Is Jesus Enough for Your Righteousness?

One of the reasons people don’t come to Christ is simple, they feel they don’t need to. After all, it’s only sick people who visit the Doctor. They feel they are decent and good and, therefore, think they are qualified to approach God. But as Spurgeon says, “There are people who quite misunderstand the gospel; they think that righteousness qualifies them to come to Christ; whereas sin is the only qualification for man to come to Jesus.”

When we are most aware of our sins, it is then that we see our need for the Saviour. In fact, the more we understand of the Holiness of God, the more we see the absolute necessity to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ alone. By faith we understand that nothing but a perfect righteousness is suitable for our approach to God. Nothing more is required but nothing less will do! But where do we find a perfect righteousness? Either we provide this righteousness for ourselves or we will have to borrow and beg it from someone else.

So, let’s look again at Jesus and ask, is His righteousness enough for you? Before you answer, see Him once more at Golgotha. There He is the great sin-bearer, the perfect one! -----look at the soldiers, tearing off His clothes, the very clothes the sick had touched for healing. There He is, naked and ashamed! But why? It was because all had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It was because the wages of sin is death! It was so that we, who have no righteousness of our own, might be clothed in His perfect righteousness and be un-ashamed.

Without His righteousness we would all, as it were, stand naked and exposed before the Justice of God on the Day of Judgment. Is His righteousness enough for you? Is HE enough for you?

Look again at Calvary. With angry nails they fastened Him to the cross. They pierced the feet which had carried Him to proclaim the Good news. With hatred, they hammered their spikes into those hands. What harm had those hands ever done? They were righteous hands, hands of help and healing yet in their fury they fasten them to the cross. Hear the blows of the hammer, listen to His screams, see the blood. Listen, see and above all, rejoice for here is the love of God!

“Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.”

Who nailed Him there? Was it the Jews for anger? Was it Pilate to show his power? Was it the soldiers for spite? No, it was our sins that nailed Him there—yours and mine. As Bishop J.C. Ryle astutely observes, “Our sins struck the hammer.” It was our sins that bruised and wounded Him. It was we who crucified Jesus.

But, have you embraced this sacrifice as your own? Since you are reading this, the chances are that you’ve heard much about the cross. But is Jesus your righteousness? George Whitefield said it like this,

“Here’s something we must learn, going to Church and being good will not give you access to God. The only access we can have is if we have the righteousness of Christ. Nothing but Christ! Nothing but Christ! We need Christ alone and Christ only to be our righteousness.”

“When is the last time you thought of the love of Christ in dying for you? Is Jesus ever in your thoughts? Do you love Him? If you love Him and He is your righteousness, let the righteousness of your Lord be continually in your mouth. Talk about His righteousness. Recommend it to others! Think of the greatness of the gift, as well as of the giver! Tell everyone you know that Christ is your righteousness and you are saved, not because you are good but because Christ Jesus is your righteousness. Let everyone know that the Lord is your righteousness, and that you are waiting for the Lord Jesus to come back from heaven to fetch you!”

Now then, let’s ask an awkward question, if Christ is your righteousness, why do you love your sins? They were Christ’s executioners! Isn’t it time to quit fooling around with them? Jesus is the Savior from sin, therefore, He delights to deliver you from your love of them. So pray like this, “Lord, I willingly acknowledge that it was my sins that pierced You. I don’t love you enough to hate my sins but I ask you to change that! I thank you that you have loved me and taken responsibility for me. By grace, let me hate the things that you hate and love the things that you love. From this moment, let me trust, adore, and love You as my only Savior, my Lord and my righteousness.”

“On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.”

William Rees