Turn in your Bibles, please,
to the passage we read, to Romans and chapter three. We'll read
a few verses from that chapter, in which Paul, proving in the
first few chapters of Romans that all men are sinners, goes
on to show how God should save, how he should justify his people
who have no righteousness of their own, but how he should
justify them through the blood of Christ, through which God
brought in the righteousness of God on their behalf. Paul
says in verse 9, the latter part of verse 9, we have before proved
both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. And the way of peace have they
not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at
this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law of works? Nay, but
by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Therefore
by the deeds of the law, Paul says in verse 20, there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. So Paul
makes it absolutely plain in this central passage to the scriptural
teaching about the justification of a sinner. This passage which
deals with how any should be saved. How any who are sinners
should be declared just in the sight of God. So Paul makes it
clear that they will not be declared just, they will not be justified,
they will not be saved by their own deeds. They will not be saved
by their keeping of the law of God. They will not be saved by
the law of God at all. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. It is not possible and it was
not meant to be. The law wasn't given that man
should be justified by law. It was given that man should
discover his sin as the Spirit takes that law and makes him
aware of its contents and the reality of his heart in respect
of it. When the commandment comes, as
he records in chapter 7 of Romans, it slays us. As Paul says there, Is the law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taken occasion
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
For without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taken occasion
by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was
then that which is good made deaf unto me? God forbid! But
sin that it might appear sin, work in deaf in me by that which
is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold unto sin. So Paul, when the commandment
came, when he didn't just hear it in the outward ear, but when
the Spirit of God took it and brought its reality to him, brought
how it slew him and condemned him, not merely for his outward
actions but for all those hidden thoughts of his heart, When it
really exposed him, it slew him. And the effect of that law, when
he put himself under it, when he tried to strive to keep it,
was not to bring forth righteousness, but was simply to flare up the
sin of his own heart. And the sin only grew worse under
law, and as such, it slew him and condemned him. He fell under
its condemnation. He tried to do good and he did
more evil. He tried not to sin and yet he
sinned all the more. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. Well has that law brought that
knowledge to you? Or are you still in that state
that Paul was in as a Pharisee of the Pharisees? Thinking that
you are living right before God. Thinking that you keep the Ten
Commandments. Thinking that you have a measure
of holiness or righteousness with which God will be pleased.
Blind to the reality of the true state of your heart and nature
before God. Is that the way in which you
go? Self-righteous. A fool before God. Or has God
brought that law to you by His Spirit? Has the commandment come
and has it slain you? And laid you in the grave and
realised and made you realise the desperate state of your nature? Has it brought you in with all
the world guilty before God? We know that what such things
so if the law say if it's there for them who were under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Do you put yourself under that
law? Have you strived to keep the Ten Commandments? Have you
strived to live righteously before God? Well if you have you're
under it and as such Your mouth will be stopped and you will
be brought in guilty before God, because by that law is not the
knowledge of righteousness, but the knowledge of sin. By nature, no one is righteous,
Jew or Gentile, religious or irreligious. They are all under
sin, Paul says. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understand,
if not even you. There is none that seeketh God,
not even you. They are all, including you,
gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. We're all sinners and we're all
guilty under that law before God. We're bankrupt and we're
naked. We have no righteousness. And
yet we need righteousness to stand before God as just. We
need righteousness if we are ever to avoid eternal judgment
under the condemnation of that law and if we are ever to know
salvation or ever to enter into heaven's glory. Death is common
to all men. Everyone knows that they shall
die. And most men in this world, though
they close off the thoughts of religion for much of their life,
have a vain hope that if there is an afterlife, if there is
a heaven and a hell, then heaven is their end. They have a vain
hope that if they haven't been a terrible criminal, if they
haven't murdered someone or been a thief, if they've generally
lived a reasonably moral life, if they've done good to their
neighbor, then if there is a God, he will be well pleased with
them and they are going to go to heaven. And such a delusion
is even preached by certain branches of Christendom so-called, who
will bury the dead of those who hardly ever enter the foot of
a congregation or a church building. and say words over the grave
that gives their family and their relations hope that that person
laid in the grave is going to heaven. What folly! They are
all gone out of the way. None understand. If none has
sought after God, there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
And if not, they are guilty before God. They're under law. They're
condemned by it. And as such, they are headed
into eternal destruction. We will only enter glory if we
have righteousness which is perfect. Righteousness. The righteousness
of God the Father. As we've read recently in Matthew.
