The Jericho Road

   We cannot “win Christ” and “be found in him” through a righteousness of personal moral achievement. Our attempts to conform to the law of God as a means of righteousness are futile. The righteousness that is acceptable to God is that of Christ himself, one we receive by faith in his offering himself for our sins. Only the blood of Christ is sufficient to reckon a soul righteous before God. 

   Our obedience to God is not a righteousness God accepts as an act of justification. For a simple reason, man is unable of himself to obey the law of God. At our best we are completely dependent on the act of Christ dying for us. We are never more righteous than when we place our faith in him and his work of salvation. 

   The law is spiritual; we are carnal by nature, sold under sin. To render the spiritual obedience the law requires is impossible for human beings unless, by faith, we receive the righteousness of Christ himself. 

   Only then is he or she accounted as if having never sinned, yet even then we remain far from perfect. More than this, receiving his righteousness as a gift secures for us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, of Christ himself. As we remain dead to the sinful nature through our rebirth and alive to God through the power of his resurrection, we are able to obey the law of God in Christ.

   This obedience in Christ, what Paul calls the obedience of faith, includes not merely refraining from acts of disobedience but also performing the duties toward God and man the love of God calls for. What of the positive actions we are asked to do? What of sharing the Word, visiting the sick, easing our neighbors burdens in life? What of sharing our wealth, our material and spiritual gifts from God with those in need? Have we accounted for every moment of time, for every word we utter, for every thought we think? What have we omitted in our seeking for holiness?

   We should also ask ourselves why we want to be “right”? Is it because we love God from the heart and desire to please him or is it because a love of self drives us to prove our righteousness? Or perhaps we think righteousness will be our free pass to eternal glory?

   Do we pursue God in prayer and a study of his Word as fervently as Jesus? Can we say with certainty that our love for God and man is equal to the righteousness of Christ demanded by the law? Has our business in life equaled the ministry of Jesus? This is the true standard of righteousness by the law, the unselfish, sinless service revealed in the life of Christ. Who can every say they equaled that in obedience to God? 

   I’ve never found it true. The best man can offer of his own gifts to God fall so short of his righteousness that Isaiah called them filthy rags. So should we. 

   If we would have peace with God, we must count all our works as did Paul, as garbage compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ our Lord. We must repudiate any righteousness that would allow us to boast and rob Christ of the glory he deserves. 

   Only ignorance of the cross of Christ allows a soul to believe in a bloodless righteousness. Judgment bound, we all need the continual cleansing of our corrupt natures. If we pursue anything in life and for life, let it be “Christ and him crucified”.