The Lord our Righteousness

And this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jeremiah 23:6

Because of the fall of Adam, man suffered the unspeakable loss of a righteous nature and the loss of legal righteousness in the sight of God. We have no righteousness of our own. In ourselves we are unrighteous. With Scripture we must confess: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12

The righteousness of God is infinite righteousness, for righteousness means perfection, rightness; it is true, just, pure, holy, infinite, separate from everything that is false, and defiling, and wrong. That is righteousness, and anything short of that is not righteousness. If we but saw this, we should at once give up all self-righteousness. When a man seeks after self-righteousness, he does not grasp what righteousness is. Everything short of infinite holiness, truth, purity, and love is not righteousness; so we need not pause to prove to you that we are not righteous. Marcus Rainsford

There is only one kind of righteousness that God accepts — and that is perfect righteousness! Yet the Scripture is true which says men persist in trusting in their own righteous deeds: “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. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:3, 4 Self-righteous people are ignorant of the insufficiency of their own righteousness and the all-sufficiency of Christ’s righteousness; in fact, they despise and reject the righteousness of God. They prefer to seek righteousness by their own good works.

Not the labour of my hands
Can fulfil Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Those who leave this world, relying upon their own righteousness as the means for entrance into the heavenly kingdom, shall be greatly disappointed. We must have perfect righteousness or we will not be saved. The law of God requires a perfect obedience from first to last, in thought and word and deed, without one single failure. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10 The Law is good, pure, right, and holy, but it is impossible for sinful people to keep. “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Romans3:20

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the purpose and object of the law. The law is meant to lead us to faith in Christ, by showing us our utter helplessness to save ourselves. Christ, and Christ alone has fulfilled the demands of the law, and therefore it is vain for anyone to seek to obtain life by personal obedience to it. “The law drives us to accept of Christ as the one only person who can cleanse us, and make us fit to stand within the veil in the presence of the Most High…The law kills, the gospel makes alive; the law strips, and then Jesus Christ comes in and robes the soul in beauty and glory. All the commandments, and all the types direct us to Christ, if we will but heed their evident intent. They wean us from self, they put us off from the false basis of self- righteousness, and bring us to know that only in Christ can our help be found.” Charles Spurgeon

Without Christ, man is a sinner doomed to death. In the blood and righteousness of Christ, pardon, peace, and increasing blessedness are found. Christ’s blood is precious and fully sufficient for our redemption. Christ, the Holy One, took the place of guilty sinners, and in his innocent sufferings and death gave his holy blood for our redemption. He is strong to save and glad to redeem. Precious blood of Christ! Nothing can be more precious. It is the blood of God’s own Son, the blood of the everlasting God! There can be no doubt that this precious blood is an all-sufficient price for our redemption. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Ephesians 1:7

The work of the Redeemer is a perfect work; nothing can be added to it, and nothing must be taken from it; it is everlasting in its duration and efficacy. Upon this the eye of faith should be invariably fixed, and from hence comfort and support in every state are to be drawn. Christ’s blood is a constant propitiation, his righteousness is a perfect covering. To these, reader, have daily recourse for cleansing and recommendation before God; by these you may silence all the accusations of Satan, all the clamours of conscience, all the threatenings of the law; for in Christ the believer is complete, and here he may safely rest, in his dullest and heaviest moments. Carl Heinrich von Bogatzky

Before we trust in Christ, the weight and burden of our sin is exceeding heavy and we find no rest for our weary soul. Once we  come to Christ, we find rest– rest from legal fruitless labour, rest from the weight and burden of sin, and rest from an accusing gnawing conscience. Are you bowed down in spirit by a mingled burden of care and sin and sorrow? Matthew 11:28-30 is a free invitation to every weary and heavy-laden sinner, made by Him who alone is able to take away your load and guilt of sin. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.“

The gospel invites us to come to Christ, as sinners destitute of all good, helpless and ready to perish. It invites the vilest, in the most desperate case, to look to Jesus Christ for salvation. It declares Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, –he came to seek and to save that which was lost. In the plainest language he cries, “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,”–”Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,”–”Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” These free and gracious invitations are from him who suffered, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Jesus died for the ungodly. Jesus and his righteousness are our only hope and plea.

Lord Jesus Christ! Thy precious blood
Is to my soul the highest good:
Of all my sins a perfect cure,
It quickens me and makes me pure.

Thy blood, my spotless, glorious dress–
Thy innocence my righteousness:
Before my God I pardoned stand
And enter, crowned, the heavenly land.

Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Son of God!
My Throne of Grace, my Staff and Rod!
Thy precious blood, Thy quick’ning power
My spirit strengthen every hour.

And should I draw my dying breath
In fear of Satan, hell, and death–
O Christ! let this my comfort be:
Thy blood from sin hath made me free!
–Selected.

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