We must be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect. Without
such a perfection we are lost. But whilst this plight of man
is so desperate The wonderful hope and message of the Gospel
which Paul declares here in Romans is so tremendously wonderful
because that very righteousness of God is what is made known
in the Gospel as being made the children of God. Those who believe
in Jesus, those who are brought to faith in Christ, those who
have their ears open to hear this gospel and to hear this
message of the Son of God who came into this world to suffer
and die in the place of sinners, those who are brought to see
their state and their need of righteousness, are brought to
hear of Christ the Son of God who died in their place, who
died as a substitute for them, who died to take away their sins
and who died to bring in the righteousness of God for them. The Gospel's tremendous because
it brings in that righteousness and it makes it known that it's
theirs. It makes it known that it's theirs
in reality, not just in word, but in experience. When they
hear it, when they are brought by faith to hear it, when the
Spirit brings that conviction in their hearts, when he brings
those words of comfort into their hearts, They come to know that
cleansing power of the blood of Christ. They come to know
the reality of that blood, washing their sins away, cleansing them,
forgiving them, taking away every sin and transgression, and making
the righteousness of God theirs. The righteousness of God. not
their righteousness, not something they've done, not something they've
earned. They come to know it's all given
to them. They come to know it's all free.
They come to know it's all of God. And they come to know that
the righteousness which is theirs is the righteousness of God. They are made perfect as their
Father in heaven, He who brought them to life, He who by His Spirit
quickened them unto life, that they should hear this Gospel
and believe this Gospel. It's His righteousness which
is made theirs. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ. That righteousness is theirs
and they haven't put one finger to earning it. All that they
have done has mounted up their sin and their debt and their
guilt before God. And yet in Christ in the gospel
through his death and that blood he shed on Calvary's cross God
has made his righteousness theirs. This is a tremendous truth and
it's the power of the gospel which transforms them. This is
why Paul cries out, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein in this
gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. That righteousness is theirs,
the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God. Repeatedly
Paul uses this phrase. In the gospel the righteousness
of God is revealed. But now the righteousness without
the law is manifested. Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God. He
repeatedly speaks of this righteousness. Now what does this tell us about
this righteousness? It tells us that it is God's
righteousness. That it is divine. That it is
not man's, not ours. But divine, the very righteousness
of God himself. It's distinct from man. It's
even distinct from the person of Christ alone. Christ is one
person in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. But the righteousness
which is made his peoples in the Gospel is never spoken of
distinctly as being the righteousness of Christ, as though it is a
righteousness unique to Christ. But it is the righteousness of
God. It is God's righteousness. As
one God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, they are righteous. And
it is that righteousness of the divine Godhead which is made
the children of gods. The scriptures never speak of
the righteousness of Christ alone as though it is unique or distinct
to Christ. And yet despite this many, many
theologians and preachers and writers often refer to righteousness
by which we are justified, often refer to that righteousness which
is imputed to the believer as being the righteousness of Christ.
They repeatedly use this shorthand for justifying righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ. Even though the scriptures never
use that phrase and always repeatedly emphasize that it is the righteousness
of God. Now some might ask, why does
that matter? Why does it matter that we use
a phrase that is not exactly in the scriptures as long as
it conveys the truth of the scriptures, that's alright isn't it? And
that is alright if it conveys the truth. But it's not alright
if it mitigates against the truth. It's not alright if it undermines
the truth. People often speak of the Trinity,
a word never used in the scriptures. But the concept, the truth of
the Trinity is everywhere found in the Scriptures. The truth
that there is one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy
Ghost is everywhere found. And as such that phrase, that
term is an acceptable term to describe a truth which is in
the Scriptures. What is meant by Trinity is definitely
found in the Scriptures. So I have no complaint with the
use of the term Trinity. or the use of other terms if
they rightly convey what is found in the scriptures. But the trouble
with using the term the righteousness of Christ is not simply that
it isn't found, but it is also that it is at variance with that
phrase which is found and there is no rightful reason not to
speak of the righteousness of God if that is what the scriptures
rightly say and substitute the righteousness of Christ. But
secondly, not only is the righteousness of Christ as a phrase not found.
