Can a Human-Being Become Righteous?

Larry Kirkpatrick Fairplain Seventh-day Adventist Church

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"The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God... For thus saith the Lord God; how much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God." Ezekiel 14:12-14, 21-23. On one side of the world, a school in Colorado rings out with gunfire; young people, killing and dying, assuring themselves of a place on the evening news. No motivation seems to completely compute. No explanation seems to come near to explaining a world where this happens. On the other side of the world, killing and bombing continues in Yugoslavia. People have been slaughtered unjustly, driven from their homes. Darkness is spread out over this globe from one end to another. We can scarcely understand why. But all these things do not happen in a vaccuum. God would use them to open our eyes. But we become so full of them. Every day the news brings us fresh revelations of stale pain and bitterness. Over and over again, we seem to hear the message, "nothing really matters; this stuff will last forever, or at least somehow until the nations utterly annihilate each other and nothing is left but cockroaches." And so we might balk at the presentation of such a seemingly otherworldly topic: can a human being become righteous? Isn't that the height of indifference-to wax eloquent on theology when the world is swathed unceasingly in pain and blood. But... But could it be that in such a time as this, this is exactly when we need to ask a theological question? You see, a theological question is simply a question about what God's word about Himself is to us. That's all. So we ask. Let's ask Ezekiel about it. Go to Ezekiel 14:12-21

The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men were in it, as I live saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; how much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

Could it be that our little world, God's lesson book to the universe, is covered with violence because humankind from one end of the globe to the other is in a seething rebellion against God? Could it be that He is slowly removing His restraining power and letting the earth be covered in blood and pain. Are God's judgments even now in the land? If we heard the news only once every two weeks, wouldn't it sound a lot more like a wake-up call than when we hear it several times daily, and it all just sounds like the same continuous, meaningless roar? Is the end ever going to come? The Bible says so. And when the restraining power of God is swept away even more-maybe in your neighborhood-how will you be delivered? Will "don't worry, be happy" be enough of a gospel to save you? Where do you stand with God? Where do I stand? Are you righteous before God? Are you ready to meet your Maker, if you should need to, in the next few moments? You see, our adversary says God can't really do anything meaningful with us. He says God can't produce. He says God is a phoney. And he says, "look, the evidence is God's people. Check them out universe. They are just a gaggle of miserable sinners. God's power is not expressed in their lives. God may ultimately destroy me, but I will still win the great controversy, because He can't make anyone righteous. Not really. The truth is, no matter what happens, I win." So what about it? Can a Christian become righteous? In the end I will ask for your verdict. But you say, brother Larry, we don't need to wait to the end. We already know that none is righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10). We are all carnal, sold under sin (Romans 7:14). With the mind we serve the law of God, but with the flesh we serve the law of sin (Romans 7:25). All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). There is not a just man that does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Honestly, brother Larry, do you think that you are going to overturn all those texts? No, I don't, not for a moment. But those are not all the texts, nor are the best explanations of them necessarily the ones that are so often given today. The only way that we can be real Adventists is to take everything that Scripture and inspiration says on a topic. That's how our pioneers did it. And nothing about the rightness of that rule has changed. It is easy to isolate a text and teach that it says something that it does not. Since the time this church began, and since from before that, those who oppose the seventh-day Sabbath have done that very thing. Over and over again they have taken only a part of what the Bible says and ignored other passages that clarified and condemned their twisting of Scripture to support Sunday observance. Shall Adventism in its end, fall into the same mistake? God forbid. So, can a Christian become righteous? I hope you are asking yourself, "What does he mean 'become righteous?' If you are not, you are much too trusting. Our attitude as Bible Christians should be very much like that of the United States toward the USSR during the cold war: trust but verify. Definitions are so important. By 'become righteous,' I mean to ask whether through our submission to God, through our continuous reception of His power for victory, by faith, we can become right with God. I mean to ask if through a connection such as this, where we are partakers of the divine nature, we can fully obey God, whether we can produce actions that are pleasing to God. By 'become righteous' I do not' mean to ask whether we can reach a point where we do not need a Saviour for our sins, or do not need a Provider of overcoming power. No, I do not mean just to be counted as righteous while still living unrighteously. No. And let's not forget what Jesus said: "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" Matthew 5:20. RH 30 April 1895

