Many Christians believe that righteousness is a state or condition to be attained to, or a goal to be achieved by diligent effort. This is a foregone conclusion of many and a concept we have fostered. As a result, there is much striving to achieve this pinnacle that we call success. Attending this is frequent examination of ourselves to determine how we are doing. Am I progressing or not progressing? Most of the time we are looking at ourselves for personal victory over sin to give us some evidence as to whether we are on the road, climbing the ladder to that condition or status we are seeking.
It is true that there is much in the Spirit of Prophecy and the Bible that can be interpreted to mean that it is a climb to a condition; but there is also to be found texts and quotations that seem to indicate that it is not something to be attained to; that it is not a condition or status that we arrive at by much striving or trying.
I would like to give you an example of one of the opposite views. Jesus gave this marvelously simple parable: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Matthew 13:45,46. You may want to know what that has to do with righteousness.
The inspired commentary teaches that “Christ Himself is the pearl of great price….The righteousness of Christ, as a pure, white pearl, has no defect, no stain.” COL 115. “The righteousness of Christ as a pure, white pearl has no defect, no stain, no guilt. This righteousness may be ours.” 1SM 399. “The righteousness of God is embodied in Christ. We receive righteousness by receiving Him.” MB 18.
It does not matter if you call the pearl “Christ” or the “righteousness of Christ,” you receive righteousness by receiving Him. It is all found in Him. In another place it calls salvation the pearl; but salvation is found in Christ. However you say it, it does not matter. You must receive the pearl in order to receive righteousness or salvation or Jesus. It is all wrapped up in one package—the Person we call Christ.
How did the merchantman obtain the pearl (or the righteousness)? He bought it. That is the way you get hold of righteousness. It is something you procure or acquire; not something you attain to or something you produce. I buy righteousness. I acquire it. I do not attain, I obtain. It is purchased rather than produced.
Some might think this is an isolated case, but the Bible has many other things to say about this. Here is one more example: “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed.” Revelation 3:18. What is the white raiment? “The white raiment He invites the soul to wear is His own robe of righteousness.” COR 113. “The white raiment is the righteousness of Christ.” 5T 233. How do you obtain that righteousness? “Buy of Me.” The one who tells us this is the True Witness, which is Jesus according to Revelation 1:5. Jesus says, “Come to Me and buy righteousness.” This is the way it comes to be in your life. You buy it.
That is a different concept. In fact, very few of us spend much time thinking that we obtain it by buying. Nearly all of us have been taught the concept that it is something I must produce out of myself; that it is something I must develop; that I must grow and attain to a condition called righteousness; that I do not go out and buy it from someone else who has it. I try to produce it myself. Therefore we get many misconceptions of Christ our righteousness or justification by faith. Life can become most discouraging with a perverted understanding of this subject.
In two places the Bible says, “Buy it!” The Spirit of Prophecy presents this same concept with a variety of terminology. “We can do this only as we grasp by faith the righteousness of Christ.” 1SM 395. So righteousness is also something to be grasped.
Here is a similar idea: “Living faith enables its possessor to lay hold on the merits of Christ.” 1SM364. This is a little different, but similar to the idea of grasping it.
“Through faith in Christ, he may claim the righteousness of the Son of God as all sufficient.” COR 96. If you go out and put a claim on some land, it belongs to you.
“By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ.” 1SM 367. He can carry it there as if it were his very own.
“Genuine faith appropriates the righteousness of Christ, and the sinner is made an overcomer with Christ.” 1SM 364. According to the dictionary, appropriate means “to take exclusive possession of.” I like your suit. Take it off and let me put it on; and I walk away with it. I have appropriated your suit. I go to your house and ask, “Do you have keys to your house?” And you say, “Yes.” And I say, “Would you please give them to me?” You put the keys in my hand, and I say, “I think I will keep the house.” By faith we appropriate the righteousness of Christ.
