11/17/2020
By Pastor Vinnie Cappetta
"My Righteousness"
But one day, as I was passing in the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, ‘Thy righteousness is in heaven’; and methought withal, I saw, with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God’s right hand; there, I say, is my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was a-doing, God could not say of me, ‘He wants my righteousness’, for that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. John Bunyan, Grace Abounding
My translation of Bunyan: when my conscience condemns me, I need to remember that my righteousness (Jesus) is in heaven at God’s right hand. God will not look on me and ask me for righteousness because my righteousness is right there next to Him. My righteous standing in Christ is not dependent on my works which change moment by moment but my standing is righteous because Jesus is the same always. In addition to that, I can count on Jesus’ prayers for me; He is interceding on my behalf (Romans 8:34).
