sin of realizing that we lied or we cheated or whatever. It's
specific sin. It's the sin of not looking to
the Christ of this word for all of salvation. See, we have to
be convinced of that. We don't know that by nature,
so we have to be convinced of that. And today, we're going
to look at righteousness in much the same way we did at being
convinced of sin. Convinced of righteousness because
I go to my father, Christ said, and you see me no more. Let's
look in John chapter 16 here, if you will, and we'll pick up
in verse 7. Christ is talking to his disciples
here, not long before he's going to the cross, and they're despondent,
and he's trying to reassure them everything's going to be fine.
He says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient
for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. but if I depart I will send him
unto you and when he's come he will reprove or convince the
world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because
they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my father and
you see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world
is judge. The Holy Spirit is going to convince
the world, those he's sent to, of righteousness because I go
to my Father and you see me no more. Now let me just remind
you here who this world is that the Holy Spirit will convince
of sin and righteousness and judgment. It's not the world
in general. In other words, it's not all
without exception, but it's those chosen by God in Christ unto
salvation before the world began. It's those who are blessed with
all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. It's those
for whom Christ's blood has already, in this generation, Christ's
blood has already obtained their redemption. And it's those who
already stand justified. That means not guilty, but righteous
in God's sight based on Christ's imputed righteousness to them.
Christ said in John 17 and verse 9, He said, I pray for them.
He said that's for his immediate disciples. I pray not for the
world, the world in general, but for them which thou hast
given me, those whose full salvation had been entrusted into the hands
of Christ. He said for they, they alone
are thine, thine elect, thy chosen. Later in John 17 and verse 20,
Christ prayed for all believers in every generation, including
those of this generation and any other generation. those who
would believe on him through the gospel that these immediate
disciples would deliver to the world. That's the world that
the spirit will convince in each generation of sin and righteousness
and judgment. And as I already said, today
we're considering that righteousness that this world will be convinced
of. This righteousness these sinners will be convinced of
is specific. And it's these two phrases in
this verse, verse 10, that reveal and tell about the specifics
of this righteousness. It's declared by the fact that
Christ would go and did go to his father, and it's declared
by the fact that these who saw Christ in the flesh, in other
words, those who were eyewitnesses of Christ, they saw him, John
said, they handled him, they heard him preach, they saw his
miracles. Those who saw him in his incarnation would see him
no more. that way they saw him when he
was here the first time. And we'll deal with these phrases
one at a time. Really, we won't be dealing with
that last phrase this time. That'll be the next message.
But we're going to deal with that phrase that says of righteousness
because I go to my father. The Spirit will convince the
world he's sent to of righteousness because Christ ascended. He went
to his father. Now, this is not the first time
Christ had told his disciples that he's going away. But as
I said, they were despondent. And he had already told them
in a few places that he was going to his father. If you listen
to this passage in John 7 and verse 33, he told the Pharisees
in the presence of his disciples that he was going to his father.
Then said Jesus to them, yet a little while and I'm with you.
And then I go into him that sent me. And then he tells his disciples
directly in John 14 in verse 28. He said, you have heard how
I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If you love
me, you would rejoice because I said, I go into my father for
my father is greater than I. Now, Christ says, I'm going to
my father. Three things are necessary for
Christ to go to his father. And if I ask you, you might could
tell me these things and you might not, but that's what we're
going to look at here. Three things must take place before
that event. His ascension to the father is
what we're talking about. Three things have to take place
before that event could happen. First, Christ must continue to
walk in obedience to the law, to the cross. Second, he must
die. And third, he must be resurrected
from the dead. And the significant and needful
questions that, as by nature, we don't know to ask, we don't
are concerned with about these events is why and how? Why did Christ ascend to his
father? Why did he have to be obedient
unto death? Why did he have to die? How could he die? And why
did he ascend to his father? Let's consider each of these
necessary things individually. First, why must Christ continue
his obedient life to the cross? He must do so in order to be
that unblemished lamb that every sacrifice in the Old Testament
pictured and typified. He must do so in order to fulfill
all righteousness. That's what he told John the
Baptist when he began his public ministry and came to John for
baptism. In Matthew 3, in verse 13, it
says, then Jesus cometh from Galilee to Jordan unto John to
be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
In other words, John was a little hesitant here and reluctant.
