Alright, let's turn in our Bibles
to Job chapter 30. Job chapter 30. I want to continue
preaching on the subject of putting on righteousness. Job, in defending
himself against the charges, the false charges of his three
miserable, comforting friends, He made this statement in verse
14. This was my text in going through
chapter 29. And we're going to look at chapter
30. I want to look at some issues there. But it's really verse
14 of chapter 29 is our text tonight. These last three chapters
of Job's answer, chapter 29, 30, and 31, they go together. But here he says in verse 14,
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My judgment was as
a robe and a diadem, my crown. And of course there, Job is talking
about specifically his role as a civil magistrate in the town
or the city of Uz. He was one who set a judgment
in the gate. That was the way they did it.
They met at the gate of the city. They set up a judgment seat. They put on the robes of judges
just like they do today in our courts. And then they listened
to cases and they decided those cases. And Job, what he's simply
saying there is that in his carrying out his duties as a civil magistrate,
he had acted in a just way. He's not claiming sinless perfection
in himself there. I don't even believe he's saying
that all his judgments were perfect because even the most fair and
just of judges can make mistakes. We're human. We can't look upon
the hearts of people. But he's just simply saying I
wasn't a cheat. I wasn't a hypocrite. I wasn't
one who perverted judgment and took bribes so common among human
courts. He said he tried to follow the
will of God, the revealed will of God in these matters. He's
not claiming this as his righteousness before God. Job is not talking
about his righteousness before God here. But he says, I put
on righteousness. He symbolizes it. He likens righteousness as a
garment that you put on. And as I said last time, that's
symbolic language. That's not any kind of language
that indicates that salvation or even our witness is something
that's just outward. It's not a pasted on righteousness
or anything like that. That kind of language makes no
sense according to scripture. It's just something that men
conjure up because they don't understand the reality of it.
But I want to talk to you tonight about three ways of putting on
righteousness. And the last, the third way is
really what Job is talking about. But let's look at chapter 30. Job had talked about his past
when God had blessed him. He was the greatest man of the
East, had plenty, prosperous, And he says basically in chapter
29, that was then. In chapter 30, he's saying now
this is now. Now he's on the ash heap, the
dumb heap of us. And listen to what he says, verse
1. He says, but now they that are younger than I have me in
derision. The young used to fear Job, but
now they hold him in contempt. whose fathers I would have disdained
to have set with the dogs of my flock." These little ones
who had daddies who weren't even worthy to tend my flocks, now
they hold me in contempt. Verse 2, "'Yea, whereto might
the strength of their hands profit me in whom old age was perished?'
For want and famine they were solitary, fleeing into the wilderness
in former time, desolate and waste." You see, what he's describing
here is the kind of people that now, I mean even the lowest of
the low, the desolate, hold Job in contempt. This greatest man
of the East, look how far he's come in his life on this earth. You talk about from prosperity
to desolation and waste, verse 4, who cut up mallows by bushes
and juniper roots for their meat. They have to scavenge around
for food. He says, they were driven forth
from among men. They cried after them as after
a thief to dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the
earth, and in the rocks. And among the bushes they brayed,
brayed like donkeys. Under the nettles they were gathered
together. They were children of fools,
yea, children of base men. They were viler than the earth.
And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. I'm the blunt
brunt of their jokes now. In other words, it's kind of
like, as Job writes this, you'd think this is truly a person
who couldn't go any lower. You can't get any lower than
this. You know, we always think about that. We always say, well,
it could be worse. I guess in Job's case, he could say, no,
it couldn't be worse than this. But it's something. Look at verse
10. He says, they have abhorred me. They flee far from me and
spare not to spit in my face. And you know, I've told you before,
I read things like this in the book of Job, and I say, you know,
sometimes I get to feeling sorry for myself, and I ought to be
ashamed. You know, I think I got it bad.
And he says in verse 11, because he had loosed my cord and afflicted
me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. Upon my
right hand rise the youth. They push away my feet. They
raise up against me the ways of their destruction. They mar
my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters in the desolation,
they rolled themselves upon me. See, he's talking about how they've
changed. How they've changed from respect for him to now to
nothing but contempt and hatred. Terrors, verse 15, are turned
upon me. They pursue my soul as the wind.
