Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
11? Now tonight, Greg Elmquist is going
to be here and preaching for us. I'm very excited about that. Hebrews chapter 11, I'd like
to read the fourth verse. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it, he being
dead, yet speaking. Now, I have entitled this message,
Can a Sinner Be Righteous? Now, I know who is interested
in that subject. Anybody who believes themselves
to be sinners, can a sinner be righteous? Now, notice in our
text, it says, concerning Abel, that he obtained witness that
he was righteous. The text does not say that righteousness
was imputed to him, although it was. It does not say that
Abel was viewed as righteous, although he was. It does not say that Abel had
a legal standing of righteousness before the law, although he did. It says Abel was righteous. Righteous in his person. This was God's testimony of him. God testified that Abel was a
righteous man. God testifying of his gifts. You see the offering he brought
made him righteous. God testified to the gift of
righteousness he had given him. Now God's testimony regarding
this man, God said he's a righteous man. God testifies what really
is. He's not saying he's got a legal
standing of righteousness, but he's really not. You know, that's
a denial of what justification is. He's not saying, I repeat,
he's not saying he's got a legal standing that's right, but he's
really not. No, Abel was righteous in his
person before God so that God actually respected him. That's
what the Genesis account says. To Abel and his offering, God
had respect. I mean, God looked at Abel, and
there was something in Abel that generated the respect of God. That's impressive, isn't it? For God to be respecting some
man? Abel was righteous. Now, there are two kinds of people
in this world. There are righteous people, and there are wicked
people. Everybody can be brought into
one of those two categories, righteous or wicked. And I read in Psalm 11 what God
thinks of the wicked. The wicked, in him that loveth
violence, the scripture says, his soul hateth. That's how God
views a wicked man. He hates him. That's what the
scripture says. He hates him. But he loveth the righteous.
The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. There's two kinds of people in
this world, the righteous and the wicked. And you know that
so, don't you? You know that so. But here's something that
I think is so interesting. All the righteous, without any
exception to this rule, all the righteous believe themselves
to be wicked. And all the wicked, without any
exception to this rule, all the wicked believe themselves to
be righteous. They at least think they have
the potential to be righteous. I might be living bad now, but
if I wanted to, I could turn things around. Now, the first time the word
righteous is used in the Scriptures is found in Genesis chapter 7.
Would you turn with me there? Remember what we're considering.
Can a sinner be righteous? Genesis chapter 7, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Noah,
Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen
righteous before me in this generation. Now this is God's testimony concerning
him. He looks at Noah and he says,
Thee have I seen as righteous. Now would God see him as righteous
if he wasn't righteous? Is God just playing games? Well,
I'm going to view you as righteous, but I know you're not. No, sir,
God's not like that. God says regarding Noah, I've
seen thee as righteous before me. God sees things as they really
are. Now, turn back to page, to Genesis
chapter 6, verse 5. And God saw, remember God sees
things as they really are. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's what God saw when he looked
at man. Was Noah included in that group? Absolutely. Yes,
this describes Noah, what Noah was by nature. He was someone
whose the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. Romans 3.10 says there is none
righteous. No, not one, yet he says regarding
Noah, thee have I seen as righteous before me. Now, how can that
be? How can that be? Because when
we talk about wicked, sinful, non-righteous, no, not one, I
know that with regard to myself. I know it. I see it. I feel it. I experience it. I know in and
of myself I am not righteous. So how in the world can God see
me as righteous? Because if He sees me as righteous,
I am righteous. It's like I am, or he views me
as I am, but I'm not. No, if God sees me as righteous,
I am righteous. Now, how in the world can that
be real? Can I really be righteous before
God when God says, what is man, that he should be clean? And
he that's born of woman, that he should be righteous? Behold,
he putteth no trust in his saints. Yea, the heavens are not cleaned
in his sight, How much more abominable and filthy is man that drinketh
iniquity like water? Now, can somebody thusly described
be righteous before God? Yes. Yes. A man can really be righteous
before God, and here's how. Now I've got five points to this
message, and all five of these are equally necessary. First,
a man can be righteous by union. Second, he's righteous by imputation. Thirdly, he's righteous by gift. Fourth, he's righteous by nature.
