Righteousness Imputed By Faith

Q: What does the Bible say about imputed righteousness?

The Bible teaches that righteousness is imputed to believers through faith in God, as exemplified by Abraham in Romans 4. The concept of imputed righteousness is clearly presented in Romans 4, where Abraham, despite being a sinner, was counted as righteous because he believed God. Paul emphasizes that it is not through works but through faith that one receives acceptance from God. When Abraham believed God's promises, this faith was credited to him as righteousness. This underscores the idea that righteousness is a divine gift, granted to those who have faith in God's character and promises, rather than something earned by human effort. Ultimately, this imputation of righteousness finds its fulfillment in Christ, whose obedience and sacrifice provide the foundation for our acceptance before God.

Q: How do we know Abraham's faith was genuine?

Abraham's faith is proven genuine through his actions and obedience to God's commands, especially in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. The genuineness of Abraham's faith is illustrated in how he responded to God's commands, highlighted by the poignant moment when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. This test of faith showcased Abraham's deep trust in God, even when it seemed contrary to reason. Romans 4:18-21 illustrates that Abraham, against all hope, believed God's promise of offspring. This steadfast belief, despite numerous trials and delays, demonstrates that true faith is not merely intellectual but is accompanied by action, aligning with God's will. Abraham exemplifies how genuine faith perseveres through life's challenges, reflecting the assurance that God is able to fulfill His promises.

Q: Why is Abraham's story significant for Christians today?

Abraham's story illustrates the principle of justification by faith, serving as a foundational example for all believers. Abraham's story is significant for Christians because it serves as a powerful illustration of justification by faith, a cornerstone of the Gospel. In Romans 4, Paul emphasizes that Abraham was justified before the Law and before the rite of circumcision, teaching that faith is the means by which all believers are accepted by God. This principle transcends time and culture, showing that it is through faith in God's promises, particularly in Christ, that we are reconciled to God. As children of God, we can look to Abraham as a model not only of faith but also of grace, ensuring that salvation is a gift received by believing, rather than an achievement earned by works.