And my welfare passeth away as a cloud, just a vapor. And now
my soul is poured out upon me. The days of affliction have taken
hold upon me. My bones are pierced in me in
the night season, and my sinews take no rest. One commentator
said you could look upon Job here as a type of Christ. And
I think that's well worth a thought, isn't it? You think about the
Lord of glory. in his sovereign majesty as God
the Son, the creator of this world, who condescended to come
into this world, lowered himself. You want to talk about condescending. You want to talk about humiliation.
Philippians chapter 2 he who is God Subjected himself to the
same kind of treatment or worse than this than what Job is getting
For one reason and that is to save his people wretches like
us from our sins And that's something And I thought about that, verse
17 especially. My bones are pierced in me in
the night season and my sin is taken over. I thought about our
Savior hanging on that cross. Putting away my sin. Bringing
forth a righteousness whereby God could be just to justify
a sinner like me. He did that. He says in verse
18, by the great force of my disease is my garment changed. And that language keeps ringing
through the scriptures. And again now, Job is really
suffering now. He's not just acting out here
when he says, my garment, my garment has changed. He's not
talking about just outward things. This garment that has changed
is an indication of his inner state before God, his inner condition. And whereas he wore the garments
of a well-respected man, Now he wears the garments of a wretch. And again, I think about our
Savior, in His glory and in His majesty and in His deity, how
He took upon Himself the likeness of... You know, it was a big
act of humility for our Savior even to be made flesh, even sinless
flesh. even to be a sinless human being. He was. God-man. But that's still
such a great humiliation. We can't even imagine it. But
then, to take upon Himself our sins, His garment changed, didn't
it? His garment changed. That doesn't
mean He didn't suffer inwardly. That doesn't mean that He didn't
agonize. That doesn't mean it wasn't real.
You understand this now, you see? And that's what Job is saying
here about himself. But again, as you read through
this on your own, if you haven't already, think about Job as a
type of Christ here who condescended to be our Savior. So he says
in verse 18, by the great force of my disease is my garment changed. The words my disease is in italics,
that was that was added by the translators, and I'm, you know,
many times I'll agree with what the translators put in there
because I kind of think I know what they had in mind, but I'm
not certain here. The great force to me is God
Almighty That's God Almighty and I don't think he's speaking
in terms of what these ungodly people do today. He's not talking
about Star Wars, may the force be with you, but he's just simply
attesting that by the power of God he's in this. The reason
I think that comes up next, look at verse 19. He says, he hath
cast me into the mire. Now who did that? Who cast Job
into the mire? It was God. You say, well, now
he allowed Satan to do these things. That's true. But God's
the first cause here. He says, I am become like dust
and ashes. I cry unto thee, and thou dost
not hear me. Who's Job crying to? He's calling to God. Who
do you cry out to when you're in trouble? Cry out to God, your
heavenly Father. Abba, Father! Isn't that it?
I stand up, and thou regardest me not. Now Job, in his thoughts
here, what's he thinking? He's thinking God has forsaken
him. Job's wrong, isn't he? Job is
wrong. This is one of the things I've
told you about Job. He doesn't always speak the right
things, but he's a human being. He's a clay vessel, a clay pot
just like us. Have you ever been in times where
you thought God had just forsaken you? I've been there, and I'll
probably be there some more if the Lord lets me live, or if
the Lord doesn't come back. I know he said, now God said
to his people in Christ, he said, I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. He said that and we're to take him at his word and I'll
tell you what, it's sin and unbelief when we don't. That's what Job's
expressing here. He doesn't understand why all
these things are happening to him and his friends didn't help
him with their legalistic, self-righteous works, religion, that just beat
him down even more. But look at verse 21. He says,
Thou art become cruel to me. With thy strong hand thou opposest
thyself against me. God's against me. You know what? God says He's for His people
in Christ. But now we're so limited in our
understanding, and we're so selfish in our way of thinking, that
we just can't understand how God could be for us during a
hard trial, do we? It just doesn't jive with our
old puny minds. Well, let me tell you something.
