CRUMB 0135 – TO BE AND NOT TO BE IMPUTED WITH

IMPOSSIBLE WITH MEN

“TO BE AND NOT TO BE IMPUTED WITH, both has everything to do with our eternal destination.”

‘To be imputed with’ and ‘not to be imputed with’ are equally important and absolute necessities.

The word ‘imputed’ is a book-keeping term.

When we’re imputed with something according to the Bible Scriptures, is to have that something put into our account.

So then, it stands to reason, that when we’re ‘not’ imputed with something, then it’s ‘not’ put into our account.

Now the ‘somethings’ that we are referring to here, are really two things.

Genesis To Revelation

The entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation is God dealing with the human race predominantly in these two areas.

And these areas are the two opposite ends of the spectrum.

The first is man’s sin.

That is, his inherited sin nature by way of the fall of Adam, picked up in the [Genesis 3] account.

And it’s because of this cancerous sin nature that every human being will die one day.

Not just a physical death, which is a separation of our human spirit from our physical body.

But also, a spiritual death, which an eternal separation of our human spirit from the Spirit of God.

And this spiritual death speaks of hell leading to the doomed eternity in the lake of fire.

“From the frying pan into the fire”, is no misnomer here, putting it in contemporary language.

This is our current predicament!

Not Our Fault

Now this is not by any fault on our part, and God, through His Word explains why so, in [Romans 5:12].

Referring to the first man Adam, out of one single act of disobedience, the Apostle Paul tells us:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin”

That’s pretty straightforward, plain and crystal clear.

Because of this, Paul continues:

“……and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”

And ‘all have sinned’ indeed, every single one of us without exception.

The only reason we have done so, is because we have inherited that sin nature, passed down to us.

To get this sin nature, all we had to do was get physically born into this world.

And that is obviously by no choice of ours.

So, as we grow, that inherent sin nature also grows with us, unless controlled.

We may not like it, but that is just how it is, and it’s never going to leave, certainly not in this life.

And it ‘will’ bring death, if not by sickness or disease, certainly by the ageing process.

That’s what ageing is, it’s a slow but sure physical death, leading to the spiritual one.

And the truth is there is not a thing we can do about it!

So, that the ‘first something’.

God’s Righteousness

The second is God’s Righteousness, by way of the finished works of Christ’s sacrificial cross, His death, burial and resurrection.

The Book Of Romans Chapter 3 is primarily dedicated to this.

Man’s righteousness for salvation, good as it may be, will not cut it, the reason being his inherent fallen sin nature.

For when it comes to the things of heaven, it ‘must’ be only ‘God’s Righteousness’, and nothing short of it.

And we, on our own merit, can ‘never’ attain to that Righteousness of God.

The reason is still the same, our inherent fallen sin nature.

Expounding The Commandments

When Jesus Christ was expounding the Ten Commandments of the Law to His disciples in [Matthew 5:20], He said:

For I say unto you, ‘That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees’……”

The religious scribes and Pharisees of Christ’s day kept the outward demands of the Law, maintaining that high-level righteousness.

But when it came to heaven, Christ Jesus tells them that there was even a higher level of righteousness required.

Or else, “ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

And that higher level of righteousness required, was the ‘Righteousness of God’, which the Law was incapable of imparting.

“For the Law made nothing perfect”, says God through the Scriptures in [Hebrews 7:19].

And apart from that, it was impossible for men to attain the Righteousness of God in the energy of the flesh.

It could not be earned! And if it could not possibly be earned or attained, and was absolutely necessary for salvation……

……then the only other way would have to be by way of a ‘free gift’ from God Himself.

So, it would have to take a Sovereign ‘Act of God’, and nothing short of it.

And this Act of God would have to be an absolute ‘Judicial one’ by heaven’s standard.

God, as Sovereign as HE is, would not and could not bypass His Own Law.

That’s what law-breaking dictators do at their own whims, and anybody opposing them are put down.

But not so in this case, what was “impossible with men”, was going to made judicially “possible with God”.

Jesus Christ referred to this in [Matthew 19:25-26], when questioned by His disciples as to, “Who then can be saved?”

That is why religion in any form or shape, can ‘NEVER’ cut it!

Nothing Is Ever Free

Nothing is ever really free, even a gift, for it always comes with a cost, be it even a small one.

For you and I to receive a free gift, somebody has to first pay for it.

And in like manner, for us to give someone a gift, means we would have to pay for it first.

That makes sense! There’s nothing complicated about that.

And so, it stands to reason, that bigger and more expensive the gift, so is the cost.

So, the gift and the cost can never be separated, for you can’t have one without the other.

The other point is that the gift can be either accepted or rejected.

But either way, it does not alter the cost factor, for that ‘once-made’ transaction is irreversible.

