Sermon Tone Analysis

Sermon Scripture

Dikaios: To make or to declare righteous.

The same root word can be translated “righteous” or “just” or “righteousness” or “justification”.

It seems as though little emphasis is placed upon this aspect of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is not uncommon to hear that although we are not righteous, God looks upon us as righteous.

This suggest that God is willing just to declare us sinners righteous even though we are not.

However, God has made it clear that it is an abomination to Him to call evil good or good evil.

That is, he that declares the wicked righteous is an abomination to the Lord.

Thus in order to call us righteous He must first of all make us righteous.

This is another wonder of His grace!

It is clear that we were not made sinners by our faith in Adam, or for that matter, not by anything we did, but simply because we were in Adam.

It is also clear that we were not just declared to be sinners but were, in fact, sinners.

In the same way we were not made the righteousness of God by anything we did or by personal faith in Him but solely because we were in Him and our heavenly Father made Him to be sin in our place.

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Once we have been made righteous we can then be declared to be righteous because, in fact, we are righteous.

To suggest that He did not make us completely righteous is not only unbiblical but belittles the finished work of our Lord and defines the “righteousness of God” to be something less than righteous....(even hypocritical by definition)

This righteous “new creation” does, and only does, righteousness.

To suggest that righteousness can do unrighteousness is to suggest either:

that God did not make us the righteousness of God by the death of Christ in our place, or...

that the righteousness of God can do unrighteousness which He says is impossible.

This truth is pointed out again by the Holy Spirit in

The “is born” is perfect in the Greek, meaning “completely born in past time with the result that he remains eternally born”

The “cannot sin” is “has no power to sin”.

It is clear that the one made righteous, the new man, no longer has the power to sin for if he did he, of course, would not be righteous.

It should be pointed out again that we are not made the righteousness of God in Him by personal faith in Him but because God mad Him sin in our place.

It is the new man that is righteous not the old man who still sins, and only sins.

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Stop for a moment and consider what these words tell us of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for us.

The price for sin, our sin, and all our sin, has been completely paid, we have been reconciled to God.

He has been propitiated, and we have been made righteous.

All by the finished work of our Lord, absolutely by nothing we have done.

Not by belief, not by sorrow, not by repentance, not by baptism, not by....any work of self, but by Christ and Christ alone.