Christ Our Righteousness

Christ Our Righteousness

One of the great majestic names of the LORD God is “The LORD Our Righteousness” (Jer. 33:16).

Jesus Christ is our righteousness (1Corinthians 1:30).  We do not and cannot attain a right relationship with God in our own righteousness because our self-righteousness is as filthy rags.  We are guilty sinners in the need of a perfect righteousness (Rom. 3:23; Jer. 17:9; Mark 7:20-23).

When we speak of Christ our righteousness, we are using a great forensic term referring to our acquittal by God.  All that we have as Christians we have received as a free gift of God through Jesus Christ.  We are justified once and for all by grace through faith in Christ.  It never has to be repeated because it is a non-repeatable event.  When we are united to Christ, we have a righteous and holy standing before God.  We are “in Christ.”  We have a vital union in Him.  We enjoy a right relationship with God because of the finished work of Christ on the cross.  Christ is the basis of our perfect acceptance with God (2 Cor. 5:21).

God has robed us with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.  He is the basis of our acceptance with God.

Godet said, “It is the act of grace whereby God removes the condemnation pronounced on the sinner, and places him relatively to Himself, as a believer, in the position of a righteous man. The possibility of such a Divine act is due to the death and resurrection of Christ.”  His death is the foundation of everything God does for the sinner.

The apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:12 that we are through the atoning death of Christ declared righteous before God.  This “righteousness” of God in Christ is that quality, which is ours when God acquits the believer, based upon the finished all-sufficient death of Christ (Rom.4: 22-25). God acquits the believer for Christ’s sake, not ours.

This righteousness, like justification, is always forensic.  God is Judge, and we must stand before Him.  We can only plead guilty because we are guilty.  God treated Jesus Christ as if He were the guilty sinner, and deals with the believing sinner as though he or she were righteous.  Christ did not deserve the curse; we did.  The imputed righteousness of Christ to the sinner is a demonstration of the wisdom of God. It is a display of His justice, mercy, grace, love, and power as would never enter into the mind of men.  It is a manifestation, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (I Cor. 1:25).

The cross and the resurrection is the power of God unto salvation. Let us glory in the cross of Jesus Christ and God’s saving grace.

Because our right standing with God is His work, He alone can get all the glory.  God pronounces the verdict based upon whether we have accepted or denied Jesus Christ as our Savior.  Man cannot satisfy the Judge unless he is righteous.  There is no denying of the fact that no man is righteous before God.  No man can produce the righteousness God requires.  It has to be given to him if the sinner gets it.  Under these circumstances, his faith is counted to him as righteousness (Rom. 3:23; Gal. 3:26).  Christ Himself becomes the righteousness we need (2 Cor. 5:21).  God the Righteous Judge views us not as we are in our sinfulness, but in Christ.  He is our perfect standing before God.  It is only the righteousness of Christ that can possibly satisfy the perfect demand of the law of God.

Christ is our righteousness; none other will satisfy God.

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

Christ Our Redemption

In the wisdom of God, the plan of salvation was fully accomplished by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.   Such wisdom is hidden from the wise and learned of the world, but it revealed to the humble believer of Christ.

Christ alone personified the wisdom of God. “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31, NASB 1995).

Christ is our redemption.  From the moment we put out faith in Jesus Christ alone to save us, we were “Sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). We already have the “first fruits of the Spirit” as we wait the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23).

The wisdom puts to shame the high and mighty people of the world.  The wise men of the world cannot understand how God’s grace in Jesus Christ changes sinners into saints. The mighty men of the world see the grace of God as foolishness and weakness (I Cor. 1:25-29).

God in His grace changes lives when they accept His wisdom and believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Salvation must be all of grace so that He alone gets all the glory. “We are made righteous, holy, and redeemed in Christ Jesus.  Redemption comes here last for emphasis through the very foundation of righteousness and sanctification,” notes A. T. Roberson.  We are “Justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).  God has ransomed setting free the person enslaved in sin.

There is a sense in which the believer is redeemed the very moment he believes on Christ as his Savior.  But there is also the greater expectation that our redemption will not be complete in its fullest sense until the work of God is perfected in him or her.

We are now hidden with Christ in God, and our redemption will come to consummation when Christ returns in glory (I Thess. 4:17).  At that time “We shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (I Cor. 15:49).  We shall be glorified with Him.

