Called to Contend in God’s Name! Psalm 68:3

Text: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common Salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort your that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” 

                                                                                                       Jude 3.

Good morning, truly righteous Christian!  Of yourself and myself, ALL our most righteous attributes are as dung in the soul-searching eyes of our omniscient Lord God Jehovah.  He alone is Holy.  He alone is righteous.  He alone is faultless, perfect, immutable in all His glorious Divine attributes.  Glory to His Holy Name!

At the very best level, all mankind’s moral, decent, kind, unselfishness's count for nought and can never grant us entrance to God’s Eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.  And there is none that calleth upon Thy Name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee: for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.”  (Isaiah 64:6-7)

Now think for a moment, dear Reader: IF this above fact is true, and it is – who, exactly, are ‘the righteous’ mentioned in Psalm 68, and verse 3, that are encouraged to “…be glad…rejoice before God…exceedingly rejoice…”?

Verse 3. “But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.”  The only true righteousness the Lord God recognises is the pure and perfect righteousness of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  He alone is the sinless One who ever walked in an incarnate human body.  Give Christ all the praise.  Hallelujah!

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one…there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10-12)

The doctrine of Imputation: Dr C.K. McClinton, on www.ulsterchristians.org.

Imputation:  God’s full righteousness to fully unrighteous man!

Text: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord IMPUTETH not iniquity, and in whose spirit, there is no guile.”  Psalm 32:1-2

        “...Behold the Lamb of God (Christ Jesus) which taketh away the sin of the world.”  (John 1:29)

Definition of the term:  Imputation is a forensic (legal) term that denotes the reckoning, or placing to a person’s account, the merit or guilt that belongs to him/her on account of his personal performance or of that of his federal Head (Adam for all mankind; Christ Jesus for the Christian).

Thus, it was that ‘...Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’  (Galatians 3:6) (Genesis 15:6)

Imputation of Sin:  When our forefather, Adam, sinned in disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden, he did so as mankind’s’ federal head, mankind’s representative in the Covenant made by our Creator Lord God between Himself and His creation - mankind. 

Therefore, when Adam sinned, the guilt of sin was imputed unto all mankind who would be born in Adam’s ‘fallen’ image.  Original sin is thus put to our account, imputed unto us, by a Holy Lord God of wrath against all sin.  We are all naturally born in sin and guilty of sin.

“And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his image (fallen, guilty of sin!); and called his name Seth.”  (Genesis 3:5)

“Behold (look) I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”   (Psalm 51:5)

“As it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one...none that understandeth...none that seeketh after God...none that doeth good, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10-12)

In our natural state, we are all guilty sinners.  We are guilty, by imputation, of the sin of our original representative Adam; and we are guilty of our own continual sins.  We are thus twice worthy of Hell as sinners against our Holy Lord God of fierce wrath against all sin. (Habakkuk 1:13)

Imputation of Righteousness:  God imputes vital righteousness unto all those whom He grants faith to believe and receive Christ Jesus as their own and personal Saviour and Lord.  (Ephesians 2:8-9) (John 3:16)

In this manner, God placed all the guilt and the sin of ‘His people’ on the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus on the Cross, and punished Christ as our Substitute, in order to pay the full penalty for all our sins.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed (from sin).” (Isaiah 53:5)

Imputation: “Imputation is an act of God as Sovereign judge, at once judicial and Sovereign, whereby He:

          (1)  Makes the guilt, the legal responsibilities of our sins, really Christ’s, and punishes them in Him.  (John 1:29) (2 Corinthians 5:21)         

          (2)  Makes the merit, legal rights of Christ’s righteousness ours, and then treats us as persons legally invested with all those rights.  (Romans 4:6; 10:4) (1 Corinthians 1:30-31) (Philippians 3:9)

“As Christ is not made a sinner by the imputation to Him of our sins, so we are not made holy by the imputation to us of His righteousness.  The transfer is only of guilt from us to Him, and of merit from Him to us.  He justly suffered the punishment due our sins, and we justly receive the rewards due to His righteousness.  (1 John 1:8-9)” (A.A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology, Chapter 30, Question 15.)

Thought: Therefore, the ‘righteous’ people that are to be ‘glad’ in Psalm 68:3-4, are those of us made righteous in Christ’s own righteousness – imputed unto us, by grace, through faith.  It is this Scriptural faith we are called to contend for always.  Amen.