He's for you if you're in Christ, no matter what you're going through
in this life. There's old Lazarus laying at the gate with the dogs
licking his sores, and God's for him. The world cannot get
that. Now, you get it. You who know
Christ, I get it. But if I ever go through it,
don't think I won't lose my mind. Don't think I won't lose my focus
on things. And that's why we have to be
reminded. That's why we're here tonight. That's why we're here
to be reminded tonight about the goodness of God in the land
of the living. That's what Job said. He says
in verse 22, thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest
me to ride upon it and dissolve my substance. all the things
that he had, his health, wealth, and prosperity. For I know that
thou will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all
living. Now he's talking about physical death there. Howbeit
he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry
in his destruction. Did I not weep for him that was
in trouble? Now Job's talking about when
he was in prosperity, he sympathized and helped the poor and the troubled. Was not my soul grieved for the
poor? When I looked for good, then evil came unto me. And when
I waited for light, there came darkness. My bowels boiled. That's
his emotions. And rested none. The day of affliction
prevented me. That is, it's kind of like he's
saying, when I saw somebody in affliction, it stopped me in
my tracks. That's the kind of language he's saying there. In
other words, I didn't just go on by without noticing. Now,
you want to know what Job's actually saying here? And I'm just sure
he doesn't realize, think about this folks, I've said things
in my anger, in my sorrow, that I just didn't realize the theological
implications of what I'm saying. It's almost like Job's saying
that he's better than God. God doesn't take notice of me,
but now listen, when I was in my prosperity, I couldn't pass
by somebody that's afflicted without taking notice. Man by
nature thinks he is more loving than God. He does, but he's not. Well, Job's going to be corrected.
Don't think he's not. God's going to come and he's
going to give Job the answers. But listen to this. He says in
verse 28, I went morning without the sun. I stood up and I cried
and congregated. When he says I went morning without
the sun, it means I cried all night. I stood up and cried in
the congregation, I'm a brother to dragons and a companion to
owls. That word owls there, you might
have in your concordance ostriches. I really, I think the best way
to look at that is he's talking about, he's talking about ugly
birds. He's talking about birds that
have no worth, you know, just foul birds. And then he says
in verse 30, my skin is black upon me, my bones are burned
with heat, my heart also is turned to mourning and my organ into
the voice of them that weep. Job in his sorrow. Job in his
derision. Job in his shame. And yet back
here he says, I put on righteousness and it clothed me. Now you know
what? Job did that at the beginning of the book when he said, The
Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. But let me just give you some thoughts here. You know,
Job has been identified by God as a righteous man. There's no
doubt about it. There's no argument about that. I don't understand
these commentators who will argue over whether or not Job was saved
at the beginning of the book. To me, all you gotta do is read
chapter 1, verse 1 and that settles the issue. He's upright. He's
one who's perfect, God said. That's complete. And he's one
who feared God and eschewed evil. Nobody fears God but those who
have been regenerated by the Spirit. Nobody fears God but
those who know Christ. Job asked the right questions
in most of these cases. When he said, I know it is so
of a truth, but how should a man be just with God? If any man
will contend with God, he cannot answer God one of a thousand.
You can't come before God and plead your cause based upon your
works. Here Job says, I put on righteousness
and it clothed me. Job knew that he could not come
before God and plead his case based upon his being a right
judge, a fair judge. or being an obedient servant,
one who has chewed evil. If you chew evil, that means
you avoid evil. You seek to avoid evil. So that
means he was an obedient man. Job knew that he couldn't come
and contend with God, plead his case before God based upon his
obedience. He knew that because he said
it. If you do that, God will answer you back a thousand sins
for every one act of obedience that you've had. And that's the
truth, isn't it? Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified before God. But as I told you, Job, in that
verse, he's not speaking of putting on righteousness there as his
justification before God. He's talking about his dealings
with men. And in his dealings with men, he acted justly. But how is righteousness put
on? Let's talk about that just very
briefly now. I'm going to have you turn to
some scriptures here. But I'm going to give you three
ways in which righteousness is put on. Now again, understand,
this is symbolic language. This is a metaphor. You've heard
that term. It's a metaphor. It's not literal. You know, when Joshua the high
priest had that dream in Zechariah 3, or Zechariah had the dream,
the vision, he saw Joshua the high priest clothed with filthy
garments. And the angel of the Lord said, take off those filthy
garments and put on this new garment. And that's the righteousness
of Christ. So it's not talking about something
that's literal. It's not talking about anything
pasted on. It's not talking about anything
outward. It's simply a way of speaking
so that we can understand. That's one reason I had Brother
Terry read Isaiah 52. You know, Isaiah 52 and 53 really
go together. We read Isaiah 53 a lot, the
substitutionary death of Christ. But sometimes just sit down and
read it right in line with Isaiah 52, and it starts out this way
in verse 1. He says, Awake, awake, put on
thy strength. Now there he's talking about
putting on strength. Now you know That strength is not a garment
that you put on literally. What's another way of saying
put on strength? I'll tell you it's simple. Be
strong. Just be strong. Now how are we to be strong?
