Saturday, March 10, 2007
John 16:7-11 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged."
OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
In what way is Jesus' going to the Father a declaration of righteousness? His resurrection and ascension establishes that he has won the victory to give His righteousness to us. So our righteousness is dependent on Jesus' going to the Father. And if He did not stand before the Father and intercede on our behalf we would have no righteousness. But since He does stand before the Father, we not only have righteousness but we are convicted of it, we are convinced of its absolute reliability. For all our sins were laid upon Him, as can be seen at Calvary, and if He who bore all our sins now stands before the Father, what is there in us to drive us from the Father's presence? Nothing, for all of it was born by Him who has been crucified.
But let no one think that he can show his righteousness, or that he can see his own righteousness. For our righteousness is Christ and as He says, we see Him no more. Therefore even the apostle James does not say I will show you my righteousness by my deeds, but "I will show you my faith by my work" (James 2:18). Therefore it is possible to show our love for Jesus, our trust in Him, by what we do for Him, but it is impossible to show our righteousness, for Our Righteousness has ascended to the Father and is no longer visible, for our righteousness is Jesus. Therefore, if you see one who does much and says, "I do all this for my Savior," good, he has shown great faith. But if one says by all this I know that I am saved, he has not done it for his Savior but for himself. Again, if we say within ourselves, "Surely I am saved because I have done all this for my Savior," then also we are not saved. We have said, "I am sure of my salvation by it," and we are clinging not to that Salvation which has ascended and is no longer seen, but to that which we can see. Therefore salvation is a matter of faith since we can in no way see it or point to it, but must trust and cling to Christ whom we can not see, but nevertheless is our righteousness. Even as Jeremiah declares Him to be, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
