The Lord Our Righteousness [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

We need not only not worry whether our sin has damned us, it has not, but we also need not worry about whether we've done enough for God to love and favor us. We're the righteousness of God in Christ. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Brin, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Remade, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program today, I sure want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Don't miss it.

Take this at PastorAlan.org, that's PastorAlan.org, or call 877-544-4860. We're gonna give you more on all this later in the program. But right now let's dig in and get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. There's a day coming in which you won't be talking about the blood of the lamb as much as you'll be talking about the fact that you've been restored and have become an heir.

Wow! In summary, there have been bad kings and because the lives of the people of God are so tied up with their king, they were in a sense in their king. He was their representative and they were in him and he was in them and so when the king was bad, they were scattered and afraid and they were exiled and they were lost and they were without hope. But God promised a new king in the line of David, a righteous branch, a rightful heir to the throne, fulfillment of the promise who would come and because of him, the people would be regathered, made unafraid and they would flourish and be fruitful and multiply just as had been blessed and promised to Adam and Eve, they would have dominion in the earth again. And this news, the prophecy goes on to say, it's so wonderful that as glorious as it is to be saved, this is even more glorious.

That's what the prophecy is. And then comes this great provision. There was a great problem, there was a great promise, there was a great praise and here comes this great provision.

It's what I've always wanted and you have to, whether you know it or not. It is the thing that will enable you to know that not only does God love you, but he likes you. It is what will assure you that you're fully qualified for every good gift of God. The imputed righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.

I want to give you several scriptures just because I need to make sure that I prove this to you from the scriptures in case this is something that is not deeply familiar to you. Romans three, verse 21, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. You do not become righteous by obeying the law. That's what the entire new covenant says. You become righteous through faith in Christ Jesus and every attempt to be righteous by trying to fulfill the law will not only fail you, but will leave you scattered and afraid.

Romans four, five, to the one who does not work, speaking of trying to work legalistically, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. First Corinthians one 30, and because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God. Jesus became our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. It's okay to boast in the accomplishments of Jesus Christ for your life.

I don't have one thing of my own to boast in, but I can boast in this. I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. God is honored when we say that. Philippians three eight, indeed I count everything as loss. And Paul was exceedingly accomplished.

He was in many respects a genius and in the world's eyes and in the religious world, exceedingly accomplished. And he says, I count everything as loss because of surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. And he prays that I may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. And Romans five 17, if because of one man's trespass, speaking of Adam, death reigned through that one man, right? So Adam sinned and because he sinned, everyone since has been born in sin as the human condition. And since Adam sinned, he did not live an immortal life on earth, but died and every other human except for Christ has died. If through one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness, reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Theologian Wayne Grudem says this succinctly, if God merely declared us to be forgiven from our past sins, that would not solve our problems entirely for it would only make us morally neutral before God.

We would be in the state that Adam was in before he had done anything right or wrong in God's sight. He was not guilty before God, but neither had he earned a record of righteousness before God. So when you think of this theological concept of imputation, and it's kind of a technical word because there's nothing else to describe this, it is different than being infused with it's different than just imagining it's something real, but it is to say that God looks upon it as though Adam's sin is passed down to all humanity because we're in Adam. And when Christ came, he, Paul said, became the sin for those who trust in him. So Adam's sin was imputed to all humanity, but for every human being who trusts in Christ's saving work and believes that Christ paid the penalty and believes that Christ died for our sin, then for that man or woman, his or her sin is imputed to Christ.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Maybe you're like many Christians in America today. You're stunned by how fast a nation's culture has turned away from God. The values of our country have changed. Normally most people don't go to church or have a biblical worldview.

It can make you feel like an alien in your own culture. There's a lot to learn from Daniel when he was exiled to the pagan land of Babylon. Through our special offer this month, you can learn to live under the favor of God in an alien culture the way Daniel did. When you give before the end of the month, we'll send you Pastor Alan's audio series, Daniel, a favored foreigner.

You may feel like a stranger in this world, but as God showed favor to Daniel in his foreign land, God's grace is upon you as well. Your donation will not only help you navigate through these troubling times, but it will also help someone else. Thanks for your partnership with Alan Wright Ministries. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860, or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. What I'm saying is that the first part of the gospel that we must believe is that every one of your sins has been so put upon Christ that God looks upon Jesus on the cross as though Jesus had committed every one of your sins past, present, and future. And it's impossible for there to be mishpat, justice, if two people pay for the same crime and Jesus has paid for it.