Done is done! And it cannot be changed or exchanged.

That makes perfect sense too.

And let’s not reduce this to ‘buying a dress or shoes at a retail store’ as analogies for arguments.

For this is about the eternal destinies of men, women and children which are at stake, this about a ‘Judicial Act of God’.

So, for the sake of emphasis once again, “Done is done! And it cannot be changed or exchanged.”

And that is……👇🏽

The Cross Of Christ Jesus

The death of Jesus Christ on the cross, followed by his burial and victorious resurrection was that ‘Judicial Act of God’.

While Jesus Christ was hanging on that cross at Calvary for six dark tormenting hours, what was happening?

The Bible, ‘only’ in the epistle of Paul in [2 Corinthians 5:19] tells us exactly what was going on.

We don’t find this anywhere else in all of Scripture, except in Paul’s letters.

And of course, with the benefit of hindsight we see that Daniel prophetically wrote of this in [Daniel 9:24], “to make reconciliation for iniquity”.

However, the Old Testament prophets, including Daniel, were unable to understand this, though they searched diligently.

Oh! they knew something was out there, but just could not put their finger on it.

And Scripture points that out in [1 Peter 1:10].

Until revealed only to this apostle, Paul, God had kept this secret and hidden [Romans 16:25] and [Ephesians 3:4-5].

So before we go on to what the Apostle Paul wrote about this, we need to remind ourselves of this: 👇🏽

A Good Place

This is good place to remember, that the Apostle Paul wrote all his epistles, not by his own personal knowledge or opinions.

But rather, only by ‘direct revelation’ from the Ascended Lord Jesus Christ in Glory.

He was Personally ‘Hand-picked’ by the Ascended Lord, to be the apostle of the Gentiles on Damascus Road.

God made that crystal clear without any room for debate in [Acts 9:15].

And the Apostle Paul himself reiterates this in [Romans 11:13] as also in other places.

For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office”.

And we must never lose sight of that, or else the Devil will take us for a ride.

Satan fears both Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul, giving himself away in [Acts 19:15]:

“Jesus I know, and Paul I know”, there are no other names mentioned in there.

The Devil fears no one else!

Christendom In Blindness

Satan is working overtime to keep, not just the lost, but also so much of Christendom in blindness.

He is keeping them away from the letters of Paul, by highlighting Christ’s ‘earthly ministry’ as the order of the day.

Very few understand or are willing to accept that Christ’s ‘earthly ministry’ was exclusively to the Jew, the nation of Israel, ‘under the Law’.

Once again, Jesus Christ Himself makes this so plain and clear in [Matthew 10:5-7] and [Matthew 15:24].

And the Devil is always trying to team up James, Peter and John, and pit them against the Apostle Paul, through legalistic minded Christians and clergy.

They have not learnt to leave things exactly where they are, as God Himself has done and still does.

Instead, they juggle them around, upsetting and confusing the entire cart of ‘Christ’s Blood-bought Grace’.

Satan tried that in [Acts 15:1-29] which the Holy Spirit, the Author of all Scripture, also brings up in [Galatians 2:1-10].

The Devil desperately tried to stop Paul’s revealed ‘Grace-filled Gospel Christianity’ right there in its tracks, till Peter was prodded by the Holy Spirit to come to Paul’s defence.

When that move of Satan didn’t work, he tried severe persecution.

But only to see the growth and spread of Christianity significantly increase.

Paul’ Gospel was on a rollercoaster move!

Europe was to be set on fire.

And it was Christianity through Paul’s Gospel mission in Macedonia, the Gospel gateway to Europe, that brought freedom to the rightful rights of women.

We pick this up in the Book of Acts Chapter 16:6-9.

It’s where Paul who wanted to go to Asia, was forbidden by the Holy Spirit, and specifically instructed via a vision, to go to Macedonia instead.

Satan’s Next Move

“If you can’t beat ‘em, then join ‘em”, was Satan’s next move, and as it turned out, a pretty successful one.

The Devil has the ecclesiastical hierarchies of the clergy the world over, in the palm of his hand doing his bidding.

Divisions and confusions have reached astronomical levels in Christendom.

And the reason is principally just one.

“Boycott Paul and give him no importance or significant place. Treat him like an unwanted child.

After all, Paul never walked and talked with Jesus for three years like the other disciples did.

He wasn’t even one of the original twelve.

And Peter, it was to him that Jesus gave the keys of the Kingdom!

So, who is Paul that he should to talk so much!

James, Peter and John are your men, Paul’s an impostor!

Is this surprising or shocking? Not at all, it’s nothing new.

The Apostle Paul was constantly coming under this kind of attack in his days.

And we see from his epistles that he was constantly having to defend his God-given apostleship.

And nothing much has changed today.