And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it or allow it to
be so now. For thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. And then John allowed himself
to baptize Christ. How could Christ accomplish the
goal that he stated here? He said we need to fulfill all
righteousness. Well, that accomplishment began
and it continued with every step of Christ's life on earth being
one of perfect continual obedience. Christ is the substitute of a
chosen people. He came to stand in the place
of those people to represent them under the law and justice
of God. It was his perfect and continual
life of obedience that qualified him or made him fit to be that
substitute. It was his obedience as a substitute
that gave him the authority or earned him the right to represent
those he had been given. Christ's goal, remember, is to
fulfill all righteousness. What does he mean? Wasn't Christ
always righteous? I mean, he is God in human flesh,
after all. Well, being the eternal word,
the second person of the triune God, God manifests in human flesh,
Christ was always righteous. That's Christ's essential righteousness.
It didn't need to be fulfilled in any way, shape, or form. But
sinners are not, nor can we be, partakers of Christ's essential
righteousness. Also, as a man, Christ earned
righteousness by his obedience. He was righteous in his person,
in his humanity. He was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. He obeyed the law, the moral
and the Mosaic law, in every jot and tittle. And that obedience
he rendered to the law earned him the right to live. And that
was God's promise from the beginning. God told Adam in the garden before
the fall, he said, do Adam and you will live. In other words,
do as you've been commanded and your obedience to what I've commanded
you will entitle you to the life you've been given. Later. The
law given by Moses reiterated that same promise in Romans 10
in verse 4. It says, for Moses describes
the righteousness which is of the law, that the man that does
them will live by them. In other words, if you maintain
a perfect continual obedience to the law, you'll live by your
obedience. Now, we know that no sinner's
ever done that. It was written for Christ's sake.
He did it. Christ was righteous based on his obedience. He earned
the right to life. But just like his essential righteousness,
the righteousness that he earned by his obedience unto death,
it couldn't be conveyed to his people. There's no merit in Christ's
obedience to the law he was under. Just like any other man under
the law, Christ was simply doing what that law requires and demands
of those who were under it. What I'm saying there is just
his obedience alone didn't establish the righteousness needed by sinners.
And also Christ did not become incarnate in order to live based
on his perfect continual obedience. He came to fulfill all righteousness. His obedience was absolutely
necessary, but his obedience alone could not accomplish that
goal. Something else was needed. He had to die. He came to substitute
himself in the place of his chosen people. He came to lay down his
life for the sheep. If you're there in John in the
text there, turn back to John 10 and look at verse 15. Christ says here, as the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life
for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, this Jewish fold, he's talking about Gentiles,
them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there
shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my Father." No one could take Christ's life. He laid it down. That's what
he said here. Now I know in Acts 2 and verse
23, speaking of the men responsible for Christ's death, when Peter
was preaching there at Pentecost, he said to them, Him, Christ,
have you taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Wicked men did take Christ. They crucified him. And they're
fully responsible for the wickedness of his death. They weren't thinking
about fulfilling God's will there, though. They were just getting
rid of one they thought to be an imposter, a blasphemer. but they were doing exactly what
God had predetermined to be done. Acts 2 and verse 22 says, you
men of Israel, this is still Peter talking, you men of Israel
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God among
you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in
the midst of you as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you've
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. No man took
Christ's life, I mean without his will. His perfect continual
obedience to the law earned him the right to live and therefore
it earned him the right to surrender his life. You see, when you and
I die, it'll be the result of sin, but that's not the reason
Christ died. He died as a substitute. He died
as a surety. He laid down his life and he
was able to do that because he kept the law perfectly and continually
all his life. His perfect continual obedience
earned him the right to offer himself without spot to God. All of Christ's steps from the
