righteousness

Bible Study Guides – Righteousness

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October 6, 2001 – October 12, 2001

 “Awake to Righteousness, and Sin Not”

Memory Verse: “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” Ephesians 5:9.

Study Help: Christ’s Object Lessons, 310–316.

Thought to Remember: “Righteousness is right doing.”

Introduction

“There never was a time when it was so important that the followers of Christ should study the Bible as now. Deceptive influences are upon all sides, and it is essential that you counsel with Jesus, your best friend. The wayfaring man may find the way of life through faith and obedience, through abiding in the sunshine of Christ’s righteousness. But how shall we understand what is meant by these terms, if we do not understand the Bible? In the Word of God duty is made plain, and everything relating to the religious life is presented in a definite way. The whole plan of salvation is delineated, and the helps to the soul are pointed out. The way in which the believer may be complete in Christ is unfolded.” Youth’s Instructor, May 18, 1893.

“None Righteous, No, Not One”

1 Because of our sins, what is the state of the human heart? Romans 3:12. Read verses 9–18.

note: “The only definition we find in the Bible for sin is that ‘sin is the transgression of the law’ (1 John 3:4). The Word of God declares, ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). ‘There is none that doeth good, no, not one’ (Romans 3:12). Many are deceived concerning the condition of their hearts. They do not realize that the natural heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. They wrap themselves about with their own righteousness, and are satisfied in reaching their own human standard of character; but how fatally they fail when they do not reach the divine standard, and of themselves they cannot meet the requirements of God. We may measure ourselves by ourselves, we may compare ourselves among ourselves, we may say we do as well as this one or that one, but the question to which the judgment will call for an answer is, Do we meet the claims of high heaven? Do we reach the divine standard? Are our hearts in harmony with the God of heaven? The human family have all transgressed the law of God, and as transgressors of the law, man is hopelessly ruined; for he is the enemy of God, without strength to do any good thing.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 321, 322.

2 How does the Lord regard our attempts to make ourselves righteous? Isaiah 64:6.

note: “In their professed service to God, the Jews were really working for self. Their righteousness was the fruit of their own efforts to keep the law according to their own ideas and for their own selfish benefit. Hence it could be no better than they were. In their endeavor to make themselves holy, they were trying to bring a clean thing out of an unclean. The law of God is as holy as He is holy, as perfect as He is perfect. It presents to men the righteousness of God. It is impossible for man, of himself, to keep this law; for the nature of man is depraved, deformed, and wholly unlike the character of God. The works of the selfish heart are ‘as an unclean thing;’ and ‘all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.’ Isaiah 64:6.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 54.

“Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness”

3 What is righteousness? Psalm 1; Psalm 119:172.

note: “Righteousness is right doing, and it is by their deeds that all will be judged. Our characters are revealed by what we do. The works show whether the faith is genuine.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 312.

“Righteousness is holiness, likeness to God, and ‘God is love.’ 1 John 4:16. It is conformity to the law of God, for ‘all Thy commandments are righteousness’ (Psalm 119:172), and ‘love is the fulfilling of the law’ (Romans 13:10). Righteousness is love, and love is the light and the life of God. The righteousness of God is embodied in Christ. We receive righteousness by receiving Him.” The Faith I Live By, 109.

4 What is the relationship between obedience and righteousness? Romans 6:16.

note: “You need the true spirit of obedience to the Word of God. You must make decided reforms in your own customs and practices, conforming your life to the saving principles of the law of God. When you do this, you will have the righteousness of Christ which pervades that law, because you love God and recognize His law as a transcript of His character.” Child Guidance, 69.

“True obedience is the outworking of a principle within. It springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the law of God. The essence of all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer. This will lead us to do right because it is right, because right doing is pleasing to God.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 97.

“What is Man, That He Should be Clean?”

5 Because all have disobeyed God’s law, what way has God devised for accounting sinners as righteous? Romans 5:19.

note: “Righteousness is obedience to the law. The law demands righteousness, and this the sinner owes to the law; but he is incapable of rendering it. The only way in which he can attain to righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ, and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner’s account. Christ’s righteousness is accepted in place of man’s failure, and God receives, pardons, justifies, the repentant, believing soul, treats him as though he were righteous, and loves him as He loves His Son. This is how faith is accounted righteousness; and the pardoned soul goes on from grace to grace, from light to a greater light. He can say with rejoicing, ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life’ (Titus 3:5–7).” Faith and Works, 101.

6 Will God account us as righteous if we do not forsake our sins? Isaiah 55:7; Zechariah 3:3, 4.

note: “No repentance is genuine that does not work reformation. The righteousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed and unforsaken sin; it is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct. Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire surrender of heart and life to the indwelling of the principles of heaven.” The Desire of Ages, 555.

“Christ has paid the price of your redemption. There is only one thing that you can do, and that is to take the gift of God. You can come in all your need, and plead the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour; but you cannot come expecting that Christ will cover your wickedness, your daily indulgence in sin, with His robe of righteousness.” Bible Echo, May 15, 1892.

“Christ’s righteousness will not cover the unrighteousness of any one. ‘All unrighteousness is sin,’ and ‘sin is the transgression of the law,’ therefore, those who are breaking the law of God and teaching others to break it, will not be covered with the garments of Christ’s righteousness. He came not to save men in their sins; but from their sins. ‘And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby know we that we are in Him.’ These utterances are weighty, and should be duly considered.” Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 24, 1888.

“If we confess our sins…”

7 How may the unrighteousness that we have done be cleansed from our lives? 1 John 1:9; Jeremiah 3:13; Ezekiel 36:25.

note: “True confession is always of a specific character, and acknowledges particular sins. They may be of such a nature as to be brought before God only; they may be wrongs that should be confessed to individuals who have suffered injury through them; or they may be of a public character, and should then be as publicly confessed. But all confession should be definite and to the point, acknowledging the very sins of which you are guilty. Many, many confessions should never be spoken in the hearing of mortals; for the result is that which the limited judgment of finite beings does not anticipate.…God will be better glorified if we confess the secret, inbred corruption of the heart to Jesus alone than if we open its recesses to finite, erring man, who cannot judge righteously unless his heart is constantly imbued with the Spirit of God.…Do not pour into human ears the story which God alone should hear. The confession that is the outpouring of the inmost soul finds its way to the God of infinite pity. Your sins may be as mountains before you; but if you humble your heart, and confess your sins, trusting in the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, He will forgive, and will cleanse you from all unrighteousness.…Desire the fullness of the grace of Christ. Let your heart be filled with an intense longing for His righteousness.” The Faith I Live By, 128.

8 Is forgiveness all that God promises the repentant soul? Acts 2:38; Ezekiel 36:25–27; Acts 3:19.

note: “There are those who listen to the truth, and are convinced that they have been living in opposition to Christ. They are condemned, and they repent of their transgressions. Relying upon the merits of Christ, exercising true faith in Him, they receive pardon for sin. As they cease to do evil and learn to do well, they grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. They see that they must sacrifice in order to separate from the world; and after counting the cost, they look upon all as loss if they may but win Christ. They have enlisted in Christ’s army. The warfare is before them, and they enter it bravely and cheerfully, fighting against their natural inclinations and selfish desires, bringing the will into subjection to the will of Christ. Daily they seek the Lord for grace to obey Him, and they are strengthened and helped. This is true conversion. In humble, grateful dependence he who has been given a new heart relies upon the help of Christ. He reveals in his life the fruit of righteousness. He once loved himself. Worldly pleasure was his delight. Now his idol is dethroned, and God reigns supreme. The sins he once loved he now hates. Firmly and resolutely he follows in the path of holiness.” Youth’s Instructor, September 26, 1901.

“The Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ”

9 What will be seen in the life of the one who accepts the righteousness of Christ? Philippians 1:9–11.

note: “It was impossible for the sinner to keep the law of God, which was holy, just, and good; but this impossibility was removed by the impartation of the righteousness of Christ to the repenting, believing soul. The life and death of Christ in behalf of sinful man were for the purpose of restoring the sinner to God’s favor, through imparting to him the righteousness that would meet the claims of the law and find acceptance with the Father.” Faith and Works, 118.

“Christ actually bore the punishment of the sins of the world, that His righteousness might be imputed to sinners, and through repentance and faith they might become like Him in holiness of character. He says, ‘I bear the guilt of that man’s sins. Let Me take the punishment and the repenting sinner stand before Thee innocent.’ The moment the sinner believes in Christ, he stands in the sight of God uncondemned; for the righteousness of Christ is his: Christ’s perfect obedience is imputed to him. But he must co-operate with divine power, and put forth his human effort to subdue sin, and stand complete in Christ. The ransom paid by Christ is sufficient for the salvation of all men; but it will avail for only those who become new creatures in Christ Jesus, loyal subjects of God’s everlasting kingdom. His suffering will not shield from punishment the unrepenting, disloyal sinner. Christ’s work was to restore man to his original state, to heal him, through divine power, from the wounds and bruises made by sin. Man’s part is to lay hold by faith of the merits of Christ, and co-operate with the divine agencies in forming a righteous character; so that God may save the sinner, and yet be just and His righteous law vindicated.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 429, 430.

10 What fruit will be seen in the life of the one who has repented, receiving the Holy Spirit and the righteousness of Christ? Ephesians 5:9–11; James 3:17, 18.

note: “There is no human being in the world but bears fruit of some kind, either good or evil; and Christ has made it possible for every soul to bear most precious fruit. Obedience to the requirements of God, submission to the will of Christ, will yield in the life the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The inhabitants of this world are dear to God’s family.…He gave the richest gift that heaven could bestow, that men and women might return from their rebellion to His law, and accept into their hearts and lives the principles of heaven. If men would acknowledge the Gift, and accept His sacrifice, their transgressions would be pardoned, and the grace of God would be imparted to them to help them to yield in their lives the precious fruits of holiness. ‘Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit.’ We have a representation to make to the world of pure principles, holy ambitions, noble aspirations, that will distinguish us from all other people, making us a separate nation, a peculiar people.” God’s Amazing Grace, 249.

“The Fine Linen is the Righteousness of Saints”

11 How is righteousness received into the life? Romans 3:22; Philippians 3:9.

note: “By His perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey God’s commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness. Then as the Lord looks upon us He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 312.

12 What is the evidence that a person is righteous? 1 John 3:7.

note: “We have no righteousness of our own with which to meet the claims of the law of God. But Christ has made a way of escape for us. He lived on earth amid trials and temptations such as we have to meet. He lived a sinless life. He died for us, and now He offers to take our sins and give us His righteousness. If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned. More than this, Christ changes the heart. He abides in your heart by faith. You are to maintain this connection with Christ by faith and the continual surrender of your will to Him; and so long as you do this, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. So you may say, ‘The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ Galatians 2:20. So Jesus said to His disciples, ‘It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.’ Matthew 10:20. Then with Christ working in you, you will manifest the same spirit and do the same good works—works of righteousness, obedience. So we have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. We have no ground for self-exaltation. Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us.” Steps to Christ, 62, 63.

Gospel of Liberty

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We are told, in the book of Revelation, that someday soon, just before Jesus returns, religious intolerance will once again bear sway—not only in this country, but throughout the world. Liberty will be gone. The only liberty that will be left on the face of this earth is the liberty that God has put in the hearts of His people.

How does God liberate us? God wants to give us the liberty of the eagle. There is nothing more free than a bird flying, and God wants to help us experience that spiritually. Jeremiah 13:23 asks the question, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? [then] may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” The answer to that question is inferred—No! If the leopard cannot change his spots, nor the Ethiopian his skin, neither can we become good of ourselves. We see here the predicament of all humanity.

David illustrates the predicament that we see in Jeremiah 13. He illustrates it with a solution. Praise God, there is a solution! The Bible says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, [even] praise unto our God: many shall see [it], and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:1–3.

The predicament, in which we find ourselves, is sin. It is illustrated here as a horrible pit. There is no hope for us without some outside help. Does this illustration bring to view the solution to the predicament? Oh, yes. “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings.” In these verses, who is doing all of the work? God is! But before we are through with our study, we will see that a cooperation needs to take place before we are lifted out of the horrible pit.

Crying out for Help

The psalmist says that he “waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” He was seeking deliverance, and he took the first step—crying out for help.

The Bible gives us a true-life experience depicting the predicament that man is in and from which he cannot, in and of himself, help himself. This is an experience of Jesus: “And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let [us] alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine [is] this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.” Mark 1:21–27. This situation was taking place right in the church! Here was a man in the church, crying out to Jesus, saying, Let us alone! It was really an unclean spirit crying out.

What a predicament! This man could not help himself; he was demon possessed. There was no way he could help himself, but outside help from Jesus relieved him from the demon. Praise God!

Self-possession

“The demoniac partially comprehended that he was in the presence of One who could set him free [he wanted to be un-possessed, and he recognized in Jesus someone who was able to help him]; but when he tried to come within reach of that mighty hand, another’s will held him, another’s words found utterance through him.

“The conflict between the power of Satan and his own desire for freedom was terrible. It seemed that the tortured man must lose his life in the struggle with the foe that had been the ruin of his manhood. But the Saviour spoke with authority and set the captive free. The man who had been possessed stood before the wondering people in the freedom of self-possession.” The Ministry of Healing, 91, 92.

Self-possession is self-control. That is what God wants to give to all of us. Prophecy tells us what the Messiah would do when He came, and what we have just seen in Capernaum tells us that Jesus was doing everything that prophecy foretold He would do. Jesus is the Son of the living God. He fulfilled the prophecy: “The Spirit of the Lord God [is] upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison [to them that are] bound.” Isaiah 61:1. This same message is recorded in Luke 4:18: “The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor . . . .” It is only the meek, the poor, those who sense their need, that are going to receive the help of the gospel of Christ to set them free.

Greatest Obstacle

What is one of the greatest obstacles that Jesus had to meet here in this world, while seeking to save humanity from the predicament they were in regarding sin? “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” John 8:31–33. It is an amazing thing that humanity finds itself in this horrible, miry pit of sin, yet the majority of humanity does not sense their need. They do not recognize that they are in bondage. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” John 1:11. Why? Because they did not recognize that they had a need. The greatest obstacle is that humanity is not aware of the predicament which they are in and from which they cannot, of themselves, get out.

Jesus tells the people what causes the bondage from which He came to deliver them: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34. Sin brings us into bondage and keeps us from doing what God intends for us to do. It is as simple as that.

Awaken to Righteousness

God wants to awaken us to righteousness, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:34, that we might not sin. The apostle Peter says, “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” 11 Peter 2:19. Being overcome by sin brings us into bondage and keeps us from doing God’s will.

Let us look at what Jesus wants to do for us and what He is able to do for us. “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:34–36. What a wonderful promise! There is a solution for the predicament, and it is found in One person by the name of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, the creator of this world, has become the Saviour of this world for those who are willing to wake up to their needs and choose to be saved in the manner that He has devised. He wants to save us from sin. He says the servant does not abide in the house forever. That is a warning. If we are only servants, servants to sin, God is telling us that we will not abide forever, but the Son abides forever. That is why God wants to make us His sons and daughters. He wants us to live through eternal ages with Him. That is why He created us. He loves us that much! He loves us so much that He gave us His Son to stand in our place and pay the penalty for our sins. Marvelous love!

