Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you've been following this
program, you know that I have been preaching a series of messages
based on a passage of scripture in the book of 1 John. 1 John
chapter 2 and verse 29. And the title of this series
is The Doing of Righteousness. Now, I've preached four messages
on this subject because, and I'll show you again why, when
I define what this means, the doing of righteousness, I wanted
to show in the context of both 1 John 2 and 1 John 3, how I
arrive at that definition of the doing of righteousness. Well,
this is the fifth message in that series, and let me encourage
you to get the others, order them, we'll send them to you,
and study the Bible. Now, each message stands on its
own. If you haven't heard the other
four, you won't be lost for knowledge in this fifth one. So I encourage
you to continue listening. But if we're Christians, if we're
truly Christians, we're commanded to study the word. And that's
what we're doing. So this is the fifth one on the
doing of righteousness. And then I have one more after
this that Lord willing will come on next week. So it'll be a six
part series. You can order the whole series
on a DVD or a CD or however, you know. So do that, and hopefully
you'll be enlightened by the word of God. But look at 1 John
2, verse 29. It says, if you know that he
is righteous, now the he is righteous there refers to Christ. John
had already established that back in 1 John 2, verses one
and two. The advocate of God's people
all over this world is Jesus Christ the righteous. And He
is the righteousness of His people. So if you know that He is righteous,
and that word righteous, you know the word righteous and just
can be interchanged in the New Testament and even in the Old
Testament. A person who is righteous is
a just or justified person. And so it says, if you know that
He is righteous, if Christ is righteous, and He is, You know
that everyone that doeth righteousness, the doing of righteousness, is
born of Him. Now, the doing of righteousness,
whatever that is, the only ones who can do that are those who
are born again by the Spirit. They're born of Him. Now, the
Bible teaches that in order for a person, a sinner, to be saved,
That sinner must be born again by the Spirit. Christ spoke of
that in John chapter three. When He was speaking in Nicodemus,
He said, you must be born again. Now, if you're not born again,
He said, you cannot see the kingdom of heaven. And of course, what
He's talking about there is spiritual sight. You must be born of the
Spirit, spiritually born, born from above, literally. And why
is that? Well, because we fell in Adam. That's what the Bible teaches.
When Adam fell, God appointed Adam, the first man, to be the
representative of the whole human family, the whole human race. And when Adam transgressed the
law, when he disobeyed God, he fell, but we all fell in him. He's the representative. Now,
as a result of Adam's fall, we fell into sin and death. As a
result of Adam's fall, we are born spiritually dead. Not physically dead, but spiritually
dead. So that we have, even if we have
physical eyes that can see physical light, we do not have spiritual
eyes to know and understand and see savingly. the glory of God
in Christ, the truth, the beauty of salvation by grace. And that's
why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14, the natural
man, that it means as we are naturally born, the natural man
receives not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them, they're spiritually discerned. Now, if you don't
have spiritual life, you can't spiritually understand and value
and believe and know the things of God. And back up there in
1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 12, he tells us what those are.
They're the things that are freely given. You see, man wants salvation
based on his works. That's the desires and the thoughts
of the natural man, sinful, fallen, spiritually dead man. And until
we're born again by the Spirit, we will not know and believe
and value and receive the things of God in Christ. Believing the
gospel does not get you born again. The Bible doesn't teach
that. I see these books all the time,
or pamphlets or articles, how to be born again. Well, read
John chapter three. Christ said, the wind bloweth
where it listeth. You don't know where it comes
from, where it's going, you just know the effects of. There is no how-to
book on how to be born again. You see, what it is, the Bible
does command us to seek the Lord, but we know only those who are
called of God will seek him, the Bible teaches. But the new
birth brings about faith, not vice versa. So believing the
gospel is an evidence that we've been born again. So he says,
if you know that he is righteous, 1 John 2, 29, you know that everyone
that doeth righteousness is born of him. Now this message, this
series, is about the doing of righteousness. What is that?
