The story of David is a unique one because unlike Abraham,
David lived at a time when the Law of Moses had already been given. He
therefore was supposed to be under it. And yet we see that David clearly
understands God’s heart and intent for faith righteousness rather than works
righteousness. Not only does he prophesy about a time that this righteousness
would come but even when he falls into serious sin for which the penalty is
death he doesn’t even offer a sacrifice. Instead he makes this amazing statement;
“For thou desirest not
sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the
walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of
righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar.” Psa51:16-19
The apostle Paul while discussing the issue of faith righteousness
in his letter to the Romans feels that David will be a good example to
illustrate and demonstrate this point. If any of the religious people had a
problem with his argument concerning Abraham, they would find it very difficult
to contest David’s example. Everybody knew about his great sin, everybody also
knew about the mercy God had extended towards him during a time when he should
have been killed. There was no way to explain this under law. David must have
understood something about the heart of God.
“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.” Rom4:6-8
Note1: There are
basically three promises in these scriptures that David prophesies concerning
the New Testament believer. This blessedness that He speaks about wasn’t unto
him. He was able to see prophetically a future man whom God would bless with
all these things. This new man is the Christian.
David was able to see into the future a man (Christian) to whom
God would impute righteousness without them working to earn it or them
deserving it. They wouldn’t do anything or obey any laws to obtain this
righteousness. God would just give it to them. This is the ‘righteousness without law’ as the scripture calls it. God’s
righteousness.
Secondly David prophesied that God would forgive their
iniquities and cover (take away) their sins. Not some of their sins, He would
take away all their sins. We see that through Jesus God has already fulfilled
this. Jesus has taken away our sins as far as the east is from the west. Jesus
is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world.” Jn1:29
Thirdly David saw an even more wonderful promise. God will not impute sin unto this man.
This is an amazing truth in the Bible and one of the most unbelieved truths.
There are very few Christians who believe this truth or even try to imagine it.
I know that the first time I even entertained the thought of it I just couldn’t
bring myself to accept it. I thought that it must be heresy.
But the scripture
says it more than once and here it is; GOD IS NOT IMPUTING OUR SINS UPON US!!!
That means that God is not recording my sins in some book. It means that He is
not keeping a record of the sins I commit. Let us examine this;
Note2: ‘Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute sin.’ Rom4:8
The Greek word that is translated ‘will not’ (ou mē) is what is called an emphatic negative and it
means ‘not ever’ or in our language today ‘never ever’. This is the strongest
possible way of saying that something will never happen again. It will never be
done. Never.
Those who receive forgiveness for their sins will never ever
have their sins held against them. God will never ever hold your sins against
you. It will never happen!
David does not say that God ‘did not impute your sins’ or
‘does not impute your sins’ but ‘will not impute sin’ implying that it’s not
just a past thing. It means that in future when you sin God ‘will not’ impute
your sin. God has dealt with all our sins past, present and even future sins
that we haven’t committed yet. Jesus’ sacrificial offering was once for all
sins for all time. (Heb. 10:10, 14).
Here are a few
scriptures that say the same thing;
“But this is the
promise that I will make to Israel after those days," declares the LORD:
"I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on
their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will
each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, 'Know the LORD.'
All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know
me," declares the LORD, "because I will forgive their wickedness and
I will no longer hold their sins against them.” Jer31:33-34 GW
“For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the
Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not
teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I
remember no more.” Heb8:10-12
God promises that He will be merciful to us and our sins and
iniquities He will remember no more. Why won’t He remember them? Because He has
taken them away from us as far as the East is from the West.
“To wit, that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them…”2Cor5:19
Note3: Most of us
believe that the sins we committed before getting born again were forgiven at
salvation, but any sins that are committed after that time are not forgiven
until they are repented and forgiveness is asked. There is a popular saying
that God can’t forgive a sin unless you confess it. This can’t be true. When
God forgave the world through Christ, we hadn’t asked for forgiveness yet!
All our sins, past,
present, and future were forgiven us through the one offering of Jesus. Jesus
took away all sins. That includes the ones we haven’t committed yet!
I know you may be asking how God can forgive a sin before
you commit it. I am not sure either.
But I know that He must have done it
honestly!
God is an eternal God and the sacrifice of Jesus was an
eternal sacrifice. It was for all time, for all sins and for all people. The
bible is clear on this.