“None have fallen so low, none are so vile, but that they may find deliverance in Christ.” The Ministry of Healing, 93. That is a marvelous, wondrous promise. No matter what your case is, no matter how bad you perceive yourself, and no matter how bad you really are, God wants to lift you out of that horrible pit. He wants to establish your feet on a Rock—Himself. Is He able to do it? Yes! He says, If the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed! That word indeed means truly! You will truly be set free. God wants to help us fly spiritually; He wants us to be lifted up to His glory, honor, and praise.

Truth = Freedom

What is one of the means that Jesus uses to set His people free from sin? Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32. This is only one means by which Jesus sets us free, because truth needs a catalyst, if it is going to work in our heart. We can receive the truth of God in our mind, but that is not where God wants it to end. He wants the truth in our hearts. Jesus is talking more than theoretical truth, when He says we will know the truth, and that truth will make us free. God wants to set us free from sin so we will not be in bondage that keeps us from doing God’s will.

Our Choice

Upon what is our freedom from bondage ultimately dependent? The Bible says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:16. Ultimately, friends, for us to be set free from the bondage of sin, it is by our choice. If we do not make the choice, it will not happen. It has to be a constant, determined choice—it cannot be an occasional choice—to allow God to do the work that will set us free.

“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion, no external force is employed. Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve. In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan’s control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God.” The Desire of Ages, 466.

Paul said it well, in Philippians 2:13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.” It is up to us to submit to His will and His doing. When we submit, the expulsion of sin from our lives will take place. We will no longer be in bondage; we will be set free.

Law of Liberty

Being set free from sin is the same thing as being brought into obedience to God’s will. Obedience is what we see in Romans 6:16: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

We saw, in John 8:32, where Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” We noticed that if we choose to have sin expelled from us, it is only going to happen by way of obedience to God. Psalm 119:142 says, “Thy righteousness [is] an everlasting righteousness, and thy law [is] the truth.” So what is truth? It is the Law of God. When we refer to God’s Law, we are talking about the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20, upon which God runs His whole universe.

Jesus compressed the Ten Commandments into two commandments. (See Matthew 22:37–40.) Likewise, He can take the complexities of our lives and make them simple, if we are willing. If we allow Him to take the sin out of our lives, our lives will be much simpler than they are in the complexity of sin.

“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” James 1:25. God calls His Law a law of liberty, but it is only a law of liberty to those who choose to obey it. To all who choose to dis-obey, it is a law of condemnation. It is the same with our civil laws. If we abide by the law, we have freedom, but if we break the law, then we are under the law of penalty and condemnation. It is no different with God’s Law.

Perfect Law

God calls His Law the law of liberty, but He also uses an adjective to describe it. It is a perfect law of liberty! There is nothing we can do to improve upon God’s Law. We cannot add; we cannot subtract; we cannot make it any better, because it is perfect. The psalmist says, “The law of the Lord [is] perfect, converting the soul.” Psalm 19:7.

God wants to change us by His Law. Liberty from sin is found only in obedience to God’s will. “When one surrenders to Christ, the mind is brought under the control of the law; but it is the royal law, which proclaims liberty to every captive. [Satan has the majority of the Christian world believing that the Law of God is a law of bondage.] By becoming one with Christ, man is made free. Subjection to the will of Christ means restoration to perfect manhood.

“Obedience to God is liberty from the thralldom of sin, deliverance from human passion and impulse. Man may stand conqueror of himself, conqueror of his own inclinations, conqueror of principalities and powers, and of ‘the rulers of the darkness of this world,’ and of ‘spiritual wickedness in high places.’ Ephesians 6:12.” The Ministry of Healing, 131. Do you have any trouble with your passions? Do you have any impulsive desires that are contrary to God’s will? We are all tempted in that direction, but God is able to deliver us.

God wants to deliver us from the power of sin in this world. He is able; He is willing; He is waiting for us to make the decision to cooperate with Him. Liberty is found only in obedience to God’s Law. Nowhere else will you find liberty.

Two Ways

What are the two great objects in the center of the way that leads to life and liberty? In Matthew 7:13, 14, Jesus talks about two ways that we can choose to go. One way is broad, and everything that we want to do we can do in that broad way. Then there is a narrow way. We are talking about the narrow way that leads to eternal life, and we are asking the question, What are the two great central objects in the way that lead to life and liberty? Jesus tells us, in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Jesus says He is truth, but we read, in Psalm 119:142, that God’s Law is the truth. God places the two great truths of Jesus and His Law in the way that leads to eternal life.

The Law of God is the center of the issue in the plan of salvation. In fact, it is the basis of the controversy between good and evil in which we are involved. Jesus died on Calvary to uphold the Law of God. If the Law of God could have been changed, Jesus need not have died on Calvary. But God’s Law is as changeless as is He, so Jesus came and died for us, making a way by which we can experience the truth that will set us free from the bondage of sin.

Law in our Hearts

It is not enough to have God’s Law in our minds; God wants to put it in our hearts. “For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts . . . .” Hebrews 8:10. The law must first be in our minds. We must have an intelligent knowledge of God’s Word and of His Law before they are written in our hearts. When that happens, He says, “I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” Ibid. Friends, we will never be the people of God until we choose to allow Him to write His Law upon our hearts.

The Catalyst

We have all sensed ourselves, at one time or another, as being out of sorts with God, of being in that pit from which we cannot extricate ourselves. Jesus is the solution.

Truth is one of the great parts by which God will set us free, but there is a catalyst that is needed for truth to get from our minds to our hearts. We find it in the life of Jesus: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14.

There is the catalyst—grace! God wants us to walk in the light that proceeds from His Word that has been there for centuries, waiting for us to make a choice. Grace is the catalyst that will send God’s truth to our hearts. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8, 9. We can never merit or earn this grace that is so much needed.

Gifts of God

The gifts of God are two-fold. James 1:17 tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” God has good and perfect gifts that He bestows upon His children in this world. Those good gifts are the physical gifts, the blessings that all humanity receives.

Do we merit the sun that shines upon us today? Do we earn the right to breathe the breath of air? No, those are gifts of God. Have we earned the right to eat the food that gives us strength? No, we have not earned that. God gives the blessings and good gifts to us, not because we have earned them or that we merit them, but because of His goodness. Jesus said that our Father sends the rain upon the just and the unjust. (See Matthew 5:45.)

Is God any different with His spiritual gifts, His perfect gifts? Can we merit a spiritual gift? Can we merit God’s grace? Can we earn God’s favor and His Holy Spirit? No, we cannot. We access the spiritual gifts by faith, by trusting and believing what God says. It is not by works; it is by faith. Works will not produce grace, but grace will produce works. Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Many in Christendom today are trying to manufacture something in their own experience to get out of their bondage state. But no amount of works that we can do will manufacture God’s grace or merit it. None! We must come to God as He has ordained for us to come. There is a way, but if we do not follow the sequential order that God has laid out for us in the plan of salvation—faith and works, not works and faith—we are stuck in the pit. When we follow God’s order, we are going to experience the blessing, and we will be able to fly like the eagles.

Bottom Line

What is the bottom line? God wants to save us from sin, but He is not going to give us His grace when we are trying to work out our own salvation. He will honor us with His grace only when we choose to access the plan of salvation in the order in which He has designed it. When we come into harmony with the two great center truths of the plan of salvation, Jesus and God’s Law, we will receive the gift of grace and experience true liberty.

Craig Meeker directs the Bible correspondence school for Steps to Life Ministry. 

Pen of Inspiration – An All-Powerful Saviour

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Shall we choose darkness rather than light because the light shows us our sins and reproves us? Shall we refuse to come to the light, lest our deeds shall be made manifest? When the truth controls the life, there is purity, freedom from sin. The glory, the fulness, the completeness, of the gospel plan is fulfilled in the life. The light of truth irradiates the soul-temple. The understanding takes hold of Christ. The light is not hated because it reproves and warns, but it is accepted and rejoiced in.

Christ declared, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me” (John 12:32). If man’s will is submitted to the will of God, the man, though a sinner, will be drawn to Christ. He will realize something of the love manifested by God when He gave His Son to die on Calvary’s cross, to bring life and immortality within the reach of men. The acceptance of the Saviour brings perfect peace, perfect love, perfect assurance. The beauty and fragrance of the Christ-life, revealed in the character, testifies that God has indeed sent His Son into the world. No other power could bring about so marked a change in a man’s words, spirit, and actions.

Without Christ the heart of man is cold. But when one feels his need of the Sun of Righteousness; when he comes to Jesus, saying, Lord, I am sinful, unworthy, helpless; save me, or I perish, he is accepted in the Beloved, and his heart is warmed by the rays of divine love. By this sincere coming to Christ, he opens the door to Him who has long been saying: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). He is accepted, and he knows what it means to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God says, Let there be light; and there is light (Genesis 1:3). The soul possesses an abiding Christ, who is the light of life.

Christ humbles the proud heart by giving it a view of Himself, His generosity, His great love. He desires to save us, soul, body, and spirit, by uniting us to Himself. He desires us to behold His glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father. Then we can say, “Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16). He who shows that he appreciates the grace he receives, by imparting it to others, receives increased grace, in proportion to the grace he imparts. And he is so full of joy that he exclaims, “Thy gentleness hath made me great” (Psalm 18:35, last part)!

The one great lesson all must learn—the poor sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, as well as the professed Christian, who has known the truth, but has clung to his unsanctified traits of character—is that God will save to the uttermost all who come to Him. “Him that cometh to Me,” He says, “I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). The poor, the suffering, the sinful, may find in Christ all they need. As soon as they receive Jesus as a personal Saviour, the cries of distress and woe are changed to songs of praise and thanksgiving.

All may share Christ’s grace if they will confess to the great sin-bearer, whose work it is to take away the sins of all who believe. You have the assurance that as you renounce your own righteousness, you will be clothed with His righteousness. Christ invites you, saying, “Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me” (Isaiah 27:5). The door is opened to all. No one is turned away. God proffers to all a priceless treasure—His peace—a peace that the world can neither give nor take away. The everlasting gates of pearl will not open to those who come with the symbols of power, but they will open wide to the trembling touch of the meek and lowly. To be great in the kingdom of God is to be as a little child in simplicity and love. The Lord is able and willing to work in our behalf, and He will work if we come to Him as children. He will lead us by the hand, upholding us that our feet shall not slip.

The Youth’s Instructor, September 28, 1899.

Bible Study Guides – What Jesus Is to Us

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March 27, 2004 – April 2, 2004

Memory Verse

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10.

Suggested Reading: Christ’s Object Lessons, 17–27.

Introduction

“Christ came to bring salvation within the reach of all. Upon the cross of Calvary He paid the infinite redemption price for a lost world. His self-denial and self-sacrifice, His unselfish labor, His humiliation, above all, the offering up of His life, testifies to the depth of His love for fallen man. It was to seek and to save the lost that He came to earth. His mission was to sinners, sinners of every grade, of every tongue and nation. He paid the price for all, to ransom them and bring them into union and sympathy with Himself. The most erring, the most sinful, were not passed by; His labors were especially for those who most needed the salvation He came to bring. The greater their need of reform, the deeper was His interest, the greater His sympathy, and the more earnest His labors. His great heart of love was stirred to its depths for the ones whose condition was most hopeless and who most needed His transforming grace.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 603.

1 For whom did Christ die? Romans 5:6.

note: “The Lord Jesus will receive all who come unto Him. He died for the ungodly and every man who will come, may come. Certain conditions are to be complied with on the part of man, and if he refuses to comply with the conditions, he cannot become the elect of God. If he will comply he is a child of God, and Christ says if he will continue in faithfulness, steadfast and immovable in his obedience, He will not blot out his name out of the book of life but will confess his name before His Father and before His angels.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 149.

2 When did God love us? Romans 5:8. When and by what were we reconciled to Him? By what are we saved? Verse 10.

note: “We are reconciled to God by the death of Christ, but saved by His life. In His life on earth is seen the perfect righteousness which the law demands. By nature we are wholly unrighteous. In our flesh is found no good thing. But through faith we are cleansed from sin, and the righteous life of Jesus is imputed to us. This righteousness is in harmony with the claims of the law, and enables us to stand acquitted in the judgment.” Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly, Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, California, 1912, 4.

3 What example has Christ left for us? 1 Peter 2:21–23.

note: “From earliest years to manhood, Christ lived a life that was a perfect pattern of humility and industry and obedience. He was always thoughtful and considerate of others, always self-denying. He came bearing the signature of heaven, not to be ministered unto, but to minister. . . .

“The unselfish life of Christ is an example to all. His character is a pattern of the characters we may form if we follow on in His footsteps.” Evangelism, 636.

4 What was the mission of Jesus in this world? Luke 19:10.

note: “Jesus took upon Himself our nature, laid aside His glory, majesty, and riches to perform his mission, to save that which was lost. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister unto others.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 426.

5 How is man’s helplessness to save himself expressed? John 15:5. Compare Jeremiah 13:23.

note: “Christ . . . has provided the Holy Spirit as a present help in every time of need. But many have a feeble religious experience because, instead of seeking the Lord for the efficiency of the Holy Spirit, they make flesh their arm. Let the people of God be educated to turn to God when in trouble and gain strength from the promises that are yea and amen to every trusting soul. . . .

“The promises of God are full and abundant, and there is no need for anyone to depend upon humanity for strength. To all that call upon Him, God is near to help and succor. And He is greatly dishonored when, after inviting our confidence, we turn from Him—the only One who will not misunderstand us, the only One who can give unerring counsel—to men who in their human weakness are liable to lead us astray.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 381, 382.

6 By what name does the prophet Jeremiah call Jesus? Jeremiah 23:5, 6.

note: “Reports have reached the rulers in Jerusalem that Jesus is approaching the city with a great concourse of people. But they have no welcome for the Son of God. In fear they go out to meet Him, hoping to disperse the throng. As the procession is about to descend the Mount of Olives, it is intercepted by the rulers. They inquire the cause of the tumultuous rejoicing. As they question, ‘Who is this?’ the disciples, filled with the spirit of inspiration, answer this question. In eloquent strains they repeat the prophecies concerning Christ:

“Adam will tell you, It is the seed of the woman that shall bruise the serpent’s head.

“Ask Abraham, he will tell you, It is ‘Melchizedek King of Salem,’ King of Peace. Genesis 14:18.

“Jacob will tell you, He is Shiloh of the tribe of Judah.

“Isaiah will tell you, ‘Immanuel,’ ‘Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.’ Isaiah 7:14; 9:6.

“Jeremiah will tell you, The Branch of David, ‘the Lord our Righteousness.’ Jeremiah 23:6.

“Daniel will tell you, He is the Messiah.

“Hosea will tell you, He is ‘the Lord God of hosts; the Lord is His memorial.’ Hosea 12:5.

“John the Baptist will tell you, He is ‘the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ John 1:29.