But the third part of the imputation, so Adam sin imputed to all humanity when we trust in Christ, our sin is imputed to Christ, but there's a third part and this is the most glorious. Christ who came as a human being on earth and lived a sinless life, not just a sinless life, but every single prompting of his Father, he was obedient and he loved everyone perfectly. He fed the poor and he taught the truth and he healed the sick. And when he was tired and didn't feel like it, he ministered to the oppressed. And he never ever deceived, was always pure and never hypocritical. Never ever did he have a moment in his life where he rebelled against God, but he truly loved the Father with all his heart and mind and soul and strength. What I'm saying is he lived a perfect life.

And this is what imputation means. When you trust in Jesus, that perfect life of Jesus, God looks on you as if you'd lived it. Praise God. Praise the Father. 2 Corinthians 5 21, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. It means that if you're going to confess Christian faith, that not only do you have the glory to dare to say, all my sins have been forgiven and taken away from me, so I am clean, but you can also and must dare to say, I have become the righteousness of God. I am in Christ, the righteousness of God.

Will you say it with me? I am in Christ, the righteousness of God. This does not mean that God makes you internally righteous so that then he looks at you and sees that you are intrinsically good and therefore declares you righteous because we know that sin still remains in our lives. If God simply, listen to this, if God simply made you good today so that he could forgive you and declare you righteous, that might apply to your sins today and yesterday, but there wouldn't be a provision for your sins tomorrow. But the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ is for your entire life. So God has imputed your sin to Christ and imputed his righteousness to you. And Charles Spurgeon says it so beautifully. God considers us as though we were Christ, looks upon us as though his life had been our life and accepts, blesses and rewards us as though all that he did had been done by us, his believing people.

Oh, oh, wow. I sat and read Spurgeon's sermon on Jeremiah 23 over and over and wept and wept for joy and almost decided to come in and just read his sermon. It's one of the best sermons I've ever read, ever.

You can find it online. He said in that sermon, I find that many young Christians who are very clear about being saved by the merits of Christ's death do not seem to understand the merits of his life. Remember young believers that from the first moment when Christ did lie in the cradle until the time when he ascended on high, he was at work for his people. And from the moment when he was seen in Mary's arms till the instant when in the arms of death he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, he was at work for your salvation and mine. He completed the work of obedience in his life and said to his father, I finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Then he completed the work of atonement and his death. And knowing that all things were accomplished, he cried out, it is finished. He wasn't just saying that payment for sin is finished. He was saying, righteousness is finished.

Oh, he fulfilled the law on your behalf. Spurgeon continues, he was through his life spinning the web for making the royal garment. And in his death, he dipped the garment in his blood. In his life, he was gathering together the precious gold.

In his death, he hammered it out to make for us a garment, which is wrought gold. You have as much to thank Christ for loving as for dying, and you should be as reverently and devoutly grateful for his spotless life as for his terrible and fearful death. This is Christ, the son of David, the branch of the root of Jesse, the Lord is our righteousness. And what makes me weep about these words is that I don't know. I just have a harder time, a bigger problem believing that I'm the righteousness of God than I can believe that I'm forgiven by God.

Perhaps it's the loneliness of a little boy who in fourth grade was never quite sure why his dad left. I don't know, maybe it's the seeds of shame that made that little boy feel like he needed to always be good, and always make A's, and always win the tennis match, and always do well enough to have others' approval, and maybe forever was waiting for a revelation that all of that is rubbish compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, my righteousness. I'm saying that everything you've ever longed for or worked for or worried about or wondered about is deliciously answered in this prophecy, his name shall be called the Lord is our righteousness. I will not be my own righteousness, the Lord will be my righteousness. It means that we need not only not worry whether our sin has damned us, it has not, but we also need not worry about whether we've done enough for God to love and favor us. We're the righteousness of God in Christ.

What good thing could he withhold or would he want to withhold? It means therefore that God not only loves you, he likes you. And I want you to believe that when he looks on you, he sees you in the same way he sees his only begotten son, both spotless and beautiful. And at verse six, importantly, the prophecy says, and this is the name by which he will be called, we're going to say it, he's called this, it is a proclamation, it is spoken with our mouths, we call him so. We say, I'm the righteousness of God.