“You must know Christ and appropriate the gift of His righteousness.” COR 60. “The only way in which he [the sinner] can attain to righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ, and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner’s account. Christ’s righteousness is accepted in place of man’s failure.” COR 117.
In all these quotations, we obtain righteousness. We grasp it. We lay hold of it. We claim it. We appropriate it. None of those give the idea that it is something I climb to reach; not something I produce but something I take from another for myself.
The question is: How do I buy it? We need to spend a lot of time thinking about this because it will run out of your brain so fast it is worse than trying to hold on to mercury. We all have leaky containers when it comes to retaining thoughts like these. And we will go right back trying to attain, or produce, when the Lord is trying to teach us different thoughts. You have to spend time saturating yourself with these concepts or they will quickly leave you.
Here is an excellent text on buying: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1. He says if you do not have money, come anyhow; and come buy without money and without a price. What does this mean? How can you buy without money, without price?
The Bible and Spirit of Prophecy are filled with seeming contradictions that make you think, such as: “Salvation is a free gift, and yet it is to be bought and sold. In the market of which divine mercy has the management [a market that God operates], the precious pearl is represented as being bought without money and without price. In this market all may obtain the goods of heaven…The poorest are as well able as the richest to purchase salvation; for no amount of worldly wealth can secure it. It is obtained by willing obedience, by giving ourselves to Christ as His own purchased possession.” COL 116,117. We need to keep these thoughts lingering in our minds.
What is this price that we pay to possess Christ and His righteousness? It is explained on page 116: “He is a gift, but only to those who give themselves, soul, body, and spirit, to Him without reserve.” It is a two way street. He gives Himself to us when we give ourselves to Him; and it is a complete gift on our part as well as on His part. Continuing on: “We are to give ourselves to Christ, to live a life of willing obedience to all His requirements. All that we are, all the talents and capabilities we possess, are the Lord’s, to be consecrated to His service. When we thus give ourselves wholly to Him, Christ, with all the treasures of heaven, gives Himself to us. We obtain the pearl of great price.”
I am not in any way trying to make you feel worse or condemned or deficient. I am trying to tell you how we receive righteousness. The Bible asks, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” Job 14:4. And it also says we are all as an unclean thing. Therefore, you cannot get clean things out of unclean things. We cannot produce righteousness of ourselves. It is utterly impossible. Yet over and over we continue to try to produce righteousness out of ourselves. The Lord says you cannot. We insist, and He says that is okay; you may have your choice, but you cannot produce righteousness. The Bible teaches that only God is righteous; and therefore you must go to Him to find it. There is no other place. All righteousness is found in Jesus. When God gave us Jesus He gave us righteousness to be ours. I must buy that righteousness at the price of giving myself to Him. Then I receive His righteousness. I give Him all that I have. It is a total consecration or commitment.
This concept of giving oneself bothers people today. You ask, “Why would anyone give themselves to someone else? I don’t understand this.” Ladies, why did you give yourselves to your husbands? I hope you took the right vows when you got married because there are vows today that are nothing like marriage. In marriage, you literally become the property of another person. If you don’t believe it, go look at the legal involvements. When you get married, the property you own becomes your spouse’s (half of his or hers). If you own a thousand acres and you get married, five hundred becomes your wife’s or your husband’s. Just like that, as soon as you sign on the dotted line, you gave away half your property. Worse still (to some people), you promise to love, honor, obey, and cherish. That is where the old-fashioned vows used to go. It is almost like slavery. And much marriage is just drudgery unless there is just one quality, and what’s that? Love. Without that quality, this business of obeying is just downright slavery.
I have had many married people come to me and say they are slaves. The husband or wife demands this and that. I have seen many others whose lives look like slavery because of the demands of their spouse; but they do not seem to think it is slavery. The Psalmist wrote, “I delight to do Thy law.” Psalms 40:8. Why is it so much fun obeying the law? Because of love. Without love, any obedience is just a demand or exaction from a dictator. With love, husbands can tell you that it is even fun to wash the dishes. Why do you give yourself to someone? Only because you love them. There is no other reason why. And we love Him because He first loved us and gave us abundant evidence of His love. Therefore we give ourselves to Him. It is so nice to be in love with Jesus.