Let me say this in another way, If God can't forgive a sin before you commit it, then none of us were
forgiven because Jesus only died once, more than 2,000 years ago, before we had
committed any sins. We didn’t even exist! All our sins were future sins at
the time that Jesus died on the Cross and provided forgiveness to the world.
We have to understand that the Cross is the point at which
God forgave us. This is because that is where Jesus shed His blood. God didn’t
forgive us at the moment when we became born again. He had already forgiven us.
It was us who received this forgiveness at that point.
There is only one thing that brings forgiveness of sins and
that thing is not confession. It is blood. The blood of Jesus. When that blood
was shed, God forgave the world of all sins. Look at these scriptures;
“As Moses' Teachings
tell us, blood was used to cleanse almost everything, because if no blood is
shed, no sins can be forgiven.” Heb9:22 GW
“Indeed, under the law
almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood
there is no forgiveness of sins.” Heb9:22 ESV
“In whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace” Eph1:7
“In whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” Col1:14
“Wherefore Jesus also,
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood…” Heb13:12
“But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1Jn1:7
“And from Jesus Christ,
who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince
of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins
in his own blood” Rev1:5
Therefore, the conclusion is that God forgave all our sins
at the Cross when Jesus shed His blood for us and said that ‘it is finished’
Why then 1 John 1:9 which says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
First I think we need to look at what this verse is not
saying. This verse is not saying that if we do not confess a sin God will not
forgive it. If we had to confess every sin committed after our born-again
experience in order to maintain our salvation, no one would ever make it. What
if we forgot to confess some sin? That puts the burden of salvation back on us.
Let me make it more personal to us; Are you sure you have
confessed all the sins that you have ever committed? What if there is a sin you
haven’t confessed, does that mean that you will go to hell?
The key to understanding
this is to understand that we are a triune being i.e spirit, soul and
body. When we get born again we receive a complete and perfect salvation
in our spirit, this salvation begins to work in our soul and eventually
will work in our mortal corruptible body to make it incorruptible.
When we are born again it is our spirit that gets born again
and is made perfect. Sin will never be imputed to our born-again spirit.
Our spirit has been
sanctified and perfected (made holy) forever.
“By his will we have
been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Heb10:10 NET
“For by one offering
he has perfected for all time those who are made holy.” Heb10:14NET
“But you have come to
Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads
of angels, to the assembly and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled
in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous,
who have been made perfect” Heb12:22-23NET
Our born again spirit
cannot sin;
“Whosoever is born of
God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin,
because he is born of God.” 1Jn3:9
Our spirit is sealed
from sin forever.
“In whom ye also
trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:
in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of
promise” Eph1:13
“And grieve not the
holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Eph4:30
However our soul is not
saved. It is being saved on a daily basis through the process of
sanctification. The soul is the part of us that contains
our personality, the mind, the emotions and feelings and the will. This
part
needs to be renewed to reflect the perfection of the spirit man.
This is where
sin can affect us and ruin us if we don’t confess it and repent. In fact the
scripture speaks of the salvation of our souls as an ongoing process right now
by the grace of God.
“Wherefore lay apart
all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the
engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” Jam1:21
“Whom having not seen,
ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and
searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:”
1Pet1:8-10
When we sin we open ourselves up to the devil to destroy us
and afflict our souls and bodies as the scripture says;
“Know ye not, that to
whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Rom.
6:16
"
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of
you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Heb3:13
Sin is dangerous. It
hardens our hearts and exposes us to satan's control and negative works
in our lives through our soul and body. How do we get the devil out once
he has gotten in through our sin?
This
is where confession of sins comes in. When we
confess our sins, God brings that forgiveness that is already a reality
in our
born-again spirit out into the soulish realm and the devil has no right
to
stay. he has to leave. he can no longer legally stay because by
confessing that sin before God, we expose it to God's light and denounce
the darkness. We come out from the darkness of sin into the light of
God's truth and righteousness and as a result are cleansed from all
unrighteousness that the sin could have worked in our soul and body. In other words;
God has provided
for us confession of sins as a way to receive the forgiveness that He has
already provided through the Cross of Christ. It is like an avenue or a
means by which we are able to receive forgiveness for specific issues and sins
that afflict us and thus prevent satan from harming us through our sins and mistakes.
