The Eternal Inherent Righteousness Of Christ Was Imputed To Us

Heavy Theology Warning...

One of the foundational doctrines of the Bible, and therefore the Christian faith, is that believers in Christ are "justified" or "declared righteous" by God through faith in Jesus Christ.

This is a true and important doctrine, and biblical theologians agree that this gift of the righteousness of God is given through what is called "imputation". That is, the Lord's righteousness is "imputed" to us through faith in Christ.

But there is a common teaching, especially among Reformed believers, that the obedience of Jesus on Earth "earned" or "attained" for Him the righteousness which He then gives to us.

This obedience they call "active obedience", and they teach that this "active obedience" on Earth is what is imputed to us. This is sometimes called "active obedience imputation".

Though commonly taught, this "active obedience imputation" is not biblical.

I've prepared a mini-catechism to clarify some of the issues in this subject:

Q. What is imputed to us?
A. Christ's righteousness.

Q. What is righteousness?
A. Right standing or right relationship with God, without guilt of sins.

Q. Is righteousness inherent in men?
A. No, they are born and live in wrong standing or wrong relationship with God, and stand guilty of sins, until they are justified, or declared righteous by God.

Q. Is righteousness inherent in Christ?
A. Yes, since He has always been in right standing and right relationship with God, and has always been sinless.

Q. When a man is regenerated and believes in Jesus Christ, is he justified or declared righteous, once forever?
A. Yes.

Q. How is he declared righteous?
A. In the pattern of Abraham, his faith is credited to him as righteousness, Christ's righteousness is imputed to him, and he is thereby declared righteous (that is, in right standing and relationship with God, without guilt of sins, which are forgiven).

Q. By what act or series of acts is this justification obtained?
A. By ONE act, the shedding of the blood of Christ in His death on the Cross.

Q. Is there a CLEAR scripture to prove this?
A. Yes, here are two:
Romans 5:18, "So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through ONE ACT of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men."...and,
Hebrews 10:14, "For by ONE OFFERING He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified."

Q. What then of His life of obedience to the Father?
A. He did indeed live a life of "Active Obedience", which should never be discounted, but it did not make Him righteous.

Q. Was His obedience instrumental in His righteousness?
A. By no means. His righteous is inherent in Himself. His obedience did, however, demonstrate and authenticate His righteousness, and identify Him as the Messiah and Son of God, along with many other prophetic and miraculous authentications.

Q. And it is this righteousness inherent in Him that He imputes to us?
A. Yes, through the instrument of the ONE ACT on the Cross.

Q. What's the big deal? You act like the honor of Christ is at stake.
A. His honor is at stake. It is dishonoring to imply that Jesus had to EARN or ATTAIN righteousness, when the truth is He was always righteous, both as God and as man.

Q. Are you intimidated by the fact that so many godly Reformed men disagree with you?
A. Not in the least, though I am humbly willing to change my mind in a moment, if there might be an abandoning of red herrings, smoke and mirrors, Confessions and theologians...in favor of just a verse or two which might show that Christ's "active obedience" is imputed to us....AND if the aforementioned Rom. 5:18 and Heb. 10:14 are honestly confronted, instead of evaded.

Reversing The Reformation - How Some So-Called Protestants Are Subtly Undermining Justification By Faith

Note: October 31 is Reformation Day, celebrating the Protestant Reformation, when the biblical gospel of grace was re-introduced to the Church at large.

The Roman Catholic Church held an almost monopolistic grip on the hearts of millions of people for hundreds of years.

Through the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, the awful legalistic system of "salvation by works" nearly choked out the light of the Gospel of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only small pockets of true believers in Christ escaped the dark heavy blanket of Romanism.

Then around 500 years ago came what we call the Reformation.

Men like Luther and Zwingli and Calvin and Knox, intense students of the Scriptures, rose up and shined the light of the Gospel into the darkness of European Catholicism.

These brave men brought an end to the monopoly of the Popes. They boldly proclaimed that salvation was

by grace alone, not by merit;

by faith alone, not by works;

by faith in Christ alone, not in sacraments;

under the final authority of the Word of God alone, not the unscriptural teachings of the Bishops of Rome.

The Central Point of the Reformation

The central point of the Reformation is what we call Justification by Faith. This is the sublime and simple truth that when we believe in Jesus Christ we are “justified” or “declared righteous” by God. This means that we are fully in right standing with God, our sins forgiven and no longer held against us.