In his sermon on the mount, Christ presented to the people the fact that personal piety was their strength. They were to surrender themselves to God, working with him with unreserved co-operation. High pretensions, forms, and ceremonies, however imposing, do not make the heart good and the character pure. True love for God is an active principle, a purifying agency. The scribes and the Pharisees appeared to be very punctilious in living out the letter of the law; but Christ said to his disciples, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." What a startling declaration was this! It made manifest the insufficiency of legal or natural religion, and showed the need of moral renovation and the necessity of divine enlightenment. The Jewish nation had occupied the highest position; they had built walls great and high to inclose themselves from association with the heathen world; they had represented themselves as the special, loyal people who were favored of God. But Christ presented their religion as devoid of saving faith. It was a combination of dry, hard doctrines, intermingled with sacrifices and offerings. They were very particular to practice circumcision, but they did not teach the necessity of having a pure heart. They exalted the commandments of God in words, but refused to exalt them in practice; and their religion was only a stumbling-block to men. The old bottles were found unfit to contain the new wine, and new bottles must be provided for the new wine. Thus it was with priests and rabbis, scribes and Pharisees; they were as old bottles that could not contain the new wine of the kingdom of Christ. Although they had hitherto held undisputed authority in religious matters, they must now give place to the great Teacher, and to a religion which knew no bounds and made no distinction of caste or position in society, or of race among nations. But the truth taught by Christ was designed for the whole human family; the only true faith is that which works by love and purifies the soul. It is as leaven that transforms human character. The truth brought into the soul temple cleanses it of moral defilement; but where there is no change in the characters of those who profess to believe it, it is evident that it is not taken into the soul temple, and is simply no truth to those who advocate it. Such are under a deception.

Did you hear that? "The truth brought into the soul cleanses it of moral defilement." What did Jesus say? "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." John 17:17. What was the promise of the New Covenant? We read it in Jeremiah 31:33 and in Hebrews 10:16-17: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." God will put His laws into our hearts and minds. Paul said that Christ was "the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." Romans 10:4. The end, or the goal, is to walk with Christ, to trust Him to work in us, and make us inside, to work like Him. Listen to the testimony here in the book of Ezekiel. The word "righteousness" comes up in several verses: Ezekiel 3:20; 14:14, 20; 18:20, 22, 24, 26; 33:12, 13, 18. In every case, and I mean if you look carefully at every case, they all mean what we do. In these verses we read about "his righteousness" and about "his wickedness." There is a very personal application here. But some will say that the context of Ezekiel chapter fourteen is that God's judgments are sent upon unfaithful Israel. The judgments are temporal in nature, the four sore judgments summarized in 14:21. This is true. Oh yes. But if it is argued that the judgments are only temporal, and do not involve matters of eternal life and death, note that 1. Temporal settings are within the realm of moral responsibility; actions involve sin or obedience 2. Ezekiel 18 makes exceptionally clear that God's people are to be evaluated morally based upon their actions; the soul that sins will die; this is not merely a discussion of earthly life, but of eternal decision. Ezekiel 18:4, 5, 9, 14, 19, 20, 21, 26-28, 3. Ezekiel 18:20: "The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." This calls to mind Revelation 22:11-12 and its declaration that after probation closes the just will remain just and the wicked will remain wicked, the righteous will remain righteous, etc. 4. The well-known statement of Ellen White's Great Controversy, pg. 623 about character perfection in the end time ("Now, while our great High Priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Not even by a thought could our Saviour be brought to yield to the power of temptation. Satan finds in human hearts some point where he can gain a foothold; some sinful desire is cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their power. But Christ declared of Himself: 'The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.' John 14:30. Satan could find nothing in the Son of God that would enable him to gain the victory. He had kept His Father's commandments, and there was no sin in Him that Satan could use to his advantage. This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble."), is immediately preceded by Ellen White's quotation of Ezekiel 14:20!:

The 'time of trouble such as never was,' is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess and which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God. 'Though Noah, Daniel, and Job,' were in the land, 'as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.' Ezekiel 14:20.