It is why the verse says He is ‘faithful and just to forgive us…’ instead of saying that He is
merciful and kind to forgive us. Why does it say ‘faithful and just’? Because through the Cross He has already
forgiven us. Therefore He is faithful to His work on the Cross.
He is also a
just God that will not refuse to forgive us for a sin that He already punished
Jesus for. God is a just God. He already punished Jesus for our sins and
forgave us. He will not change this, as far as He knows ‘it is finished’
This is the blessedness that David saw and wished to enjoy.
It is the blessedness that belongs to us today. If you have been born again,
this is your blessedness. God is not imputing your sins unto you.
“Cometh this
blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also?
for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it
then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in
circumcision, but in uncircumcision.” Rom4:9-10
Note 1: The
blessedness that this verse is speaking about is the blessedness of the New
Covenant Christian to whom God has imputed righteousness without works and is
not imputing sins upon them. This person is a blessed person. They have the
righteousness of God. They are righteous by faith.
Now the question we need to consider is when did God declare
Abraham righteous by faith? Was it before he was circumcised or after he was
circumcised? The answer is before. That is to say God declared Abraham righteous by faith when Abraham was still
uncircumcised.
This is a very crucial point to understand because the
religious people believed that a person became righteous after they were
circumcised. An uncircumcised person was filthy, unclean and unrighteous. Such
a person was absolutely unworthy. It is one of the reasons they utterly
despised the Gentiles. Today’s religious people no longer insist on
circumcision. They have replaced it with living holy and not sinning.
And yet Paul reminds them that God declared and called
Abraham righteous at least 13 years before he was circumcised. This was a very
uncomfortable reality for them. It went against everything they believed about
righteousness and God. This was a very strategic verse for Paul to make his
argument for righteousness by faith. It still is.
Note 2: The time
between when God declared Abraham righteous and when Abraham was circumcised
was over thirteen years. We can calculate this by considering the following;
The time when God counted Abraham righteous was in Genesis
15:6. This was before the birth of Ishmael which took place in Gen. 16:15. At
this time Abraham was not circumcised.
When Ishmael was 13 years old Abraham circumcised him and
also got circumcised on the same day (Gen. 17:25-26). This means that Abraham’s
circumcision took place at least thirteen years after God had declared him
righteous. Remember that God declared him righteous in Genesis 15:6 before
Ishmael was born. For at least 13 years he had been righteous before God
without being circumcised.
The religious minds just struggled with this
thought. This was impossible. If a man had said it they would have declared him
a heretic. The problem was that it was God who had said it. It was Holy
Scripture. Even today the religious minds are baffled by this. How can a person
be righteous yet they still sin? How can you be holy when you have sins and
habits in your life?
Note 3: Today the
religious community don’t believe or agree that a person can be righteous
without first doing right things, behaving holy and not living in sin. They
insist that you cannot be righteous if you are living in sin or addicted to
some sin or terrible habit. And yet even today God makes and declares the
Christian (Abraham’s seed) righteous when we are still living in sin. God makes
and declares us righteous even when we have habits and sins that we are
addicted to. God still declares us righteous.
In the same way that Abraham believed God and was declared
righteous even though he was uncircumcised, even us today, when we believe God
and the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross are declared righteous by God even
though we still have struggles with sin. The righteousness of God is by faith.
It is a faith righteousness
“And he received the sign of circumcision, a
seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised:
that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not
circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also” Rom4:11
Note 1: The
circumcision of Abraham was a confirmation or a seal of the righteousness that
he had already been made by faith. God used it as a constant reminder to
Abraham of the covenant between them. It was never intended to be something
that Abraham would boast about or use to show others his holiness. This was
private! That’s why God didn’t tell him to cut off a finger. God never intended
for people to use circumcision to judge the righteousness of others.
Note 2: Many
times when we preach on faith righteousness the uninitiated and the ignorant
claim that we are saying that works are useless and that one should not live
holy and do right things. They claim that we are encouraging people to sin and
do whatever they want to do. After all they are already righteous. Paul’s answer
to this is God forbid!!
Abraham was uncircumcised when God declared him righteous
but he didn’t stay uncircumcised forever. Eventually he did the right thing and
got circumcised. The key issue to note here is that the work of circumcision
followed the faith. It did not precede it. First, Abraham believed God and was
declared righteous. Then at least 13 years later he got circumcised.
