O ne of the oldest and most respected business periodicals in America is Forbes Magazine. Founded in 1917 by B. C. Forbes, the original business magazine has become the flagship of a modern business publishing company operated today by the founder’s grandsons. Forbes is respected for many reasons, not the least of which is its conservative fiscal and economic approach to the global economy. On the last page of each issue is found a collection of quotations from famous individuals on topics relating to “the business of life.” Prominent on that page in each issue is a different text from the Bible, chosen from favorite passages sent in by Forbes readers. The business quotes that have appeared on the final page of Forbes are collected in a massive volume titled The Forbes Book of Business Quotations: 14,173 Thoughts on the Business of Life. A total of 368 topics (from “Ability” to “Zeal”) are commented on by writers, business moguls, churchmen, politicians, humorists, and other famous spokespersons of the human family. Make that 367 topics—for there is one topic in this massive compendium embellished and illustrated by no human wisdom: the topic of “righteousness.” Whether by design or by default, The Forbes Book of Business Quotations lists no “human” entries under “Righteousness” save eight passages of Scripture (Pss. 15:1–2; 92:12–13; Prov. 16:8–9; 29:2; Isa. 3:10–11; Jer. 22:13; Hos. 10:12; 2 Tim. 4:7–8).
What is “Righteousness”? (rightness/being made right) same as Justify “dikaiosune” “ Performance records which validate you for access ”: Resume / Transcript “ Record of merit” as opposed to “record of wrongdoing” (guilty)
-In immoral people
-In Moral people
D.M. Lloyd Jones: Many fail to realize this about sin. They will persist in thinking of it in terms of sins – particular sins and actions… Sin means you live in such a way that you do not often think of God, and if you do, you think of Him in terms of what He could and should do for you… Sin is an entire outlook of self-centeredness and human-centeredness. Our very outlook, the way we organize our lives and our thinking – opposes God. Should I talk about Original sin?
Total depravity does not mean that every person is as bad as he or she could be. It means that sin has affected every part of his or her being and consequently there is nothing anyone can do to commend himself or herself to a holy God. The purpose of the law was not to provide people with a series of steps that would lead them to heaven. It was to expose their inability to merit heaven (Gal. 3:24).
Total depravity does not mean that every person is as bad as he or she could be. It means that sin has affected every part of his or her being and consequently there is nothing anyone can do to commend himself or herself to a holy God. The purpose of the law was not to provide people with a series of steps that would lead them to heaven. It was to expose their inability to merit heaven (Gal. 3:24).
Righteousness / the grace exchange! By faith, not moral effort or our own merits By faith in Christ, not just faith in general By faith in Christ’s work on the cross, not general admiration of Him By faith as only a receptor, not by faith as a kind of moral merit itself (an intense attitude of surrender or a state of certainty and confidence): [“freely” = “without a cause”] if you come to think that your belief is the cause of your salvation, it will get you to look at the quality of your faith, and when you see doubts it will rattle you. You just turn your faith into “work”. Faith is only the instrument by which you receive your salvation, not the cause of your salvation. DMLloydJones: The person who has faith is the one who is no longer looking at himself, and no longer looking to himself. He no longer looks at anything he once was, nor look at what he is now. He doesn’t even look at what he hopes to be as the result of his own effort. HE LOOKS ENTIRELY TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND HIS FINISHED WORK, AND HE RESTS ON THAT ALONE. He stops saying “I’ve committed terrible sins, but I’ve done this and that”, he says “Yes I’ve sinned grievously, I have lived a life of sin… yet I know that I am a child of God because I am not resting on any righteousness of my own; but my righteousness is in JC, and God has put that to my account”
Pardon is negative, the remission of a penalty or debt; justification is positive, the bestowal of a righteous status, the sinner’s reinstatement in the favour and fellowship of God. Sir Marcus Loane has written: ‘The voice that spells forgiveness will say: “You may go; you have been let off the penalty which your sin deserves.” But the verdict which means acceptance [ sc . justification] will say: “You may come; you are welcome to all my love and my presence.” ’ 9 9 Marcus Loane, This Surpassing Excellence: Textual Studies in the Epistles to the Churches of Galatia and Philippi (Angus and Robertson, 1969), p. 94.
Whitfield: As Adam & Eve sewed fig leaves together to cover their nakedness, so the poor sinner, when awaken, flies to his duties and to his performances, to patch up a righteousness of his own. Says he, “I will be mighty good now – I will reform – I will do all I can; and then certainly Jesus Christ will have mercy on me.” But before you can know you are at peace with God, you must be brought to see that God may damn you for the best prayer you ever put up; you must be brought to see that all your duties – all your righteousness, put them all together – are so far from recommending you to God, LIBERALISM: repent of nothing! LEGALISM: repent of sins CHRISTIANITY: repent of sins AND of our own righteousness
The Gospel at the very least changes the problem of: Human Division Denial Anxiety: Your mind couldn’t get enough of justification - Bad news now can be handled – becoming courageous “He is FOR me, so I can face death, I know the future is in His hand, he wouldn’t go to all this trouble and not give me what I need”
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