And fifth, he's righteous by faith. And we're going to look
at all five of these to see how a man can actually be righteous
before God. How I can be righteous before
God so that God actually looks at me and He respects me. He
respects me. You know, God only respects righteousness. That's it. And this is how every
believer is before God. Now first, righteous by union. Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 2? Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 11, for both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one. for the which cause
he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Now, if I'm a believer,
I'm one with Christ. He's the one who sanctifies,
I'm the one whom sanctified. Both he that sanctifyeth and
they who are sanctified, that's talking about all the elect,
every believer, they're all of one. They're not just close,
they're one. And because of that, Christ is
not ashamed to call me his brother. He's not ashamed of me. There's
nothing for him to be ashamed of. I'm one with the Lord Jesus
Christ. The elect have always been in
Christ, always united to Him. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, according
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
Now this thing of being one with Christ, here's what happens because
of it. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. I'm going to turn to several
scriptures this morning because I want you to see these. 1 John
chapter 4 rather, 1 John chapter 4. Verse 17, herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now before
you go on reading, I want you to think. Boldness in the day
of judgment, I mean standing before God in His holiness and
having boldness and confidence and not worried about anything.
What is it that could give someone boldness before God in judgment?
There's only one answer to that question. Perfect righteousness. A perfect standing before God. I'm not talking about thinking,
well, God will just forgive me. No, the only thing that will
give you boldness in judgment is to know that there's nothing
He can condemn you for. Perfect before God. Perfect righteousness. Now, look what it says in verse
17. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment, because as he is perfectly righteous. Perfectly righteous. He stands
before God perfectly keeping God's holy law. There's nothing
to condemn him for. As he is So are we in this world. As He is, I am. Now here is what I think is a
good illustration of what union with Christ means. Turn with
me to Romans chapter 5. Now, if He's perfectly righteous,
I am. Turn to Romans chapter 5. Now, we're united to Adam. We're united to Adam. Look in
Romans chapter 5, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world. That's talking about Adam's transgression,
his rebellion against God. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, in that Adam's sin was imputed to every single one of
them." It doesn't say that, does it? It says, "...death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned." When Adam sinned, I
sinned. It doesn't just say that his
sin was charged to me. It says that when Adam sinned,
I did too. That's what union means. If he
did it, I did it. Now, just as when Adam sinned,
I sinned, when Christ obeyed the law, Todd Nybert obeyed the
law. That's union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. What he did I did. Now, if that's so, and it is,
I've already read it, I can have some boldness and some confidence
on the day of judgment. Isn't that what we confess in
baptism? When someone's baptized, I confess. When Christ lived,
I lived. When He died, I died. When He
was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. As He's
perfect before God, I am too. I'm in Him. So here's the first
way a righteous man can be righteous. Righteous by virtue of union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. If he's righteous, I am too. Now that, this is real. This
is real. It's not a fairy tale. It's real. I'm righteous before God, every
believer is. Now here's the second point.
Righteous by imputation. Romans 4. Righteous by imputation. Verse 6, Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. In 1 Peter 3, verse 15, Peter
said, Always be ready to give every man that asks you a reason
for the hope that's in you. I've got a hope in me. I've got
a hope in me right now. I have a hope that when God looks
at me right now, He looks at me as somebody without sin. Not just forgiven, but somebody
without sin. Someone who is just before Him. And let me give you the reason
for that hope. The reason for my hope is that God in His sovereign
authority took the righteousness of his blessed son and imputed
it to me, so that it became mine. And he took my sin. Everything I think about myself
is true, only it's a whole lot worse. My sin, my My sinful thoughts,
my sinful nature, my sinful actions, all my sin became Christ. It was imputed to Christ, so
it became His. He became guilty of it. That's
the only reason for death is sin. He died under the wrath
of God. My sin became His. His righteousness
is imputed to me. Isn't that a state of blessedness?
Blessed is the man under whom God imputeth righteousness without
their works. Now, righteous Abel has had the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to him, and now
Abel and every other believer is nothing less than the very
righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, 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. And now God says in Isaiah 54,
17, their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Let me show you a familiar scripture
in Revelation 19. Verse 8, and to her the church
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, for the fine linen is what? What is it? The righteousness of the saints. You see, the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ is the righteousness of the saints.
This is my righteousness. This is how a sinner can be righteous
before God. Righteous by imputation. Now would you turn with me to
Romans chapter 5, here's the third point. Righteous by gift. Romans chapter 5, verse 17. By one man's offense, death reigned
by one. Much more, they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ." Did you catch that word, gift?
