I think maybe Brother David heard
what I preached this morning and read my notes for tonight.
That's great. Let's begin tonight in 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 17. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17. Now before we read, let me tell
you again what I have told you many, many times about this particular
text of Scripture. It is commonly used to speak
of the believer's experience in this world. Nothing could
be further from the truth. These words we're about to read
in verse 17 cannot possibly in any way be applied to our life
experience. I've been guilty of using the
passage in that way myself. But this is not a text that is
talking about regeneration. Rather, it is talking about reconciliation. It is calling for us to be reconciled
to God by faith in Him based upon the fact that God was in
Christ reconciling us to Himself in His sacrifice at Calvary.
Now, let's look at it. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
in Him by God's decree, by God's choice, in Him. If we are in
Christ, God put us in Christ before the world began. If any
man be in Him, by faith in Him, he is a new creation, altogether
new. Old things are passed away. Now, in experience, that just
isn't so. You who are young believers will
one day soon be shocked to find out just how true what I said
is. Old things aren't gone. How anxious I am for the day
when they shall be. But when God gives life and faith
in Christ, He does not change the old man. And a lady one time
said to me years ago, she was upset because some of the young
people liked to dance. She said, well, when God saved
me, he took the tip out of my toe. Well, he didn't take the
tip out of my toe. And that's the least of my problems.
That's the least of them. The old lusts are just as real
as they used to be, even worse. The old corruptions, are just
as real as they used to be, even worse. What does it mean, then,
old things have passed away? Before God Almighty, all those
old things that we are, that we have done, all our old record
of sin is gone, completely, forever gone. And behold, That word,
behold, means something. Here's an astonishing thing.
Behold, all things are become nearer now in Christ. God looks
on us as He looks on His darling Son because He has made us one
with His Son so that we are now made to be the very righteousness
of God in His Son. Let's see how this can be done.
And all things are of God. This is God's work. It's not
something you participate in. It's something you enjoy, something
you experience, something you receive, but you don't participate
in it. This is God's work altogether.
Who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ hath. He did. He did it a long time
ago. By Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry, the service of reconciliation." Well, what
is that? To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world. Not everybody in the world, that's
as obvious as the nose on your face if you just read your Bible,
but rather the world of his elect, his elect scattered throughout
all the world. And we see that clearly because
he says next, not imputing their trespasses unto them. These people
who have been reconciled to God in the sacrifice of Christ, God
refused to impute, to charge their trespasses to them because
they are passed away, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
has committed unto us the word, the message of reconciliation.
Now, this is it. Now, this is it. This is what
we are sent to proclaim to sinners. We are ambassadors for Christ,
men with the message from the King for you, as though God did
beseech you by us, as though the one speaking to you is just
the voice piece through which God speaks. We pray you in Christ's
name. We pray you in Christ's name. We plead with you, standing here
as God's ambassadors, we beg you, as God's ambassadors, be
ye reconciled to God. Faith in Christ is neither more
nor less than the reconciliation of our hearts to God Almighty
as He is revealed in His Son. Reconciliation to His right to
be God. Reconciliation to all that He
is. Reconciliation to Him as the
Lord. It is bowing to His authority,
His dominion, His Godhood. Be ye reconciled to God. Now
here's the basis of it all. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us. Now remember what I told you
this morning about this word made. It is an active past tense
verb. God has at one time made His
Son, who knew no sin, made His Son, and yet His Son is as much
involved in the work as the Father Himself. He has made His Son
at one time in the past to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Now, this word,
made, is another word altogether. This word, when it speaks of
us being made the righteousness of God in Christ, is a present
passive verb. It implies total passivity on
our part. and means continually calls to
become righteousness. So Paul is telling us here that
those for whom Christ was made sin, not made to be, but made
sin, the Lord God continually calls us to become the righteousness
of God in Him, and He does it without any contribution of any
kind on our part. Be sure you understand what the
Spirit of God here teaches us. Christ being made sin for us
was made exactly what we are, sin. He was made sin for us that
we might be made exactly what He is, righteousness, the very
righteousness of God. He was not made less than we
are, and we are not made less than He is. The very sinfulness
that we were, Christ was made before God, and the very righteousness
that He is, we are made before God. That's absolute substitution. Absolute substitution. Our whole salvation, our whole
standing before God, our whole righteousness, our whole redemption,
Our whole acceptance with God is by, in, and through the absolute
substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took our persons
and our condition and stood in our stead before God, and now
we, by the grace of God, take His person and His condition
and stand in His place before God. what our Lord God beholds
Christ to be, that He beholds all who trust His Son to be,
the very righteousness of God. Now turn with me, if you will.
