                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

            Perfect Righteousness, Your Inheritance -- Claim It!

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By David Wilkerson
August 19, 1996
__________

          There is only one kind of righteousness that God
          accepts -- and that is perfect righteousness! Nothing
          else will stand in His presence on Judgment Day. Unless
          our righteousness is absolutely perfect, He cannot save
          us, justify us, recognize or accept us.

          Yet, is there anyone brazen enough to think he can
          stand before the throne of Jesus Christ and present
          something of his own doing -- good works, good
          behavior, all the dos and don'ts he observed -- and
          call it perfect righteousness? No -- never! Such a man
          will find himself on that day wearing filthy rags!

          There are two kinds of righteousness. First, there is
          the righteousness of man. This righteousness is a
          life-and-death battle to remain above temptations -- a
          struggle with only partial victories and many horrible
          defeats. It consists of great efforts to do good, to
          avoid evil, to please God by rising up from our
          failures and trying to do it right the next time. I
          think of the old gospel song, "Try Me One More Time,
          Lord." It says, "Lord, I've failed -- please, try me
          one more time!"

          Yet, in the end, a legal, manmade righteousness is a
          terrible struggle, mixed with torment. Whenever
          temptation turns into failure, we fall into total
          despair, as though God has totally forsaken us. We
          become caught in an endless cycle of sin and confess,
          sin and confess... We are always uneasy in the presence
          of God, constantly aware of having done things that are
          wrong. We feel we never measure up to the righteous
          standard of God.

          Indeed, many Christians have never broken free from
          this struggle. The apostle Paul says of these: "...they
          have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge"
          (Romans 10:2).

          In other words: "These people mean well. They truly
          love God and try to please Him. But they are ignorant
          of what He has provided for them in Jesus Christ!"

          "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"
          (verse 3).

          Do you submit yourself to the righteousness of God in
          Jesus Christ? Or do you still think you are somehow
          able to mold, polish and work on yourself, so that
          eventually you can say, "I'm okay, Lord. I can't really
          think of anything in my life that is wrong."

          The truth is, even if you've kept 99 percent of the law
          -- even if you've broken just one point -- you would
          still be condemned before God! You don't have a
          righteousness He can accept. Even if no one could point
          a finger at anything in your life, your every action
          still has to come from an absolutely clean heart that
          springs from God's pure love. If not, you can't be
          acceptable before God!

          Paul's desire was to:

          "...be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
          which is of the law, but that which is through the
          faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
          faith" (Philippians 3:9).

                      -------------------------------

                          There Is a Righteousness
                         That Is Wholly Acceptable
                         to God -- and Is Available
                            to Every Believer!

                      -------------------------------

          The only righteousness that is acceptable in God's eyes
          is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord.
          And it is a righteousness that can be had only by
          faith!

          The writer of Hebrews introduces us to the truth that
          this righteousness is the inheritance of all true
          believers. It is something Jesus has left for us,
          something which belongs to us, a legacy:

          "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen
          as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving
          of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and
          became heir of the righteousness which is by faith"
          (Hebrews 11:7).

          Noah became an heir not by building an ark, but by what
          he believed and preached. He grasped this knowledge of
          righteousness which God had revealed to him -- a
          righteousness that is by faith -- and he became an heir
          of a perfect righteousness!

          Beloved, you and I were given a great inheritance when
          Christ departed the earth. He left us a title and deed
          to His very own perfect righteousness. Of course, Jesus
          lived in absolute poverty while on this earth; He owned
          no land, no money. But He left us riches greater than
          the diamond mines of South Africa, greater than the oil
          fields in the Middle East, greater than the gold and
          silver buried under America's mountains. Jesus gave us
          an inheritance that can make us far richer than any
          person on the face of the earth. It is an inheritance
          to a perfect righteousness that allows us to stand
          before God uncondemned!

          Once you understand this inheritance, you can stand
          against every devil and demon in hell. Satan will not
          be able to accuse you before the Father, before your
          brethren, before your own conscience -- because you are
          an heir to the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ!

          When Elijah went up to heaven, he left Elisha his
          cloak. Likewise, when Jesus went up to the Father, He
          left us His own garment -- His own perfect
          righteousness! He cast it upon us, as surely as Elijah
          cast his garment upon Elisha. The prophet's action was
          a type and shadow of what was going to happen when
          Jesus was translated to the Father. Indeed, we are
          heirs to a wonderful garment of righteousness that
          covers us completely -- making us acceptable in God's
          holy presence!