“The great Jehovah has proclaimed from His throne, ‘This is My beloved Son.’ Matthew 3:17.

“We, His disciples, declare, This is Jesus, the Messiah, the Prince of life, the Redeemer of the world.

“And the prince of the powers of darkness acknowledges Him, saying, ‘I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God.’ Mark 1:24.” The Desire of Ages, 578, 579.

7 What do we have through the blood of Jesus? Ephesians 1:7.

note: “The conditions of obtaining mercy of God are simple and just and reasonable. The Lord does not require us to do some grievous thing in order that we may have the forgiveness of sin. We need not make long and wearisome pilgrimages or perform painful penances, to commend our souls to the God of heaven or to expiate our transgression; but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy. [Proverbs 28:13.] This is a precious promise, given to fallen man to encourage him to trust in the God of love and to seek for eternal life in His kingdom.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 635.

8 What is Christ made to us? 1 Corinthians 1:30.

note: “We are individually to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. To each one of us He must become wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. When our faith lays hold upon Christ as our personal Saviour, we shall place Him before others in a new light. And when the people behold Christ as He is, they will not wrangle over doctrines; they will flee to Him for pardon, purity, and eternal life.” Colporteur Ministry, 49.

9 For what purpose did God set forth His Son Jesus? Romans 3:24, 25. Of whom is Christ the justifier? Verse 26.

note: “Abundant grace has been provided that the believing soul may be kept free from sin; for all heaven, with its limitless resources, has been placed at our command. We are to draw from the well of salvation. Christ is the end of law for righteousness to everyone who believeth. In ourselves we are sinners; but in Christ we are righteous. Having made us righteous through the imputed righteousness of Christ, God pronounces us just, and treats us as just. He looks upon us as His dear children. Christ works against the power of sin, and where sin abounded, grace much more abounds. ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God’ (Romans 5:1, 2).” Selected Messages, Book 1, 394.

10 What Christian experience is described in Galatians 2:20? Whom did Jesus love? For whom did He give Himself?

note: “By His life and His death, Christ has achieved even more than recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was Satan’s purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked with us.” The Desire of Ages, 25.

11 To what extent is Jesus able to save those who seek His help? Hebrews 7:25.

note: “Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who come to Him in faith. [Hebrews 7:25.] He will cleanse them from all defilement if they will let Him. But if they cling to their sins, they cannot possibly be saved; for Christ’s righteousness covers no sin unrepented of. God has declared that those who receive Christ as their Redeemer, accepting Him as the One who takes away all sin, will receive pardon for their transgressions. These are the terms of our election. Man’s salvation depends upon his receiving Christ by faith. Those who will not receive Him lose eternal life because they refused to avail themselves of the only means provided by the Father and the Son for the salvation of a perishing world.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 931.

12 What is the Lord desirous of being to every sinner? Isaiah 30:18.

note: “His commandment-keeping people are to be one. Satan will invent every device to separate those whom God is seeking to make one. But the Lord will reveal Himself as a God of judgment. We are working under the eyes of the heavenly host. There is a divine Watcher among us, inspecting all that is planned and carried on.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 165.

These lessons are adapted from the Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly, Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, California, October, 1912.

The Robe of Christ’s Righteousness

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In 11 Timothy 3:12, we find an absolute. It says, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” It has always been the case, since Abel, and it will continue to be the case. We have before us, before the world comes to an end, a time of persecution such as never was.

“Because we are now settled here, we seem to think that we shall never be moved. But there will come a time when there will be a great scattering, a scattering that we do not now dream of, and it will be brought about in unexpected ways. Some of you will be taken away to remote regions, but God will have a work for you there.” Publishing Ministry, 92, 93.

“The time is coming when we shall be separated and scattered, and each one of us will have to stand without the privilege of communion with those of like precious faith; and how can you stand unless God is by your side, and you know that He is leading and guiding you?” This Day With God, 93.

Preparing for the Inevitable

What will prepare us for the inevitable? It will come. We can see it on the horizon today. That, which we have been told will come, is coming. It is coming, and it will take this world and everyone who is walking in harmony with the world by overwhelming surprise. But God does not want to have His children surprised.

Jesus said, in the Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:31–33.

Jesus admonishes us in this life to first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness all the time! We should be seeking first His righteousness, because His kingdom is involved in His righteousness. If we expect to someday walk into God’s kingdom, it will be through His righteousness. That is why Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

What is righteousness? Righteousness is doing what is right. Can a child understand what righteousness is, based on that definition? Yes, a child can understand that righteousness is right doing, as opposed to wrongdoing.

Righteousness Revealed

Two verses tell us where God’s righteousness is revealed: “Thy righteousness [is] an everlasting righteousness, and thy law [is] the truth.” “My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments [are] righteousness.” Psalm 119:142, 172. So we can find God’s righteousness, if we are seeking for it, in God’s Law or His Word. In the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, we are going to find God’s righteousness; it is going to be fully distinct from what the world calls righteous.

To what will the man or woman who seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, finds it, and lays hold on it be likened? “Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight [is] in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Why is this person so taken up with the Law of God that he meditates upon it day and night? It is simply this: he has found in that law the righteousness of God. “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Psalm 1:1–3.

Are we like that? Are we fresh, alive Christians? Do we have fresh fruit to offer people? If we do not, then we have not found the righteousness of Christ. We are told to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. His righteousness is what we need.

There is another place that we can find the righteousness of God revealed. The law ends somewhere. Did you know that? There are many Protestant churches today that would say, Yes, we are in perfect agreement; the law ended at Calvary. That is not what I am saying, and that is not what God’s Word says. It says, “Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:4. Did Jesus, in His life, honor God’s Law? Yes, He did. The Law of God was written upon the heart of Jesus. (See Psalm 40:8.) Jesus was the perfect embodiment of God’s Law in humankind. For 33 years on this earth, He lived out the law. Did He ever sin against God’s Law? No, we are told that He had no sin. Could He have sinned? Yes, He could have transgressed God’s Law, but He did not; He chose not to sin. Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Does that mean the law ends? No, it means that Jesus is the embodiment of the Law of God, and when we choose to accept Jesus into our lives, we are accepting the fullness of God’s Law and its righteousness.

What then is the genuine quality of all righteousness? What is the essence of all righteousness? The answer is found in Christ’s Object Lessons, 97, 98: “The essence of
all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer. This will lead us to do right because it is right—because right doing is pleasing to God.”

Faith an Attribute

That leads us to Hebrews 11:6. Paul said, under the inspiration of God, “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” That means that a part of righteousness is faith. You see, that is a quality of righteousness, His righteousness. Does He give that to us? Yes, He does. He gives a measure of faith to every person that comes into this world, but what you do with that faith is up to you. Faith is an attribute of righteousness.

Garment We Choose

Unto what is His righteousness likened? What is this righteousness that is found in God’s Law and is found in the life of Jesus likened unto? “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” Revelation 19:7, 8. God’s righteousness is likened unto a garment that we wear, a robe—His robe of righteousness.

There is only one other garment that we can wear. We are wearing one of two garments. “But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags.” Isaiah 64:6. We are either clothed in filthy rags that represent our own righteousness, or we are clothed in the robe of Christ that represents His righteousness. Let us verify, from Scripture, whose righteousness is the righteousness of the saints. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Corin-thians 1:30. Christ is made our righteousness if we have chosen to follow Jesus Christ. That means that we have done something with the filthy rags. Can we be wearing both at the same time? No, we cannot.

Righteousness Received

When will the saints, spoken of in Revelation 19:7, 8, be clothed with this righteousness? The message to Laodicea, the last church, the last remnant of God’s people upon the face of the earth before Jesus comes, tells us. Unbelievably, these people are naked—that is the same thing as being clothed in filthy garments. “I [Jesus, the end of the Law for righteousness] counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.” Revelation 3:18. Based on this text, the saints receive the righteousness of Christ before Jesus comes.

Why do they have to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ before He comes? “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Revelation 3:5. When does Jesus do the blotting out of the names? In the judgment—the judgment that takes place before Jesus comes. That is shown in Revelation 14:7: “The hour of his judgment is come.” It happens before the Second Advent that is revealed in Revelation 14:14. So the judgment takes place before the blotting out of names.

Revelation 3:5 shows that God’s people have received the righteousness of Christ before He comes the second time. In fact, that righteousness, which is His righteousness that clothes them, allows Jesus to blot out their sins and retain their names in the heavenly books.

A Gift

Notice one thing more in Revelation 3:5: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment.” The process of sanctification brings us to the point where we are overcomers so we can receive clean, white robes of righteousness. Justification and sanctification are a combined process that produces righteousness. Righteousness is right doing by faith. The whole plan of redemption revolves around God seeking to get humanity back to doing what is right.

Here is a people who have the robe of Christ’s righteousness on them, they are overcoming sin in their lives as a result, and this is their testimony: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation.” What are these garments of salvation? They are the robe of His righteousness. Salvation does not come apart from this robe. There are people today who say it really does not matter if you do right or wrong, as long as you have good desires toward God. That is wrong! That is not what God says. “He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh [himself] with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth [herself] with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10. Notice who imparts this righteousness to us. It says, He, the One who is righteous, has covered us with His robe of righteousness. Jesus Christ does everything right and at the right time for us. It is a gift to us. “The wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ.” Romans 6:23. What is that gift? It is His robe of righteousness.

Working For or With

No doubt this robe is a gift, but our next text reveals that we must choose to put it on. Job says, “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment [was] as a robe and a diadem.” Job 29:14. What is Job saying? He is saying, I put on Christ’s righteousness. Isaiah just said that Jesus puts the robe on us, but this points out the fact that we must cooperate with God in receiving this robe of righteousness. We must put it on; we must receive it. How do we do that? How do we put the robe of Christ’s righteousness on and yet receive it as a gift from Him?

Remember 1 Corinthians 3:9, “For we are laborers together with God.” It does not say for God, it says with God, and there is a difference in those prepositions. There is a difference between working for God or working with God. Jesus points out the distinct difference in Matthew 7:22, 23. He there addresses a people who were working for Him. They stand in the day of His coming clothed in their own righteousness. Jesus says that many will come to Him in that day and say, “Lord, Lord, were we not working for you?” And in essence Jesus says, yes, you were working for Me for your own glory, but you were not working with me for your salvation.

Putting On; Putting Off

“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. . . . Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another.” Colossians 3:8–10, 12, 13 (first part). Paul says that if you are going to put on, you are going to have to put off.

Is this not practical admonition? He names things that are part of the robe of man’s righteousness, that are, in the sight of God, as filthy rags. Man can justify himself, even in anger, and believe he is right. That is man’s righteousness, and it amounts to self-justification, but self-justification in God’s eyes amounts to nothing. Man has no reason to justify himself in his own filthy rags and be satisfied with his righteousness when God has revealed so clearly His righteousness, which we so badly need.

This putting on and putting off is learning to say yes to righteousness and to say no to sin.

Practicalities

“God leads His people on, step by step. He brings them up to different points calculated to manifest what is in the heart. Some endure at one point, but fall off at the next. At every advanced point the heart is tested and tried a little closer. . . . Some are willing to receive one point; but when God brings them to another testing point, they shrink from it and stand back, because they find that it strikes directly at some cherished idol. Here they have opportunity to see what is in their hearts that shuts out Jesus.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 187. These testing points are defects of character. That is what this robe of righteousness is all about. God is going to reveal to us where we are deformed so that we can reform.

God leads each one of us, step by step. All transgression of God’s Law and of His righteousness comes right back to selfishness. If there was ever a time for God’s people to have revival and reformation in their midst, it is now! Do you know where it begins? It begins with each one of us individually. God will point out things in our lives, things with which we have become comfortable; things with which we have been satisfied. We think we are all right, but God is going to point out things, and we will discover that we are not all right. How do we make it right? Paul says we make it right by putting off that which is wrong and putting on that which is right. I like the thought that God is willing to spend enough time with me to show me where I am wrong, because I am coming to a determination that I want to be right with Him; I want to have on that robe of righteousness. I want to experience the full intention of His mind for me in my creation. We can do that, if we are willing to accept the life that He gives us, even if it points out something that we need to put off.

The Wedding Garment

How important is the subject about which we are studying? The Bible answers that question in the parable of the guests who came to the wedding supper. The invitation first went to the nation of Israel, and they treated it with indifference. Eventually, when Jesus sent another message to Israel, they killed him, and judgment fell upon Israel. At that time, He told His disciples to go into the highways and the byways and call any who would listen, because He wanted someone to come to His supper. Jesus wants as many as will to come to Him and have supper with Him. The disciples went out and gathered in people of all different kinds—bad and good, sincere and insincere. This represents His church! Jesus is going to make a distinction some day; it has not been made yet.

The Bible says, “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.” What is this wedding garment? It is the robe of Christ’s righteousness, but this man did not think it mattered whether he had on the robe or not. He thought that if he praised God and said he believed in Jesus, that would be enough, but when Jesus came in to investigate the guests, he found this man empty; he was naked; he was clothed in his own filthy garments of self-righteousness.

“And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.” He was speechless, because he knew better. The light that had shined upon this man’s pathway was the same light that shines upon our pathways, and we will be inexcusable in that day, if we have on our own robe of righteousness and not the robe of Jesus’ righteousness.

This man said nothing. He could not say, Well, let me tell you why; have a seat, it is a long story. He had nothing to say—not a long story or a short story but no story. We will be condemned of ourselves on that day, because we sit and listen to God’s Word, and if we are going away and not doing, we will be found as speechless as was this man.

“Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast [him] into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few [are] chosen.” Matthew 22:11–14.

Brothers and sisters, our righteousness will not cut it. This is the strongest language that Jesus could portray regarding what is going to happen to the lost. Jesus does not want us to be lost. Can we be among the few who are chosen? Yes, we can. But can we be among the many? Yes. It does not matter whether or not you call yourself a Christian, because many who call themselves Christians are going to find themselves in the same situation in which this man found himself when Jesus comes again.

Charity

Paul finishes his admonition about putting on and putting off by telling what is the highest quality—the ultimate quality—of God’s righteousness. Remember, you will have to take off something before you can put this on. He says, “And above all these things, [put on] charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Colossians 3:14. What is charity? It is love. It is a principle of righteousness, and the highest quality of righteousness is love—to be robed in God’s love.

If righteousness is right doing, and the essence, or the greatest quality of God’s righteousness is love, is it right, then, to love God? Yes. Would it be right to love our neighbor as ourselves? Yes. Paul says, in Romans 13:10, “Love [is] the fulfilling of the law.” He is saying the same thing that John says in 1 John 5:3, “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” Do you know why they are not grievous? Because they are right. Nothing that is right is wrong, and nothing that is right is grievous.

God is righteous, and He wants us to be righteous. The cost of being what He intends for us to be is only the putting off of all the filthy rags. Some of those rags will be engulfed with cherished idols, and we are going to have to sacrifice everything. When we sacrifice everything for Jesus, we eventually get everything, but when we sacrifice for sin—and there is a sacrifice involved when we sin—we get nothing. Always remember that—we get nothing. We are going to be lost.