If you do not understand that, and you try to do all those things required of you without that love, the Christian life is the most miserable life I can think of. The day has come when we have a mixture in all denominations of miserable people and happy people. Some people vacillate between being the two—once in a while they are happy and once in a while they are miserable. They keep forgetting how much the Lord loves them and how they really love Him. You do not give yourself to someone unless, by their marvelous love, that person has earned you. They purchase your affections, don’t they? They are deserving of your esteem and affections. When they do that for you, it is wonderful.
We have read in Matthew 13:46 about the admirer of pearls; and you need to understand more about these connoisseurs of pearls or you will miss something in this parable. I was stationed in India during World War II in a place now called Bangladesh. This is the major city in the world for pink pearls. There are very few pearls like these. Those fellows would spend days and weeks with their little magnifying glasses examining pink pearls. They would squat on their haunches (no chairs) and just look and look at pearls all day long. I have gone back to those shops and seen the same fellow there every day for a week, just looking over all the pearls. Apparently it was somewhat like that in the area where Christ lived, so they knew what He was talking about. The man in the parable found one pearl of great price. There was no other like it. He had probably looked for years, and now he found one. What did he do? He sold everything he owned and bought it. Why? Nothing else was so precious. He could look at his house, his job, his education, his wife, his children, his cattle, his land, and say, “You can have it all; just give me this pearl.” He walked away with that pearl knowing in his heart that giving up all he had was worth it.
Some people might think he had lost his mind. But he would say, “Oh, if you only knew what pearls are like. You just don’t understand pearls.” Jesus taught us not to put our valuable treasures out there for people who cannot appreciate them. The devil has said that God has cast His Pearl before swine; and sometimes it looks like the devil is right. The devil says that God wasted the Treasure of heaven by giving Him to people who cannot appreciate Him. This man appreciated that one pearl, and nothing was so precious. Nothing! He said, “I will gladly give everything I own if I can only have that one pearl.” Why? Because of his esteem for that one pearl. He placed supreme value on that pearl. He knew what he was getting, and that was all he wanted. Forget everything else. When we give ourselves to Jesus, we forsake everything else and cling only unto Him. He is so precious. He is symbolized by that pearl of great price.
“We cannot earn salvation, but we are to seek for it with as much interest and perseverance as though we would abandon everything in the world for it.” COL 117. Take everything I have, but give me Jesus. This is how you procure, how you obtain, how you buy, how you acquire righteousness. There is no other way. You can try to prove there is another way, but eventually you will come back to the conclusion that you must buy it like this. It might take you a lifetime to discover that, but you will find out that what you have tried to achieve was really not righteousness; and you will find out that all our righteousness is as filthy rags—when you really see His. By comparison, you have nothing of your own.
“The price we are required to pay is not gold or silver…God calls for your willing obedience. He asks you to give up your sins.” COL 117. If this disturbs you, then read on; for now we come to the next logical question concerning this: Suppose I do not like pearls? Suppose they are not precious to me? Is that possible? It is possible, and the chapter on “The Pearl” in Christ’s Object Lessons discusses that. How will I ever find an appreciation for the Pearl of great price—for Christ and His righteousness—if I just do not have an attraction for it? “It is the Holy Spirit that reveals to men the preciousness of the goodly pearl.” COL 118. The Holy Spirit reveals to me the preciousness of Jesus. He tells me something I have not seen. There is a revelation from God to my soul that takes place.