          This garment is our inheritance -- and God expects us
          to value it! He expects us to seek after it, to be
          willing heirs to His legacy. You may remember what
          happened when King Ahab came against Naboth, coveting
          his vineyard. Naboth valued his vineyard so much, he
          rejected Ahab's offer to buy it, saying, "The Lord
          forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my
          fathers unto thee" (1 Kings 21:3).

          He said, "God forbid that anyone should take my
          inheritance from me. It's mine!"

          I believe the most important thing you can seek God for
          in your life is to understand that this inheritance is
          yours -- and that it's waiting to be claimed! The
          knowledge of the perfect righteousness of Jesus will
          put you on a rock that is unshakeable. It will end all
          your useless struggles and put you in God's presence
          justified and accepted.

          Now, if God has provided you with such an inheritance
          -- whereby you can stand before Him with a perfect
          righteousness in Jesus Christ -- then you should want
          it! It should be an inheritance nobody can take from
          you. No devil should be able to lie it out of your
          spirit. No man should be able to steal it from you. No
          emotion should drain you of it.

          Because God said it, you've got to lay hold of it! You
          need to seek it, go after it, allow your soul no rest
          until you get your hands on it!

          "...seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
          righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
          you" (Matthew 6:33).

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                           When God Created Adam,
                           He Knew He Would Abuse
                          His Free Will and Sin!

                      -------------------------------

          God knew that Adam would abuse his free will, bringing
          rebellion, sin and death upon the whole human race.
          Indeed, through the sin of one man, all humankind stood
          before the Lord as sinners.

          But God loved us -- and from the foundation of the
          world He had a plan by which sinful humanity could be
          reconciled and accepted as righteous in His presence.
          In fact, God kept coming to man -- but man hid himself
          because his conscience condemned him. Yet the Lord, in
          His infinite wisdom from the beginning, always had a
          plan. That plan was the giving of His own dear Son as a
          sacrifice, to ransom us from sin!

          Justice demanded a penalty for sin: "...the soul that
          sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4).

          And that penalty -- death -- would be paid by Jesus
          Christ on the Cross, with His own blood. God said He
          would gather the aggregate sins of all humankind -- in
          every generation -- and lay them to the charge of His
          Son. Jesus would become the sacrificial lamb. Only then
          would God's justice be satisfied!

          So, even as sin was laid on all humankind by one man,
          so grace was passed on to us all by one Man: "For as by
          one man's disobedience were many made sinners, so by
          the obedience of one [Christ] shall many be made
          righteous" (Romans 5:19).

          By Adam's sin, we all were made sinners. And by Jesus'
          sacrifice, we are made righteous. Jesus ransomed us --
          He paid the price -- so that the devil would have no
          claim on those who repent and trust in Christ and His
          completed work.

          Now, all along God knew that man could not keep or
          fulfill His divine law. He had instituted the law to
          bring order to the human race, lest we destroy
          ourselves. The law was for our own protection; it was
          to make us realize that in our own strength and
          righteousness, we could not stand before a holy God.

          The law was a mirror God held up to us, saying, "Let me
          show you what I expect, what My justice requires. Here
          is My law -- and here is where you've failed -- where
          you're living in sin! You've failed at this point, this
          point, this point.... No one is righteous enough to
          fulfill My law!"

          The Pharisees tried to fulfill the law. They observed
          more than 600 regulations, from the washing of hands
          and pots to refusing to touch a Gentile. They tried to
          keep all the law -- believing that one day they could
          stand before God and say, "I kept all Your laws. I did
          this, this and this. Now You are obligated to save me."

          But no one can expect his good works to merit
          justification. God's Word answers, "If you've failed
          just one point of the law, you've failed the whole
          law!" If you expect God to accept you for your good
          behavior -- your good deeds, your self-denial, your
          sufferings -- forget it! You'll never be able to keep
          the whole law.

          Because we couldn't meet justice's demands to fulfill
          God's law, Jesus came to earth -- and He perfectly
          fulfilled the law of God, to the very letter. He never
          failed one point of it -- and He did it all out of pure
          motives of love.