The gift of righteousness. Now, if God gives me righteousness,
I'm righteous. Look back in verse 15 in this
same chapter. But not as the offense, so also is the free
gift. Verse 16, And not as it were
by one that sinned, so is the gift, for the judgment was by
one man to condemnation. But the free gift, the gift of
grace, the gift of righteousness, is what that's a reference to,
is of many offenses unto justification of life. Now, righteousness is
a gift. And if God gives me righteousness,
I'm righteous. It's a gift. Oh, and what a gift
it is. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If God gives me righteousness, I'm righteous. Don't you love
righteousness being a gift? How can I know if He's giving
it to me? Have you received it? Have you received His righteousness?
Do you receive His righteousness as your only righteousness before
God? Do you receive that? Is that good news to you? Then,
He's given it to you. If you don't receive this, He
never gave it to you. But if you receive this, it's
because He gave this gift to you. A man is righteous by the
gift of God. God giving him this righteousness. And if God gives you something,
it's yours. You receive it and the gifts
and callings of God are without repentance. Now that's how a
sinner can be righteous. A sinner is righteous first by
virtue of being united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly,
he's righteous by imputation. God taking the righteousness
of his son and imputing it to him and it becomes his. And thirdly,
he is righteous by the gift of God, the gift of righteousness. Now here's the fourth point about
how a sinner can be righteous before God. Righteous by nature. Righteous by nature. Now what in the world is that
a reference to? Well, in 2 Peter chapter 4, would you turn with
me there? I mean 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 4, whereby, 2 Peter 1,
4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises that by these, these precious promises of God, you
might be partakers of the, what? Divine nature. That's the righteous nature the
Scripture is speaking of. This is what happens in the new
birth when I'm given a new nature. It's said to be the divine nature,
partakers of the divine nature. That's what it is to be born
of the Spirit, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. Now let me show you the doctrine
of this. Turn over to 1 John chapter 2. Now, here's the person who has
this righteous nature, this new nature. Now, you see, when God
does something for somebody, He does something in somebody.
And this is what this is a reference to. Look in verse 29. 1 John chapter 2, verse 29. If
you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of Him. You see, if someone has a righteous
nature, there's something called the doing of righteousness. That's the actions of the new
nature. Look in 1 John chapter 3, verse
7. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin."
Now, most folks when they try to talk about that verse, they
say, well, he doesn't practice sin. Do you practice sin? Come on, be honest. Do you practice
sin? Well, sure you do. Yet it says,
he that is born of God doth not commits sin. Not only does he
not practice it, he doesn't commit it. He doesn't see it. That's
a reference to the new birth. The new birth, that which is
born of God sinneth not. Go on reading. Verse 9. Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed, the seed of
God, remaineth in him, and he cannot sin. He lacks the ability
to sin because he's born of God. The new nature does not It comes
from God. Does God have the potential to
sin? Well, of course not. The new nature does not commit
sin. When God saves a man, He gives
him a new nature, a holy nature that produces holy actions. You can only be holy if you are
holy. Now turn with me to Matthew chapter
25. I'm wanting you to see that this is the teaching of Scripture.
Matthew chapter 25. Verse 31, When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
set upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered
all nations, and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divided the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on
His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King
say unto them on His right hand, Come, You blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. He's speaking to his elect, isn't
he? Four, I was hungry. He starts talking about what
they did. I was hungry and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and
you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me
in naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came to me. Then shall the righteous
Answer him. Notice who they're called. Christ
calls them the righteous. But what is really interesting
about this, they didn't know they did any of those things. They weren't aware of it. When
did we do this? We didn't know we did. I guarantee
you, if you can think, well, I'm pretty good here. I can see
all these righteous acts. You missed it. The righteous
don't see any of these things themselves. But if you go on
reading the wicked, they thought they did it all. When didn't
we do it? We thought we did. But notice what our Lord calls
these fellows. The righteous. The righteous. Let me underline
this in the scripture. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2. What do you
think about Lot? Brother Lot. I mean, if I look at that man,
there wasn't much to him as far as looking at his actions that
the Old Testament talks about. He's the one who pitched his
tent towards Sodom. When God comes in to destroy
Sodom, He lingers, and they've got to grab him by the ankles,
grab him by the hand, and yank him out. Lot. Not a lot to him
as far as what we can see, but look what God says in His Word.
