Well, let me have you this morning to turn to the book of Romans. And while you're turning there, and I'll get to Romans in just a few moments, let me introduce our next gift. Our next gift is righteousness. Righteousness. And this is talking about imputed righteousness. It's not talking about our righteousness. Our righteousness can't save us, can it? He's talking about the righteousness that God gives through Christ by faith in Jesus Christ. Now we have listed 17 different responses to what is the gift. I mean, I've been building on the same sermon, what, five weeks now? And every time I go back home and I look at these different components of this, it's just like another world opens up again, and I have sermons within a sermon. But I listed 17 of them, and today we're starting number 10. I've listed them on the back of your bulletin that we've covered so far. So we've looked at salvation, redemption, the forgiveness of sin, eternal life, peace with God, abundant life, the Holy Spirit, grace, and last week we spent our entire time looking at repentance. And today we're starting out with righteousness. And we'll just see how far we get to go with this this morning. But as I said, we're talking about imputed righteousness. Again, this is not our righteousness. But it's the righteousness that is imputed to us by faith in Jesus Christ. Now there are a number of passages that reveal this to us, that God's righteousness is a gift. And by the way, all these things that we've covered up to this point, you need every one of them. It really shows the all-inclusiveness of salvation. But one of the verses, before we get to Romans, and I'm just going to read it, is found in Philippians 3, 9, where Paul says that his desire was to be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. That's how you get it. And when he says here, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, he's basically rejecting any notion that his standing before God is based on his obedience to the Mosaic Law. You know, prior to his conversion, he was a Pharisee. He was strictly adhering to the Mosaic Law. And he may have believed that this righteous act earned him favor with God. Most people that were committed to the same way that Paul was, did believe that. But after he encountered Christ, he realized that true righteousness came not by human effort, but as a gift of God through faith. Now, Paul contrasts two kinds of righteousness. There is a self-earned righteousness through the law. He says, my own righteousness. That's the righteousness that the person seeks to attain simply by obeying God's commandments. This would be what the Catholic Church would promote because they're told that they have to keep the Ten Commandments. They're even told that if you don't keep them, then you're lost. Let me ask you a simple question. Can you keep the Ten Commandments? Is there ever a time that you break any of them? Scripture teaches you break one, you broke them all. But that's what their own righteousness is. But because of our sinfulness, no one can keep the law perfectly. and therefore this kind of righteousness is inadequate for salvation. A second kind of righteousness that he mentions is a righteousness that comes from God through faith in Christ. That is imputed righteousness. That's where God credits the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to the believer when they trust in Him. And this righteousness is not achieved by any works, but it's received by faith alone. So Paul's statement here, in Philippians 3.9, it reflects his deeper understanding of justification. We are not justified by our works under the law, but by being clothed in Christ's righteousness through faith. So this is what I mean when I say this, that when God looks at you, He sees Christ. You and I have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And so when you think about all of this, and you think about what Paul is saying there in Philippians 3.9, that this really aligns with the message of the gospel, that salvation comes not by human effort, but by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. John Calvin said it this way, "...this is the wondrous exchange made by His boundless goodness, having become with us the Son of Man, He made us with Himself sons of God, and by His descent to earth He has prepared our ascent to heaven." What has to change for us to go to heaven? Nothing. Nothing. You're ready for heaven. Because you have the righteousness of Christ. Now, prior to that, what has to change? Your righteousness. You have to not trust your own righteousness, but you have to trust in God's. You trust in Jesus by faith. And when God regenerates you, He gives you His righteousness. Now over in 2 Corinthians 5.21, That's precisely the exchange that Paul is talking about when he says this, For he made Him, that is Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Paul here is underscoring the idea of a substitutionary atonement. Jesus, who was sinless, took on our sin, and in exchange, His righteousness is credited to us. So we have an exchange going on there. He takes our sin, and we take His righteousness. And that only happens at salvation. And it's a one-time act. It doesn't have to keep being repeated any more than the death of Christ has to be repeated. It doesn't have to be repeated. It's a one-for-all act, right? When Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected the third day and ascended to the Father, what does it say after that? He sat down at the right hand of the Father. The sitting down indicates the work is finished. He even said that on the cross. Right before he gave up his spirit, what did he say? To tell us, die. That means it is finished. Redemption has been accomplished by His once-for-all sacrifice. So this is the heart of imputation. We do not earn righteousness, but we receive it as a gift. It is a gift. In fact, all of these things, as I've been listing them for you, and I keep noting this over and over, These are gifts that make up the one big gift of salvation. Now, if you're in the book of Romans, let me have you go to chapter 3, Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, I want you to look at verse 21. What does Paul say here? He says, "...but now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, this was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed." For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It's excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." We