But that phrase is used, it is used by theologians to narrow
down the scope of this justifying righteousness to the person of
Christ distinctly. It is used to imply that it is
the righteousness which Christ had as a man and not the divine
righteousness which is that which is imputed to the believer. It
is used to imply that it is not the righteousness of the Father
which is ours, or the righteousness of the Spirit, or the righteousness
of Christ as He is God, but the righteousness of Christ as He
is a man. And this is at variance with
what the scriptures truly teach. They say that the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. Yet this phrase the righteousness
of Christ is used to describe that righteousness of Christ
as a man as he lived under that law. It is used specifically
to say that his life as a man under law wrought a righteousness
by the works of that law and that is the righteousness which
is then imputed to the believer. So not only is the phrase the
righteousness of Christ not used, but what it implies, what it
is used to refer to by theologians, is not what is taught in the
New Testament. The New Testament teaches that
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, that this
is a righteousness above and beyond law, that this is God's
righteousness, the righteousness he has as God. As a divine person,
not as man. Not reduced to the level of this
world or the scope of this world. Not a righteousness as described
in the Ten Commandments which respects men and women who are
married and who have children and possessions and oxen and
cattle and so on in this world. The law describes righteousness
demanded of man in this world which he cannot even attain to
in this world. But it's for man in this world.
But the Gospel doesn't simply bring in a righteousness sufficient
for life in this world. It brings in for the believer
the righteousness of God, by which that believer will enter
into the very presence of God. they are made perfect as their
father in heaven is perfect well if you're going to have a perfection
as perfect or as righteous as the father in heaven it must
be his righteousness it cannot be anything short and it cannot
be a human righteousness if he is a divine person it must be
the righteousness of God and although this may stunned and
amazed many and they remain confused about it and say but surely we
need a righteousness as a human righteousness for we're men and
women though this may confuse their philosophical understanding
and twisting of the scriptures the reality is that that is just
what the scriptures say but now the righteousness of God without
the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. It's not Christ's righteousness
as a man, but his righteousness as God, which he brought in for
his people. And that is why Paul in the scriptures
in the New Testament is so careful to speak of it as being the righteousness
of God. There are one or two verses where
he speaks of it in reference to it being ours in Christ. 2
Corinthians 5.21 says, but now that we are made the righteousness
of God in Christ. He hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. And there is no dispute that
we are made the righteousness of God in Christ. And you could
refer to that in shorthand as the righteousness of Christ,
in that we are made to be it in Him. But it is still the righteousness
of God in Christ, not the righteousness of the law or the righteousness
of man in Christ. It is not unique to Christ, it
is ours in Christ. We only have it by our union
with Christ. But it is the righteousness of
God. Likewise, 1 Corinthians tells us... At the end of 1 Corinthians
verse 30, But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
So Christ is made unto us righteousness. We are righteous as we are in
Christ, but it does not say that it is uniquely Christ's righteousness
as a man. We are made the righteousness
of God in Christ. He is our righteousness as God
and as we are united to Him. It is the righteousness of God.
The scriptures never speak of it as being man's or as being
of the law or of being as Christ's only. It is the righteousness
of God made ours in Christ. This is divine righteousness.
