You can come back to Romans chapter
10. That's just one of many verses
I want to use in this message. The title of
the message, Righteousness Needed, Righteousness Provided. God in his mercy and grace has
provided all that we need in Christ. All the righteousness
I need to stand before God, I have in him. He not only provided
it, but now he is my righteousness. He is my righteousness. He's
made unto us. He is all that I need. He's made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. Now, it is very clear throughout
the Word of God that righteousness is a must if I, for you are to stand before
God accepted, hear him say, enter in. We must be righteous, absolutely perfect. God cannot
and God will not accept anything less than perfection. It has to be perfect. It has
to be. It has to be like God. Perfect. When we speak of God's love,
we speak of a love that is righteous. It is a righteous love. It is
a perfect love. When we speak of pardon, it is
a righteous pardon that we have in Christ. When we speak of salvation
in Christ, it is a righteous salvation. That's the only kind
you want. That kind lasts forever. Turn over to Psalm 11. Psalm 11. Look at verse 7. For the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness. His counselness doth behold the
upright. The upright are the righteous,
those made righteous in Christ. But the righteous Lord loves
righteousness. You know, it says over in Hebrews,
look over in Hebrews chapter 2. I didn't write this down,
but let me see if I can find it. Hebrews chapter 2. In verse 8. But unto the Son,
he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever a scepter
of righteousness. That's the rule of his kingdom. This is how he rules his kingdom. This is how he rules over all,
is with a scepter of righteousness. Don't you want that kind of ruler?
Cecil read this Wednesday night. He that rules among men must
be just, ruling in the fear of God. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness,"
speaking of the same one Psalm 11 is speaking of. Thou hast
loved righteousness and hated, yes, God hates, and hateth iniquity. Therefore,
God, even thy God, speaking here of the Lord Jesus Christ, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness for thy felons. It is
written in Hebrews 12, without holiness, Without holiness, without
righteousness, no man shall see the Lord. It's not going to happen. Not without righteousness and
holiness, no man is going to see the Lord. Now, first of all,
let's look at this righteousness needed. Adam was righteous. God made him a righteous
man. He made him a righteous man.
I can just visualize in my mind Adam walking through the garden
so stately, I mean so upright, his countenance so bright, so
beautiful. When God made Adam, when He created
Adam, He created him a righteous man. Adam had a righteous nature. God created him. God didn't create
him in sin. He created him in righteousness.
When God created him and he looked at him after he created him,
he saw that it was very good. Everything God created, he said
it's good. At the end of it, when he created everything, he
said it's very good, very perfect. Like him. Like him. But not long after, and I don't
believe it was long after. I don't know how long after,
but there was a little time went by. You know, Adam named all
the animals. You can't do that today. You can't pass all those
animals by in the daytime and name them. He named them all. So some time went by. God made him a wife. She too
was righteous. Both of them. Loved God? Loved God like they ought to
have loved God. Walked before God? Never had a sinful thought? Until one day, Satan came into the garden,
and by one act of disobedience, by this one man, he lost his
righteousness. And he lost his righteousness
forever. You're not going to get that
back. You're not going to say, well, I messed up here. Let me
straighten this up. You're not going to straighten
it up. You and I can't straighten it up. One thing you have to
realize, especially when you're a younger kid, you can never
undo what you do. Once it's done, it's done. Once
it's said, it's said. We can't undo it. Can't do it. And Adam could not undo What
he did. I'll tell you this, after he
fell, he wouldn't undo it anyway. He didn't have the nature to
do it. He didn't have the desire to do it. Not by nature. Adam went from loving the presence,
loving God's presence, to hiding from the presence of God. Just
like that. That quick, he went from loving
God's presence to hiding from God's presence. He went from
loving his wife Eve, this beautiful creation of God that came out
of Adam. She didn't come out of the dirt
of the ground, the dust of the ground. She came out of Adam.
That was a part of Adam. And he went from loving her to
blaming her. He went from loving God to blaming
God, the woman you gave me. It's your fault. Can you imagine
that, speaking to God? Well, people do it every day.
They still blame God. People blame God every day. Adam lost his righteous nature
that he was created with. Everyone that descended from
him ended up with the same vile,
wretched nature of their father Adam. Look over in Genesis chapter
6. It didn't take long for this
to... I like what one man said. He
said, man didn't evolute, he devoluted. He devoluted what
he did. In Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, now the Word of God gives us
the true picture of the human race. The Word of God does that. I don't care what philosophy,
science, modern technology, what all, I don't care. The Word of
God gives us the true picture of the human being. In verse
5, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Did he get any better, did he?