Let me digress for just a moment. There is not really a digression
to Philippians chapter 2. If we could really learn this
in a practical way, it would forever put an end to all jealousy
and bickering, to all strife and division among God's saints. Philippians 2 verse 1. If there
be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of
love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, are these things in Christ? Is
there in Christ consolation, the comfort of love, the fellowship
of the Spirit? Is there in Christ tender, compassionate
movement of His heart toward us in mercy? Indeed there is. All right? Since there is, fulfill
ye my joy that ye be like-minded having the same love, being of
one accord and of one mind, let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, not in a pretense of
religious hypocritical meekness, but in true lowliness of mind,
let each esteem other better than themselves." We know men in one of two ways. We know all men in one of two
ways. Either after the flesh or in
Christ. No other way. Let me see if I
can illustrate what I want to say. What Paul is saying here
in Philippians 2. I just came back from Cherokee.
The pastor down there, you know Brother Tim James. Some of you
know this, some of you don't. Tim and I were raised About the
same time, he's a little older than me, but we were raised about
the same time, went to the same schools together. His older brother
dated my older sister. We were raised on the south side
of Western Salem. And they tell me the south side
of Chicago is the roughest place to be raised. Well, the south
side of Western Salem is not a cakewalk. And I knew him. I knew him. I've known him since
I was a little boy. I know his whole family. I know
a lot about him. I knew him when he was a rock
and roll disc jockey for the radio station in Western Salem
where we used to go to dances every week. I knew him. But I don't know him the way
I used to know him. I know him now in Christ, not
after the flesh. And when I think of Him, when
I try to pray for Him, when I speak of Him, when I do anything for
Him, it is my privilege and my responsibility, and it is only
right that I think of Him in Christ. Now, I know something
of the depravity, corruption, and violence of my heart. I know
that in Christ I am, as Tim is, the very righteousness of God.
But I look on Tim, not seeking to ever judge him, judge what
he is, judge his being in accordance with that which is manifest of
the evil of his heart when he does something contrary to that
perfect righteousness, but rather in Christ. So that when I look
on my dear friend, it is my rightful attitude to say, there's Christ. I didn't know you like that,
but I'm looking on you right now. That's Christ sitting there. That sits Christ with his wife. Now if we truly so esteem one
another, We're going to have a tough time fighting with each
other, aren't we? Have a tough time bickering,
have a tough time gossiping, have a tough time envying. Let
each esteem other better than himself. Not only is it true
that we are to reckon one another to be the very righteousness
of God in Christ. Turn to Romans chapter 6. The Holy Spirit teaches us that
we are to think of ourselves in that way as well. Not that
we are to forget what's in us, not that we are to look lightly
upon the corruption that is in us, but we are to think of ourselves,
in spite of all that we know ourselves to be by nature, even
when the corruptions of our hearts are most vilely manifest, we
are to look upon ourselves as one with Christ, Completely righteous
before God, yes, with His spotless garments on, holy as the Holy
One. Now hear me. I want so much for
you to understand this. I want you not just to understand
it. Oh, God, give us grace to understand it. If you trust Christ,
if you believe on the Son of God, if His blood is your only
atonement for sin, His righteousness, your only acceptance before God. His grace, His intercession,
His person, your only hope of eternal life with God Almighty.
God reckons you to be the righteousness of God in His Son. And He tells
us that we are to reckon ourselves the same. He reckons us to be
absolutely, truly, and really righteous before Him. Look here
in Romans 6. The apostle tells us in chapter
5 about our being justified, perfectly made righteous before
him. In chapter 6, he's talking about our baptism. He tells us
that we were baptized with Christ into his death so that we were
buried with him symbolically. But by the symbolism, we're declaring
that we really were buried with him, crucified with him. When
He died, we died. When He arose, we arose with
Him to walk with Him in the newness of life, and that we should henceforth
not serve sin. Verse 7, for he that is dead,
he that is dead, he that is D-E-A-D, dead, is freed, justified from
sin. Now watch this. Now if we be dead with Christ,
We believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion
over him, and if not over him, not over me. We're dead with him. Justify
it. He's alive. We're alive. Death
has no dominion over him. It has no dominion over us. Now
watch this. For in that he died, He died
unto sin one time, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God
forever. Likewise. This is how God says
things are. This is what God says about Bobby
Estes. You're dead to sin, you're alive to God, and it's never
going to change. Sin has been put away, righteousness has been
brought in. Likewise. That's how God says
it is. Likewise. This is how God says it is. Likewise. Reckon ye also yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. What a word of grace. What does
all that mean? This is what it means. Now, if
you want to write something down worth remembering, I'm sure you'll
see this or hear it again soon, but this is worth remembering.
