In recent months, as you may
have gathered from the articles appearing in the bulletins, I've
been studying the matter of righteousness a good bit, both the righteousness
of God that is imputed to us in justification and the righteousness
of God that is imparted to God's elect in regeneration. Now, today
and again tonight, I want to talk to you about God's righteousness
as God describes it. I'm going to do so by setting
before you two of the most well-known men in Holy Scriptures, men who
are distinctly declared to be righteous. And by these two men,
I pray God the Holy Spirit will teach us something about true
righteousness. My text this morning will be
2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. Our Savior declares, except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees. He didn't say, except your righteousness
measure up to or come close to. He said, except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. These folks who devoted themselves
to religious practices, they dressed like righteous folks. They talked like righteous folks. They inflected their voices in
certain tones when they would say God. and Jehovah, so that
it would sound like they were righteous. They prayed three
times every day, and every time they got a chance, prayed in
front of folks. They fasted twice every week. They gave tithes
of all they had, of all they had, everything, gave tithes
of it all. They memorized scripture. They
carried scripture around in their clothes. They had their pockets
stuffed full of tracts, and they carried big family Bibles so
everybody could see it. Everybody who looked at them
said, now, that's a righteous man. Except you're better than
that, you're going to hell. Accept your righteousness. Exceed. the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Without righteousness, perfect righteousness, we must
forever perish under the wrath of God. But what is righteousness? What is it? The title of my message
this morning is God's Portrayal of a Righteous Man. And as we
look at God's portrayal of a righteous man, I hope it will become evident
that the righteousness of God, that righteousness before God,
that righteousness that God gives and what men call righteousness
are two distinctly opposite things in no way alike. That which is
truly righteous before God, has nothing to do, if you take your
notes, write nothing in bold capital letters underline it.
It has nothing to do with what men, and when I say men, I'm
talking about religious men, what men call righteousness. It's got absolutely nothing to
do with the kind of clothes you wear. None whatsoever. It's got absolutely nothing to
do with whether you eat pork or don't drink pork, whether
you have a glass of wine or don't have a glass of wine. It's got
absolutely nothing to do with whether you watch television
or don't watch television. I know when I was growing up,
the conservative churches, they don't say much about these things
anymore, but the conservative fundamentalist churches playing
cards was taboo. Kids couldn't even play Old Maids
or go fish. Oh, that's horrible. What stupidity. What utter stupidity. Got nothing to do with these
things. Righteousness is something God imputes to men. Imputes to men because of the
obedience of Jesus Christ, our substitute and savior, in the
room instead of his people, both in life and in death, his obedience
to the will of God, by which he fully satisfied the justice
of God, and we fully satisfied the justice of God in him. Therefore,
righteousness is imputed to us. People talk about imputed righteousness
as though somehow God just says you're righteous. If you go to
a court of law, And a man is imputed righteous. Do you know
why he's imputed righteous? Why innocence is imputed to him? Why no guilt is imputed to him? It's because the court has found
him right before the law. If a man has guilt imputed to
him, it's because the court has found him guilty before the law. And God imputes righteousness
only because he makes men righteous. And he does that by virtue of
our union with his son. So that when Christ died, when
he lived, when he died, when he rose again, we lived, died,
and rose again with him and were even risen together and quickened,
made alive when he was quickened and made alive from the dead.
That's the language of Ephesians chapter two. And righteousness
is something God puts in men. something God imparts to men
in the new birth. In the new birth, God does not
reform a man's nature. He gives him a new nature. He
does not change a man's heart. He gives him a new heart. He
does not make the old man something he wasn't before. He makes a
new man in you, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The
new birth is not something that is accomplished by the sinner's
will, by the sinner's decision, by the sinner's choice, by the
persuasiveness of the preacher, by joining the church at baptism,
or anything you do or any other man does. The new birth is nothing
less than Christ who is life invading your dead soul and making
you alive in him, giving you life. And all of God's elect,
all God's people in this world are righteous. They are righteous before the
law. in their standing before God. Declared righteous. Reckoned
righteous. Not a little bit righteous. Righteous. Now righteousness, holiness,
these are not things that you get by degrees. Either you are
or you're not. There's no in between ground.
All of God's people in this world are righteous. He calls them
saints. Saints. Do you know what a saint
is? That's someone who's holy. That's
someone who's righteous. And both in the righteousness
that is given to us in justification and the righteousness given to
us in regeneration, it is Christ who of God is made unto us righteousness. Now, when we talk about the believer's
righteousness, if anyone misunderstands, it'll
be a deliberate misunderstanding. I do not suggest for a moment
that Lindsay Campbell performs any kind of personal righteousness. That ain't possible. That ain't
possible. But he's a righteous man, personally
righteous, because he who lives in you is Jesus Christ the righteous. Do you understand that? I'm not
talking about righteousness we muster, righteousness we do.
