Month: August 2018

14. Sins Covered

 Romans 4:7b…and whose sins are covered.

 It may not sound like the covering of sins is a great promise, because it would seem to be easy to remove the covering and expose the sins. But the strength and permanence of the material used to cover the sins matters. In this case the Blood of Jesus Christ is the covering; it is strong and permanent and cannot be removed or slipped off. The Blood of Christ does not only cover, but it also cleanses and blots out. The sins are covered so thoroughly that they are erased. They are to be thrown into the sea never to be dredged up again.

The covering of sins metaphor is used to express the hiddenness or invisibility of the sins that were against us. It means that our sins are no longer seen by God; not only does God not condemn us in our sin, He doesn’t even see them any longer. The only thing God can see in the cleansed and covered believer is the blood of Christ. With this God is well pleased, and so God is well pleased with us. He sees Jesus, not my sins. This is indeed a real and permanent blessing.

If God does not see my sins and they are covered from sight, then I should not look for my sins again and again. I need to do as God does: “remember them no more.” I do need to confess my sins in order that I may realize the awfulness and the ugliness of my self that has been forever removed; then I will appreciate Forgiveness of Sins more than if I did not confess them. Consequently, I will love God and praise His Grace more and more. Daily and weekly confession is good for the soul. But once confession is made and forgiveness is received I do not allow self or Satan to remind me of them again. If they are gone from God’s sight let them be gone from mine. When you look inward see what God sees, the blood of Christ. When you look on other people, see them as covered and forgiven, and see Jesus. Looking at, remembering, criticizing, and gossiping the sins of others produces negativity all around, and it does no one any good whatsoever. Love does indeed cover a multitude of sins. Blessed are those.

13. Iniquities Forgiven

 Romans 4:7a Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,

 Blessing in every way is promised to those whose sins are forgiven. Forgiven is the basic foundation to life enjoyed and lived, and it is also the basis of our hope of eternal life with God. Without forgiveness of sins we could not live with God, neither could we even have God in our life. Forgiveness is the prerequisite for a happy relationship between marriage partners, family members and friends. Therefore, the promise of blessedness is granted to those whose sins are forgiven.

Forgiveness of sins is a blessing and the presence and reality of forgiveness brings blessings. Forgiveness of sins is not theoretical, but it is a practical reality; it is a real transaction between two offended parties that restores loving relationships. In other words, something really happens. To be restored back into a solid relationship with God Almighty is indeed a blessing. When we forgive others who have trespassed against us we bestow a blessing upon the other, just we ourselves have received a blessing from God.

Sin gets in the way; forgiveness of iniquities removes the obstacle. Forgiveness is granted by grace from God for the sake of Christ; Christ earned forgiveness for all sinners. With the announcement and proclamation of forgiveness comes along the faith to believe it is true and real. God is back in our life to love, serve, provide and protect. When life is granted and restored to God’s original intention it is certainly a blessing in every way. Faith receives the blessing of forgiveness and life. God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

12. Imputed Righteousness

Romans 4:6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.

Romans 4:11…that righteousness might be imputed unto them also.

Romans 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

 Impute = treat something as if it is possessed by someone. Impute = to attribute something to someone. Because of Christ God imputes righteousness to us. Also, God imputes our sin and guilt to Christ. It is not our own righteousness, but it is imputed to us and accounted to us as if God’s righteousness were our own. In the same way, it is not Christ’s own sin, but our sin is imputed to Christ and He suffers the just penalty for our sin; He took our sin on Himself as if it were His own, and He took it away.

The righteousness imputed to us is not originated, produced or lived by us in any sense; it is God’s; God treats us as if we owned the righteousness although it is alien, that is, strange to us and outside of us, it belongs to us and God counts it so. So also, our sin, inherently ours and produced by us, is alien to Christ He takes it on Himself and counts it as His own, and He pays the price.

Imputed means that it comes from outside and is placed inside. I did not earn it; Christ earned it. Therefore, God imputes it to me without works, but He can legally do so because of what Christ has done for me.

As with all the unconditional promises of God imputed righteousness must be believed because it cannot be seen. That’s why it is seen and received by faith. Faith is supernatural sight granted by the Holy Spirit through the hearing of the Gospel. We need to hear the Gospel often so that faith is maintained without sight, or even without works. Now it is true that with varieties of religious experience it is sometimes felt, but the feeling cannot be relied upon. Therefore we believe the promise according to the Gospel.

11. Faith is Righteousness

 Romans 4:5b His faith is counted for righteousness.

 God promises that your faith counts for righteousness. The faith of an ungodly person is considered by God to be righteousness; the ungodly is godly by faith. This means that faith is everything: it does not just count for a lot or most of what is needed but everything that is needed to be counted righteous. I do not need to add anything to the faith; I do not need good works or sincerity in addition; faith is all.  Faith is also the only thing; not faith plus but faith alone.