cradle to the cross were steps of obedience. His final step
of obedience was to surrender his life unto death. That was
his final step of obedience. As the substitute, Christ came
to stand in the place of his chosen people under the law and
justice of God. And in order to be a fit substitute,
Christ first had to obey the law that he was made under. In
other words, he had to owe no debt of obedience to the law
of God. He had to earn the right to live. The first thing necessary If
Christ would go to his father, as he said to his disciples here,
the first thing necessary was for him to continue an obedient
life all the way to the cross. And that brings us to the second
thing necessary if he's going to go to his father, ascend to
his father. This is also the second thing
needed for him to fulfill all righteousness, as he told John
the Baptist. Christ became incarnate in order
to give his life a ransom for many. He walked in perfect obedience
so he could offer himself without spot to God, and he rendered
that obedience to the law so he could die the just for the
unjust. He's the good shepherd who gives
his life for the sheep. He's the spotless lamb of God,
slain in the mind and purpose of God before the foundation
of the world. And he came in time to fulfill God's predetermined
purpose as well as all the prophecies written of him from Genesis to
Revelation. But as I already said, the purpose
of Christ's incarnation was the redemption of his people. Galatians
4 and verse 5 says, but when the fullness of time was come,
God sent forth his son made of a woman, that's his incarnation,
his deity and his humanity. And he was made under the law
with a purpose to redeem them that were under the law that
we might receive the adoption of sons. Christ was made under
the law. He willingly subjected himself
to his own law in order to obey it to perfection and in order
to fulfill it in every jot and tittle, and to end that law as
a means of righteousness. Romans 10.4 says, For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Christ is the end. He's the finishing. He's the
fulfillment of the law as a means of righteousness. God told Adam
in the garden, do and you will live. But Adam didn't do. He disobeyed and died. And Christ,
the law given to Adam was the only means of a sinner ever being
righteous based on his obedience. Christ came to end that law as
a means of righteousness by obeying it to perfection. And he's an end of that law for
righteousness, not to all without exception, but to everyone that
believeth. How is he the end of the law
to righteousness? He's that end because he established
the one and only righteousness based upon which God is just
to justify the sinners he lived and died for. Christ was made
under the law to redeem his sheep who were under that law and to
pay the ransom required of them. We've talked about two different
righteousnesses here, Christ's essential righteousness as well
as the one he earned by his obedience. But a different righteousness
was needed than the one Christ had, being God, or the one he
established by his perfect continual obedience. A different righteousness
was needed because the people Christ represented had not only
failed to obey the law, they had failed to perfectly and continually
meet its precepts. They had missed its mark and
therefore they were void of any righteousness in themselves as
well as incapable of producing righteousness by their best obedience.
They owed a debt of obedience to the law that they could not
ever by any means render. And they also, because of that
failure, were deserving of the law's penalty. They deserved
the punishment God's justice demands of every soul that sins. Their lack of obedience earned
them and made them deserving of God's eternal wrath. their
lack of obedience subjected them to the punishment of sin, even
the penalty of eternal death. Romans 6, 23, which is quoted
from here quite often, the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal
death is what we all learn even by our best obedience. It's what
we all deserve. If we have eternal life, it's
not because we earned it. It's not because we made any
condition to have it. It's because Christ earned it,
and gave it to us as a gift. Christ was made under the law
in order to fulfill his office as the surety of his chosen people.
And as the surety of that multitude chosen by God in eternity, Christ
came to pay that debt that the multitude owed. We owed a twofold
debt to God. One was perfect obedience to
the law, which none of us rendered. And because we had not rendered
that law, we owed a debt of punishment to God's justice. Christ obligated
himself to that debt for his people. The sinners Christ represented
needed a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice. They needed a righteousness that only one who is God and
man and one person could establish. They needed a righteousness that
would have merit. You see, the righteousness Christ
earned by his obedience to the law, it didn't have any merit.