          "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
          prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil"
          (Matthew 5:17).

          When Jesus ascended to the Father, He presented to Him
          an absolutely perfect righteousness. His perfect
          obedience had fulfilled all the demands of the law. And
          His blood was presented in full payment for our sin.
          Here stood a Man in the presence of God whose
          righteousness was perfect -- and therefore acceptable
          to the Father.

          So, Satan had no accusation against Jesus: "...the
          prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me"
          (John 14:30).

          Jesus said, "The devil can't point at anything in Me. I
          fulfilled the law -- I paid the price of sin with My
          own blood -- and I now stand before the Father in
          perfect righteousness!"

          And now, because of His sacrifice, none of the charges
          of the law can be held against us!

                      -------------------------------

                             God Can Accept No
                            Other Righteousness
                            but Christ's Perfect
                              Righteousness!

                      -------------------------------

          It is impossible for God to accept any righteousness
          other than Christ's. No other human could ever meet the
          requirements; no person could walk the same path or pay
          the same price He did. Only Jesus' righteousness will
          stand before God:

          "...all our righteousness are as filthy rags..."
          (Isaiah 64:6).

          This matter of understanding how God justifies His
          people is not for babes. It it is a truth for
          full-grown believers! Yet so many Christians are still
          babes, drinking milk. All they understand is
          forgiveness of their sins. So few go on to the meat of
          the Word of righteousness!

          "For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word
          of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat
          belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who
          by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern
          both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:13-14).

          Milk is for babies -- and babies need constant
          attention! They feel good only when Mother is in the
          room. And when Mother leaves, they cry out with fear.
          They have to be able to see her, feel her, touch her to
          feel secure.

          Likewise, the believer who remains on milk lives in
          constant dread of his salvation. He is never at ease
          with the heavenly Father. Instead, he's always uptight,
          thinking God is ready to send him to hell every time he
          fails. He does not know or understand his position in
          Christ -- and therefore he never knows the peace of
          God. He cannot believe that God is fully committed to
          save and keep him.

          Paul is saying there is meat available to us -- food
          that will cause us to grow into maturity, to become men
          and women in Christ, to develop into full stature as
          believers. Beloved, this meat is the truth concerning
          Christ's perfect righteousness! Understanding it allows
          you to remain secure in your salvation. You don't have
          to fear that God will forsake you every time you slip
          and fall. No -- you will have victory!

          But if you don't have this truth, the devil will play
          havoc with your feelings. He'll lie to you and push you
          around. Unless you have this truth as a foundation
          under everything you believe, nothing will be right in
          your doctrine, your theology, your life. You can't even
          obey God until you understand it!

          You have to be convinced that nothing you can ever do
          will produce an acceptable righteousness before God. It
          has to come from another source! When I stand at the
          judgment seat, I have no other plea but the
          righteousness of Jesus Christ.

                      -------------------------------

                         How Does the Righteousness
                         of Christ Become Our Very
                          Own Righteousness -- So
                         That We Can Stand Accepted
                            in God's Presence?

                      -------------------------------

          We will never be justified or accepted as holy and
          righteous before God, unless we stand before Him with
          Christ's perfect righteousness as our own. After all,
          that is the only righteousness God will ever recognize.
          So, how can we receive Christ's perfect righteousness?

          It becomes ours by imputation. The heavenly Father
          imputes it to us through our faith.

          "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the
          man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without
          works..." (Romans 4:6).

          Paul quotes David as saying, "The richest, most
          blessed, most peaceful man on earth is the one who
          understands he has a perfect righteousness imputed to
          him -- without works!"

          "(Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through
          unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to
          God... And therefore it was imputed to him for
          righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake
          alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to
          whom it shall be imputed..." (verses 22-24).

          This righteousness has to be imputed to us. It is not
          ours by infusion. In other words, God doesn't just pour
          it into us. No -- it is never our righteousness; it has
          nothing to do with what we have done or accomplished.
          It is always His righteousness, imputed to us --
          credited to our account.

          The word impute means "to regard or esteem, to
          consider, to attribute to a person something he does
          not have, to reckon or credit to one's account." When
          Jesus imputes His righteousness to us, God looks upon
          it as our very own. No, we did not earn it. Christ did
          it all -- and He credits it to our account!

