The Gospel in Ten Words (15 page)

Ye were
declared righteous, in the name of the Lord Jesus … (1 Corinthians 6:11, YLT)

Several
years ago I visited a church to hear a preacher from out of town. The guest
preacher opened with a question. “How many people here know they are
righteous?” Hundreds of hands went up. Virtually everyone in the room knew that
in God’s eyes they were righteous. The preacher got everyone to put their hands
down before following up with another question. “How many people
feel
righteous?” This time almost no hands went up.

I guess what I saw in that meeting is true of Christians
everywhere. Most have some idea that they have right-standing before God, but
in their hearts they don’t feel it. It’s not a truth that has sunk in. It just
sits there on the surface waiting to be prodded with leading questions like the
one asked by the guest preacher. “Am I righteous? Sure, I guess so. Everyone
else has their hand up so I had better raise mine.” But deep down they are
unsure. They don’t know exactly where they stand with God. And since they are
not resting in his righteousness, they are seeking to establish their own. By
that I mean they are constantly trying to do the right thing. They are trying
to choose the right course, the right job, the right spouse, and they are
trying live right before God.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to do the right thing. The
problem is they often don’t know the right thing to do. “Should I choose A or
B? What does God say?” Their sincere desire to do right combined with their
inability to tell how things will turn out leaves them feeling
apprehensive
and insecure. “Did I make the right choice?” And when
their best laid plans go awry they become perplexed. “How did I end up here?
Where did I go wrong?”

Those who don’t feel righteous feel anxious. They lack real peace.
Of course we don’t base our faith on our feelings but feelings should follow
faith as surely as peace and joy follow righteousness.

A lack of peace is a byproduct of having to constantly justify
one’s existence as a Christian. It’s the result of living with the mentality
that says, “I’ve got to do my bit. I’ve got to bear fruit. It’s expected of
me.” People who think like this go to church, attend every conference, and read
the latest books because they are looking for someone to tell them what to do.
“Have I done enough? Am I good enough?” They are on a righteousness-quest. Like
the rich young ruler they are asking, “What good thing must I do to inherit
eternal life?”

Since this is the latest book, I don’t want to disappoint you. I am
going to tell you what you must do to inherit eternal life. Nothing. There is
nothing you
can
do. It’s an inheritance, a gift passed down from God to
his children.

Why is
the good news still news for so many? Because as I saw in that meeting, most
believers have not heard that the righteousness you and I both need comes to us
as a free gift from the Lord. There is simply no way to be righteous other than
to receive the gift of his righteousness by faith:

I
n the gospel a
righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first
to last. (Romans 1:17a)

The bad news of the law proves you can never be good enough to
impress God on your own merits, but the good news of grace declares that he
offers you his righteousness as a free gift, no strings attached. This is so
simple many miss it. They sail right past the unwrapping of the gift and onto
the tidy up. They have no time to sit at the feet of Jesus and receive; they’ve
got cakes to bake and sermons to preach. Ask them how they feel and they will
respond, “Tired.” Listen to their prayers and you will hear them say, “Lord,
don’t you care that my brothers and sisters have left me to do all this work by
myself?” (see Luke 10:40).

As any child knows, there are only two things you can do with a
gift; you can receive it or you can reject it. You can say, “Thank you Jesus, this
is exactly what I need.” Or you can say, “Oh no, Jesus, let me give you an
offering instead. Look at all I am doing for you. Are you impressed?” Only the
first response pleases the Lord.

One thing you must never do with a gift, and especially a priceless
gift, is insult the giver by trying to pay for it. This is what the Jews of
Paul’s day were attempting to do and it broke his heart:

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites
is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous
for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the
righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did
not submit to God’s righteousness. (Romans 10:1
–
3)

Zeal without knowledge of the gospel is a
recipe for self-righteous religion. You may be working a hundred hours a week
for Jesus but if you have not submitted to the righteousness revealed in the
gospel of his grace, your work is for naught. You’re stacking firewood and
you’re not saved.

Many
churchgoers are zealous for God with a zeal based on ignorance and unbelief.
They are working like slaves but in God’s eyes their deeds are incomplete. Like
the church in Sardis they have soiled their clothes through works of filthy
self-righteousness. What is the remedy? Like the Sardisians, they need to
remember what they heard (the gospel), heed it, and start making different
choices.
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They need to stop banking on their own futile attempts at right living and submit
to God’s righteousness.

I don’t think anyone gets out of bed planning
to be self-righteous, but self-righteous is what you are if you are trying to
impress the Lord with your offerings and sacrifices. When we talk about
self-righteousness we tend to think of the Judaizers stalking Paul around the
Mediterranean with their sharp circumcision knives. But Martha was a little bit
self-righteous and she was literally serving the Lord. She was a one-woman
ministry team baking cakes for Jesus.

Martha’s problem was not that she was
cooking; it’s that she wasn’t eating. The Chef of Heaven had come to visit and
all she wanted to do was make sandwiches for him. That’s not how it works.
That’s back to front. We’re not saved or made righteous because we bless him but
because he has blessed us. The lesser is blessed by the greater.

