“The [Justified] shall live by faith.”

 

If there is a Scriptural topic any sound preacher loves to preach it is the “Doctrines of Grace.”  By the doctrines of grace we mean the doctrines of election, Christ’s imputed justification, the efficacious or effective call of God, Sanctification or the saint’s Predestinated Christ-likeness, and present and ultimate glorification.  The doctrines of grace have been and are called by different names, such as Calvinism, Salvation, The Golden Chain of Salvation and soteriology (the study of God’s salvation of man), and reformed theology.

The trouble with labeling anything is it will immediately cause division and contention.  The best example of this is Lordship salvation.  Lordship salvation simply means when one is saved, one receives Christ as their Lord and they are beginning a life of obedience to God….simple and basic Bible teaching…even the lost man understands this!!!, “If I Come to Christ, I’ll have to stop X”  But the second you label it Lordship salvation everyone gets their swords out.

We can remember preaching the doctrines of grace or “Calvinism” in front of those that hate Calvinism.  I was surprised by the acceptance and Amens I received from these Christ-ian listeners.  I learned then and there they amen’d me because they heard sound theology being proclaimed. However, if I entitled the message, “Calvinism” or mentioned Calvinism, the entire congregation would have put up a wall, the stake and the fire would begin being prepped…they would hear what I was not saying. We would be seen as a combination of the peanut’s characters “pig pen” and his brother, “rain cloud,” the “wicked witch from the west,” and Hitler. We would be charged with all the spiritual crimes they believe Calvin guilty.

 

Imputed Rightelosness Explained:

The great doctrine of Christ’s imputed righteousness to the unbelieving sinner turned believing saint or the doctrine of Justification is essential to anyone’s understanding of Salvation.  [Sidenote: Christ-ian witness, we are not instructing you to seek to explain this doctrine in it’s totality to a lost sinner…they will not grasp it…keep it simple.]  The doctrine of justification is a lesson for the already saved.

An analogy: We know the t.v. will be turned on by a press of a button.  Do we know how and why the t.v. is turned on by a simple pressing of a button?  Probably not.  If one were to explain a television to one who has never seen or watched a t.v. a good place to start is by pointing at one and turning it on.  After the previously ignorant has “seen the [t.v.’s] light” then can you explain how it all works.

Christ’s doctrine was believe and then understand.  Besides, the unbeliever will not care to understand this doctrine until they believe it first…I know that sounds backwards, but it is how it is….this is why God must intervene and initiate salvation by the gifting of regeneration then repentance,  and then belief/faith.

Another analogy:  You tell someone about a new dish at a new restaurant. They may hear about the ingredients and even believe it will be a great tasting dish, but until they, “Come and dine,” they cannot understand it experientially and likewise, for salvation to be truly and savingly understood, it must be understood experiencially.

Another analogy:  A person stands at the foot of the fountain of youth…they believe it will grant them eternal life and youth, but until they step forward they will not and cannot understand it experientially.

Still another analogy:  The patient can believe the medicine will heal but until the medication is administered they cannot be healed experientially.

The Doctrine of Justification is this:
The Christ / Jesus,  Son of Mary;  The Son of God and The Son of man lived a perfectly sinless life.  Christ’s life was free of sin-filled thoughts, sin-filled feelings, a sin-filled will and therefore, free of sin-filled actions.  Christ was not subject to death as death is the wage of a sin-filled life.  Though Christ Jesus was not subject to death, due to His total and complete sinlessness, He was falsely charged as guilty by man, though no man could convince or convict Him of any crime or sin. Men were paid to bear false witness against this Perfect Man. This Perfect Man stood silent and composed much of the time during His illegal trials by night.

This Man, Christ Jesus, was found guiltless by Pontius Pilate, the Governor, appointed by God Other authority figures could find no sin or wrong doing in this Perfect Man, this Masterpiece of God, yet He was sentenced to torture, humiliation, and finally death upon a cursed and a criminal’s Cross, all in front of His beloved mother and some of His friends and all of His enemies.  As He is crucified, as His Body is convulsing from agony and pain and He is gasping for  e… v… e… r… y   s…i…n…g…l…e   breathe, as His divine and singular Blood drips from His Head, His cheeks, His mouth, His back and His sides, as His tears run and intermingle with His Blood that is upon His Face, persons mock Him and shake and wag their heads at Him.

All the while, as He endures humiliation, He is thinking of others and not Himself.  He directs John to care for His mother, Mary and for Mary to take John as her son…Only after Christ fulfills all prophecies concerning His Life and His death does He commit His Spirit to God, and gives up the Ghost………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Three (3) days later, the most central and important event of all time occurs.   Christ Jesus, Rises from the dead with victory over sin and death in Hand!!!  He is seen by over five hundred (500) men over the course of (40) forty days…and He has been, is being, and will be experienced by elect persons yesterday, today, and forever until “every eye shall see [H]im.”

Readers, This is what happened to Christ according to the infallible, inspired, preserved, and quickening Word of God.  Just as No man could convict Christ of sin, no man can convict this Word of God with error.

Christ-ian,
How does the above relate to the doctrine of justification or the imputed righteousness of Christ?  We will (DV) explain it in different ways and words below:
*Justification is a spiritual and an unfair exchange. Your sins were placed on Christ Jesus during His crucifixtion and because of His death and resurrection Christ’s righteousness is placed upon and in you or imputed to you.

*The Sinless Christ, through His death became sin, not sin-filled, but the very incarnation of sin, itself…Every sin of every person who will believe is placed squarely upon this Sinless and Perfect Man. This is a weight He had never known or experienced and because of His death and Resurrection, His righteous Life is accounted to you.

Now this is the exchange…read this carefully,
The Sinless Christ, through your death became sin, not sin-filled, but the very incarnation of sin, itself… Every sin of every person who will believe is placed upon this sinless and Perfect Man. This weight He had never known or experienced and because of your death and resurrection, His righteous Life is accounted to you.  Do you see the exchange happening?

*The doctrine of  “in Him”  is very much part of the doctrine of justification.  An Analogy:  You put a mouse in your shirt pocket and you ride a roller coaster.  Not only did you ride the coaster but the mouse rode it too.  The Scriptures, in the Book of Romans, explains that as the elect and believing person is “in Christ,”  the perfect life Christ lived, the death Christ died, and the resurrection wherewith Christ Lives again and forever is accounted to you…you are the mouse on the roller coaster.
Scripture states: The Christ-ian lived the spotless life in Christ, the Christ-ian died in Christ, and the Christ-ian rose again in Christ AND is already seated in Christ in Heaven.  Reader, This is the doctrine of justification.

One more analogy, if you will,  You are in terrible financial debt, there exists no way to relieve yourself from this debt.  You are losing everything, your home, your car, your everything. But a rich man steps in, takes you to the bank, pays all of your debts, and then withdraws, from his own account, one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) and “imputs” it to your account.  This is how justification works.  The sinner has a sin debt to pay, he cannot pay it, Christ steps in, pays the debt and then imputs His own perfection and righteousness…HIs Own and Owned Perfection AND Righteousness upon and in the sinner, now turned saint and servant.  This is the Imputed justification of Christ.

A great Old Testament example of imputation is Jacob disguising himself as Esau and the poor of sight Isaac, their father, seeing Jacob as Esau. Likewise, the Christ-ian has “put on Christ Jesus” and our Heavenly Father sees us as His Son, and our elder brother, Lord Jesus and is blinded to our sins….in the terms of penalty and accountability.

I have pointed to the star, I cannot make you look or see it, but do you? …see it?  Have you looked and seen?  If so, spend your life observing that Star.

Godspeed.