Christ Our Righteousness 
SIMPLIFIED
Sermons by J. W. “Bill” Lehman
Simplified by Sea Breeze
Chapter 1
Christ Our Righteousness
Today’s Message
My daughter, Sea, decided to paraphrase the first chapter of Bill Lehman’s “Christ Our Righteousness” and as this is one of my favorite books and a foundational concept for these last days, I thought this would be a fitting first blog post.
There are some today who minimize the message of Christ our righteousness, believing other topics such as the second coming of Jesus, current-day prophecies, our personal needs in the Christian life, or the law and the Sabbath are far more important. This demonstrates a terrible ignorance of the scope and meaning of the topic of Christ our righteousness. There will be no greater message sent from God than this precious truth-the message of Christ our righteousness. This final message will lighten the earth with the glory (character) of God, bringing to a close God’s final work upon the earth.
Throughout the Spirit of Prophecy we find that the terms third angel’s message, the Loud Cry of the third angel, justification by faith, and Christ our righteousness are all closely interrelated, and in fact synonymous. The terms “justification by faith” and “Christ our righteousness” are used interchangeably; therefore, Christ our righteousness is the third angel’s message, which we know to be the final message from God to the world in the last days.
The following quote is one of the most significant things Ellen White wrote regarding the third angel’s message: “Several have written to me inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel’s message, and I have answered, ‘It is the third angel’s message in verity.'” COR 64. There are several other statements like this. “The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones…It presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God….. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure.” TM 91,92.
This message is unique in that, even though you can apply Christ our righteousness to a personal experience at any time in the Christian era, it has a special quality in the last days. The Loud Cry of the third angel is the last message according to the book of Revelation. There are so few people who understand anything about this subject. If there is any message today that is “present truth,” it is the message of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ. It is our terrible ignorance of the scope and meaning of this topic that perhaps has kept us here so many years, when we thought Jesus would come back a long time ago.
We live in a day of extreme emergency; the time is short. Yet somehow, many who used to recognize that have begun to focus on other things, and forgotten all about it. We do not like to be pressured to think about the time anymore, but time itself is pressing us and urging us. To “sleep” (lose sight of the close return of Christ) in this day is as dire as Christ painted it where He said, “in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” Matthew 24:44. The Christ our righteousness message is absolutely vital to our correct understanding of the issues going on today. If we rely on our own understanding, we will misinterpret and deal with them incorrectly.
Here is the entire text of the third angel’s message: “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:1-5. This is what we call the “Loud Cry” of the third angel.
There are many similarities between Christ our righteousness and the third angel’s message that we often do not see. The Loud Cry declares that “Babylon is fallen.” Revelation 18:2. Babylon is the symbol of self-righteousness: do it yourself in your own efforts and your own strength. As Nebuchadnezzar said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built…by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” Daniel 4:30. Ancient Babylon fell because that same spirit persisted in his grandson Belshazzar during the feast in Daniel chapter 5. Current Day Babylon (the world) is also like that, and the Bible declares its fall.
We know that the third angel’s message also has to do with commandment keeping. Daniel 7:25 predicts a power that “thinks to change times and laws.” In Revelation chapter 13, it says that all will be caused to worship this power and its commands. This powers’ commands will be contrary to God’s commands. The power will deceive the masses with its miracles, causing all to receive a mark signifying that they follow the power’s commands. Those who do not submit and receive the mark will be prohibited from buying or selling. In Revelation 14:12, we are told that God’s people keep HIS commandments. Jesus said, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15. What a difference there is! We are to follow God’s commands out of love, while the power that will come from the sinful world will force compliance and worship.
So many of us, as we attempt to make ourselves better in our own strength, are joining with those who worship the beast and his image. It is all man made unless it is Christ our righteousness. The distinctions will become wide between those who love Him and those who are being forced, or who are trying to force themselves, to love Him. One group trusts only Him and His righteousness, and not their own. They are recreated by His power and not their own. They are transformed by His glory until all praise is to Him and not to themselves. The other group will take the praise to themselves for their own efforts to satisfy God’s laws.