This is accomplished because God judged our sins in Christ on the Cross, and gave us the “gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17) by imputing the righteousness of Christ to us, when we believe in Christ.

As 2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Romans Chapter 5:1,2 gives us the result of this wonderful act of the Lord:

“Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

The Permanence of Justification

When we are justified, declared righteous by God, it is forever. It is permanent. And it occurs at the moment when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, when we believe the Gospel.

The "gift of righteousness" can never be taken away, because it is part of a package deal, to put it crudely. This righteousness is given to us by grace through faith, and that is “not of yourselves” and “not of works” (Ephesians 2:8,9). Even the very faith by which we believe in Jesus Christ is a gift given by God through the New Birth, regeneration.

This “imputed righteousness” contrasts starkly with the unbiblical Roman Catholic teaching that one is actually “made righteous” (“infused righteousness”) through the sacraments like Baptism, and the Eucharistic Mass, and through meritorious good works -- and that this so-called righteousness leaks out through sinning, and therefore can be lost, thereby damning the soul of the one who fails to maintain his “righteousness” by his works and attendance to the sacraments.

In Come the Neo-Legalists

The Reformation did not, of course, abolish Roman Catholicism. This cult of works salvation has continued these many years, and still thrives today.

But until recently one could more or less count on Protestant Bible teachers to uphold Justification by Faith Alone. One could more or less count on Protestant Bible teachers to oppose the so-called Justification of Rome, where grace and works are mixed, making it “no longer grace” (Romans 11:6).

But back in the 1960’s and 1970’s there was a professor at Westminster Seminary named Norman Shepherd. In 1975 some of his former students were being questioned for ordination, and when the question “How is a sinner justified?” was asked, they answered, “By faith and works.” Shocked questioners traced their answer back to their professor, Norman Shepherd.

Shepherd was allowed to teach for six more years, a disgrace in itself, but was finally released in 1981, the proverbial dung having hit the fan hard enough. Even then, several professors who then agreed with Shepherd were allowed to remain, teaching hundreds of students who spread the cancer yet today.

The big foot of undermining Justification by Faith had been stuck in the door, and the result has mushroomed into several full-blown ministries and movements, some directly from Westminster, and some relatively independent.

Allow me to name some names and then I will attempt to capsulize the kernel of the heresy.

Pioneering writers include E.P. Sanders, N.T. Wright, Steve Schlissel, Steve Wilkins, Douglas Wilson, and Peter Leithart.

They have been joined by a multitude of Pastors, bloggers and other writers, and teachers in Seminaries. Many in the Emerging/Emergent Church movement have gravitated toward these men, particularly N.T. Wright. And they have infiltrated otherwise orthodox places, including R.C. Sproul’s Tabletalk magazine, where R.C. Jr. as editor published a column by Douglas Wilson for three years, as well as articles by Steve Schlissel and Steve Wilkins.

[Important note -- I would like to correct a wrong impression given by the last above statement. Since the publication of this post, R.C. Sproul Jr. has made the following clear to me...1) He loudly and publicly disavows Federal Vision, and 2) He not only published those FV gentlemen before anyone even heard of Federal Vision, but before that time and since that time has published many gentlemen who despise Federal Vision. I'm grateful to RCJR for that clarification.]

They operate under names and ministries you may have heard: Shepherdism, Auburn Avenue Theology, Federal Vision, or the New Perspective on Paul. And they lead churches in virtually every Reformed denomination.

What They Have In Common

I won’t pretend the issues and sub-doctrines are not varied and even complicated, but they have one important thing in common – a rejection of the biblical Justification by Faith (even while sometimes saying they support it).

Like most false teachers, their terminology is often the same as orthodox terminology. But the expression of their error can mostly be bunched under an important term: Covenant Nomism (sometimes called Covenantal Nomism). “Nomism” refers to “Law”.

Though their implementation of the doctrine varies (for example, some teach that one enters the “covenant” through water baptism, others through so-called “faith alone”), the basics are as follows:

1.One enters into a “covenant” of the “people of God”, through “faith” and/or baptism. This is a real covenant which makes one a real Christian.

2.Once in the “covenant” of the family of God, it is now one’s responsibility to stay in the covenant, and follow Jesus as Lord all the days of one’s life…or else (more on the “or else” in a moment). This is blatant Legalism.

3.IF one remains in the “covenant”, by assembling together and obeying the Law sufficiently, THEN, at the end of one’s life, or the end of the age, one will be truly “Justified”, or “declared righteous” ON THE BASIS OF THEIR LIFE AND WORKS.

