7
Day 7 - Because Christ is my righteousness, I can agree with the law and still have joy!
Christ as our righteousness is the foundation of our confidence, and an important aspect of this righteousness is God's judgment of the flesh (Romans 8:1-2). God condemned the old man, Adam, and crucified the flesh with Christ (Romans 6:7).
In Christianity, the message of the cross is often presented as a heavy burden in the Christian life. The message of the cross is perverted so that it becomes something that we endure as a sacrifice for Christ! But the message of the cross is: Christ loved me and gave Himself for me. In that giving of Himself, He carried out God’s judgment on the flesh and condemned sin in His flesh (Galatians 2:20, Rom 8:3).
Because of this execution of God’s judgment on the flesh and on sin, we no longer have to fear a future judgment for sin. There’s no “double jeopardy” in God’s court. The trial is over, and God has been vindicated as the “just” and the “justifier of Him who believes in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Furthermore, we have been declared righteous before God (Philippians 3:9).
When we were baptized into the death of Christ, we died to the law. This is something we need to see, and the only way we can see it is to agree with God’s judgment on the flesh (Romans 7:18).
Because we understand God’s judgment on the flesh, we see that God no longer has any demand on the flesh! If I have a company and many projects, I am not going to find the laziest, most shifty, manipulative, butt-kissing, flattering pretender in the company and give him any tasks to do! That is how God feels about the flesh, and He’s not looking to employ it for any service.
Many people think that the flesh only refers to the “naughty” parts of what they do, but the “good parts” in them that want to be praised by God and rewarded for service, they do not judge. Therefore, their entire Christian ministry, rooted in the flesh, is sin, but they’ve called it righteousness (Philippians 3:3-6). This comes out of not judging the flesh, and they have nothing to minister concerning the freedom we have in Christ. These are, in fact, often “dogs and evil workers” and “enemies of the cross” (Philippians 3:2, 18).
We need to see what God’s judgment on the flesh means and agree with it, facing it unflinchingly and without fear. Some people fear that they may “actually” be as bad as they think they might be. No, you are far worse! God’s judgment of the flesh is represented in the cross of Christ. Meditate on that! (Romans 7:24-25)
But the word of the cross is not a demand on us, an intolerable burden for us to bear, a sacrifice to be made for Christ. It is a proclamation of His love for us and His sacrifice for us, and it is the righteousness of the law. The law’s righteousness is manifested in Christ’s death as a full execution of the sentence of death for sin. He carried it out, and it doesn’t hang over us (Romans 8:3).
Furthermore, it is a full proclamation of our freedom in Christ, that there is no longer a demand on “us.” The flesh, representing the totality of who we were apart from Christ, with all the “good and the bad,” the strength, the virtue, the weakness, and the depravity, went to the cross. And now we are crucified with Christ, and it is Christ in us (Galatians 2:20). The final piece is that not only has God dropped all expectation on us, but He has placed it entirely on Christ, who ministers Himself to us in the power of an incorruptible life (Hebrews 7:16).
We no longer have to strive to be good enough or fear the law's judgment because we died to it and have been made righteous in Christ. Dying to the law means that God no longer expects anything from our flesh, and we no longer expect anything from it either (Romans 7:4). But we do place all our hopes on Christ, and He is the righteousness that we, by the Spirit’s help, wait for and anticipate (Galatians 5:5).
Verses
- Romans 6:7 - “For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
- Galatians 2:20 - “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
- Romans 8:1-2 - “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
- Philippians 3:9- “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
Prayer / Confession
Father, I thank you that in Christ, I am made righteous. I am confident before you because Christ took on flesh, condemned sin in His flesh, and carried out your judgment on the flesh. Because of this, I no longer fear a future judgment. In fact, I have been declared righteous before you. I thank you that I died to the law through baptism into Christ's death, and I no longer have to strive to be good enough or fear the law's judgment. I place all my hope in Christ, who ministers Himself to me in the power of an incorruptible life. I thank you that the flesh, with all its strengths, weaknesses, and depravity, went to the cross with Christ, and now it is Christ in me. I pray that you will help me to agree with your judgment on the flesh and see that you no longer have any demand on it. Thank you for your love and the freedom I have in Christ. Amen.