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. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm continuing in the message
today to preach a series entitled The Doing of Righteousness. The Doing of Righteousness. This
is the third message in that series and I urge you to order
the first two messages. It's a study of a passage in
the book of First John 1 John 2. And the term, the doing of
righteousness, that's the title of this series, comes from verse
29 of 1 John 2, where the Apostle John writes to the church, or
the churches, he says, if you know that he is righteous, now
the he there is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Jesus Christ the
righteous. John had established that back
in first John chapter two and verse one, as the advocate, the
mediator, the intercessor, the substitute, the surety of every
true believer is Jesus Christ the righteous. So he says in
first John 2 29, if you know that Christ is righteous, Then
you also know, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness
is born of him. So you have the doing of righteousness
by those who have been born of him. Now, that born of him is
the new birth and I'm going to talk a lot about that today.
But let me just go back and define the doing of righteousness. Now,
most people, when they think of the term righteousness, even
people who claim to be Christian, they have such a low idea and
understanding and standard of righteousness that it really
is not righteousness at all. For example, some people say,
well, doing righteousness refers to the good works of a believer. Some say it's the good works
of any person, but the Bible teaches that unbelievers cannot
perform good works. It is in the sight of God. And
you have to understand that when we talk about salvation, when
we talk about justification, when we talk about the new birth,
what we're talking about is a person's relationship with God and not
their relationship to other people. Now, don't get me wrong there
either. A person's relationship to other
people is certainly determined and established by their relationship
with God. They go together. You don't cancel
out either one. But what I'm talking about is
how do we know what righteousness is? How do we know what goodness
is? And what I'm talking about, what
the Bible's talking about here is righteousness and goodness,
not as we compare and act towards other men, but as we have a right
relationship with God. In other words, we're talking
about God's standard of righteousness, God's standard of goodness. Many of you may have read the
passage in Matthew chapter 19 about what people call the rich
young man or the rich young ruler. And he asked Christ, he said,
what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life? And Christ
answered him this way. He said, well, why do you call
me good? There's none good but God. Now, why would the Lord
say something like that to a person? And this person, this young man,
was one who was endeavoring to keep the law of Moses, to keep
the Ten Commandments. He wasn't an immoral person according
to the standard of men. You would look at him, you'd
say, well, he's an honest person, he's a moral person, he's dedicated,
sincere, all of that. But Christ said there's none
good but God. What is he talking about? He's
talking about goodness as measured by God's standard. And when you
come to God's standard of goodness, what we're talking about from
the Bible is perfection. You understand that? Be ye therefore
perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect, Matthew
5 and verse 48. So, the same thing with righteousness. Now, righteousness, this doing
righteousness does not refer to the moral behavior of a believer. And the reason I'm saying that
is this, the moral behavior of even a believer does not measure
up to the perfection of righteousness in the law. Now, technically
speaking, I know we use terms loosely, especially today. People
take verses out of context. They use terms and words very
loosely without defining them. And usually what happens is we
accept the definition that even unbelievers would accept, but
we have to study these words. That's why we have the revelation
of the Bible. But technically speaking, righteousness
is not morality. Righteousness, technically speaking
in the Bible, is the standard by which all morality is to be
measured. Now I'll give you an idea of
that over in the book of Acts chapter 17 and verse 31 we read
that God after Paul had preached there at Mars Hill in Acts 17
and he said God has commanded all men everywhere to repent
and that repentance is a change of mind a change of standard
he says in verse 31 because God hath appointed a day in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness." Now what is the standard of righteousness? He will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained. God has appointed a man to be
the standard of righteousness. Somebody says, well, how good
must I be to be saved? Do I have to be as good as the
preacher or as good as this man or that woman? Well, God has
appointed a man And in order to be saved, we must measure
up to that man. And who is that man? God hath
appointed a day which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, he's appointed, in that he hath
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from
the dead. Do you see that? Now, who is
that man? It's the God-man. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Somebody says, well, you mean
I have to be as good as Christ? Well, technically speaking, in
order to be justified before God, we have to have a righteousness
that equals Christ's righteousness. And Christ is the perfect God-man. He never sinned, never had a
sinful thought. Now, what I have to ask myself
is this. I want to be a moral person.
I want to be responsible. I want to be an example in the
community. I want to be a good father, a
good grandfather, a good husband, a good friend, a good worker. I want to do all of that. But
even at my best, does any of that equal the righteousness
that can only be found in Christ? And the answer is no. I always
fall short. My best efforts cannot be called
righteousness as they're compared to Christ. You understand that? So how in the world can I be
righteous before God? Well, that's why I preach the
righteousness of God revealed in the gospel, which is the imputed
righteousness of Christ. You see, that's what God does
when He saves His people. He has imputed, charged, accounted
the merit of Christ's righteousness to His people through no works
of their own. It's by grace. Romans 5.21, As
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It's His righteousness accounted,
charged to me. Romans 10 and verse 4, for Christ
is the end of the law, the fulfillment, the perfection, the finishing
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And
so you see, it's not our believing that makes us righteous. We are
brought by the Holy Spirit to believe that Christ is our righteousness. That's what believing is all
about. Therefore, in that context, what
is this doing righteousness? This is what I've been showing
in this series. We've gone through these passages from 1 John 2,
back in verse 18, and we're going to go on through it again, or
more of these passages, to show you the context. And what John
is talking, when he says, if you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him.