And first of all, and I made this plain, doing righteousness
is not the works of God. of a believer. It's not the works,
it's not the actions, it's not the obedience of a believer as
far as the term righteousness is concerned. Righteousness is
perfect satisfaction to God's law and justice. That's what
righteousness is. And even as a believer, even
as a sinner saved by grace, even now my works do not equal the
perfection of righteousness. I'm not righteous in myself by
what I do. You understand that? Now, one
day, as a sinner saved by grace, one day I will be able to obey
God perfectly, perfect righteousness, but that's when I'm gone from
this world and go to be with Christ. That's when I leave the
flesh behind. You see, flesh meaning the desires
and the contaminations and the influences of sin. While I'm
on this earth, I have a warfare within, the warfare of the flesh
and the spirit. So where am I going to find righteousness? Well, there's only one place
to find it. In Christ. That's what a believer does.
That's what a born-again person does. They find righteousness
only in Christ. And they rest in Him and submit,
Romans chapter 10 tells us, to Christ as their righteousness.
and it's His righteousness imputed, charged, accounted to me. See, I stand before God justified,
righteous, in the merit of another. the Lord Jesus Christ. Not in
my own works. Not in my own merits. My works
do not equal righteousness. For God to accept me or my works,
I must come to him through Christ, the great high priest. I must
be washed in the blood of Christ. Even my works have to be cleansed
by the blood of Christ. Even my prayers. Read Hebrews
chapter 4 verses 14 through 16 sometime. We have boldness to
come to the throne of grace because we have a great high priest who
has passed through into the heavens. And that's what a believer does.
So what is the doing of righteousness? Well, John had been talking about
this, and the context shows it, and I've already gone up through
chapter two and part of chapter three, but we're gonna start
in chapter three here in just a moment. But John had been talking about
true believers who not only believe in Christ, but who, as John states
it in the English version here, abide in Christ. In other words, they continue
in Christ. They stay with Christ. They will not leave Christ. And the reason they will not
leave is not because of their own goodness, or their own power,
or their own determination. And the reason they will not
leave Christ, and the Bible teaches this all the way through, is
because Christ will not let them go. And He keeps them. And one of the ways that Christ
keeps them is by the power of the Holy Spirit who gives them
a new heart, a new spirit, New desires, that is, and he writes
the word of God upon their hearts indelibly, cannot be erased. And the evidence that they are
in Christ, that they are born again by the Spirit, that they
have the ever-abiding presence of the Spirit within, is this,
they stay with him. They abide in him. They will
not forsake Him. Now John had been talking about
them as opposed to those many who had professed to believe
in Christ and who joined with believers for a little time but
then who forsook Christ and left Him and turned against Him. And John said that those people
had never, had never really been of us. That is, of the people
of God. And he said that over in 1 John
2 and verse 19. He said, they went out from us,
but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. Did you see that? But
they went out that they might be made manifest that they were
not all of us. They didn't lose their salvation
as so many heretically teach today. They didn't lose their
salvation. They never were saved. They had
an outward appearance of salvation. They had a profession of salvation,
but they had never been born again. They had never really
believed in Christ. It was temporary. But he says
in verse 20, he says, but ye have an unction, an anointing,
a power from the Holy One, from Christ, and you know all things. In other words, but you who continue,
who abide in Christ. And that's what he's talking
about. Abiding in Christ as the Lord our righteousness, You give
evidence of the Spirit's work in your heart, in your mind,
in your affections, in your will, in your conscience, in your life.
So what is this doing righteousness? Doing righteousness, now here's
the definition of it. Doing righteousness is a sinner
saved by grace, believing in, trusting, and clinging to Christ
as his righteousness before God. That's what it is to do righteousness.