Yes, our redemption is our present possession (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14).  We enjoy forgiveness of all our sins, and we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as the first fruits and down payment of greater things to come. The full renewal and reward of our redemption is yet to come at the last day.

The foundation and basis for these great events is the death of Jesus Christ as our ransom (Mark 10:45). Christ came “To give His life as a ransom for many.”  The meaning is Jesus paid the price for a slave who is then set free by the one who bought him.  Jesus gave His own life as the price to purchase our freedom from the slaves of sin.

Jesus vicariously suffered death on behalf of the many who have fallen victim to death.  His death was the ransom payment to redeem us (I Pet. 1:18-19).  Christ “Gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity” (Titus 2:14).

The word “redemption” here probably embraces the totality of Christ’s work of salvation of the sinner. It embraces rescuing men from sin and Satan by the payment of Christ, and it extends to the believer’s final resurrection and glorification.  It looks back upon the cross to the blood that bought our freedom, justification (Rom. 3:24), sanctification (Heb. 10:10), and forward to our resurrection and glorification (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14; 4:30).

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

Contentment is An

Contentment is an embracing of the providence of God. George Seevers

“Christ Much and Christ More”

 Have you ever thought what it would be like if you could not die? How terrible it would be if your body had wasted away with a terrible disease and you could not die. I have conducted many funerals when loved ones have reluctantly said the deceased was better off because he was no longer suffering.

On the other hand, Francis Bacon echoed the attitude of many when he said, “men fear death as children fear the dark.” Apart from an intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ no man is prepared for his encounter with death.

Moreover, death for the believer in Christ is presented in the Bible as an improvement over the very best in this life. How wonderful it would be if Jesus came for us on the very best day this life could offer when everything is going great. It would not be a terrible tragedy. The Apostle Paul’s life was full and he could write, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain” (Philippians 2:21 NET).

Paul did not say his death would be “better by far” because he wanted to escape this life. The death of the Christian is never portrayed as an escape or improvement on the worst of life.

The heartbeat of Paul’s life was Christ. “For to me to live is Christ and to die is better yet.” Christ was everything to Him.

H. C. G. Moule with keen insight said, “Life and death . . . look to him like two immense blessings, of which he knows not which is the better. On either side of the veil, Jesus Christ is all things to him.” The only difference will be that “on the other side” everything Paul longed for in this life “in Christ” will be more perfectly realized there.

The apostle’s desire was to “depart” and be with Christ. He had tasted the delights of God’s righteousness and longed for freedom from evil that he would never have in this life on the earth. He would know perfect freedom.

For the Christian death will be freedom from all sin, pain, suffering, persecution, cares, etc.

I am sure the apostle Paul had in mind that this freedom would mean that finally he would be like Christ in His perfect righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8). Crowned with His righteousness! It is not our self-righteousness, but our being clothed in righteousness that Christ imputes to us (2 Cor. 5:21).

We will know him as he is known. Every spiritual truth that has puzzled us in this life will be clearly revealed to us in Christ. In that day we will know as he knows (1 Cor. 13:12).

But the blessed thought, most precious of all is we will be with him. Every born again believer will be with Christ. Yes, we know him and he is with us in our present life, but oh the fullness of our knowledge of him and his wonderful, glorious presence when we are with him clothed and crowned with his righteousness!

The Psalmist said, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15 NASB).

For the unbeliever death is an eternal separation from a righteous, loving God. It is something to be feared and dreaded. However, for the believer death is just the opposite; it is also precious to the believer just as it is to God. There will be no separation from him.

Moule says it well. For Paul it was a dilemma “between Christ and Christ, Christ much and Christ more, Christ by faith and Christ by sight.” And that is our dilemma, too.

As you read these words is it true of you? Do you long to be like Christ? Do you long to see Him in all His gory? Do you earnestly desire to be perfect as he is perfect?

The apostle John said, “And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure” (1 John 3:3 NET).

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

The Longer We Walk With

Faith means trust. Trust only comes from experience. The longer we walk with Christ, the stronger our faith. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

Christ Died for Me

Salvation is entirely apart from any self-help. We are not saved by imitation of the crucifixion or by Christ’s example, but as Luther concluded, “that high crucifying whereby sin, the devil, and death, are crucified in Christ and not in me.”

The Bible says, “The soul that sins will surely die.” Christ died that we may live. He paid our debt to the righteousness of God. Two thousand years ago Christ paid a moral debt that belonged to you and me. His death secured our freedom from the debt and stamped the receipt “paid in full.” His death released us from all obligation to pay our spiritual debt.