Francis Landey Patton, a theologian and the twelfth president of Princeton University, made this bold and truthful statement:

“The only hope of Christianity is in the rehabilitation of Pauline theology”.

“It’s either back, back, back to an incarnate Christ, or else it is on, on, on to atheism and despair”.

How true this is as we see even the very fabric of Christendom breaking down in these days of perplexity, derision and confusion.

However, saying that, there is a growing understanding and heartening realisation within pockets of Christendom, in the invaluable and indispensable authority of Paul’s apostleship.

It is so unique and so relevant to where we stand in this ‘Age of Grace’.

Fallen For The Trap 

And so, much of Christendom has fallen for this subtle trap of the Devil, becoming their mindset today.

We have been conned to the place of fruitlessness by the Devil.

Oh! we can talk the talk and it all looks good.

But the end result, when it comes to the eternal destinies of men, much within Christendom is just about 👎🏼.

Law doctrines and Grace doctrines have been put into the same blender together and dished out, resulting in confusion and indigestion.

God was the One Who was careful in separating what was ‘under the Law’ from what is today ‘under Grace’.

And so much of Christendom keeps mixing the two!

And they are supposed to reach out to the lost? In that state?

It’s not going to happen!

Not until they come back to the Apostle Paul, our God-given apostle of the Gentiles, for this Age of Grace.

Whether that will happen or not is a different matter.

But, here is the thing 👇🏾

While Christ Hung On The Cross

While Christ was hanging on that cross for six hours, this is what was taking place.

The Apostle Paul, by divine revelation, tells us in [2 Corinthians 5:19]:

To wit, (that is to say) that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself”.

God through this sacrificially judicial Act, as we mentioned earlier, was paying the sin debt of every human being and was reconciling ‘all men’ to Himself.

That included everyone from the past, present and those out in the future.

We can never comprehend this with our natural minds, for its beyond it.

But this was God taking responsibility for our fall and paying for it in full redemptive measure, by allowing the created to crucify their Creator.

How on earth can we ever comprehend that?

But yet, historically we know it happened.

And because it did take place, we can accept it by faith.

Now here is the thing we really want to look at. 

A statement of incredibly amazing Truth👇🏽 as Paul continues.

“……not imputing their trespasses (or sins) unto them…..”

Now that a ‘Grace-revealed truth’ and means what it says and says what it means!

Sins Not Being Held

Until a person dies, and has lost their opportunity for believing the Gospel, their sins are ‘NOT’ being held against them.

Scripture is crystal clear on this here and we need to lay hold of this tremendous truth, it makes all the difference in the world.

And since the words ‘not imputing’ are used, we know what that means.

That their sins are ‘NOT’ put into their account, it is not imputed to them.

God is ready to cancel all those sins in a moment!

But if they leave this life ‘never having believed’, then they will have to account for all their sins by thought, word and deed.

Everything that they have ever said or done as a lost person is going to be brought up against them.

It’s scary, and we know it is!

But there’s no reason for it, because it’s such a simple thing to believe and trust the Gospel.

The opportunity will always be there as long we have breath in our lungs, but not beyond that.

And if we do believe the Gospel of our salvation, as revealed to the Apostle Paul in [1 Corinthians 15:1-4]:

“How that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again”…..

This is the only message that releases ‘the power of God unto salvation’ [Romans 1:16], when simply believed + NOTHING ELSE!

…..Scripture then shows us in [Romans 4:20-24] that just like Abraham, who simply believed God + Nothing else [Romans 4:3], ‘God’s Righteousness’ is imputed to us, put into our account.

So, because of Christ’s finished work on the cross, none of our committed acts of sin have been imputed to any of us.

They’re ‘not’ put to our account, they have not been ‘imputed’ to us.

This then really enables us all, to believe Paul’s revealed Gospel of God’s Grace, and get imputed with God’s higher-level Righteousness.

The same one that Christ Jesus spoke of in [Matthew 5:20].

The work of the Cross has made it possible for ‘ALL’ to be reconciled to God, and be imputed with His Righteousness.

“What is impossible with men, has been made possible with God”

 

 

 

 

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About Joshua David Mukerji

A life filled with depravity, a conscience hardened and seared as with a hot iron, with eyes filled with tears on a road leading to nowhere, with an amputated spirit, devoid of any meaningful hope or purpose, moving on like a ship on a tumultuous sea without a sail, the author, from out of nowhere, has an encounter with a Living God that would radically change his life. With an infallible Hope imputed into his spirit, he moves on. Not claiming to have got there yet, but one thing he does: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, he presses on with this Hope that will never fail. If you feel you somehow or in some way connect with any part of this, stick around. There are messages of True and Living Hope coming your way. You ‘will’ get there yet!!!
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