You want to do righteousness? Look to Christ. Back over in
Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2, it talks about running the
race of grace, the Christian life, the Christian way of life. And how do you do it? Looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And so
a sinner saved by grace, who knows himself, who knows his
sins, confesses his sins, but he's washed in the blood of Christ,
and he clings to Christ, and by the grace of God, he will
not let go. He looks to Christ as his righteousness
before God. And Old Hymns says, my only plea,
Christ died for me. And that's what it's talking
about. In other words, when I stand before God at judgment, what
am I going to plead as my defense? Well, Lord, I've done this, I've
done that, and I know it was by your grace that I did this
and didn't know. You'll hear him say, depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. What am I gonna plead? I'm gonna
plead Christ, His blood and righteousness. And that's what we abide in.
Now, over in chapter three, and I've dealt with some of this,
but let's just read it. He continues because this is
a continuation of the same thought. And he says in verse one of chapter
three, behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us that we should be called the sons of God. What an amazing
thought. That God could love a sinner
like me. Now my friend, God's love is
in Christ. Outside of Christ, there is no
love from God to anybody. There's only hatred, and that
hatred is not a sinful hatred like ours. It's His justice.
It's His wrath against sin. If you want to be a participant
of the love of God, you must be in Christ, chosen of God before
the foundation of the world, justified in Christ, redeemed
by His blood. And we're called the sons of
God, he says, therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew
him not. The world really doesn't know
what a Christian is. A true Christian, like I said,
is a sinner saved by grace. A sinner saved by grace, believing,
entrusting, and clinging to Christ as the Lord, His righteousness.
The world doesn't recognize that. The only thing the world recognizes
is outward reformations of character and conduct, experiences, dreams,
visions, religion, ceremonies. That's not Christianity. Christianity is a sinner saved
by grace. based on the righteousness of
Christ imputed to him, believing in him, trusting in him and clinging
to him all the days of his life. And all by the grace of God.
Do you know, if it weren't for God's grace and power, I would
not believe the gospel. And if it weren't for God's grace
and power, I would not continue believing. I'd fall a thousand
times a day, one old writer said. So he says in verse two, he says,
beloved, now are we the sons of God. That's not something
we have to wait for or earn or gain by our works or our perseverance. We who are in Christ, washed
in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, right now we have
the full rights and title of a child of God. And he says,
it does not yet appear what we shall be, What shall we be when
we're with Christ in glory, inhabiting the new heavens and the new earth?
It doesn't even appear. We know something about that
from what the Spirit inspired Paul to write in 1 Corinthians
15. but it really doesn't appear what we shall be. We'll be like
him. He says, we know that when he shall appear, we shall be
like him, perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. In other
words, we'll not only be justified as we already are, that is, now
understand now, he's not talking to all people without exception
here in general. He's talking about the sons of
God. He's talking about those who
do righteousness. That is, sinners saved by grace,
believing, trusting in, and clinging to Christ. That's who he's talking
about. So when he says, we, don't include yourself there if you
don't know Christ and cling to him as your righteousness. And
he says, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.
We'll see him in the effulgence of his glory. That's what that
means. Right now we see him through
a glass darkly, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13. We do see him,
we who know him, we who are born again, we who trust him, we see
him, but our view is clouded by the remaining flesh, by the
physical limitations, We see him by revelation. God revealed
him through his word. How do I know who Christ is?