Say it again. I am the righteousness of God and we say it to calm our fears when life feels uncertain and frightening and there are pandemics and wars and rumors of war and it swirls and strikes at the serenity of the soul. We say it, say it with me, I am the righteousness of God. We say it when we feel we don't deserve his blessings on the morning of the job interview or when the cancer scan comes back or when we feel inadequate and the mountain seems too high. We say it, I am the righteousness of God. We say it when the world condemns, when the one we love rejects us, when we wonder if there's anything likable or lovable about us.

We say it when we wonder if anybody really cares, it's the truth. I am the righteousness of God. We say it when we face the mountain and are looking for faith. How could I believe that God would welcome me into the throne room, into the Holy of Jesus and hear my plea? What right do I have to come into that holiest place and meet with the living God of the universe about my dilemma?

I can believe it because I am the righteousness of God. We say it when the powers of darkness mock and shame and remind us of the shadows and the shortcomings of our life and that whisper that says you do not measure up, you are not worthy to be blessed and it is in the face of that enemy that we rise up and we speak out the word of God. I am the righteousness of God and we say it when we face temptation and we pull the feel of hate or lust or covetousness as lying, crouching at our door and we say I'm made for more. I'm set apart unto God. I am holy. I am the righteousness of God.

We say it when we sing and pray and praise His name now and forevermore. What I'm saying is that we have something to proclaim that is more beautiful and more wonderful and more glorious than Adam ever had. Before sin came in the world, he was morally neutral. You are not morally neutral.

Now justice is on your side. You're not only forgiven, but you have been credited with the righteousness of Christ. You have divine garments that have clothed you. What it means is we have a song to sing that the angels can't sing. We are in a position that to cherubim stoop to try to understand that we who have been made in the image of God, lost from God, restored unto God have become like Christ Himself.

So I must end with some more Spurgeon's words. Not Adam. Not Adam when he walked in Eden's bowers was more accepted than you are. Not more pleasing to the eye of the all judging, the sin hating God than you are if clothed in Jesus' righteousness and sprinkled with His blood. You have a better righteousness than Adam had. He had a human righteousness. Your garments are divine. He had a robe completed as true, but the earth had woven it.

You have a garment as complete, but heaven has made it for you to wear. Go up and down in the strength of this great truth and boast exceedingly and glory in your God and let this be on the top and summit of your heart and soul. The Lord is our righteousness. So the next time I hit a golf ball up over the trees, hits the roof of the house and there's so much favor on my life that it comes back across the trees, moves forward and lands in the middle of the fairway and they say, boy, I guess that's what you get for that right living.

I say, if only you knew, but love it. Every one of your sins has been given to Christ and every facet of His goodness and righteousness, the zetica of God has been credited to you and that's the gospel Alan Wright in today's good news message. The Lord, our righteousness in the series remade a stick with us.

Pastor Alan is back with us in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Maybe you're like many Christians in America today. You're stunned by how fast a nation's culture has turned away from God. The values of our country have changed. Suddenly most people don't go to church or have a biblical world view.

It can make you feel like an alien in your own culture. There's a lot to learn from Daniel when he was exiled to the pagan land of Babylon. Through our special offer this month, you can learn to live under the favor of God in an alien culture the way Daniel did. When you give before the end of the month, we'll send you Pastor Alan's audio series, Daniel, a favored foreigner.

You may feel like a stranger in this world, but as God showed favor to Daniel in his foreign land, God's grace is upon you as well. Your donation will not only help you navigate through these troubling times, but it will also help someone else. Thanks for your partnership with Alan Wright Ministries. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Back here in the studio sharing Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day. At the conclusion of this teaching, the Lord, our righteousness, and boy, there is good news in that.

So let's sum it up to everyone under the sound of my voice. You take this in and ask God to give you the grace to really believe this and to believe it more and more every day. God imputes your sin to Jesus Christ. When you accept Christ, he looks upon Christ at the cross as if Jesus had committed every one of your sins, past, present, and future.

But he doesn't stop there. He then imputes to you, Christian, the righteousness of Jesus, meaning he looks upon you as if you had done all the good things that Jesus has done. You haven't simply been forgiven. If all that had happened was you were forgiven, then it could be said that you didn't deserve hell, but you wouldn't have merited heaven. So to be a Christian is someone who has not only escaped hell by the forgiveness of God, but has merited heaven in God's eyes because not your own works, but Jesus's. You've become Jesus's own righteousness.

That's what it means when Jeremiah prophesied the Lord is our righteousness. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.