What is the doing of righteousness? Doing righteousness describes
a sinner saved by grace, not by his works, a sinner saved
by grace, justified before God, based on the imputed righteousness
of Christ, And having been born again by the Spirit, given spiritual
life, that sinner clings to Christ, believes in Christ, trusts in
Christ, clinging to Christ for all righteousness. Now that's
what doing righteousness is. And that's what the context tells
us. Because John had been talking
about several people in these churches And some people think
this is one church that John wrote this letter to the church
at Ephesus. Maybe. It doesn't matter. He's writing
to people who profess to believe the gospel. Who profess to believe
in Christ. Who profess to be Christian.
And you know as well as I do, if you read the Bible, there's
going to be a lot of people in the last days who claim to be
Christian, but who are not Christian. In other words, they're Christian
in name only. They're false Christians. And
that's why I mentioned this several times on our program. And I see
our program is not only preaching to people that we think and know
are lost, but those who claim to be Christian, but need to
examine themselves, whether they really be in the faith. Do you
claim to be a Christian? I claim to be a Christian. We
need to put ourselves, our claim, to the test of the Bible. So
it's self-examination, and I've written several books concerning
that, you know, the book on the right interpretation of Scripture.
Somebody says, well, you interpret it your way, and you interpret
it your way. There are rules of interpretation that we need
to follow. And most people haven't been
taught that. They've been taught basically,
well, you just open your Bible, go off into a corner and get
whatever you can out of it. No, there are rules of interpretation. And then I wrote a book called,
What is a Christian? That's key. You call yourself
a Christian? Well, what is a Christian in
the Bible? What does it mean? And then what
is salvation? You claim to be saved. Well,
what is salvation? There are people in John's day,
he calls it the spirit of Antichrist in 1 John 2, 18. Look at verse
18 of 1 John 2. Little children, it is the last
time, and that's the last age, that's the age we're living in.
He says, and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even
now are there many Antichrists, that spirit is beginning to take
hold whereby we know it is the last time. And look at verse
19. Now, here's the point. There's many people who claim,
they say, well, if a person claims to be a Christian and then leaves
the truth, leaves their claim or denies Christ, well, they've
lost their salvation. The Bible does not teach that. That's a false gospel, that's
heresy. What John says in verse 19 explains it. He says, they
went out from us, but, this is verse 19, they went out from
us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, that
is truly saved, truly Christian, truly born again, they would
no doubt have continued with us. Now that's the key. That's
the perseverance of the saints. by the power and grace of God.
But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were
not all of us, okay? So they didn't lose their salvation.
They just revealed that they'd never been saved to begin with
in verse 20. And you know how people argue
against that. They say, well, I know they were
saved because they had such a great change of life, or they joined
the church, they got baptized. My friends, what is salvation? That's what you need to study.
Not looking at people and what they do and their religious experiences.
People can have great reformations of character and conduct, religious
reformations, and still not be Christian. You need to understand
that if you read the Bible now. Now you listen to all the stories
that you hear in false churches and testimonies and all that.
That's not our rule of faith and practice. You see, I'm glad
when somebody has a real experience of salvation by the new birth. But I can only know that by this
book. Somebody says, but it was so
real. Well, my friend, everything we go through is real in some
sense. If I have a dream, it's real,
it's still a dream. If I'm gonna tell you about my
dreams and vision, these false preachers on TV today, they talk
about, you know, I saw a vision or God spoke to me. Well, okay,
let's judge if God really did speak to him. I'll tell you one
thing. If the true and living God really did speak to him,
it's already been revealed in this word. You can test it by
this word right here because there's nothing new. If it's
new, it's false. I can tell you that right now.
