DAVID DECLARES IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS Devotion 2 of 28 Although institutional-centered religion places little on no emphasis upon confidence before God, this is the great thrust of Scripture. God is not glorified by timorous disciples who lack confidence. He has declared He will have no pleasure in the person who draws back from Him (Heb 10:39), and a lack of confidence and assurance compels one to draw back from the Lord. In spiritual life cringing fear, doubt, diffidence, and dubiousness are lethal. They are actually all aspects unbelief, and must be thrust from the heart. – Tomorrow:
"But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 'Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin." (Romans 4:5-8, NKJV)
If the salvation of God has made provision for the "full assurance of faith" (Heb 10:22), "the full assurance of understanding" (Col 2:2), the "full assurance of hope" (Heb 6:11), and knowing that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13), what possible reason can be adduced for failing to appropriate them? How is it that men would claim to have faith, yet lack the assurance it brings, which is itself an aspect of that faith (Heb 11:1)?
Right here an important observation is in order. Almost without exception, those with a propensity toward legalism, or being motivated by Law alone, are sadly lacking in confidence toward God. Two inexorable marks identify those who choose law over grace. (1) They are prone to be judgmental. (2) They rarely are noted for having a strong hope. With all of their emphasis on precision and exactness, they have failed to appropriate something without which men are placed at a decided disadvantage. With spiritual candor and great power the Holy Spirit associates us with the Son ONLY if we have confidence and hope. "But Christ as a son over His own house; whose house are we, IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (Heb 3:6).
It is certainly not my aim to sit in judgment upon any person's profession. That is an area in which we are not licensed to operate. However, it is imperative that we take hold of this word of the Spirit! Every person who is born again begins walking in newness of life with a sense of forgiveness and acceptance. Those who gladly received the Word on the day of Pentecost were baptized, and "ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart" (Acts 2:41,46). The Ethiopian eunuch "went on his way rejoicing" (Acts 8:39). When the Philippian jailor and his household were baptized, "he rejoiced, believing in God with all of his house" (Acts 16:33-34). Those responses were produced by the assurance of remission and Divine acceptance. That is how every new life begins in Christ Jesus. But that "confidence and rejoicing of the hope" must be held fast, or kept. Nothing must be allowed to rob the soul of this necessary possession.
Those in Christ are "added to the church" (Acts 2:47), and "joined to the Lord" (1 Cor 6:17). They are "baptized into Christ," and "put on Christ" (Gal 3:27). God Himself has "delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son" (Col 1:13). We have been made "partakers of Christ" (Heb 3:14), and, like Jesus, raised by "the glory of the Father" to "walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4). Everyone in Christ is a "new creation" (2 Cor 5:17), and has received the "earnest," or pledge, of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; 1 Thess 4:8; 1 John 3:24; 4:13). All who are in Christ are not condemned (Rom 8:1), have "peace with God" (Rom 5:1), and have been made "free from the law of sins and death" (Rom 8:2). They are in a state from which no external power can separate them, whether "death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature" (Rom 8:38-39). God is working "all things together for their good" (Rom 8:28), continuing to "perform" the work begun in them "until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6). The Father has not only put them into Christ, but has made Christ to be unto them "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor 1:30). All believers have access to the Father through the Spirit (Eph 2:18), and free access to needed grace (Eph 3:12). These are simply the facts in the case. They are not matters to be debated or even discussed, but believed and embraced with the tenacity of faith.
There is nothing about our condition in Christ that makes for doubt, encourages fear, or does not encourage hope. Why, then, is there such a remarkable absence of confidence and assurance among professed believers? Why is knowing we have eternal life so rarely mentioned in some circles? I will tell you that much, if not all, of what psychologists would call moroseness, depression, mood-changes, etc., are directly related to the individual's lack of confidence and assurance before God. That lack cannot be corrected by therapy, counseling, or medication.
Where confidence before God is lacking, one of two conditions exists. Either the individual is living in alienation from God, choosing the flesh over the Spirit, or the Gospel is not correctly perceived! In this series of devotions, I will focus on the latter – not perceiving the Gospel correctly. I will affirm there are countless believers, genuine children of God, who have been fed such a contaminated message that they have been robbed of what results from believing the Gospel. The theological views they have embraced have actually produced their inferior and unacceptable status. What they have been taught has held them at an arm's length from God, so that they do not feel comfortable in His presence. There are unfathomable riches within their grasp, but their religion has obscured them. My purpose is to uncover those riches in order that confidence and assurance may grow up and flourish in the hearts of the people of God.
PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You through Your only begotten Son for a salvation that not only allows, but encourages me to stand in Your presence with confidence and joy.