are justified by faith. So Paul is explaining that the righteousness granted to the believer comes, again, not by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. It's described here as the righteousness of God. That is emphasizing the origin of this righteousness. It originates from God. It doesn't originate in you or in me. If it did, then we wouldn't need salvation. If we had an inherent righteousness that could get us to heaven, then Christ would have never had to have gone to the cross, right? There was no need for His sacrificial atonement. But we know that, like Isaiah says, that our righteousness is as filthy rags. Our righteousness only damns us to eternal hell. Our righteousness cannot save us. It's only God's righteousness. If you look over to chapter 4 and look at verse 5, Paul says, The one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as what? Righteousness. So the very faith that God gives you at the new birth It's credited as righteousness. See, when God regenerates you, He changes your will. He makes you willing to come. Because again, you and I were dead in trespasses and sins. We had no will whatsoever by which we could come. Because we're dead. But God, in making us alive in regeneration, in making us alive at the new birth, He enables us to come. In fact, John 6 says He draws us to Himself. So as you pray for your family or your friends that are not saved, this is what you should be praying. You should be praying That God would do what He did to Lydia there in Philippi, that He would open up their hearts to the gospel that you're presenting to them? Right? He has to open up the heart. That God would regenerate them, that God would give them the new birth, that God would make them alive, that God would cause them to be born again. All of those things are the work of God, not the work of man. Paul here in Romans 4 is utilizing an example of Abraham and David to clarify this doctrine of imputed righteousness. It's again received through faith, not works, and credited to the believer as a gracious act of God. Go to chapter 5. Chapter 5. Look at verse 17. For if by the transgression of the one death reigned through the one, much more those who received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. So the transgression of the one, who is that? Adam? Death reigned through Adam. And much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign through the One who is that, Jesus, who is referred to in Scripture as the second Adam. Isaiah 61 10 says it this way, I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will exult in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. You like that? He wraps you with a robe of righteousness. So each of these passages are reinforcing the foundational truth that we are not made righteous by our own efforts, but by God's gracious act of imputing Christ's righteousness to us through faith. Augustine said it this way, God does not give us His righteousness because we are righteousness, but because He is righteous. And that's exactly what we need, right? We need His righteousness. And so even if you go back to chapter 1 of Romans, and where Paul was talking about not being ashamed in verse 16 of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, and as it is written, the righteous man shall live by faith. But on the other hand, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That's all we can do. We can't produce a righteousness that is the kind of righteousness that God gives. Again, all that we can produce is something that is filthy, something that is tainted by sin. So that is a gift. That's a gift that God has granted. Now, if you're in Romans still, let me invite you to go to chapter 6. And let's introduce another gift. Look at verse 22. But now having been freed from sin, and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification and the outcome, eternal life. This next gift is freedom from sin. Freedom from sin. See, when God saves you, when He redeems you, He not only forgives you of your sin, He frees you from it. Because prior to salvation, Scripture says that you are a slave of sin. You are a slave of sin. That's why He says in verse 12, not to let sin reign in your mortal body. He said that you obey it in its lust. So when you obey sin, you are demonstrating a slavery to it. Verse 13, Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Look at verse 16. Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed. And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. That's what we are. God has freed us from sin. We've been set free. We're no longer in bondage to sin. We're no longer slaves of sin. We're now slaves of righteousness. Linsky says, now the two are reversed, then under sin, slaves, free in regard to righteousness and no fruit, but only the prospect of death, but now freed from sin, enslaved to God, and thus fruit at last, fruit indeed, in the prospect of life eternal. Now this concept, you're there in chapter 6, it's noted in verse 7, when he says that he who has died is freed from sin. Now, there are two kinds of death. You have the death of being dead in your trespasses and sins. Right? That's prior to salvation. But when God saves you, when He regenerates you, you're no longer dead to God, but you're alive to God. But now you have become dead to sin. So there's a difference between being dead in sin versus being dead to sin. Dead in sin, you're encompassed in it. You're enveloped in it. You're clothed in it. But again, when God redeems you, when He saves you, He frees you from the sin of your trespasses. And now you have become dead to it. Again, it's reversed. It's no longer your master. It's no longer the one that you obey. You have been freed. I've told you in time past, in my experience with memorizing scripture, that this was a chapter that me and a few friends had learned together. And it was really a reminder of what our standing was before God, because as young men, you're driven by so many different passions. I'll tell you right now, just by experience with this passage, that when you begin to realize you're standing before God and that you're not dead in sin anymore, you're dead to sin, it changes everything. It changes how you think, it changes how you look at sin, how you look at temptation. Now, none of us want to fall into sinful temptation, right? We don't want to dishonor our Savior. We don't want to give in to those sins that He died for. And so, therefore, this is a good reminder. So whether you memorize it or whether you read it often, this is a reminder that we all need. And you're not going to get any more grace than you already have, because some people believe that, well, if every time you sin you get grace, I might as well just not worry about sin, because God's going to give me a whole lot of grace. And Paul begins chapter 6, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Make genetai in the Greek. May it never be. Perish the thought. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? It's a good question. So we have been freed from sin. as a glorious and gracious gift given to us by our Heavenly Father. Paul carries this all the way into chapter 8. If you go to chapter 8 with me, look at verse 2. He says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous, or the requirement of the law, might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." I mean, you can just keep reading and seeing the glorious things that the Lord has done for you and I at salvation. But there he is showing us the implications of our freedom. Now, there is a warning, and that warning is found in Galatians 5 and verse 13. He says, You were called to freedom, brethren, but only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. See, there have been those who have capitalized on their freedom, but at the same time they have caused others to sin. because of the weakness of their faith. Paul gives examples of this about meat that was sacrificed to idols. You know, to the one who understands that an idol is nothing, to the one who understands that this meat is nothing but food, whose faith is stronger than, say, the new Christian that looks at that and says, I can't eat that. That was sacrificed to Baal. I can't eat that. That will defile me. But the stronger Christian says, no, it won't do any of that. It's OK to eat that. But because of his weaker brother, the stronger Christian is to abstain from partaking of that meat, all for the sake of his weaker brother. Now, let me shift that a little bit, because we have what is going on today, this casual, social drinking of alcohol. Now, I come from a background of that, so naturally I don't want to have anything to do with it. I know what it will do. I know its power. I know its deception. I know its influence. But there are believers out there saying that we are free. And we can drink. And yes, the New Testament does, talking about the drinking of wine. But we have to understand that the wine that they drank and the wine that we have today, or the different levels of alcohol that we have today, it's not the same. In fact, what is being drank today would be what the people that saw the apostles filled with the Spirit saying that they're drunk and this is barbaric. That's what they were seeing. That's what they were looking at. And even Paul says of deacons that if they're lingering long at their wine, then what's the point? They're seeking to get drunk. And usually what would happen is that their bladder would give out first because the wine was so heavily mixed with water. The whole point was they couldn't drink the water, so they had to mix this with the water so it would purify the water and it would make it where it had some kind of good taste to drink, not to get drunk on it. And again, let's just apply the principle about our freedom. Scripture does say, and advocate the drinking of alcohol. But it never advocates drunkenness. And like I said about the deception of alcohol, you could take this too far. You could forget that you had one or two and go for a third one. And the more and more that you do it, the alcohol will begin to take over your senses, just like all drugs do. They take over your senses where you cannot think clearly. And so the problem here is, With the use of freedom and liberty, you have somebody out there doing this, and then you have somebody over here that is struggling with this. And instead of not doing it, they just do it anyway. And they say, you know, he'll grow out of this after a while. He's the one with the problem, not me. I remember years ago sitting at Pizza Hut and having a few of my friends sitting there that came up from Jacksonville. I was living in South Carolina at the time. And this subject came up. And the more that it was talked about, the more I found in my own heart an offense over it. A struggle with it. Because this was my background. And then I would think about this. How are you going to adequately teach your kids not to go in this path with their life? if they see mom and dad popping a beer sitting there in the chair on a Sunday afternoon or whatever afternoon it is. I mean, don't do this, son. Don't drink this, son. I remember the first time one of my kids went over to a friend's house, my older son, They let him grab him a drink out of the refrigerator. Now, his friend's dad was a pastor. He walked over to the refrigerator and he opened it up and he saw a six-pack of Anheuser-Busch sitting there. And he grew up in our home with us not drinking and with us talking about it from this perspective. Do you think that he was willing to choose our view or their view? Their view. Because see, that appeals to our fallenness. And that's what we have to be careful about. Now, I threw in alcohol. We could use this with other things as well. But we have to be careful. Our freedom only goes as far as our brother and sister. And my contention is this. Everybody's got to put everything on Facebook. Why do you got to put that on there? If that's what you're doing in your home, Don't promote it, right? Because you're going to have somebody in your friends list that's not going to agree with you. And they're going to be offended by this. So it's best just to don't put it on your Facebook page, or your Instagram page, or your whatever page. Just leave it off if that's what you're doing. I'll tell you what, I have dealt with a lot of people who have struggled with this. And I've dealt with a lot of people whose lives have been destroyed by this. And my life was almost completely destroyed by it, too, if it wasn't for God saving me. And I told you, even my friend who came over and shared the gospel with me, and for some reason unknown to us, he walks in with a 12-pack of beer. Now, I don't remember if he ever drank one or opened one, But either way, he didn't sit there very long after he brought it in, and he was convicted over what he had done, and was convicted over the fact that he just brought something in to a house of unbelievers that he's been trying to witness to. And I was so thankful that he abandoned what he was doing. Listen, John 8, 36, if the Son makes you free, You will be free indeed. God set me free from this. I don't have anything to do with it. So when we look at freedom from sin, we have to look at it from this perspective. God has freed you. Don't go back to those things that enslave you. Don't go to those things for which Christ has died for, right? Well, let's look at one more. The next gift is adoption. Adoption. Let me have you go to the Gospel of John chapter 1. John chapter 1. And look at verse 12. