Today, on Truth Time.
Some who hold to the idea that all believers of all time were saved and sealed and couldn't lose their salvation.
You know, the ones who boldly proclaim that everyone in the Old Testament was looking forward to the cross, these folks have a hard time understanding what the word, imputation, means.
It isn't some mystical, magical act of God to have something imputed.
The word just means accounted, reckoned, or charged, all accounting terms.
So, when we see that righteousness was imputed to Abraham, it just means that God judged him as righteous.
He wasn't zapped with an infusion of God's righteousness to dwell within him.
God just called Abraham's faith in his promise to him a righteous act.
This, is Truth Time Radio.
Part 14b of our Romans study coming up, we closed last time by answering the question, Was Abraham justified by faith as demonstrated by Paul or by works as demonstrated by James?
The answer is both, both Paul and James are correct.
The reason why this is even possible is because it was Abraham's faith that was accounted to him as his own righteousness, not God's.
Being made the righteousness of God, 2 Corinthians 5:21, is a unique characteristic that applies only to this present dispensation of grace.
It's one of the many mysteries that was revealed to Paul.
It's not a part of prophecy doctrine.
In our last discussion, we showed how all throughout scripture the requirement to be counted righteous has always been to observe and do.
Whatever that particular faith prescribed.
No matter what dispensation, Deuteronomy 6:25, And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.
Some read this, but they don't really believe it.
They blow through the verse and miss two very important words, "our righteousness."
Even Jesus himself, during his earthly ministry instructed Matthew chapter 23, he instructed his disciples, Observe and do whatsoever the one that was sitting in Moses' seat would tell them to do.
That's how their righteousness, not God's, that's how their righteousness would be accomplished.
That's the wrong dispensation for being made righteous.
That's yours alone and don't forget it.
And listen, this is important.
This truth about righteousness was not only true about the law of Moses, but also true with Noah, with Abraham, with Noah and Abraham when there was no law.
Ezekiel 14:14, here's what your King James Bible has to say about it, Though these three men,... now listen if you want to flee from that error you've been in about imputed righteousness, here's your chance. Here's your chance to agree with God, Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.
What is it about these two words that have some in a pickle?
Two words, "their righteousness."
You can agree with God or disagree, the choice is yours.
And just in case any of us missed it the first time, six verses later, God repeats himself.
Verse 20, Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
See, it's this sort of candid and frank straightforward, no holds barred truth that separates Bible believers from non-Bible believers.
Okay, Job 27:6, My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
First two words out of Job's mouth, "My righteousness."
Old Testament, New Testament, doesn't matter, nothing changed.
Watch.
Matthew 5:20, For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Your righteousness.
The truth about this is even revealed in the red letters, but most miss it.
See, the crosswork, the crosswork is what brought the change, and that change it isn't made known until the risen glorified Christ appears to Paul in Acts chapter 9.
Now, turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 22, where we see David speaking about his own righteousness.
Verse 21, The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness...
And verse 25, Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness...
And David's not done, he mentions his own righteousness two more times in Psalm 18 verses 20 and 24.
If you don't believe the words, "my righteousness" means "my righteousness,"
if God's own words can't do it, you've got a colossal problem.
1 Kings chapter 8 verse 32, Then here thou in heaven and do and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his head and justifying the righteous... Now here comes the good part,... to give him according to his righteousness.
Could God make it any planer?
I'm here today just holding fast the faithful word as I've been taught.
Titus 1:9, That I may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayer, allowing God's word to make the case.
Over and over, we see this repeatedly throughout scripture.
You can find this demonstrated multiple times in Ezekiel.
You'll see it.
You'll see that the righteous man can actually turn away from his own righteousness.
Here's one I'll share with you, but there's plenty more you can go look up for yourself.
Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 24 watch, But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness,... ever seen this before?,... when the righteous turn away from his righteousness,... there it is in plain King James English.
Be sure you don't miss the wording we've been going over, we've uncovered here in this study.
We've seen the words, his righteousness, their righteousness, my righteousness.
And these personal pronouns have one thing in common, none refer to God's righteousness.
As we've been hammering over and over receiving God's righteousness, his imputed righteousness is something reserved only for those in the body of Christ, and we will continue to stand on that truth because that's what God says.
Agreein' with him is the number one cure for ignorance.
And we too, we too, those of us under grace, also have the instruction to observe and do for righteousness.
Ephesians 1:13. Number one, we hear the gospel, observe, number two, you trust Christ as a result of believing the gospel you heard.
And there's the do, observe and do.
This is our obedience to God's word, our faith of Christ doctrine for salvation, Roman 16:26, listen, But now is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandments of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.
Romans 15:18, For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed.
Word and deed.
Think about that.
Word equals God's word to us, our gospel.
Deed equals our doing.
And our only deed for salvation is believing.
Believing is doing just like Paul said in Acts chapter 16 verses 30 and 31.