And this is why Matthew, as we've seen, says that we must have
righteousness, we must be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. We must be divinely righteous. We must be as the Father. We
must have the righteousness of God. If that is our perfection,
our righteousness, then it is divine. The Father himself was
never made flesh. He never walked under the law
of God. Yet it is that perfection which
is ours, that which we must have, and that which we do have in
Christ. It is that righteousness which
was manifested in the gospel without the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe. Well how did he manifest this
righteousness then? Clearly not by law. The righteousness
of God is manifested without the law. Not by law, it wasn't
manifested by his keeping of that law, though he did, though
he was righteous, though he manifested righteousness of God and that
as a result meant that his life was perfect and the law found
no fault in him. Though he was perfect, that wasn't
how that righteousness was manifested, it wasn't manifested by the law. It was manifested by the faith
of Jesus Christ. It was his walk, his union with
his father, his faithful union, his love of the father, his looking
unto the father, his living by faith, his dying by faith, which
showed forth this righteousness. Most specifically it was manifested. when he was slain as the substitute
upon the tree and his blood was shed for his people. He was set
forth by his father as a propitiation for his people whom God have
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past through the forbearance of God. This is where the righteousness
of God was manifested when God displayed his son in death as
the sacrifice. He nailed him to the tree. He
had him nailed to the tree by the wicked hands of men, yes,
but by the full counsel of God when Christ was nailed to that
tree. And when God laid upon him the
sins of his people and the sin of his people, And when God in
justice poured out His wrath upon His own Son, He set Him
forth for propitiation, He who would make peace between God
and men, He who would propitiate, appease the wrath of God, He
who would bring in the mercy of God for His people. And in
so doing, as these verses make so clear, through the redemption
of Christ as he's set forth as a propitiation through his blood. In so doing, in so being slain,
God declares his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past through the forbearance of God. To declare, Paul says,
I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. The righteousness of
God here manifested in the gospel is specifically set forth in
the death of Christ. And to say that it isn't in the
face of these verses is folly. These verses clearly open up
by saying it's not by the law. The law was given to show man
his sin. But now in the gospel the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested and this is how. through the
redemption of Christ, through His blood, through Him being
set forth as a propitiation, as God declares His righteousness,
His justice in slaying His Son in the place of His people. He
judged their sins according to His righteousness. And in judging
their sins according to that righteousness, that was the standard
by which they were judged and that was the standard to which
that people were made to be in Christ. When Christ died they were united
with Him. They were one with Him and as
such He took on their sins upon Him. And God judged and destroyed
those sins. He blotted them out as He judged
Him according to His righteousness. And in Christ, as they died with
him and as they rose again with him the other side of the grave,
all sin and all sins having been blotted out, they rise again
as righteous as he is. And as righteous as he is, is
to have the righteousness of God in Christ. that righteousness
which he manifested by his faith when he laid down his life looking
unto his father to judge his people's sins in him to take
them all away and through so doing to save that people with
an eternal salvation this is justification this is justification
by faith by the faith of Christ as he laid down his life by faith
for his people And this is how the righteousness of God, not
the righteousness of the law, is made theirs. The righteousness
of God made known in the gospel. has nothing to do with a vicarious
law-keeping lifetime of Christ. Yes, Christ lived under that
law. Yes, he honoured it and fulfilled
it. But that is not what he brought
in for his people. He brought in a righteousness
above and beyond it, the righteousness of God. It could not be by law. If it were by law and he wrought
a righteousness for them in his lifetime, then they would have
been righteous at the end of his life. He would have had no
need to take away their sins through his death. And in taking
away their sins through his death, He has no need of another righteousness
wrought previously by his life. He judged their sins according
to the righteousness of God and in so doing that is the righteousness
made theirs. It's all in the blood and all
in the death. Otherwise his death is in vain. Paul makes this clear in Galatians.
