How can God make sons out of such sinners? He can do it only by three things—by His righteousness, holiness, and glory. In Romans Paul tells us that God has put His righteousness upon us and that He has reckoned His righteousness to be ours (4:22-24). This means that God has given us His righteousness. Because we are clothed with God’s righteousness, we can say, “I am righteous because I am in God’s righteousness. I have been completely covered with His righteousness.” How is this accomplished? How can God’s righteousness be accounted as ours? It is through the redeeming death of Christ. Since God’s righteousness has been reckoned to us through the death of Christ, our sinful deeds have been erased from the account, and God’s righteousness covers our whole being. This is God’s righteousness given to us as our covering through the redeeming death of Christ. Christ died on the cross that we might obtain the righteousness of God. God has put His righteousness upon us just as the father put the best robe on the prodigal son who returned. In that parable in Luke 15 the father told his servants, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him” (v. 22). This robe signifies the righteousness of God, which is Christ. Praise the Lord that the righteousness of God has been put on us! God’s righteousness deals with all we have done. Through the redeeming death of Christ, this has been fully accomplished.
In addition to this, God is now working His holiness into us. God’s holiness is not upon us; it is being worked into us. This is not a matter of merely an outward covering, but an inward imparting. As we have seen, holiness is God’s nature. God works His holiness into us by imparting His nature into us. He does this by coming into us to be our life. God comes into us as life so that He may saturate all the inward parts of our being with what He is. Even now God is saturating every part of our being with His element. In this way, God makes us holy. This is not outward righteousness; it is inward holiness. It makes us holy not only positionally, but also dispositionally. This is sanctification.
God’s righteousness has been reckoned to us through the redeeming death of Christ, and now God’s holiness is being wrought into us through Christ’s living in us. Christ died on the cross so that God’s righteousness might be put upon us, and Christ lives within us so that God’s holiness might be wrought into us. I praise the Lord that I can stand here and strongly testify, “Through Christ’s redeeming death, God’s righteousness has been put upon me. I can stand before God without any fear. I am fully at peace in the presence of God because His righteousness is upon me.” I can also testify that God’s holiness is being wrought into me by Christ’s living in me. Today Christ is living in the depths of my being to saturate me with all that God is. I am constantly under this process of saturation. Whenever I talk to my wife or children, Christ is working to saturate and permeate me completely and absolutely. Day by day, the divine nature is being infused into me to make me holy dispositionally. I must confess, however, that although this work has been going on quite well, it still is not finished, for certain parts of my being have not yet been saturated with the nature of God. The divine infusion is still taking place.
At times it may seem that this infusion is temporary, that it does not deeply penetrate our being. It may seem like a rainbow that appears in the sky for a few minutes: if you try to locate it, it disappears. Our holiness is sometimes like this. We may be holy and separated, but only for several minutes. For example, a certain sister may be very saintly right after morning watch. But a few minutes later she may act like the Devil himself. However temporary our holiness may seem to be, it is nevertheless a fact that we are under God’s infusing, God’s permeating. His saturating work continues to go on. Do not be disappointed. Sooner or later, your devilish behavior will be gone. The time will come when you will not be able to act like the Devil, even if you try your best to do so. You will be one who has been fully sanctified with the nature of God.
But there is even more than this. We may be fully permeated with God’s holiness and yet still not be in glory. Remember, the last step of God’s working in us is glorification. One day, we all shall be glorified (8:30). We have been justified with His righteousness, we are being sanctified with His holiness, and we shall be glorified with His glory. We all shall be brought into glory. As the glorified sons of God, we shall shine with the glory of God. This is the full salvation for all who believe in Christ. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus will eventually become a glorified son of God bearing the righteousness of God outwardly, being saturated with the holiness of God inwardly, and shining in the realm of His full glory as one of His sons. The day of our glorification will be the time of the revelation of the sons of God (8:19). At that time, we shall all enter into the freedom of the glory of God (8:21). Then there will be no more bondage, limitation, depression, or suppression. Instead, we shall enjoy full liberation and shine with God’s glory. That will be full salvation.
As we pointed out in a previous message, after Paul shows us the working of God’s righteousness, the saturating of His holiness, and the glorifying of His glory, he brings us into the heart of God (8:31-39). God does so much for us simply because He loves us. He loved us eternally. From eternity in the past, God loved us, and He still loves us today. His heart is our stay, our security, and His love is our safeguard. Do not have any doubt about your personal salvation. God loves you, and He assures you that He will accomplish everything on your behalf. If you cooperate with Him, He will accomplish this smoothly. If you do not cooperate with Him, He will encounter some difficulties, but eventually He will get through. Although you may afford Him some hardship, you cannot frustrate Him. That hardship does not mean very much to Him. Sooner or later, you will say, “Father, I worship You because You love me. You selected me, predestinated me, called me, and justified me. Praise You, Lord, that You have sanctified me and even glorified me. Here I am in glory.” One day we all shall pray in this way. No longer shall we praise the Lord for things such as cars and houses. Instead, we shall praise Him for the righteousness of God, the holiness of God, the glory of God, and the love of God. This is the structure of the first eight chapters of the book of Romans.