Until the Lord God Almighty finds some sin, in his darling son. Until the Lord God Almighty finds
some sin in his darling son for which to crucify him again, he
will never find any sin in you who are in his son. Never. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who
is he that condemneth. It is Christ that died, yea,
rather than is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. And I am persuaded that
nothing shall separate us from the love of God that's in Christ
Jesus. I'm here tonight to proclaim this sweet good news to every
sinner who will hear my voice. to every sinner who believes
on the Son of God. If you trust Christ, do you trust
the Son of God? I'm not asking, Lindsay, do you
feel like you trust Him? I'm not even asking, do you act
like you trust Him? I'm asking, do you trust Him?
If you trust Christ, the God of glory who made His dear Son
to be sinned for you, has made you the very righteousness of
God in His Son, and He would have you to live reckoning that
to be so. Now, perhaps you think, well,
Brother Don, I'd give anything to know that what you said is
true. But surely we can't carry this
statement by the Apostle, made the righteousness of God in Him,
we can't carry it that far. Does the Word of God really warrant
such a full, confident assurance of absolute righteousness before
God? Well, I'm glad you asked. I want
you to see and see clearly that this book teaches precisely that,
and teaches that everywhere. In Christ, we have. No, that's
not right. That's not right. In Christ,
we are. the righteousness of God. Our
God has made us to become the righteousness of God in His Son. He has made us to become the
righteousness of God so fully that the righteousness we have
is a righteousness that can never be soiled tainted or corrupted
in any way by anything in us or done by us. A righteousness
that can never be defiled. A righteousness that can never
be destroyed. Now let's turn to two texts.
They, I think, are very familiar to you, but I want you to turn
to them. Jeremiah 23. And when you get
there, don't read it. Just hold your place and turn to Jeremiah
33. Jeremiah 23. And if you can, fold the leaves
of your Bible open so you can read both texts side by side. In both of these passages, Jerebiah
is describing for us this blessed gospel day in which the branch
of righteousness has grown up under David and his seed. That
branch is Christ, and the David described here is Christ our
King. Our David is now seated on his
throne in glory, having grown up righteousness, having grown
up righteousness by bringing in everlasting righteousness.
He now executes judgment and justice, judgment and righteousness
throughout all the earth. This is what he does all the
time. He is executing judgment and
justice for the salvation of his people. He who sits on the
throne has all power given to him by virtue of his obedience
unto death as our mediator, that he should give eternal life unto
all that the Father has given him, and he does it in the constant
exercise of judgment and justice. All right, look at chapter 23,
verse 5. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise
unto David a righteous branch, And the king shall reign and
prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Look
at chapter 33, verse 15. In those days, and at that time,
I will cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he
shall execute judgment and righteousness. The same word translated justice
back in chapter 23. He shall execute judgment and
righteousness in the land. Looks like maybe he's talking
about the same man, the same righteous branch, the same judgment,
and the same justice at the same time. All right? Chapter 23,
verse 6. In his days, Judah shall be saved. Israel shall dwell safely. And
this is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah satenu. Look at chapter
33, verse 16. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Now that's not a mistranslation.
I've compared every word. That is exactly the accurate
translation of these two passages. This is what the Lord God tells
us about the work of Christ in this day of grace in which we
live. Judah, the tribe of God's choice,
shall be saved. All of them. Israel, God's holy
nation. His chosen generation, His royal
priesthood, shall forever dwell safely. And this is the name
whereby that righteous branch, our King, shall be called. Jehovah
shall continue the Lord our righteousness. And this is the name whereby
every sinner who trusts Jesus Christ shall be called forever
of God. Jehovah shall continue the Lord
our righteousness. so really and truly one with
Christ, that we are in His mediatorial capacity as Jehovah's righteous
servant as He is. For we are one with Him. I don't
mean we are considered one with Him. I don't mean we are looked
upon as though we were one with Him. I don't mean we are Treated
like Him because we are like Him, I mean we are one with Him. And the two can never be separated
without destroying both. This foot, I keep it covered
up. You don't catch me going barefooted
much. I don't like to go barefooted. I just don't like it. But I don't
know of anybody who's got really pretty feet. And I don't have
anything pretty, but surely not my feet. They're insignificant. But I'd hate to do without one.
