27/08/2023
HOW GOD MADE US RIGHTEOUS
OUR standing with God is on the ground of faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, God laid upon Jesus our iniquities. 2 Cor. 5:21, "Him who knew no sin God made to be sin on our behalf." Jesus was more than a sin offering. He was actually made sin with our sins. He was made unrighteous with our unrighteousness. As our Sin Substitute, bearing our sins and bearing us, He went to the place of suffering after He left His body.
He stayed there until every claim of Justice against us had been satisfied. He was our Substitute, taking our place, being made sin with our sin. He went to the prison to which sinners were sentenced and suffered until everything against us had been met. It was Deity suffering for humanity, and being Deity He could pay the penalty.
When the Supreme Court of the Universe declared that what God had wrought in Christ was sufficient, that His sufferings were adequate and met every demand of Justice, He declared that Jesus was justified or made Righteous. Rom. 4:25. In 1 Tim. 3:16 Paul says that He was "justified in the spirit." and in 1 Pet. 3:18 we read that He was "made alive in the spirit." He was born out of death, so that He is called again and again, "the first born from among the dead."
God laid our sin upon Him. He was made to be sin, made to suffer in our stead. When He had met the demands of Justice, death could hold Him no longer. He was "declared righteous." He was "made alive". He became the "firstborn from the dead"-the Head of a New Creation. Col. 1:18. When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, God is able to declare us righteous on the ground of what Jesus did. There are two phases to this Righteousness.
First, God declares us righteous; and second, we are made New Creations. We become partakers of the Divine Nature, so that we are righteous by nature and righteous by faith. Now we can understand 2 Cor. 5:21, "Him who knew no sin God made to be sin on our behalf." Why? "That we might become the righteousness of God in him."
As surely as God made Jesus sin, God made us righteous the moment we accepted Him.
"Being justified freely by his. grace (or, being made righteous freely by his grace) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." He declares that we were made righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that was in Christ Jesus. He did this "for the showing, I say, of his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God."
What does lie mean by that? From the time Adam fell until Jesus hung on the Cross, God had been covering sin with the blood of bulls and goats. Lev. 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls." The word "atonement" means "to cover". It is never used in connection with the blood of Christ because the blood of Christ does not cover-it cleanses!
We do not need to be covered. Under the Law, sin was not put away. It was not cleansed. It was only covered by the blood of bulls and goats. Now by faith we can take Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord. When we do that we become the Righteousness of God in Him. Being made righteous by His grace, we have peace right now with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having been made righteous, having been declared righteous by the Supreme Court of the Universe, having had this fellowship restored that had been broken through the ages, the peace of God which passeth all understanding floods our beings. Rom. 5:1.
Now we can stand in His presence without any Sin-Con-sciousness, without any fear, because "as He is, so are we in this world."
He is righteous. He Himself has declared us righteous and made us righteous. This is the foundation on which faith grows. When we know this as the Word of God teaches it, we will step into the Father's presence without any challenge or question in our minds.
We know that there is therefore now no condemnation to us, because we are in Christ Jesus.
Restoring Lost Righteousness
This was God's greatest problem. How could God legally restore to man his lost Righteousness and still be just Himself ? The first eight chapters of Romans deal with this problem and give us the solution. Eph. 2:12, "Having no hope and without God in the world." Fallen man is without God and without hope. He is spiritually dead, a partaker of Satan's nature. He has no standing with God. He has no citizenship and no legal right of appeal. He is like a convict in a state penitentiary.
He is in union spiritually with God's enemy. His nature is enmity against God. He is not subject to the will of God, and cannot be until he is recreated. Rom. 8:7. How could God reconcile man to Himself, make him righteous, and restore him to perfect fellowship? It could only be wrought by God's own Son taking man's place, meeting every demand of justice, and going down to the level of lost man. 2 Cor. 5:17-21.
This Jesus did and, after the claims of Justice had been perfectly met, He was justified in spirit. Not only was He justified in spirit, but He was also made alive in spirit. He was recreated so that God said of Him, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee."
When Jesus was declared righteous, justified, and made alive, then He was restored to perfect fellowship with the Father.
After He was restored to perfect fellowship with the Father and could enter heaven as though He had never been made sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He had made a perfect substitution for man. He had made it possible not only for God to justify man, but also to perfectly recreate him. On the ground of that, man was reconciled to God. Now lie has a right to fellowship and commune with the Father to stand in His presence as though he had never sinned.
The fact that Jesus could leave the abode of the lost and go directly into the Father's presence is proof that the vilest sinner can do the same through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It does not make any difference how wicked a man is, if he takes Christ as his Saviour and confesses Him as his Lord, God makes him a New Creation. That man becomes the Righteousness of God in Christ. Righteousness becomes a living reality in him.
In the Garden, Adam had perfect fellowship with God. No work that God could do for man would be perfect unless it gave back to man his lost Righteousness, his lost privilege of fellowshipping and his lost dominion. His lost Righteousness and his lost fellowship are restored in the New Creation. The moment his Righteousness is restored, his lost dominion is also restored in the use of the Name of Jesus. "If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name".
The Righteous Man
"The Prayer of the Righteous Man" Jas. 5:16 You are the righteous man and your prayer avails much in its working. Elijah had reckoned righteousness, a servant's righteousness. You have been made righteous by receiving the nature of the Father. There is no limit to your prayer life. You have within you now all the elements that are necessary to make you all that the Father dreamed that you would be in Christ.
Dare to pray; dare to use the name of Jesus. dare to take your place. Be as fearless as the Master was in His dealing with Satan and disease because you have His Name; you have His ability; He is now your wisdom and the strength of your life. The secret of victory is acting fearlessly ; confessing boldly for Satan fears you. You are the righteous man.
Two Kinds of Righteousness
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