In other words, if he didn't continue to obey that law, he'd
be a sinner. He'd be as worthy of death based
on his disobedience as you or I would be. So there's no merit
there. But when he became obedient unto
death, that righteousness he established had merit. And that's
what the people Christ represented needed. They needed a righteousness
that Christ would earn by his obedience unto death. that righteousness
that God could impute to them, and by that righteousness imputed,
count them, declare them not guilty, but righteous in his
sight. Now, because Christ came, obligated
himself, it behooved him, the God-man, to be made like unto
his brethren, because he had obligated himself to fulfill
that twofold debt. If you listen to Hebrews here,
Chapter 2, verses 14 through 17. It says, for as much then
as the children are protectors of flesh and blood, Christ, also
himself likewise, took part of the same, that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, render Satan
powerless over those he represented. that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. His death on the cross rendered
Satan powerless over those he represented. And in time, that's
what we're preaching about. In each successive generation,
when the spirit of God comes to the sinners he comes to, he
delivers his people from the fear of punishment, that fear
that subjected them to bondage. For verily Christ took not on
him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore, in all things, it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people." It says here it behooved Christ, and
you know we've studied this passage before, and you know that word
is the word for death. In eternity, as the surety of
his people, Christ became indebted. He indebted himself in a legal
way. He placed himself under a legal
obligation. He became legally responsible
for the debt of those sinners he was given. In the New Testament,
we find the language of suretyship in the book of Philemon. Let
me read that language to you, and then I'm going to explain
it a little bit. This is Paul writing to Philemon about his
runaway slave, Onesimus, which Onesimus and Paul had crossed
paths, and Paul preached the gospel to him, and God, by his
mercy and grace, saved Onesimus. And Paul is writing Philemon,
encouraging him to take Onesimus back. And here's what he says. If thou count me therefore a
partner, receive him, Onesimus, as myself. If he hath wronged
thee, or oweth thee anything, put that on mine account. I,
Paul, have written it with mine own hand. I will repay it." Now,
that's Paul talking to Philemon about his runaway slave. But
in reality, that's a picture of what Christ said to his father
in that everlasting covenant of grace. Christ said to his
father, if you count me therefore a partner, an equal, Receive
those that you've given me as you receive me as myself. If
they have wrongly or they owe you anything, put it on my account,
impute it to me. I will repay it. That's Christ
language. That's the language of surety
ship. And that's what Christ is talking about here when he
comes in to fulfill his office as a surety. Because he placed
himself under this legal obligation, he therefore obligated himself
to become incarnate, in other words, to be made like his brethren.
And he obligated himself to become obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. He obligated himself to be the
penalty-bearing sacrifice, the propitiation that satisfied the
law and justice of God. He obligated himself to provide
that righteousness by which God is just, to justify ungodly sinners,
by which sinners are legally reconciled to God. That's the
language in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 19. It says, God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. In eternity, God had imputed
Christ's righteousness to his chosen people because he had
imputed the sins of those people to Christ. And therefore, he
was always imputing, never, excuse me, always imputing their trespasses
to Christ and therefore never imputing them to him. He was
in Christ in eternity reconciling the world unto himself, never
at any time imputing their trespasses unto them. And we tell sinners,
we beseech sinners to be reconciled to God on that basis, on the
basis of 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for God made Christ to be sin
for us, that one who knew no sin, that we should be made the
righteousness of God in him. That's our message, be reconciled
on that basis. Christ's death was the final
act of his perfectly and continually obedient life. And it was his
obedience unto death that established the righteousness that enables
God to count sinners not guilty but righteous in his sight. And
it's by the imputation of that righteousness that sinners are
made fit for God's presence. Christ, right now, as the God-man
mediator who's ascended to his father. He right now stands righteous
in that righteousness that he established by his obedience
unto death. He was raised from the dead and
his people are justified by and because of that righteousness.
Romans 4 and verse 25 says he was delivered because of our
offenses and raised again because of righteousness, because of
our justification. Without the establishment of
that righteousness, Christ could not be raised from the dead.
And without the establishment of that righteousness, the sinners
he died for could not be justified. And therefore, they could not
be regenerated. And without that righteousness,
sinners, the spirit wouldn't come to sinners. They wouldn't
be convinced of sin and righteousness and judgment. If you look back
at John 16 in our text, it says, Christ is telling his disciples,
as I've already said, that he's going away. He's going by way
of obedience to the cross. and that he's going away to die.