Jesus taught that the law was supreme love for God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. In Revelation 18:3 we are taught that Babylon has an intimate love affair with “the kings of the earth.” She (Babylon) causes those that would not worship the beast to be killed. The mistreatment of human beings, the unkindness to others, is a part of the activities of the enemy of Christ; and yet they claim to be commandment keepers. They claim to obey God and to rightly represent Him in the earth. In opposition to this power will be those who will shine for Christ. Those who love God will truly obey Him; and they will also love their neighbors as themselves.
Notice that in the beginning of the third angel’s message, “the earth was lightened with his glory.” It is the glory of the message. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isaiah 60:1-3. This is a command to stand up and shine.
Jesus taught that “Ye are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14. You! Jesus also said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16.
Through good works light is to shine out to the world, and the result is that your Father will be glorified. The people involved in the Loud Cry will literally shine. In the book Early Writings, there are several places where it mentions this. “I saw a great light resting upon them [God’s people], and they united to fearlessly proclaim the third angel’s message.”
How do the saints become so glorious that they shine like the sun?
“…Through the Holy Spirit, God’s word is a light as it becomes a transforming power in the life of the receiver. By implanting in their hearts the principles of His word, the Holy Spirit develops in men the attributes of God. The light of His glory- His character—is to shine forth in His followers. Thus they are to glorify God….” COL 414. In other words, the world is to see God in His saints by seeing God’s character in them.
The Bible says the result of this light is that “the Gentiles [or unbelievers] shall come to thy light, and the kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isaiah 60:3. A tremendous ingathering, or harvest of souls will take place. Multitudes came in at Pentecost. We are told that the Latter Rain will be even greater. An Old Testament writer prophesied that “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14.
So what is God’s Character? Moses asked to see God’s glory. “And he said, I beseech Thee, shew me Thy glory. And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord…” Exodus 33:18,19. “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin….” Exodus 34:6,7. This is the character of God; and His character is love.
The Bible says that into this darkness of misunderstanding light will shine— the light of the glory of God. Someone must do more than just speak about this. It is more than a proclamation. It is a demonstration, a manifestation, so that the world sees God in His people. His character is to be demonstrated in our lives. White says, “The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them. The light of the Sun of Righteousness is to shine forth in good works—in words of truth and deeds of holiness.” He is counting on us to manifest Him to the world, to demonstrate what God’s true character is really like that He is truly a God of love.
The world has not yet, apart from Jesus, seen God. Jesus was the only One who has truly revealed Him to the world; and there will be a message that will lighten the whole earth that will say, “Behold God in His people; and God is love.” There will be no last plagues until the world sees that God is love. There will be no return of Jesus until the world sees that God is love. This is the last message, the revelation of God’s character of love.
We preach that Christ is coming back soon. Too often we only present a Christ that will be taking vengeance on those who know Him not. We teach about the Judgment that is going on, and that “you had better be ready, or you will burn!” Is that revealing a God of love? Are we trying to frighten people into being ready? God hates the sin, but He certainly loves the sinner. People don’t need to hear about their sin, they need to hear about their salvation! Turn their eyes to Jesus! God loves the sinner; He despises some of the things we do because they separate us from Him. Your parents do not like some of the acts you do because they love you and want what is best for you. God loves us the same way, but infinitely more!
How is it that God’s people will be like God in character? “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6. As we behold Jesus, we behold our heavenly Father, and a light and understanding comes into us; and the glory of His character becomes a glory to us. God’s goal for you is not to “become good enough” for salvation. God’s goal for every human being is to make us like Him. He wants to be seen in the world through us.
The goal of Christ our righteousness and justification by faith is not simply just to be good enough to get to heaven. It is not striving to be obedient. It is to be like Him. The world cannot be saved by seeing us become better and better and better. The world will be saved by God. They must see Him, they must love Him, they must adore Him, they must receive His Person; but they do not know Him until they see Him in us. We will be a revelation of God to a dying world.
Paul said that when the old man is put off, you are to be “renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:24. God makes a new person. And just like He caused the light to shine out of darkness back in the beginning, so He does now in you and in me. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord [His character], are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18. As we fall in love with Him and become enraptured with Him, as we adore Him, as we are devoted to Him, we see His glory (character) and we are changed.