          This imputation comes by faith alone. We can't work for
          it or merit it in any way. Rather, because of our faith
          in Jesus and His redeeming work, the Lord credits the
          righteousness of Christ to us -- and we are reckoned as
          perfect in Him. That's right -- you and I are credited
          with the same righteousness that Jesus obtained here on
          this earth. By confessing our sins and having faith in
          Him, we stand before God with an imputed righteousness.
          And it is a perfect righteousness that is of faith and
          not of works:

             * "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by
               grace..." (Romans 4:16).

             * "For with the heart man believeth unto
               righteousness..." (10:10).

             * "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith
               of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
               believe: for there is no (distinction)" (3:22).

             * "To declare, I say, at this time his
               righteousness: that he might be just, and the
               justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (verse
               26).

          I ask you: Is there anything good in you that would
          cause God to send His Son to die for you? No -- it was
          an act of complete mercy and grace! God initiated it
          Himself. We were sinners, aliens, against Him. Yet,
          even then, God sent His only begotten Son to take on
          all our sins. It was all by grace!

          "But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we
          believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the
          dead" (verse 24).

          Oh, what a wonderful thing the power of faith is!

          First, God's Word tells us that Christ paid for the sin
          of humankind at the Cross, with His own blood; that He
          fulfilled the law and removed the curse; that He
          ransomed us from the claims of hell and the devil; that
          He lived a sinless life, keeping the law at every
          point; and that He will present us before the Father
          with a perfect righteousness.

          Then the Word tells us we can have Christ's perfect
          righteousness attributed to us -- that God will
          consider us as perfectly righteous in Jesus -- if only
          we will believe what He has accomplished for us! Please
          understand -- I am speaking of those who have repented
          of their sins.

          Oh, how my flesh recoils at the simplicity and ease of
          it all! The flesh cries, "No way! It can't be that
          easy. I have to help -- I have to pay something. After
          all, I still have problems in my life. I still struggle
          with sin. I haven't yet come to a place where I believe
          God is pleased with me. I can't expect Him to consider
          me righteous I still have so many things needing
          improvement. I need to clean up my act first."

          Certainly there may be tears on our part. We have to be
          humbled and broken. But a river of tears alone will not
          save anyone. A lifetime of struggles will not save
          anyone. God says, "It must be by grace through faith.
          No flesh shall glory in My presence!"

             * "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
               from faith to faith: as it is written, The just
               shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17).

             * "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of
               righteousness by faith" (Galatians 5:5).

             * "...righteousness...which is through the faith of
               Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
               faith" (Philippians 3:9).

          My faith has to rise above all my fears -- above all
          satanic lies, all feelings, all circumstances -- and
          rest in what God's Word declares. And His Word says
          that by repentance and faith in Christ, He looks upon
          me as having the perfect righteousness of Jesus. He
          accepts me "in the beloved" as holy and righteous!

                      -------------------------------

                         This Perfect Righteousness
                         Is Not Imputed by Degrees;
                     It Is Given Only in Its Fullness!

                      -------------------------------

          When you receive the perfect righteousness of Jesus
          Christ, you receive it all. There is no "50 percent
          perfect" righteousness or "90 percent perfect"
          righteousness. If it's perfect, then it's all there!
          Sanctification is the Holy Spirit helping us to become
          in practice what God sees us to be by faith.

          Let me give you a truth that may once and for all
          dispel your attempts to compare your righteousness to
          somebody else's.

          In my younger years, I always compared myself to
          certain others who appeared to be holy. These people
          always seemed to be aglow -- always upbeat, smiling,
          seeming much more Christlike than I. I never thought I
          measured up to their holiness. So I prayed, "Lord, make
          me righteous like Brother So-and-so. How wonderful it
          must be to live that way for You!"

          How wrong I was! Almost every person I felt that way
          about eventually fell. They weren't who I thought they
          were. Indeed, I have learned that nothing is as it
          appears; no one is quite as evil or quite as good as he
          may seem. Rather, there is only One who is truly
          righteous -- Jesus Christ our Lord -- and His
          righteousness is perfect!

          If we are in Christ, then we have His righteousness --
          and it is not attributed to us by degrees. No one
          receives more or less of it. It is the perfect
          righteousness of Jesus Christ -- and by faith we
          receive it in its fullness!