A sobering text, of which we need to ask God to make us mindful, is Revelation 22:11. We are living in the hour of judgment. (See Revelation 14:7.) That is the first angel’s message. Within the context of that hour, the curtain will come down—probation will close. The door will close; mercy will no longer plead for the sinner. We are living in that hour. “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”

There is coming a time when we will no longer have an opportunity to remedy anything in our experience. We shall stand where we are. If we are lost, we are lost; if we are saved, we are saved. It is a sobering time in which we find ourselves living.

Motivation of Love

What is the only thing that can motivate us to do what is right for the right reason? The right reason is to be loyal to Jesus. In John 14:15, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Ellen White echoes the same sentiments: “The essence of all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer.” That is the only thing that will motivate us to put off and to put on, to be determined to shed our filthy rags and have on the robe of His righteousness. The only motivation is His love.

Do you know how to get His love? There is only one way. “We love him, because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. Until we come to the recognition that Jesus Christ has loved us personally, individually, with an everlasting love, apart from every soul in this world, until we recognize and accept that reality in our lives, we will never love Him as we should. Once we recognize that He has given everything for us—when we lay hold of the reality of Calvary, when we see what He did for us and the love that He has for us—we are going to be moved to a higher calling. God is ready to lift us up to that higher calling.

Ellen White wrote: “The days of our probation are fast closing. The end is near. To us the warning is given, ‘Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.’ Luke 21:34. Beware lest it find you unready. Take heed lest you be found at the King’s feast without a wedding garment.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 319.

Craig Meeker is Director of the Bible Correspondence School at Steps to Life. He may be contacted by e-mail at: craigmeeker@stepstolife.org or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Jesus’ Life of Dependence

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A great controversy has been going on for quite some time. In the beginning of that great controversy, God’s Law, His government, and His character were brought into question. Satan has claimed that God’s law is not possible to keep. He knew God could keep it because He is God, but he insisted that nobody else could keep it.

Certainly Satan understood what was recorded in James 1:13: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” When it says that God cannot be tempted, basically, Satan challenged God to come down and fight like a man—a created man to be exact. Christ answered that challenge. He did come down—as a fallen man—and He did fight like a man.

Christ came to redeem us—fallen man. We all have fallen natures, and that is where the battle had to take place. To be our example, He had to deal with sin the same way we have to deal with sin.

“Christ secured probation for man at an infinite cost. He must suffer for the sins of the world, that the purposes of God might not be defeated. . . . Nothing less than the life of Christ would atone for man’s transgression. He must restore man by placing on vantage ground every one who would believe in Him as a personal Saviour. When there was no heart to pity, His arm brought salvation. God laid help on One that was mighty, saying, ‘Save man from destruction.’ The Son of God accepted the work joyfully, becoming man’s substitute and surety, that He might save him from his sin, and call him from transgression to obedience. He pledged Himself to take man’s nature, and stand at the head of the human race, to satisfy every claim made against them as a people bound in the slavery of sin. Through this gift of God to the world man has been given every opportunity of knowing God and the laws of His government.” The Signs of the Times, November 15, 1899.

Righteousness by Faith

Christ not only proved Satan wrong but He paved the way so that anyone, who chooses to, can follow in His footsteps. How did Jesus do that? How did He fight that battle? How can we fight that battle?

A little over 100 years ago, God sent a message to the Seventh-day Adventist Church that would prepare a people to not only stand in the last days but to stand every day of their lives. This message has been called by several different names—Christ our righteousness, righteousness by faith, justification by faith. Sometimes it is called the 1888 Message, because that is the year it was given.

The 1888 Message was rejected at that time, and we have been suffering the results of that rejection ever since. That is why we are still in this world. We have been here for 100 years longer than we should have, but until a group of people understands and experiences this message, the great controversy will continue. I believe this message is the key to how we will stand in the last days.

Same Battle

Over the years, the Lord has given me many victories in my life, but I could not tell you exactly how I gained them. Most Seventh-day Adventists understand that victory over self, sin, and Satan involves conflicts, struggles, and battles, but I am not sure that we understand all the rules of engagement in those battles or if we even understand where the battles are all the time. We know there is a battle, but do we know where to battle?

It seems to me that, with the exception of a few people, we have been doing the same thing—fighting the same battle—repeatedly for about 6,000 years, with similar results over and over and over again. That is why we are still here. God wants us to quit repeating history. He wants us to understand what was rejected and missed in 1888 and bring it into our lives so we can stop doing the same thing over and over and get beyond our failures into the perfection to which God has called us to. At some point in time, there will be a group of people who will have that experience. I want to be part of that group! Do you?

That group will experience righteousness by faith, and that message and experience will unite with and give power to the third angel’s message. We will not only be able to tell people about the downtrodden law, but we will be able to tell them how to experience the victory that accompanies that law. At that time, the latter rain will be poured out, and that other angel of Revelation 18 will join the third angel’s message. In Revelation 18, we are told that the whole world will be lighted with his glory.

Cooperation Needed

As I have analyzed the times when God has given me the greatest victories—and I do not mean the ability to stop some outward action but a change of mind and heart so the temptation held no appeal to me—it has occurred to me that such victories came when I gave up on my own abilities and strength and turned to God in absolute desperation. When I have reached that point and cried out to Him, He has every time given me the victory.

Now do not misunderstand me; turning to God does not do away with our part in the battle. We are told that the greatest lesson to be learned is cooperation with Christ in the work of salvation. (See Lift Him Up, 217; Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 434.) In Education, 29, we are told that cooperation with the power of Christ is man’s greatest need. Selected Messages, Book 1, 380, 381, says: “Man is to cooperate with God, employing every power according to his God-given ability.” “Let no man present the idea that man has little or nothing to do in the great work of overcoming; for God does nothing for man without his cooperation.” These statements make our cooperation sound pretty important! In Testimonies, vol. 6, 236, we are told: “For all created beings there is the one great principle of life—dependence upon and co-operation with God.”

Consider the story given in John 11 about the death of Lazarus. Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus with Martha and Mary. The tomb was a cave with a stone covering its entrance, and Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” That sounds like a simple request, but it was full of meaning. In writing of this, Ellen White said: “Christ could have commanded the stone to remove, and it would have obeyed His voice. He could have bidden the angels who were close by His side to do this. At His bidding, invisible hands would have removed the stone. But it was to be taken away by human hands. Thus Christ would show that humanity is to co-operate with divinity. What human power can do divine power is not summoned to do. God does not dispense with man’s aid. He strengthens him, co-operating with him as he uses the powers and capabilities given him.” The Desire of Ages, 535.

What an important lesson! Combining His power with our effort equals victory! The two work together—His part and our part—in perfect unity. The question that should be asked is, What is His part, and what is our part?

In this study, we will look at verses in the Book of John that show how Jesus lived when He dwelt on this earth in our fallen nature and how He maintained the victory over self and sin. As our Example, if we understand His method, we should be able to have that same victorious experience.

Background of the Gospels

The four Gospels were written for different reasons, for different groups of people with different mindsets. Matthew wrote mostly to the Jews, and his concern was with Christ’s right to the throne of David—Jesus as king. Of the four writers, Matthew was the sermon reporter. Mark wrote mostly to the Gentiles, and his main theme was Jesus as servant. Luke was the careful historian. His main emphasis was Jesus as the Son of man.

John was the theologian of the four. His main emphasis was on Jesus’ words, and he was very careful to record exactly what Jesus said. His favorite themes were the infinite love of Christ and Jesus as God.

No genealogy is given by John. He starts at the very beginning of his book by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That verse is, of course, talking about Jesus. John was interested in Jesus as God.

John’s account is the most chronologically correct of the four Gospels. He records none of Christ’s parables, and approximately 92 percent of his book is not recorded anywhere in the other Gospels.

Total Dependency

“Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” John 4:34. This verse confirms that the Father sent Jesus. John 7:28 says, “Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.” Again, Jesus is saying that He did not come on His own behalf. He was sent. The Father sent Him.

The words of Jesus, “sent me,” are found 23 times in the Book of John. It is interesting that Jesus did not just come on His own—His Father sent Him. Do we go where the Father sends us? We should be so in harmony with the Father that we know where He wants to send us—and go willingly. Jesus knew, and He went where the Father sent Him.

“Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” John 5:19. These are not words Jesus would have said before His incarnation. He would not have said, before the incarnation, that the Son can do nothing of Himself. The Son could do everything the Father could do, before the incarnation. This shows us that Jesus had laid down His divinity when He became a man. He came to fight the battle as we have to fight it, and He laid aside the power not available to us except as we obtain it the way He did. In other words, He laid aside His omnipotence.

“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26. Jesus received life from the Father. From the time He came to this earth until His resurrection, all the life He had and all the life He gave to others—the raising of people from the dead—He got from the Father. Christ’s power was restored at His resurrection, when He raised Himself by His own power. (See Christ’s Object Lessons, 357, 358.)

Will of the Father

Verse 30 says, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” A similar statement is recorded in John 6:38: “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” Jesus stated three different times that of His own self He could do nothing.

Interesting insight is given to this by Ellen White: “Before He came to earth, the plan lay out before Him, perfect in all its details. But as He walked among men, He was guided, step by step, by the Father’s will.” The Desire of Ages, 147. That is something that would not have concerned Christ before He came to the earth, because His will was in perfect harmony with the Father, but as He took on the nature of fallen man, He could no longer trust His will. He had to depend on the Father’s will completely to guide His will.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus had to pray three times to bring His will into harmony with God’s will. He agonized so in His struggle to accomplish that that His sweat was as drops of blood. (See Matthew 26:36–45; Luke 22:44.) In Hebrews 12:4 we are told that, “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” The key to that verse is the little word yet. We have not yet done it, but we may have to before our lives on this world end. Overcoming sin is a battle, and we may come to the point of sweating blood to bring our wills into harmony with God’s will.

“Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” John 7:16. His doctrine was not His own. Even it came from the Father. A lot of the world makes up its own doctrine. We need to make sure that, like Jesus, we get our doctrine from the Father.

Words and Works

“I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.” John 8:26. Jesus got His words from the Father. Continuing in verse 28, “Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [he], and [that] I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” John 12:49, 50. Do we want our words to be words of life like Jesus’ words were? Then we need to speak the words of the Father, not our own. We need to watch our words, and speak only those things that are pleasing to God, as did Jesus.

Jesus’ words and works came from the Father. “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:10. “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:4. John 10:17, 18 says, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power [or authority] to lay it down, and I have power [or authority] to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” Verse 37 says, “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.”

Obedience of Love

“And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” John 8:29. Jesus was seeking to please the Father. No feeling of satisfaction can compare to knowing that we have God’s approval—of what we are doing, saying, seeing, reading . . . The list could go on and on.

In verse 42, Jesus said, “If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.”

“He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” John 14:24. And verse 31 says, “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.” The Father gave the commandment, and He obeyed.

Totally Dependent

From the beginning to the end of Christ’s life on this earth, everything was the Father’s—the will, the works, the words, the mission, the teaching, the doctrine, the decisions. All were His. The Son did not do anything on His own. He was totally dependent upon the Father. What an important lesson for us to learn! If Jesus needed to depend totally upon the Father to get through the battles He encountered on this earth, without falling into sin, how much more do we need to depend on the Father? This is a major key to righteousness by faith—total dependence on the Father for everything.

As stated previously, Jesus had to lay down His omnipotence when He took on the nature of fallen man. He did not have His omnipresence while on earth either. He was confined to a human body.

He also, apparently, laid down His omniscience. In Mark 13:32, Jesus said, “But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” only. Jesus even laid down His all-knowing. In Luke 2:52, it says He grew in knowledge. It would be impossible for Him to grow in knowledge, if He already knew everything. While on earth, He did not know everything.

“Christ in His life on earth made no plans for Himself. He accepted God’s plans for Him, and day by day the Father unfolded His plans.” The Ministry of Healing, 479. How nice it would be to get up in the morning and have the Father lay all our plans out for the day! That is the point to which He wants us to come. We must come to be so in harmony with God that we know exactly what He wants us to do every step of the way.

Unbroken Intimacy

“He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” John 8:29. The Father was with Jesus all the time. We need to experience that same closeness.

John 10:15 says, “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” The Father knew Him. What a wonderful privilege to have the Father actually know us, to have a personal relationship with Him. We get to know the Father by spending time in His Word every day and in talking with Him through prayer. We get to know God just like we get to know a friend—by spending time with him or her, talking to them, listening to them, and doing things together.

If we are not spending time with God and His Word, we are not getting to know Him. We do not put enough emphasis on how much time we need to spend with God and His Word, in prayer, and in doing things together. God speaks to us in His Word. We speak to Him through prayer. We do things together such as overcoming sin and witnessing to others. We do things with God, as we become co-workers with Him in saving others—and ourselves—from sin.

If we are not spending time doing those things, we really are not Christians. We are in a lost condition. Jesus said, in John 6:53, that unless we eat the bread and drink the blood of the Son of man, there is no life in us. If there is no life in us, we are in a lost condition.

Oneness

We are told, in John 10:17, that the Father loves us: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.”

In verse 30, we read, “I and [my] Father are one.” That is a truly intimate relationship. That is the kind of relationship the Bible describes between a husband and wife. They become one. (See Genesis 2:24.)

Description of this close relationship continues in verses 37 and 38: “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father [is] in me, and I in him.” And in John 14:11, Jesus said, “Believe me that I [am] in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.” The Father was in Jesus, and Jesus was in Him.

“And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said [it], that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” John 11:42. The Father heard Jesus, and He hears us. Is it not a nice thing to know that the Father hears us when we speak? He listens! If we take time to pray, He will take time to listen.

John 17:21 also talks about the intimacy of being one: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” Jesus experienced that oneness with the Father, and He wants us to experience it with Him and the Father.

Incredible Privilege

“Human language is being stretched to its utmost limits to describe the unbroken intimacy between the Father and the Son. The Father is with me, He does not leave me alone, He knows me, He loves me, He always hears me, He is in me, and I am in Him. We are one.

“We read and marvel. We look at the picture with the wistful longing of a boy staring at toys through a storefront window. What might it be to live like that! What confidence, security, trust—what freedom from fear, from stress! What an incredible privilege!

“As we look with longing, we hear Him say, ‘Would you like to go through life the way I did?’

“We answer, ‘Why do you mock us, Lord? You know we can’t do that. We were born of earthly fathers and your Father was God. We can’t live the way you did. Why do you mock us?’

“He answers, ‘I am not mocking you. I am telling you the truth. You can live on this earth in the same way that I did. The Heavenly Father is willing to be with you, to hear you, to know you, to love you, and to be one with you, just as He was one with Me.’

“Again we protest, ‘Lord, how can this be? We had earthly fathers, and you – —.’

“But He says, ‘You are greatly mistaken. You are asking the wrong questions, and you are looking to the wrong place. Get your mind off my birth. That is not “where it’s at.” ’ Then He challenges us with some questions:

“ ‘Have you read the story of my life on earth?’

“ ‘Yes, Lord, we have.’