I'm talking about righteousness God performs. And righteousness,
God gives Christ who is our righteousness. Yet, though God's people are
all righteous, they are often vilified as wicked men, the ungodly
of this world. And when I say the ungodly of
this world, I don't refer so much to the drunks and the harlots.
They're nice folks. I'm talking about religious people.
The ungodly of this world, those who do not know our God, those
who do not know God's people, those who do not know the gospel
of Christ, try to appease their consciences with their own thoughts
of self-righteousness, trying to convince themselves and convince
others that God's people are somehow terribly wicked, hypocritical,
vile, unrighteous. Now that kind of slander, I started
to say it's hard to bear. It's not so bad. It's not so
bad. I kind of laugh at it anymore.
That's what we expect from wicked men. But sometimes God's saints
are slandered by other saints. accused falsely by other believers,
spoken of as Job's three friends spoke of him, misjudging, misunderstanding,
not knowing anything except what they outwardly observed. Would to God we could learn this.
The fact is all you can see about Don Fortner is what you can see. That's all you can see. And what
you see is insignificant, whether it be good or bad. That has nothing
to do with determining Don Fortner's character. The Lord God says,
God looks on the heart. He's the only one who does, the
only one who can, and therefore he sees not as man sees. And God looks upon people either
in Christ or not in Christ. God looks upon men and women
either as his son or not as his son, either righteous or not
righteous. And we ought to look upon God's
people those who are in Christ, esteeming each better than ourselves
because they are in Christ, one with Christ, perfect in Christ,
like God's servant Job, perfect, upright, folks who fear God and
discue evil because God has been pleased to make them righteous. Now, of all men in history, men
who have been unjustly maligned by those who ought to highly
esteem them, one man stands out in an extraordinary way. The
only one who stands out more greatly is our Lord Jesus Christ
himself. But the one man that I'm thinking
about this morning, this one man by whom God gives us a portrayal
of a righteous man, is Abraham's nephew, God's servant, our brother
Lot. Let's see what God says about
him. 2 Peter 2, verse 7. Lot had been constantly repudiated
by theologians, commentators, and preachers. The ancient Jewish
writers denounced him as a vile reprobate. We look at this man,
Lot. I recall reading years ago, J.C. Ryle observed, as far as
we can tell in scripture, he never did any good thing. Did he? Would somebody tell me
something good that man did? Judging by what man can see,
by what has been revealed in the book, I'm not suggesting
he never did anything that men would call good, but as far as
what is revealed in this book and what's revealed in this book,
as well as what is not revealed in this book, is for a reason.
What good thing did Lot ever do? Name it for me. Well, I can
tell you who's righteous. I can look at him and tell. Boy,
look how he walks. I saw him coming out of the bookstore
with a bottle of wine in his hand the other day. Look at that. Do you see that
woman? She's got makeup on. Look at
that man. What is it you look at Lot and
see? What is it you look at him and see? Well, folks judge by
that. Well, if all we have to go on
is what God said about Lot, then there's nothing ever did to make
us think he's righteous. Would you hear me? There is nothing
you have ever done to make me think you're righteous. That
lady right there, I admire her more than any human being I know. I've known her for, I saw, 42
years. Do you know what I've seen her
do to make me think she's righteous? Not one thing. But don't you
see her read the Bible? Yeah, read it with her. Don't
you hear her pray? Yeah, pray with her. But don't
you observe the things she does, folks? I've never seen her do
one thing to make me think she's righteous. And the same's true
of me. Well, what is righteousness then? Let's see. 2 Peter 2, verse 7. God delivered just Lot. who vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. For that righteous man," is that
what your Bible says? That righteous man. Well, we
know what was a bad fellow, but God says he's right. That righteous
man. Well, we know what, but God says
he's righteous. That righteous man dwelling among
them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to
day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly." Godly man? Surely he didn't say that. Surely,
surely he didn't say that. That's what he said. The Lord
knoweth how to deliver the godly. And the godly he's talking about
is that righteous man Lodge, out of temptation. and to reserve
the unjust under the day of judgment to be punished. Now, you are
all familiar with the story of Abraham and Lot. Abraham left
Ur of the Chaldee, being called of God, and Lot went with him. Somewhere along the way, Lot
learned to worship God with Abraham. And after a while, as Abraham
increased in riches and Lot increased in riches, They had to part company. But if you read carefully the
13th chapter of Genesis, you'll discover that they did not part
company as enemies. It wasn't that Abraham and Lot
were fighting each other. It wasn't that Abraham and Lot
were striving with each other. But there was strife between
Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. And Abraham said, let's
