The Righteousness of Saints Part II

 

The Righteousness of Saints Part II

 

Revelation 19:8

 

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.

 

The righteousness of God (which is the raiment of the glorified saints, the church triumphant, through the blood of the Lamb) is revealed in the gospel, as it is written: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17). Our Lord Jesus Christ is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23:6), the righteousness of God resides in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is apprehended and received by the faith of God’s elect (Titus 1:1) which faith is the efficacious gift of God, as it is written: “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). The righteousness of God is unto all them that believe being apprehended and received by faith which is the gift of God. And the righteousness of God is upon all them that believe as the wedding garment of the bride of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written: “So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 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 22:10-14).

  

It is written by the apostle Paul: “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” (Romans 3:22). These things make it self-evident that the righteousness of God resides in our Lord Jesus Christ and is upon all them that believe by the imputation of God the Father. Moreover it is undeniable that sin resides in all mortal believers, and that at the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ all the sins of all the saints of all ages were upon our Lord Jesus Christ who put those sins away by the sacrifice of Himself, as it is written: “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:26-28).

 

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). It is very evident to any son of Adam who knows “the plague of his own heart” (I Kings 8:38) that he cannot be justified by the law for it is written: “And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified” (psalm 143:2). That is, no son of Adam can be justified in the sight of God through his own obedience to the law of Moses. And again it is written: “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God” (Galatians 2:19). No one who knows the curse of the law and the plague of his own heart will seek to be justified by his own obedience to the law, as far as this person is concerned he is dead to the law.  And these things are obvious for: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10). The law requires perfect obedience in thought, word, and deed, as well attitude and desire from those who are under the law. No son or daughter of Adam is capable of rendering such obedience to the law, but Jesus Christ the God-Man and Mediator of the everlasting covenant has perfectly obeyed the law, to the satisfaction of God, in the room and stead of the children of the covenant of grace. From the things that have occupied our thoughts to this point it is evident that “..the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe” (Galatians 3:22). “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets” (Romans 3:21). The righteousness of God is manifested in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was manifested in Him who was raised up from the dead before the eyes of the men living in that place at that time, and it is recorded in the book of God for all who are given the eye of faith. The righteousness of God is manifested in the doing and the dying of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is manifested in His person and finished work. The life of our Lord Jesus was in perfect and the most strict obedience to the will and heart of God as it was expressed in the law of God. And now that perfect righteousness of God for believers (the elect of God) is without the law. It is not in the law through our personal obedience to the law, but it is in the person of our law keeper the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is imputed to the account of all those who have “obtained mercy” in the everlasting covenant of grace before the foundation of the world, being predestinated to the adoption of children as was the apostle Paul, who is for us an “pattern” or example, as it is written: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (I Timothy 1: 13-17). Those who have “obtained mercy” trust Jesus Christ alone, for He is their Salvation, as it is written: “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3).

 

The faith of God’s elect is obtained, not by the will of man but by the power of God, as it is written: “And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them” (Jeremiah 32:39). God gives the new heart by putting His Spirit in His people, as it is written: “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27). God puts His Spirit in His elect and the Holy Spirit is (to the elect) the “Spirit of life” (Romans 8:2; Revelation 11:11). He is the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:17). And to His elect the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).

 “Being witnessed by the law and the prophets” (Romans 3:21b). The righteousness of God was promised in the five books of Moses (the Pentateuch). The names of the books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The righteousness of God is witnessed in the promise that God made to our first parents, the first man and the first woman, Adam and Eve, as it is written: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The Speaker in this verse is God. The individual to whom God is speaking is Satan in the form of a serpent. The promise is that there should arise the Seed of woman and that the Seed of woman should bruise Satan’s head. The Seed of woman is the only One of His Kind. He is unique, He is peerless, there is none like Him. He is God, in particular God the Son, the Wisdom, Word, and Power of God, and He is Man, for it is written: “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (I Corinthians 1:24) and “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). He is The Seed of Woman, He is not of the seed of man, He is not the son of Adam, He is the Son of God, He is God the Son.

