The Gospel as Gift-Righteousness
The gospel is that Jesus the Christ has suffered the full wrath of God for my sin. This means he traded places with me, living the perfect life I should have lived, and dyed the death I should have died. The scripture in the picture above actually tells us that he literally became my sin so I literally become His righteousness. This is what church father Althanasius called "the Great Exchange". He took my sinful record, died for it, and offers me His perfect righteousness in return. When I received that grace in repentance and faith, full acceptance becomes mine. He lived in my place, and then died in my place, and then offered to me a gift. This is what theologians call "gift-righeousness."
This means that God could never love you more than he loves you right now, because God could not love and accept Christ more than He does and God sees me in Christ. God's righteousness has been given to me as a gift. This is great news!
I used to think my approval by God was based on if I went to church, or if I did all my spiritual disciplines consistently. I used to base my closeness on God in whether I had a good "Christian" week. If I did have a good week I was able to lift my hands and praise him and I felt close to Him. If I failed in some aspect in my life that week my lifted hands turned into chicken wings and it was really to sing in worship and praise him because I felt so far away from him. Many times it was responses and actions like these that drove my response to God. However, in Christ we now know that it is not what we do, the type of week we had, or where my emotions lie, that qualifies us before God, it is Christ alone. In Jesus we receive right standing before God as a gift. God now sees me according to how Christ has lived not on the basis of what kind of week I've had. Christ's salvation is 100% complete and, therefore, 100% the possession of those who received it in repentance and faith.
Pause here for a moment and consider what you have just read. At this moment, if you are in Christ, when God looks at you- regardless of your situation - He sees the righteousness of Christ. If we really believe that then it changes our heart and lives forever.
According to the gospel Jesus’ death has paid for every ounce of your sin; His perfect life has now been credited to you. In light of that, do you really feel like you could make God more favorable to you by doing your quiet time every day? Christ’s obedience is so spectacular there is nothing we could do to add to it; His death so final that nothing could take away from it. Scripture says that we are not to come into the presence of God timidly or apprehensively but with “boldness” (Heb. 4: 16 HCSB). The boldness that comes from knowing that God sees us according to the accomplishments of Christ. Our hearts are hardwired for “works-righteousness.” For most of us, that is completely counterintuitive. Martin Luther said that our hearts are hardwired for “works-righteousness”— that is, the idea that what we do determines how God feels about us. Unless we are actively preaching the gospel to ourselves daily, we fall back into “works-righteousness.”
This default "works-righteousness" mode is exactly what Satan, the enemy of our souls likes to exploit. One of his most effective weapons is making us forget the identity the Father has declared over us in Christ andbasing our approval on how well we've done. You see this clearly in the life of Jesus during the temptaion in Matthew 4:1-7. Here Satan tries to redirect Jesus' attention attention from the Fathers deceleration on to other sources of validation.
"[Since] you re the Son of God..."
Within this statement is the implication of doubt. The enemy is saying to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God shouldn't you be able to make things different?" Why would the Son of God be out in the desert alone? Shouldn't you be able to make bread from stones or have angels catch you when you fall? However, what is significant is what God had declared of Jesus in the previous chapter: "This is my Son in him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). Rather than feasting on the Father's declaration, the enemy wanted Him to look to other forms of valadation for His divine Sonship.
Jesus told the enemy the He did not need bread or protection to prove He was the Father's Son; the Father's declaration was sufficient.
If there were ever a time for Satan to bring out his “A-game,” this would have been it. Don’t you think it is significant that Satan began his “A-game” by trying to get Jesus to take His eyes off of the identity the Father had declared over Him and to seek validation in other ways? Satan’s approach to us is the same. Satan’s most effective weapon is to take our eyes off of what God has declared over us in the gospel. Did you catch that? Satan’s primary temptation strategy is to try and make us forget what God has said about us and to evaluate our standing before God by some other criteria.
Satan tries to beat us down by our failures, but Jesus calls us into our identity. So we need to clearly get this: both Satan and the Holy Spirit will point out your sin. But they do so in entirely different ways. and for entirely different purposes. Satan starts with what you did and tears down who you are. The Holy Spirit starts with what Christ has declared over you, and helps rebuild what you did. Satan has tricked so many of us into believing his voice is actually the voice of the Holy Spirit. We have grown accustomed to the voice of condemnation that we think the only thing the Holy Spirit ever says to us is, "Stop it! What is wrong with you? You are a horrible person! You need to make this up to God. But Jesus says to us what he said to the woman in john 8:11 after she was caught in adultery. He said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more". What is so signifigant about this statement is the order by which it come first is the promise second comes the command. God motivates us from the point of approval and acceptance and not towards it. We almost always try to revers it. Jesus' affirmation would give this woman the security that could free her from her destructive relationship with sex. Without that, she'd never truly break free. God's approval is the power that liberates us from sin, not reward for having liberated ourselves. Freedom come when we embrace our gospel identity. In Christ God couldn't love you more than he does right now.
Abiding in Jesus means reminding ourselves constantly that there is nothing we could ever do that would make God love us more, and nothing we have done that makes Him love us less.
The Gospel Prayer
“In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes You love me less.”
“Your presence and approval are all I need for everlasting joy.”
“As You have been to me, so I will be to others.”
“As I pray, I’ll measure Your compassion by the cross and Your power by the resurrection.”