4.Here’s the “or else”: If one departs from sufficient obedience to the Law, or (in some cases) stops fellowshiping in the local assembly, they are deemed “out of the covenant”, will never be “justified”, even though they truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and were in His “covenant” and were a true Christian. Their works, or lack of them, have ultimately damned them.

What Can Be Done?

Admittedly, this is an extremely brief introduction to Neo-Legalism, or Covenant Nomism.

The men teaching these things are not ignorant, and they’re not stupid. They are biblically classic false teachers.

What would I recommend?

1.I don’t recommend studying these men, except by the most discerning and biblically knowledgeable.

2.I do recommend studying the biblical doctrine of Justification by Faith, just as the FBI reputedly studies real money, in order to quickly identify the counterfeit.

There are many good books on the subject. A thorough classic is by James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification. Another good one, perhaps easier to read, is James White’s The God Who Justifies.

An excellent sermon by Charles Spurgeon can be read at:
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/3392.htm

Scriptural support for Justification by Faith can be found at:
http://www.carm.org/doctrine/justification_verses.htm

3.If you accept true biblical Justification by Faith, have courage to say so. And don’t be afraid to mention names.

Too many Protestant believers and teachers have been "returning" to Roman Catholicism. While for some there may be an inherent attraction to the ancient religious trappings of Romanism, in many cases it’s simply an abandonment of the great truth that God justifies us, declares us righteous, forever, when we believe in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be all the glory.

The Four Gifts of the New Covenant (Transcript)

The New Covenant of Jesus Christ is far more radical than is usually understood and taught by the mainstream Evangelical Church.

Although there are many aspects and many facets of the New Covenant, I would like to share with you today what I believe are the four most important aspects of the New Covenant. Four facets of this beautiful diamond of the New Covenant that are blinding in their revelation. Blinding in the amazing impact they have on the life of us believers, once we understand these four gifts of the New Covenant.

Jesus Is The New Covenant

Let me first say that in one sense, the New Covenant is Jesus Christ Himself. That is, it's not just *from* Jesus Christ. It's not just *about* Jesus Christ. And it's certainly not *apart* from Jesus Christ. The New Covenant IS Jesus Christ in the ultimate sense.

That is, He is our gift. He is our forgiveness, our righteousness, and our Life. Christ is our life, once we are born again and brought under the New Covenant.

The New Covenant is not just a thing, or a set of facts. It's first a Person, and only then does it include what that Person has done and declared to us, His children.

Having said that, let's look at four aspects of the New Covenant, which we will call The Four Gifts of the New Covenant.

1. The first gift of the New Covenant is complete forgiveness.

Now you may be saying, “Of course, Terry. That's obvious. I know that forgiveness is part of the New Covenant.”

But wait. I don't just mean forgiveness. I mean complete forgiveness. I mean forgiveness of all of our sins, past, present and future.

Often misguides teachers teach some kind of condition that's necessary for forgiveness. You know what I mean.

Some teach that we have to move on into discipleship, to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him, or else we can't be forgiven.

Now discipleship is good. And it's important. And to a certain extent, if we are born again, we will enter into some level of discipleship. God is working in us to will and to do for His good pleasure, Philippians 2:13. And in our heart of hearts we want to follow Him, and deny ourselves.

But discipleship is not a condition for forgiveness. We are forgiven the moment we enter into the New Covenant. The moment we are saved. And as we said, that forgiveness includes forgiveness for all of our sins, past, present and future.

Some teach that we have to confess our sins in order for them to be forgiven. After all, doesn't 1 John 1:9 say, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness?”

Well, here's the problem with that incorrect theory. There are always sins, many sins, that we commit and don't confess. We get too busy, or we move on to another sin, or we simply aren't paying attention to a particular sin that we committed. Isn't that true?

When we are deceived by the world, the flesh and the devil, and we walk for a brief time, or even a longer time, in the flesh, we sometimes aren't even aware that we are sinning. It doesn't cross our minds, because we have temporarily hardened our heart and only when we come to our senses do we really realize the awfulness of what we've done. But then it's too late to remember each sin in all of its glory, so to speak.

And so we move on, grateful for our Savior.

Let me ask you this: Are those sins forgiven, which we neglected to confess? If we take the Bible as true, we must say, “Yes, they are forgiven, because all of our sins are forgiven.”

Jesus, on the Cross, said, “Tetelestai (It is finished)”.

While the church too often teaches some kind of performance or discipleship as a condition for forgiveness, what the Bible teaches is that forgiveness is a free gift from God, through the New Covenant.