And then we know he's called
the father of believers, the pattern, the father of all believers. We're called the sons of Abraham. Those who believe are children
of Abraham. And then we know that Abraham
is the father of Isaac. We all know about the supernatural
birth of Isaac. We know about the When God commanded
Abraham to go up on the mountain and sacrifice Isaac, we know
about that and how that God demonstrated to Abraham substitution, redemption
by substitution. And Abraham believed God, believing
that even if he killed Isaac, God would raise him from the
dead. Man of faith, man of faith. And the Messiah, our Lord Jesus,
is called the seed of Abraham. The promises were not made to
seeds, but to seed. That seed is Christ. And our
Lord said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was
glad. Well, was Abraham different from
us? Was he born godly? Was he always
this way? Was he not a sinner? Was he not
in Adam? Did he not have a fallen, evil
nature? What about this man Abraham?
Well, if you study the scriptures, you find out that Abraham was
an idolater when God called him. I mean, worshiping other gods. That's what the Bible says about
him. Turn with me to Joshua in the Old Testament, the book of
Joshua, and listen. to this scripture found in Joshua
24 about Abraham's past, about his early days, in Joshua chapter
24, verse 2. Now listen to this. This is what
I understand, that Abraham did not know God, let alone serve
God, till he was almost 75 years old. Is that right, Gary? Seventy-five
years old. almost as old as Brother John
Flaming when he came to know God. That's right. Seventy-five years old, an idolater. Here in verse 2 and 3, listen,
And Joshua said to the people, Joshua 24, 2, Joshua said to
all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers
dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah,
the father of Abraham, and the father of Nacor, and they served
other gods. They were idol worshippers in
Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham was, his father was,
his brother, brothers and cousins, the whole shooting match. Verse
3, And I took your father, God said, I took from the other side
of the flood, your father Abraham, I took him and I led him throughout
all the land of Canaan and I multiplied his seed and I gave him Isaac.
So I understand that Abraham did not know God, he did not
serve God until he was nearly 75 years old. That he was a heathen,
a pagan, but God set his affection upon him God singled him out,
God called him and converted him, and he brought Abraham to
a saving knowledge of himself. And he brought Abraham at that
time to a saving knowledge of the Messiah that should come
from his seed that same night. Now let me show you that in Genesis
12. This is when Abraham met God.
in Genesis 12, this is when God called Abraham. Now, remember
he was a heathen in a land of idolaters, and God, Abraham didn't
call God, God called Abraham. Abraham didn't know God, God
knew Abraham. Abraham didn't love God, God
loved Abraham. And in Genesis 12, verse 1, And
the Lord said, the Lord Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Abram
was his name then, God changed it to Abraham. Now the Lord said
unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred,
from these idolaters and from this idol worship, from this
paganism and heathenism, you get out and from your father's
house and you go to a land I'll show you. And I will make of
you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your
name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless
them that bless you, and I'll curse them that curse you. And
in you, in thee, shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
From you will come the Messiah." This is when Abraham met God,
75 years old. pagan, idolater, heathen. So here's a man who was ignorant
of God, worshipped idols, a sinner like you and me, a son of Adam,
but now he's a friend of God. Now he's a pattern and a type
for all believers. Now this man's walking with God. Now this man is looking by faith. His faith is so strong in his
God and in his coming Redeemer that he doesn't own a foot of
land on this earth. He has no place permanently to
dwell. He dwells in tents with Isaac
and Jacob. And he's traveling through this
world looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. What
in the world happened? What in the world took place?
Here's a man, pagan, heathen, from a family of heathens, from
a father who was a heathen, didn't know God, love God, seek God,
have any desire for God, 75 years old, now he's the friend of God. Now he walks with God. Now he's
looking for a city. Now he has little care for the
things of this world. heart set on things above. What
happened? Well, I have five questions to
answer. The first one is this, what did
this man find? Mike sang about it, I've found
the way. He found something. Secondly,
my question will be, well, when did he find it? When did he actually
find it? And my third question will be,
well, how did he find it? Why Abraham? How'd he find it?
I mean, who's he? Another pagan idolater. How'd he find it? And fourthly,
what proof do we have that he did find it? We got any proof
that this is all so? And number five, I'll try to
deal with these five questions. What's that got to do with me? What's that got to do with me?
All right, back to the text, Romans 4. Now what are we going
to say? It's the way Paul writes in simplicity,
doesn't he? We complicate it. What shall
we say then? Verse 1, Romans 4, that Abraham
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found. What did
he find? I'll tell you what he found.
He found righteousness. He found true holiness. He found
acceptance with God. He found a perfect standing before
God. He found acceptance in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Read it, verse 2. Now, if Abraham
were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before