“ ‘Have you found one place, even one place, in that life story in which I explained any of my works by a reference to my birth?’

“ ‘No, Lord, we have not.’

“ ‘Then, how do I explain them?’

“ ‘Well, you always explained them in terms of your ongoing relationship with the Father.’

“ ‘Exactly. Why then do you continue to look to the wrong place and ask the wrong questions? My life of victory on earth was not made possible by the circumstances of my birth. It was made possible by my ongoing relationship with the Father, and you can have exactly the same relationship if you want it. Go to the scriptures and read!’

“And so we read of the Incredible Privilege that is extended to us in Christ’s words reported in the Gospel of John.” Ralph Larson, Tell of His Power, Cherry Stone Press, Cherry Valley, California, 1988, 14, 15.

Eat and Drink of the Son

As we study the Incredible Privilege, read John 6:57: “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” Unless we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, there is no life in us.

Ellen White wrote: “In the study of the Bible the converted soul eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of God, which He himself interprets as the receiving and doing of His words, that are spirit and life. The Word is made flesh, and dwells among us, in those who receive the holy precepts of the word of God.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 378.

The people in Jesus’ day did not like hearing those words any more than people like hearing them today. When He said those words, there were about 5,000 people ready to follow Him and be His disciples, but when they heard those words, so many left that He turned to the 12 disciples and asked, “Are you going to leave also?” And they said, “Where would we go? You have the words of life.” (John 6:67, 68.) It has never been popular to talk about devotional time, but it is absolutely a necessity.

Experience Oneness

“At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” John 14:20. Jesus offers us the incredible privilege of being in them just as they were in each other!

The incredible privilege of being one with Christ and the Father is offered again in John 17:11: “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we [are].”

Jesus also offers us the incredible privilege of being sanctified through the truth, just as He was. “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world [talking about the disciples—about us]. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” Verses 18, 19.

The incredible privilege of being one with Him is given again in verse 21: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” That intimate relationship that Jesus experienced with the Father is offered to us. What a privilege!

“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” Verses 22, 23.

Love as He Loved

In addition to addressing oneness, Jesus talked about how the Father has love for us just as much as He had love for Christ. It is almost incomprehensible that the Father can love us as much as He loved Jesus, but that is what the Bible tells us, and we need to believe it.

“And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare [it]: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Verse 26. The incredible privilege of having that love in us that was in Him is being offered to us. We can learn to love as He loved. When we read 1 Corinthians 13, we realize how important that is. If we do not have love, we are not going to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Unbelievable Words

Dr. Larson goes on to say, “There it is. These are the words of Jesus—in unmistakable clarity. Do we believe them?” That is the question. They sound almost unbelievable, but we need to believe them. That is what faith is all about.

“The apostle Paul believed them. Their full significance was not lost on Him. The words ‘in Christ,’ or ‘in the Lord’ appear in his epistles 90 times.

“According to Paul we are baptized into Christ, we are new creatures in Christ, we have no condemnation in Christ, we are established in Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we speak in Christ, we say the truth in Christ, we have liberty in Christ, we have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and consolation in Christ, we are rooted and built up in Christ, we have persecution in Christ, and when we die we are the dead in Christ!

“He wraps it up in two beautiful summary statements:

“Galatians 2:20 ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.’

“Philippians 1:21 ‘For to me to live is Christ.’

“The pioneers of the Seventh-day Adventist church believed the words of Jesus too. They did not regard them as simply rhetorical devices such as a politician might use, spoken for effect and not meant to be taken seriously.” Larson, 15, 16.

Literal Words

We are to take these words literally. Even though they stretch our minds, we still are to believe them literally. If we never really believe these words, not only will we not experience them but we will not be able to teach them to others with power. They have got to become part of our thought processes. Just as our bodies assimilate food that becomes part of our physical makeup, we need to assimilate the Word of God until it becomes part of our thought processes, and our minds are brought into harmony with Christ.

If you have not made it your habit to study the life of Christ, I want to challenge you to make the decision right now to do so every day from this day forward. If you do not make it a part of your daily life, there will be no life in you.

If we are going to have the mind of Christ in us, we must meditate on His words. Our minds, by beholding, will become changed. Our characters are our thoughts and feelings combined, and if we are going to have Christ’s character perfectly reproduced in us, we must learn to think and feel as He does—to see things from His perspective instead of our perspective. We must come into harmony with Him in all our thoughts.

Christ Our Righteousness, Part I

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Today, numerous errors are being circulated among God’s people regarding justification by faith, sanctification, and other salvation doctrines. As a result, many members are being misled and captivated by gross errors, most of which have originated in the churches of the world which we know as Babylon.

Concerning justification, the servant of the Lord has told us, “The enemy of man and God is not willing that this truth should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be broken.” Review and Herald, September 3, 1889. Is it any wonder, then, that Satan has infiltrated God’s true church with some of his ministers whom he has inspired to preach a false justification by faith?

Recently, I found these alarming inspired passages concerning righteousness by faith: “There is not one in one hundred [now notice this—not one in one hundred] who understands for himself the Bible truth on this subject that is so necessary to our present and eternal welfare.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 360. And then this quote, “Our churches are dying for the want of teaching on the subject of righteousness by faith in Christ.” This Day With God, 93.

These very disturbing facts have led me to prepare this series of messages. First, let us note that, strange as it may seem, the teaching and preaching of error to our people can at times result in a great blessing. I think I can hear you say, “Brother Nelson, how could this be possible?” Let us take courage from the following counsel from the Lord: “Every time that error is advanced, it will work for good to those who sincerely love God; for when the truth is shadowed by error, those whom the Lord has made His sentinels will make the truth sharper and clearer. They will search the Scriptures for evidence of their faith. The advancement of error is the call for God’s servants to arouse, and place the truth in bold relief.” The Signs of the Times, January 6, 1898. This we shall endeavor to do, for it is my greatest desire, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to be a watchman for God.

The Foundation

The Scriptures introduce the basis, or the foundation, upon which justification by faith rests by explaining what Christ wants to do for us. John 1:29 says, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 6:33 tells us, “For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” In John 3:17, we read, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

That which Christ has provided for us, and wants to do for us, is the basis or foundation of justification by faith. Now, as we begin this study, we need to know not only the basis upon which justification is possible, but also what the conditions are for receiving justification.

Basis of Justification

But first, let us study more about the basis. In the Bible, both Adam and Christ represent the human race. Therefore, what spiritually occurred with Adam and Christ has to do with everyone born into this world. For example, when Adam, the representative of our race, was tempted by Satan to rebel against God, and in doing so sinned, he brought death upon himself and all his descendents. When Christ became our representative by coming to earth in human flesh through the miracle of the Holy Spirit, He likewise was tempted by the devil to sin. But He did not rebel as Adam did. He obeyed God. He never sinned. And because of His victory over Satan, He was able and willing to die for our sins so that the sentence of death, through Adam, could be reversed to eternal life if we accept Christ’s death in our place.

The result of Adam’s sin was that all mankind have likewise sinned and received the death penalty. But, praise God, the Son of God chose to take the place of Adam, as head and representative of the human race, and by His death on the cross He paid the penalty of our death sentence, providing an offer of redemption to all who will believe in Him. We read, in John 3:16, 17, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

Throughout the entire Word of God, this basis for justification by faith is confirmed. For example, let us read Romans 5:12, 17–19, which says, “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.” “(For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”

The Spirit of Prophecy, which is always in harmony with God’s Word, likewise teaches that Jesus, in order to save us, took the place of Adam as our representative. “Jesus humbled himself, clothing his divinity with humanity, in order that he might stand as the head and representative of the human family.” The Signs of the Times, January 16, 1896.

Conditions

Let us consider the conditions upon which justification by faith and sanctification are possible for individuals. Did I hear someone ask, “Are there conditions for a man to be justified? Is not justification a free gift?” From New Zealand, Ellen White wrote to A.T. Jones. He was one of the two men who presented the truth of righteousness by faith to God’s church in 1888. But, by the year 1893, he had begun to proclaim over and over, “There are no conditions.” The Lord showed his mistake to Ellen White in a vision. Her letter to Jones, from which the following sentence is taken, is recorded in Selected Messages, Book 1, 377. “There are conditions to our receiving justification and sanctification, and the righteousness of Christ.”

To meet the conditions does not mean that we make a payment for our salvation. Man’s works either before or after justification are valueless in themselves. They cannot purchase salvation. Salvation is a free gift, but, God says, only to those who meet the conditions. Adam chose to believe the lie of Satan. He rebelled against his Maker by sinning. He accepted the conditions for believing the lie of Satan that he would become as the gods. He ignored God’s truth that the wages of sin is death. But, when we choose to obey what Christ says, this process is reversed. We reject Satan and accept the following conditions laid down by Christ in order that we might escape death and receive eternal life.

Five Conditions

There are five conditions:

1. We accept by faith Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice on Calvary’s cross for us.

2. We surrender completely, repent, and confess our sins to God.

3. We believe that God forgives our individual sins.

4. We personally experience the gift of justification by faith by being born again.

5. We abide in Christ through a continual, loving relationship of trust and obedience. This fifth condition results in our sanctification.

Let us consider these five conditions one at a time. The first condition requires that we believe and personally accept Christ’s sacrifice. As this topic unfolds, we shall observe that there is more to the term believe than many have supposed. In fact, all five of the listed conditions are embodied in the words, “Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Surrender

The second condition is surrender. This involves repentance, death to self and sin, and confession. In Acts 2:38, we learn that we must repent. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” Notice the importance that Ellen White gives to this condition: “Repent, repent, repent, was the message wrung out by John the Baptist in the wilderness. Christ’s message to the people was ‘Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.’ Luke 13:5. And the apostles were commanded to preach everywhere that men should repent.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 19.

But take note, can we repent in our own strength? No way! Through His servant, the Lord says, “Who is desirous of becoming truly repentant? What must he do? He must come to Jesus, just as he is, without delay. He must believe that the word of Christ is true, and, believing the promise, ask, that he may receive. When sincere desire prompts men to pray, they will not pray in vain. The Lord will fulfil His word, and will give the Holy Spirit to lead to repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ibid., Book 1, 393.

We must also confess our sins. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The same condition existed in Old Testament times. In 11 Chronicles 7:14, we read, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin.” How beautiful that is!

How important are these conditions? Pay close attention to this: “Those who have not humbled their souls before God in acknowledging their guilt, have not yet fulfilled the first condition for acceptance. If we have not experienced that repentance which is not to be repented of, and have not with true humiliation of soul and brokeness of spirit confessed our sins, abhorring our iniquity, we have never truly sought for the forgiveness of sin; and if we have never sought, we have never found the peace of God. The only reason why we do not have remission of sins that are past is that we are not willing to humble our hearts and comply with the conditions of the word of truth.” Steps to Christ, 37, 38.

God Forgives

Consider now the third condition, which reveals that we must believe that God forgives our sins. Remember, there are conditions to be met before we can truly believe that He has done this. “Man must be emptied of self before he can be, in the fullest sense, a believer in Jesus.” The Desire of Ages, 280. This is very important, for Jesus says to the unforgiven, “I never knew you.” Why? “You have not exercised genuine repentance toward God for the transgression of His holy law, and you cannot have genuine faith in Me, for it was My mission to exalt God’s law.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 239.

“To believe in Jesus is to take Him as your Redeemer, as your Pattern.” This Day With God, 299. After we have met these specified conditions so that we can truly believe in Christ, then we can believe. “The moment we ask for forgiveness in contrition and sincerity, God forgives. Oh, what a glorious truth! Preach it, pray it, sing it.” The Signs of the Times, September 4, 1893.

And so, speaking plainly, we are justified by faith in Christ, who died for us. Faith in itself does not save us. It is faith in the Son of God that saves. Permit me to present this in the words of Elder John Janiuk as given in his book, The Great Controversy End Game, Book 2 (publisher unknown, 1999, 3): “When you and I, by faith through repentance, confession, surrender, accept Christ’s death on the cross for us and His righteousness as our substitute and our Saviour, then God accepts us because we accept His Son. He sees us as if we had never sinned and He accepts us as if we are sinless. This is the heart of justification by faith.” How beautifully that is stated!

New Birth

The fourth condition states that we must experience the new birth. Christ told Nicodemus that before he could see the kingdom of God he must be born again. When God forgives a man, He provides him with a new heart, a new birth. In Ezekiel 36:26, we read, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”

Many do not realize that justification by faith includes the new birth, which is a new mind. Inspiration clearly reveals this truth: “To be pardoned in the way that Christ pardons, is not only to be forgiven, but to be renewed in the spirit of our mind.” Review and Herald, August 19, 1890.

This takes place when we come to the Lord just as David did after he had sinned against Bathsheba. Consider his prayer in Psalm 51:2, 7, 10: “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

In commenting on David’s experience, Ellen White said, “But forgiveness has a broader meaning than many suppose. . . . God’s forgiveness is not merely a judicial act by which He sets us free from condemnation. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from sin. [I like that!] It is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms the heart. David had the true conception of forgiveness when he prayed, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.’ ” Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 114. When God forgives, He also cleanses the soul and creates a new heart in which Christ can dwell. Is that not marvelous?

How do we receive such righteousness? “We receive righteousness by receiving Him [Jesus].” Ibid., 18. So, when we die to self, the new birth brings Christ, with His Righteousness, into our hearts to dwell therein. In Testimonies, vol. 5, 46, we are told that, “[We] are not reconciled to God, neither can be, until self is crucified and Christ lives in the heart by faith.” What a wonderful experience to all who are willing to die to self. Then we can say, “Christ is my righteousness.”

Water to the Thirsty

I hope we are beginning to get a clearer picture of justification by faith. Ellen White wrote, “When the doctrine of justification by faith was presented . . . it came to many as water comes to the thirsty traveler.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 360.

In my younger days, I often hiked in the desert. I well remember once when I was completely out of water and desperate. Then I suddenly discovered a very small stream trickling into the sand. It was coming from a far-off mountain, but was just enough to quench my thirst. How thankful I was to God for finding the water. When we discover the marvelous truth of justification by faith, we too will exclaim with Ellen White, “The sweetest melodies that come from God through human lips—justification by faith, and the righteousness of Christ.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 426.

Garments of Righteousness

At justification, heavenly peace floods the soul. Paul tells us, in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Oh what a glorious truth! When we are justified, we stand faultless before God. But, you ask, “How can this be?” This is because we are clothed in the beautiful garments of Christ’s righteousness.

“When the penitent sinner, contrite before God, discerns Christ’s atonement in his behalf, and accepts this atonement as his only hope in this life and the future life, his sins are pardoned. This is justification by faith. Every believing soul is to conform his will entirely to God’s will, and keep in a state of repentance and contrition, exercising faith in the atoning merits of the Redeemer and advancing from strength to strength, from glory to glory.