What must I do to be saved, the jailer's question to Paul and Silas.
What did they say? Believe.
And as a result of belief, we receive God's righteousness by virtue of our own declared identity of being in the body of Christ.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness, he's the righteous one. We're righteous, not of ourselves, not of our own works, as was required of those Old Testament saints in time past, but you see, our but now gospel is not their time past gospel.
They received eternal life by their righteousness, which was based on their obedience, not by the blood of Christ, not by grace through faith in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
Abraham's faith was counted for his own righteousness, but his future hope and salvation was according to a faith that was validated through covenant, not apart from works, but justified by them.
That righteousness could be lost, lost through disobedience, and that covenant could be broken, nullifying the promise.
In a moment, we'll see how what James wrote concerning Abraham confirms this.
This truth about righteousness is found in your New Testament as well.
Truth for those outside of the Romans through Philemon parenthetical dispensation of grace.
Take John for example, what does he say about righteousness?
1 John 3:7, Little children, let no man deceive you, he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
What?
To hear some tell it, John was a grace apostle who preached the same gospel as Paul.
That's straight up error is what it is.
Notice the 2 Corinthians 5:21, "made the righteousness of God in him," is missing.
John doesn't know anything about that.
Some who hold to the idea that all believers of all time were saved and sealed and couldn't lose their salvation.
You know, the ones who boldly proclaim that everyone in the Old Testament was looking forward to the cross, these folks have a hard time understanding what the word, imputation means.
It isn't some mystical, magical act of God to have something imputed.
The word just means, accounted, reckoned, or charged, all accounting terms.
So, when we see that righteousness was imputed to Abraham, it just means that God judged him as righteous.
He wasn't zapped with an infusion of God's righteousness to dwell within him.
God just called Abraham's faith in his promise to him a righteous act.
And that righteous act caused God to count Abraham righteous in that moment.
Paul says in verse 3 of Romans 4 that Abraham's belief was counted unto him for righteousness.
In verse 9, he says that his faith was reckoned to him for righteousness.
And in verse 22 of the same chapter, he says that Abraham's faith was imputed to him for righteousness.
Counted, reckoned, imputed, terms used to say that God judged Abraham as righteous because of his faith.
This is not the same as the 2 Corinthians 5:21 being made the righteousness of God in Christ.
It's not the Romans 5:19, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
The Old Testament saints didn't know anything about being made righteous, didn't know anything about being quote unquote, "the righteousness of God."
That would have sounded blasphemous to them.
Clearly, when we talk about anyone before or after the dispensation of grace being righteous, it is their righteousness, not God's.
Their own righteousness depended on their ability to maintain it through works.
No one outside of the dispensation of grace had Christ in them as their hope of glory.
No one outside this dispensation was sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption, and with everlasting life as present possession.
They had to Matthew 24:13, endure in their faith to the end of their lives, and that would preserve them until the Acts chapter 3:19, times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.
They're still waiting on grace to come, that grace that Peter talked about.
That's when they'll be born again, born again into the regenerated earth, where they will rule and reign as kings and priests with Christ.
This is really just Mid-Acts dispensationalism 101, just plain truths of scripture, and anyone claiming that those from time past couldn't lose their salvation have yet to fully grasp the uniqueness of Paul's ministry.
You've got to abandon context to make the argument that those from time past could not lose their salvation.
If the Twelve and the rest of the little flock couldn't lose their salvation, and Ananias and Sapphira should have never died for lying to the Holy Ghost.
This is a good time, uh, let's take a look into what James, what he says regarding Abraham's justification and how it compares to what Paul said.
Romans chapter 4 verse 2, For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath wear of to glory, but not before God. (Verse 5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
We see Paul here clearly stating that it was Abraham's faith, not his works, for which God initially counted him righteous.
This was when Abraham finally believed God.
He took him at his word and believed the promise that God had made him.
Then God said, Abraham is righteous for believing me.
But our next question should be, What did Abraham's faith tell him to do?
As you'll see here in Genesis chapter 15, because his faith was imperfect, he questioned God.
About how he would know for certain, the promise would come to pass.
In verse 8 he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it.
Verse 9, He said unto him, take me a heifer of three years old and a she-goat of three years old and a ram of three years old. And a turtle dove and a young pigeon, verse 10, And he took unto him all these and divided them in the midst and laid each piece one against another, but the birds divided he not.
And on and on it goes, I challenge you to go read it.
Start with verse 8 and read through verse 21.
It's amazing that all this information is right here in plain sight, yet some only focus on the part that says Abraham believed in God and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Abraham was counted righteous for believing God's promise, but that faith was just step one in his righteousness.
Genesis 17:1, and when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. See that? Be thou perfect.
That's his own righteousness.
That's not 2 Corinthians 5:21, God making him righteous.
That's not Abraham receiving God's righteousness.
And that's why he could stop believing or disobey God and he would no longer be counted righteous.
