I quote them all the time, Romans
1, 16 and 17. The Apostle Paul writing by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. He says, for I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, the good news of Christ. And then you see that colon there?
Well, that means he's going to explain further what he means. He says, for it, that is the
gospel, is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth. Not to everyone. Because everyone
don't believe. But to everyone that believe.
Now what's he talking about? He's talking about the gospel
empowered by the Holy Spirit. Isn't he? In what we call the
invincible or the effectual calling of the Spirit. And then he says
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now why does he make
that distinction? Well the Jews had a In the providence
of God, they had a special place in God's working out of this
great salvation, mainly under the Old Covenant, in the coming
of Christ. It was through the Jews that
Christ came, and Christ is our salvation. And it was the Jews who first
preached it at Pentecost. Peter preached it. Stephen preached
it. These were Jewish, the apostles. They were Jews. But then he said,
that's not to leave out the Gentiles, he said also to the Greek. The
Greek, it was a Greek world back then. It was a way of referring
to all Gentiles. But look at verse 17. For therein,
that is in the gospel. I've often referred to it this
way. I want to know if I'm preaching
the gospel to you. You need to know if you're hearing
the gospel from me. Am I right? And not a false gospel, but a
true gospel. The true gospel. Well, he says,
for therein is the righteousness of God. Now notice, not the righteousness
of men, but the righteousness of God. The righteousness of
men will do us no good. First of all, men don't have
one. He says that later on in Romans
3. We're sinners. It means we don't have a righteousness.
But, he says, therein in that gospel is the righteousness of
God revealed from faith to faith. Now what I believe that means
is from faith means from the doctrine, the truth. I'm preaching
the doctrine of Christ. The doctrine of the gospel. And
to faith means the faith which is given to you to believe it.
The gift of God. So you hear faith cometh by hearing. Who gives us ears to hear? God
does. He says that. And hearing by the Word of God.
So the first faith here is the Word of God. And the second faith
there is that faith which is given to a sinner saved by grace,
regenerated by the Spirit to believe it. So if you believe
this, you see, you can apply this to yourself. And then he
says, as it is written, he quotes here from the prophet Habakkuk.
He says, the just, that's the justified, and that word just
could be translated righteous. It means the same thing. The
righteous or the just or the justified shall live by faith. That is by that truth, that doctrine. In other words, you could say
it this way, the justified shall live by looking to Christ. I
love it that way. All right. The title of the message
is Salvation and the Righteousness of God. I've been talking about
salvation lately. I told you last week how salvation
is a big word in Scripture, not because of so many letters, but
because of the meaning of it, the concept of it, the scope
of it, salvation. Salvation includes everything
that God does for His people and in His people in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it includes everything that
God freely and unconditionally gives His people in the way of
eternal spiritual life and glory. That's why it's by grace. For
by grace are you saved. Through faith, God uses means
He doesn't just snap His finger. I heard somebody say, God could
just snap His finger and forgive you of your sins. No, He couldn't.
You know why? Because He's a holy God. And He must punish sin. He must
be just when He justifies, when He forgives. When He blesses,
God must be just when He does it. If He can't be just and do
it, He won't do it. Simple. But this is by grace. He said, through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest
any man should boast. And so anyone who is truly saved
must say this, as Ephesians 2.10 says, for we are his workmanship.
God's workmanship. I'm not my own creation. Created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in. Salvation includes all that we
are, we who are saved. Salvation includes all that we
are in Christ, all that we have by Christ, and all that we do
as Christ works in us as we live our lives to the glory of God
and under His praise. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, 17,
put on the helmet of salvation. The helmet is the soldier's equipment
that protected his head, his brain. And what he's saying there
in the helmet of salvation is that that salvation that God
has freely given us, this gospel of God, which is the power of
God unto salvation, is to pervade our minds, our thinking, our
hearts, our affections. It's to establish our thinking. It's to give us confidence in
every area of our lives as we live under the glory of God in
Christ. I gave you these vital truths about salvation. Number
one, salvation is salvation from sin. And whatever else people
think they're saved from, my friend, it's saved from Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. His name shall
be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from sin, from
their sin. That's the problem. Sin is the
problem. Every problem we have in this
life on this cursed earth is because of sin. Isn't that right?
We fell in Adam, ruined, The Scripture says in Romans chapter
5, we fell in Adam, all sin and come short of the glory of God.
