RIGHTEOUSNESS
Morning Meditations 6/14/17
Our meditation this morning will be Romans chapter 4 verses 6 to 8: “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
Paul goes back to David and the Psalms to teach the truth of grace. Salvation is completely apart from works. And he takes the chance on saying to the saints, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Can a saint really be trusted with that truth? Won’t it cause him to go out and sin? If when he sins, it is not put to his account?
There are two things stated in this text. First that God imputes righteousness without works to believers (v-5) and He does not impute sin to those to whom He imputes righteousness.
First, we as believers have been given the righteousness of Christ. It has been put on our account in heaven. And that is all that is on the account. The blood of Christ wiped out everything else. So our account in clean. How is that for grace? If God did not give me the faith to believe that, even as one who has been preaching grace for years, I would have to say that that can’t be true. It contradicts all rational thought. This is the reason the gospel is so incomprehensible to the unsaved. 1 Cor 2:14 says “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” This truth is “Spiritually discerned” and spiritual discernment is only possible for believers. It is faith in what God says, no matter how much it contradicts rational thought, that makes spiritual truth real to our experience.
Now, to believe this, it will put us in a strain. Because we still have the capacity to reason as the world does. Paul said to the Church at Corinth: 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verses 1 through 3: “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” My susceptibility to think carnal thoughts is ever with me. It presents a real live conflict in my life. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 17 says, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” I must continually walk in the Spirit that I might not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
God says that He has imputed the righteousness of Christ to my account. I believe that. I believe that, no matter how undeserving that may make me feel. That is also the holiness that God demands of me. He has met His need for fellowship with me by giving me His own righteousness. So I am righteous before the Father. It is on my account there, never to be removed. This is not just taught by Paul. John said in his First Epistle chapter 4 and verse 17: “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” He says here, “As He is, so are we in this world.” Now this is how God sees us. This is grace. How many of us feel that we are as righteous as Christ right now in this world? At this point we are on pure faith.. This is what God says. I am to believe this no matter how much my experience in this world contradicts it. Paul quotes David: “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.”That truth breaks me at the foot of the cross and motivates me to worship before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and praise Him for His marvelous grace.
Second, we as believers are told: “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” The word “impute” is the same as the word “imputeth” in verse 6. In verse 6 the word “imputeth” is a present middle indicative. That means that God continually, in the present tense of our lives here one earth, puts the righteousness of Christ to our account. The middle voice means that He does it and is personally benefited by the actions. He set out to save us for His glory and He is accomplishing it. And the way He does it is by grace which is His good news for bad people. Hallelujah!
The word “impute” in verse 8 is an aorist middle subjunctive. The aorist tense is a point of time divorced from time and perpetuated forever. God says “I will not impute sin to the believer” at a point of time that is divorced from time and is perpetuated forever. (I feel a spell coming on). The middle voice is where the subject acts and participates in the result of the action. God is benefited by His personal involvement in the salvation of the believer. He has an eternal bride that Christ will present to Him without spot or wrinkle. The subjunctive is the potential mood. What this means is that there is not even the potential at any point of time in the future that sin will be put to the account of the believer. This is because salvation is by grace through faith and is without human merit. My works, good or bad, do not enter the picture.
“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” David knew this blessedness. Every believer knows this blessedness. But sometime we lose this truth in the maze of everyday life. We need to return to this great truth of grace and enter into the blessedness of the Lord’s great salvation.
I will close this meditation with a question I asked in the beginning. Can a saint really be trusted with that truth? I answer it with another question. What does this truth make you want to do? There is no greater motive for holiness than the truths of grace. I have discovered that I can trust grace to work holiness in the lives of believers.
May the Lord bless these thoughts to your heart.
In Christ
Earl White