put an end to this. You go your way, and I'll go
mine. And so Lot chose the well-watered
plains of Jordan and pitched his tent towards Sodom. And Abraham,
being the magnanimous man that he was, sets the example of great
kindness and generosity. He said, you choose whatever
you want. Of all the land God's given me, it's yours. I'll go
to the other place. And Lot chose the plains of Jordan. After he had moved into Sodom,
about 14 years after he and Abraham parted company, the kings of
the plain came and were taken, or the kings of the plain were
taken captive along with the inhabitants and the possessions
and the riches of Sodom. Lot and his family were taken
captive too. But remember, this is Abraham's
brother. Not just his nephew by birth and by nature, but Abraham's
brother in the grace and kingdom of God. And so Abraham armed
himself with 300 men and went against the kings who had taken
captive the kings of the plain, and he delivered Lot. His object
was to deliver Lot. He wasn't the least bit concerned
about the kings of the plain. They just went along for the
ride. And so Lot was delivered, and after delivered, he went
back to Sodom. He and his family continued to
dwell there, and dwelt there until God sent his angels to
destroy the city, along with all the inhabitants of those
wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, all except just Lot and two of
his daughters. His other daughters, his sons-in-laws,
whatever grandchildren he had, his wife, his friends, his neighbors,
all destroyed. The angels were sent to fetch
Lot and his two daughters out of the city. Then, after being
delivered from the cities, from the impending judgment of God
upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's two daughters twice enticed him
into drunkenness and took him to bed and spawned two cursed,
gutless, reprobate, pagan, heathen nations. We're still struggling
with them to this day, Moab and Ammon. And this is how God describes
a righteous man, locked, vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling
among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from
day to day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth how to
deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under
the day of judgment to be punished. Let me show you seven things
about this man lot. Number one, he was a righteous
man. I keep emphasizing that, because
I want you to understand, this man lot is held before us as
few men in this book are, as one whom God Almighty holds up
in his word and says, look here, look here, this man lot, this
man lot, so contempt, so despised, so abhorred, so maligned by religious
men throughout history, look here. Here is a righteous man,
a just man, a godly man. He was not so by nature. He was
not righteous because of anything he did. But he was made righteous
by grace. He was truly a righteous man.
He was righteous in exactly the same sense, by exactly the same
work, to exactly the same degree, in exactly the same way as Abraham
was righteous, and as you and I are righteous, and as Jesus
Christ, the man, is righteous. Ours, Larry Brown, is the righteousness
of God. Is that the language of this
book? It is Christ our righteousness. Christ is made of God unto us
righteousness. Lot was justified just like you
and I are. And this is the only way sinners
can be justified. Hold your hands here in 2 Peter
and turn to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. We became sinners by something
somebody else did. And I'm glad that's the way it
was. Aren't you? I'm tickled to death, that's
the way it was. We were made sinners because God made Adam
to be our head and representative and all that Adam did, we did
in him as one with him. We were in the loins of Adam
and we were represented by Adam and when Adam sinned, we sinned.
When Adam died, we died. Bless God, that's the way it
is. The angels became sinners all one at a time by their own
deeds. And there is no hope for them.
But we fell in a representative man, because that representative
man declares the hope of another representative man by whom sinners
might be made righteous. Look at it. Romans chapter 5,
verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned. Verse 18. Therefore, that is,
since that's how we got in the mess we're in. Therefore, as
by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. All who were represented by Adam,
the whole human race, were brought into judgment and condemnation.
Even so, by the obedience of one, Jesus Christ, the last Adam,
the second Adam, The last man, the second man. By the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men. Now it doesn't refer
to the same all men. Not possibly. Not possibly. If
the free gift came upon all men who fell in at him, then the
whole world's going to heaven and we got nothing to be concerned
about. No, no. All men who were represented
by this second man, by this second federal head, by this second
representative man, all men in him under justification of life. Verse 19. For as by one man's
disobedience, many, the many who were in him, were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one shall many, the many who are in him,
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Now watch this. That as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Lot was made righteous
because God looked on him in Christ the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world from old eternity and declared him
righteous on the basis of Christ's obedience as our covenant head.