And he's telling them that he's going to depart. In other words,
he's going to be resurrected and depart back to the Father
who sent him. He told his disciples on numerous
occasions that he must suffer at the hands of men and eventually
be killed. Mark records perhaps the first
record of the time Christ told his disciples that he would be
leaving, dying, and the third day rising again. Listen to Mark
8 and 31. And Christ began to teach him that the Son of Man
must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of
the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three
days arise again. And then just before his resurrection
in Mark 19, 32, and they were in the way going up to Jerusalem. This is Christ headed to his
death. And Jesus went before him and
they were amazed and as they followed, they were afraid. Why
were they amazed and why were they afraid? Because Christ had
told them that he's going to Jerusalem to suffer a humiliating
death by the hands of those that he's going to. And they were
amazed that he's going. And they were afraid. They didn't
know what to expect for him or for them. And he took them again,
the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen
unto him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son
of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and to the
scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver
him to the Gentiles, and they shall mock him, and scourge him,
and spit upon him, and kill him, and the third day he shall rise
again. Matthew 17 verse 22, And while they abode in Galilee,
Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into
the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and the third day he
shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
Although Christ told his disciples repeatedly that he would be delivered
unto death, yet they remained reluctant to believe it. You
got to remember the disciples live in a particular era of time. They lived when Christ walked
on this earth, tabernacled among men. So we can't judge them that
way. We didn't live in that time.
They, of course, couldn't imagine Christ dying. They couldn't imagine
him being killed. They thought he came to set up
a kingdom and to make them lieutenants and officers in his kingdom.
to establish it on earth. And so they just, they can't
wrap their mind around this right now. Although he tells them many
times that he's going to do this, that he's going to die. They
can't quite get it. And so they're so reluctant that
not to believe this and unwilling to believe it that Christ pointedly
tells them, look, You need to think about it. You need to take
it to heart. You need to believe it. Listen
to Luke 9, verse 44. Let these sayings sink down into
your ears. Consider them. Think about them.
The Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But the
disciples understood not his sayings, and it was hid from
them that they perceived it not, and they feared to ask him what
he was really talking about. They didn't want to discuss it
with him. They didn't want to do it. Almost every time Christ
stated that he would be delivered unto death, he ended his discourse
with this little phrase, and be raised again the third day. He said, yeah, I'm going to die,
but I'm going to be resurrected the third day. But his disciples
could not hear that last part. They couldn't hear that he's
going to be raised from the dead. Therefore, they couldn't rejoice
in his resurrection, because they just couldn't get over the
fact that he kept telling them he was going to die. Right up
to the time Christ went to the cross, and even after his resurrection,
the disciples still couldn't understand the necessity of Christ's
death. You remember Peter's words when
Christ told him he was going to Jerusalem to die? Matthew
16 and verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus
to show unto his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Verse
22, then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying, be it far
from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. And you remember
what Christ told him, get behind me, Satan, because you savor
the things of men and not the things of God. And then you can
remember when they were in the garden on the night Christ was
arrested, the servants of the high priest came and Peter, again,
zealous Peter, he drew his sword and cut off the right ear of
one of those servants. And Christ said, put your sword
back into your sheath, those who live by the sword or die
by the sword. Couldn't I call? He said, if I wanted to, I could
call 10,000 angels and stop this. I'm here on purpose. What was
the disciples' problem? Well, they didn't yet understand
that the only way Christ could depart to his Father was by way
of the cross, by way of death. They could not yet understand
the necessity of Christ's death. They would when Christ was raised
from the dead. He visited them in the upper
room and enabled them to understand. But at this point, they couldn't.
And therefore, understandably, they were not yet seeing any
profit or benefit or accomplishment that he was declaring, the word
was declaring in his death. Here's the point. Until you understand
and know that Christ's obedience unto death accomplished the full
salvation of every sinner he died for, every sinner he was
given, you yourself don't understand the necessity of Christ's death.
