Message Six

Taking Christ as Our Lived-out Righteousness

Scripture Reading: Phil. 3:9; Luke 15:22-23; Psa. 45:13-14a

1. In experiencing Christ, Paul was found by others to be a man in Christ:
   1. Paul had been altogether in the Jewish religion under the law and had always been found by others in the law, but at his conversion he was transferred from the law and his former religion into Christ and became “a man in Christ”—2 Cor. 12:2.
   2. Now he expected to be found in Christ by all who observed him—the Jews, the angels, and the demons; this indicates that he aspired to have his whole being immersed in and saturated with Christ that all who observed him might find him fully in Christ.
   3. Only when we are found in Christ, will Christ be expressed and magnified—Phil. 1:20.
2. Paul wanted to be found in Christ in the condition of the righteousness of God, taking Christ as his subjective, lived-out righteousness—3:9:
   1. There are two aspects of Christ being righteousness to the believers:
      1. The first aspect—to be the believers’ righteousness for them to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ—Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27.
      2. The second aspect—to be the believers’ righteousness lived out of them as the manifestation of God, who is the righteousness in Christ given to the believers for them to be justified by God subjectively—Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8.
   2. These two aspects are typified by the best robe and the fattened calf in Luke 15:22-23:
      1. The best robe typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers to cover them outwardly before God as their objective righteousness.
      2. The fattened calf typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers as their life supply for them to live out God in Christ as their subjective righteousness.
   3. These two aspects are also typified by the two garments of the queen in Psalm 45:13-14a:
      1. One garment corresponds with the objective righteousness, which is for our salvation—“Her garment is a woven work inwrought with gold”—v. 13b:
         1. This signifies that the Christ who has been dealt with through death and resurrection is the righteousness of the church to meet the righteous requirement of God for her to be justified by God—1 Cor. 1:30; Luke 15:22; Jer. 23:6.
         2. Her being covered with gold signifies the church’s appearing in the divine nature—Psa. 45:9b; 2 Pet. 1:4.
      2. The other garment corresponds with the subjective righteousnesses, which are for our victory—“She will be led to the King in embroidered clothing”— Psa. 45:14a; cf. Rev. 19:8; Matt. 22:11-12:
         1. The overcoming believers are Christ’s corporate queen, taking Christ as their royal abode for them to be found in Christ and for Him to become their subjective righteousness—Psa. 45:13a; John 15:4a.
         2. This embroidered clothing, another garment, the second layer of her covering, signifies that the church will be led to Christ at their marriage clothed with the righteousnesses of the saints to meet the requirement of Christ for her marriage—Rev. 19:8.
         3. The raiment of embroidered work is the subjective Christ woven into our character, embroidered into our being, to be our lived-out righteousness.
         4. This embroidery signifies the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, who is working day by day to embroider Christ into us stitch by stitch to be our wedding garment.
         5. The degraded recovered church needs to pay the price to live Christ as her subjective righteousness that she may be clothed with Christ as her God-approved conduct—3:18.
   4. The subjective righteousness of God in Philippians 3:9 is actually God Himself becoming our daily living, a living which is right with God and man:
      1. Paul did not want to live in his own righteousness, the righteousness which comes from man’s own effort to keep the law—vv. 6, 9.
      2. Our own righteousness is the expression of ourselves, the living out of ourselves.
      3. Paul desired to live in the righteousness of God and to be found in such a transcendent condition, expressing God by living Christ, not by keeping the law—cf. Matt. 5:20.
      4. The living which is right with both God and man must be God as our expression in our daily living, God Himself lived out through us.
      5. If we are to be found in Christ, we must be in such a condition that God is expressed through us and becomes our daily living.
3. Faith is the basis, the condition, on which we receive and possess the righteousness that is out of God, the highest righteousness, which is Christ— Phil. 3:9; 1 Cor. 1:30:
   1. Christ Himself, who is infused into us through our appreciation of Him, becomes our faith—the faith in Him—Heb. 12:2a; 2 Pet. 1:1; Gal. 2:20.
   2. When we experientially have the supply of the Spirit (Phil. 1:19) through the word of life (2:16) issuing in the faith of Christ (3:9), we are infused with God Himself—Rom. 10:17:
      1. Then the very God who has been infused into us becomes our daily living, the living which Paul describes as the righteousness of God.
      2. This is to be found in Christ under the condition of enjoying God’s infusion that we may live Him out through the supply of the Spirit, the word of life, and the righteousness of God through faith.