Jesus Made Us Right With God
I will raise unto David a righteous
Branch, and a King shall reign
and prosper… The Prophet Jeremiah
Doesn't it make sense that becoming a Christian
is all about Christ and not about us? Jesus came
into the world, born of a virgin girl named Mary
and without sin. He is God's first born Son, promised
to Abraham long ago, whose birth we celebrate
on Christmas day. It is all about the righteous
One, Jesus Christ, coming to the earth as a sinless
sacrifice to take our place on the cross, to make
us right with God and to give us His righteousness.
THE SACRIFICE BRINGS RELATIONSHIP
God's plan has always centered around sacrifice.
A sacrifice is the offering of something precious
to God so we can find favor. In the Old Testament,
the blood of animal sacrifices was offered to
obtain favor with God. But these offerings did
not make the person completely right with God.
Only by Jesus Christ coming to earth to be the
perfect sacrifice for the wrongs of mankind, could
man become righteous.
The writer of Hebrews says, "But Christ
being come an high priest of good things to come,
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle…Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own
blood he entered in once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us" (9:11,12).
The Lord came looking for Adam and Eve in the
garden after they sinned, but they hid themselves
from His presence in fear. God desired an intimate
relationship, but their sin separated them from
Him. Since that day, mankind has been running
from a loving relationship with God (See Diagram
#2).
The first sacrifice in Scripture is related to
this Fall in the Garden of Eden. Adam's relationship
with God was broken, so, "Unto Adam also
and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of
skin, and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21).
The blood of an animal was shed to cover the sins
of Adam and his wife. He wanted peace with Adam;
but in fear, Adam still felt God would judge him
harshly.
This kind of fear does not come from God, but
was passed to us through Adam. The Apostle Paul
told Timothy, "For God has not given us
a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love,
and self-discipline" (2 Tim-othy 1:7
NLT). The spirit of fear from the evil one is
the root of our unbelief today. We think, "How
could God love me? Why would He want a relationship
with me?" Regardless of our thoughts, God
desires a loving, trusting and personal relationship
with each of us.
Fear must be conquered in order to have a relationship
with God and others. Fear is the root of deception,
negative emotions and actions. The Lord desires
our deliverance from sin, fear and unbelief through
His power and love. He has made available for
each of us a stable life, but our fearful nature
must be dealt with by the cross. As fear is removed
from our lives, an open and honest relationship
with God will follow. The torment will leave as
we finally understand that God loves us and desires
us to have a trusting relationship with Him.
GOD'S PLAN IS GOOD NEWS
It was Jesus Christ who came to earth, took our
inherent sin from Adam upon Himself, and made
us right with God. This was God's plan from the
beginning of time. We must ask God to reveal His
plan to us, so we can trust in His having made
us righteous through the work of His Son on Calvary's
cross. In other words, we must trust or have faith
in Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, it was God's plan for men
to seek the priest at the tabernacle. This made
it possible for their sins to be covered by the
blood of animals, so a relationship with God could
follow. Today, it is God's plan that we come directly
to God for His forgiveness and righteousness.
This is possible because Jesus, our High Priest,
has made the way into God's presence through His
own blood. "Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace [ability], that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace [ability] to help
in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16, emphasis
added).
We are not to be afraid of our Heavenly Father.
"God is our refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble… Therefore we will
not fear" (Psalm 46:1,2a). He has provided
for our righteousness. We have the ability to
stand in God's presence without a sense of sin,
fear, guilt or inferiority. This relationship
is unattainable through our good works or acts
of self righteousness. This is really Good News
to those of us who all our lives tried to obtain
acceptance through our performance. We are accepted
by God because of the works of Jesus, and "…we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
Many of us today feel that we serve an angry
God. This is not true! God is not angry at you,
He loves you enough to send His Son to the cross
in your place. "Herein is love, not that
we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his
Son to be the propitiation [satisfaction] for
our sins" (1 John 4:10, emphasis added).
You have healing, deliverance, protection, soundness,
safety and all the promises of God because of
Jesus satisfying your debt with God. This is the
Good News! Is there any question that He loves
you?
Jesus came to earth among legalistic Pharisees.
Like many of us, they were trying to obtain right
standing with God through their rules, laws and
good deeds. Jesus proclaimed Good News to people
who were loaded down with religious burdens, saying,
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel [Good
News] to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable
year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18,19, emphasis
added). When is "…the acceptable
year of the Lord?" If this message is
speaking to you, it is right now!
The people of Jesus' day knew that Good News
had come to deliver them from the curse of the
law. At last, the truth had come to set them free
from a debt that they were unable to pay. The
truth of this Good News has come now to set you
free from the debt you are unable to pay. As the
old hymn goes, "What can wash away my
sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
JESUS IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
The Prophet Jeremiah prophesied the coming of
the Lord 2600 years ago, saying, "Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise
unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall
reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall
be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this
is the name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (23:5,6, emphasis
in the original). In Hebrew, He is called our
"Jehovah-Tseed-Kay-Noo" or "The-LORD-Is-My-Righteousness."
Jesus Christ, our Branch of righteousness, came
to be our righteous King.
Jesus Christ came to do the will of His Father.
God's will was for His Son to come and make us
righteous as prophe-sied. Jesus came saying in
John, "My Father worketh hith-erto and
I work" (5:17); "…I seek
not mine own will, but the will of the Father
which hath sent me" (5:30); and "…I
do nothing of myself … I do always those
things that please him" (8:28,29). His
purpose was to go to the cross and become the
righteousness for all who believe.
Jesus came to save a lost world badly in need
of righteousness. The Apostle Paul tells of our
condition and solution, saying, "For all
have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious
standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness
declares us not guilty. He has done this through
Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away
our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment
for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against
us. We are made right with God when we believe
that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life
for us" (Romans 3:23-25a NLT).
We can now enter into the rest that God has provided
righteously through Jesus alone. We can cease
from our own labor for righteousness, and enter
into His rest as the writer of Hebrews reminds
us, "For he that is entered into his rest,
he also has ceased from his own works, as God
did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief" (Hebrews 4:10,11).
Over and over in the Holy Scriptures, it is confirmed
that we cannot obtain righteousness by our own
labor. Jesus Christ came to make us righteous
with God 2000 years ago. We are to pray that all
unbelief will depart, so that faith may reign
in our hearts.
WHO IS GOD?
God is our righteousness. "Even as Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness" (Galatians 3:6). Abraham
looked ahead and saw his promised seed, Jesus
Christ, come to pass by faith. This was credited
to him as righteousness.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "And be found
in him [Christ], 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, emphasis
added).
In the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans, he
wrote, "Therefore, being justified [made
righteous] by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ… Much more then, being
now justified [made righteous] by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him"
(5:1,9, emphasis added).
Through an abundance of Scriptures, it is evident
that Jesus made us right with God. This is not
only Good News, but the greatest news. Therefore,
"…let us offer the sacrifice of praise
to God continually, that is, the fruit of our
lips giving thanks to his name" (Hebrews
13:15).
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