THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
R. Taylor
Romans 3: 21–26; 4: 3–8; 2 Corinthians 5: 21
A little earlier in this book we read that in the glad tidings the righteousness of God is revealed (Romans 1: 17). That is an expression that may arouse fear in the soul, the righteousness of God. We may well fear as we think of it, in one sense, but the righteousness of God is not a righteousness that demands, it is a righteousness that supplies. In the wonderful ways of God all that He does must be based on righteousness. It gives assurance that it will never break down. God’s promises and expressions of His grace, are based on righteousness; therefore they can never break down. It is the weakness in man’s administration that the basis is not sound. You can see that by what comes to the surface.
Matters arise and it is seen that the whole structure is shaky and cannot be trusted; but God’s dealings with man, as they must be because of who He is, are based on righteousness that is supplied. Man was tested under law, not to prove anything to God; the law came in to prove to man how far away he was, how unrighteous he was. He was unrighteous before but the law magnified the unrighteousness and the inability of man to meet what was right in God’s sight.
If He was only righteous God may well have closed matters up, perfectly just and righteous, but God has worked in righteousness to lay the basis for the outshining of His grace. It says in this very book, that grace reigns through righteousness, that is righteousness that God supplies. It is not anything on man’s side, but righteousness is a foundation that God has laid in order that He may come out to man in blessing.
When man was seen by law to be helpless and unrighteous, God intervened to supply it in Jesus. Indeed the Lord Jesus used those very words when He was here, “it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”, Matthew 3: 15. He was in the circumstances in which men were and there He fulfilled all righteousness. What a spot there was on this earth when Jesus was here that the divine eye could rest upon in perfect complacency. Indeed at that very scene of which we speak when He says, “it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”, the answer was that God anointed Him, the Holy Spirit came upon Him. There was One in whom God could rest in perfect complacency because of righteousness. In the incoming of Jesus as a Man here, the whole ways of God were changed. There was there in Christ a supply of all that was needed from God’s side to come out in blessing towards the sinner.
You see that in the pathway of Jesus, in the days of His flesh here, the supply of divine grace in perfect righteousness. The Pharisees could not understand it; it was unintelligible to men like that because they were looking to see what they could do. There were two men who went up to the temple to pray and one spoke to God of his righteousness, he said he was better than the others. I suppose he believed what he said that there was some good in him. The other man said that there was not a spark of good in him, he said, “O God, have compassion on me, the sinner” (Luke 18: 13), and divine righteousness came out in mercy towards that guilty man. God was perfectly righteous to do it.
This very passage speaks about that, God being righteous in passing by the sins that had taken place before. You think of all that had gone before, and God looked on it with sorrow, with deepest feeling for man, but He says He was passing it by in righteousness because He was looking on to a time when the whole debt would be met. That is a fundamental matter in righteousness that the debt must be paid. And there was man, you and me, with no ability to pay. It says that too in the Scriptures, “as they had nothing to pay, he forgave both of them their debt”, Luke 7: 42. Think of a righteous God acting like that in grace and mercy towards those who had no means to pay. That is how
God has come in, to meet the debt to His own satisfaction, in God’s righteousness. There is man’s side to it, but the first thing is that God’s righteousness was shining out without a hindrance because there was One there who laid a perfect basis for mercy to come out to the vilest. And that is the position for you and me today, that not a charge can be raised if God forgives you because He has paid the price, the debt has been met to His satisfaction, and the windows of heaven are opened in blessing towards the sinner in righteousness. No shaky ground about it, no going back on it, the forgiveness that God is supplying in mercy and grace today is founded on God’s righteousness, God’s holy claims of justice being fully met in the person of Jesus. Not only when He was here but as we read in that last scripture, it was met in His death, the price was paid in the death of Jesus. Hence “the sins that had taken place before, through the forbearance of God”, He forbore. Maybe that is the position with you tonight, that God has gone on in forbearance. He has borne with our unrighteousnesses, He has borne with the times that He may have pleaded with you and you have ignored Him; He has borne with your bad manners, may I say, the way you have neglected Him, the way that you have refused the offers of His mercy. He has borne with it because He can look on what Christ has done to His satisfaction in His death and in His blood being shed.
The righteousness of God was met, the claims of justice were fully satisfied in the death of Jesus in that He bore on the cross the judgment that was due to you and me. The judgment that the universe was ripe to receive, Jesus bore it in His body on the cross. He alone was able to do it, because He had already fulfilled all righteousness. Indeed in the closing time of His life here Pilate’s wife uttered those very words, “that righteous man”, Matthew 27: 19. Pilate himself had to acknowledge that there was no fault whatever in Him. The centurion beholding that scene said, “Truly this man was Son of God” (Matthew 27: 53), and yet there He was on the cross a righteous Man. It had to be that. Had there been anything lacking the work would never have been effective; but there was the righteous One there who was able, who was willing, but primarily He was able to bear all that was laid on Him in God’s holy judgment, because God being righteous could never pass things by. God being who He is could never sweep things under the carpet, as men speak. Matters must be right. That is the simple meaning of righteousness, and the righteousness of God requires that matters are right to His satisfaction.