God, for God knows him. But what says the scripture?
Abraham believed God. When God said, ìAbraham, get
thee out of thy fatherís house to a land Iíll show thee,î he
went not knowing where he was going, but he believed God. When Almighty God told Abraham
to take Isaac and sacrifice, or that he was going to have
a son when he was a hundred years old, he believed God not knowing
how. He just believed God. The Bible doesn't say he believed
the Word of God, he believed God. And believing God, he believed
His Word. When God told him to sacrifice
that boy on the mountain, he believed God. God gave him three days to think
about it. Three days and three nights.
Never spoke another word to him. From the time he left home, to
the time he got on top of that mountain, and raised that knife
to slay his son, and God said, don't touch the lamb. He believed
God. He believed God. And it was counted
to him for righteousness. It was counted to him for acceptance. It was counted to him for holiness.
Now verse 4, to him that worketh, if you're going to try to find
righteousness and holiness by your works, is the reward not
reckoned of grace, but of debt. It's God paying a debt, but to
him that worketh not. And Abraham didn't work. He believed
on him that justifieth the ungodly, and his faith is counted for
righteousness, for holiness, for acceptance with God. And
then David described what Abraham found. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man to whom God What's this word? We
run across this word, imputed. Imputeth and imputed. First in
verse 3, it says, Abraham believed God and was counted to him. Counted to him. Verse 5, it says
again, his faith is counted to him for righteousness. Now in
verse 6, it says, God imputeth righteousness to him without
works. In other words, It's the very
holiness and righteousness of Almighty God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, through his obedience, through his blood, through his
life, through his death, acceptance with God, as if we did it ourselves. That's what it is, God charging,
reckoning, counting to us that holiness and righteousness that
Christ perfected, performed, and purchased as though we did
it ourselves. It's charged to our account.
There's no guilt and sin charged to us, but rather a perfect holiness. And David said this in verse
7. Listen. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven. All of our inequities and our
iniquities are forgiven. Every sin that you, if you're
a child, if you believe God, if you're a child of God, every
sin that you've ever committed, ever thought, ever spoke, ever
performed by deed is forgiven. Totally, completely forgiven
and remembered no more. That's what this is saying. This
is righteousness. In other words, when the high
priest went that way through the veil into the presence of
God, past the veil into the Holy of Holies. He was in the very
presence of God where the glory of God rested on the mercy seat.
And he was received because he had the blood. And you and I
can go, like we stand here and pray our Father, we can go We
are. We're not on a go, but we are
in the presence of God, in the person of Christ, without sin. Our iniquities are unforgiven
and remembered no more. They're forgiven. There's no
record of them. We can come into God's presence and stand there
not guilty, because there's no record. The sins are forgiven. Listen, whose sins are covered.
They're forgiven. They're covered. Blessed is the
man to whom God will not charge sin." Oh, years ago, 1948, 1948, before
I ever learned the gospel, God illustrated the gospel to me.
Before I ever knew the gospel, he gave me an earth-shaking illustration
of what this means, not to be not guilty, to have no record,
no record of your offense. One Friday, I went to school. I was in the Tennessee Temple
College in Chattanooga. And they called me to the office,
and I went down to the office of the president, Dr. Lee Robinson, and he said, I'm
taking a group of students to a church, he told me where it
was, not many miles from Chattanooga, tonight for a temple night of
the school. And he said, I want you to lead
the singing. And he said, I want you to take your car and pick
up the students and meet me out there at this church out beyond
Cleveland, Tennessee. So I got in my car that evening
and I went by the college and picked up the singers and students
that were on the program. And we went out past Cleveland,
Tennessee to the service. And we had the service and it
was over and we started back home. It started raining. It
was dark and raining and a very dreary, bad night. And coming
towards Chattanooga into the city proper, I ran a stop sign. I didn't see that stop sign.
I mean, I was moving along. Twenty-two years old. Had more
foot than I had brains in a car. And I ran that stop sign with
a carload of students. And there was another car coming
who had the right-of-way, and I broadsided that car, turned
it over. I mean, demolished it. It was
raining, the police came, the ambulance came, there was a young
girl, her head was split open in the other car, the car was
totally demolished. Policeman said, who's driving? I'm driving. Boy, I'm in a mess.
I'm in a mess. Didn't know whether that girl
was seriously hurt or what was going on. I thought, my, my,
this is going to be in the paper, this girl's in trouble, I'm in
a mess. Pastor of the church. run a stop
sign, tow up a car. Well, the policeman got my driver's
license and all this and wrote me out a ticket. And I'm to appear
in court a week or two later on a Monday morning. Well, you'd
imagine the next week or two was a miserable week. Miserable.
I was miserable walking the floor. I made Doris miserable. I called
my parents in Alabama and made them miserable. Oh boy, I didn't
know. I thought they were going to
send me to jail. Take my driver's license away and fine me. I didn't
have any money. And so I asked my dad to come