We sin, we're born dead in trespasses and sins. And you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2.1. We come
forth from the womb speaking lies. Now that doesn't mean literally
we lie as an infant, but it means we have that fallen human nature
which lies, which is a liar by nature. You say, well, I can't
accept that. Well, that's your opinion. You
don't believe the Bible. Simple. And we grow up as sinners, and
we can't get above it. We can't rise above it. We can
be religious. We can be moral. We can be sincere
and dedicated. But we cannot, we cannot be righteous
before God. That's what the Bible teaches.
Number two, salvation is of the Lord. If any of us are saved,
we have nothing to boast in or brag about. It was a sovereign
act of a sovereign God in sovereign mercy. Isn't that right? Who
chose us before the foundation of the world in Christ and sent
Christ to redeem us and brought us to a saving knowledge of Christ
by a sovereign, powerful act of the Holy Spirit to show us
our sins. Number three, salvation is all
by God's grace. It starts out by grace, it continues
by grace, and it'll end up in grace. Grace, grace, grace. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Fourthly, salvation is established
upon righteousness. That's what we're going to talk
about here in a minute. It's the power of God unto salvation
because therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Great Romans
5.21 Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. What do I need to be saved? What
do you need to be saved? We need righteousness. Where
are we going to find it? Not in our works. Not in religion. Not in ceremony. Not in family
ties. Not in the best that men can
do. That's vanity. Where are we going to find righteousness?
One place, in Christ. In Christ. And then fifthly,
salvation is all in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. All in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Look back at Psalm 98 that I
read at the opening. I want to show you something
here. Psalm 98 and verse 2. Now what this book is about,
this Bible, is right here in the first line of Psalm 98 and
verse 2. And it says, the Lord hath made
known His salvation. You see, when we talk about salvation,
we're not talking about man's idea of salvation, or man's view
of salvation, or man's opinion of salvation. Those are all wrong.
There is a way that seems right unto men. The way there is, it's
of death. Well, we're talking about God
making known His salvation. Whatever this book says about
the salvation that is of the Lord, that's what I want to know.
Because that's the only right salvation, it's the only salvation
there is. All else is nothing but presumption and false refuge. But notice there in Psalm 98
too, it says, the Lord hath made known His salvation. Then you
see that colon again. Now he is going to define it.
He is going to describe it. Notice the next two words. His
righteousness. Salvation and righteousness.
They are the same thing basically. His righteousness. Alright. Hath he openly showed in the
sight of the heathen. That is his people among the
Gentiles. And then look at the last verse in verse 9 of Psalm
98. Before the Lord, he says, for
he cometh to judge the earth, and then he's going to explain
it there, going to further elaborate on this, and here it is. With
righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with
equity. Now, what does that mean? It
means that the judgment, the standard of judgment when God
comes to judge the world is righteousness. You see that? And to judge the
people with equity means to declare who measures up. Equity equals
out. In other words, when I stand
before God at judgment, will I measure up to the standard
of righteousness? Or will I come short? Now, you
remember Romans 3.23 that we all quote so much? For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. It means we miss
the mark. It means we don't measure up. Here's the judgment. Do I
measure up? That's the problem. I need to
measure up. You need to measure up. In every area of life, you probably
have goals you want to reach. Whether you're in a job, or in
a family, or an athlete, and you won't measure up until you
reach that goal. Well, this is the goal of salvation,
that we measure up. Now turn to Acts chapter 17.
Now here's the problem. The problem is man's natural
thinking concerning this issue of measuring
up always does two things. It brings
the real standard of righteousness down and it elevates the sinner to
more than what he is or she is. What is righteousness? Well,
you could define it in a number of ways. Some people just say
perfection. Righteousness, rightness, there's
a standard. What is the standard? The standard
is God Himself. You might say His law. Now, anything that falls below
that standard is unrighteous. You say, well, I only fall one
degree. I know some fellows who fall a thousand degrees. Doesn't
matter. One degree is unrighteous. You understand that? That's what
this book says. Now, the standard is righteous.
What is it? It's perfect satisfaction to
the law. Well, look at Acts chapter 17.
Here's Paul preaching. to some Greeks on Mars Hill in
Athens. Athens, Greece. And he's talking
about the true and living God, the unknown God, the God they
do not know. That's man's problem there, isn't
it? We don't know God by nature. God must reveal Himself to us.