“Pardon and justification are one and the same thing. Through faith, the believer passes from the position of a rebel, a child of sin and Satan, to the position of a loyal subject of Christ Jesus, not because of an inherent goodness, but because Christ receives him as His child by adoption. The sinner receives the forgiveness of his sins, because these sins are borne by his Substitute and Surety. The Lord speaks to His heavenly Father, saying: ‘This is My child. I reprieve him from the condemnation of death, giving him My life insurance policy—eternal life—because I have taken his place and have suffered for his sins. He is even My beloved son.’ Thus man, pardoned, and clothed with the beautiful garments of Christ’s righteousness, stands faultless before God.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1070.

The more we understand about righteousness by faith, the more glorious it becomes. But remember, “Without the transforming process which can come alone through divine power, the original propensities to sin are left in the heart in all their strength, to forge new chains, to impose a slavery that can never be broken by human power. But men can never enter heaven with their old tastes, inclinations, idols, ideas, and theories.” Review and Herald, August 19, 1890.

Praise the Lord that, through justification by faith, in which we are forgiven and renewed, the image of Christ is stamped upon the mind, heart, and soul, making it possible for man to have the mind of Christ as did the apostle Paul. Only a holy person can enter heaven. Did I hear you ask, “How can a man be holy?” “As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. Holiness finds that it has nothing more to require. God Himself, ‘is the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.’ Romans 3:26.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 163. This reception of a new heart and the righteousness of Christ is what makes a man holy. Can you imagine a born-again man, of whom it is said that holiness finds that it has nothing more to require?

Could we ask for anything more? But do not forget, a man will not feel that he himself is holy, nor say he is holy, yet this is how God looks upon him because of Christ—His righteousness is accounted to him. Further, by this same process he is made fit for heaven—born again and converted, which are one and the same. “When the sinner is converted he receives the Holy Spirit, that makes him a child of God, and fits him for the society of the redeemed and the angelic host. He is made a joint heir with Christ.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 488.

“The grace of Christ purifies while it pardons, and fits men for a holy heaven.” That I May Know Him, 336. It is Christ’s indwelling righteousness that both justifies and fits men for heaven. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27. When justification is completed, sanctification has just begun. Jesus begins to live out His life within man, imparting His righteousness, making him more and still more fit for heaven as he develops a character according to the pattern, Christ Jesus.

The experience of the apostle Paul will be our daily experience. In Galatians 2:20, it says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Is all of this good news, or should I say thrilling news, exciting news?

In forgiving our past disobedience, the obedience of Christ is placed to the account of the repentant sinner, just as if it were he himself who had obeyed. “The law demands righteousness, and this the sinner owes to the law; but he is incapable of rendering it. The only way in which he can obtain to righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ, and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner’s account. Christ’s righteousness is accepted in the place of man’s failure, and God receives, pardons, justifies, the repentant, believing soul, treats him as though he were righteous, and loves him as He loves His Son.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 367.

Did you catch the significance of that last line? Why does God love us such? Is it not that, through the Spirit, God’s Son dwells within the heart of man? Then, when God looks at man’s heart, He sees not man’s filthy rags of disobedience, but the righteousness of His own Son dwelling there within the heart. Oh, what a God! God loves us as He loved His Son. Incomprehensible! But, beloved, it is true! Oh, what a salvation!

The true Christian does not work to be saved. Such an experience fills the heart with unspeakable joy and peace. He is having a true and living relationship with his Saviour—an experience that makes it possible for him to achieve victory over every temptation and sin. What assurance that brings to man.

“If you are right with God today, you are ready if Christ should come today.” In Heavenly Places, 227. Do you like that kind of assurance? But how can I know that Jesus, with His righteousness, is living within my heart and my mind? In the Review and Herald, June 4, 1895, we are told, “Righteousness within is testified to by righteousness without.”

Continual Obedience

Now we come to the last condition, which is continual obedience. It is through obedience that we may maintain our sanctified state. But there is more. We also have learned that continual obedience is the only way we can retain our justified state as well. Ellen White wrote, “While God can be just, and yet justify the sinner through the merits of Christ, no man can cover his soul with the garments of Christ’s righteousness while practicing known sins or neglecting known duties. God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 366.

Now for one more grand truth: Did you know that as long as we maintain our justification and our sanctification that our eternal life has already begun for us here and now? Oh friend, this is for real! 1 John 5:12 says, “He that hath the Son hath life.” “It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning of life eternal.” The Desire of Ages, 388. What a glorious truth! Beloved, this is exciting, good news.

This truth is further confirmed by the prophet John. In 1 John 5:11–13, we read, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

No wonder Paul exclaimed, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” No wonder Ellen White proclaims, “Preach it, pray it, sing it.”

For over 60 years Pastor Lawrence Nelson served as an evangelist and minister for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Of that time, he served 13 years as the director of evangelism for youth at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Upon retirement from the General Conference, he continued to pastor, but when, as a result of his stand for truth, he was denied the opportunity to continue his pastorate, he started Keep the Faith Audio Tape Ministry, recording his sermons and making them available to individuals. Before his retirement from this ministry in 2004, over 18,000 audio tapes were being sent around the world each month.

Imputed and Imparted

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The two words, imputed and imparted, are seldom used these days, yet they are so meaningful in God’s plan of salvation. The Lord has impressed me to devote this presentation to an understanding of imputed and imparted righteousness so we may be ready to meet Jesus when He comes.

As we read the following statement by Ellen White from the Review and Herald, June 4, 1895, we can see that there is a vast difference between imputed and imparted righteousness. “The righteousness by which we are justified is imputed; the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted. The first is our title to heaven; the second is our fitness for heaven.”

In Ephesians 5:27, God describes His church:

“That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

I am sure that each of us has at some time visited a home where the carpets were spotless and had just been vacuumed. The walls had recently been painted, and there were no dirty dishes in the sink. How beautiful the windows were as well; they were so clean that they just sparkled in the sunlight. In the bedroom, the bedspread was without a wrinkle. In fact, the entire house was so clean and inviting that you would have liked to live there.

In this text, God is not describing the carpets or the windows or the furnishings, for we are the church He is describing. As individuals God has a final objective for each of His people. He wants every member to become holy and without blemish. When this objective is realized, His church will become glorious, without spot or wrinkle. Praise God! This will be accomplished, for we read, in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification.”

Sanctification

Before we study imputed and imparted righteousness, let us study the process of sanctification, for sanctification is the means that God will use to accomplish His glorious purpose for His church. God’s sanctification process brings holiness within us, and holiness is righteousness. Let me be a little more specific. A righteous person is an individual who has experienced the giving of himself wholly and without reserve both in mind and body to God so that through the power of the Holy Spirit God is able to transform the character to become spotless in Christ Jesus.

Allow me to use a Bible illustration to make this process so simple that even the children can understand. Let us take the example of John, a disciple of Christ. Usually we think of him as a most loving disciple; and artists always seem to picture John as leaning on the bosom of the Saviour, looking up into the face of Jesus with tenderness, love, and compassion. But I have news for you! This was not the nature of John’s character when Jesus called him to be a disciple. The Spirit of Prophecy describes John as having a violent spirit. (See The Acts of the Apostles, 557.)

You and I are acquainted with violence. We lock our car doors and make sure the windows are up when we travel through some of our large cities. One never knows when some thug will try to open your car door when you stop at a traffic light and thrust a gun in your face.

Contrasts

John had a violent spirit, which Jesus was able to change. The Saviour daily warned, cautioned, and reproved John. How did John react to such reproof? He discovered his deficiencies, and he humbled himself. John resisted his evil tendencies and used every possible energy to overcome. Slowly, but surely, John made progress. He yielded his resentful, ambitious temper to the molding power of Christ.

Are you struggling with an evil temper? Do not give up! God can give you the victory just as John obtained a loving character. The secret key to John’s change of character is found in the fact that he desired to be like Jesus. He wanted the love of Christ to completely transform him. Thus God was able to do a work of sanctification within him, and the results were amazing.

This “Son of Thunder,” as the Bible describes him in Mark 3:17, was someone to fear. Before he met Jesus, he was the kind of a fellow about whom, if you saw him coming down the street toward you, your first inclination would be to step into a store or turn down a side street to avoid meeting him, for you never knew what he might do.

John permitted Christ to completely change his life. Later in life God was able to give him a divine revelation in which he beheld the ascended Redeemer in heaven. Christ was able to give him a mighty revelation of end-time events, revealing to him the final destruction of Satan’s kingdom. It was the sanctifying power of God that changed John from a violent sinner to a loving saint.

In contrast, let us examine the life of another disciple, Judas. This fellow attained only a form of godliness in his daily walk with Jesus. Judas likewise observed the same patience, meekness, and tenderness expressed by Jesus; but Judas would not humble himself. Instead of desiring a change in his life, he resisted the divine love. He refused to acknowledge his failures.

John and Judas represent the two classes of individuals that are found in God’s church today. Both classes profess to believe.

While John warred earnestly against his faults, Judas daily violated his conscience. He chose to yield to temptation rather than yield his will to Christ. In doing so, he refused the wisdom of heaven. Judas chose to walk in darkness. Secretly he cherished evil desires, even covetousness, filling his mind with sullen thoughts. Worst of all, he harbored doubt as to whether Christ was the Son of God.

Doubt

Will you permit me to pause here and briefly address doubt? Some years ago, when I was the youth director of the Southern Union Conference (Decatur, Georgia), I often met a young man by the name of Walter Rae. He was a young minister who attended workers’ meetings where I spoke. I discovered that between meetings he liked to gather a group of the young ministers around him and tell them of his latest discoveries in the writings of Ellen White in which she had used the same words as some other author, thus creating doubt about her inspired writings.

I took this young man aside and told him that if he continued to cast doubts upon her writings that some day he would lose confidence and become an enemy of God’s truth. How well I remember his answer: “Why, Elder Nelson, I believe Ellen White’s writings. She was a prophet of God. I would never, never turn against her writings.”

But I firmly insisted, “If you continue to dwell upon doubt, mark my words, you will someday become an enemy of God’s mouthpiece.” After years of such doubt, he finally wrote the book, The White Lie (M&R Publications, Turlock, California, 1982), denying the validity of the ministry and the writings of Ellen White.

I plead with you; you cannot harbor doubt and remain committed to God. So it was with Judas. He continued to doubt Christ’s claim to be the Son of God, and Satan finally gained a full control of Judas—even while he was a professed believer and one of His disciples.

Equal Opportunities

I hope my comparison of these two disciples has alarmed you, for both had the same opportunity to study the divine pattern. Both were daily associated with Christ. Both listened to Christ’s teachings. Both possessed serious defects in their characters. Both had the same access to divine power. But mark the difference. John surrendered his life to become more and more like Jesus. He became a doer of the Word. John became sanctified through his faith in Christ while, on the other hand, Judas resisted the transforming power of grace and was finally brought into the bondage of Satan while still professing to be a disciple of Christ.

Forgive me, but I must ask you this question, Are you a John or a Judas? I know you have been attracted to Jesus or you would not be reading this magazine. You have become a professed believer in Him, so you are actually a disciple of Christ. But I must ask you again, Are you a John or a Judas? Oh, how I trust that you are a John in your daily life, that you are permitting Christ’s righteousness to daily sanctify you by His transforming grace.

Abiding in His Love

When we want an example of what sanctification can accomplish, we look to John who, by experience, teaches in his Book of 1 John 3:3, “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” Such an experience is accomplished through submission to the will of God. This is why John said, in 1 John 2:6, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”

We must never be satisfied with empty profession, for sanctification can be summarized in these words penned by Ellen White: “As God is holy in His sphere, so fallen man, through faith in Christ, is to be holy in his sphere.” The Acts of the Apostles, 559.

The secret of attaining such a goal in this life is to be continually abiding in the love of God. John learned this by experience. In 1 John 4:16 we read, “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” Yes, it is that simple. When Christ abides in the heart, the life will reveal practical godliness. The character will become purified. Pure doctrine will blend with works of righteousness. Heavenly precepts will mingle with holy practice. This is what we call sanctification. It is a lifelong experience.

Lifelong Experience

“Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, a day, but of a lifetime. It is not gained by a happy flight of feeling, but is the result of constantly dying to sin, and constantly living for Christ. Wrongs cannot be righted nor reformations wrought in the character by feeble, intermittent efforts. It is only by long, persevering effort, sore discipline, and stern conflict, that we shall overcome. We know not one day how strong will be our conflict the next. So long as Satan reigns, we shall have self to subdue, besetting sins to overcome; so long as life shall last, there will be no stopping place, no point which we can reach and say, I have fully attained. Sanctification is the result of lifelong obedience. . . .

“So will it be with all who behold Christ. The nearer we come to Jesus, and the more clearly we discern the purity of His character, the more clearly shall we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the less shall we feel like exalting ourselves. There will be a continual reaching out of the soul after God, a continual, earnest, heartbreaking confession of sin and humbling of the heart before Him. At every advance step in our Christian experience our repentance will deepen. We shall know that our sufficiency is in Christ alone and shall make the apostle’s confession our own: ‘I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.’ ‘God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.’ Romans 7:18; Galatians 6:14.” Ibid., 560, 561.

Difference Between

This brings us to the core of our subject. In this salvation process, what is the difference between imputed and imparted righteousness? Inspiration answers this question with the clearest definition I have ever found. “The righteousness by which we are justified is imputed; the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted. The first is our title to heaven; the second is our fitness for heaven.” Review and Herald, June 4, 1895,

Let us define the meaning of these two words. Imputed means, “to instantly credit to one’s account.” Imparted means, “to give daily from one’s abundance to another.” Imputed takes place instantly; imparted takes place continually, even for a lifetime.

Now we are ready to closely examine the phrase “imputed righteousness.” This is the term used to explain what takes place when we ask God for forgiveness for past sins that we have confessed. Because He instantly justifies us by imputing Christ’s righteousness to our record of sins, therefore we can stand before God as though we have never sinned. Because of this, God gives us a title to heaven.

An Allegory

Permit me to illustrate further, for I want you to grasp what is actually involved by using this allegory of myself. Let us say that I am a young, married man with a wife and two small children to support, but I have a problem—I have lost my job. I am having difficulty finding another job. In the meantime, the house rent is in arrears, and my wife tells me there is no more food in the house. The cupboards are bare. The children are hungry.

Fortunately I have a small savings account, so I go to the bank to get some money with which to buy food and pay some of the pressing bills. I stand in line waiting my turn. Finally I approach the teller’s window with my withdrawal slip in my hand. I have signed my name on the slip, and I hand it to the teller, asking for $100. The lady at the teller window has a strange look on her face. In fact she looks troubled. Finally she says, “Mr. Nelson, I cannot give you the $100 because you have already overdrawn your account in this bank for $100. In fact, you owe the bank $100.”

“What!” I am stunned. I had no idea I was in that much financial trouble. Not only am I out of a job and I have many bills, such as the house rent, but now I owe the bank! Today my children are hungry. What am I going to do?

Behind me, in the same line, is a very godly man who knows me, for I have worked for him from time to time. God has greatly blessed this gentleman with much, and he has helped many in their time of need. Seeing my dilemma, he steps forward and speaks to the teller, saying, “Take a hundred dollars out of my account and credit it to this man’s account.” I can hardly believe my ears! Instantly I do not owe the bank a penny. My account is paid in full. This friend has imputed credit from his account to my account. In other words, he has given me something that is not my own, yet when credited to my account, it cancels my debt. I turn around with a big smile and a handshake. I thank this godly gentleman and walk out of the bank, but then I stop. It is almost too good to believe.