You may ask, “Then why hasn’t He told me about how precious the Pearl is? He is to blame if I don’t think the Pearl is so precious. That is why I have not surrendered my all to possess Jesus. Why doesn’t He tell me about it?” The quote continues there on page 118: “The time of the Holy Spirit’s power is the time when in a special sense the heavenly gift is sought and found.” He comes in great power to reveal Jesus when He is sought and found. The seeking of Jesus has something to do with this revelation. Continuing on: “In Christ’s day many heard the gospel, but their minds were darkened by false teaching, and they did not recognize in the humble Teacher of Galilee the Sent of God. But after Christ’s ascension His enthronement in His mediatorial kingdom was signalized by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit was given. Christ’s witnesses proclaimed the power of the risen Saviour. The light of heaven penetrated the darkened minds of those who had been deceived by the enemies of Christ [those who did not appreciate the Pearl]. They now saw Him exalted to be ‘a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.’ Acts 5:31. They saw Him encircled with the glory of heaven, with infinite treasures in His hands to bestow upon all who would turn from their rebellion. As the apostles set forth the glory of the Only-Begotten of the Father, three thousand souls were convicted. [Before that, they were not convicted and did not have an appreciation of Jesus.] They were made to see themselves as they were, sinful and polluted, and Christ as their friend and Redeemer. Christ was lifted up, Christ was glorified, through the power of the Holy Spirit resting upon men. By faith these believers saw Him as the One who had borne humiliation, suffering, and death that they might not perish but have everlasting life. The revelation of Christ by the Spirit brought to them a realizing sense of His power and majesty, and they stretched forth their hands to Him by faith, saying, ‘I believe.’” The Spirit brought about awareness and conviction. Now the Pearl was precious.
The quotation goes on to tell about the results of their awareness and conviction: “The Spirit of Christ animated the whole congregation; for they had found the pearl of great price.” Why have some not yet found Him? What’s wrong? The answer is stated right there on page 121: “The Spirit awaits our demand and reception.” Something takes place when I seek Him. Those who sense their need, their deficiency, their lack, are to seek the Holy Spirit in the time of the Latter Rain. They will pray, “Lord, something is wrong. Come and bless me. Enlighten my darkened mind. Take away the Laodicean cobwebs out of my mind. Take away the numbness, the insensibility. Quicken my senses so I can perceive, so I can realize, so I am aware.”
I have heard hundreds of Adventists asking the same question as the rich young ruler: “What lack I yet?” There is some suspicion, some doubt, something lurking in our minds that all is not right. Young and old ask the question: “What should I do?” We go around from this camp meeting to that camp meeting, listening to one speaker after another, looking for the thing to supply what we yet lack. If we would only seek, if we would only come with a demand, if we would only receive the faith, if we would only come in a special sense seeking Him, He would be found; and an awareness would come over the church and individuals that we have never had before.
There is a lack of awareness among us in general. There is a lack of responsiveness because our senses do not react to eternal truth. This deficiency is not criticism, for we are all aware of it. Why do we not seek the One who can supply all our needs according to His riches in glory? Why do we not beseech Him to open the windows of heaven and pour us out the blessing that will fill the vacuum? Seek the Lord in the time of the Latter Rain. When we do this, not only will a realization come to us but to all those round about us. Our own families, our neighbors, our friends, and all whose minds have been darkened by false teachings will be enlightened when the Spirit of truth comes down to convict. In the days of the apostles, He touched so many that three thousand were convicted in one day.
We are to seek God to supply this need. This seeking is the result of an awareness of a deficiency, and then a seeking to compensate for that. This brings about two realizations: the preciousness of the Pearl; and a genuine realization of ourselves. “They [those who were converted on the day of Pentecost] are made to see themselves as they were, sinful and polluted…” COL 120. They not only saw Jesus and how precious He was, they also saw themselves as vile sinners.
“All who have a sense of their deep soul poverty, who feel that they have nothing good in themselves, may find righteousness and strength by looking unto Jesus. He bids you exchange your poverty for the riches of His grace…Whatever may have been your past experience, however discouraging your present circumstances, if you will come to Jesus just as you are, weak, helpless, and despairing, our compassionate Saviour will meet you a great way off, and will throw about you His arms of love and His robe of righteousness.” COR 115.
