Imputation, Chapter One
The great
Apostle Paul made a very profound statement in Rom. 4:20-25 when he said about
Abraham,
"He (Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in
faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded
that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it (his
faith) was imputed to him for righteousness.
Now it was not written for his sake alone,
that it was imputed to him; But
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and
was raised again for our justification."
In this study I
am going to point out to you some truths that the implication of will stager
your imagination. Your carnal mind will fight you as never before because what
I am about to show you will absolutely set you free from sin if you can only
believe what the Word of God says about you. You will no longer be plagued with
the consciousness of sin in your life!
What I am about
to show you is so simple but because of what men have taught us about God's
Word it is hard for our carnal mind to accept. I have touched on this subject
with you often before but now I want to completely expose it to you. I must
warn you, however, that it will shake what you have been taught and it will
challenged what you believe to be the truth about some things. You will want to
believe it but it is so simple it sounds too good to be true.
Let's pray!
Father we asked that you open our hearts so that we can completely understand
what you have done for us and what our response to this should be. We are
seekers of truth and your word is truth. Continue to teach us of your ways so
that we can be like you, Amen!
Just what did
Paul mean by saying that because Abraham believed God his faith was rewarded by
God imputing righteousness to him? The word 'impute' means to consider, to
reckon, to count, or to esteem. Because Abraham's faith was so strong that he
believed whatever God said to him and his faith was considered by God as
righteousness.
I want you to
notice that this happened before the Law was given to Moses. Paul's gospel goes
back to Abraham who, because of his
great faith, became the father of those who have faith in God. The Law was not
yet given to Moses when Abraham was considered righteous before God. It was not
Abraham's works that justified him but it was his faith in what God said. Can
you see that works are an outward expression of what we believe to be the
truth. We express our faith by our works but it is our faith that counts in
God's sight. Faith goes to the core of who we are because we cannot help but
express what we believe. Our actions are governed by what we believe. They are
an expression of who we are but works alone cannot be pleasing to God.
You may say to
me, "Well, Dave, I've known that for some time now!" So have I but
now let's look at what Paul continues to say. He said in verse 23-25,
"Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was
imputed to him; But
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and
was raised again for our justification."
Do you know that
God has imputed righteousness to you if you believe that He raised up Jesus
from the dead? You may say to me, "Yes, Dave, I know that!" My
question to you then is, "Do you see yourself as righteous before God or
do you see yourself as a sinner saved by grace?" There is a big difference
between the two. Are you righteousness conscience or sin conscience?
"Well, Dave, Paul said in Rom. 3:23 that all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God!" Yes he did say that but you need to put what he said in
context. Rom. 3:19-24,
"Now we
know that what things so ever the law says, it says to them who are under the law: that every
mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of
the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of
God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:"
What you say
about the fact that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God is true
but once you believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins, God considers you
to be righteous because of your faith! If you consider yourself as just a
sinner saved by grace you are saying that you don't believe that you are
righteous and you are sin conscience. If you still want to live under Law then
do you realize that law brings sin consciousness? It wasn't until the Law was
given that people had a sin consciousness. Law brings guilt. Paul said in Rom.
3:19-20,
"Now we
know that what things so ever the law says, it says to them who are under the
law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Law
makes you conscious of sin. Heb. 10:4 says,
"For the law having a shadow of good things to
come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers
thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sins."
Those of you who want to live under Law are sin
conscience because Law brings or points out that you disobeyed some part of the
Law. You constantly think of sin and you go to church where it is just
magnified because every prayer offered asks God to do something that He has
already done, that is to forgive you of all your sins and unforgiven sins. It
doesn't matter that God has said in His word in Heb. 10:16-17,
"This is the covenant that I will make
with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no
more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for
sin"
Heb. 10:4 says that the Law could not erase our
consciousness of sin but it continues to point out our sins. In the past and in many churches yet today
there is emphasized our sins and the need to request the Lord to forgive us of
our many trespasses. The carnal mind
just cannot accept the fact that Jesus took away the sins of the world even
though the Bible says that He did. That is what John the Baptist said in John
1:29,
"Behold the Lamb of
God, which takes away the sin of the world."