This promise gives me great comfort and absolute confidence. If my righteousness depended on anything more or anything in me I could never be certain if it was enough. But it does not depend on me or anything in me. It all depends completely on God and on what He does. He is the boss; He makes the rules; He decides; He promises; He does it all. I can be sure that it is enough. I have faith, and so I know that I am righteous.

“Faith alone” does not feel to humans like it is enough. “Isn’t there something I must do? Isn’t there something more needed?” Maybe I need to do good works; maybe I need great faith; maybe I need to do penance; maybe I need to pray the “sinner’s prayer.” Surely faith cannot be alone. Such doubts and deceits diminish and contradict the simple and plain promise of the Word; it also tarnishes the completed and finished work of Christ at the Cross and the Tomb.

Simple Faith, even a small grain of faith, receives the full promise of righteousness. It counts. It is sufficient. It doesn’t depend on anything in me, but it depends all on God who does it all. Faith makes the gift of righteousness mine and makes it real. Faith receives the promise; and God makes it count and makes it sure.

10. Justifies the Ungodly

 Romans 4:5a But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.

 God promises to justify the ungodly. He will make the ungodly godly, the unholy holy, the unrighteous righteous. To apply this promise to my life I need to admit and believe: 1) I am ungodly, and 2) God justifies me by faith.

To admit that I am ungodly admits of two aspects of confessing: 1) I do and say things that are opposed to God and God’s way of living, 2) I do not do and do not say the things that are godly and good and right and true and helpful to people. I do the ungodly and don’t do the godly. But more important that what I do is what I am: I am ungodly; I am an ungodly person; I am an enemy of God; I am evil at the core of my being, totally corrupt. I admit that God is not just talking about all people; He is also talking in particular about me. I don’t like to describe myself as ungodly because I say, “I’m not that bad.” But yes, I am that bad.

Then I admit that God justifies the ungodly: that’s the good news. God justifies the one who believes, not the one who works. The one who believes is ungodly: he believes he is ungodly and he believes God justifies him. “The one who worketh” is not the one who is justified and he has a hard time admitting he is ungodly. The bad news is that I cannot make myself godly and acceptable to God; the good news is that God makes me godly and acceptable to God. God does what I can’t do: He justifies. I believe that I cannot change my ungodliness, and I believe that God justifies me and changes my ungodliness into righteousness. How remarkable is this; look how far we have come, from extremely bad to extremely good.

That’s a promise we can live with.

9. Justified by Faith

 Romans 3:28, 30 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law….Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith.

 The promise that we are justified by faith is basic to our whole life, not just to Christian theology, but also to daily life. Taking hold of this promise and living every moment as one justified by faith makes every minute better. Living by faith and thereby being just is better than living by public appearance and worried about good behavior; the one who lives by faith is always aware of God’s love and acceptance and good pleasure. Living with this kind of confidence is better than constantly “trying to be good.” Living by faith is enjoying life as it comes instead of stressing about present circumstances and worrying about what might happen.

If I know I am justified by faith I know who I am and where I am going; I know that God is for me and nothing can be against me; I know He gave me His Son and He will with Him give me all things; I know that God justifies and no one can condemn. If I know I am justified by faith I know all things work together for good and nothing evil can permanently touch me.

If I know I am justified by faith I can be certain that nothing in me can prevent the Lord from doing good to me, that is, I am not lacking any good work, any prayer, any particular confession, any purity of life, or anything I didn’t do good enough that can keep God away from me; I know that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord. I also know that I do not have to be concerned about what others think about me, because I know what God thinks about me.

Believing in complete justification and total acceptance changes me internally and changes my desires. Justification creates holy desires and also gives the ability to actually do the good works, which God prepared beforehand. I can do the good works and love people more easily by focusing on Jesus Christ and His Gospel rather than by striving and struggling against my sinful and selfish nature in the flesh. The promise of justification by faith changes life for the better.

And this one God justifies both Jews and non-Jews and, by extension, all the different kinds of people in the world. And so I know I am included in the promise, no matter what is my pre-existing condition.

8. Declare His righteousness

 Romans 3:25 God has set forth [Christ Jesus] to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past.

 God promises to declare His righteousness for the forgiveness of sins. The declaration of righteousness and the forgiveness are not the same thing but they are parts of the same thing.  Though each is different than the other both come together. The righteousness of God cannot dwell where sin lives. The sin must be forgiven before the righteousness can come. Forgiveness is not everything without something positive taking its place. Both righteousness and forgiveness come together at the same time when the Gospel is believed. When sins are declared forgiven righteousness is declared; when God declares His righteousness the forgiveness of sins is effective as well.

Righteousness and forgiveness is received in real power through faith in His blood, that is, believing that the innocent Jesus, the God-man, died for me (blood was shed). This bloody death of Jesus is set forth by God as propitiation; propitiation is a pleasing that satisfies, or an appeasing of wrath. God is satisfied with the vicarious (place-taking) sacrifice of His Son on whom my sins were laid; by faith God is pleased with me since I am one with Christ. The righteous wrath of God over against my sin is appeased because my sins are forgiven and they are no longer on me. Because God is pleased with Christ Jesus, God can, God must, and God does declare me righteous and forgiven. The old is past; the new has come. The negative is gone; the positive is present.