You know what? Six thousand years later, and
he's still not any better. We're not any better. We're not
one whit better by nature. And that every imagination, let
me look over here at my margin reader, for the whole imagination,
the imagination, the purposes, the desires of his heart, of
his thoughts, and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil, Continually, that means every day. Are you
serious? Are you saying that out of all
these millions and billions of people that not one person can
actually have a good thought? Not without sin. Not without
sin. Jesus Christ is the only man
who walked on this earth who ever had a thought that had no
sin in it. Whoever loved God with his heart
completely, loved his neighbor as himself. And that is our righteousness. That's not popular, is it? Stand
up in a college and tell that. Stand up and tell that. Say,
there's not a good person in this room. That would go over
like a lead balloon. Do you really believe that there
is none righteous, no, not one? I wrote that out in my Bible,
even me. Do you believe that? Turn over to Romans chapter 3. Look at verse 10. As it is written,
that's written over in Psalm 14, one of the places. As it
is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Not me, not you, not my mother,
not my father, not my brothers, not my sisters, not anyone righteous
by nature. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. And it's still that way. It's
still that way. Adam lost his righteous nature,
and Adam lost his standing and our standing before God. You know, at one time, Adam had
a right. Adam had a legal right to stand
before God, enjoy His presence, fellowship. I mean, he had a
legal right to stand there. But when he sinned, when he disobeyed
God, he was what? Cast out of the garden. Get out
of here. You have no right to be here
anymore. No right. And not only did he
do that, he lost his understanding of the true righteous nature
of God. Back over here in Romans 10. It says in verse 3, "...for they
being ignorant of God's righteousness." They're ignorant of God's righteousness
in Christ, but I believe this also. They are ignorant of the
true righteous nature of God or they would not go about to
establish one of their own because they would know you can't do
that. You can't come up to that standard.
That is a standard you and I can't reach. He lost his understanding of
the true righteous nature of God. That's why men Try to go
about and establish the righteousness of their own. They think God
can be satisfied with this. God's standard is here, and we're
trying to offer one down here. Lower your standards. God's not going to lower His
standards. You and I lower our standards. We have to get somebody down
to our level. God's not going to lower His standards at all.
It is absolute perfection. He demands it. He demands it. And then God requires, God absolutely
requires righteousness. You see, we need it because we
lost it. But now listen, because we lost
it does not lessen the requirement of God that we must have it.
So, well, I know you guys are in bad shape. We'll just lower it. It won't
require as much. If you don't have much, we won't
require much. God still requires that same
righteousness. He's always required. He does. Look over Leviticus
chapter 22. Verse 21, Leviticus 22, And whosoever offereth a sacrifice
of peace offerings unto the Lord, to accomplish his vow, or a freewill
offering in bees or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted. It shall be without blemish.
There shall be no blemish in it whatsoever. You see, God has
to put this stipulation in here because we're so rotten. We'll
pick the worst one we've got and give it to Him. We'll pick
the one that's crippled. We'll give that one up. No, He
said, no, it's got to be perfect. If a sacrifice is going to be
given to God, That sacrifice has to be without blemish. It
has to be perfect. It shall be perfect to be accepted. That's what God requires. God
requires perfection. Look over at Deuteronomy chapter
10. What does God require? All right,
here it is. Verse 12 and 13. Here's what
God requires, and He requires this through perfection. And
now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require thee, but to
fear the Lord thy God? Does anyone here fear God perfectly? Does anyone here fear God as
They ought to fear God as He should be feared and reverenced
and worshipped. To fear the Lord thy God and
to walk in all His ways. You know, you don't see the word
here try, do you? It doesn't say try to walk in
all His ways. He said do it. It's what I require. I require you to fear me with
perfect fear. I require you to walk in all
my ways perfectly, and I require you to love Him and to serve
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul. That's
what God requires. Can you do it? To keep the commandments of the
Lord and His statutes which I command thee this day for thy good. What
does God require? There it is. Perfectly. He requires that to perfection. It says over in verse 20 of Deuteronomy 10, Thou shalt fear
the Lord thy God, him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou
cleave and swear by his name. Him only shalt thou serve. You
know, the Lord quoted this scripture to Satan in the wilderness. It
is written over in Luke chapter 4. Look
over in Luke chapter 4. In Luke chapter 4, look in verse
8. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, unto Satan, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve." Adam didn't say that, did he? Adam didn't say that, but the
second Adam did. The second Adam, who is the Lord
from heaven, he said, You get out of here. You get out of here. He said, It's written. Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." And
he did it. He did it. Boy, he did it. This is the righteousness now
that God requires. Now, how can I have that? How can someone like me? I have such a righteousness.
How can I come up with it? You can't. You can't come up
with it. But I tell you this, here's the
good news of the gospel. God has provided that righteousness
that we need to stand in his presence in Christ. God provided it. God himself
has provided us with that righteousness. It's the righteousness of God.