And he says here that God has commanded all men everywhere
to repent. Look at verse 31. Because He, that is God, hath
appointed the day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness."
That's your standard. But how righteous do you have
to be? Well, read on. "...by that man whom he hath
ordained." Now who is that man? Well, he says it. "...whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised
him from the dead." That man is Christ. That's the God-man. So, you see, it doesn't matter
how I compare to you or how you compare to me. You may be able
to outshine me in a lot of ways, and that's okay. Maybe I ought
to try to do better. I don't know what you're doing.
But it doesn't matter how I compare to you or how you compare to
me. It's how we compare to Christ. Because he's the judge who judges
according to righteousness, and he's the measure, the standard.
You say, well, I just love everybody. Do you love everybody perfectly
at all times? Let me ask you this. I'll put
it to you. Do you ever have a struggle loving anybody? Because I want
to tell you something. You know why you have a struggle?
I know why I have a struggle. Because of sin. What does that
show me about my best efforts to love? They don't measure up.
Should I keep on trying? Yes, I should. You say, that's
not the issue here. Yes, I should. But my efforts
to love you do not make me righteous. My joining the church does not
make me righteous. My baptism did not make me righteous. My preaching does not make me
righteous. My giving, my compassion does
not make me righteous. You see, all of that, if I'm
going to plead that as my righteousness before God, then it would have
to equal Christ, the perfect God-man who never sinned. who never had a thought of sin
or a motive of sin, who always delighted to do his father's
will. He didn't have a struggle to
love me or to love his people. Wasn't a struggle at all. The
only struggle he had with sin was sin imputed, charged to him,
accounted to him, and the infirmities and weaknesses of the human flesh
that he assumed as God-man. He hurt just like we hurt. But He was perfect in every way.
He never broke the law. Can you measure up to that? In
your character, in your conduct? I can't. Nobody can. That's why salvation is all of
grace. So here comes some good news. Now go back to Romans 1.
Here's the good news. Here's the gospel. Now it's good
news to who? To sinners. And here it is, therein, in that
gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now somebody said one time that
that word, that phrase, the righteousness of God, and let me just give,
especially you young people, underline that in your Bible,
that term, the righteousness of God, and you may not care
about it today. I hope I'm wrong on that. I hope
you do. But you make it your life's business
to find out what that means from this book. I'm telling you. I'll never forget when I first
heard Brother Mayhem preach on it. He was preaching from this
passage, preacher from Isaiah 45. And I didn't really understand
it all at that time, but I knew this much. I said, you know,
I think I need to know more about that. And that's when I began to see. But here it is. He says, there
is the righteousness of God revealed. There it is. Now, that's what
we need. We don't need the righteousness
of men. It won't do us any good. The best of men. Oh, we all know
by nature we don't need the righteousness of the worst of men, don't we?
We don't have to argue about that. But the best of men now. That's what Christ said in the
Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 and verse 20. He looked at
the crowd and He said, Accept your righteousness. Exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. You shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now in those people's
minds, He was talking about the best of the best in their religion
at that time. Think about that. But he says, this gospel, which
is the power of God and the salvation, therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now, I want to show you something
just, and I'm going to do this, I'm not going to read all these
verses now. And we're not going to be here all morning. But I
want to take you just through a little journey with me. And
it's through the first part of the book of Romans here. And
I want to show you something that will help you, and you need,
and I need, and will help me. First of all, I want to talk
to you about the person of salvation. Salvation is in a person. Look
at Romans chapter 1. He says, Paul, in verse 1, a
servant of Jesus Christ, Now that means a bond slave. Paul
was a bond slave. You know what a bond slave is?
That's a servant or a slave who is serving his master, not in
order to pay a debt to law. That's what happened back then.