Men’s idea of things being right are not the same as God’s. Men are satisfied with much that is short in God’s sight, but matters must be right in the fullest meaning in God’s sight. There was One who was able on the cross to bear in His body God’s judgment that was due to the sinner to God’s satisfaction.
There is the basis for God’s righteousness, there God’s holy claims were met in that He bore all that was due to men in His body. And more than that, He took it all away from God’s sight. That is why it says here that God is righteous in “passing by the sins that had taken place before”, and He is righteous in showing forth “in the present time” His mercy because the price has been paid in the death and the burial and the rising again of Jesus. It was no light matter. It was no light matter for God to come out in righteousness in mercy, but it brings out the glory and the effectiveness of all that was effectuated in Jesus dying on the cross and being buried and raised again. It says, “there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, all are under the same category in God’s sight, that all have sinned. And it is in the realisation and coming to that that you come to enjoy God’s mercy toward you as told out in its blessed fulness in the grace of God being preached “towards all, and upon all those who believe”. It is there for you today, divine righteousness, what you can never have by works, what you could never attain to in yourself. God is supplying it.
It is somewhat like that wedding garment that is referred to in the parable in the gospel, where there is a man without a wedding garment, he was there in his own righteousness. But every other one who came into that wedding feast, who had come from the hedges and the byways, the outcasts of society, had been brought in and was clothed in divine righteousness so that the eye of the king could rest complacently upon them. I wonder how God’s eye rests upon you today. I wonder how you look on yourself. God would raise these questions with us as to how we are in God’s sight. Are you feeling guilt at the mention of God’s name?
Without Christ you may well do that. The man that I referred to without a wedding garment, what guilt came upon him. The king raised the question in all simplicity, he says, “My friend, how camest thou in here not having on a wedding garment?”, Matthew 22: 12. My friend, how do you stand? How do you feel in your own soul in regard to God and in regard to His eye being upon you, because, make no mistake about it, His eye is upon all? It says, “all things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4: 13), whatever you may be hiding under, whatever may be the barrier between you and God. Men have erected many barriers; what heresies indeed have been introduced to dull the conscience in regard to the presence of God. But there it says, “all things are naked”. Not only persons but their thoughts, all “naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do’.
Whatever the barriers that men may erect. God sees through them all, and there today in His grace He is offering righteousness. He is offering that you could be, before Him, as the hymn-writer says, with ‘Not a cloud above—not a spot within’ (Hymn 22). That is what divine righteousness would bring the soul into, that you come to be conscious in the presence of God that matters have been cleared, not only for your conscience, but they are cleared to God’s satisfaction, and that is the important matter. Men have all sorts of theories alleviating their own conscience, but the matter must be settled to God’s satisfaction, and that can only be with a righteousness that God supplies. He is coming out with it in mercy to clothe the sinner with what meets His eye, and more than meets the conscience of man. So it says here, “righteousness ... towards all”, but then it says, “upon all those who believe”. I wonder if it is upon you? Not just something you know about, not just something you have heard about, but the righteousness of God is upon those who believe. It is there to be embraced in all its attractiveness. God has set forth the righteous One, the Man in whom His righteousness has been displayed and His grace is shining. It says “whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood”. He speaks about “the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”. How fully God has come out with all that man needs!
Everything that man needs is supplied for him in the Person of Jesus. It: says, “Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption”, 1 Corinthians 1: 30. These are the things that men need in God’s presence; not exactly in man’s presence, but all that is needed for the soul to stand before God is supplied in Jesus. He is made unto us righteousness from God that we may stand in His presence in the assurance of His love towards us and in the enjoyment of His embrace. So He has set Him forth a mercy-seat. Now these are Old Testament expressions, but the idea of a mercy-seat is a place where God would meet with Moses, as it says, “there will I meet with thee, and will speak with thee”, Exodus 25: 22. God spoke to Moses without him being consumed. Wonderful fact that God could speak to such a man, and he could hear His words without being condemned! The mercy-seat was above on the ark; the ark was a small box covered in gold but it spoke of Jesus; and God says, there on the basis of Jesus and His work, and the glory of that Man, I am ready to speak to you my thoughts of blessing and love towards the people. So the mercy-seat was above on the ark and there on it was put the blood.
