Welcome to the Truth Time Podcast. Here's Trey Searcy with today's podcast.
Hey, welcome back. This is going to be our third installment of the Studying the Terms series.
We began with the word atonement.
Next was forgiveness.
Today is righteousness, leaving justification and reconciliation still to come.
It's not wise to conflate these words.
When we do so, they lose their flavor, their original meaning.
Instead of conflating and redefining these words as some have chosen to do, in this series, we are isolating, isolating these words and allowing them to define themselves.
In part one, we showed that atonement is God's prescription for forgiveness.
We demonstrated with Scripture how that forgiveness automatically and immediately followed atonement.
It's important that we understand these necessary components of salvation.
We who follow Paul as our apostle know that God would have all things to be done decently and in order, 1 Corinthians 14:40.
God's order has not changed.
The requirements when dealing with these words and their order, they're the same. This is why the way in which complete reconciliation between God and man is achieved. God has a perfect prescription for salvation for fallen man.
There's an order.
There's an order to follow.
It's laid out plain.
It's laid out clear in Scripture.
We just have to set aside our prejudice and our predilection and agree with God.
First, atonement is needed, which immediately results in forgiveness.
We covered forgiveness last week in the second part of the series.
After forgiveness is achieved, the righteousness which comes by faith is required.
So let's get into that.
Today we welcome you to part three.
And by the way, all parts, all parts, each podcast will eventually be posted in blog form at the website.
Now, we've already gone over some Scriptures that prove that forgiveness does not mean not guilty.
Quickly, here they are again.
Exodus, chapter 34, verse 7.
We read, "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty."
That's Exodus, 34:7.
And in the book of Numbers, we showed you chapter 14, verse 18, "The Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression and," here it is again, "and by no means clearing the guilty."
So, it should come as no surprise that a person cannot be guilty and righteous at the same time.
Let's take a look at how King David described unrighteous Israel and their forgiveness.
And notice that even though they were forgiven, they were never declared righteous. There's a reason for that.
Psalm, chapter 78, starting with verse 36.
"Nevertheless, they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto Him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with Him, neither were they steadfast in His covenant, but He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath."
Don't miss it here.
God repeatedly became angry with Israel because they were unrighteous.
He also repeatedly reconciled Himself to Israel by forgiving their sins after each
atonement sacrifice.
Don't miss it.
That's how reconciliation functioned before the cross.
Israel repeatedly took God's forgiveness toward them for granted.
God's forgiveness never made Israel righteous.
Instead, His forgiveness gave them the opportunity to restore their relationship with Him by performing works, works of righteousness by faith.
Reconciliation is not a new concept.
It's in the Old Testament.
Israel broke the covenant over and over, and God, as we just read, quote, "Many a time turned His anger away and did not stir up all His wrath and forgave their iniquity."
But God's act of forgiveness toward them never automatically made them righteous. Remember that.
So with that in mind, how was Israel supposed to obtain this righteousness that they so desperately needed?
Moses has our answer.
Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 25, "And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as He hath commanded us."
Do you see that?
And Dr. Luke tells us how Zacharias and Elizabeth, how they were considered as righteous before God.
Luke chapter 1 verse 5, "There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth." And here it is, verse 6, "they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."
The apostle James says this, James 2:10, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one part, he is guilty of all."
So with all this we've gone over so far, here's a question: Are the guilty considered to be righteous?
Well, it's impossible to be both righteous and guilty at the same time.
If forgiveness alone does not clear the guilty, and the guilty are not righteous, then it is impossible for righteousness to be imputed solely on the basis of forgiveness.
It's important that we understand this.
Proverbs chapter 11 verse 6, "The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness."
Two chapters later, Proverbs 13:6, "Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way, but wickedness overthroweth the sinner."
Job 1:1, "There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil."
What's the conclusion here?
I mean, let's think.
Righteousness could only be obtained in obedience to God, which is by faith. Obedience, yes, but by faith.
Righteousness is the opposite of wickedness, evil, and naughtiness.
To be clear, righteous people don't need forgiveness, because they are not guilty of anything that needs to be forgiven.
Regardless of what some teachers are teaching, forgiveness does not and cannot also mean righteousness.
No way.
We're letting the Bible, not man, not books, we're letting God define this for us here today.
Righteousness has always been and will always be by faith through obedience.
I repeat, righteousness, it has always been by faith through obedience.
The two are linked.
There is no indication anywhere in Scripture that even remotely implies that forgiveness automatically brings about righteousness.
Nowhere.
This skewed view, this distorted concept is only found in the minds of some men, but not here in Scripture.
A righteous person is not guilty and is without fault.
Forgiveness is only needed for the guilty and at fault.
Forgiveness alone has never made anyone righteous.
Never.
God forgave the world on the cross.
The world is not righteous as a result of that forgiveness.
Nowhere in Scripture is there an example of God's forgiveness automatically resulting in righteousness.
Non-imputation of sin has never automatically resulted in the imputation of righteousness.
The Scriptures make it clear that no one has ever been considered righteous without faith.
This view has been promoted and used as a sort of an underhanded tactic to try to make others think that universal forgiveness results in universal salvation.
It does not.
Forgiveness alone will not save anyone.