2 Peter chapter 2, verse 6, And He turned the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah into ashes, and condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an example unto all those that should afterwards
live ungodly, and delivered just Lot. Vexed. Oh, he was so vexed with the
filthy conversation of the wicked. Four, now here's God's description
of Lot. And God describes things as they are. For that righteous
man dwelling among them, and seeing and hearing, vexed his
righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. Righteous
Lot. That describes every believer,
righteous Todd and his righteous soul. Righteous by union. Righteous by imputation. Righteous by gift. Righteous
by nature. And the last point is righteous
by faith. Turn once again to Romans chapter
4. Verse 5. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him. that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness." His faith was counted for righteousness. Now, if I believe that this means
that faith itself is counted as righteousness, I've missed
the meaning altogether. Somebody says, but that's what
it says. Remember this. The Bible doesn't say what it
says. It says what it means. What does
he mean by this? If I think that my faith is a
substitute for righteousness or my faith in and of itself
is counted for righteousness, I've missed the meaning of the
scripture. Christ is my righteousness before God. Faith believes that. Now what is the evidence that
I have been eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ? I tell
you, just thinking about that blows my mind. His love to me
never had a beginning. It never started. I've always
been in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's true of all of God's elect.
They've always been united to Christ. Well, what in the world
is the evidence that you are united to Christ? I believe the
gospel. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. I believe the gospel. That's
the evidence. Well, what is the evidence that
Christ's righteousness has been imputed to you. How do you know
that God took the righteousness of Christ and charged it to you
so that it became yours? What's the evidence? Faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. What's the evidence that God
has given you righteousness? I've received it. Faith. What is the evidence that you
have a righteous nature? You see, I don't know I have a righteous
nature because I look at my hands and these hands are clean. I
do good stuff. I mean, I'm righteous. I'm holy. No! No, I believe myself to be sinful. And as far as what I can see,
I can't see a holy nature. This was a really holy thing.
No. I believe because God tells me this is His Word. That's why
I believe. I've got a righteous nature. God said I do. I've got
it. I see the effects of that righteous
nature. You know, there was a time when
I didn't love God and I do now. That's because of that righteous
nature. There was a time when I didn't believe. I do now. That's
because of that righteous nature. With the heart man believeth
unto what? Righteousness. Righteousness. This is the keys of the kingdom. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Romans 14. I
want to look at a A couple of scriptures to wrap this up. Romans 14. Can a sinner be righteous? Yes,
he can. And look at verse 17 of Romans
chapter 14. This is such an important verse. For the kingdom of God
is... Now here he's going to tell us what the kingdom of God
is. For the kingdom of God... And he first begins by telling
us what it's not. It's not meat and drink. It's
not do's and don'ts. It's not religious ceremonies. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. But what is it? Righteousness. Righteousness. Perfect righteousness
before God. And what comes as a result of
that righteousness? Peace. Knowing that Christ is
my righteousness before God, I have peace. Not only do I have
peace, I have joy. It makes me happy. The kingdom
of God is not meat and drink. It's righteousness. It's peace. It's joy in the Holy Ghost. Turn to Revelation 22. Verse 10, And he saith unto me, Seal not
the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at
hand. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. You see, if you die unjust, you
will be spending eternity unjust. And he which is filthy, let him
be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. You're
going to be righteous throughout all eternity. And he that's holy,
let him be holy still. Now there's a passage of scripture
in Matthew chapter 13. When it talks about the angels
coming to sever the wicked from the just, and they're going to
get out all things that offend and all things that scandal and
all unbelievers, talking about the tares and so on. And after
that is done, our Lord says, then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun. Now, you can't see it now. You
can't look at me and see righteousness radiating from me. All you see
is Todd. One of these days, all the righteous
are going to be seen as they really are. And the righteous
shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. Hasten, Lord, the day. So can a sinner really be righteous
before God? Yes. Yes. Yes. Now I want every believer,
oh may God give you grace, here's the way we think, I've said this
before, we think that we're dirty, filthy, And God
tolerates us for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of the
Lord Jesus Christ, but that is not the case. Every believer is righteous before
God. Believe it and rejoice in it. Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.