As I pause to grasp the situation and decide what to do to get some food for my family, this same kind, loving man comes up and puts his arm around my shoulder. With the other hand he places a hundred dollar bill in my hand and says, “Mr. Nelson, you are still in need. Your children are hungry. Go to the market and buy the needed food.” How can I show my gratitude and my thanks to this man?

In this allegory, we have discovered the meaning of imputed and imparted righteousness. This man tells me that I am in need of much more help. He tells me, “This is what I want you to do. Each morning, call me on the telephone and tell me how much you need for the day as long as you are in need of help.” Thus, my daily needs are met by this good man. He imparts to me each day just what I need to meet my necessities. I cooperate with him by calling him daily. Then I take care of my business needs such as shopping.

How God Provides

This is exactly how God provides for the sinner’s need. Not only does He instantly impute forgiveness for our sins of the past, while canceling our debts, but He covers these sins with Christ’s righteousness. This gives us title to heaven, yet we need something more. We need the imparted righteousness of Christ for a daily sanctification, for when the righteousness of Christ is applied to our hearts, it gives us power to daily overcome all temptations and sins. Furthermore, through this sanctification process, we become victorious Christians, for the Holy Spirit is able to daily fit us for heaven where we will never sin again.

Christ demonstrated in His daily life while He was on earth how this is to take place. “Christ’s humanity was united with divinity, and in this strength He would bear all the temptations that Satan could bring against Him, and yet keep His soul untainted by sin. And this power to overcome He would give to every son and daughter of Adam who would accept by faith the righteous attributes of His character. . . .

“He showed that the sinner, by repentance and the exercise of faith in the righteousness of Christ, can be reconciled to God, and become a partaker of the divine nature, overcoming the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 223, 224.

What a power this is that is available to all of us! Ellen White states also that, “Men may have a power to resist evil—a power that neither earth, nor death, nor hell can master; a power that will place them where they may overcome as Christ overcame. Divinity and humanity may be combined in them.” Ibid., 409.

Lesson of the Virgins

Let us recall the story of the ten virgins. The story of the ten virgins illustrates the experience of the church that shall live just before Christ’s Second Coming. (See Christ’s Object Lessons, 406.) This refers to you and to me.

Read Matthew 25:1–10: “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish. They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, [Not so]; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.”

Difference Between

Though not apparent at first, there is a vast difference between the wise group and the foolish group. “The foolish virgins do not represent those who are hypocritical. They had a regard for truth, they advocated the truth, they were intending to go forth to meet the bridegroom. They are attached to those who believe the truth, and go with them, having lamps, which represent a knowledge of the truth. When there was a revival in the church, their feelings were stirred; but they failed to have oil in their vessels, because they did not bring the principles of godliness into their daily life and character. They did not fall upon the rock Christ Jesus, and permit their old nature to be broken up. . . .

“Practical piety will not be attained by giving the grand truths of the Bible a place in the outer courts of the heart. The religion of the Bible must be brought into the large and the little affairs of life. It must furnish the powerful motives and principles that will regulate the Christian’s character and course of action.” Review and Herald, September 17, 1895.

In this same passage, the wise virgins are described as follows: “Those who earnestly search the Scriptures with much prayer, who rely upon God with firm faith, who obey his commandments, will be among those who are represented as wise virgins.” Ibid. The wise virgins keep God’s commandments through faith.

The foolish virgins were not truly born again; their old natures were not broken up. They had neither imputed nor imparted righteousness. They may have had periods in their lives when they were justified and were being sanctified, but this did not continue. “The foolish virgins have been content with a superficial work. They do not know God.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 411. They had not the indwelling Holy Spirit to furnish the powerful motives and principles that would have influenced their actions and changed their characters. Alas, while they loved the truth, had good intentions, and even taught the truth, they did not follow the example that Jesus had demonstrated.

The Foolish

Now, let us consider the foolish virgins further down the stream of time. We will note that the difference between the two groups widens and becomes more apparent. During the “tarrying time,” the lamps of the foolish virgins grew dim and went out. If the lamps in the parable represent a knowledge of the truth, as stated by Ellen White, what then does this mean?

Ellen White tells us that the foolish virgins become agents of Satan to utter his falsehoods and transmit his darkness: “The enemy has men in our ranks through whom he works, that the light which God has permitted to shine upon the heart and illuminate the chambers of the mind may be darkened. There are persons who have received the precious light of the righteousness of Christ, but they do not act upon it; they are foolish virgins. They prefer the sophistry of the enemy rather than the plain ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ When the blessing of God rested upon them in order that they might become channels of light, they did not go forward from light to a greater light; they permitted doubt and unbelief to come in, so that the truth which they had seen, became an uncertainty to them.” Review and Herald, August 19, 1890.

“Those who hide their light will soon lose all power to let it shine. They are represented by the foolish virgins; and when the crisis comes, and the last call is made, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him’ [Matthew 25:6], they will find that while they have been mingling with the world, their light has gone out. They did not continue to provide themselves with the oil of grace. The peace-and-safety cry hushed them to slumber, and made them careless in regard to their light.” Ibid., August 23, 1898. Though the foolish virgins had heard the precious message of the righteousness of faith, of justification and sanctification by faith, they had not acted upon it.

As we near the end of time, the foolish virgins in the church grow more and more careless as they mingle with the world and allow doubt and unbelief to ensnare them. Not until the crisis comes suddenly upon them will they realize that their lamps of truth have gone out, that the truth, which they once embraced, has become to them obscure and uncertain.

Instead of presenting truth to the world, they will have been proclaiming Satan’s errors—such as the New Theology and that which takes place in Celebration. Is not this the part of the parable of the ten virgins being fulfilled in our very midst this very day? “Testing times come to all. How do we conduct ourselves under the test and proving of God? Do our lamps go out? or do we still keep them burning?” Ibid., September 17, 1895.

The Wise

Consider the facts. The five wise virgins had extra oil for their lamps. When asked by the foolish virgins to give them some of their oil, they refused. Why? Because the oil of the Holy Spirit changes the character by its sanctifying process. Therefore, the wise virgins had been fitted for heaven and were ready for the bridegroom. “That oil is the righteousness of Christ. It represents character, and character is not transferable. No man can secure it for another. Each must obtain for himself a character purified from every stain of sin.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 234. Now you can understand why the wise virgins could not give of their oil.

A Personal Experience

Our fitness for heaven is obtained through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is a lifelong process in which Christ’s righteousness is imparted to our characters daily, just as the need arises. This is a personal experience and cannot be transferred. Husbands cannot go to heaven on their wives’ characters just as wives cannot go to heaven on their husbands’ characters. When children reach the age of accountability, they cannot go to heaven on their parents’ characters. We must each individually have a daily infusion of the imparted righteousness of Christ in an experience with Jesus.

I feel like shouting this far and wide and praising God, for He has provided for each of us complete salvation. It is found in imputed righteousness, which is instantly available when we ask for forgiveness of past confessed sins, and He will impart His righteousness for our daily needs when we ask in faith. Ellen White expressed it this way: “Christ bears the penalty of man’s past transgressions [this is imputed righteousness], and by imparting to man His righteousness, makes it possible for man to keep God’s holy law.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentaries, vol. 6, 1092.

What About You?

Beloved, are you a wise virgin? Are you aware of these precious gifts of righteousness? Are you daily pleading with God for His righteousness? Are you permitting the imparted righteousness to daily transform your character? Are you living each day in anticipation of the soon-coming Saviour, when you may go to heaven with Him where you will never sin? Are you preparing to live in the presence of the sinless, holy angels? Remember, this ultimate experience will take place for the wise virgins when the latter rain is poured out, for this will fit them for translation.

“Those who come up to every point, and stand every test, and overcome, be the price what it may, have heeded the counsel of the True Witness [the Holy Spirit], and they will receive the latter rain, and thus be fitted for translation.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 187.

“The heavenly character must be acquired on earth, or it can never be acquired at all.” Maranatha, 46.

Pray that God will reveal any unconfessed sins to you that you may claim His imputed righteousness to cover such sins by being repentant and asking for forgiveness. Daily seek a fitness for heaven through His imparted righteousness that you may be among the wise virgins and become fitted to live without sinning.

For over 60 years Pastor Lawrence Nelson served as an evangelist and minister for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Of that time, he served 13 years as the director of evangelism for youth at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Upon retirement from the General Conference, he continued to pastor, but when, as a result of his stand for truth, he was denied the opportunity to continue his pastorate, he started Keep the Faith Audio Tape Ministry, recording his sermons and making them available to individuals. Before his retirement from this ministry in 2004, over 18,000 audio tapes were being sent around the world each month.

What Everybody Needs and Nobody Has, Part I

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You must have righteousness in order to have eternal life! There are many texts in the Bible that would prove this quite conclusively, two of which are Isaiah 33:14, 15 and Psalm 15:1, 2: “Who among us is going to dwell with this everlasting fire, an everlasting burning, a devouring fire, with everlasting burnings? It is the one who walks righteously.” “Who is going to dwell with You, Lord, in Your holy hill? It is the one who walks righteously.”

The first fact about righteousness is that you have to have righteousness or you are not going to heaven. It is that simple. But the next fact about righteousness is the one that is startling, when you realize that you have to have it to go to heaven, to have eternal life. The second fact about righteousness is that you and I do not have any!

“All our righteousness is like a defiled garment.” Isaiah 64:5. Like a leaf that fades away, we are carried away as on a wind with our iniquities. Or, as Paul quoting from the Old Testament says, “There is not anybody that is righteous. Not even one. Not one.” Romans 3:10.

So, the first fact is, you have to have righteousness or you are not going to have eternal life. But the second fact about righteousness is that we do not have any righteousness. There is not one person who has it, the Bible says.

Righteousness Defined

The third fact about righteousness is actually two definitions. What is righteousness? Romans 7:12 says, “So, then, the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

God’s Law is righteous. The first definition of righteousness is this: righteousness is that which is in harmony with the Ten Commandments. It is that simple! Righteousness is what is in harmony with the Ten Commandments because the law is righteous.

What if you break the law? The answer is given in 1 John 5:17: “All unrighteousness is sin.” What is sin? Sin is breaking God’s Law. (1 John 3:4.) All unrighteousness is sin, so unrighteousness is when the law has been broken. Righteousness is when the law is being kept, because the law is righteous.

Read 1 John 2:1 for a second definition of righteousness. “My children, these things I write to you, in order that you might not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous One.”

We are not righteous, but He is righteous; therefore a second definition of righteousness is that Jesus Christ is righteous, so righteousness is that which is like Him. This, of course, does not conflict with the first definition, because Jesus said, in John 15:10, “I have kept my Father’s commandments.”

Since Jesus kept His Father’s commandments, the definitions do not contradict; they just complement each other. Righteousness, first of all, is that which is in harmony with the Ten Commandments or, second definition, righteousness is that which is in harmony with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Study It Out

A fourth fact about righteousness I will leave for you to study out, and then you can tell me whether or not you believe it. I believe this is the case. When you are perfectly righteous, then you are holy.

With the Heart

A fifth fact regarding righteousness is that righteousness has to do with the heart; that is, with the motives, the thoughts, and the feelings. Jesus brought this out very clearly in the Sermon on the Mount. “For I say to you, that except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will in no case enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” Matthew 5:20. The people were in a state of shock when Jesus said this because they thought that the scribes and the Pharisees were the most righteous people on the face of the earth.

The people wondered how this could be, but Jesus went on to explain that righteousness has to do more with what is on the inside than what is on the outside. For example, continue reading in Matthew 5: “You have heard that it was said by them anciently, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever shall murder shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to condemnation, and whoever will say to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be guilty before the council. But whoever will say, ‘You fool!’ will be answerable unto hell fire.” Verses 21, 22.

What is it that Jesus is talking about here? He is not talking about the person that actually did what Cain did and took a club or a spear or a sword and killed somebody, but He said, “If you are angry with your brother.” In fact, the apostle John, reporting on this very same idea later, in 1 John 3, strongly declares, “The person that hates his brother is a murderer.” In other words, if I do not physically kill you, but I hate you, I have broken the law.

You see, it appeared as though the Pharisees were keeping the law on the outside, but Jesus said, “That is not good enough. Your law keeping has to come from the heart.” Because we are human beings, we tend to look at what is on the outside.

Jesus did the very same thing with the seventh commandment, which He talks about in Matthew 5:27, 28: “You have heard it was said to them in old time, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that if a man looks on a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

The Lord says that you did not commit adultery with your body, but you did it in your heart. See, the commandment, as Paul says, goes right to the heart, to the spirit; it even divides asunder between the soul and the spirit. It goes to the thoughts and the intent of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12.)

So, a fifth fact about righteousness is that it has to do not only with what you say or do, but with the heart, motives, and feelings.

Decision to Do Good

In Philippians 3:4, 5, Paul said, “If anybody could be confident in the flesh, I could be even more. I was circumcised the eighth day.” This was done in accordance with the ceremonial law given to Abraham in Genesis 17.

The Gentiles who had come into the Jewish religion could not say that. They may have been circumcised when they were 20 or 30 years of age, but they could not say what Paul could say. Paul could say, “Listen, I am blameless according to the law. My parents were in the faith, and I was circumcised the eighth day, according to the law. Not only that, but, I was of the stock of Israel; I was born of the tribe of Benjamin. I was born into the covenant people. Not only that, I have practiced carefully, perfectly, my religion.” Paul declared, “I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Concerning the law, I was a Pharisee.” In fact, he was so zealous in his religious experience that he says, “According to the righteousness which is of the law, I was blameless.” (See Philippians 3:5, 6.)

Paul was someone who decided that he was going to do right, and he was being very successful, but the sixth fact in regard to righteousness is that you cannot become righteous by deciding to do what is good. Paul had already done that.

Paul decided to do what was good, and he had a good start. He was born to the right race, into the right family. His parents saw that he was circumcised on the eighth day, and he kept the law.

Notice what he says next: “But what things were gain to me, I reckoned to be loss for Christ. Indeed I consider all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and consider them refuse, that I might gain Christ, and might be found in him. And that I might be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law.” Philippians 3:7–9.

Paul had the righteousness of the law; he said that he had it blameless, but, he said, “I want, when the Lord comes, to be found by Him not having my own righteousness, which is of the law.” Why? Because, the righteousness that he had, as a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as a strict Pharisee, was not good enough! Jesus said, “If your righteousness is not better than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The apostle Paul found out that his righteousness was worthless to gain eternal life. He found out that he could go through all the forms, rituals, and ceremonies and he could keep the ceremonial law perfectly, but not go to heaven.

It is actually still the same in the Christian church today. I believe in the ceremonies of the new covenant. I have baptized many people—that is one of the ceremonies of the new covenant. The communion service is a ceremony of the new covenant. I keep those ceremonies, but all the things that you and I can do that are right will not earn for us eternal life.