And he was made righteous in regeneration by the new birth,
having the righteousness of Christ imparted to him, imparted to
him. Now, I don't know why folks get
upset with that term. I get folks fussing all the time because
I use that term imparted. I wrote to a fellow this week
who's asking about it. I said, well, answer me these
two questions. Is Christ the righteousness of
God? I think that's a safe yes. Is
Christ put in God's people? I believe that's a safe yes. That's what the word imparted
means. God in the new birth imparts Christ to you, imparts a new
nature to you, takes up residence in you, comes into you and lives
by his grace, making you to be born a holy seed that cannot
sin. As a child of God, being taught
of God by the grace of God that brings salvation, this man Lot
now lives soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world
among Sodomites. Paul writes to the Galatians
and says this, I say, walk in the Spirit, and you probably
won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. So what it said, it said,
walk in the Spirit. And you shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. And every child of God walks
in the Spirit. Read the 8th chapter of Romans.
You're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. We've been born
again, put into the life of the Spirit, and the life of the Spirit
put into us, and now living by faith in Christ, we walk in the
Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, and peace. toward God. Long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness toward men, faith, faithfulness, meekness, temperance, self-control
by the Spirit of God reigning within. Against such there is
no law, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh. with
the affections and lust. God's people are righteous. Brother
Lott was just such a man. God calls him that just man,
that righteous man, that godly man. He was a sinner, shamefully
sinful, horribly weak, terribly inconsistent, full of failures. But Lott was a righteous man.
because Jesus Christ was and is his righteousness. Second,
Lott was a righteous man who lived in a horribly evil society. Mamas and daddies and Sunday
school teachers and preachers and politicians and religious
folks try their best to excuse and justify ungodliness. in the generation in which we
live. And it's repeated generation after generation. Oh, the temptations
today are so bad. Oh, the horrible, horrible life
living in this world. It ain't never been any better.
Read your history books. Read your history books. Bad
as things are in our society today, this society would blush
to have walked the streets of Rome in Paul's day. I mean, the
folks out in San Francisco would have been embarrassed to walk
down the streets with their children in Rome in Paul's day. So it
was with Lott. He lived in a society like ours
that not only tolerated but promoted the vile corruption of homosexuality
and all the perverseness that is spawned by the promotion of
such vileness. Let the sociologists say what
they want to, and folks do what they want to. I quit trying to
please men a long time ago. If you haven't observed what
men call pedophilia, That's a fancy word for hating children. If
you haven't observed the increase of pedophilia and rape. If you haven't observed the increase
of violent sexual crimes against every aspect of humanity, old
down to the young, the aged and infirm down to the smallest infinite
accretum, if you haven't observed these things increase since our
society started promoting such perversity, then you're absolutely
blind. There's a direct correlation.
But Locke lived in such a society. unaffected by it. Wow. Merle, the man who lives like
that is a righteous man, one whose righteousness is unaffected
by the filth that's all around him. Third, Lot was a righteous
man who endured great troubles and sorrows all the days of his
life, and much of it was his fault. Skip, we have to deal with a
lot of sorrows. Faith doesn't prevent that. Righteousness
doesn't prevent that. Grace doesn't prevent that. Have
to deal with a lot of them we bring on ourselves. Most of them
we bring on ourselves. Most of them. Most of the things
that really, really give us trouble are not sickness or accidents. or bereavement, or die. No, no,
no. Most of the things that really
give us trouble are things that come as a direct result of what
we have done. It's not so. That's just fact. My dear friend,
Brother Harry Graham, told me when I was just a young man,
he said, darling, I'll tell you something. Lots of times the
way God deals with his children, chasing them, is he gives them
what they think they want and says, now live with it. Oh, Lot looked at the plains
of Jordan. He said, I got to have that.
Oh, I got to have that. I just got to have that. God
says, all right, boy, it's yours. Live with it. Live with it. For some reason, once he moved
to Sodom, he could not extricate himself from that place. No matter what it cost, No matter
what effect it had on his family, no matter how bad things got,
he just could not remove himself from it. Perhaps it was family
ties. Perhaps it was overloving his
children. Perhaps it was overloving his
grandchildren. Perhaps it was loving his livelihood. We're
not told. But for some reason, though things
were bad as they were, Lot could not and would not leave Sodom
until God jerked him out of that place. Fourth, Lott was a righteous
man for whose sake many reprobate men were temporarily preserved
and given space for repentance. When the kings of the plain and
the sodomites were carried away into captivity, they were delivered
for only one reason, because Lott was among them. They just
happened to be there when Abraham brought Lot out. That's all.
