Imputation, Chapter Three

 

In the last chapter I asked you this question. If God imputes righteousness to me when I believe that He sent His own Son here to take my place and die for me and that He raised Him from the dead, does this mean that I can do whatever I please and God will forgive me? I can give you my opinion on this subject and it would just be that. My opinion. Let's see what Paul had to say about this subject. In 1 Cor. 6:12 he says,

 

"All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

 

The reason that all things are lawful unto me is because I am not living spiritually under Law. I am, since Jesus paid the price for my sins, living under grace. Even though all things are permissible for me not everything is profitable for me. In the United States we live under the rule of law. These laws establish guidelines and boundaries which allow us to live in freedom. They tell us what we can and cannot do according to the laws we have agreed upon. As with any law there are penalties for not following them. We can disobey them but there are consequences if we do. Usually it is not profitable for us to break the laws of the land we live in.

 

When I talk about the fact that God has considered me to be righteous because I believe in what He has done for me, the carnal mind will immediately think that if that is so then I can do whatever I please. Just like the laws that we live under in the United States, we can do whatever we want to as long as we abide by the pre-agreed upon laws or rules of conduct. The same is true of spiritual laws. Paul said in Gal. 6:7-8,

 

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.    For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

 

This is a spiritual law and just like the law of gravity continues to work down through the ages. If you want someone to love you then you must love someone and if you want to have friends be a friend. If you are wicked then wickedness will follow you.

 

Paul also said in Rom. 6:1-2, 7,

 

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? For he that is dead is freed from sin."

 

And in Rom. 6:14-17,

 

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Don't you know, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you."

 

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 and this brings fear of condemnation and punishment. 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. If you take away the Law then you should have no sin consciousness because you know you are righteous in God's sight simply because you believe in Him and as a result you are not being judged by Law. The spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets you free from condemnation and guilt because we believe and have faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and we learn that it is His righteousness that God sees when we believe in what Jesus has done for us. We no longer have to depend upon our ability to follow the Law in order to be saved but because Jesus was able to do that for us we are set free.

 

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 your carnal mind can't live in perfect compliance with Law because the flesh that it lives in 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 live by faith."   

 

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 hath 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.

 

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 will set you free from a sin conscious. Will you dare to just believe that Jesus and His Father had provided all you need to experience eternal life even now in this world?