This means that God could never love you more than he loves you right now, because God could not love and accept Christ more than He does and God sees me in Christ. God's righteousness has been given to me as a gift. This is great news!
I used to think my approval by God was based on if I went to church, or if I did all my spiritual disciplines consistently. I used to base my closeness on God in whether I had a good "Christian" week. If I did have a good week I was able to lift my hands and praise him and I felt close to Him. If I failed in some aspect in my life that week my lifted hands turned into chicken wings and it was really to sing in worship and praise him because I felt so far away from him. Many times it was responses and actions like these that drove my response to God. However, in Christ we now know that it is not what we do, the type of week we had, or where my emotions lie, that qualifies us before God, it is Christ alone. In Jesus we receive right standing before God as a gift. God now sees me according to how Christ has lived not on the basis of what kind of week I've had. Christ's salvation is 100% complete and, therefore, 100% the possession of those who received it in repentance and faith.
Pause here for a moment and consider what you have just read. At this moment, if you are in Christ, when God looks at you- regardless of your situation - He sees the righteousness of Christ. If we really believe that then it changes our heart and lives forever.
According to the gospel Jesus’ death has paid for every ounce of your sin; His perfect life has now been credited to you. In light of that, do you really feel like you could make God more favorable to you by doing your quiet time every day? Christ’s obedience is so spectacular there is nothing we could do to add to it; His death so final that nothing could take away from it. Scripture says that we are not to come into the presence of God timidly or apprehensively but with “boldness” (Heb. 4: 16 HCSB). The boldness that comes from knowing that God sees us according to the accomplishments of Christ. Our hearts are hardwired for “works-righteousness.” For most of us, that is completely counterintuitive. Martin Luther said that our hearts are hardwired for “works-righteousness”— that is, the idea that what we do determines how God feels about us. Unless we are actively preaching the gospel to ourselves daily, we fall back into “works-righteousness.”
This default "works-righteousness" mode is exactly what Satan, the enemy of our souls likes to exploit. One of his most effective weapons is making us forget the identity the Father has declared over us in Christ andbasing our approval on how well we've done. You see this clearly in the life of Jesus during the temptaion in Matthew 4:1-7. Here Satan tries to redirect Jesus' attention attention from the Fathers deceleration on to other sources of validation.
"[Since] you re the Son of God..."
Within this statement is the implication of doubt. The enemy is saying to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God shouldn't you be able to make things different?" Why would the Son of God be out in the desert alone? Shouldn't you be able to make bread from stones or have angels catch you when you fall? However, what is significant is what God had declared of Jesus in the previous chapter: "This is my Son in him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). Rather than feasting on the Father's declaration, the enemy wanted Him to look to other forms of valadation for His divine Sonship.
Jesus told the enemy the He did not need bread or protection to prove He was the Father's Son; the Father's declaration was sufficient.
If there were ever a time for Satan to bring out his “A-game,” this would have been it. Don’t you think it is significant that Satan began his “A-game” by trying to get Jesus to take His eyes off of the identity the Father had declared over Him and to seek validation in other ways? Satan’s approach to us is the same. Satan’s most effective weapon is to take our eyes off of what God has declared over us in the gospel. Did you catch that? Satan’s primary temptation strategy is to try and make us forget what God has said about us and to evaluate our standing before God by some other criteria.
Satan tries to beat us down by our failures, but Jesus calls us into our identity. So we need to clearly get this: both Satan and the Holy Spirit will point out your sin. But they do so in entirely different ways. and for entirely different purposes. Satan starts with what you did and tears down who you are. The Holy Spirit starts with what Christ has declared over you, and helps rebuild what you did. Satan has tricked so many of us into believing his voice is actually the voice of the Holy Spirit. We have grown accustomed to the voice of condemnation that we think the only thing the Holy Spirit ever says to us is, "Stop it! What is wrong with you? You are a horrible person! You need to make this up to God. But Jesus says to us what he said to the woman in john 8:11 after she was caught in adultery. He said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more". What is so signifigant about this statement is the order by which it come first is the promise second comes the command. God motivates us from the point of approval and acceptance and not towards it. We almost always try to revers it. Jesus' affirmation would give this woman the security that could free her from her destructive relationship with sex. Without that, she'd never truly break free. God's approval is the power that liberates us from sin, not reward for having liberated ourselves. Freedom come when we embrace our gospel identity. In Christ God couldn't love you more than he does right now.
Abiding in Jesus means reminding ourselves constantly that there is nothing we could ever do that would make God love us more, and nothing we have done that makes Him love us less.
- What about if you gave away all your money, wouldn’t He love you just a little bit more? Nope.
- What if you went to live on the foreign mission field? No again.
- What if you finally began to treat your spouse with grace? Nada.
- What if you took out the trash for her like she asked? She might love you more, but God wouldn’t.
- What if you went one full-week without a single, lustful thought? God’s acceptance of you is based on the fact that Christ went a lifetime without sinning against Him in even the slightest way. Now, you are in Him and He is in you. Thus, God could not love you more than He does right now, because He loves Christ perfectly.
The Gospel Prayer
“In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes You love me less.”
“Your presence and approval are all I need for everlasting joy.”
“As You have been to me, so I will be to others.”
“As I pray, I’ll measure Your compassion by the cross and Your power by the resurrection.”