Jesus never condemns Martha, that’s not his
way. But he clearly says her sister Mary made the better choice. Do you see the
significance of this? The one who made an impression was the one not trying to
impress him. It was not the one who came with the food but the one who came
with the appetite.

We can get so caught up in serving the Lord
that we forget the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve (Matthew
20:28). And the main dish on his menu is a hefty helping of righteousness.
Hear now the words of the Heavenly Chef:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

The word for “filled” means
gorged, indicating that the Chef of Heaven serves hearty dishes.
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He is not stingy with grace. When
you partake of his righteousness you are filled to the point of satisfaction.
When you eat the Bread of Life you get a meal that sustains and nourishes you
for eternity. You will never hunger again.

He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me
will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)

When you have had a hearty meal,
the last thing you feel like doing is cooking. You just want to sit and digest
and heap praises on the chef. This is a very appropriate response to grace!

How can you tell when a Christian
has submitted to God’s righteousness? They have a look of well-fed contentment.
They are not sweating in the kitchen making sandwiches for Jesus. Neither are
they singing discontented songs of hunger and thirst (“Oh feed me Jesus”).
Instead, they are pointing hungry people to the Bread of Life by proclaiming
the gospel of his satisfying righteousness.

I
wasn’t being glib before when I said you must do nothing. I’m a grace preacher,
I rarely use the word “must.” But as far as righteousness is concerned, you
really must do nothing. Anything you do to help the Lord in matters of
justification will be utterly disastrous. We are justified by faith alone.
Period.
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Paul said his zealous Jewish brothers did not
submit to God’s righteousness but sought to establish their own. The operative
word here is “submit.” Think of a swimmer drowning in the ocean. To be saved he
must completely submit to the lifeguard who would rescue him. If he panics and
tries to save himself, he will only make the lifeguard’s job more difficult.

A few weeks ago I heard a story about a Navy
Search and Rescue swimmer who went to the aid of a downed aviator. The aviator
began to flail and flounder making the situation dangerous for both himself and
his would-be rescuer. The rescue swimmer responded by diving down deeper into
the water to get away and to wait for the aviator to give up struggling. In
other words, he withdrew from the scene until the aviator exhausted himself.

This is exactly how it is with us and Jesus.
We are saved by trusting in him, and we must do nothing to help. Trying to help
only makes things worse and leaves us exhausted. And yet, we try.
Ever since Adam took up sewing to hide his sin, it has been
the nature of the flesh to take control and try and fix things.
I can save
myself from drowning
. This is why we should thank God for the magnificent
law which reveals the hopelessness of our situation.
But you’re in the
middle of the ocean! You can’t swim that far.
And then thank him even more
for good news of his grace that saves us.
Jesus the Savior is here. Stop
struggling and submit to his righteousness.

When
I was in school, my favorite moment in the year was the minute the last exam
finished. “Time’s up, pens down. Please remain seated until your paper is
collected.” Can you remember the sweetness of that moment? All the work and the
study were behind you; all the tests had been done. Into your mind came one of
the sunniest thoughts a young person can have:
School’s out for summer!

This is how it is for the believer when the
gospel of righteousness takes root in their heart. The first reaction is one of
sweet relief. “Really? Jesus did it all? I don’t have to work to impress him? I
can stop studying for the exam? Oh happy day!” Many are dreading the final
exam. The good news is there is no exam. Jesus already took it on your behalf,
and guess what? He passed.
School’s out forever!

For
he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in him. (
2 Corinthians 5:21,
NKJV)

You’ve
got to love the math of the new covenant: How many sins did Jesus commit before
he was made sin? None. And how many righteous acts did you do before you were
made righteous? None. God did it all! The moment you put your faith in Jesus,
you were stamped “righteous” for all time and eternity. At one time you were
unrighteous, but you were washed, y
ou were
sanctified, and you were declared righteous in the name of the Lord (1
Corinthians 6:9
–
11).

What
does it mean to be righteous?
It means you have had a
complete renovation, a Holy Spirit renewal, an entire rebuild. You
have
been straightened out. You are no longer the crooked person you used to be.
Whereas in Adam you had bent inclinations that led you towards sin no matter
how hard you tried to avoid it, in Christ you are inclined to walk straight and
true. You have a Holy Ghost gyroscope inside you that keeps you stabilized and
on course. Your desire is to please the Lord. I’m not saying you are incapable
of sinning. It’s just that sinning no longer appeals. Neither does it satisfy.
When you do occasionally sin it bothers the socks off you—“I wish I hadn’t done
that”—testifying that this sort of behavior is contrary to your new nature.

“But Paul, if I’m so righteous, how come the Holy Spirit keeps
convicting me of my sin?” Actually, he never does that. That’s an
extra-Biblical myth that needs to be busted. Adam didn’t need God’s help in
recognizing his sin and neither do we. Any guilt you have over wrongdoing comes
from a condemning source and not the one called Comforter.
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There is no condemnation
—
not now,
not ever
—
to those
who are in Christ Jesus.