The mention that during the ordeal "every soul must stand for himself before God" calls to mind also the well-known statement from Great Controversy, pg .425: "Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a Mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil." 5. The judgment of Israel is both corporate and individual: Ezekiel 18:30: "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." Repent and turn. But turn to what? To righteousness. Look with me at Psalm 15:

Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

It is the person who worketh righteousness, who does what is right, that will dwell in God's holy hill, and abide in His tabernacle. And where is the presence of God most centralized? In His tabernacle. God asked His people to make Him a tabernacle, or sanctuary, so that He could dwell among them as they went forward to the promised land. Exodus 25:8. His presence was needful to them. He wanted to heal and help them, to change them along the way so that the promised land would indeed be the promised land when they arrived there. Sin doesn't mesh with God's plans for us. He loves us too much for that. He wants to get us out of the pit of sin and up into His holy hill. He wants to do it now. On the journey. He wants us to experience the transformation inwardly that comes with His righteousness. Listen to these remarks: COL 316-317

Those who reject the gift of Christ's righteousness are rejecting the attributes of character which would constitute them the sons and daughters of God.

FW 70-71

And what is it to believe?....It is to hear and to see that with the righteousness of Christ which you hold by faith, righteousness supplied by His efforts and His divine power, you can keep the commandments of God.

DA 324

The only defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness.

RH 25 October 1892

All the power is of God, and all the glory is to redound to God, and yet all the responsibility rests with the human agent; for God can do nothing without the co-operation of man. When a man believes in Jesus as his personal Saviour, and accepts of His righteousness by faith, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; and he escapes from corruption through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Without divine nature, without the influence of the Spirit of God, man cannot work out his own salvation.

ST 28 December 1891

It is Jesus enthroned in the soul that makes every action easy in His service. He is the fountain of all righteousness, the source of all happiness, the reservoir of all power.

ST 25 September 1901

The salvation of the soul requires the blending of divine and human strength. God does not propose to do the work that man can do to meet the standard of righteousness. Man has a part to act. Humanity must unite and co-operate with divinity. Grace and sufficiency have been abundantly provided for every soul. But in order to receive this man must unite with his divine Helper. Unless of his own accord man consents to renounce his sinful practices, Christ cannot take away his sin.

In Revelation 19:8 we find the saints, with what? "And to her [the church] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Other translations give this as "The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." And how well this fits with the definition of righteousness given Ellen White's Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 312: "Righteousness is right-doing..." Scripture is filled with the idea that we can indeed become righteous, not in ourselves apart from Christ, but by becoming partakers of the power of God through Christ. Romans 10:10 reminds us that "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness..." Isaiah 54:17 says that "...This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord." Isaiah 58:8 promises "...and thy righteousness shall go before thee..." Isaiah 61:3 Gives the mission of the Messiah and of God's people as being "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." Isaiah 61:11 says "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." It seems clear from Scripture that human-beings can become righteous. No wonder Ellen White says "God deals with men as individuals, giving to everyone his work. All are to be taught of God. Through the grace of Christ every soul must work out his own righteousness, maintaining a living connection with the Father and the Son." TM 488. And that "As Christ in His humanity sought strength from His Father, that He might be enabled to endure trial and temptation, so are we to do." GAG 179. And that "God is waiting to give divine power to every soul to combine with human effort." TSB 134. Someone will ask me if I have such a low concept of what righteousness is that I say we can attain it. But I respond, do you have such a low concept of God's power as to say that He cannot attain it in us? Friends, if we part ourselves from God for one moment, all our righteousness reverts back to poisonous, filthy rags. But if we stay with God, mindfully, willfully walking with our Savior, then friends we are walking in His righteousness and under His blessing. "But brother Larry, how then do we overcome? Why are you linking all this transformation stuff into the gospel?" Because some are making too great a separation between faith and its fruit. They are saying that first we are saved and then obedience follows. But there are conditions to our salvation. They don't earn us anything, but they are there before salvation aren't they. But how can we obey without God's help? I want to share with you the answer as I understand it. It is this: They happen at the same time; obedience does not follow faith, it comes in the same wave as faith. When you will to obey God, He send s the power in that moment and you do obey through what He supplies. Galatians 5:6 tells us that faith works by love. Listen to how Ellen White has put this: "In the very act of faith, God speaks and gives His blessing" 4T 145. How do we become righteous? When we reach out to God in faith, He responds, and sends forth to us the transformation. He works in that moment inside of us, and turns our struggle into heaven's victory. He changes us. And Satan's charge that God really can't produce changed people, people who are really like Jesus, totters. And when God produces a group of people who are like Jesus, who are willing and following the Lamb whereever He goes, whatever He asks them to do, the high-school shootings and the Kosovos and all the sufferings and sorrows of this world that don't always make the news, will be ended. And God will win the great controversy once and for all, and we will then see Him face to face. At last, let's turn back one more time to Ezekiel 14:22-23. There it speaks of a remnant. Yes, God will send forth His four sore judgments on Jerusalem. But read with me now what happens after God's people go through this period of trial:

