Lesson 6 - THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

The righteousness of God requires that sin be judged. Therefore, the day will come when all

men and women will have to stand before God to receive the punishment due to them. However, the love of God is such that God’s desire is that the men and women that He had created would not face judgment and perish. To satisfy the requirements of both His righteousness and His love, in order that men and women can be saved from God's wrath, God the Father sent God the Son Jesus Christ to be incarnated as a man and bear the wrath and judgment of God in our place. In Rom 3:21- 5:21, Paul explains how in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the righteousness of God can be imputed to us so that we can be justified before God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Rom 3:21-26

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

2 Cor 5:21

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Rom 4:3

3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Rom 4:6

6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

Rom 5:6-11

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not  only is

this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now

received reconciliation.

Rom 5:12

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin. and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-

Rom 5:15-17

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Again, the gift of God is not like the results of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justifications. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

2 Cor 5:21

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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9 October 2016

Theological comprehension convinces you in your head. Devotional reflection convicts you in your heart.

The righteousness of God is the key word.

Let's look at what's on the apostle's mind.

Roman 1:18-3:20 - all have sinned. What exactly was he focusing on?

Romans 1:17

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Paul sees the gospel from the righteousness of God. He is saying the gospel reveals the righteousness of God by faith. The righteousness of God that is given to men. At the cross the righteousness of God came upon us, given to us by faith.

Romans 1:18

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

Here Paul introduces the wrath of God and he develops the problem. That the righteousness of God is given and we are justified. Sacrifice of atonement and proposition (NKJV).

When Jesus hung on the cross, Jesus was righteous, without sin. A righteous man dying for the unrighteous. God gave his righteousness to us.

2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus died and took our place, we from being unrighteous became righteous.

Romans 4:3

What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:6

David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

Credited righteousness. It's an accounting term. Righteousness credited.

Romans 3:25

whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,

Propitiation is where God turns the wrath of God into the favour of God.

God both saves and judges at the cross.

It's the divine court of law. The day will come when all will be judged. For unbelievers it will be the great white throne. We as believers will be exempted from the great white throne judgement.

This is known as a saving righteousness and a judging righteousness. Saving righteousness declares sinners as righteous. In judging righteousness, God pours out his wrath onto Jesus.

At the cross, both saving and judging righteousness of God meet.

The saving righteousness of God - LOVE

The judging righteousness of God - JUSTICE

At the cross these are held together. When we said the sinner's prayer, we believed Jesus died for our sins and we are forgiven of our sin and we commit our life.

The question is how did Jesus died for our sins? When we say Jesus took our sin, he's being judged and when righteousness is credited to us it is his love.

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16 October 2016

We want to look at these 4 words. What is the difference? What's the relationship between love and mercy, and the difference between mercy and grace. Understanding is very important because it'll help us understand the verse better.

Holiness - his absolute moral purity and goodness.

We are talking about his moral essence. It's what makes us look at something on the name of God to perceive whether it comes from a Christian God. Like if the person say God told me to plant a bomb in the temple because of the demons in there. We will need to ask if that's really what God will do because innocent lives will be lost.

So many things done in the name of God is not of God. Like the crusades in history, whether they were called of God. Christianity was birthed with Jesus  dying on the cross and not by a sword. The other incident was the inquisition when the Catholics were burning people on the stake.

Righteousness (Personal) - his actions in accordance with the law he himself has established

Recently our cell group handled "God is" and it gave us a platform on this. From his moral theology he establishes certain law. If someone comes and ask you this. Real case. A man of God has a family and one fine day in his communion with the Lord he heard something. I have to take a god daughter. And there is a 19 year old lady he wants to take as his god daughter. The wife is not happy. Moving on he gives Bible study and the reason he took the god daughter is to break into a spiritual realm. The wife say this is not from God. When the man is asked about this he said God spoke to him.

I am someone who say, if God spoke to me something, I'll ask if it contradicts with the word of God. The person answered when Jesus on the cross asked John to take Mary as his mother so this is the principal of spiritual adoption.  I answered the person that Jesus when on the cross ask John to take care of his mother which is a Jewish tradition. He said he heard from the Holy Spirit and you didn't. But if he put the word of God aside, something is very wrong. No one is above the word of God. Even God himself is not above his own law.

Justice (official righteousness) - he administers his law fairly without partiality, punishing evil and rewarding good.

What's the difference between righteousness and justice? Righteousness is who God is. It refers to Jesus  only but the day when Jesus  seats on the throne and dispense crowns and what needs to be punished or rewarded, he is dispensing justice. 

