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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!
Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your known unconfessed sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).
1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND
If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.
John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]
Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV
Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:
Study to show yourself approved to God!
Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
STUDY TITLE:
The Divine plan of blessing the Righteousness of God in man
The Divine plan of blessing the Righteousness of God in man. 1Ti 6:6-12, But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang. But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Notice he said in 1Ti 6:11, “pursue righteousness” – notice that righteousness is something that we must pursue after. When righteousness refers to God or the essence of God, we call it God’s holiness or His justice. But, when God’s righteousness is imputed to us and we are the recipients of God’s righteousness, we call it justification. And this all means qualification for blessing or potential for blessing.
Therefore, let us begin in Rom 5:12 with one of the greatest, if not the greatest and clearest passage in the word of God when it comes to the subject or doctrine of imputation, where we read, Rom 5:12, Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. And I must comment on the verses to make it as understandable as I can. And for many of you, you are just going to have to believe it for now, until I prove what I am about to say.
I am giving to you some amazing principles concerning what the first Adam in the Garden lost and what the last Adam in His own garden gained back and didn’t just restore what mankind had lost but gave us more than we had in the original creation. Now, one of the many blessings that we have because of the cross is that our Lord not only restored all that Adam lost in the Garden of Eden but how He modified and improved it even more.
We can understand and experience a measure of these principles in the spiritual realm now, however, we will abide in them and experience them in totality in the eternal state. And this a part of our subject concerning the righteousness of God. Remember, Adam and the woman received a perfect righteousness, perfect in the sense that it came from God, but you and I receive a divine righteousness called the divine nature that will not be able to sin in the eternal state, a nature that is divine that cannot sin.
1Jo 3:9, No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Of course, someone will say, “Well isn’t that a violation of man’s free will?” And I say “No, it is not, because we asked God to give us a nature that cannot sin so that we will never be able to do what Satan and one-third of the fallen angels did which was to rebel against God!”
You choose!
I choose 1Pe 1:23, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God.
2Pe 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature,
Others can so NO and choose what John 8:44 calls the creature’s nature, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,” That’s a nature without God. The point is that it is vital that you understand the nature of God and the divine righteousness he gave you at the moment of your salvation. You and I have been given a nature greater than the one the first Adam had in the original creation, in the Garden!
The absolute righteousness that the first Adam lost, is now duplicated and imputed in the spiritual realm to the believer in the Church-age who receives a double righteousness under the principle of a double portion, and he will remain in that state of perfection forever and ever in the eternal state, Rev 22:11. Both in time and eternity, we are better off than the first Adam.
Secondly, the perfect environment in the Garden of Eden that the first Adam lost, is now duplicated in the spiritual realm in the PPOG [predesigned plan of God] for the Church-age but will be consummated in the eternal state with perfect environment for all of eternity, Rev 21:1-4. Both in time and eternity, we are better off than the first Adam. However, there was one more thing that the first Adam lost that is the purpose of marriage which was given to man not as a result of the fall but before the fall!
Because of the angelic conflict, the last Adam, TLJC [the Lord Jesus Christ], gives some believers the opportunity to recover and to glorify Him in the angelic conflict and to put another nail as it were in the coffin of Satan in the historical phase of the angelic conflict through Christian marriage. And that is part of the mystery of Eph 5:32, This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
The original design of marriage that the first Adam lost, can now be experienced in the spiritual realm for two believers in the Church-age and becomes analogous to the eternal marriage between TLJC [the Lord Jesus Christ] and His bride for all of eternity, Rev 21:9.
So in Rom 5:12-13, Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death [spiritual death] through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned [all sinned when Adam sinned]. For until the Law [Mosaic Law, the 10 commandments, etc.] sin was in the world; but sin [or the sin nature and the sins it produced] is not imputed when there is no law.
This means that God did not and could not condemn us, that is mankind, for our sins because He had not yet given mankind a set of rules or do’s and don’ts to follow before He gave the Law to Moses.
Rom 5:14, Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
We did not sin like the first Adam, we were born sinners, he was not, he was created with perfect righteousness and he lost it — and only in that sense was he a type of Him who was to come, TLJC [the Lord Jesus Christ], who kept Himself without sin! What does that mean that man had not sinned in the likeness of Adam? It means that Adam sinned even though he had a sinless nature, even though God gave him no commandments, but mankind sinned because he was born in sin.