That's all. If they had only known who Lot
was and what mercies they enjoyed because of Lot, those fellows
would have been at his door every morning with baskets of fresh
fruit saying, thank you for living here with us. If they'd only
know. If they'd only know. If your
neighbors and your family If this town, this society, only
knew what they enjoy because God's people live among them,
they'd bow down at the feet of every believer and say, thank
you for being here. You see, it is only Because God
has a people in this world to whom he is gracious, that he
is long-suffering with the ungodliness of this world. The Lord is not
slack concerning his promises. Some men count slackness. But
is long-suffering to us, not willing that any should perish.
Any of his chosen should perish. but that all should come to repentance,
and the long-suffering of God is salvation." The Lord would not allow his
angels to destroy Sodom until a lot was happened. Folks ask
me often, when do you believe the Lord's coming? I'll tell
you exactly when he's coming. I promise you, exactly when he's
coming, when the last one of His blood-bought, chosen, eternally
loved people had been called by His grace. He's coming again. Then cometh Thee. Here's a fifth
thing. Lot was a righteous man whose
life was absolutely ruled by the providence of God, by
the purpose of God in all its detail. for his soul's good and
for the glory of God, both in the salvation of his soul and
in the salvation of all his people. Remember, I told you he spawned
those two reprobate nations, Ammon and Moab. Did you ever notice when Moses
went through the land of the Moabites That cursed people. In Deuteronomy chapter 2, God
said to Moses, don't you distress the Moabites. Told him to kill
everybody else. Kill them all. Take the land.
Don't even spare a son. Kill them all. But not the Moabites. Don't distress the Moabites.
Reckon why? They were a cursed people. Cursed
from the beginning. A cursed race. Well, if you'll
take the time to read the first chapter of Matthew, you'll see
why. In the purpose of God, there was a woman born among the Moabites,
whose name was Ruth, through whom God sent our Redeemer into
this world. You mean, Brother Don, even in
all the filth, the ungodliness, and the failures, and the faults,
and the weaknesses, and the corruption that life did, all of it, Do
you mean God was using all of it for the saving of his soul? That's exactly what I mean. And
he uses it all for the saving of our souls. Surely the wrath
of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou
restrain. I've been looking for some writing
by a fellow by the name of John Spilsbury. I'm kindly attracted
to preachers of the past who other preachers cussed for being
so insistent on grace. And John Spilsbury had been,
I've been reading things, he'd been taking it on the chin. Lots
of folks I read after, historically, historical documents, because
he dared to say, and I'd like to read what he said in this
context, he dared to say, God's people, are you listening? Are you listening? God's elect,
when all is said and done, will be in no wise harmed by anything
in this world, not even themselves, not even our most horrible deeds. Not even our most horrible thoughts. Not even our most horrible lusts,
somehow. Oh, wondrous mystery of grace. In the complete restoration of
our Lord Jesus Christ, all things are worked and manipulated by
the purpose of God and the providence of God for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Even
Lot's incest. Lot vexed his righteous soul
from day to day. with the ungodly deeds of the
people among whom he lived. That's the sixth thing. This
righteous man was vexed. That word vexed means oppressed. It's one of those words that
has such varieties of meanings, such shades of meaning that one
word can't really translate it. It means oppressed, tormented,
distressed, sick, miserable. pained, exhausted, wore down
with. Sometimes when I was a boy, well,
it wasn't sometimes, I heard it a lot. I'd get to pressing,
they say pressing the envelope. I shoved it off the table a lot.
And my mother would look at me, and after Saying numerous other
things, I should sound just sick and tired of you. That's the
word. Thought was sick and tired. Sick and tired of the religious
folks among themselves. The religion of the day, for
he understood, as Paul wrote in Romans chapter 1, that it
was the idolatrous free will works religion of his society
that spawned the homosexual perversity of the reprobate age in which
he lived. We have no idea who among his own professed faith
in the Lord God, our Savior. Perhaps some of his children
did. Perhaps some of his neighbors. But all of them were indifferent. He seemed as one that mocked
to them when he told them of judgment impending and salvation
at hand. He seemed as one that mocked
and not was vexed. Vexed. with the doom of the ungodly,
his own as well as his neighbors, vexed, worn out, sick and tired
with himself. Oh, wretched man that I am. He was vexed. One last thing. Lot was a righteous man whom
God delivered. And the Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of their temptations. There hath no temptation taken
you but such as is common to man. But God will with the temptation
make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. And I
know what that way is. His name is Jesus Christ, the
Lord, our righteousness. And soon, he shall deliver us
from all this vexing temptation and trouble. Amen. Psalms of Grace book.