The death of Christ is a historical fact at a time and place, but Christ crucified is also an eternal fact touching all time with equal nearness. The crucifixion of Christ is an ever-present reality in the mind and heart of God. Our reconciliation to God depends entirely upon that central fact of the ages.

By faith we lay our hands upon the head of the Lamb of God who was slain for our sins. In the sacrificial system of the Jewish tabernacle, the person offering the sacrifice laid his hands upon the head of the offering and declared by identification his sins upon that offering. The confessing Christian by faith lays his hand upon the head of God’s perfect sacrifice on his behalf. There is a solemn unity in the suffering of Christ and the believer. Christ made full atonement for the believing sinner. His death for the believer is intensely personal.

There is such an identification that the apostle Paul can say in Romans 6:6, “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”

Not only did Christ die that we might live, but in a very real sense He died that we might die. “In one death for all, then all die.”

This is all true of us and we accept it by faith. Christ died for us. He bore our sins and paid our penalty. Because of our identity with Him through faith, we have been “crucified with Christ.” My soul says let me hear that Christ died in the stead of sinners, of whom I am chief; that He was forsaken of God, during these fearful agonies, because He had taken my place. On His cross He paid the penalty of my guilt. Let me hear the message that His blood cleanses from all sin, and that I may now appear before the bar of God, not only pardoned, but declared acquitted. I was in effect crucified on Calvary, and He will in effect stand before the throne in my person.

Because of my vital union with Christ, I can declare: His the penalty, mine the salvation; His the shame, mine the glory; His the thorns, mine the crown; His the merit, mine the reward.

May you have a grateful heart towards He who has given so much to you.

indeovi vas ( may you live with Jesus in Latin )

Seleh- stop and think about it.

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

God is Giving Me

God is giving me strength in my weakness… and He will be the One who finishes this fight instead of me. Petr Jasek

And That’s a Good Thing.

You just can’t hide from God. And that’s a good thing. Because God isn’t just watching you; He’s watching over you. Louie Giglio

Christ Died for Me

Christ Died for Me

Salvation is entirely apart from any self-help. We are not saved by imitation of the crucifixion or by Christ’s example, but as Luther concluded, “that high crucifying whereby sin, the devil, and death, are crucified in Christ and not in me.”

The Bible says, “The soul that sins will surely die.” Christ died that we may live. He paid our debt to the righteousness of God. Two thousand years ago Christ paid a moral debt that belonged to you and me. His death secured our freedom from the debt and stamped the receipt “paid in full.” His death released us from all obligation to pay our spiritual debt.

The death of Christ is a historical fact at a time and place, but Christ crucified is also an eternal fact touching all time with equal nearness. The crucifixion of Christ is an ever-present reality in the mind and heart of God. Our reconciliation to God depends entirely upon that central fact of the ages.

By faith we lay our hands upon the head of the Lamb of God who was slain for our sins. In the sacrificial system of the Jewish tabernacle, the person offering the sacrifice laid his hands upon the head of the offering and declared by identification his sins upon that offering. The confessing Christian by faith lays his hand upon the head of God’s perfect sacrifice on his behalf. There is a solemn unity in the suffering of Christ and the believer. Christ made full atonement for the believing sinner. His death for the believer is intensely personal.

There is such an identification that the apostle Paul can say in Romans 6:6, “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”

Not only did Christ die that we might live, but in a very real sense He died that we might die. “In one death for all, then all die.”

This is all true of us and we accept it by faith. Christ died for us. He bore our sins and paid our penalty. Because of our identity with Him through faith, we have been “crucified with Christ.” My soul says let me hear that Christ died in the stead of sinners, of whom I am chief; that He was forsaken of God, during these fearful agonies, because He had taken my place. On His cross He paid the penalty of my guilt. Let me hear the message that His blood cleanses from all sin, and that I may now appear before the bar of God, not only pardoned, but declared acquitted. I was in effect crucified on Calvary, and He will in effect stand before the throne in my person.

Because of my vital union with Christ, I can declare: His the penalty, mine the salvation; His the shame, mine the glory; His the thorns, mine the crown; His the merit, mine the reward.

SELAH! Pause – reflect- just think of that!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

And Still Loves Us.

Jesus has seen us at our worst and still loves us. Randy Alcorn