Mercy and Love are Righteousness
Many have a mistaken idea that righteousness is ONLY obedience to the law. Certainly it includes obedience to the law as an expression of love. Jesus said, ” If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15. ” For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” 1 John 5:3.
The Pharisees considered themselves as righteous people, but Jesus said, ” Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:20.
What was lacking in their righteousness? Jesus explained it clearly to them. ” Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Matt. 23:23.
Jesus included mercy as part of the law; and this was the part that was lacking in their righteousness.
Sister White explains it further, ” Righteousness is love, and love is the light and the life of God.” M.B., p. 18. It was the righteousness of God that He sent His Son to this world to save man from sin. It is the righteousness of God that He forgives us our sins, and accepts us as His children.
” Nothing but the righteousness of Christ can entitle us to one of the blessings of the covenant of grace.” PP 431.
” Paul and his fellow-workers proclaimed the doctrine of righteousness by faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ.” AA 207.
” The repentant soul realizes that his justification comes because Christ, as his substitute and surety, has died for him, in His atonement and righteousness.” 6 BC 1073.
The death of Christ on the cross was His righteousness. Therefore now by His righteousness, we can be justified. ” When God pardons the sinner, remits the punishment he deserves, and treats him as though he had not sinned, He receives him unto divine favour, and justifies him through the merits of Christ;s righteousness.” 1 SM 389.
In 1889, Sister White wrote that not one in a hundred among the church members understand this message to themselves. How could they then teach it to others if they themselves do not understand it? I have heard comments, that God is righteous, but also He is love. In a similar way, some believe that God;s mercy is above his righteousness. These are heresies that try to make inroads into the teachings of the church.
The message of Chris;s righteousness is the third angel;s message in verity. If someone loses this message, then he could not possibly be a part of the third angel. This message is as a lighthouse in a dark sea; it has guided men and women back to God. It is the only message that brings peace to the restless human heart. This message gave hope to the first human pair in paradise, that what was lost through sin can be gained by Christ;s righteousness.
This message brought comfort to the dying thief on the cross. It is the message of greatest love which, as a sweet music has thrilled the ears of desperate victims of Satan.
Paul writes, ” Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Rom. 3:24, 25.
It is the righteousness of Christ that pardons our sins.
” The righteousness of Christ, as a pure white pearl, has no defect, no stain, no guilt. This righteousness may be ours. Salvation, with its blood-bought, inestimable treasures, is the pearl of great price.” The Faith I Live By, p. 111.
” The righteousness of Christ alone can give you power to stem the tide of evil that is sweeping over the world.” PK 175.
In the 1888 Conference, many Adventist leaders rejected the Christ’s Righteousness message, and by so doing committed sin against the Holy Spirit. Many today do the same, by ignoring it, and neglecting the study of this message that is so vital for our temporal and eternal welfare.
Ten years ago, we had 16 articles about the Christ’s Righteousness message in the Reformation Messenger. Anyone interested in the study of this topic can write to the I.M.S. Publishing and request a reprint of them.
May the Lord bless you in your study of this message, and if you put it into practice, it will make you perfect, that is, sinless, and ready for heaven.
AMEN.