up to Chattanooga and go to court with me. And he did. He came up, took off from work
and came up there. And we went to court. Now if
you ever, I never had been to court. I went to court. Guilty. Guilty as sin. I mean, I ran
the stop sign. I tore the car up. I hurt the
girl. I was the fool that did the whole thing. Guilty. No plea. Throw the book at me. Well, I
went up there and there was a bunch of other criminals there too.
The place was full. Mine wasn't the only trial. They
had a lot of trials that day. They had a lot of trials. They
kept calling them. I kept sitting there. My dad
sitting beside me. I kept sitting a judge up on
the bench longer. It delayed my time before him. The more frightened I became,
just scared to death. And they kept calling them. Finally,
there wasn't anybody in that courtroom but me and my dad. Everybody else, their cases heard,
fine, sent to jail and everything else, and there I sat. And the
judge sitting up here and the secretary there, And he said,
young man, what are you? What's your problem? I said,
I'm supposed to be here at this time to be tried for tearing
up a car and running a stop sign. He turned to the clerk sitting
there. He said, any record of that? She said, I don't have a record
of it. He said, weren't they writing
tickets that night? I told him when it happened and everything.
She said, well, you're not supposed to. Well, he said, it's got to
be there somewhere. She said, there is no record
of any accident. He asked my name, or this man
may, and there's no record. He said, well, go home. I never
heard of it since. You know, I got up from there
when that judge, oh, he's awesome looking in those robes, sitting
up high on that bench. And he told me, there's no record
of your offense. You're free. I haven't heard
of it since. And that's what Abraham found.
When we stand before God, if we're in Christ, if we believe
on Christ, we're guilty. I was guilty. I was scared to
death. I knew I was going to pay for that for a long time.
But he said I wasn't guilty. Because they didn't have any
record of it. And this is what David is saying, and I was a
blessed boy, I'm telling you, I was happy. I'm still happy.
Every time I think about it, now I get happy. Honest! Happy is the man to whom God
Almighty is sitting in his, on his throne, at his desk. Looking over the records, happy
is the man if God can't find anything under your name. That's right. Boy, you talk about
happy. Happy is the man to whom God
will not charge sin. And that's what Abraham found.
All right, secondly, when did he find it? Well, verse 9 says
this. Now, we know, we know a little
bit about Abraham. that Abraham, God gave him the
sign of circumcision. Abraham and his family was going
to be different. They had the covenant God made
with Abraham extended to them through Abraham. And he gave
him this sign of circumcision. Every male was to be circumcised
in Abraham's family. And then Abraham had that trial
with Lot. And he told Lot to take the best
land and give him the mountain. Then Abraham had that trial with
the kings. You remember when the kings were
going to make him rich? God tried him that way, and he turned down
their riches. He said, I've lifted my hand
to God. And then Ishmael came along, and God wasn't pleased
with that. And Abraham had to send him off.
And then Isaac came along. And then God told him, kill Isaac.
So this man had a lot of trials and he had a lot of places where
God tried his faith and where God, he had a lot of experiences
is what I'm saying. He had a lot of experiences.
He learned along the way. That's right, didn't he? He learned
along the way. He had experiences. When he came
to this place, he might have said, well boy, this is tougher
than all of But he passed that test, and he came to know this.
When he sent Ishmael away, I believe that was the hardest trial he
faced up to that time. And he learned something there.
Every time he learned something. But when was he justified? I'll tell
you when he was justified. When he believed God. Way back,
John. That's when he was justified. When he believed God. When he
left Ur of the Chaldees the first time. That's what it says here. Now listen. Verse 9, Cometh this
blessing then upon the circumcision only, seed of Abraham by nature,
flesh, or upon the uncircumcision also. We say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. How was it reckoned? When was
it reckoned? When was Abraham saved? When
was righteousness reckoned to Abraham? When did God say he's
a righteous man? When? When he was circumcised?
No sir, that's 15 years later. That's right, Charlie. Abraham was not circumcised until
15 years after God told him to get out of Ur-Kalil. Verse 10,
how was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision or
uncircumcised? Not in circumcision. When was this righteousness reckoned
to him in uncircumcision? When God said, Abraham, get thee
out of thy father's house and from thy kindred unto the land
thou showest thee. And the scripture says, so he
departed. That's when he was justified.
That's when he was righteous. He hadn't been circumcised. He
hadn't offered Isaac. He hadn't turned down the kings.
He hadn't done any of these things. All he had done is believe God. Isn't that right, John? He wasn't too long out of idolatry. But he was justified, that's
what it says right here, verse 11 says, and he received the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had, yet being uncircumcised. That's pretty plain, isn't it?
that he might be the father of all them that believe, though
they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed,
charged, reckoned to them also, 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." What faith? He believed God. Simple? Believed
God. Plain? He believed God. Singular? He believed God. He just believed
God. It's not how great your faith
is or how old your faith is or how strong your faith is, it's