You have these indentured servants. They got in debt and they couldn't
pay it, so they had to hire themselves out to the one they owed the
money to and work for them for so long. And Paul's saying, I'm
a willing, loving, bond-servant. A bond-servant was one whose
debt was already paid. And he says, I'm a bond-servant
of Jesus Christ. Why? Because Christ paid my debt
in full on the cross. Called to be an apostle, separated
under the gospel of God, which he had promised afore or before
by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. This is the gospel of God. This
is a message that is divine. It's not of human origin. Now
look here, verse 3. This gospel concerning His Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. That's Jesus Christ. He's the
person of the gospel. The gospel is the gospel of salvation
which presents to sinners who cannot save themselves, who cannot
make themselves righteous, God's way of salvation in this person. God's way of righteousness in
and through this person. Jesus Christ, that's His deity. He is God. He's the Son of God
by nature. Now believers, children of God,
we're all believers, are sons of God by election, by redemption,
by adoption, and by regeneration. But Jesus Christ is the only
begotten Son of God. He's the unique Son of God because
He's the Son of God by nature. He is God. You see, this gospel is the revelation
of the righteousness of God. And then it says, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. That's his humanity. He had to be man. Now why? Well,
hold your finger there and let me look over in Hebrews chapter
2. He had to be both God and man. This is the person of our
salvation. This is the person of righteousness
here. That's the first thing. Now,
He had to be both God and man. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. His name shall
be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted, God with us. It
took one who is God and perfect man to produce this righteousness. All right? And He says in verse
14 of Hebrews 2, For as much then as the children... Now,
who are that? That's the children of God. ...are partakers of flesh
and blood. That's us. that's we who are
the people of God he also Christ also himself likewise took part
of the same what flesh and blood why that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage in other words he had to die now God cannot
die but this person who is God did die that's attributed to
his humanity you can't kill God But Christ, who is God, did die
on that cross. He really died. He wasn't faking
it. He wasn't pretending. And so look back at Romans 1
now. You see, He had to be God and man. Look on Romans 1, look
at verse 4. He was declared to be the Son
of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the
resurrection from the dead. He didn't stay dead. He arose
from the dead. What does that mean? He triumphed.
He was victorious. He didn't try to come and save
anybody. He saved His people from their
sins. And this tells us how all the
conditions required for salvation were placed upon Christ, this
person. Isaiah said it this way, unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and His name shall
be called Wonderful, the Mighty God, Counselor, all of those,
the Prince of Peace. and the government shall be upon
his shoulder." All the responsibilities and requirements of the salvation
of his people to bring forth righteousness were placed upon
his shoulder, conditioned on him. And he, the Son of God,
the second person of the Trinity, he came to earth and assumed
human nature without sin, and this tells us how he is God-man. was made personally responsible
to keep the law of God and satisfy the justice of God through His
obedience unto death, acting in the place of His people as
their substitute in charity. He's the guarantor of salvation. Now that's the person of righteousness. That's the person of salvation.
Here's the second thing. Now go back to verse 16. Here's the work of salvation
or the work of righteousness. Now he says in verse 16, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. There's the person. He's
the anointed one. He's the God-man. For yet that
gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first, also to the Greeks. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. Now, here's what he does. Like
I said, I'm not going to read all these verses. I don't have
time. But what this is talking about, this righteousness of
God, is the finished work of Christ to redeem His people from
their sins and secure their salvation. That's what the righteousness
of God is. Listen to it. It's the finished work of Christ
as the substitute of His people, the surety of His people, to
accomplish redemption, pay the debt in full for all their sins
charged to Him, accounted to Him, imputed to Him in order
to secure their eternal salvation. That's what the righteousness
of God is. He said it in John 19 and verse 30. It is finished. Isn't that right? Hebrews 10
and verse 14, listen, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. He finished the work for all
who were set apart for him and given him. He said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. So this finished work of Christ
for His people is called the righteousness of God. Because
why is it the righteousness of God? It's righteousness because
it perfectly satisfied the justice of God for His people. It's the
righteousness of God because He is God in human flesh. And
He established this righteousness for sinful men, God's people,
and in order to do it, He had to die. And we'll see that. This
is what some call the legal aspect of salvation. It is a legal...
You know, righteousness is a legal term. Don't let that scare you.
God is a righteous God. He's a holy God. That's why Christ
had to die. He had to satisfy justice. There
was a penalty to be paid. The wages of sin is death. and
He paid it for us. You didn't have anything to do
with that. I didn't have anything to do with that. We didn't touch
it. We didn't contribute to it. We were only in Him by representation
and substitution. Just like the high priest of
old had the names of the tribes of Israel written on his breastplate
and on his shoulder amulets, Christ had the names of His people,
His sheep, His church written on His heart. and upon his shoulders
because all the responsibility of their salvation was on him.
