That we should know and, now, possess our title to glory, is of the very first importance. Many dear, anxious souls are seeking it in the wrong way and place. They sing with heavy hearts and " weeping eyes " When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I bid farewell to every fear
And wipe my weeping. eyes."
My reader, if you are one of these anxious ones, you are without solid peace. Occasional beams of hope break through the thick clouds of uncertainty, and cheer you for awhile; but you find in yourself a corrupt nature which condemns you every hour of your life. You say, " If I could only get rid of this horrible sin, and keep from sinning, if I could only have clearer evidences of a change of heart, and see more fruits of regeneration, and feel a deeper work of grace in me, if I could have more love to God, and the right kind of faith, I would be able to read my title clear to mansions in the skies."
Well, for a time, sin in you ceased to work: you saw nothing in your conduct to condemn you; hope was bright and your title to glory seemed clear. But sin revived; hope disappeared, and you sank down in despair, saying, " O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death," Rom. 7:2424O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24). You are occupied with yourself and your conduct; and looking to the work of God in you to furnish you with a title to glory. God's work in you is of the greatest importance; without it you could neither see nor enter the kingdom of God. "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God," John 3:55Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5).
You will understand, without farther remark, that I hold the work of God's Spirit in the soul to be of the first importance. But it neither justifies, gives peace, nor a title to glory. The first act of the Spirit of God in you, was, to impart the divine nature to you-to create the new man after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness. Having the divine nature which is essentially holy, and which hates and judges sin, as God hates and judges it; you also hate it, judge yourself and your ways, and turn to God. Inward holiness is what you long for; in it, you look for freedom from sin and a title to glory.
Now, that the believer should be holy, is perfectly clear from the following text: " Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." " Be ye holy for I am holy," Feb. XII, 14, 1 Peter 1:1616Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (1 Peter 1:16). Further, faith purifies the heart and works by love; but our title to glory, is neither found in the purity of our hearts nor in the faith that purifies them. The work of God in you is essential to your seeing, or entering the kingdom of God; but, I repeat, your title to glory is not found in this work in you, but in this work for you. You need divine righteousness as well as a divine life. " The Gospel of God " is most explicit on this point. " For herein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written the just shall live by faith," Rom. 1:1717For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17). Now this revealed " righteousness of God is unto all and upon all them that believe," Rom. 3:2222Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (Romans 3:22). And observe, this righteousness is not the result of God's work in you, but of Christ's death for you. " Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set firth a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission-of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God: to declare at this time His righteousness; that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus," Rom. 3:24-2624Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:24‑26).
My reader, is it not clear from these texts, that the righteousness of God for you comes through the death of Christ. The precious work of the Holy Spirit in you; could not satisfy the justice and holiness of God, vindicate His majesty, glory and truth, establish and declare His righteousness, and furnish Him with an adequate motive to justify you a poor lost sinner. But in the death of " His own Son," sin has been judged according to the claims of His nature and character, and put out of His sight. His nature and character have been declared and vindicated, and His truth glorified. In a word, God has been perfectly glorified in the death of " His own Son." O the Cross! The Cross! "There is nothing like the Cross!" It lets God into our world as " the Justifier," and opens the way for Him to take the justified out of the world, and set them in the glory with "His own Son."
Behold, then, my reader, the righteous channel through which grace flows from the heart of God bringing His righteousness " unto all." And note: This righteousness is without the law, or any work done in you. Moreover, let it be distinctly understood that a man must be born again before he can have it. It is put upon all them that believe. God esteems them righteous. They stand before Him in His own character. "The righteousness of God," then, is our title to glory. Blessed, divine title, to the glory into which our glorious, risen Lord of life and glory has entered.
In pursuing our subject I would invite your attention to 1 Cor. 1:3030But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30), " But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." The subject of this verse, is not the death of Christ which declares the righteousness of God; but Christ Himself who of God is made unto us righteousness. Christ, far above all the heavens, at the right hand of Majesty on high is our righteousness. We are made the righteousness of God in Him, where He is. " For God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him," 2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21). The holy Son of God came into this world and, on the cross as our sin-offering, was made all that we were as sinners under the righteous judgment of God against sin. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and exhausted the righteous judgment of God due to us. He stood in our place before God, charged with all our guilt, and bore the judgment due to what we were " in the flesh."
Behold, beloved reader, in the death of Christ, the death of all that you are as a child of Adam:-a man in the flesh under God's judgment. You were crucified with Christ under the eye of God. Your old standing as a man in the flesh-a sinner-is gone; and now, in Christ risen and glorified you are made the righteousness of God and brought into a new standing. Behold, then, in Christ, all that you are before God; eternal glory surrounds His peerless person, and you are made the righteousness of God in Him. Glorious truth! Unfading righteousness! Immortal title to glory. The Son of God, the Second 'Man, victorious over death, glorified at the right hand of Majesty on High, is our righteousness. " We are in Him." Our link with the glory and title to it, is Himself. Reader, Himself. Consider Him-look at Him where He is, and know what you are before God.
As to this new standing before God, you are riot seen at all. There is nothing of yourself or walk there. " Christ is all " in the new creation, "and all things are of God." We belong to this new creation-this new world of unsullied light and holy joy; the-infinite favor of God which rests on " His own Son " rests on us. He has taken us into His favor in the Beloved, Eph. 1:66To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6). His heart, which finds its delight in Christ, finds it in us. " For we are His workmanship in Christ Jesus," Eph. 2:1010For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10). Surely it is no marvel for God to delight in His own " workmanship,"-in that which resembles Himself, and is the fruit of His own nature, which is light and love.
Let it be distinctly understood, by my reader, that this glorious position is not confined to a class of believers, who are holier, more devoted and earnest than their fellow believers. Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ occupies the position, we have been looking at, before God. Most freely do I grant that all do not apprehend it; but, the believer's standing before Gad, does not depend on his apprehension of it, but upon the " rich mercy " and " great love" of our God who hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph. 2:1-61And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:1‑6). The " little children " are as divinely complete in Christ as the " young men" and " fathers." All are the workmanship of God in Christ. His workmanship is perfect, bears His image and reflects Himself.
Is my reader saying, " How am I to know that I am made the righteousness of God in Christ,' and brought into the place of blessing?" You are to know it because God says it. Believe God and you will know it. We have no authority for saying that we are made the righteousness of God in Christ, but God Himself Is He not enough? Blessed be His holy name, we have in His righteousness our title to glory, and wait for the glory that is due to it. " For we through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith," Gal. 5. Christ in the glory is our righteousness, our title to glory. We have the title, but not the glory due to it, for that we wait through the Spirit by faith; and when Christ comes, and changes these vile bodies, and fashions them like unto His body of glory, we shall have all the glory that is due to our present title in the righteousness of God. Christ is our life, righteousness, hope, mark and prize. Paul, as a good racer, left everything behind him: what he was and did before his conversion, what he was and did, and what was done in him after his conversion, and pursued toward the MARK. Christ filled his eye and heart, and supplied strength for the race.
My reader, we are on the race course, and the " blessed hope " of soon seeing Christ, and being found in Him in the glory that is due to our present title, urges us onward and makes us shout as we run. " One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," Phil. 3:14,1414I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14). W. B.