This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain or a gospel minister in a jail, prison or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission – in the United States.
All Scripture quotes are usually taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any deviation from the NKJV text is placed within parenthesis signs (). These usually occur as direct translations from the original languages, or as notes from the original setting to help apply the text to today’s culture.
ALL CAPITAL LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize words in a text, or to make a comment about a biblical text, or emphasize a statement.
It is important that inmates get what I will call the other side of the gospel message.
Normally, most of us and even FEWER OF THEM only get the part where Jesus bore our (that is, true believer’s) sins in His own body on the tree, or the wood of the cross (1 Peter 2:24).
That is a wonderful, powerful truth that will set them free from guilt. BUT there is another part, HE ALSO GAVE TRUE CHRISTIANS HIS OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS. Just think of how that can give believing inmates a new personal identity!
According to the Bible, no sin will be in heaven. One must be completely righteous to enter in there. Since we could not ever be right enough in ourselves to have access to heaven, Jesus gave those that truly are committed to Him as Lord and Savior, His own righteousness. This is the other side of the gospel message.
Show and teach your inmates and residents this truth from these few passages.
1 Corinthians 1:30-31
30 But of Him (God, the Father) you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”
This verse is telling true believers that Christ Jesus became for them everything they need. He brings them the supernatural wisdom of God. He sets them apart and makes them appear as holy before the Father. He is their entire redemption from sin (see the Chaplain’s Corner from March 15, 2011).
But don’t miss it, just like Jesus bore away the believer’s sin by substituting for them and paying their penalty at the Cross, HE ALSO AS A SUBSTITUTE - HAS BEEN COUNTED TO THEM FOR A REAL RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Just like Christians have a substitutionary payment for their sins, THEY ALSO HAVE A SUBSTITUITIONARY RIGHTOUENESS GRANTED TO THEM. It is the very righteousness of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (in the ESV) says:
“For our sake he (God the Father) made him (Jesus, the Son) to be sin who knew no sin, so that IN HIM WE MIGHT BECOME the righteousness of God.”
I want to come back to this verse a bit later, but for now, I want to encourage you to teach inmates that anyone truly united to Christ is “in Him.” God the Father sees all those who are in Christ as having HIS true righteousness.
Here is yet another way to come at this important truth with inmates. Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 5:20, the following words:
“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
You should regularly point out to inmates that they need MORE than a good record in religion! They need a righteousness that exceeds the strictest observers of religious rules.
From where then does anyone obtain THAT KIND OF RIGHTEOUSNESS? Jeremiah pointed prophetically to Jesus, when he was caused by the Holy Spirit, to write Jeremiah 23:5-6, which says:
5 “ Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “ That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
This prophecy looks forward to a time when the King whose name is Jesus will reign from Jerusalem over all the earth. It is also a time when the descendants of Jacob (Judah and Israel) will be true believers and be saved.
But, just like now, to be saved from our sin and have a promised home in heaven forever, people need a perfect righteousness. So, this prophecy is saying that the LORD Jesus Himself will count as that needed righteousness.
To obtain the needed righteousness to go to heaven a person needs to get it from Christ, the righteous Branch of David. The man who started life as Saul of Tarsus, was lost in the sin of man-made religion, but by God’s grace he finally found the righteousness he needed.
It was not from within himself, but it was IN CHRIST JESUS ALONE, who became His Lord and made him the Apostle Paul. He wrote about this in Philippians 3:8-9
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that (righteousness, implied) which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
Just ask your inmate Bible students to think about this: Christ’s righteousness is a total complete, perfect righteousness – because He never ever once sinned! Wow, the true believer has the very, perfect righteousness of Christ – his sinless record, credited to their account!
Show them Christ’s righteousness from the following five passages that speak of the completely sinless life He lived on earth.
1. Start with John 8:45-47. Here Jesus was speaking to His enemies, the religious leaders of the Jews. He said to them,
45 “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? “
47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
These proud self-righteous men hated Jesus. When He even challenged them to show or point out one sin in His life, in verse 46, they could not do it!
Next, show your inmates these two wonderful verses from the writer to the Hebrews.
2. Hebrews 4:14-15
14 … we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
The Jesus that all believers are united to, bore every kind of temptation to the fullest strength of the specific temptation, and never ever yielded to it. He was truly WITHOUT A SINGLE SIN.
3. Then, Hebrews 7:26 says,
26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy (morally pure), harmless (without any evil), undefiled (not soiled morally in any way), separate from sinners,
4. 1 Peter 2:21-22 a passage that deals with suffering, says,
21 … Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22 “ Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
5. And 1 John 3:4-5, a passage that teaches about sin, says:
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
5 And you know that He (a reference to the Son of God, in v. 8) was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. (literally, ‘in Him sin is not!’)
So, the Holy Scriptures teach the absolute sinlessness of Jesus, the Christ. Tell the true believers that you minister to that the sinless record of Jesus has been credited to their account, before the throne of God above!
Also, explain to them that rather than being a license to then live here below in sin any longer, this is a great motivation to live now like they will live in heaven forever.
In closing, I want to go back to 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, which speaks of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ that reconciled and will reconcile believers to God. It says,
20 … be reconciled to God.
21 For He (God, the Father) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that (in order that) we might become the righteousness of God in Him
That puts it all together! The sinlessness of Jesus is accounted to the moral record of the people that are in Him. They are united to Him and are in Him, because they have believed on Him to be saved from their sin.
Finally, I want you to look again at the great hymn “Before The Throne of God Above.” I quoted from this hymn last month as well. Note these words from the third verse:
“Behold Him (Jesus) there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God.”
Dear Chaplains and gospel ministers to inmates, I am reminding you of these things, not only to encourage you to teach them to the inmates - but to be blessed by them yourself, personally. Thank God, that Jesus is our perfect righteousness.
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless (a synonym for righteous) before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25)
Rev. Rich Hines
Minister to Chaplains, Aurora Ministries’ Chaplain Help Ministry
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