He says, I through the law am dead to the law that I might
live unto God. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. It's all what Christ did in laying
down his life for him. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless
I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me. the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God and this is
why because He loved me and gave Himself for me He died for me
and I died with Him and He rose for me and I rose with Him and
I live with Him and my life is His life in me the law simply
slew me Through the law I'm dead to the law that I might live
unto God and my living is in Christ who died in my stead. And he says as a consequence
I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come
by the law then Christ is dead in vain. If righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. It cannot come by the
law. It must come through the death
of Christ. It must come through the faith
of Christ. It's one or the other. It's not
by legal obedience, vicarious law keeping. And it cannot be
by both. it's one or the other if righteousness
was wrought by Christ's law keeping then there would be no need for
his death and if righteousness was wrought by his death then
that law keeping life was not done, was not performed that
it might bring in a righteousness for his people. The law keeping
life demonstrated that Christ was righteous. It showed forth
his righteousness. It showed that that law could
find no fault in him. But he made that righteousness
his people's through his death. He was already righteous. The
Lord measured him and tested him and found no fault in him.
But that righteousness which was in him was made theirs, was
wrought for them through his death and through his death alone. Otherwise we would frustrate
the grace of God and Christ's death would be in vain. If righteousness
comes in any way by law, by our law-keeping, by His law-keeping,
by the law in any shape or fashion, if it comes by law, then Christ
is dead in vain. But it did not, it came through
His death. It was made ours by grace, by
the faith of Christ. The faith of Christ. Oh, the
wonderful faith of Christ. Oh the wonderful faith of Christ
that brought in the righteousness of God for his people. The gospel
is about faith. It's a contrast of grace with
law and of faith and works. The gospel owes nothing to law
and to works but everything to the grace of God and faith. It is by faith as we believe
in God that we receive these things. but the faith which we
have is only that which God gives us that which the Spirit has
wrought in the heart of His people that which God gives as a gift
and it is not our faith which brought in the righteousness
of God for us. We simply look upon it and believe
it and receive it. But it is Christ's faith which
brought it in, it is His faith which took Him to the cross and
it was His faith by which He died and by which He could go
to that cross believing that this salvation would be accomplished. It was that that took Him there,
that that sustained Him, that that gave Him that hope that
these things would be so. that which brought in the righteousness
of God it's by faith it's not his legal works that saved us
but his faith that faith which manifested and that faith which
exhibited the righteousness of God that faith in which he was
united with his father in which he loved his father in which
he walked with his father through his lifetime that faith in which
he could enter into that abyss at the cross that desperate place
of separation and of suffering where he could go with the wrath
of God pouring down as fires upon his head into that place
where he would be forsaken by the one whom he loved by the
one whose bosom in which he had lived in eternity past that one
with whom he was one as his father he could go to the cross and
suffer being forsaken by that father suffer the bruising at
the hand of his father suffer the pouring out of his father's
hatred and anger against sin and yet not flinch from it not
turn from it but to rest in that purpose and that covenant which
he had covenanted with his father before the foundation of the
world he knew that what they purposed to do at that cross
would come about. He knew that God would save all
his people through his death. He knew that his blood would
not be shed in vain. He knew that though all for whom
he died are sinners, that though none sought after God and that
all that they had done was evil, He knew that though he would
have to take that evil upon him and die and suffer for it the
equivalent of eternity in hell. He knew that despite this, despite
the ultimate end to which he must pass, that though he must
truly die, that he would nevertheless rise again. He would nevertheless
rise again and that people would rise again in him. And they would
be saved. Every sin would be blotted out. And they would be righteous. Perfectly righteous. Oh what
a wondrous faith he had. Faith which is spoken of in several
places. Rightly translated in the AV,
the faith of Jesus Christ. Because it is his faith that
brought this in. by which we are then given faith
to believe in him. As it says in verse 26 of Romans,
that he might be just and a justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. But it's the faith of Christ,
verse 22, that brought in this righteousness in which they should
believe. Modern translations are wrong
to alter verse 22 to say faith in Christ. We do have faith in
him. But it's his faith that brought
this salvation in, in which we believe. Not our faith. It's not our faith that manifested
the righteousness of God. It's not our faith that brings
in justification. It's his faith. It's done, it's
accomplished. We simply receive the fruit of
it. As Paul says in Galatians 2.16, Knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not