in whom do you believe. That's right Cecil, that's when
that man was justified. That's exactly right. And you
ask me, when is a man saved? When he believes God. Not a God,
not some God, Just any God, God, when he believes God, when he
believes God. Now, he's got a long ways to
go and a lot to learn, but that's when he's justified, when he
believes God. A man is saved, justified, accepted, and is holy
and righteous as he'll ever be before God when he believes on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and only by believing, nothing else. That's
so good. Believing. Get thee out of thy father's
house." He packed up and left. That's when he was justified.
He's got a long road, John. He's got a lot to learn. And
he'll learn it. That's the thing about it. The
man who believes God can't believe in God. He's got a lot to learn. All right, well, why Abraham?
Verse 16. Why Abraham? There must have
been thousands of idolaters in Ur of the Chaldees. There must
have been thousands of pagans down there. He had a father. He had some uncles. He had some
brothers. He had some cousins. It was a
pretty good outfit down there in Ur of the Chaldees. But there's
only one answer. Therefore, it is a faith that
it might be by grace. God chose Abraham. My friends,
I've just turned to Romans chapter 9. I just don't know but one
way to preach this, and that's just preach it and say it. Abraham found grace in the eyes
of the Lord just like Noah did. Abraham found grace in the eyes
of the Lord just like Saul of Tarsus. In Romans 9, listen,
verse 9. This is the word of promise,
at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even our
father Isaac, the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, twins in a woman's womb, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth, not by works, but by grace, it was said to
Rebecca, The elder shall serve the younger. That's backwards.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Now
what are we going to say to these things? What shall we say then?
Is God unrighteous? Is God unjust? Is God unfair? God forbid. He said to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So it's not of him that willeth.
It's not of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
For the Scripture says unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will heal
hearten." Why Abraham? God chose him. God chose him. That's the only answer I can
give. Our Lord Jesus stopped one day and lifted His eyes to
heaven and said, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I thank
Thee that Thou hast hid these things, these mysteries, these
blessings, these promises from the wise and the prudent, and
Thou hast revealed them to babes, for even so, Father, it seemed
good in Thy sight. Why me? I have no evidence that my brother
knew anything about the grace of God. I have no evidence that
anybody in my father or mother's family, both sides clear back,
knew anything about the grace of God. My grandfather, the last Henry
Mahan, died a drunk. Local sheriff and drunk, town
drunk, 55 years old. His name was Henry Mahan. But
God chose me. And I'll tell you this, if you
know the gospel and love the gospel and believe the gospel,
it's because God chose you. That's right. That's right. And a lot of people where you
work don't know anything about this gospel or about this God. They're all religious now. Abraham
was religious, but he was an idolater. He worshiped a false
God. And these people everywhere are
religious, but they worship a false God. They don't know the sovereign
God, the living God, the creating God, the incarnate God, the crucified
God, the risen God, and the reigning God. They don't know that God,
the living God. But you do, don't you? And I'll tell you verse 16 says
it's a faith that it might be by grace to this end, to this
result, that the promise might be sure. to all to see. It has to be by grace. It has
to be. The only way that you'll ever
come to God is by grace. The only way you'll ever learn
the gospel is for God by grace to reveal it to you. And the
only way you and I will continue through this life to believe
God and believe the word and wind up in glory is by grace.
We'll depart if we can. You and I are no match for Satan,
we're no match for principalities, we're no match for the powers
of darkness, we're no match for the temptations of this life,
and we're no match for these wicked hearts of ours. No match. But God is. And his grace will
keep me till the river rolls its waters at my feet. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal
it. for thy courts above. Here I
raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy help I come, and I hope,
by your good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. If I arrive
there, it will be by grace. I was chosen by grace, sought
by grace, called by grace, redeemed by grace, kept by grace. I will
die by grace and be raised by grace, and when I stand in God's
presence, I will praise his grace forevermore." That's how come
Abraham knew God. God chose him. Paul said that. He said, God separated me from
my mother's womb and called me by His grace. That's the reason we need to
pray, Lord, don't pass me by. Don't pass me by. While on others'
dark calling, don't pass me by. Don't leave me to my will. There's
one thing sure. I hear all these preachers talk
about man's will and higher will and free will. Under heaven,
I don't want to be left to my will. I want to be in His will. All
right, what proof do we have that Abraham really believed
God? Oh my, listen, verse 17. As it
is written, I have made thee a father of many nations before
him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and
calleth those things which be not as though they were." Abraham
was 100 years old, his wife was 90, and God said, you're going
to have a son. Never had had a son. Sarah had
been barren and never had a son. He said, Abraham, you're going