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Being born of God, becoming children of God. Now for all of us coming into the kingdom, that's adoption. And this concept is so rich, it's so multifaceted, it presents both as an act of God's grace and salvation, as well as a profound aspect of the believer's identity in Christ. Adoption is a theological term that refers to God's act of bringing sinners into His family as children. This is an act of God's grace. Ephesians 1.5, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will. This is not based on any human merit, but entirely on God's pleasure and God's will. God sovereignly chose to redeem those who would belong in His family. And it's founded in Christ. It says in Galatians 4, 4, But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that He might redeem those who were born under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. It occurs through Christ, through His incarnation, through His life, through His death, through His resurrection. And He redeems us from sin and paves the way for us to be adopted as God's children. And listen, when He adopts us, He gives us the full rights and privileges of children. Romans 8.15 says, For you have not received a spirit of slavery, leading again to fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption, as sons, by which we cry out, Abba, Father. That means Papa. It means Daddy. It's Aramaic, by the way. Abba, Father, Papa, Daddy. So being adopted means that we're no longer slaves to fear. We're given the privilege to relate to God intimately as Abba. We also share in His inheritance. Adoption transforms our identity. We are no longer children of Satan, we're now children of God. Through adoption, we receive a new identity as children of God, and this relationship is a demonstration of God's love. And it sets us apart from the world. 1 John 3.1, See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God? As such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. I mean, this is marvelous. This is why John is just ecstatic over it. How great is this? Behold, you might have in your translation. And adoption, it guarantees our eternal inheritance. It says in Romans 8, 23, and not only this, but we also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons. And what's he talking about there? He says the redemption of our body. While adoption signifies our present reality, His full realization includes the full redemption of our bodies and the inheritance of eternal life in the new creation. Again, we're ready for heaven, but what we're going to be given one day is a new body. Read that in 1 Corinthians 15. My brother knows that, right? These bodies are perishable. These bodies can't go to heaven. Even these bodies can't go to hell. Matthew 10 talks about, for those who go to hell, that God has prepared a body for them in hell. The same is true, 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrected body, the glorified body, is given to the believer and it will be a body that will be fit for heaven. See, we are right now, and forever, spirits with a body. When you die, the body doesn't go with you. Your spirit goes to heaven. Or your spirit goes to hell. And again, bodies are given. Now, we know in 1 Corinthians 15 when that is given. We know in 1 Thessalonians 4 when that is given for a believer at the rapture. But what about for the unbeliever? Well, it would be I would think good to assume that they're given a body immediately. For hell. In fact, the only relief, if you want to even call it relief, is when they stand before the great white throne judgment and everything is sealed forever. In my understanding of Revelation 22, that hasn't happened yet. My understanding of the Lake of Fire, that that hasn't happened yet, as far as anybody in it, because it talks about death and Hades are cast into the Lake of Fire. So what's being populated right now? Well, a place of punishment, a place of torment. And the Lake of Fire, I guess, will seal it forever. But adoption is a beautiful thing. And as one being adopted, you receive and enjoy all the privileges of sonship. One of my kids is adopted. And I don't treat him any different than the biological kids. He has all the full privileges that are the same as the biological kids. And I wouldn't trade him or any of them for anything. Especially, we've had him since he was five days old. We've had him all of his life. I thank God that he is my son and in my family. So think about these things that we looked about today, righteousness, That is imputed righteousness, freedom from sin, adoption. What glorious truths. And just pack all that in with salvation and redemption, the forgiveness of sin, eternal life, peace with God, the abundant life, the Holy Spirit, grace and repentance. What beautiful truths, right? Beautiful truths. But that's what makes up our salvation. No wonder that it is called our great salvation. See, it's more than just Jesus dying on a cross for your sin. He did all this. All of these beautiful things. And my prayer is always that everyone knows Him personally. And therefore, that's why we call everyone, everywhere to repent and to come to Jesus by faith. Father, we thank you so much for this privilege that we've had this morning to look at your word and to study your word together. Thank you for these wonderful truths that we have seen once again today. I give you praise for that, Lord. And I pray, Lord God, as we leave this place today, that we will be faithful, faithful to share what we've learned, faithful to take the gospel everywhere we go. As your word says, as we are going, make disciples. Use us, I pray, Lord God, for your glory and for your praise. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.