This foot is joined to this body, to this head. It is one with
this body, one with this head. And there's no way you can cut
the foot off and separate the foot from the body without the
whole body being marred and doing harm to the head. And if the
foot dies, unless it's separated from the body, the whole body
is going to die. You got that? I am more really
and truly one with Christ. More absolutely, vitally one
with Christ. And He one with me than this
foot with this body. This is the name wherewith Don
Fortner is called in heaven, Jehovah Zedekiah, the Lord our
righteousness. All right, let's go back to our
text in 2 Corinthians 5.21. Now notice the word used for
righteousness, the words used for righteousness. The righteousness
which the Lord God makes redeemed sinners to become. The righteousness
by which we are accepted, with which we are made worthy of heavenly
glory, is always described this way. Always described this way. The righteousness of God. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now, this righteousness of God
is that about which all men, universally, in every age, in
every part of the world, are totally ignorant by nature. They
have no perception of it, no understanding of it, cannot conceive
of it, cannot grasp it, cannot understand it, cannot describe
it, cannot identify with it in any degree, in any way. It just
can't be done. It just can't be done. And you
couldn't either. until God made it yours by faith
in His Son. The proof of it is no man will
submit to it. The Jews going about to establish
their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God, being ignorant of this one thing, that
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes it. and all being by nature, live
in perpetual rebellion to God, seeking to do something by which
to make themselves righteous before God. And it can't be done. Silliest thing on this earth
is listening to our politicians, lecturers on their stump, trying
to talk about righteousness. Well, now I've had enough of
that. Silly as they were on this earth.
The fellows sleep with anybody coming down the street, talking
about, we've got to establish some moral righteousness in this
country. The fellows use political power and influence to line their
own wallets, and they talk about trying to establish moral righteousness
in the country. I'm telling you, neither the
philosophers nor the educated, not the most brilliant and not
the most ignorant in this world have a clue what righteousness
is. Not a clue. This is not talking
about the righteousness of God's essential character. Every man
is convinced that God is righteous in His holy character by nature. He has a God consciousness that
terrifies him. This is talking about righteousness
established by a man. who is himself God, a righteousness
that is worthy of God's smile and God's approval. He, whom you know sin, was made
sin, that we, who are nothing but sin, might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. According to this book, it is
the life obedience of Christ that constitutes that righteousness
with which we are clothed and made to become before God. In His death, our Lord Jesus
satisfied the justice of God in paying the penalty due to
our sins. In his life obedience, our blessed
Savior worked out a perfect righteousness, which God Almighty makes to become
ours by the work of his grace, giving us the very righteousness
of his Son. Our Lord Jesus, when he was about
to go up to the cross, just before he died as our substitute, said,
I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. That is, I have
lived the full age of mature manhood in perfect obedience
to God. And when he did, David Coleman,
I lived a full life to the complete maturity of manhood in the face
of every trial and temptation man can face. in perfect obedience
to God. Either He's my substitute or
He's not. Either He's my mediator or He's not. Either He's my representative
or He's not. Either I'm in Him or I'm not
in Him. You can't have it both ways.
Yes, when He lived before God, I walked on this earth in Him,
loving You as I love myself. and loving God with all my being. That's called righteousness.
But in myself, I'm nothing but sin. And so just two chapters
later, our Lord Jesus, when He hangs upon the cursed tree, having
suffered all the fullness of the wrath of God to the full
satisfaction of justice as our substitute, about to die, He
said, It's finished! And He bowed His head and gave
up the ghost. Now the theologians talk about
that as the active and passive obedience of Christ. All of it
was active. He deliberately lived for us
in obedience to the Father's will and deliberately died for
us for the satisfaction of the Father's holy justice. And when
He died, I died in Him. So what we read in Romans 6,
I died when He died. I died. You're crucified with
Christ. Not, you are being crucified.
I have been crucified with Him. Not, I'm going to be crucified.
I have been crucified with Him. When He was nailed to the tree,
I was nailed to the tree. When He bore my sins in His body
on the tree before God Almighty, I died in Him. And now, death,
as it has no more dominion over Him, has no more dominion over
me. And we are now made the righteousness
of God in Him without us personally doing a thing. Well, how? Let me show you five things very
briefly. I'm just going to name them,
and you can elaborate on them in your own meditation. We are
made the righteousness of God in Him. Remember, Paul says that
we might continually be made to become the righteousness of
God in Him. We were made the righteousness
of God in Him back in eternity. Back in eternity. Now, I know
there's a lot of yit-yak fellas who are scared to death we might
become lopsided in making salvation an altogether work of God, and
somehow they're scared to death. If you tell the truth, you're
going to get folks to live like hell. They don't know the same
people I know. About everybody I know lives
like hell anyhow, except those who know They've been made the
righteousness of God in Him. We were made the righteousness
of God in Him in the eternal decree of God. That's not a matter
of speculation. It's a matter of stated fact.