“When men see their own nothingness, they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ.” COR 104. What happens to us? We become frightened when we see our spiritual destitution. We think we are in a terrible condition and are going to be lost! That is not why the Lord told us we are spiritually poor. He tells us He has plenty to take care of all our spiritual poverty. He does not want us to stay like we have been. If we go to Him, He will supply all our needs and give us strength and righteousness. There is no reason for us to remain miserable and naked and blind. He delights to take care of His children. But we always think He is criticizing us when we discover our poverty, our destitute condition and spiritual nakedness.
There is a trade, or exchange, to be made. As you see His glorious purity and how priceless is the precious Pearl, you begin to see that you are in a pretty bad condition. Sometimes He does not come too close to you in all His purity because you would be crushed and feel hopeless by seeing yourself as you really are. You might want to give up or take your life. He draws near enough to tell you that you have misunderstood Him, that He is not trying to chase you away, that He wants you to come buy without money and without price, and that He has all that you need and is waiting and willing to give it to you. But you, in all your spiritual poverty, must go to Him! When you discover how poor and helpless you are, that is when you must go to Him. By seeing His goodness in comparison to yourself, you begin to see yourselves as you really are, and then you begin to desire to be like Him; and He tells you that you may have His righteousness if you will make the trade.
“There are some who seem to be always seeking for the heavenly pearl. But they do not make an entire surrender of their wrong habits. They do not die to self that Christ may live in them. Therefore they do not find the precious pearl. They have not overcome unholy ambition and their love for worldly attractions. They do not take up the cross and follow Christ in the path of selfdenial and sacrifice.” COL 118.
Many people with preconceived opinions misunderstand everything in this quote. They think they must become perfect and overcome all their sins before they can have His righteousness. No, it does not say that; but we have read it that way for many years. Then what does it say? It says that God wants you. He bought you with a price, the precious blood of Jesus. Will you be His possession? He is not demanding that you be His possession. He loves you with an everlasting love! Do you love Him so much that you want to be His? If you will be His, He will give Himself to you with all He has, and you will have no more spiritual poverty. Jesus will love you until you love Him and give yourself to Him. And when you give yourself to Him to love, honor, obey, and cherish, you will forget those things that have alienated you from God. Won’t you?
A couple separated because he had some very bad habits. He stopped working, but would come home often enough to get her money to sustain his bad habits. After a long while, she said, “I don’t like that. I want you to leave and not come back.” He said, “But I want to stay.” She said, “You only want to stay for my money; but you don’t want to stay because you love me. You want to hang around because you love those habits; and I don’t want to work all my life taking care of your bad habits. I would be glad to have you back, and I love you, but leave your habits some other place.”
Of course, the problem is that we cannot. He knows that, so He asks you to give yourself to Him. He paid the price for your sins. ‘Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.’ (John 1:29). Will you let Him take your sins away? Will you give yourself to Him? We cannot overcome our sins but we can give ourselves to Him.
God is not asking us to overcome in the way we usually think about it. He is asking us to die, to forget those things. Our sins seem valuable to us and we cherish them; but when you begin to compare them with the Pearl of great price, you will find out that the things you once valued so much suddenly are not so great. It is like seeing a new, beautiful car next to yours and you say, “Hey, that old heap should be in the junkyard.” That is the way it is with all these sins. God is not telling us how bad we are. He is asking us if we want something better. Do you want what He has? Do you still want to hang on to those sins when you can have what He has to offer you? Are you like the pigs that cannot appreciate the valuable things in life? Are you using your mind to think about what is valuable and what is not valuable? Are you using good judgment?