God’s eye in speaking was on that blood, and there before the mercy-seat where Moses stood, or Aaron, there was blood sprinkled and they stood on blood. There is the great meeting-place, where all has been secured for God’s eye, and the ground on which men could stand, the precious blood of Jesus, as the hymn-writer says, ‘Shed for rebels, shed for sinners’ (Hymn 167); but my friend it was shed for God. That is the basis of His righteousness that the price had been paid, the debt had been met, and there is that blood under God’s eye and He is able to speak without condemnation. Wonderful fact that God can speak to you and me today whatever our state may be, He can speak in blessing because His eye is fixed on Jesus.
I often think of that passage in Isaiah where God says, “Come now, let us reason together”, Isaiah 1: 18. You wonder at it, how God could proclaim to a guilty nation and He could proclaim to you and me as we are, “Come now, let us reason together”. It does not say, Come and I will tell you what you should do, it says, “Come now, let us reason together”, as if He would want to gain your confidence. He wants to hear what you have to say. Maybe you have things you think are not right. Maybe there are things on your heart that you would like to speak of; God says, I will listen to what you have to say. It says, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool”. I often wonder at it, but in God speaking like that He was looking on Jesus. There is a righteous basis in that blessed Man and in His work for God to reason, and say that as coming to Him all your burden, your sin and the weight on your conscience can all be met to God’s glory and for your peace. So it says here that He has “set forth a mercy-seat”. That has never needed to be changed. It is there today as it was when this passage of scripture was written, it is there in all its efficacy and blessedness, “a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood”. Now, my friend, that is where you get your righteousness. God has His righteousness in the work of Jesus; in the blood of Jesus being shed His righteousness has been met so that He can come out and speak in mercy and in blessing to the sinner. But for you to have any righteousness it requires your faith, “through faith in his blood”.
That brings us to Abraham, a man who obeyed God’s word, and it says, “it was reckoned to him as righteousness”. Think of God being a generous God like that! Abraham did not do any works, except that he obeyed God. God said to Abraham to go out, but He is saying to us to come. His language today is to come and put your faith in what He has done. Righteousness is something you could never acquire in God’s sight, it is placed upon you through faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, so that “grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life”, Romans 5: 21. God is opening up the counsels of His love, and He is giving you the right to enjoy them through faith. Not in yourself, not in anything you can do, but through trust and faith in what God has proposed and what He has done through Jesus. So it says, “Even as David also declares the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteousness without works”. What a gospel that is, “righteousness without works”, because God has provided it in Jesus. As I said, that wedding garment was there, it was received through faith and accepting of God’s offer of mercy; all those in that place except one man were suited to be at home under the eye of the king. There was one who chose to have his own thoughts on what was right, but then he was exposed. Maybe he thought he could make his own arrangements, it would seem. And that is what men are trying to do today, make their own arrangements, comparing themselves with themselves.
Now God has shut up all in unbelief that through faith in what Christ has done you may have divine righteousness (Romans 11: 32). There is no other thing will stand in the presence of God, but it is there today, “Even as David also declares the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteousness without works—Blessed they whose lawlessnesses have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered”. Friend, is it you? The blessing is there towards all, but upon all those who believe. Nothing to be raised, lawlessnesses have been forgiven. That is what God can do in righteousness. More than that, He justifies persons who are of the faith of Jesus. Believers are not only forgiven, but justified, that is all part of that garment that that man despised.
Everything that was needed for God’s eye to rest upon was there provided. Here it is, “forgiven, and whose sins have been covered—blessed the man to whom the Lord shall not at all reckon sin”. Think of God being righteous, to clothe you with His righteousness, to clothe you with what He has proposed, all through faith in the Lord Jesus. The simplicity of it is its charm, and the stumbling block to the human mind, that God has provided all and there is nothing to be done.
It was all based, as we read in that scripture, “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in him”. Is that where you stand before God, in Christ, in God’s sight? Man is cast either in Adam or in Christ. It says, “For as in the Adam all die, thus also in the Christ all shall be made alive”; 1 Corinthians 15: 22. That is how God looks on the race today, you are either in Adam or in Christ. It used often to be said in the gospel that you need to change your man. Instead of having confidence in yourself, or in man and his world, your confidence and your trust is in Christ. That is God’s righteousness and how it is set out today. He will yet take up matters with men as a Judge because they have despised His righteousness, and despised the offer that God has made towards all, “righteousness, of God ... towards all”. Some have despised it, and God being righteous will have to take it up. Now it says, “blessed the man to whom the Lord shall not at all reckon sin”. But if sin is not covered for you through confession in the name of Jesus, through faith in Him and His finished work, God being righteous must take up man as he stands on the ground of responsibility. What a day of judgment it will be, the righteous judgment of God, but today God is proclaiming grace reigning through righteousness for the blessing of all who would hear. May it be laid hold of today in faith by all who hear it, for God’s glory and praise.
Preaching at Dundee,
6 March 2003