2. The second gift of the New Covenant is the Righteousness of God, given to us as a free gift.

Through faith, that is, our believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, God gives us the righteousness of Christ as a gift. That means that He declares us righteous, which means that we are in right standing with Him.

To be in right standing with the Creator of the universe is no small thing. And it took more than a small sacrifice to bring it about.

The Bible says that Jesus became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). In other words, we are made in right standing before God just as if we had not ever sinned. We are declared righteous by God Himself.

The Church too often teaches that our standing before God is based on our performance. They too often teach that we must *do* something in order to stay in God's good graces.

But the truth is, that he whole point of grace is that it is a free gift. While the Church sometimes teaches that we have to earn our right standing with God, the Bible teaches that our right standing with God (our righteousness), is a free gift for all who will come to Him.

This wonderful doctrine is called Justification, and according to the Bible we believers are “justified” (declared righteous) through faith alone, that is, faith in Jesus Christ.

When this wonderful truth is taught, unfortunately it's often said, “Okay, we're righteous, but only in God's eyes.” Think that one through a moment. Because it borders on insulting God.

After all, whose eyes count? They are implying that we're righteous in God's eyes, but we're not *really* righteous. Which is absurd. When we understand that our being justified means that we're put in right standing with God as though we had never sinned or had a sinful nature, we see that it's God's eyes that really count.

One final note on this: Some want to add good works to our salvation as a condition for salvation, which Paul condemns as "another gospel" that is really not a gospel at all. So they will point us to the book of James where James says that Abraham was "justified" by his works as well as his faith.

This is where language study itself becomes fun.

The word translated “justified” actually can mean two things: 1) "declared righteous", and 2) "shown to be righteous". James is simply saying that when we are born again, we are changed, given a new heart. I'll speak more on that in a moment.

But when we are “justified”, we are "declared righteous" by God completely by faith alone. But because we are given a new heart, we will indeed have some fruit in our lives. James recognizes this, and points out that we are “justified” (that is, "SHOWN to be righteous") by those fruits, those “works”.

This makes perfect sense, doesn't it? God declares us righteous by faith, and we eventually *demonstrate* that righteousness by our lives.

Don't let anyone confuse you by simply quoting James and saying, “See, we are saved by works plus faith”. This is the false doctrine of Galatianism.

3. The third gift of the New Covenant is a new heart.

This is the gift Paul speaks of in 2 Cor. 5:17 where he says that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold all things are new.

This is the new heart spoken of by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, when God promised a New Covenant, where our heart of stone would be changed to a heart of flesh. This new heart loves Jesus Christ and hates sin.

This new heart is our very nature, our very spirit.

When we are born again, our very spirit is changed. The Bible speaks of it as a death, and a new life. Our old man, our old nature, our old spirit was crucified with Christ on the cross, in a mysterious, but very real way. And we were given a new nature, a new spirit.

Often the church teaches that believers continue with hearts that are “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked”, denying Romans Chapter 6 which clearly says that we are “dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ”.

In conjunction with this, the church often teaches that we are still sinners by nature, not understanding Romans 7 which clearly teaches that sin is IN our members, but is not us.

For example, in Romans 7:17, Paul writes, “So now, no longer am I the one doing it [that is, the sin], but sin which dwells in me.” Of course when we sin it is "us" as a total person doing the sinning, but Paul is making the wonderful point that it is not "us" in our new nature, our spirit, our nature that's sinful, but that when we walk by our flesh instead of by our spirit, sin which is not us, but dwells in our members, takes over, and we sin. “So now, no longer am 'I' the one doing it, but 'sin' which dwells in me.”

More on now in our fourth gift of the New Covenant, where we see what it means to walk in the Spirit.

4. The fourth gift of the New Covenant is Union With Christ.

“...he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” (1 Corinthians 6:17)

When we are born again, not only do we receive a new spirit, but the Spirit of Christ comes to indwell us. And we become one spirit with Him.

This is an amazing thing. Talk about Emmanuel, God with us! The New Covenant has provided for God IN us. It's hard to articulate the importance and wonder of this truth. “Christ in you, the hope of glory”, the Bible says.

Do we then become God, as the New Agers blasphemously teach? Of course not. But our spirits now dwell with His Spirit in these jars of clay, and the more we realize and walk according to that truth, the more amazing life is.

Now verses of Scripture that didn't mean so much come alive.