Romans 8, verses 28, 29, and 30. David Paul tells us that
he hath blessed us with all spirits of blessings in heavenly places
in Christ before the world was made according as he chose us
in Him. He tells us that we are from
eternity accepted in the beloved. Now, if you have any question
at all about whether or not we stood before God in Christ, the
Lamb slain from the foundations of the world, as being righteous
before God, I ask you to consider this. When God blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, did he do it as righteous
folks or unrighteous folks? When we were made accepted in
the Beloved from eternity, were we accepted as unrighteous or
righteous? We were blessed and accepted
in Christ the Beloved because in Christ the Beloved we were
justified and sanctified and glorified before the world began
because He, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of
the world, was eternally our mediator and substitute. When
the Lord Jesus died at Calvary, We were judicially made righteous. The word that's commonly used
when talking about this is imputation. When Adam sinned against God
by one man's disobedience, Romans chapter 5, all who were in him
were made sinners. The word is legally constituted. Legally made to be. Made to be,
in the eyes of the law, sinners. When Christ, by His obedience,
fulfilled all the requirements of God for manhood as our substitute
in surety, all who were in Him were made, legally constituted,
made to be before the law of God righteous. So that when Christ
died as our substitute, He died satisfying every demand of holiness
and justice, and we were made to be, judicially, before God,
once and for all with finality, made to be the righteousness
of God in Him. Now, sometimes we overstate things. We say salvation is altogether
outside our experience. Well, no. No, no, no, no, no,
no. redictions outside our experience,
justifications outside our experience, but not salvation and not righteousness. The Apostle tells us in 2 Peter
1, verse 4, that when God the Holy Spirit comes in saving grace,
in regeneration, in the new birth, giving us life and faith in Christ,
we are experimentally made to become the righteousness of God
in Him. This is what happened when God
saved you. He made you a partaker of the
divine nature. You mean He made us to be gods?
No. No. But He put Christ, who is
God. He put the very nature of Christ,
our Mediator, in you. is what I truly am. Did you hear me? I chose my words
on purpose, David. Christ is what I really am. That's what I really am. Is that
the language Paul uses? It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. He says, the life that I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me. So that when you get to the
heart, the essence, get right down to what the child of God
really is, it is Christ in you. Experimentally made to be the
righteousness of God in him. We are in Christ in whom alone
God is well pleased. That means that He's well pleased
with me. Our sacrifices are accepted of
God as a sweet-smelling savor in Christ. Our sins are never
imputed to us, but perpetually forgiven us because we are one
with Him. And being one with Him who was
once made sin for us, we are perpetually made to become the
righteousness of God in Him. That holy seed which cannot sin,
1 John 3. That which is born of God cannot
sin. Does it say? Cannot habitually practice sin,
cannot always sin. That which is born of God does
not sin and cannot sin. That which is born of God in
you is Christ in you. And we, being one with Him, are
perpetually made to become the righteousness of God in Christ. Let's see if that's failed. Let's
see. David, after his horrible crime
in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, bestowed the man's wife, a man who was a loyal servant, And then to cover up, he had
him murdered. And he refused to acknowledge
his sin. He said, when I kept silence, my bones waxed old through
my roaring. For over a year, for over a year,
everything he did and outward acts of religion was but a show
of emptiness and vanity for over a year. Nathan the prophet came
to him, gave him the parable, and God stuck his finger right
in David's heart when David in his hypocritical, self-righteous
indignation said concerning the man who would do such a thing,
I'll kill him! He shall be put to death right
now! Bring him here! And God stuck
his finger right in his heart and he said, you're the man. And David's heart was crushed
within him. And he said, I've sinned against
God. The next word from God, the Lord
hath put away thy sins. And David went home and wrote
these words, blessed is the man. to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. Oh, yeah. We are experimentally
made the righteousness of God in Him, continually, as He continually
lifts our sins from us and declares us righteous. absolutely made
the righteousness of God in him, so that Paul tells us we are
now worthy, meek to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. And so, these bodies, sown in corruption, shall be
raised in incorruption, and we shall be everlastingly made to
become the righteousness of God in His darling Son. He who declares
these things to be faithful and true, says, Behold, I make all
things new, and the former things are passed away.