He wasn't eternally secure and sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Faith brings about righteousness, but works through obedience demonstrates it.
And that's precisely what justification is, a declaration of righteousness.
If one isn't righteous, they cannot be justified, and if one is justified, they must be righteous.
The evidence is overwhelmingly clear.
Now, what does James, we looked at Paul, what does James say about how Abraham was justified?
James 2:14, What does it profit my brethren, though a man say he has faith and have not works? Can faith save him?
Anything ambiguous about this verse?
Not at all.
Now drop down to verse 17, Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.
Verse 18, Yea, a man may say thou hath faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
Verse 19, Thou believest that there is one God. Thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble.
Verse 20, But will thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
James and Paul are saying two completely different things about faith without works.
Paul says he that believeth and worketh not, his faith is counted for righteousness.
James says that if a man has faith and no works, that his faith alone cannot save him, and goes on to describe how a man is justified by works, using a different example from the life and walk of Abraham than Paul did.
James 2:21, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Verse 22, Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect.
That imperfect faith that was enough for God to count for Abraham's righteousness was made perfect through his works of obedience.
Don't miss it.
Now look at verse 23.
See here what James says those works accomplished for Abraham.
Paul, he spoke of the initial faith which was counted as Abraham's righteousness before he was instructed to do anything.
James speaks of Abraham's work of obedience which justified him.
Abraham's works declared his own righteousness.
His works literally proved his right standing before God.
His act of obedience was his declaration of righteousness, his justification.
Verse 23, And the scripture was fulfilled which sayeth Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
Did you hear that?
James says that the very scripture Paul uses to show how an uncircumcised Gentile, Abraham, was counted righteous because of his faith that scripture wasn't fulfilled until Abraham's work of obedience which earned his justification.
He makes that even clearer in the next verse, verse 24, You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only.
Abraham wasn't justified by faith only.
His initial faith caused him to be counted righteous.
But if he did not obey, he would have most definitely lost that righteous standing with God, because he would not be justified.
No one can be saved without being justified because without justification there's no righteousness.
And we all know what happens to the unrighteous, which is a truth throughout all dispensation.
The difference is the means by which a man is justified.
Today we cannot lose our salvation because we, we're only counted righteous and justified as members of the body of Christ, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but because of what Christ did.
And our identity is in him as members of his body.
Apart from Christ we're not righteous.
Upon salvation we're made the righteousness of God in him.
I'm in the body of Christ and Christ is in me, Colossians 1:27, God made known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Not true for Abraham.
So, if Abraham's means of justification is different than ours, why does Paul use it as an example for us?
Because Paul is still making the case for Gentile salvation apart from Israel to an audience in Rome with a very large population of Jews.
Remember, the Jews were always promised that they would be the light unto the Gentiles.
Now, Paul comes along explaining how Gentiles could be accepted of God without Israel, without them being the mediator.
So, what better example to use for this than Israel's own Gentile father according to the flesh?
Abraham.
Think about the parallels.
Abraham was not under the law of Moses, and the Gentiles were never under the law of Moses.
In Abraham's day, sin was not imputed because the law had not entered, Romans 5:13.
And today, sin is not imputed because we're not under the law, 2 Corinthians 5:19.
Abram, the Gentile, was accepted of God and counted righteous according to his faith and not by works of the law.
Gentiles are accepted of God and made the righteousness of God in Christ according to our faith.
A lot of parallels there.
Today's popular preaching says you've got to get your sins forgiven before God can save you, which is something missing altogether for Abraham.
There's no example of Abraham needing to get his sins forgiven because where there is no law, there is no transgression.
He had not broken any law because there were none to break.
Therefore, no sin was imputed.
If sin is not imputed, there's nothing to be forgiven.
Yet, now listen, Abraham was not counted righteous until after he believed God.
While our instructions, the gospel to be believed and the means by which we are counted righteous and justified are completely different than Abraham, his starting point for salvation, his initial circumstances were identical to ours.
No sin needed to be forgiven, yet not counted righteous until we exercise faith toward God according to his good news for us.
Amazing!
What better case for Gentile salvation apart from Israel is there, than for Paul to speak, What sayeth the Scripture, concerning the Gentile Abram's imputed righteousness?
This isn't about what James says fulfilled that scripture regarding Abraham.
It's about a Gentile being accepted of God without Israel's help, without the law of Moses, without the fleshly sanctification that Israel was instructed to maintain.
Abraham is not an example for how to be saved during the dispensation of grace.
Abraham could lose his salvation and his righteousness if he did not do works to be justified.
He was on the endurance maintenance program and we are not.
Abraham is an example of God's acceptance of faith exercised by a Gentile resulting in imputed righteousness without the need to first get sins forgiven because they were not even being imputed.
Out of time for now, we'll continue in this Romans verse by verse study.
Meanwhile, remember, when a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth,
he'll either quit being mistaken or ceased to be honest.
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