When the Bible says to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we understand that we already have the Holy Spirit, but we want Him to have greater and greater control of our whole being, body, soul and spirit.

We want Him to renew our minds through His word, and to tame our tongues, and to live His life in us so that we don't walk by the flesh.

When the Bible says that if we walk by the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, we now understand that when we walk by the *Holy* Spirit, we also walk by *our own* new spirit.

When the Bible says to be filled with the Word, we understand that the very Spirit of God is in us to understand and apply that Word.

When the Bible says that all things are possible with God, we realize that this is the one and only God who now dwells in us.

When the Bible says that we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us, we realize that this is literal, even while it's spiritual.

But the church too often reduces this glorious walk of the New Covenant to merely a “new” Old Covenant of “rules to live by”, a sort of law-based behavior modification.

When they say, “Preach the Word”, they often mean “Preach the law”. But preaching the Word without an understanding of the New Covenant could be done BY unbelievers TO unbelievers. It can be deadening, instead of enlivening.

Or as the Bible puts it, "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life". That's why we are encouraged as preachers of the New Covenant. In union with Jesus Himself, our lives have new purpose, new power, new ways. He is our life. We can never go wrong in surrendering to Him.

The Old Covenant is obsolete, as Hebrews Chapter 8 tells us.

The New Covenant has given us the Gift of Jesus Christ, and four gifts with Him:

Complete forgiveness...
the righteousness of God...
a new heart...
and union with our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.

The Four Gifts Of The New Covenant

This week's audio message:

The Four Gifts of the New Covenant

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

Charging The Brethren - Audio

This week's audio message:

Charging The Brethren

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

Charging The Brethren

Do you ever think or feel like, “How could God love somebody like me? Somebody who has failed so many times in my Christian life? Somebody who has sinned that sin for the 100th time? Somebody who failed to witness to so and so, and they died? And now they’re probably in hell? How could God really love somebody like me who has had so many blessings, and owns 15 bibles, and knows what to do, and just doesn’t do it enough?”

I want to start with a couple of verses of Scripture, and then deal with why sometimes we might feel that way.

Romans 8:33, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns?”

We may firmly say, “No one!” And that’s true, ultimately. But make no mistake about it, there is one who tries. And that’s the devil and his fellow evil spirits.

And if we’re honest, we will have to admit that when he starts charging us Christians with our sin and failings, sometimes we allow him to get under our skin, so to speak, and make us feel like he is right, and that God maybe hasn’t justified us, or declared us righteous, or at least is angry with us.

Revelation 12:10, "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the ACCUSER OF OUR BRETHREN has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night."

Let’s begin by asking a few questions about this Accuser.

1. Who is the accuser of the brethren?

Well, let’s make that very clear by reading Revelation 12:9:

"And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world."

So clearly this accuser of the brethren is Satan himself.

2. When does he accuse the brethren?

Well, look at verse 10 again: “...he who accuses them before our God day and night."

Can you imagine that? There is really no end to the accusation. Let’s face it, there’s no shortage of sins among us brethren, is there?

I once read of a guy trying to convince someone that they could become sinless. In fact, this guy considered himself to be sinless. Can you believe that? Be honest now, can you honestly imagine someone thinking himself to be sinless?

I’d like to talk to his wife for about 60 seconds, just to see if he’s on the up-and-up. What do you think?

Anyway this guy’s argument went like this: He says to his friend, “Do you think you could go one minute without sinning?”

And his friend said, “I guess so, yeah.”

So he said, “How about 5 minutes?”

“I guess so, yeah.”

“Well, how about half an hour?”

“Well, maybe for a half an hour, yeah.”

“An hour?”

“An hour...mmm...I guess so...that’s just two half-hours.”

“Well, then, if you can go without sinning for an hour, then all you have to do is to do that 24 times and you’ve gone a day. Do that 30 times and you’ve gone a month, and so on. Simple. Then you’d be sinless, like me.”

Now that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

I hope you’re not foolish enough to buy into that kind of thinking, though.

We’ve gotta be honest here, friends. That just isn’t going to happen! We are going to sin. Now, I’m not advocating sinning. I’m against it, in case you have any doubts. But I’ve lived quite a few years, and if that man exists who doesn't sin any more, I haven’t met him.

In fact, even if I met him, I wouldn’t believe him, would you? You see, we’ve gotta be honest if we’re going to make any headway in this Accuser of the Brethren stuff.

So when does the Accuser accuse? Day and night. And there’s no shortage of sins he can accuse us of, is there?