This is when we share the gospel, the unbelievers think we share an unjust God. Especially if they don't hear the whole gospel. And God can work in the person's heart.

Love - who God is

Mercy - kindness (compassion) of God when he sees men in their need

Grace - undeserved favour shown to men when God sees them in their sinfulness

Benevolence - unselfish concern for men

God created Adam and Eve. When they sinned death came upon the human race. With it came suffering and sickness. When we wake up we read news of sufferings. It is the love of God that makes him do something. He sent Jesus. At the cross the love of God meets the righteousness of God. It reveals the unconditional love of God.

Romans 3:25-26

25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

There are two parts. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, the judgement and wrath of God is poured on him God is seen as just. The second part is those who is justified, we are looking at his saving righteousness of God that comes upon those who sinned.

So we see why is it God can allow people to go to heaven just because they believe in Jesus? Why God did not punish evil men, we have to say God has punished evil when he punished Jesus. The question is not why God did not punish the evil, but why God punished the innocent for evil. And the person punished was not coerced into it but he volunteered. We need to be clear that God is just. How can the righteousness of Jesus  be imputed to those who are unrighteous? God is both the lawgiver and the judge. Only one person can be the perfect sacrifice and that's Jesus.

Romans 4:3

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Romans 4:6

just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

The word credit is an accounting term. I have covered this before. There is a double imputation.

• My sin is imputed to Jesus 
• His righteousness is imputed to me

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Questions

1. In 1 Corinthians 15:45, Jesus is called the last Adam. Compare and contrast the first Adam from the last Adam.
2.  Is there a difference between saying "God declares us righteous" and saying "God makes us righteous”?
3. “The forensic work of Christ is the basis of God's transforming work”. Comment on the statement.

Question 2

We want to work on this word.

Saving righteousness (God declares sinners to be righteous.) Paul wrote knowing there will be a great white throne judgement. This is a forensic work which refers to a legal influence. Forensic is a declaration. The role of a judge in proclaiming guilty or innocent is not about changing the person. He is dispensing judgement. That's our legal system. It's a declaration by the judge. When we as sinners come to God there will be two type.of sinners.

Sinner A will say he has no sin. Or hear say someone else sin more than him. He is coming on his righteousness. God will look at him and say he has to compare to the perfect righteousness who is Jesus.

Sinner B will be the type that admits his sin and look to Jesus for salvation. That is precisely the situation. Martin Luther got it right.

This is how Luther works on this in Latin.

Simul justus et peccator

Simultaneous - just - and - sinner

It means "we are one and at the same time just and sinners". We are justified and yet sinners. The question is how.can we be just and still sinner?

We are just by divine declaration. We are sinners in the reality that we sin after we are justified.

So the answer to this question is yes. God has declared you righteous but is in the process of making you righteous.

Question 3

A lot of people say all religion is the same. But the one faith that has the most study on the imputation of righteousness is the Christian faith. In Buddhism there is also a teaching on the imputation of righteousness. Their karma is developed as no one can save you but yourself. You do good. The key was revolving around karma which is anti-imputation. In India that concept of karma was first accepted by holy men. Which was not a problem.

But when it went to the masses, people look at how to circumvent the karma. They believe that they can chant certain phrases that can give them merit impetus. That don't you think is imputation? For them, they have multiple sect so it's partial imputation  but for Christians it's total imputation.

Death and resurrection of Jesus are the heart of the gospel - They are the basis for justification.

Romans 1:4

and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

The forensic work of Christ is declarative. But it moves on to the transforming work which is the empowering work. All three persons are involved.

Declarative - God the Father (Justification)

Forensic Work - God the Son (died and resurrected)

Transforming Work - God the Holy Spirit (Sanctification - powers you to grow in righteousness)

Throughout church history, when the gospel is being g preached they miss this. Along the way they wanted the declaration and it's not finished because they also demand sanctification so they were looking at works and legalism. Now it's different, they want the justification but not the sanctification. This is liberalism.

Justification is different from sanctification but justification cannot be separated from sanctification. God justify you in order to sanctify you.

God grants believers his spirit and the power to live a new life. The declaring effect comes with the empowering effect. That's how we become a new man.

Is the mark of spiritual maturity is someone who serves more in ministry than those that serve less? Or one that attends more services than one who attends less? Paul says you can do all things but have no life you are nothing. Spiritual maturity is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But that fruit can be self effort. That's what the Buddhist does. But if someone who has the fruit of the Holy Spirit but he is sourcing it from Christ, it will define his spiritual maturity.

Always remember, God wants to change you.