We have come to a peculiar time when we want to have our cake and eat it, too. In our love affair with Christ, we have become spiritual “swingers.” At a certain time of day we want to be intimate with our Lord, but later in the day, we say, “I want to go now to my other lover—the world—and just have a little bit of spiritual adultery. After all, the Lord is broad-minded, isn’t He? And very understanding and loving.” So we keep two or three other lovers around—those cherished sins we cling to. And we wonder why we do not have Him and His righteousness.
Those who cheat on their spouse sense a coldness and remoteness when they return home. Somehow there is not that warmth they once felt. The conversations kind of fizzle and there is not much to talk about. This is exactly why the Bible and church become so dull to us. Our affections are elsewhere. We have alienated our Lover by our own choice, and our spiritual life is not as warm and affectionate as it once was. We become lukewarm lovers.
Friend, the Lord has paid a precious price for us; and Jesus was the most valuable thing that heaven had. If God could have found something or someone more valuable than Christ, He would have given it to us. He is asking us if we appreciate truly valuable things. We have come to a time in which we have appreciation for all kinds of things. I knew a king in Rhuanda who so loved a rifle that had been given to him as a gift that he would not allow another person to touch it. Some people love degrees, or prestige, or position, or jobs, and you can go on and on. Some people forsake everything else to have one possession. Some people forsake home, livelihood, spouse, and friends, just to get something they very much desire.
I recall when I had that kind of obsession for flying, and I thought there would never be such a delightful time as when I had my wings in the Air Force. Then I finally achieved that one pearl of great price (according to my estimation). Now I had everything! But then the day came when I thought it was the most boring thing anyone could ever find to do. I was disgusted with what I had achieved.
I have met those with great wealth who told me the same thing. They said that because of all the fears and pressures and worries they had with wealth. It wasn’t worth it. I have met those who worked a lifetime for a certain accomplishment in a job or profession, and they would come to me and say, “Pastor, I’m bored stiff. What do I do?” They say they are too old to change, and have too much money wrapped up in their careers. The Lord allows us to go along, and sometimes it takes a long time, until we find the end result of those things we count so precious. Sometimes we cannot attain to those things, but He allows us to pursue them until we have lost our health, or our family, or until our children can no longer stand us because we have no interest in them. He lets us continue until we lose everything but that one thing we strove so much for. The Lords then asks tenderly, “Are you happy?” And after a while, you answer, “Not really.”
The parable of Jesus says there is only one Pearl of great price. There is nothing else as valuable. There is nothing else as satisfactory, nothing else that will help you to achieve. Everything else is secondary to the one Pearl. He does not ask you to strive first and then have His righteousness. He says, “Give me what I purchased. Love Me because I first loved you. Be Mine because I have given Myself for you. Give Me your sins because I want to take them all away. Don’t overcome by trying. Overcome by dying. Make Me the King of your life. Am I not the King of glory? Am I not your Creator? Let Me dominate you, and all this marvelous treasure will be yours.”
There is no other way. There is just one Pearl of great price, and the Bible calls Him One altogether lovely, the Lily of the Valley, the Desire of all nations, the bright and morning Star, the Pearl of great price. What do you count more valuable than Christ? What are you trying to hold on to? What are you grasping for? What are you seeking to achieve rather than Jesus?
The man in the parable sold everything he had. He said, “Take the world, take me, take everything, but give me that one pearl.” This is the only way that righteousness is attained. Jesus has been waiting a long time for us to discover something that has been extremely obvious. It is almost embarrassing to admit that we haven’t found it. He wants us to admit that there is no one else like Him. He wants us to discover that He is extremely precious.
Today the Spirit of God is telling you something. He is bringing to you a realization and a conviction that you would rather have Jesus than anything. All those other things that have seemed so valuable to you are in reality nothing. You have been desiring all that garbage when you could have traded those things for Christ, the most valuable treasure in the universe.
May God help us to see how valueless our cherished sins are and to understand how precious is Jesus who has been waiting to bestow on every one of us His marvelous righteousness. When we see Him, everything else grows dim in the light of His glory and grace.