3. What exactly does he accuse us of?

Well, certainly he accuses us of our actual individual sins. If we ever find ourselves unable to remember them, he will be happy to remind us. And he will take every opportunity to remind God.

But also, he accuses us of a lack of faith, casting doubt on our relationship to God, or even our very salvation. Creating doubt by his accusations.

We see that in the story of Job. Satan appears before God and doesn’t accuse Job of specific sins, but he says that Job honors God only because Job has it so good. Job is blessed by God. Satan says that if God would allow him to hurt Job, that Job would curse God.

So he accuses us of our specific sins, and he accuses us of our weak faith and standing before God.

But we sure don’t want to leave things there, do we?

It would be a horrible shame to gain insight into the Accuser of the Brethren without seeing what the Lord of the Brethren has done for us.

The Devil's Little Helpers In The Church

Sometimes the continual day and night accusation by Satan is not enough for some Christian brethren, so they join Satan and become brethren accusing the brethren.

Now I’m not talking about biblical correction or admonishing of an unrepentant brother, but that kind of condemnation which is carelessly heaped on other Christians, by laying down the rules, and making Christians think that God will only love them if they measure up to some standard.

They are quick to condemn, slow to encourage.

They are quick to build guilt, slow to build a bridge of grace.

They are quick to jump on a mistake, slow to put their arm around a brother, and gently restore.

In other words, quick to accuse and criticize, slow to understand and teach.

Let me say this. Satan doesn’t need these little helpers. He has enough helpers already. They abound, and they are teachers, believe it or not. And what they teach, the Bible calls doctrine...doctrines of demons.

O.K., so is there any good news here, in view of this accusation going on day and night?

Absolutely!

In fact, there is so much good news, it’s literally hard to know where to begin. So let’s begin at the very beginning...Genesis. Way back then, God promised that Satan would bruise the heel of the Messiah to come, referring to the Cross...but that the Messiah would crush the head of Satan, ultimately destroying him.

As the great hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” puts it, “Lo, his doom is sure.”

But what about in the meantime?

1. Our sins are forgiven…past, present and future.

We don’t want to be so silly as to say that sin is “OK”, but we honor God by believing His word, and His word tells us that our sins ARE – past tense – forgiven.

Let’s not take this lightly.

Let’s resist the temptation to think, “Yeah, yeah, I know that already.”

But let’s meditate on the wonder of that truth. They are forgiven. All of them. All that will ever be. This is part of what Jesus meant when He said on the cross, “It is finished.” Paid in full. Forgiven.

Satan can accuse all he wants, and his accusation may even be true, but what of it? The sins are forgiven!

2. We’ve been declared righteous.

That’s the bible word "justified". And Jesus became sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ.

Satan can say, “You are unrighteous. Who are you kidding? Look what you did. You call that righteous? You fool! You aren’t good enough to earn righteousness!”

And of course, he’s right on that last count. We’re not good enough to earn righteousness. And so it’s been given to us as a free gift, the gift of God’s own righteousness, through our precious Lord Jesus Christ.

3. We Have An Advocate

1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

Satan approaches the bench and says, “Your honor…this Christian has sinned and here’s the list of his offenses. Now I demand justice. You call yourself a just God…bring justice on this one who has done these offenses.”

Ah, but our Defense Attorney (that’s the concept of this Advocate), our Defense Attorney is also our Propitiation, taking the wrath of God on Himself, in our place.

Our Defense Attorney is also our Sacrifice Lamb, slain before the foundation of the world.

Our Defense Attorney is the one who cried “Eli, Eli Lama Sabachtani! My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” And at the end of that terrible ordeal our Defense Attorney is the one who cried, “Tetelestai, it is finished.”

And although He gave up His spirit on that cross, He rose again from the dead, and is now at the right hand of the Father, the Judge, as our Defender, our Defense Attorney.

And when Satan accuses us at the bench of the great Judge, and demands justice, our Defense Attorney, the Alpha and Omega, the Son of God, our Advocate, speaks up, ”Your honor, Abba, Father...those sins have already been judged. They are paid for, your honor, Abba, Dad. I paid for them on that cruel, but awe-inspiring day."

And our Advocate asks the Judge, His Father, for a dismissal.

And the Judge...our Defense Attorney’s Father...our Father, slams down his gavel and says, “Case dismissed! The defendant may draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (That’s Hebrews 4:16)

And the Accuser of the Brethren loses another case. In fact, he never had a case to begin with.

And lo, his doom is sure.