to have a son. And in that seed shall all the earth be blessed.
And this says, verse 18, Abraham against hope. There was no, absolutely
not a glimmer of natural hope that that woman could ever conceive
a child. It was beyond any hope at all. Yet against all human hope, he
believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations
according to that which was spoken." What did he believe? That which
was spoken. I don't have any right to believe
anything but that which is spoken, God's word. And God said, so
shall thy seed be. So Abraham, being not weak in
faith, now this is 25 years later. I'm as bad as anybody on earth
about this. I want everything done yesterday,
don't you? Or at the latest today. We're
in such a hurry, aren't we? Get it? But God moves in mysterious
ways, and in particular ways, and in a very patient way. Seventy-five
years old, God called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and he
left. Twenty-five years later. He still didn't have a son. That's
a long time. Twenty-five. He's getting older. He said, time's running out. But, verse 19, being not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body now dead. God said he
was going to have a son. He was a hundred years old, nor
yet the darkness of Saber's womb, and the promise of God didn't
stagger him. What's stagger mean? You know,
you reel under something. It didn't stagger him. God said,
you'll have a son, Saber will have a son. He didn't reel and
stagger. Saber did. She lost hope. She's
the one who told him to go into that girl, not Abraham. She said,
you need to help God out, you know. You need to pray as if
it all depended on God and then work like it all depended on
you. Saber originated that. That's where that came, that's
exact, I never thought of that, the Savior started that whole
thing. Now Abraham, I know you pray
and you believe it depends on God. Son, get up and do something
about it. Put shoes on your pants. You
hear all those silly things. Put feet on your pants. That
means say a little word and then go do it yourself. And that's
what got him in the mess. That messed his whole life up.
She did that. He didn't. He was, verse 21,
fully persuaded of what God had spoken, God was able to perform.
I believe that. Do you? Help my unbelief. I'll put it
this way. I believe that. Lord, help my unbelief. I want
to believe it more. But he said it, he'll do it.
That's believing God. It's not knowing all the where's
and the why's and the wherefore's and the particulars and answering
all the theological questions. I can't. I've never been able
to. I don't know how a woman 90 years old can conceive a child.
I can't figure that one out. But I do know God's able. And
that's what Abraham believed. In verse 22, and because of that
faith, it was imputed to him for righteousness. That's how
I know that Abraham believed God. He acted like it. That's right. He walked like
it. And I'll tell you, the way got
dark, and the way got weary, and the way got discouraging,
and what he had hoped for and what he had looked for was delayed
by God's providence. It didn't come as quickly as
he thought it would or should, but he just believed God. And
in God's own time it came. Oh, what's that got to do with
me? Oh, that verse 23, what's all this got to do with me and
with you? Now, this was verse 24, 22 said, this faith to believe
God was imputed to him for righteousness. Mike, I found the way into the
veil, beyond the veil, through the blood, into the holy of holies
with God. That's what he found. How? by
believing God. Now, verse 23, that wasn't written
for his sake alone. He's not an isolated incident,
but it was that it was imputed to him, this righteousness, this
holiness, but for us also, to whom this same righteousness
shall be imputed. I can be a friend to God just
like Abraham. I can walk with God just like Abraham. I can
be holy and righteous, accepted just like Abraham. to whom it
shall be imputed, if what? If you believe on him who raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Christ was delivered for our
offenses. He was raised for our justification. Christ is our
substitute, our satisfaction, our righteousness, our redeemer,
our atonement, everything. Christ came down here in the
flesh as a man. That's who Abraham... The one
to whom Abraham looked and for whom Abraham looked. It was Christ.
Abraham, Christ said, saw my day a long time before I came.
He looked this way for that righteousness. I looked back to that righteousness. But I looked the same way Abraham
did by faith. Same way. And I believe. See, God is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. It doesn't matter whether you
born in the day of Abraham, whether you're born in this time. Salvation
by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. And I believe. And Abraham believed. And our
faith's one and the same. I believe God. I believe God. Righteousness is imputed. Don't
try to change it. Don't add anything to it. Don't
try to protect it. Don't try to explain it. Don't
try to say, but, but, but. No, just believe God. Believe
Him. And I'll tell you, there'll be
some trials ahead, there'll be some rough ways, some discouraging
ways, but just keep believing Him. Just keep believing Him. To whom shall we go? He has the
words of eternal life. All right. Mike, come lead us
in a closing hymn, please.

Righteousness Imputed By Faith

What does the Bible say about imputed righteousness?

How do we know Abraham's faith was genuine?

Why is Abraham's story significant for Christians today?

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Righteousness Imputed By Faith

What does the Bible say about imputed righteousness?

How do we know Abraham's faith was genuine?

Why is Abraham's story significant for Christians today?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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