If I should look at the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ only through my human eyes as merely a factual event of history, I would have nothing but some knowledge of human history. But by the convincing power of the Holy Spirit this same historical event is a Gospel Message that makes the event a propitiation through faith in his blood; when I see and hear by faith, God declares His righteousness for the forgiveness of sin: Voila! I am right with God! This is a life-changing promise.

7. Justified freely

 Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

 “Justified freely by his grace” is redundant, like “free gift.” Grace is free; Grace is all; Grace is enough; Grace is alone. Grace is free to me because of the redemption in Christ. Christ paid the extremely expensive price: His own innocent blood. Nothing is creation is more precious and costly than the blood of the Son of God. The exceeding greatness of the riches of Christ is granted to me for free. GRACE = God Riches At Christ’s Expense.

When I meditate on the cross of Christ I am overwhelmed at the cost of redeeming, or paying for, my soul. When I meditate on the freeness of the gift of being justified I am likewise overwhelmed. When I meditate on the Love of God expressed in the cross and I reflect on His Amazing Grace I am overwhelmed. When the Holy Spirit properly and powerfully works His power in me unto repentance and faith to believe His Grace my desire to love, serve and obey Him blazes with renewed zeal.

The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to teach me what justification really means; then He teaches me that it is all given by grace alone. The redemption in Christ earned this free grace for me, and now by faith in Christ I am justified, righteous, pure, and holy, and without sin, guilt or shame. Believing this Gospel I relish the cleanness and freshness of the liquid love of God washing over me. I remember my Baptism and partake in the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Jesus: the one is a washing of regeneration, the other is a drinking of the cleansing blood. I praise God with a shout: “I am justified freely by his grace.”

6. Righteousness of God

Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested…which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.

 The Promise is that the Righteousness of God is unto all and upon all that believe. It is manifested by faith of Jesus Christ. Faith is the heart that receives the gift of the righteousness of God; this faith is the faith of Jesus Christ; this faith identifies us with Christ and makes us one with Him; God sees me, God sees Christ; we are so united in a mysterious way the two of us are One, and that “One” wears and bears the righteousness of God forever.

This righteousness of God is without the law, outside of the law, and does not come upon us because of the law. It is sheer gift, earned by Jesus Christ. There is no whiff or whisper of law that touches the gift of righteousness. God because of Christ alone directly and clearly bestows His righteousness. It is given to faith bypassing the law and its works as it is received by faith alone. It is given independently of anything within the believer but granted purely by grace alone.

This righteousness of God is all God’s and all of God and has nothing at all to do with us; there is no merit or value or worthiness in us that receives the gift. Another fine point is that this righteousness of God is God’s, and technically it is not the righteousness of Christ that is manifested to us, other than that He is God. The righteous, perfect, holy, sinless life of Christ lived as a human has earned the favor of God, and His life is the innocent sacrifice for our sinful lives. Although we preach about the “righteousness of Christ” robing us, it is more Scripturally accurate to say it is the “righteousness of God” that is manifested unto and upon us. This promise leaves us in no doubt that the righteousness of God is more than good enough for us to avail before God both now and hereafter. Clothed in God’s own righteousness alone, faultless, guiltless, sinless and blameless I come before the Throne.

5. Justified

 Romans 2:13 For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

 One definition of Justified = made just; “faceo” is the Latin word for “make; “just” is the  Latin word for “just;” thus, “make just.” Another definition of Justified = ‘just-if-I’d’-never-sinned. The strict and proper definition of Justify = “declare righteous,” or pass the verdict of innocent or not guilty; but “righteous” is positive and active, while “innocent” is neutral and passive. “Make just” can bear the implication that the substance or character of the person is changed; this is not true, for the corrupt flesh cannot change or be improved. (By the way, self-improvement steps will not change the nature of sinful flesh). The flesh must be crucified; the self must die; the soul must surrender to the spirit.

Therefore, declare righteous, as a verdict with a gavel, is the most helpful understanding of justification; the verdict is final and cannot be appealed. God is the Supreme Court and there is no higher judge. Let it be settled forever in your heart and mind and do not let your soul argue the point: I am righteous! By faith. Period.

Though I am a righteous, perfect, holy saint declared so by God the Eternal Judge I am still at the same time an unrighteous, sinful, unholy sinner. Though I am constantly forgiven both the saint and the sinner in me are struggling to rule. I will not end this spiritual war until my physical death, at which time I will be changed in the twinkling of an eye in the resurrection of the body.

But there is a “rub:” This justification is only for the doers of the law. Now I am plunged into even more despair for I cannot “do” the law. The promise held out is unattainable for me. Only One Person in history has actually done the law and kept God’s Law perfectly: He is the Only One who has earned justification; Jesus earned it for me and gave His doing of the law to me. Wow! Now, by faith, I am a “doer of the law.”Therefore, there is no doubt: God’s promise of justification is for me.