So who will bring a charge against God’s elect? The answer really is “No one.” For it is God who justifies. It is God who has declared us righteous. Praise His name.

The Undermining of God’s Gift Of Righteousness

This week's audio message:

The Undermining of God's Gift of Righteousness

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The Undermining of God’s Gift Of Righteousness

N.T. Wright

How A New Kind of Legalist Is Attempting To Bring The Church To "Works" Salvation

The Roman Catholic Church held an almost monopolistic grip on the hearts of millions of people for hundreds of years.

Through the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, the awful legalistic system of "salvation by works" nearly choked out the light of the Gospel of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only small pockets of true believers in Christ escaped the dark heavy blanket of Roman Catholicism.

Then around 500 years ago came what we call the Reformation.

Men like Luther and Zwingli and Calvin and Knox, imperfect men, but intense students of the Scriptures, rose up and shined the light of the Gospel into the darkness of European Catholicism.

These brave men brought an end to the monopoly of the Popes. They boldly proclaimed that salvation was...

By grace alone, not by merit;

By faith alone, not by works;

By faith in Christ alone, not in sacraments;

under the final authority of the Word of God alone, not the unscriptural teachings of the Bishop of Rome.

The Central Point of the Reformation

The central point of the Reformation is what we call Justification by Faith. Don’t let the fancy phrase throw you. This is merely the sublime and simple truth that when we believe in Jesus Christ we are “justified” or “declared righteous” by God.

This means that we are fully in right standing with God, our sins forgiven and no longer held against us.

This is accomplished because God judged our sins in Christ on the Cross, and gave us the “gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17) by imputing the righteousness of Christ to us, when we believe in Christ.

As 2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Romans Chapter 5:1,2 gives us the result of this wonderful act of the Lord:

“Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

The Permanence of Justification

When we are justified, declared righteous by God, it is forever. It is permanent. And it occurs at the moment when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, when we believe the Gospel.

The “gift of righteousness” can never be taken away, because it is part of a "package deal", to put it crudely. This righteousness is given to us by grace through faith, and that is “not of yourselves” and “not of works” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Even the very faith by which we believe in Jesus Christ is a gift given by God through the New Birth, regeneration.

This “imputed righteousness” contrasts starkly with the unbiblical Roman Catholic teaching that one is actually “made righteous” (“infused righteousness”) through the Sacraments like Baptism, and the Eucharistic Mass, and through meritorious good works.

And this false teaching goes on to say that this so-called righteousness sort of “leaks out” through sinning, or neglecting the Sacraments, and therefore can be lost, which damns the soul of the one who fails to maintain his “righteousness” by his works and attendance to the sacraments.

Let me put it another way. True biblical justification is when we are declared righteous by God when we believe in Jesus, and that puts us in right standing with God forever, all of our sins paid for and forgiven, past sins, and future sins.

The false teaching of Roman Catholicism says that through the Sacraments, like Baptism, and the sacrifice of the Mass, we are actually "made righteous" in our whole being, but not permanently. We must keep doing good works and going to the Mother Church for the Sacraments, or we will end up in Hell.

And the key word here is "works". This is legalism at it’s worst, and any thinking person who believes in this system will always live in fear, if they’re not doing their good works too well, or missing the sacraments.

Or they will be self-righteous and smug because they follow certain rules and rituals, at least better than the next guy.

In Come the Neo-Legalists

The Reformation did not, of course, abolish Roman Catholicism. This organization of works salvation has continued these many years, and still thrives today.

But until recently one could more or less count on Protestant, non-Catholic, Bible teachers to uphold Justification by Faith Alone. One could more or less count on Protestant Bible teachers to oppose the so-called Justification of Rome, where grace and works are mixed, making it “no longer grace” (Romans 11:6).

But back in the 1960’s and 1970’s there was a professor at Westminster Seminary named Norman Shepherd. In 1975 some of his former students were being questioned by committees for ordination, to be ordained to the Christian ministry, and when the question “How is a sinner justified?” was asked, these students of Shepherd answered, “By faith and works.” The questioners were shocked, and began digging in to why these students answered that way, and they traced their answers back to their professor, Norman Shepherd.

Shepherd was allowed to teach for six more years, which was a disgrace in itself. He should have been immediately thrown out. After all, this is the Gospel we’re tampering with here.

Shepherd was finally released in 1981, the dung having hit the fan hard enough. Even then, though, several professors who then agreed with Shepherd were allowed to remain, teaching hundreds of students who spread the cancer of this heresy yet today.