Rom 5:15 goes on to say, But the free gift [that is salvation] is not like the transgression [that is the transgression of Adam]. For if by the transgression of the one [Adam] the many died [hoi polloi = altogether, the entire, or simply all referring to every member of the human race] much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many – the human race with emphasis on the unlimited atonement.
Rom 5:16 And the gift [salvation] is not like that which came through the one who sinned [our Lord’s gift is different then what Adam gave us]; for on the one hand the judgment [of Adam’s original sin] arose from one transgression [Adam partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil] resulting in condemnation [that is condemnation of the entire human race], but on the other hand the free gift [salvation] arose from many transgressions [the humanity of Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world] resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one [Adam] death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness [+R = i.e., the righteousness of God] will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression [Adam] there resulted condemnation to all men [the entire human race], even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience [Adam] the many [the entire human race] were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One [TLJC = the Lord Jesus Christ] the many [those who believe in TLJC] will be made righteous. And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
Why did God bring in the Law?
Gal 3:24, Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.
So what did the apostle Paul mean when he said in Rom 5:20, And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
Well, since we are in the book of Romans, let me show you a passage that reveals what Paul meant.
Rom 7:7-14, What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin [or the sin nature], taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin [the sin nature] is dead. And I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin [the sin nature] became alive, and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin [the sin nature], taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, that through the commandment sin [or the sin nature] might become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
Rom 5:20-21, And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin or the sin nature reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Please notice that grace reigns in our life when we understand the righteousness of God or +H. +H can refer to the righteousness given to us at salvation or salvation righteousness, experiential righteousness and positional righteousness. Now, if there was ever a subject where all these principles apply, it is the doctrine of imputation.
What is an imputation? The English noun is derived from the Latin verb imputari, meaning to reckon, to attribute, to ascribe, to charge to one’s account. In the theological concepts of the word of God, imputation is used as an act of God whereby either condemnation or blessing is ascribed, attributed, reckoned, given, or imposed on the human race.
Therefore, an imputation is the function of the justice of God directed toward mankind and related to the plan of God for mankind. Imputation functions as an act of condemnation or blessing from the Integrity of God to mankind. This means that in the plan of God there are times that God imputes us things that condemn us and other times things that bless us. For example, at physical birth God imputes to us the blessing of life but at the same he imputes to us the old sin nature passed down from Adam to our physical body as condemnation.
So that we are born physically alive (blessing from the justice of God), but at the same time spiritually dead (condemnation from the justice of God.) Both of these actions by God are considered to be imputations. Therefore, imputation may be defined as the action of the justice of God whereby either condemnation or blessing is assigned, ascribed, attributed, superimposed or super induced to another being.
And once you learn this and understand it, you will see that the plan of God advances with each imputation. In fact, we are going to note a principle that every imputation is an advance on a previous imputation, though most of you are not ready for this as of yet…but you will if you want to. And that is because you have the greatest teacher in the universe, God the Holy Spirit; 1Jo 2:27; John 14:26; 1Co 2:10-16.
1Jo 2:27, And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie,
John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
1Co 2:10-14, For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12-14, Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Now, there are three factors in imputation.
a. The source, which is God Himself.
b. The nature of the imputation–what is being imputed.
c. The recipient of imputation–a human being in a specific status quo.
There are two categories of imputation.
1. Real imputations, where the justice of God imputes under the principle of the importance of understanding that there is a similarity or a likeness between what is being imputed and where it is being imputed to. What is imputed has an affinity or a home for that to which it is imputed. For example, Real imputations include: human life to the soul, Adam’s original sin to the old sin nature, eternal life to the human spirit, blessings in time to perfect righteousness, and blessings in eternity to the resurrection body.
All of these imputations from God, human life; Adam’s original sin; eternal life; blessings in time; blessings in eternity-all have a home or a place to go for the imputation which is:
a. Human life to the soul.
b. Adam’s original sin to the old sin nature.
c. Eternal life to the human spirit.
d. Blessings in time to perfect righteousness,
e. Blessings in eternity to the resurrection body.
In a real imputation, what is imputed is in harmony, agreement, or affinity with the target of the imputation.
The second category of imputations are known as Judicial imputations, where the justice of God imputes what does NOT legally belong to that which it is being imputed to. Therefore, there is no affinity, no home or target between what is imputed and the recipient. Therefore, only one factor exists–what is being imputed. Thus, great emphasis is placed on the Source of the judicial imputations which come from the justice of God.
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.
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