Well, Ephesians 6 tells us, be strong in the power and the might
of our Lord. It's not our own strength. So
he says, put on strength, thy strength, O Zion. Put on thy
beautiful garments. That's plural. He says, O Jerusalem,
the holy city, for henceforth there shall no more come into
thee the uncircumcised, that's the unregenerate, and the unclean,
that's the unjustified. So he's talking about those who
believe, those who are just before God. And he says, put on strength,
be strong. He says, put on your garments.
That's the garments of salvation. What does that mean? That's all
of salvation. Well, what are we talking about? Well, how is
righteousness put on? Well, the Bible, as I said, it
often speaks of righteousness as a garment that's put on and
that we wear. It's like a garment, and it's
continually. Let me give you these three ways.
Number one, the first way that righteousness is put on is something
that happens, I believe, in eternity. before we're ever born without
our experience at all. And that's what takes place in
the court of God's justice when we're justified before God based
upon the imputed righteousness of Christ. Turn to Romans chapter
4. That's number 1. And that's the
ground of salvation. Righteousness is put on. We really
don't put that on. But it is put on, all right,
in a sense, figuratively speaking, by God when He charges us, accounts
to us the righteousness of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that happened before we were
ever born. Somebody says, well, it's got to be in your experience
to be real. Oh, no, it does not. When God does it, you better
bet it's real. And when God did it, and you
know, sometimes I think that's kind of wrong to say it like
that, but I've got no choice, because we're preachers of time.
But when God did it, He did it all by Himself. He had us in
mind on His heart. He chose us in Christ. He gave
us to Christ. All our salvation was conditioned
on Christ. How long, listen, child of God,
how long have you been in Christ? How long have you been in Christ? When was there a time you were
ever out of Christ? Now I know in our experience we were out,
we were enemies of God. That's another matter. But we
were chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world, weren't
we, before this world ever began? Now what the election of grace
is all about? It's not that God arbitrarily
chose somebody. It means He chose us in Christ. Read Ephesians chapter 1 sometimes. How many times does it tell you
they're in Christ? In Him. We're in Him. But righteousness is put on by
imputation and that's the ground of salvation. Look at verse 6
of Romans 4. He speaks of David. Now he also
talked about Abraham too. Now Abraham and David lived before
Christ came to this earth and actually died on the cross. But
listen to this, even as David also describeth the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without worth.
Righteousness was put on David. What does that mean? It means
it was imputed to him. It was charged to him. That was
real. That wasn't God acting as if
David was righteous when David wasn't. No, David was righteous
in the sight of God. David was like Job. His record
was clear in heaven. Based on what? The blood of Christ. But Christ hadn't even come yet.
That's true. Not in time. But my friend, don't
you ever doubt that God had that in mind and it was sure to happen.
So much so that God Almighty, who as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
calls things that are not as though they were. Now you think God's pretending
there? Is that a pretense when God calls things that are not,
things that hadn't happened yet, as though they were? No, sir.
This is the mind, the will, the purpose of God. And it is the
mind of God. I heard a preacher say one time,
he said, well they talk about it only happened in the mind
of God. My friend, my friend, if the mind of God is not real,
where does that leave us? How God thinks? That's what imputation
is all about. How does God think of you, think
of me? If it's not in Christ, where
are we? We're in trouble. But look at
verse 7. He says, same blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven. David's talking about himself
there now. He includes anybody who's in
Christ. But he's including himself. David
was forgiven. Based on what? The blood of Christ. But Christ hadn't come yet. Oh,
no, not in time. But my friend, David was just
as forgiven as old Abel was. As old Noah was. As old Abraham
was. He was just as forgiven as old
Simeon was, who lived in the days of Christ on this earth
as a child, but had not yet died. You know, Simeon said this, this
is before Christ died. And the reason I'm saying this
is because there are people who say, well, they weren't forgiven until the
actual cross took place in time. Well, let me tell you, that's
not true. You know, Simeon made this statement before the cross.
He said, I'm ready to die. Now, how can you be ready to
die unless righteousness has been charged to your account?