As always, today, righteousness is still required to obtain salvation unto eternal
life.
But the means by which we obtain that righteousness has changed.
To be righteous, faith and obedience are still required.
But today, we obey the gospel by faith.
Romans 16:25, "Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel," Paul speaking, "and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began."
Verse 26, "But now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations. For..." here it is, "...the obedience of faith."
Our faith is counted as righteousness.
Romans 4:5, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,..." Here it is again, "...his faith is counted for righteousness."
Obedience to the gospel, that's never changed.
Romans 6:16, "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourself servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"
Verse 17, "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart," there it is again, ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
He doesn't stop there.
Verse 18, "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." Romans 9:30, "What shall we say then, that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness even the righteousness which is of faith?"
You see, it isn't about our righteousness.
Instead, by faith we are made the righteousness of God in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21, "For he, God, hath made him, Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
When we hear and believe the gospel of our salvation, faith, we trust Christ to have completed everything necessary for our salvation, obedience, which results in our being made the righteousness of God in Christ.
With all that said, we should address imputation.
Righteousness was imputed to Abraham by faith.
Guilt was imputed to Israel for breaking the laws of God.
To impute is simply to reckon or to lay to the account of.
Imputation all by itself does not carry the implication of what is being imputed. Context tells us that.
Likewise, the act of not imputing something does not automatically result in the act of imputing something else.
So, to make the claim that where trespasses are not being imputed, righteousness must be imputed is error.
This is by no means an either-or thing.
Non-imputation of trespasses does not automatically result in the imputation of righteousness.
Again, it's a distorted doctrine that only exists in the mind of some men, but found nowhere in Scripture.
In order for trespasses not to be imputed, atonement is an absolute.
Atonement is necessary.
In order for righteousness to be imputed, faith is necessary.
Atonement and faith are different.
Paul says this concerning Abraham's faith, Romans 4:22, "And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness."
Verse 23, "It was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,"
Verse 24, "But for us also to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead."
Verse 25, "Who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification."
Same thing in Galatians, Galatians chapter 3 verse 6, "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
The imputation of righteousness has always required faith.
Now, if we're going to talk about righteousness, we also need to talk about self-righteousness, the attempts of man to make himself right in the sight of God.
Self-righteousness is not a faith.
Romans 10:3, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
The righteousness that was brought about by obedience to the law is no longer acceptable to God.
As a matter of fact, any attempt to keep the law apart from faith has never been acceptable.
And it's why Isaiah said, Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away."
The only way that righteousness could ever be obtained through the law was if those righteous works of the law were done by faith. This is why the Holy Spirit in Hebrews said, chapter 11 verse 6, "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."
And in chapter 11 we read about the works of righteousness that were done by many in time past, all of those by faith.
On the other hand, works of righteousness which are performed without faith are nothing more than self-righteousness.
Today, according to Paul's dispensation of grace, self-righteousness is the very thing that stands in the way of salvation for so many.
A self-righteous person is by default demonstrating that they have no faith in God, but rather they have faith in themselves to accomplish the requirements for salvation unto eternal life.
A self-righteous person believes that their own filthy rag works.
Hey, they're good enough.
They're good enough for God's approval.
They don't trust what's already been accomplished on their behalf, because they want the credit for working their way there.
They must ignore God's declaration that salvation comes by grace through faith alone and not of themselves.
They do so because they want it to be of themselves.
For some it's going to the confessional.
For others it's making a fair show of the flesh down at the altar in front of the congregation.
Or bragging about their charity work and trying to convince everyone of what a good person they are.
For some, it's about how incessantly they recite how much they love everyone.
For others, it's about claiming credit for getting their sins forgiven.
Or making a historic name for themselves amongst their peers as someone to be revered.
As most of you know, self-righteousness is a pandemic of epic proportions throughout all nations, religions, denominations, and sects.
Even the atheists are self-righteous.
They believe they're better than all of the religious people.
The Pharisitical mindset has never left us.
Self-righteousness wants to be seen as going viral.
Little does it know that it already is.
It's a virus, all right.
A virus that only the grace of God can cure.
But most often, the self-righteous want no part of the cure because the flesh relishes in that attention it receives.
As we conclude, let's quickly recap what we've covered so far in this series.
We've discussed what is and has always been required for salvation.
Salvation unto everlasting life for Israel, and salvation unto eternal life for us. Time past and but now.
We covered the atonement that is required for the forgiveness of sins and proven with Scripture that forgiveness is automatically granted upon the acceptance of the atonement.
And it happens immediately.
We've talked about forgiveness, what it is and what it isn't.
We've talked about how forgiveness doesn't automatically remove guilt, nor does it automatically bring righteousness.
Next time, we're going to discuss justification.
We'll study what justification is as well as what it is not, and its direct correlation to righteousness.
We're going to put to bed the notion that forgiveness and justification are the same thing, synonymous with one another, or that they are interchangeable terms.
They are not.
By the time we're finished, we believe that you'll have a clear understanding of God's reconciliation, how it works, and why it works, the way God has always intended. As ministers of reconciliation, we need to learn the mechanics of God's prescription for the salvation of mankind.
In knowing these things, we become more worthy of bearing the title, Ambassador for Christ with the Ministry of Reconciliation.
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