But look to the word of God. Isaiah said it in Isaiah 8 20,
to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
this word, there's no light in them. So these people are people
who had false professions of Christianity. But look at verse
20, 1 John 2, but you have an unction from the Holy One and
you know all things. Now, what is that unction? The
unction there is an anointing, all right? Now this anointing,
this unction is not just some special power given to certain
Christians, such as people talk about speaking in tongues today
or something like that. Well, speaking in tongues back
then was the gift of preaching the gospel in other languages
that people could understand and interpret. It's not some
kind of a heavenly language that's gibberish that nobody can understand. Read 1 Corinthians 14 if you
want to see what the reality of the languages, the gift of
languages was back in the New Testament, early New Testament
times. So this unction is not some special gift given to super
Christians or or special Christians or anything like that. This unction
from the Holy One, and the Holy One there is Christ, this unction
is the new birth. Back over in verse 29. If you
know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness, everyone who believes in Christ for righteousness,
everyone that clings to Him and will not let go by the power
of God, they're born of Him. They're doing righteousness,
that is trusting Christ and clinging to Him continually for righteousness
is an evidence of this unction that they've been born again
by the Spirit. Now last week I left off at verse
27, so look at verse 27 of 1 John 2. That's what he's talking about. Have I been born again by the
Spirit? Christ said you must be born again or you cannot see
the kingdom of heaven, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
He says in verse 27, I've already dealt with the verses before
this, but he says in verse 27, but the anointing which you have
received of him abideth in you. In other words, you can't lose
that anointing. You can't lose that unction. If you've been
born again by the Spirit, you've been given a new heart, a new
mind. new affections, a new will. Now you still have the sinful
flesh to deal with within. There's a warfare. You say, I
have a desire to be like Christ, exactly if you're born again.
But you also have a desire of selfishness and sin. And it contaminates
everything you do. So that for that reason, we can't
do righteousness by our works. Not even the best of believers
can equal the righteousness of Christ, because even our best
works, even as believers born again, is still tainted with
the remaining corruption of sin. And therefore, even that, even
our worship, even our prayers, must be presented to God through
the intercessory work of Christ. washed in his blood, clothed
in his righteousness. You see, that's why in the old
covenant, in the holy place, you had the altar of incense,
which represented the prayers of the saints going up to God
through the blood of Christ, the intercessor. Why does God
accept the prayers of even a sinner saved by grace? Because we have
a great high priest who has passed through into the heavens, Jesus
Christ the righteous. And so when we pray, we have
to pray, Lord forgive us. Now he's forgiven, given his
people by the blood of Christ. But he says, this anointing,
verse 27, but the anointing which you've received of him abideth
in you. In other words, you've been born
again, it stays with you. You can't lose it. And he says,
and you need not that any man teach you. That is what he's
talking about. We are taught all the time because
we who are saved now are taught all the time because we are disciples.
A disciple means a learner. Somebody who learns, and we're
continually learning. But what he's talking about is
this issue of the gospel. wherein the righteousness of
God is revealed, we know that, and he says, but as the same
anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is no
lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him,
or in it. What he's talking about is that
anointing that causes a believer, one who's been born again, a
believer, to abide in Christ. That's what doing righteousness
is. Abiding in Christ. Those who claim to believe, who
claim to be Christian, and who leave it totally, turn away from
it, forsake it, they were never born again. They never had this
anointing. And so he says in verse 28, and
now little children abide in him. Continue looking to Christ. Over in Hebrews chapter 12 and
verse 2, that's how we're told to run the race of grace, looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. That's
a continual looking. And he says, he says, and now
verse 28, and now little children abide in him that when he shall
appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him
at his coming. Now, What's he talking about
confidence? Well, he's talking about the
assurance of salvation that comes by the grace of God based upon
the righteousness of Christ freely imputed and received by God-given
faith. And let me tell you something,
when we appear before God at judgment, Our only hope of salvation
and eternal glory is to plead Christ and His righteousness. If we plead anything else, we'll
be ashamed. You remember over in Matthew
chapter seven, verses 21 through 23, those who stood before Christ
at the judgment and they said, Lord, Lord, haven't we preached
in your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? They were claiming, they were
pleading what they believed God had enabled them to do. But my
friend, that won't cut it at the judgment. The only thing
that'll cut it at judgment is the imputed righteousness of
Christ. And those who cling to Him and trust Him, they're doing
righteousness because He is their righteousness. You know, when
God the Holy Spirit gives a sinner a new heart, a new life by the
power of grace that comes from Christ the Holy One. You see,
that's the reason life comes to dead sinners in the new birth
is because righteousness has been imputed to them. Christ's
righteousness. Christ's righteousness imputed
is the ground of our justification before God and it's also the
source of spiritual life given by God. And so when The Holy
Spirit brings a sinner to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works and to persevere in the faith clinging to Christ. He
enables us to do many wonderful things. He enables us to worship
for the first time, to pray to God acceptably, to bring forth
fruit unto God, to do good works. Not that we produce good works,
we bear fruit, you see. But none of that is our righteousness
before God. Christ is. That's Christ crucified,
buried, and raised again from the dead for our justification,
for the justification of his people. And that's what the new
birth does. Look at this unction. Over in
the book of John, in chapter three, in verse 19, And this is after Christ has
spoken of the new birth in John chapter three, verse three through
seven, talking to Nicodemus, you've got to be born again from
above by the Spirit or you can't see the kingdom of God. He says
here in verse 21, but he that doeth truth, John 321, cometh
to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are
wrought in God. He says, doeth truth there. Just
like over in 1 John 2, 29, he says, doeth righteousness. What
is it to do truth? It's to believe in Christ. It's
to rest in him as he is revealed, identified, distinguished by
God in his word through the gospel. Doing righteousness, that's the
issue. 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.