Nobody is ready to die before that. Look on, he says, whose iniquities
are forgiven, whose sins are covered, blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. God would not charge him
with this sin. He charged him to Christ. Christ
was his surety from everlasting. Now, that means that Christ had
to come and actually die in time. That's what he kept telling his
disciples. I came for this purpose. I must go to Jerusalem. I must
need to go through Samaria. I must go here. I've got to go
to the cross. That's what this whole thing
is all about. Look at verse 9. He says, Cometh this blessedness
upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also.
That's Jew and Gentile now. And he says, upon the son circumcision
also, Gentiles also. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue and nation. For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. Now think about that. Faith was
reckoned to Abraham. The word reckoned is the same
word as the word impute. Charged. Faith was charged to
Abraham. Well does that mean that Abraham's
act of believing was charged to him? No. What was Abraham's
faith? If I were to ask you this question,
what is your faith? What would you say? Well, you
could say it different ways, couldn't you? I believe I'm saved
by the sovereign grace of God in Christ. That's my faith. I
believe Christ did it all. I believe Christ accomplished
all. I believe Christ met every condition, every stipulation,
every requirement to save me, keep me, bless me, preserve me,
and bring me glory. I believe Christ did it all.
I believe He put away my sins totally on that cross. I believe
He established the only righteousness and all the righteousness that
I need to be eternally and unchangeably justified before God. That was
Abraham's faith. You see, it's not our believing
that is our righteousness. It's not our believing that's... it's Christ's work. The merits
of his work. Christ said it. Abraham rejoiced
to see my day and he saw it and he was glad. Look at verse 10.
How was it then reckoned to Abraham now? When he was in circumcision
or in uncircumcision? How was it reckoned? Not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. In other words, Abraham was justified
before God. Righteousness was put on Abraham
before he was circumcised. What's the point? Circumcision
had nothing to do with Abraham's righteousness. Being a Jew had
nothing to do with it. Verse 11. And he received the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had yet been uncircumcised, that he might be the father of
all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that
righteousness might be imputed unto them also. Put on them also. Charged his people. Christ had
sin put on him. He was made sin by imputation. We have righteousness put on
us, we who believe. That's the righteousness of God
accounted to us. So that's the first way. Now
that's the court of God's holy justice right there. Now here's
the second way. Now we read this passage this
morning, but I want you to turn back to Galatians chapter 3.
Look at Galatians chapter 3. The second way that we put, now
this is where our experience comes in. As a result of God
imputing, charging, putting righteousness on us from eternity past in Christ,
as a result of that, as the fruit of that, what happens? We put
on righteousness. Now how do we do that? In the
new birth. In the new birth. How do we do
it? It says we put on Christ. What
does that mean? That means we believe in Him.
That means we rest in Him. That means we submit to Him as
our righteousness before God. Remember in Romans chapter 10
how He said the Jews being ignorant of God's righteousness and not
submitted to the righteousness of God are going about to establish
a righteousness of their own. They were trying to work their
way under righteousness. They hadn't put it on. they hadn't
submitted to Christ. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. But look at verse
26. He says, for you are all, Galatians
3, 26, for you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus
as you believe in Him. For as many as you have been
baptized or placed into Christ, Chosen in Christ before the foundation. Justified by Christ. Adopted
into His family. Baptized into Christ. Have put
on Christ. You put Him on. Now that doesn't
mean you literally put Him on like I put on this coat before
I came to church. It simply means, that's just
a symbolic, metaphorical way of saying you believe in Him.
You rest in Him. He's my all in all. He's everything
to me. He's everything I need. He's
everything that I have to have in order to be accepted before
God. I'm accepted in the Beloved. Listen to it. You put on Christ. Put Him on. And not just one
time, but you put Him on continually, don't you? Believe on Him now
and forever. Look over at 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5. That's what this is talking about.
He says there in verse 6, stay awake. Don't let your guard down. Don't be caught sleeping when
you should be alert and ready for the battle, ready for what's
coming. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others. What he's talking about is believers
are to live in expectation and alertness over these things that
we battle against and an expectation over the coming of Christ. and
not sleep like unbelievers do, just walking through this world
as dead people, but walking dead. But let us watch and be sober,
clear-headed, clear-thinking, reading, studying the Scriptures,
learning, ever learning, but not as those who don't come to
a knowledge of the truth, but those who feed on the Word and
become skillful in the Word. Verse 7, for they that sleep,
sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in
the night. You see, he gives a metaphor here. It's like those
who are going through, listen, a lost person going through this
world, not knowing the truth and reality of God's Word, may
have never touched a drink of alcohol, but they're still spiritually
drunk, aren't they? Not clear-headed. Verse 8, But
let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and love. That's the same as putting on
righteousness. Believing in Christ. Resting
in Christ. And for a helmet to protect us.