That's what this is. Perfect satisfaction. Now, mark
this down in your Bible and go back and read Romans. Read the first part of Romans
anyway in light of this. What happens here, now listen
to this, from Romans 1.1 to 1.17. He's introducing the book. This is what I'm going to tell
you about. I'm going to tell you about this gospel, I'm going
to tell you about this person, this glorious person, my Savior,
my Redeemer, my Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm going to tell you about
the righteousness of God in Him. That's what I'm going to tell
you about. Now, from Romans 1.18 all the way over to Romans 3
and verse 20, Now, you know, the Bible wasn't
originally written in verses and chapters. You know that.
But this is the vision. From Romans 1.18 all the way
to Romans 3 and verse 20, you know what he's teaching here?
What he's showing here? Why we need the righteousness
of God. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Well, Paul, why do I need that?
Why can't I make it on my own? Why can't I work it out myself?
Why can't I just do the best I can? And end up, you know,
I may not be perfect, but I'm not as bad as some. Why is that
not good enough? And so from Romans 1.18 to Romans
3.20, he shows you why it's not good enough. Notice how he starts
out there in Romans 1.18. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness. You see that? All ungodliness,
not just some. and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness." What truth? The gospel. Let me
put it to you this way. Think about this. Here's the
gospel. Salvation. All in this person, on his righteousness,
his blood alone. Are you interested? Do you believe it? Well, if you
don't, you hold the truth in unrighteousness. What does that
mean? The wrath of God. is what we
deserve. That's what all of us deserve
by nature. And he goes down through, he describes the worst sins of
men here in Romans 1, talks about the decadence, the perversions
that men get into, and idolatry, and sexual sin, and all of it. But then, in Romans 2, he goes
to the religious man, the Jew, And he says in verse 1 of Romans
2, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judges. In other words, you judge another
person that they're deserving of the wrath of God, but you
say you don't deserve it because you're religious. He says, for wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself. In other words, if you judge
any person to be deserving of the wrath of God because of their
sin, you know what you've just done? You've condemned yourself. You know why? Because you're
a sinner too. You say, not me. Well, then you
just called God a liar. 1 John chapter 1. That's what it says. He says,
for thou that judgest, doest the same things. He's not saying
that the Jews did the exact same things in decadence that the
Gentiles did. He's just simply saying, you
don't measure up. And so look over at Romans chapter
3, verse 10. As it is written, there's none
righteous, no, not one. That's Jew and Gentile. That's
all of us by nature. It doesn't say there's none religious
or none moral or none deadly. It says there's none righteous.
The best that we can do will not make us righteous before
God. He says there's none that understandeth. There's none that
seeketh after God. Not this God. They may seek a
God, a God like themselves. Verse 12, they're all gone out
of the way. They're together become unprofitable. There's
none that doeth good. No, not one. Look down at verse
19. He says, Now we know that what thing soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. What
does guilty mean? It means you deserve condemnation. Verse 20, here's the conclusion.
Remember now from Romans 1.18 to this verse right here, he's
showing why we need the righteousness of God. Verse 20, Therefore by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight. What is it to be justified? It's
to be righteous. It's to be forgiven. It's to
be cleansed and cleared of all guilt. No guilt. You say, wait
a minute, I'm a sinner. By deeds of law there shall no
flesh be justified in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge
of sin." So where do we go from there? Well, here he begins. Now, Romans 3 and verse 21. And it really goes all the way
over to Romans 5.21. In other words, it goes from
Romans 3.21 to Romans 5.21. You know what he's doing? He's
defining the righteousness of God for us. and the implications
of it. And look at it, verse 21, but
now the righteousness of God without the law was manifested.
Now what does he mean without the law? Didn't Christ say He
came to keep the law? Isn't it said in Galatians chapter
4 that He was made under the law? Made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law? Didn't He have
to keep the law? Yes. What does it mean without
the law? It means without our deeds of
the law. How do you know that? Look at the context. What did
he just said? By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. Therefore, but now the righteousness
of God. Without the law, that is without
my deeds, without my works. What does that mean? As establishing
and working out this righteousness, my works and my efforts are totally
excluded. That's what that means. And He
says it's manifested, it's made known, witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets. This is what Moses wrote of.
This is what the Prophets prophesied of. Verse 22, even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. It was by Christ's faithfulness
to do what He agreed to do for His people. It's unto all. What does that mean? It means
it's to be preached to everybody. We don't pick and choose who
we're to preach this gospel to. Preach it to anybody who'll listen.