          We are to measure ourselves by His righteousness alone
          -- and not by anyone else's supposed righteousness:

          "...but they measuring themselves by themselves, and
          comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise" (2
          Corinthians 10:12).

          "...according to the measure of the rule which God hath
          distributed to us, a measure to reach unto you" (verse
          13).

          Paul is saying here, "There's a rule you can use to
          measure yourself. It is this: Everyone who truly
          repents and believes in the perfect righteousness of
          Christ -- who comes to Him in faith, believing in His
          work on the Cross -- is made perfectly righteous in the
          sight of God. You may not have everything worked out
          yet. There is still a daily work of sanctification
          through the power of the Holy Spirit. But you are
          accepted in the beloved -- imputed with the very
          righteousness of Christ!"

          Dear saint, it is time you stopped putting yourself
          either up or down as measured against others. God has
          imputed to you the full measure of the perfect
          righteousness of Christ:

          "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
          knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto
          the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"
          (Ephesians 4:13).

                      -------------------------------

                          God Speaks of a "Sorer"
                            Punishment for Those
                          Who Reject His Offer of
                          Righteousness by Faith!

                      -------------------------------

          Although Jesus offers us His perfect righteousness,
          many refuse it. They refuse His pardon, His peace, His
          justification from the law, His adoption into the
          family of God -- embracing instead their own form of
          righteousness by works. Scripture says of them:

          "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition;
          but of them that believe to the saving of the soul"
          (Hebrews 10:39).

          The Pharisees rejected this offer. And so do many
          Christians today. On Judgment Day, these will stand in
          line before the throne, wearing only the ragged garment
          of self- righteousness. They'll ask themselves, "What
          do I have to offer the Lord?" And when their turn
          comes, they'll say, "Lord, I've cast out devils, I've
          healed the sick, I've done mighty works in Your name."

          But He will answer, "I never knew you, you workers of
          iniquity! You've never had the perfect righteousness of
          My Son. You have only a righteousness that is by works
          -- and I don't know that kind of righteousness. I won't
          accept any righteousness except that which is by faith
          in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ!"

          Beloved, I refuse to live that way! Jesus Christ has
          left me an inheritance, and I claim it. It's mine!

          Scripture says, "...the righteous are bold as a lion"
          (Proverbs 28:1). If you can accept this truth of the
          perfect righteousness of Christ, you'll have the
          boldness of a lion. You'll never fear any person again.
          You'll never look at someone else's life and feel
          unworthy. You can say, "I have the perfect
          righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to me by faith!
          No, it's not mine -- it's His. But it's accounted to me
          by Jesus Himself, so I may call it my own!"

          It's time to stop your struggling. If the devil comes
          to you and says, "You're no good, you have no
          righteousness," you can answer: "Of course, I'm no
          good. Of course I have no righteousness in myself. But
          I do have the righteousness of Jesus Christ! Yes, I've
          failed God. But I have an Advocate with the Father --
          Jesus Christ the righteous!"

          When you stand before the Lord, you won't have to
          tremble, thinking, "What am I going to offer Him? What
          did I do right or wrong?" No -- you'll be thinking,
          "I've got nothing in myself to offer Him -- because
          I've got His righteousness, by faith!"

          Does this mean Christians are not obligated to do good
          works? Not at all. Justification by faith, and the
          imputed righteousness of Christ, sets the soul free to
          work in holiness and do good works flowing out of a
          surrendered, loving heart. Good works done in slavish
          fear bring no glory to God. Walking in true holiness is
          possible only to those who have laid hold of their
          inheritance -- Christ's perfect righteousness --
          because they are no longer imprisoned by fear and
          condemnation.

          I work, not to merit righteousness, but because His
          perfect righteousness is mine by faith. And now I am
          free and released to serve Him as a bondservant of
          love.

          Now, by the power of the Holy Spirit promised in the
          New Covenant, He turns me from all iniquity and
          empowers me to live out the righteousness He credits to
          me. Hallelujah!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

          This material is solely for personal use and is not to
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          on its web page. You are free to download, copy, print
          and distribute this material, so long as you do not
          post it on a different Internet site. You may, however,
          link this site to reference these messages.

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