The hope of salvation. What is the hope of salvation?
Verse 9, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. We put on righteousness when
the Holy Spirit brings us to a saving knowledge of Christ.
And you know what? We take off a garment when He
brings us to a saving knowledge. We take off our works. We take
off that filthy garment. We repent of dead works. We put on Christ. Look over at
Ephesians. Look back here. Here's one more
on this one. Ephesians chapter 6. Putting
on righteousness, we put on Christ. Put him on every day. Never take
him off. You see? That's what he's talking
about. Look at Ephesians chapter 6.
You know this one, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord. Isaiah wrote it, be put on strength. And in the power of his might,
live by the strength of God, not your own. Verse 11, put on
the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. I haven't heard anybody go to
this scripture and say, now he's literally talking about putting
on physical armor and all that. So you know better than that.
Why? Verse 12, we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you, put
on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand
the evil day, and having done all, to stand. And stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with the truth." Put on the truth.
Now that doesn't mean wear it like a hat. It means believe
it, study it. It also means ingest it. Lord,
lay it on my heart. Having the breastplate of righteousness,
that shields me from the arrows of accusations. I plead the righteousness
of God in Christ. I don't plead my works. You can
shoot hoes all over that one. You can tear that one up if you
want to. You want to get real technical. I don't plead my obedience. I plead His. You see? Putting
on righteousness. Your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel. In other words, wherever you
go, whoever you're with, whatever crowd you're in, you testify
the gospel of God's grace. Going into battle, going into
worship, you testify the gospel of God's grace in Christ. Shield
of faith, all these things, you see. Putting on Christ. Now, that has to do with our
justification in the court of our conscience. That's on our
minds, our hearts, you see. That's what gives us boldness
to enter the holiest by the blood and righteousness of Christ.
That's how our consciences... See, we're already justified
in the court of God's law and justice. That's the imputation
of righteousness. But when we receive Christ by
the power of the Holy Spirit and put Him on, then our consciences
are at peace, cleansed, a cleansed conscience, the purified heart. All right? All right, here's
the last one. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 4. And this really here,
this third issue, has to do more with what Job is talking about.
And it has to do putting on righteousness by our obedience. When we seek
to obey God, what we're doing is putting on righteousness.
Now let me give you two things that that does not mean. Number
one, it does not mean that our obedience is our righteousness
before God. Not at all. Our obedience is
not good enough to be our righteousness before God. Our obedience, our
best efforts at obedience, even as saved people, still fall short
of perfect satisfaction to God's law. Why? Because of the contamination
of sin that stills with us. You see, whenever we talk about
good works, we're going to be talking about good works and
coming messages here. We're not talking about works
that are good because we do them or because we try to do them
or because we have good intentions. Good works are the operation
of God within us and through us, Christ working in us. But
even our good works when presented before God have to be washed
and cleansed by the blood of Christ. Because they do become
contaminated. I know there's folks today saying
now, well, they can't be contaminated. Oh, yes, they can. If they couldn't
have been, I'll tell you what, if those works, if we cannot
be contaminated in that way, then just take Romans 7, 14 through
25 out of your Bible. Because you don't need it. Paul
says, what I want to do, I cannot do. What did he want to do? He
wanted to be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. He wanted
to love God perfectly. He couldn't do it. Why? Because
of the flesh. The flesh. So this doesn't mean
that our obedience is our righteousness. It doesn't mean that our obedience
makes us righteous. It doesn't. Christ is our righteousness. Period. Mark it down. But we
do put on righteousness in a sense when we have it as our aim and
our goal and our desire and even in our efforts to be like Christ. were putting him on in that sense. Now let me show you what I mean.
Look at Ephesians chapter 4 and look at verse 17. And this is what Job is saying
when he said, I put on righteousness. I tried to be the best judge
that I could ever be. I know that doesn't make me righteous,
but that was my goal. That was my aim. I wanted to
honor God. I want to glorify Him in my efforts,
in my character, in my conduct. I want to be conformed to Christ.