It is absolutely impossible for the carnal mind to
understand the implications of this unless the Spirit of the Lord reveals it to
your spirit. Your carnal mind cannot understand spiritual things because it
wants to live by Law which it can understand. The only problem with that is
that it can't live in perfect compliance with Law because the flesh is weak and
if it breaks just one of the Laws it is guilty of all of them. Paul said in
Gal. 3:11,
"No man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall
Our debt has been paid but most Christians believe
they must still pay for their sins because they have been taught this. With
this attitude you insult Jesus because He paid your debt in full! With a sin
consciousness you come before the Lord with a sense of shame because you feel
guilty and you beg Him to do something that He has already done! God hates sin
consciousness for this very reason because we don't believe Him! Sin consciousness
brings about guilt and condemnation, however, Paul said in Rom. 8:1,
"There is therefore now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. For the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death."
Paul here calls the Law a law of sin and death
because that is what it brought about because of our inability to obey it. The
Law was and is a good standard to live by but the problem is that it points out
our mistakes and does not have the power to save us because of the weaknesses
of our flesh.
Paul said in 2 Cor. 3:6-9,
"Who also has made us
able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit
gives life. But if
the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious,
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses
for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration
of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory,
much more doth the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory."
Paul here calls the Law the ministration of death
and yet it was glorious. Why? Because the letter of the Law brings about death
and condemnation. However, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus brings
life, peace, faith and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Rom. 8:1, Gal. 5:22)
Paul talked about the Law in Rom. 7:7-13,
"What shall we say,
then? Is the law sin? Certainly
not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law.
For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said,
"Do not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,
produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive
apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I
found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin,
seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through
the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy,
righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to
me? By no means! But in order that
sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was
good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful."
Sin consciousness is designed to shut you down and
once you are shut down you will turn to do works in order to try and get
something to happen. You will pray and pray and ask others to pray for you and
yet nothing happens because you don't believe God has given to you what you are
asking Him for. All the
prayer in the world will result in nothing being answered if it isn't offered
believing that it has already been done for you. I know that you are
questioning this statement but consider what Jesus said in Mark 11:24,
"What things so ever
you desire, when you pray, believe
that you receive them, and you shall have them."
Can't you see that this is what Abraham was
accounted righteousness for. Because He believed in God's integrity. He
believed that God would do what He told him He would do and because Abraham
demonstrated his trust in God it was counted by God as righteousness. This is
so simple and yet so hard to get our carnal minds to understand. All God asks
of us is to believe Him and trust Him!!! He has done everything else for us. He
even gave us the measure of faith to be able to trust Him. Paul said in Rom.
12:3,
"For I say, through the grace given unto
me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly
than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the
measure of faith."
He also said in Eph. 2:8-9,
"For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The point that I want to emphasize over and over again is that
because you believe in what God did through Jesus Christ you are righteous and
being righteous you are not a sinner saved by grace. I want to get you to a
point to where you see yourself as a righteous person. When you fully
understand this you will no longer be plagued by any sin you may have
committed. Sin just simply means that you have missed the mark you were
shooting for and there needs to be some correcting done the next time you aim.
So if you have sinned or missed the mark just load up and shoot again. The goal
is to hit the target and hit the target you will.
Your confession will help you to train your subconscious mind in
the truth. Begin to confess these things on a daily basis, Praise God that;
I am the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!
I can do all things
because I believe.
Nothing is
imposable for me because I believe!
The more you confess these things the more you will believe them
because these things are what Jesus said about the person that believes in Him!
Jesus said in John 8:32,
"If you continue in my
word, then are you my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make
you free."
This truth that I am sharing with you in this chapter will set you
free from a sin conscious. Do some meditation on these scriptures that I have
given to you before you continue reading.