by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Now if one verse could sum up
the gospel in all its parts, there is a verse. Clearly translated
it shows the different parts. We are not justified by the works
of the law. By the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Our works or Christ's works,
no works of the law shall justify us. The faith of Jesus Christ
justifies us. and because of his faith which
justifies us we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of
the law it's his faith what he did in dying for his people that
brought in justification and the righteousness of God as a
consequence of which they believe Paul speaks of this faith and
Philippians 3 also. What things were gained to me,
those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done that I may win Christ, and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law. but that
which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which
is of God by faith he brought in that righteousness by faith
and that's the righteousness we have not law but faith that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the
fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Paul's focus whenever he speaks
of salvation and justification is always on the cross. Always
the place at which Christ's faith manifested the righteousness
of God by which Paul was justified. And that's why he cries out,
oh I want to know him and the power of his resurrection, the
fellowship of his sufferings. All is at the cross where he
suffered. where he was slain that I might
be conformable unto his death that I might die with him not
just as a spiritual reality of what happened there at the time
but that I might experience that in my heart that I might know
what it is to be slain with Christ know what it is to be slain to
the things of this world to be slain to the desires and wills
and lusts of the flesh and know what it is to rise again, to
have the power of His resurrection, to have that life in my heart,
to know the power of that eternal life which He brought in for
me, to be one with Him, to be united with Him, to feel that
I've gone through the valley of death with Him, to feel like
I've trodden through the river of death, that I've gone through
it with Christ as one with Him, that my flesh has been slain
in Him, that my sin has been put away. that I have been forgiven
and that I have life and righteousness in Him the righteousness of God
by faith of Jesus Christ Oh do you know this righteousness and
can you cry out like Paul there that I would that all the things
which were once gained to me I count but loss for Christ That
I long to win Christ, that I long to be found in Him, that I long
to have that righteousness of God by His faith. Oh, that I
may know Him. not just as a knowledge with
the outward ear but I may know him as a person as my saviour
as the one who loved me and gave himself for me as the one who
suffered in my stead as the one who died that I might know him
that I might walk with him that I might live with him that I
might tread where he trod that I might feel like I was with
him that I might sense and have empathy with something of his
suffering and that I might rejoice and rise with Him and have a
certain hope of that resurrection which is in Him, that life, that
I might know that I'm going to be with Him, that I'm going to
be with Him, that I'm going to reign with Him forevermore, that
I'm going to dwell around His throne, that I'm going to look
and behold Him in the world to come. that I'm going to be one
of those who shall throw my crown at his feet and praise the Lamb
of God who taketh away the sin of the world. Oh that I might
know him. Is that your cry? And has God
by his grace made something of that knowledge yours? Something
of the knowledge of Christ? of his faith, of the righteousness
of God which he brought in of that free and certain salvation
of the washing and cleansing of his blood of the power of
that blood and of the deliverance from the awfulness the captivity
of that sin which once held you in the grave which once threatened
to pull you down to eternal destruction once you understood nothing Once
you had no righteousness, once you sought not after God, once
you were out of the way, you were unprofitable, you did no
good, you had a throat as an open sepulcher, a tongue that
used deceit, the poison of asps under your lips, your mouth was
full of cursing and bitterness, your feet were swift to shed
blood, destruction and misery was in your ways. Once the way
of peace you had not known, there was no fear of God in your eyes. But when the gospel came, though
the law had come to you, though you tried to attain unto it and
found it slew you and condemned you and laid you low before God,
when the gospel came in power, it made known unto your soul
that wonderful rejoicing hope that but now despite all that
you are and all you have done but now for you in Christ by
his blood the righteousness of God without the law is manifested
being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe Is that what you've heard? Is that what you've
come to know? And can you say, yes, Lord, I
believe. Thank you, Lord, for leading
my feet to the foot of that cross, for leading me there as a guilty,
wretched sinner to look and behold my Saviour, who loved me and
gave himself for me. The one who lived by faith, the
one who died by faith, and the one by whom and in whom the righteousness
of God has been brought in for me and in whom I am the righteousness
of God. Oh, can you say with Paul as
a consequence, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe, if
me included, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, from Christ's
faith to my faith, from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. Amen.