One Man's Obedience.

 

(Excerpt - Sermon On Righteousness #9)

 

Continued…

 

"As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous."

 

That settles the whole question, as to whether you and I can do works that will make us righteous. It is by the obedience of one man. Now which man shall that be? Can I do righteousness that will do you any good? No. Can you do righteousness that will do me any good? No. Suppose that one man could do righteous works that would be set to his account as making him righteous--who shall he be? I cannot do it for you and you cannot do it for me. Then who is the man? Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

 

(Rom_5:19  For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

 

Jesus, by the obedience of Jesus shall many be made righteous.)

 

This settles the question as to whether justification by faith comes by the law. By the obedience of Christ are many made righteous or obedient. Righteousness is obedience to the law. Did you ever read or hear of any human being who kept the law perfectly? Or did you ever hear of anyone, however high his standard was set, who did not find something beyond, that he had not attained to? Even worldly men often have an ideal of their own, but the nearer they can come to that ideal, the greater lack they see in themselves. Anyone who is sincere in trying to reach a high standard, when he gets there, will see something beyond it.

 

There is one spotless life. There is one man, the man Christ Jesus, who resisted successfully all the powers of sin when He was here upon earth.

 

He was the Word made flesh.

 

God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself.

 

He could stand before the world and challenge any to convict Him of sin. No guile was found in His mouth.

 

Heb_7:26  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens

 

He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens," and by His obedience shall many be made righteous.

 

Then comes the question, how can this be? It is the same question that the Jews propounded to Christ, when He said, "Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, ye have no life in you." Said they, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" There are many today who may be found asking the same question when they say how can I have His life or His righteousness? Could Jesus explain to them how He could give them His flesh? He could not do it except by the words He spake unto them--they are spirit and they are life.

 

The plan of salvation cannot be explained to man. It was made by an infinite being, and we cannot understand it. As to how it takes place we are ignorant. Through all eternity we will not understand how it was done. It is only infinite power that can or could do it. It is only infinite wisdom that can understand it.

 

If we will eat the flesh of Christ and drink His blood, we will have the life of Christ. If we have His life, we have a righteous life; His obedience works in us and that makes us righteous.

 

(Joh_6:35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.)

 

This does not leave any room for the statement that Christ obeyed for us and that therefore we can do as we please, and His righteousness will be accounted unto us just the same. His obedience must be manifested in us day by day. It is not our obedience, but the obedience of Christ working in us. By those "exceeding great and precious promises," we take the divine life into us. The life we live is the life of the Son of God. He died for us, and loved us with a love that we cannot fathom. The righteousness that we have is His. Thanks be to God for the unspeakable gift. He lets us get all the benefit of that obedience, because we have shown our intense desire for obedience. That is why He gives it to us.

 

2Pe_1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

 

When you go to God, take these Scriptures on your lips, "We shall be saved by His life." "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

 

Take them to God in prayer. They are true, for the Lord Himself has said so. How can these blessings be obtained? By faith! Take it by faith, and it is yours, and no one can take it from you.

 

Then you will have it, although you do not understand how it can be done. When you have it, you have life. What life? The divine life. Then when you come up to the time of temptation, the time when you have usually fallen, you can tell Satan that he has no power to make you fall beneath that temptation, for it is not you, but Christ that dwelleth in you.

 

There never was a time in the life of any man when of himself he had power to resist temptation. We cannot do it. That proves that we must have a life different from our natural life in order to resist sin at all. That must be a life that sin has never touched and can never touch. Repeat the glorious words over and over again, "His life is mine, I cannot be touched by sin. His strength is my strength; His obedience is my obedience, and His life is my life. That was a sinless life, and by faith I have it, I hold to it, because it is mine, and sin cannot touch it." That is the only way to resist them, and that will be successful every time.

 

1891 General Conference Sermons- Study #9 A.T. Jones -to be continued.