Now that means that as long as you think Christ died for everybody,
that means as long as you think Christ's death just made sinners
savable, and that many he died for will perish, You don't yet
know the necessity of Christ's death. We've already identified
Christ from the scriptures as the one who did no sin and knew
no sin, the one who's holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners. If death is always the result of sin, and it always
is, How then could Christ, such a person as the scripture describes
Him, how could He die? How could this holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners person die? The only right answer,
He's not dying for any sin in Him. He's dying for the sin of
others. He's dying because God has charged
to Him the legal guilt of his people, of his sheep, and he's
dying in their place. He's suffering the penalty and
punishment they deserve. That explains scripturally how
Christ could die. He died because of imputed sin. Why did he die? I told you these
are the questions we need to ask if we don't understand anything
about what Christ is telling his disciples here. He died because
of imputed sin, but why did he die? Why was Christ's death an
absolute necessity? Well, as the surety, he died
to pay the debts that he obligated himself to in eternity. As the
surety, he died to pay the debt to law and justice his people
owed but couldn't pay. As the surety, he died to put
away sin and bring in everlasting righteousness. As the surety,
he died to establish the one righteousness based upon which
God is justifying godless sinners. And as the surety, he died to
establish the righteousness that demanded his own resurrection,
as well as the resurrection of every sinner he was given. What
does the natural man, the untaught man, the lost man, the unregenerate
man, What does he see in the death of Christ? Well, he sees
an agonizing death, a humiliating death, a death of suffering,
an unnecessary death. He sees men doing something to
another man for no valid reason. He sees one taken without a just
cause. That's why that well-known evangelist
and well-accepted evangelist of World's Religion a few years
back said, speaking of Christ's crucifixion, he said, if I'd
have been there, I'd have stopped it, you see? He was just voicing,
agreeing with those of Peter's day, Peter and the disciples,
the rest of the apostles when Christ announced his impending
death. This guy, he doesn't understand the necessity of Christ. He's
a well-known evangelist and he doesn't understand the necessity
of Christ's death. They said, and this man said,
far be it from you, Lord, that this can't happen. This shouldn't
have happened to you. But what does the regenerate
sinner, what does the one taught of God, what does the one that
the Spirit comes to and convinces of sin and righteousness and
judgment, what does he say about the death of Christ? What does
he see? He sees God's holy law and inflexible justice fulfilled
and satisfied. He sees sin put away by just
satisfaction. He sees everlasting righteousness
brought in by the God-man mediator and surety of his people. He
sees peace established between God and ungodly sinners. There's no greater subject in
the Bible than righteousness. Specifically, that righteousness
Christ came to establish by his obedience unto death. That righteousness
that the Spirit convinces sinners of when he comes to them in regeneration.
Why did Christ come to this earth in his incarnation? One word
answer, righteousness. Why did he go to the cross and
die a humiliating death? One word answer, righteousness.
Why was he raised from the dead and seated at his father's right
hand? One word answer, righteousness. God's glory depends on this righteousness. Christ's preeminence depends
on this righteousness. The exclusion of boasting and
sinners depends on this righteousness. This righteousness is the preeminent
doctrine in the Bible. Everything that honors God as
a just God and Savior depends on this righteousness. And yet,
however true these things are, they are true according to God's
word. I've just given you a little bit of truth here to back it
up, but they're true. But however true they are, We
are all, including God's elect, including Christ's chosen disciples,
we are all born ignorant of this specific righteousness. That's
why the Spirit has to come to us in regeneration and convince
us of this righteousness. This righteousness was Christ
produced by his obedience to the law and his satisfaction
to God's justice as a substitute and surety of his people. It
was necessary for Christ to remain obedient all the way to the cross. It was necessary for him to die.
As I said in the beginning, there's one more thing necessary before
Christ could go to the cross. We're not going to have the time
to talk about that. I'm going to relieve y'all a little bit.
We're not going to talk about that today. It was his resurrection.
Why was he raised? How could he be raised? Same
questions we ask about these other two points. That'll be
the subject of my next message. In each generation, the spirit
will convince those he comes to of righteousness because I
go to my father and you see me no more. May the Lord bless his
word to our understanding.