Somebody asked me one time, he said, what did Paul say in 1
Corinthians 2, I strive to know nothing among you, say Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Isn't there more? Well, what
Paul's saying there is this, whatever there is concerning
salvation and a right relationship with God, Whatever there is,
it must be seen and viewed in light of the glory of the person
of Christ, who He is, and the finished work of Christ, what
He accomplished when He was crucified. You see, it's not just that He
died, was buried, and arose again. He did do all that. But who is
he? Well, he's God in human flesh
without sin. That's who Christ is. He's God
manifest in the flesh. His name is Emmanuel. God manifest
in the flesh. He's the God-man. He's very God
of very God, as one old writer said, and very man of very man
without sin. He's both. And that's the kind
of person that it took. to save his people from their
sins. And what did he actually accomplish? Now, here's the key
to today's common heresies. People say, well, you just need
to believe that Christ died for your sins. Well, what does that
mean, that he died for my sins? Now, here's what I'm gonna tell
you, and I want you to listen very carefully. In the Bible,
I can tell you this much. If he died for your sins, you
will be saved. Now, listen, there's no such
thing as Christ dying for somebody's sins and that person perishing
anyway. That's a false heresy that's
been injected into the scriptures by man. His death is satisfaction
to law and justice, which equals righteousness, and righteousness
demands life. The only way that I can know
if Christ died for me personally is if I come to believe in Him
and rest in Him and cling to Him as my righteousness. And
that's the work of the Spirit in me. You see, His righteousness
imputed, accounted, charged, is the only ground of my right
standing with God, my justification. and his righteousness imputed
to me is the only source of spiritual life given to me by the Spirit
in the new birth, evidenced by faith, which is the gift of God.
So this idea of what Christ trying to do something, but you won't
let him and stuff. I've heard preachers say this
in their invitations. Did he die in vain for you? Did
he shed his blood in vain for you? My friend, Christ did not
die in vain for anyone. He did not shed his blood in
vain for anyone. All for whom he died shall be
saved. He said in John 6, 37, all that
the father giveth me shall come to me. Now somebody says, well,
that means if he didn't die for me, if I come to him, he won't
receive. No, it doesn't. Because if he
didn't die for you, you won't come to him. He said, him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He says, this is the
will of him that sent me that of all which he had given me,
I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.
Now, that's not an exclusion of anybody because you're hearing
the gospel, you live in this world, and you're accountable
for what God has revealed. Come to Christ, seek Him. Now, in verse three, he says
of 1 John 3, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself even as he is pure. The hope is the certain expectation
of eternal glory, eternal life in Christ. And that is applied
by the Holy Spirit to the mind, the affections, and the will,
the heart of man, as He sprinkles it with the blood of Christ.
Now that's symbolic language showing that He makes us aware
of our sinfulness and drives us to Christ and His death for
all our righteousness before God. And that makes, in Christ,
I am as righteous as I will ever be, because he is my righteousness. So he says in verse four, whosoever
committeth sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. In Christ, I am dead to the law,
the scripture says. What does that mean? That means
that in Christ, based on His blood, His righteousness imputed,
the law cannot condemn me. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn me or condemn us? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. So those who forsake
Christ, they transgress the law. It's not just talking about people
who are immoral there. The most religious person you
know, the most dedicated person you know, who is seeking to establish
their own righteousness before God by their works of the law,
My friend, they're transgressing the law. The only way we can
keep the law perfectly is to look to Christ, who is the, Romans
10, for Christ is the end of the law, the perfection, the
finishing, the completion of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. I can't keep the law perfectly.
You can't either. Not any law, whatever law you
want to talk about. But Christ did, and I plead him. Now, does that relieve me of
my responsibility to try to be the best person I can be and
obey? No, but not in order to attain righteousness. You see,
I attain righteousness in Christ, who is my righteousness. And
so, whosoever commit a sin transgresses the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. Now, he says in verse five, and
you know that Christ, He, Christ, was manifested, made known, that
is, He came into the world to take away our sins, and in Him
is no sin. Christ took them away. Did you
hear what Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you are free. They're all taken away.
And so in him is no sin. As I stand in Christ, there's
no sin charged to me. And so he says in verse six,
whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Now there's your key. What
is it to do righteousness? It's to abide in him. And if
you abide in him, you sinneth not. Now what does that mean?
Does that mean if you're in Christ, you're no longer a sinner in
yourself? No. Because we're sinners if we're
in Christ, if we're saved by the grace of God born again,
we're sinners saved by grace. But in Him, no sin is charged. Now I'll pick up there next week
and I hope you'll join us next week for another message from
God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 31707. contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.