And upon all them that believe. Upon, what does it mean? It's
upon them. That's the doctrine of imputation.
That means it is accounted to all who believe. It's not accounted
to them because they believe. But their believing reveals that
it's been accounted to them. I'll show you that in a minute.
For there's no difference for all sin and comes short of the
glory of God. Verse 24, look at it. Here he's defining it
now. Being justified, being righteous,
being clear, being not guilty, freely. That's without a cause. That's unconditional. That's
what that means. By His grace. It's a free gift. It's not earned. It's not deserved.
And how does it come to us? Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Through the work of Christ. The
finished work of redemption. Verse 25, Whom God hath set forth,
that word set forth is literally foreordained. This is not God's
plan B or contingency plan. This was His purpose from the
beginning to be a propitiation, a reconciliation, a satisfaction
to justice based on law and justice satisfied through faith in His
blood. His blood is His righteousness.
His blood is His death. Whenever the Bible speaks of
the blood of Christ cleansing us from sin, It's not talking
about the literal liquid blood. Brother Mahan wrote an article
on this. I was reading it several weeks ago. He's telling me if
some of that blood had splashed on one of those Roman soldiers,
you reckon that would have cleansed him from sin? The answer is no.
The blood means his death as payment for our sins. That's
what cleanses us. That's what it is. Yes, He had
to shed actual physical blood because that's what death is.
Life's in the blood. But this means His death, in
His death, through faith in His death. That's what His righteousness
is. It's the death of Christ to pay
for my sins. My sins were accounted, charged
to Him. To declare, look here, verse
25, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past. That's the Old Testament saying. The blood that was shed
on Calvary 2,000 years ago was already applied to Abel, to Abraham,
to Moses, to Rahab, go on then, David. You see what he's saying? Through the forbearance of God.
Verse 26, to declare I say at this time his righteousness that
he, that God might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. That's the righteousness of God.
There it is. He's defined it. Now tell us,
by whom and how was this righteousness accomplished? By Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. Our sins charged to Him, His
righteousness charged to Him. Here's the third thing. Here's
the application of salvation. How is this righteousness applied
to me or to you? How can I say I know that it
is my righteousness? You know, David called it that
in the Psalms. He said, my righteousness. He wasn't talking about his works.
He was talking about his standing in Christ. So how can I say this
is my righteousness, the righteousness of God? Well, let me give you
these two things. Number one, by a legal act of God in imputation. Now look at Romans 4 and verse
6. What is imputation? What is it to impute? It means
to charge it. To charge it. Write that down.
Charge it. We say it enough, don't we? Charge
it. You want to put this on your
card? You say yes. You know what you're saying?
Charge it. Then you wished you hadn't. That's
what impute means. The demerit of our sins, the
deservedness of wrath, that our sins brought out was charged
to Christ. And he took it, willingly, lovingly. And he died for that. He paid
that account. Wouldn't you love somebody to
pay your charges for you? That's what he did for his people.
He paid the charges. What was the charges? Death.
Eternal death. And he paid it all. Jesus paid
it all. But in return, He charged us
to the good with His righteousness. You see that? And look here in
verse 6 of Romans 4. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. He charged me righteousness without
my works. Verse 7, saying, Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. God doesn't charge
me with my sins. He charged them to Christ. Romans
8, 31, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. On what basis? Well, who can
condemn us? It's Christ that does. And then secondly, how
does it apply? God imputes that righteousness
to His people. How does he apply it to us? Secondly,
by a regenerating act of God in imparting the knowledge of
it, the heart of it, the truth of it, the spirit of it in the
new birth. What does he do? The Holy Spirit
brings us to see our sins and brings us to see the glory of
Christ and he applies that righteousness of God to our conscience. And
I see my guilt's removed. Listen, we sang it a while ago.
Now, did you really mean what you sang a while ago? My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
That's what we sang, wasn't it? That's the impartation of that
knowledge to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. What can wash away
my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness? Nothing but what? The blood of
Jesus. That's how it's applied to us.
He says in Romans 1.16, it's to everyone that believeth, didn't
he? What is it to believe? It's to believe in Christ. Rest
in Christ. To submit to Him as our only
righteousness before God. He is my righteousness. I stand
in Him. I stand in Christ. That's how
I'll measure up. Not in myself, but in Christ. That's what I'll plead at judgment.
Christ is my hope. Christ is my peace. Christ is
my salvation. He is my righteousness.