First we have to believe that God has made us righteous and
holy. Then later we can begin to walk in this holiness and live a holy life. We
don’t first live holy lives before we become righteous. We first become
righteous and then live holy lives as a result.
Holy living does not lead to righteousness. Righteousness
leads to holy living. Righteousness always comes first. The holiness is a fruit
of the righteousness.
“…even so now yield
your members servants to righteousness
unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from
righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now
ashamed? for the end of those things is
death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,
and the end everlasting life.” Rom6:19 &22
Abraham is the father of us all who believe, even though our
works are not yet correct just as his works were not yet correct at the time
God declared him righteous. Righteousness has been imputed unto us also because
of what we believe. Just as it was unto him.
“And the father of
circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in
the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet
uncircumcised.” Rom4:12
Good actions and holy lives are necessary. They are
expected. When we are born again we are expected to live as born again people
that have been delivered from sin and ungodliness. But these good actions
should always follow the faith. They always come after. They are works of
righteousness.
Abraham had faith before he had the action of circumcision.
We have mistakenly thought that actions produce faith, but that's not so. Faith
produces actions. Acting right doesn't make a person right, you have to be born
again first. Right living doesn’t
produce right believing. Right believing is what produces right living.
“For the promise, that he should be the heir
of the world, [was] not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but
through the righteousness of faith.” Rom4:13
When God promised Abraham that He would make him a father of
many nations (Gen17:4-5) and that through him He would bless all the families
of the world (Gen12:3), He did not base his promise on Abraham’s performance of
some laws and rules. He gave him this promise simply on the premise of faith.
That is to say because Abraham had believed God and would continue to do so. It
was based on the righteousness of faith.
As long as Abraham continued to believe God, God would do
whatever He had promised to do. This was regardless of Abraham’s performance.
Indeed we can see that his performance failed many times. His faith was the
issue.
The Jews are not the only seed of Abraham as most of them
had interpreted these scriptures. They are the physical seed of Abraham.
However, the scriptures explain that Abraham's true seed is anyone of any
nation or language who places faith in Christ as his Savior. The Jews are still
Abraham’s natural seed, but now we too are Abraham’s seed. Albeit the spiritual
seed.
“For if they which are
of the law [be] heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect”
Rom4:14
This is an amazing truth. That if anyone was able to inherit
the blessing of God by obeying the law and performing good works, then faith is
useless and void. And as a result, the promise which God made to Abraham and to
his seed (me and you) that He would bless us and give us all this by faith is
null. It can’t happen because faith has been made useless by works and
religious performance. So if there is no faith, then there is no promise.
Because the promise was by faith.
We are either justified by faith in our works without faith
in Christ, OR we are justified by faith in Christ without faith in our works,
but not a combination of the two. It is one or the other. Not both.
Many of us put our faith in Christ for salvation, but then
after salvation we think that God is going to bless and deal with us based on
our actions. This was the problem with the Galatians. Paul told them that
Christ had become of no benefit to them if they were trusting in what they did
to be justified with God (Gal. 5:4).
And yet today most of us are like that. We have abandoned
Christ and His work and resorted to our own. We think God blesses us because of
how much we pray, and tithe, and fast and read our bibles. Our works have
replaced faith and made God’s promise to us null and void. That explains why
most of us are not experiencing the blessings and anointing of God as we want
to. God’s promise to us is by faith. Not works.
“Because the law
worketh wrath: for where no law is, [there is] no transgression.” Rom4:15
Every time there is law, the result is the wrath of God. The
law releases God’s wrath. Every time we insist on being under the law, we
experience God’s wrath. The law
disqualifies us for the promise of God. You can’t inherit and
experience the blessing of God and the work of Christ if you are under the law.
This is because you will always break the law and fail. And the law prescribes
punishment for failure, not blessing.
“Therefore [it is] of
faith, that [it might be] by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all
the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of
the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all” Rom4:16
If our salvation was based on our holiness, then no one
would ever be saved. ‘…all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God’. All of us would be doomed and damned.
The reason God insists on making His righteousness available
to us by faith is so that we can get it by His grace. And this grace is
available to the whole world. So anybody that is willing to have faith like
Abraham can receive the promise of God and His righteousness and justification.
This makes Abraham the father of the whole world as God had promised him.
Whosoever believes becomes the child (seed) of Abraham and an heir of God
according to the promise. That is me and you.
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