The big foot of undermining Justification by Faith had been stuck in the door, and the result has mushroomed into several full-blown ministries and movements, some directly from Westminster, and some relatively independent.

Allow me to name some names and then I will attempt to capsulize the kernel of the heresy.

Pioneering writers include E.P. Sanders, N.T. Wright, Steve Schlissel, Steve Wilkins, Douglas Wilson, and Peter Leithart.

They have been joined by a multitude of Pastors, bloggers and other writers, and teachers in Seminaries. Many in the Emerging/Emergent Church movement have gravitated toward these men, particularly toward N.T. Wright. And they have infiltrated otherwise orthodox places, including major denominations and seminaries, as well as theological magazines and websites.

Now some of you may say, “Oh you shouldn’t name names. That’s ungracious of you, Terry.”

Friends, this is too important. Those of you who know me know that I much prefer just teaching the wonderful grace of God, both for initial salvation, and for our ongoing lives. It’s all of grace, and that’s my passion. But when teachers and pastors and writers trample on that grace with a convoluted system of works salvation, we need to know about it.

They operate under names and ministries you may have heard:

Shepherdism, named after Norman Shepherd;

Auburn Avenue Theology, named after a church in Louisiana called Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church;

Federal Vision;

The New Perspective on Paul, or NPP.

This last term is often associated with N.T. Wright, who has become practically a rock star among his followers. An engaging man, a Bishop in the Anglican Church of England, he is a scholar and writes books faster than most people can read them. But he writes for the masses, the common man, so to speak, and so has become more popular than some of the more stuffy academics. And this has made him all the more dangerous in spreading this New Legalism.

What They Have In Common

I won’t pretend the issues and sub-doctrines are not varied and even complicated, but they have one important thing in common -- a rejection of the biblical Justification by Faith.

Like most false teachers, their terminology is often the same as orthodox terminology. But the expression of their error can mostly be bunched under an important term: Covenant Nomism (sometimes called Covenantal Nomism). “Nomism” refers to “Law”.

Although their implementation of the doctrine varies (for example, some teach that one enters the “covenant” through water baptism, others through so-called “faith alone”), the basics are as follows:

1. One enters into a “covenant” of the “people of God”, through “faith” and/or baptism. This is a real covenant which makes one a real Christian, they say, as one follows Jesus as Lord.

2. Once in the “covenant” of the family of God, it is now one’s responsibility to stay in the covenant, and follow Jesus as Lord all the days of one’s life...or else! (more on the “or else” in just a moment). This is blatant Legalism.

3. IF one remains in the “covenant”, by assembling together and obeying the Law sufficiently, THEN, at the end of one’s life, or the end of the age, one will be “Justified”, or “declared righteous” on the basis of their life and works! Did you get that? They’re not justified by faith at the time they believe. They are justified at the end of their life, or the end of time, based on their works.

4. Here’s the “or else”: If one departs from sufficient obedience to the Law, or (in some cases) stops fellowshiping in the local assembly, they are deemed “out of the covenant”, and will never be “justified”, even though they truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and were in His “covenant” and were true Christians. Their works, or lack of them, have ultimately damned them.

What Can Be Done?

Admittedly, this is an extremely brief introduction to Neo-Legalism, or Covenant Nomism.

The men teaching these things are not ignorant, and they’re not stupid. They are biblically classic false teachers.

What would I recommend?

1. I don’t recommend studying these men, except by the most discerning and biblically knowledgeable. Too many have been swayed by their false doctrines.

2. I do recommend studying the biblical doctrine of Justification by Faith, just as the FBI reputedly studies real money, in order to quickly identify the counterfeit.

There are many good books on the subject. A thorough classic is by James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification. Another good one, perhaps easier to read, is James White’s The God Who Justifies.

An excellent sermon by Charles Spurgeon can be read at:
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/3392.htm

Scriptural support for Justification by Faith can be found at:
http://www.carm.org/doctrine/justification_verses.htm

3. If you accept true biblical Justification by Faith, have the courage to say so. And don’t be afraid to mention names. Too many Protestant believers and teachers have been returning to Roman Catholicism. While for some there may be an inherent attraction to the ancient religious trappings of Romanism, in many cases it’s simply an abandonment of the great truth that God justifies us, declares us righteous, forever, when we believe in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Having given an inch to the Legalism of salvation by works, they go the whole yard back into the darkness of Roman Catholicism.

Remember, the biblical truth is, we are declared righteous by faith, as a free gift, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be all the glory.