“The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.” (Psalm 97:1-2)
JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:13) There is true joy and true peace in believing, because in believing we look to, trust and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ for all salvation and all we need for our complete assurance of salvation by the grace of God in Him. We thank God He has brought us to be born again by the Holy Spirit. There is no salvation and final glory apart from this sovereign, invincible, and powerful work within us. We thank God for faith to believe in Christ Jesus, for repentance to turn away from all else, and for Godly love shed abroad within our hearts. We thank Him for the desire to worship, serve, and obey Him as motivated by grace, love, and gratitude. But in all these blessings we see and know that joy and peace can only come from having our eyes fixed upon Jesus Christ and the righteousness He worked out as our Surety and Substitute, the very righteousness of God imputed to us. In looking within ourselves, we find so much sin and struggling of the flesh against the Spirit. We find so much failure and no perfection of righteousness. This is why the Holy Spirit brings us to look outside of ourselves and to the Lord Jesus Christ for our completeness and righteousness. In fact, fixing our gaze and our hearts upon Jesus Christ is the main evidence of the work of the Spirit within. – Pastor Bill Parker
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THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
This term, “the righteousness of God,” appears seven times in the New Testament (Rom. 1:17;3:5,21,22; 2 Cor. 5:21; James 1:20; 2 Pet. 1:1). It is the summation of all that a holy and just God requires to save sinners in mercy and grace through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the merits of the obedience unto death of Jesus Christ as Surety and Substitute of His people, God’s elect given to Him before the foundation of the world. It is the righteousness God has freely imputed (charged, accounted) to all His people as the only ground of their justification before Him. It is the source and foundation of spiritual life imparted by the Holy Spirit in the new birth resulting in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance of dead works and idolatry. This is the good news of the Gospel. – Pastor Bill Parker
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6)
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There is only one true gospel! That “one faith” that Paul spoke of. This one true gospel is something worth defending, something worth suffering persecution for and something worth separating for if it becomes necessary. In this age of generic religion, universalism, religious correctness and compromise, would to God that He would put it in some hearts to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.” That God would raise up a people who were more concerned for His glory and the glorious gospel of Christ than they were of offending the law and works mongers of this religious world. If we cannot distinguish between the true gospel and the false, then we only know the false. If we can receive without any difficulty as brethren those who undoubtedly neither know nor want to hear the gospel, then we are ourselves like them. Those we refer to as “Christian” show what we really believe is the basis for being a Christian. At Antioch where they were first called Christians, it was because they followed the teachings, the doctrine, of Christ. They followed, believed, preached, and supported the only true gospel and separated themselves from those who didn’t. Christ said whoever was ashamed of Him and His words before this wicked generation, He would be ashamed of them at His glorious coming. His words cannot be separated from Him who is the Word! May we be as Paul and "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)
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