Yet, behold, there shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.

Some day, there will come a generation, that will walk with God, and will let His Spirit transform them. And although God's people endure a time of trial, perhaps even a chastening from heaven for their slow-motion Christianity, still in this generation that I speak of, there will be seen the power of God, and God's people will be comforted as they see the final revival go forward, the final warning given, and finally see Jesus come in the sky for us. And we will know that all the trials and seemingly faulty steps that God's people made over the years were permitted for reasons that God will better explain to us. It all had to do with finishing the great controversy. It all had to do with heaven proving that God can change people. And in it all our Redeemer Jesus will be glorified. And you and I get to be a part of that. But, what is the verdict? Can God make people righteous? Can He really change us? [Response: "Yes! Amen"] O.K. then, brethren and sisters. Now He's got a lot to do yet for us. So let's let Him do it.

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Additional Notable References COL 307

The parable of the wedding garment opens before us a lesson of the highest consequence. By the marriage is represented the union of humanity with divinity; the wedding garment represents the character which all must possess who shall be accounted fit guests for the wedding.

COL 310

By the wedding garment in the parable is represented the pure, spotless character which Christ's true followers will possess. To the church it is given 'that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,' 'not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.' Ephesians 5:27. The fine linen, says the Scripture, 'is the righteousness of saints.' Revelation 19:8. It is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who receive Him as their personal Saviour.

COL 311

This covering, the robe of His own righteousness, Christ will put upon every repenting, believing soul....This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human devising. Christ in His humanity wrought out a perfect character, and this character He offers to impart to us. 'All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.' Isaiah 64:6. Everything that we of ourselves can do is defiled by sin. But the Son of God 'was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.' Sin is defined to be 'the transgression of the law.' 1 John 3:5,4... By His [Jesus] perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey God's commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we, live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness.

COL 315

Many who call themselves Christians are mere human moralists. They have refused the gift which alone could enable them to honor Christ by representing Him to the world. The work of the Holy Spirit is to them a strange work. They are not doers of the word.

IHP 173

Every man will have some estimate of his own worth when he becomes a laborer together with Christ, doing the work that Christ did, filling the world with Christ's righteousness, bearing a commission from the Most High.

CG 69

You need to be soundly converted to God. You need the true spirit of obedience to the Word of God. You must make decided reforms in your own customs and practices, conforming your life to the saving principles of the law of God. When you do this, you will have the righteousness of Christ which pervades that law..." (From MS-12, 1898).

ST 13 December 1899

A holy life is accessible to every repenting, believing child of God. We are to work out that which Christ works in.

ST 17 November 1887

Moses understood that there was to be a judgment-day, when every man would be judged according to the deeds done in the body. We each have a case pending at the bar of God, and although Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land, they could not save son or daughter. They could only save their own souls by the righteousness. It is an individual work for you and me. There will be every attraction to draw us away from Christ's righteousness, and the human heart is inclined to selfish gratification. Every soul who seeks righteousness will meet with perplexities; but shrink not at reproach or trial.

COL 412

But character is not transferable. No man can believe for another. No man can receive the Spirit for another. No man can impart to another the character which is the fruit of the Spirit's working. 'Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it [the land], as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall deliver but their own souls by their righteousness.' Ezekiel 14:20.

COL 416

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.