Paul wrote that “we have this treasure [this glory, this character, this beauty] in earthen vessels [in corrupt human bodies], that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7. Everyone knows that fallen human beings are not like God. We cannot possibly produce characters like His. Therefore, all the praise is to Him if men become like Him. When He shines into our hearts and changes us, everyone will know that God has brought this about, and not man. The world will praise Him and not us, because the message is Christ our righteousness, not “us” our righteousness.
The first angel’s message says that we are to “worship Him.” Worship the Creator. He is the only One who can make light shine out of darkness. The minds of many today are darkened. That is why the Bible does not make sense, why God’s commands seem unreasonable, why we have so many frustrations and so many problems. Our minds are beclouded and dead from sin. They must be “quickened by the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18. He says He will shine into our minds, so that the darkness and mystery would be taken away; and you will say, “Oh, now I see!”
John told us in very simple words that “when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.” 1 John 3:2. Some people listen to this and become very discouraged. They say, “I can never become like Him.” But when you understand the Creator, and the power of God unto salvation, which Paul defines as the gospel, you will realize this fundamental truth. It is not what you can do, but rather what He will do with you when you let Him. “It is His glory to pardon the chief of sinners.” MH 161.
It is His glory to take care of the worst sinners. It does not bring praise to Him to take care only of fine, upstanding citizens who never had a sin in their lives; although there are not any like that— they just think they are. The ones who really bless Him are the ones that everyone thinks are lost; the hopeless cases. The Lord is capable. Do you think He is too small to accomplish His plans? We are everlastingly looking at our weak self and becoming discouraged. He tells us to look to Him and be saved and to be transformed. It is His glory that is to be seen in our transformation, not ours.
Many understand last day events and the third angel’s message through a viewpoint that righteousness comes from our own ability to follow the Law rather than the righteousness of Christ. This is called legalism. This view causes a terrible misunderstanding of the third angel’s message, since the message teaches that Christ is our only righteousness! To look at this message through legalism is to corrupt the message that God intended would finish the work. When we see all the issues of our day through the eyes of Christ and His righteousness, we will have a clearer vision of Christ and of His plan for us in these end times.
There is a gross misunderstanding about God today. Many of our own pastors, church members, parents and students do not understand Him. We often present Him in a vastly different way than He really is. No wonder people are afraid of the God they imagine Him to be! People do not feel accepted because He seems to be so tyrannical. We present Him as if He is pointing a finger at us. Many people do not know who God really is. “It is the darkness of misapprehension of God [we fear Him] that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted.” COL 415.
There are many of us who are fearful of God. We say, “I am a sinner. I keep on sinning, I can’t stop!” But God knows that everyone has been sinning, even before He sent His Son to this world. “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. He knows you are a sinner, but that does not chase Him away. He takes the sins that separate God and man out of the way. There is no more wall dividing God and man. That is misunderstood Old Testament theology that causes people to fear God! While the Pharisees fled from Jesus in the temple, the little children and the mothers stayed there. It is possible to become comfortable in the presence of God. Human beings will show the world what God is like. The whole world will learn that God is love.
All around us are heard the wails of a world’s sorrow. On every hand are the needy and distressed. It is ours to aid in relieving and softening life’s hardships and misery. Practical work will have far more effect than mere sermonizing. We are to give food to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and shelter to the homeless. And we are called to do more than this. Christ wants to give each of us a tender heart that sympathizes with people, that has compassion as He had, that is sensitive to the needs of those around us. He will supply all their needs according to His riches in glory, no matter what those needs are. This goodness of God will be reflected and manifested in humanity.
How He longs to come into your heart. God has been waiting many years to shine out into the darkness of this world through our lives. Human beings, multitudes in every land, will shine for God, saying, “Behold your God. He is like us, and we are like Him.” We are to proclaim His glory and grace, not by sermons, but every moment and every hour of every day, wherever we live, wherever we go. We cannot preach the Loud Cry in words. We will live the Loud Cry. And then Jesus will come.