Verse 17, this I say therefore in testifying the Lord that you
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of
their mind. having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness
to work all uncleanness with greediness, but you have not
so learned Christ, this is not how you've learned Christ, if
so that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the
truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation,
the old man. Put him off. Now, what is the
old man there? The old man was our former conversation. What is that conversation? That's
our walk before we came to a saving knowledge of Christ. It's the
unregenerate man. In other words, don't act like a bunch of unregenerate
people. Put that off. Take that off. You don't want to be identified
with the unregenerate. You don't want to be identified
with the unjustified. You don't want to be identified
with people who do not know and love and trust Christ. Put it
off, he said. Fight it. Listen, we still have
the remnants of that old man in the flesh and you'll never
be rid of it, but you're to fight it. Put it off. Don't wear it
like a robe, you see, like a robe of honor. But listen on, he said,
put off the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, that's the born again there see, and that you
put on the new man. What is the old man? That's the
regenerate man. That's what I am in Christ. That
old man is what I was in Adam. The new man is what I am in Christ.
He said, put on the new man. which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. Now give me specifics. All right,
verse 25. Wherefore putting away lies.
Stop lying. Put that off. You don't want
to be known as... You don't want to wear lies like
a robe of honor. You don't want people to say
you're a liar. he says speak every man truth with his neighbor
for where members want to be angry and sin not let not the
sun go down upon you and never give place to the devil let him
that stole steal no more you don't wear thievery like a robber
put that off you see put on the new man I want to be known. Now I know the world won't know
us. That's not what he's talking
about. He's not saying that you're the
only sermon somebody reads or some junk like that. He's just
simply saying this. You're a child of God. You're
a born again person. You have the Spirit of Christ
dwelling within you. You have the Word of God written
on you. You've been justified in the court. Your record's clear
in heaven. You're righteous in Christ. Now
act like it. That's what he's saying. Act
like it. Be grateful. Be thankful. Obey
God not in order to become righteous. Put on righteousness because
you already are in Christ. Not in order to gain or maintain
salvation like you can earn it from God. Oh no, you're a sinner
saved by the grace of God. One more, turn to Colossians
3. Let me show you this and I'll close. This is a chapter here I believe
is a commentary on what Job's saying. Colossians 3. Because
look at how it reads. He says, If you then be risen
with Christ, That is, when Christ died, I died. When he was buried,
I was buried. When he arose again, I arose
again. I'm justified in him. Well, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. That's
our position. We're in Christ. He's our advocate. Verse 2, set
your affection or your mind on things above, not on things of
the earth. For your dad Now, look out here and I can tell
you who know Christ, you're dead. I hope you're not dead in the
head, but you're dead. What does that mean? You know
what that means. It means you're dead to the law. The law cannot
condemn you. It means you're dead to sin.
Sin cannot condemn you. You're justified. And your life
is hid with Christ in God. That's your position in Christ.
Secure and safe in Him. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.
Now verse 5. Now, mortify therefore because of what you already are
by the grace of God in Christ. Because you're already righteous
in Him and sure for heaven. Mortify your members which are
upon the earth. Members are the physical bodies
which are used as instruments of sin. He says, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness
which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God
cometh upon the children of disobedience. That's unbelievers. They don't
have cry. They don't have a mediator. In the which you also walk sometime
when you live there and then. That was your lifestyle. Now
listen now, verse 8, but now you also put off all these. Take them off. Anger, wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one
to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his
deeds. What's the old man? That's what
I was in Adam. You see? Ephesians 2 talks about
it, you know, how we walked according to the prince of the power of
this air, how we walked in our lust. Put off the old man with
his... I'm a regenerate person. I'm
justified in Christ. Put off the old man with his
deeds. And verse 10, and have put on the new man, the new.
That's what I am in Christ. which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him, where there's neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, but Christ is all and in all. In other words, live your
lives for the glory of God. That's putting on righteousness.
That doesn't make us righteous, but it's our goal, isn't it?
It's what we aim towards, that high calling, Paul called it,
we could go to so many other scriptures, that high calling
of God that He's given us and put within our hearts that we
might seek to attain that which is unattainable in this life
but which we'll realize in the next as we're glorified with
Him. Alright. Look to the Lamb of God.