 

God the Son took the body which His Father had prepared for Him into union with His Own Person, as it is written: “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me” (Hebrews 10:5). And in that Person the God-Man and Mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace has become the Salvation of God, as it is written: “I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Psalm 122: 21-22).

 

The act of God the Son in taking human nature (sin excepted) into union with Himself did not make the law and justice of God propitious toward the children of the everlasting covenant. It was the sufferings and death of the Son of God that put away the sins of God’s elect. The resurrection of the Son of God declared that God in the Trinity of His Persons is satisfied with the propitiation that has been made by the Man Christ Jesus. The session of the Man Christ Jesus at the right Hand of the Majesty in the heavens declares the immutable stability of the Christ of God in that position and of His seed in Him, as it is written: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6).

 

The infinite goodness of God toward sinners is not because of anything in the sinner, but it is according to His “own purpose and grace” as it is written: “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Timothy 1:8-9). Reader make note of the order, God saved us and called us. This order is the same in the statement of Jude, as it is written: “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called” (Jude 1:1). The same order is presented in the first Corinthian epistle, as it is written: “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (I Corinthians 1:2). The people of God were “sanctified in Christ Jesus” and “called saints” and therefore these sanctified and called ones, call upon the name of Jesus Christ. God the Father sanctified His beloved people in Jesus Christ from everlasting, without beginning, according to His own purpose and grace, and accordingly predestinated them to the adoption of children: “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power” (II Thessalonians 1:11).

 

God reveals His Salvation to His people because of His everlasting love for them, as it is written: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son  to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10) and because He loved us He gives us this spirit of faith and love (II Corinthians 4;13; II Timothy 1:7). Lost religionists who know not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore pervert the glorious doctrine of election say that God looked down through a telescope of time and saw those who would believe and therefore predestinated them to eternal life. This contradiction of the Holy Scriptures and therefore of the Holy Ghost is noteworthy, for it reveals a heart that is not subject to the word of God or is ignorant of the word of God. The truth is that: “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:2-3). The apostle brought this into the New Testament in these words: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:10-19). Reader stop, and think on these things. Where is the free moral agency that free-will preachers speak of? All the race of men are born (through the birth of nature) in the prison of Satan, and are the bond slaves of sin having fallen therein in Adam the covenant head of the natural man. God the Son in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth came to set some of the prisoners free, as it is written: “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).

 

Our Lord Jesus said: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25). Not all men have faith: as it is written: “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith” (II Thessalonians 3:2). Therefore Reader: “believest thou this” ( John11:25)? Do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Resurrection and the Life of His people? If you do it is the gift of God. And if you do it is by the “Spirit of life” whom God in His Trinity of Persons has put within you. And you may know that God has saved you by giving you an interest in the everlasting covenant, which is sealed by the blood of Christ and that your name was written in the Lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the world. You may know that you are now being saved from falling into everlasting ruin through the lusts of the flesh and wiles of Satan. And you may know that you will be saved at the last day for: “In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve” (Jeremiah 50:20). Those who believe the true gospel are taught of God, for: “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (John 6:45). The knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God is by the gift of faith through the teaching of the Holy Ghost. Therefore faith is the evidence of presence and work of the Great Teacher of the everlasting covenant who is the Spirit of the Living God, and the evidence of things not seen, as it is written: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Without the indwelling presence and teaching of the Spirit of God: “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but (that knowledge is) by the Holy Ghost” (I Corinthians 12:3). The children of God shall be taught of God the Holy Spirit, as it is written in the prophets: “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isaiah 54:13). Whosoever is taught by God the Holy Spirit believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God. By this knowledge their election of grace is made known unto them. Therefore reader: “What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?” (Matthew 22:42) Has the God of all grace given you the answer that Jesus of Nazareth is “both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36)? 

 

AJ Ison.

 

See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com. Hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.