Apr 19
29
WHY CHRIST’S CHURCH PREACHES GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
Psalm 22: 24: For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of
the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried
unto him, he heard.
When Christ finished the work of manifesting God’s righteousness in the
justification of his people, God heard him. Therefore, the Father raised
Christ and gave him the glory of revealing his righteousness in our
hearts, the same as God gave him the glory of revealing God’s
righteousness on the cross. So it is Christ, through the preaching of
the gospel of God’s righteousness, through the Holy Spirit, that reveals
God’s righteousness in our hearts. He said, “I will declare thy name
unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify
him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.” (vv22-24; Heb 2: 11-12).
God truly has rewarded us double! The same Redeemer who justified us by
manifesting the righteousness of God on the cross is our Prophet who
reveals the righteousness of God in our hearts so that we experience
being made righteous through faith.
Does any wonder why we preach the glorious good news of the
righteousness of God continually? It is because the righteousness of God
is the message that Christ, himself, effectually makes his church
proclaim and the one message by which Christ makes his lost sheep to be
born of him. It is God’s righteousness that makes those newly born of
God willing to unite and proclaim this good news with us! How do we know
this? It is what Christ himself said he would accomplish in his people
by declaring God’s name through the gospel, “A seed shall serve him; it
shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and
shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that
he hath done this” (Ps 22: 30-31).
Brethren, is not the righteousness of God great comfort to you? Are you
not thankful that the LORD loveth righteous judgment? This is all our
salvation! The righteousness of God that required Christ bear our sin is
the righteousness that made the just Judge forsake our Substitute by
which Christ justified us on the cross. It is the righteousness that
demanded we hear the gospel and be given life. It is the righteousness
we heard preached by which we were born again. It is the righteousness
by which we are established and no weapon can harm us (Is 54:14-17). And
it is the righteousness by which God assures us that he shall never
forsake us but shall preserve us forever—”For the LORD loveth judgment,
and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved forever.” (Ps 37: 28)
This is why Christ’s church preaches the righteousness of God. It is who
our God is and it is all our salvation!
Clay Curtis.