Lesson for August 25, 2019
The Integrity of God – Lesson 11
God’s Righteousness or Man’s Righteousness
Everything we have as believers in Christ is because of the second imputation when God imputed (credited) to us His righteousness at salvation. Mankind’s righteousness does not measure up to the righteousness of God regardless of how hard a person tries. Therefore, when you placed your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, God was justified in giving you eternal life, and 39 other spiritual assets because faith in non-meritorious. A person’s efforts add nothing to salvation and a person’s efforts add nothing to the spiritual life.
Since God has divine integrity (perfect righteous, perfect justice and perfect love), every believer in Christ has a part of that integrity. However, this part of God’s integrity must be developed by the power and guidance of God the Holy Spirit to be effective in a believer’s life. When a believer attempts to develop righteousness apart from the power of the Holy Spirit the only thing that is developed is self-righteousness, which is arrogance. An arrogant believer rejects the grace plan of God as being too simple or too easy, failing to realize that he already possesses something far greater than anything they could develop by their own efforts, which is the righteousness of God. (Romans 10:2-3; II Corinthians 5:21)
The fallacy of human righteousness is that it does not and cannot ever measure up to the perfect righteousness that a believer already possesses. The attempt to build a spiritual life on the basis of self-righteousness always ends in failure, legalism or self-denial. Thinking that their point of contact with God is His love, these believers discount or dismiss the righteousness and justice of God as the true point of contact with Him. The one thing that the righteousness of God eliminates is any possibility that human righteousness could ever be acceptable to God. If God does not receive the glory, then it is not from God.
Many people think that being good or performing good deeds is what is required by God for eternal life. They also think that they can somehow coerce God into loving them for many reasons, such as their personality, giving money, working in their local church, participating in mission trips, etc. This mindset is what many Christians think the Christian life is and believe their good deeds make them “spiritual.” Unfortunately, this way of thinking (Human Viewpoint Thinking) locks them out of the true spiritual life found only in Divine Viewpoint Thinking, which is part of the Protocol Plan of God.
Believers are not blessed because they are wonderful, upright people. God blesses on the basis of His righteousness and nothing else!!! Contrary to popular thinking, God does not bless you simply because He loves you (though He does). God blesses you as a believer because you possess the same righteousness as His Son Jesus Christ. God loves us and His love motivates Him to bless us because we possess His righteousness and have capacity to receive blessing.
The truth of Bible doctrine properly applied is the only hope believers have in avoiding the pitfall of arrogant self-righteousness. Realizing who we are in comparison to the perfect standards of God puts everything in perspective. There is one way only to gain the proper perspective and that is by understanding God’s righteousness, justice and love, which make up the integrity of God, and how His integrity impacts our spiritual lives. Spiritual growth through the proper application of Bible doctrine changes a believer’s thinking and transforms his life into a life of spiritual advance toward spiritual maturity, super-grace and ultra-super grace. This should be the goal of every believer in Christ because this is where believers have the greatest impact for Christ, glorify God to the maximum and become a credible witness for God in the resolution of the Angelic Conflict.
As believers, we must always defer to the righteousness of God as our standard of measure (comparison). Measuring or comparing your spiritual life to other believers is foolishness. If you want to live at the highest standard of spirituality, your only standard for comparison should be the perfect standard of righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this way, believers are relieved from the stress and strain of attempting to earn the favor of God by their own efforts. This relaxed mental attitude is the ultimate in grace orientation. (Romans 12:1-3; II Corinthians 10:12; Galatians 1:10; Hebrews 12:1-3)
Grace expresses God’s integrity. God’s grace is so much more than what is normally taught. God’s grace is not some sentimental, emotional, vague idea directed toward a person who has earned the approval of God. Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Grace is undeserved mercy and unmerited favor. Grace is the title of God’s plan and His policy for mankind.
Orientation to God’s grace is essential in truly understanding how God’s integrity works. Orientation is defined as familiarization with a particular person, thing or field of knowledge. To orient means to set right by adjusting to facts or principles; to put oneself into correct position or relation or to acquaint oneself with the existing situation. Grace orientation, therefore, means to become familiar with God’s grace plan and grace policies by adjusting to the facts and principles found in the Word of God, which puts you in correct relation to God and others. You will never be grace-oriented until you understand that your personal sins don’t condemn you. Adam’s original sin, which was imputed to you at birth, is what condemns you (spiritual death). This means that God’s grace was operational when He imputed Adam’s original sin to you, because condemnation must precede salvation. This is just another part of God’s ingenious grace plan of salvation.