It is not Christ God. It is the righteousness of a
man, a real man, the God-man. We have that righteousness in
Christ that God demands. Look in Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. Look in verse 19, Now we know
that what thinks wherever the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God, Jew and Gentile. Therefore,
by the deeds, by the doing of the law, by the keeping of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, here's the good news.
The righteousness of God, that righteousness that God demands,
that righteousness that God provides, without my obedience to the law,
is manifested, being witnessed, proclaimed by the law and the
prophets. Even the righteousness of God.
which is by faith, which is by faith of Jesus
Christ. First of all, it's by the faithfulness
of Christ. That righteousness that God requires,
that Adam lost and God requires, and that God has provided is
by, first, the faithfulness, the faithful obedience of Jesus
Christ. And secondly, it's by faith in
Christ. It's imputed to us. I'll get
to that in a minute. Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe. Well, there's no difference.
For all have sinned. There's not one race better than
another race. All have sinned to come short
of the glory of God and being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that we have in Christ Jesus. We go back in Romans 10, in verse 4. Let me read verse
3 with you. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
which is not a righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. To reject Christ To reject the Lord Jesus Christ
is to reject the righteousness of God. It's to reject the righteousness
of God. For Christ is the end of the
law. He's all the law can require.
The law can require no more of me than what I have in Christ.
And that's good news. And it's to everyone that believes. Everyone that believes. Turn
over to Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. God has provided this righteousness
for us in Christ. I said God is our righteousness. It's the righteousness of God.
It's the righteousness of a man. Christ was a man. He kept the
laws of man, the God-man. Look at Isaiah 54, 17. No weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me. It's of me. And then you go to
1 Corinthians 1.30. that He's made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He is our righteousness. Look over in Jeremiah 33. Let's
go to Jeremiah 23 first. Jeremiah 23, then we'll
go to 33. In verse 6, "...in his days Judah shall be
saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name
whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." Now
go to Jeremiah 33. Jeremiah 33, look in verse 16. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. This is the name whereby
she, first time it was he, now it's she, shall be called the
Lord, our righteousness. This shows our oneness with Christ. It's written over, and I believe
it's in 1 John, as he is, so are we in this world. Is he righteous? So am I. So are you. You believe
on him. You are as righteous as he is.
You're righteous. It's only righteous or unrighteous.
There's only holy or there's an unholy. There's not a little
bit of holy. No, it's either holy or unholy.
Is he righteous? Is he holy? So are we. So are we. And He is our righteousness. Now this righteousness, I'll
wind this up, this righteousness that we lost in Adam, that God
requires, that Christ has provided, that's provided in Christ, is
imputed. It is reckoned unto us when we
believe. Look in Romans chapter 4. You'll notice through all this,
Our working has absolutely nothing to do with it. It says in Romans chapter 4 verse
3, and what saith the Scripture, what saith the Word of God? Abraham
believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now
look over in verse 18. It says, Who against hope believed
in hope, that he might become the father of many nations? which
was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able to perform." Do you
believe that? Are you persuaded that God is
able to save you in Christ? Justify you in Christ, pardon
you in Christ, and take you to glory in Christ. Are you persuaded
of that? Abraham was. And therefore, it
was imputed to him for righteousness. It doesn't say righteousness
was imputed to him. It was imputed to him for righteousness. It
was written to him for righteousness. Now, it's not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also. To whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses, raised again
for our justification." That righteousness that we so
need, so desperately need, is ours through faith in Christ. It's reckoned to us. But it doesn't
stop there. that was lost, God requires,
Christ provided, is imputed by faith, is also imparted. It's also imparted. Look over in 2 Corinthians chapter
5. We're not just carrying around
a legal paper here. We are made the righteousness of God in Christ. In verse 17, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature, a new creation. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. See, this happens in the new
birth. This righteousness that's reckoned
is also imparted by a new nature, which is created, Scripture says,
in righteousness and true holiness. It says down here in verse 25, For
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Everyone who believes God, who
believes on Christ, you have a righteous nature in you born
of God that sins not. You have it. It's of God. Now, let's not be so foolish after having the witness of the
Word of God to try at any time And believe me, it'll crop its
head up more times than you think. But not try at any time to do anything in order to impress
God or to get God to accept me. All my acceptance is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's all that I need. He's all
my righteousness. And you know what? I'm content
with that. Are you content with that? If you really have Him, you're
content with that. Verse 17, and the work of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and
assurance forever. Listen, that's the work, that's
the effect of His righteousness, not ours. See, if I'm trying
to produce one, I can't rest. I'm constantly trying to keep
it up. If you have His righteousness,
here's the effect of it. It'll give you quietness and
peace. Quietness and peace. Righteousness needed. Righteousness provided. That's
why our Lord now, you know, over in Matthew, He says, Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness they shall
be filled. It's evident, it's evident, if
you have a hunger and thirst after righteousness, God has
done something for you and God has done something in you. In
Christ we are righteous.