Paul thought that he was doing it all perfectly, but he realized that what he was doing was not worth anything. “Be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God which is by faith; that I might know Him, the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable to His death, if, by any means, I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though as I had already acquired, but I pursue after, and I follow after, if I might attain that which has been attained for me by Christ Jesus. My brethren, I do not consider myself to have attained, but I follow after, and, forgetting those things that are behind and stretching forth to those things that are before, I pursue after the mark of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Verses 9–13.

So, we cannot become righteous by deciding to do good or be good. And that brings us to the seventh fact about righteousness, which is also covered in Philippians 3:8–14.

Receive Righteousness

If we are going to be righteous, we must receive righteousness from Jesus Christ. We have to receive it from Him because we cannot generate it; we cannot make it. Not only have we all sinned, as it says in Romans 3:23, but we cannot generate righteousness. Remember, righteousness has to do with the heart, and we do not have righteous hearts that can generate righteousness.

In what condition are our hearts? Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that, “The heart is deceitful above all things and incurably wicked.” This is the kind of heart that each of us has, or, as Paul stated in Romans 7:18, “I know that in me there dwells nothing good.” This emphasizes the fact that we cannot be righteous by deciding to do good. If we are going to be righteous, we must receive righteousness from Jesus Christ. How can we receive righteousness? There are several texts in the Scriptures that will help us to understand.

Can or Cannot

We are living in a very passive age. The nineteenth century was an optimistic age. People believed that they could do almost anything. They got that idea, of course, from the teaching of evolution, which became prominent during the last half of that century. They thought that humans were getting better and better. All of the inventions that were being developed reinforced this idea in their thinking. They were very optimistic and declared, “We can do it!”

It is a very interesting thing to see, when you study history, that theology very often follows in the path of what people are already thinking. In the nineteenth century, a perfectionistic theology developed. Ellen White had quite a bit to say about this. At one time she wrote: “I have met many who claimed to live without sin. But when tested by God’s word, these persons were found to be open transgressors of his holy law.” Review and Herald, February 22, 1881. This was a big problem at that time.

The twentieth century became the most pessimistic century of all time. People said, “We cannot do it,” and theologians developed a theology to go along with that. If the people did not think they could do anything, then how would they be saved? Oh, they thought, the Lord will do everything. In Adventism, we call that the New Theology—the Lord is going to do it all. We are going to be saved by professing faith in Christ, and we will be justified; the Lord will do everything. We may be living like the devil, but the Lord is going to save us because we profess faith in Him.

We are living in this pessimistic age when people say, “We cannot; the Lord is going to do everything.” Actually, the Lord is going to do everything, but He is not going to do it without our help! He is not going to do it without our cooperation.

With Fear and Trembling

Philippians 2:12 says, “So then, my beloved, just as always you were obedient, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, with fear and trembling work out your own salvation.” This is not the language of a person saying, “No, I cannot do anything.” Paul says, “With fear and trembling work out your salvation.”

Someone may question whether or not this verse is teaching salvation by works. Well, in a way it is. Read the next verse: “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work out his good pleasure.”

God wants to work out a work of salvation, a work of righteousness in our lives. We do not have any righteousness of our own. The only way we can get any is if He gives it to us, but we have to cooperate. In fact, Paul says, “You need to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

What does it mean to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”? The Bible teaches that all of us have what is called “the sin which so easily besets” or “easily besetting sins” or “easily entangling sins.” It talks about that in Hebrews 12.

Now, if you are working out your salvation with fear and trembling, you are looking at yourself and saying, “Lord, this, this, and this I can see are besetting sins to me, and from reading the Book of Revelation, I know that it is only the overcomers that are going to go to the kingdom of heaven. These are besetting sins to me, and I need Your divine help to come into my life to change things.”

It is unfortunate that some people are spending all of their time just bemoaning their condition and saying, “I cannot do it,” instead of looking in faith to the Lord, and saying, “Lord, help me to have a change in my thinking, a change in my heart, a change in my motives, a change in my feelings, and a change in my thoughts, which will produce a change in my words and my actions.”

Commenting about this, Ellen White wrote: “The secret of Satan’s power over God’s professed people lies in the deceitfulness of the human heart. Their constant stumbling and falling reveal that they have not maintained a stern conflict with their besetting sins.” The Signs of the Times, December 13, 1899.

Did Paul maintain a stern con-flict with his besetting sins? In Philippians 3, we read that he said, I forget what is behind, I cannot change that, but I am stretching, pressing, pursuing, struggling toward the mark. He was cooperating with the Holy Spirit.

To be continued . . .

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

What Everybody Needs and Nobody Has, Part II

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The New Testament does not teach a religion where you just sit back and say, “Lord, please save me; I am just going to trust You to do it,” and then you do not do anything. That is New Theology, but that is not New Testament religion.

New Testament religion is when you see that you have a besetting sin and you go to the Lord and say, “Lord, I have this problem in my life. I know I cannot overcome it by myself, but Lord, You have promised that You are going to work in me what is according to Your good pleasure.”

If we are not willing to maintain a stern conflict against our besetting sins, then we will not overcome. That is what Paul is talking about in Philippians 3, when he says, “Forgetting those things that are behind—all those sins I have committed—I cannot change that, but I am stretching forth to what is in front of me; I am pressing toward the mark of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Ellen White wrote, “Their [God’s professed people] constant stumbling and falling reveal that they have not maintained a stern conflict with their besetting sins. They have not depended wholly upon Christ, because they have not realized that they are in peril of being overcome by these sins. It is the sin which appears small and unworthy of our notice against which we should be on our guard. If we could understand how deeply we injure our own souls and cause unhappiness to those around us by giving loose rein to unsanctified thoughts and unholy actions, we would strive to put them away. We would co-operate with God in working out our own salvation.” The Signs of the Times, December 13, 1899. That is so true! It is the little sin that you do not think amounts to anything, but if you do not overcome it, it will lead to a bigger one and a bigger one and a bigger one.

Powerful Mediator

Hebrews 7:25 is a wonderful text. It is a text that will encourage you if you have been discouraged: “Whence also He is able to save perfectly those who come to God through Him, since He always lives
to make intercession on their behalf.”

We have, in the courts in heaven, an all-powerful Mediator. Do not for a moment think that you are such a great sinner that Christ cannot save you. That is not true. There is not a single person who can say that, for if you are willing to be saved, He will save you. You cannot dictate to Him how you are going to be saved, just as you cannot go to a physician and say, “I only want you to treat me the way I want to be treated.” The physician has to decide what he needs to do to try to help you get better, and then you have to decide whether or not you are willing to accept the treatment. Jesus is called the Great Physician because He is a physician Who can heal you from the sting of sin which will cause you to die eternally. But, He can only save you if you are willing to accept the cure that He offers.

“The religious services, the prayers, the praise, the penitent confession of sin ascend from true believers as incense to the heavenly sanctuary, but passing through the corrupt channels of humanity, they are so defiled that unless purified by blood, they can never be of value with God. They ascend not in spot-less purity, and unless the Intercessor, who is at God’s right hand, presents and purifies all by His righteousness, it is not acceptable to God. All incense from earthly tabernacles must be moist with the cleansing drops of the blood of Christ. He holds before the Father the censer of His own merits, in which there is no taint of earthly corruption. He gathers into this censer the prayers, the praise, and the confessions of His people, and with these He puts His own spotless righteousness. Then, perfumed with the merits of Christ’s propitiation, the incense comes up before God wholly and entirely acceptable. Then gracious answers are returned.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 344.

One of the biggest problems we have as human beings is that we do not realize how defiled we are. It is when a person starts to think that he or she is a terrible sinner and that there is no way to be saved that there is hope. It is then that he or she is ready to say, “Yes, Lord, whatever it takes. I will commit my case to You. I know I am never going to make it on my own.” That is when there is hope.

Do you see that our prayers, our worship, our service are all defiled? They are all worthless unless Christ adds His righteousness to them. We cannot generate it; we can only receive it. Once we start to get an understanding of this subject, then we begin to realize how salvation is absolutely hopeless any other way but this. There is not any other way. That is why Peter said, “There is not any other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.

There is not any other way to be saved because He is the only One who is righteous, and He is the only One who can give us righteousness, because we of ourselves do not have any.

It is an awful fact that, when we are studying things that should be simple, preachers and theologians for some reason use language that is difficult to understand. People then have trouble figuring out what is meant! So, I have been wondering how to present this subject and state it so simply that it is easily understood. I recognize that this is a major subject and that it encompasses more than can be presented in a brief article, yet we need to be practical Christians. We need to be able to relate this topic to our everyday lives and understand how we are to have this experience.

Last month, in Part I of this article, I stated that we must have righteousness to have eternal life, but you and I do not have any! “All our righteousness is like a defiled garment.” Isaiah 64:5.

Just Such Simplicity

To help in our understanding, I would like to relate a very short story that occurred in 1843. Ellen White knew these people, and she wrote about their experience. By the way, if you are married and are having trouble in your marriage, read this story carefully. The example it holds may help you!

“I remember in 1843 a man and his wife . . . who expected the Lord to come in 1844, and they were waiting and watching. And every day they would pray to God; before they would bid each other goodnight, they would say, ‘It may be the Lord will come when we are asleep, and we want to be ready.’ The husband would ask his wife if he had said a word during the day that she had thought was not in accordance with the truth and the faith which they professed, and then she would ask him the same question. Then they would bow before the Lord and ask Him if they had sinned in thought or word or action, and if so that He would forgive that transgression. Now we want just such simplicity as this.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 193.

What would happen in our families if we, before going to bed at night, quizzed each other and asked, “Did I say anything to you today that is not Christlike?” It is not for us to decide the answer to that question. The ones who heard us are qualified to answer it. We have to take counsel, if they say something like, “Well, it seemed to me that when you said such and such, that was a little short.” “Now we want just such simplicity as this.”

How to Get It

Continuing our study about the righteousness of Christ and how we can get it, read John 1:29. “The next day he [John the Baptist] sees Jesus coming to him, and he says, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ ”

How did He bear the sin of the world? How did He take it away? Another text will help us to see the thrust of the message. “For the One who did not know sin He made to become sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 11 Corinthians 5:21.

How did Jesus take away the sin of the world? When He went to the cross of Calvary, the God of heaven knew all the sin that would be committed from the beginning of the world to the end of time, and all of that was placed on Jesus Christ. He did not have any sin of His own, but the One who did not know any sin He made to be sin for us, on our behalf, so we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (11 Corinthians 5:21.)

When we confess our sins to Him, He takes away our sins; He bears them away from us, and then He gives to us His perfect righteousness. What is perfect righteousness like? You may read about it in Hebrews 10 and in Psalm 40. The fuller description is given in Psalm 40, which contains a prophecy of Jesus Christ and describes the righteousness of Christ. Verse 8 says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God. Yes, Your law is in my heart.” This is the kind of righteousness that Jesus had. He delighted to do God’s will, and God’s Law was in His heart.

When He gives His righteousness to you, then you begin to enjoy and want to do God’s will, and His law begins to be written in your heart. This writing of the law in the heart is not something that happens in an instant; it is a process that happens over a period of time.

Theologians have all kinds of terms for this, but I am not going to confuse you with all of their theological terms. I find that even preachers get confused with the theological terms! So I will just stay away from theology and try to explain it simply.

When you confess your sins and exercise faith in Jesus, you realize that you do not have any righteousness. You know you cannot go to heaven without it, but you do not have any and you cannot make any. But Jesus has said, “I will give you mine. I will take your sins, and I will give you My righteousness.”

Holy Spirit’s Work

Then the Holy Spirit starts writing on the heart the principles of God’s Law. As that happens, you look at your sinful life, and you say, “Lord, I cannot live like this anymore. I cannot think like this anymore. I cannot feel like this anymore. I cannot talk like this anymore. Lord, I . . .”

That is always what happens when a person receives Jesus and begins to see His righteousness. The person sees the way he or she really is, but the Lord says, “I can save you.”

The sinner says, “How can you save somebody that is as bad as I am?”

The Saviour says, “I can save you perfectly. Anybody who comes to God through Me, I can save perfectly. My Holy Spirit is going to start writing God’s Law in your heart. You are going to learn to love to do God’s will.” (Hebrews 7:25; see Jeremiah 31:33.)

You will not do God’s will because you think you have to or because you think you are going to go to hell if you do not. No, that is not the Christian religion. When the Holy Spirit begins to write God’s Law in your heart, you want to do what is right. Actually, the more you think about it, is that not the kind of religion you want? Do you want a religion where you do not have a desire to do what is right; you just do right so you will not go to hell? Is that the kind of religion you want?

Struggle of This World

In this world, we have to struggle, because, in our flesh, we have a sinful nature, so we have to fight the sinful nature. The Bible talks a lot about that. It talks about fighting the fight of faith.

Paul talks about keeping his body under, about not doing what comes naturally. (1 Corinthians 9:27.) Doing what comes naturally is what the heathen do; that is what the unconverted do. You cannot do what you wish; you have this sinful nature and that has to be put to death.

In heaven, when you no longer have a sinful nature, you will never have to struggle with yourself. You will no longer have to fight. What a wonderful life to which to look forward! Every time you are struggling to overcome a besetting sin, just remember, the time is coming when the struggles, the fight, will be over! You will not have a sinful nature with which to contend anymore. In heaven, you will not have to contend with the devil or the flesh or the world. That will all be in the past. If it is going to be in the past for you someday, you have to receive the righteousness of Christ in this life.

Righteousness is . . .

“Righteousness of Christ imputed to men means holiness, uprightness, purity. Unless Christ’s righteousness was imputed to us we could not have acceptable repentance. The righteousness dwelling in us by faith consists of love, forbearance, meekness, and all the Christian virtues. Here the righteousness of Christ is laid hold of and becomes a part of our being. All who have this righteousness will work the works of God. . . .” Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, 134. [Emphasis added.]

If you have the righteousness of Christ inside, you have love in your heart.

Righteousness is forbearance. Do you know what forbearance is? It is refraining from the enforcement of something that is due. For example, as a child, if a friend hit you but you refrained from returning the blow, you were practicing forbearance.

Righteousness is meekness; that is gentleness or humility.

Righteousness is “all the Christian virtues.” To know what all the Christian virtues are, study Romans 12, Galatians 5, and 11 Peter 1.

Fear and Trembling

At the beginning of Part I of this article, I stated some introductory facts about righteousness, which included the fact that you cannot be saved without it. Then we learned that we do not have any nor can we generate any, and the only way that we are going to get any is from Jesus, because He has enough for all of us, if we commit our lives to Him and choose to cooperate with Him.

Paul said that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12.) In other words, we are to struggle and fight against the sinful nature, against the besetting sins. Then he said, “God will work in you to will and to do His good pleasure.” Verse 13.

Do you want God to work in your life, to work out His good pleasure? Oh, friend, God has something for us that is so much better than anything we can think of ourselves. As Paul said to the Philippians, “God is going to work in you that which is His good pleasure.”

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.