The maximum expression of God’s grace is the Cross. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all sin. Therefore, sin is not an issue in salvation. (I Peter 2:24) We are free to accept or reject God’s free gift of eternal life. The plan of God is for all of mankind to come to know His Son, Jesus Christ. (II Peter 3:9) Because Jesus Christ completely satisfied the righteousness and justice of God, God is now free to give eternal life and the other 40+ spiritual assets at salvation. (John 2:1-2) Our salvation brings glory to God. (Hebrews 2:9) When we trust Christ as our personal Savior we are adjusting to God’s grace. (Romans 3:24)
God’s grace has always been operational in relation to mankind. Even under the Old Testament Law, God’s grace was at work in the lives of believers and unbelievers alike. God, in His grace, has revealed Himself to the entire human race beginning with Adam. Salvation for mankind has always been on the basis of God’s grace by faith and faith alone in Jesus Christ. Even the Mosaic Law was a grace gift from God, to show the unbeliever his need for a Savior and to guide him to the Cross. The Levitical offerings pointed to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:20, 4:3; Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:24)
In the Christian life, when allowed to do so, God the Holy Spirit does all the work of producing the character of Jesus Christ in a believer. (Romans 8:29, Galatians 5:22-23) We should be truly thankful that God’s plan does not depend upon us, but upon Him. If you have your eyes on what you are doing for God, or even what someone else is doing for God (even the pastor), you will never be grace-oriented. Our focus should always be on what God is doing. God treats us in grace because of His character. Therefore, we are able to treat others with grace by using Divine Viewpoint Thinking.
God has a perfect plan for each one of us, but it is up to us to discover that plan. The filling of the Holy Spirit, which means we are being controlled and guided by Him, is a grace provision from God. This gives every believer the potential to understand His Word, regardless of education or IQ. Therefore, we are commanded to be strong in grace. (II Timothy 2:1)
We are to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. (II Peter 3:8) We find grace in our prayer life. (Hebrews 4:16) There is stability in grace. (I Peter 5:2) God gives us grace to become the person He wants us to be. (I Corinthians 15:10) God’s grace is always sufficient in our time of suffering.
(II Corinthians 12:9) God is waiting to show His grace to every believer. (Isaiah 30:18-19) The Christian life, under grace, is a system of thinking. (Romans 12:1-2)
The opposite of grace is legalism (keeping the Mosaic Law or doing human good works). (Romans 11:6) Legalism is performing human good works in an attempt to gain the favor or approval of God, either for salvation or spirituality. Producing human good brings glory to man. Producing divine good brings glory to God. Human works added to faith for salvation nullifies grace. (Galatians 2:16) Human works added to the Christian life also nullifies grace. (Galatians 5:1)
God in His sovereignty decided to treat man in grace. (Ephesians 3:11) However, righteousness and justice stood in the way because of the barrier of sin. (Romans 3:23) Righteousness cannot have fellowship with unrighteousness. (Isaiah 59:2) Justice demanded a penalty for sin. (Romans 6:23) In His love, God sent His Son to the Cross to die for the sins of the world and to pay the penalty for sin. (Romans 5:8; John 3:16) The barrier of sin is now removed. (Colossians 1:20-22) So righteousness and justice are satisfied, and love, eternal life, spiritual assets and spiritual blessings are free to flow through the grace pipeline to the person who believes in Christ as Savior. (I John 2:2)
You will never advance in the Christian life until you orient to (become familiar with and adjust to) the grace of God. This means you must set aside any false information that you have heard in the past and begin to discover for yourself what the Word of God really teaches about the grace policies of God. Learning God’s Word, as you know, is a grace process that takes time. Under the control of the Holy Spirit we apply as we learn. This means we need to guard against becoming frustrated by the overwhelming amount of doctrine that there is to learn. This is a place where we can use the Faith-Rest Technique. Claiming God’s promise of guidance, we can relax mentally, knowing that God will reveal the truth to us as we persist in the study of His Word. (John 7:17-18, 14:26)