MORE THAN CONQUERORS: DIVINE IMPUTATION

We are all sinners and cannot save ourselves—big problem! Thankfully, there is a divine solution. Weigh Paul’s question in Romans 8:33, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”

I can answer Satan’s snarling charges against me with this, “Devil, do you think that God will charge me with sin when He has already justified me?” God is not going to justify you as a son and then turn around and judge you as a sinner!

This means that there is no accusation: God saves us. Satan is called in Scripture, “the accuser” (Rev.12:10). That is what his name means and that is what he does. He delights to dredge up your past. He is quick to point out your sins. But, you have been forgiven of all your sins if you have received Christ! The good news is, you don’t have to listen to the devil’s accusations! What God has done in saving you is to remove the debt of sin by paying it with the blood of His Son—the eternal One dying for all. But also, He positively credited the ledger of your life with the righteousness of Christ! Recall Paul’s emphatic statement in Romans 4:5-8 concerning imputation (to credit to a person or cause):

5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Has anyone ever told you, “Go to hell”? The next time they do just answer, “I don’t have to because Jesus did it for me!” There is a beautiful Old Testament illustration of this:

1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.
2 And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.
4 Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”
5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by. (Zech.3:1-5)

There are those who will protest, “If you preach the eternal security of the believer, you will lead people to sin all they want to!” The reality is I do sin all I want to—in fact, more than I want to. I just don’t want to. God changes our “want to’s”! The imputation of Christ’s righteousness is more than just the positional act of making us right with Him. It is also the practical action of God’s grace at work to produce righteous desires and deeds. If someone can claim to know the great love of God for them in His amazing grace, and then tread that precious blood underfoot by using it as a license to sin, they show that they have neither comprehended nor received such grace. That isn’t the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer, but the everlasting insecurity of the make-believer!

Here’s the reality, though, even the best of us are capable of failing God, and God’s Spirit within is grieved and leads us to cry out in repentance. It is at that point, the Accuser levels his barrage of doubt. There is an answer—in Christ my sins have not been imputed to me, but to Him and His righteousness has been imputed to me—saved by the blood of the Lamb!