The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Will Not!"
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"Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:8).
A population of people exists in the world upon whose account God will not record sin. In his Roman epistle, the Apostle Paul identifies these blessed ones as born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, those who have availed themselves of God's saving grace in His Son. Our Heavenly Father placed "the sins of the whole world" on the Lord Jesus' account (I John 2:2). For those who believe, He sees the debt of sin so completely and forever settled that He will not mark our ledger with any iniquity that would in any manner jeopardize our relationship with Him. "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12).
The basis for such wondrous mercy lies in how perfectly the Lord Jesus made atonement for sin. He left nothing unsettled when paying the price for our redemption. "It is finished" He triumphantly cried before rendering His spirit to God (John 19:30). Indeed, His death for our iniquities abides as so perfectly satisfactory in the Father's estimation that any notion of attributing sin to the redeemed has no place in His heart or mind. He sees His trusting sons and daughters as in Christ, spiritually enrobed in a righteousness that cost the heart of God far more than we will ever know. The hymnwriter Isaac Watts beautifully portrayed this sublime and solemn glory…
"And lest the shadow of a spot should on my soul be found, He took the robe the Savior wrought, and cast it all around!" (from "Awake My Heart, Arise My Tongue").
If God ever imputed one sin to one believer in any manner that jeopardized the relationship He freely gives in salvation, the sacrifice of His Son would be horrifically sullied. This cannot happen. This will not happen. The Father "will not impute sin" because His righteous nature would not allow for His having executed judgment upon His Son for all our sins, but then somehow holding us accountable for them. Certainly, He deals with us as a loving Father who, when necessary, "chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6). We do not trifle with this, the freest gift ever given, purchased by the highest cost ever remitted.
Never, however, will our Father fail to view us apart from the perfect justification purchased by the sorrow, suffering, forsakenness, and death of His beloved Son and our beloved Savior. He "will not impute sin" to us because in His loving grace and mercy for us, He willed to impute our sins to His Son. All of them. Forever. Little wonder that the redeemed, along with hundreds of millions of angels, throng the throne of Heaven to extol so glorious a God, and perfectly atoning a Lamb…
"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation… And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever."
(Revelation 5:9; 11-12)
Made to be sin, who knew no sin,
Christ nailed to a cross, forsaken!
Made to be righteous because of Him,
Christ lives now in us, He dwells within.
His delight for the Father, now ours by grace.
His faithfulness revealed in us through faith.
"He lives, we live," the anthem we sing,
"Not I, but Christ!" the offering we bring.
Oh let us believe it because we received it
in the moment we entered His light,
sins were forgiven, God promised Heaven,
and Christ as the Life of our lives.
"He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
(II Corinthians. 5:21)
Weekly Memory Verse
Great is our Lord, and of great power, His understanding is infinite.
(Psalm 147:5)
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