Four things Every Believer Should Know
Some have called the book of Romans the Constitution of Christianity. The book of Romans holds much truth that the believer must know and understand as it refers to living for God. In this study I have picked out five things that I think are of great importance for every believer to understand listed as follows;
1. Justification By Faith
2. Imputation of Righteousness
3. Sanctification
4. Identification
Justification by Faith
We will now take a look at each one these; Justification by faith is a term used by the apostle Paul in the 3rd Chapter of Romans he says; therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. One the reasons I believe this is of such great importance is because Justification by faith in which Paul is defending here goes way deeper than one can imagine, and should be studied very extensively by every student of the word. The understanding of this doctrine is key to understanding the message of the Cross; if one does not understand what he has been given then it would be very difficult for one to operate in the benefits that Christ has provided for us on the Cross. Justification is the act of God removing the guilt and condemnation from the believer, when the believer is trusting by faith in Gods redemption plan. Condemnation has sent untold millions of souls to hell. This doctrine is simply but yet the devil does a great job at trying to erase it and keep the believer from these truths being apart of our daily thought process. One of the jobs of the enemy is to make you believe that you have to earn your salvation someway; he wants you to believe that after you are saved that you have to work for your salvation. Most of us in someway or another have thought this way. Justification has to do solely with the legal side of salvation. It is a judicial term, a word of the law courts. It is the sentence of a judge upon a person who has been brought before him for judgment. It is that gracious act of God as Judge, in the high court of Heaven, by which He pronounces an elect and believing sinner to be freed from the penalty of the law, and fully restored unto the Divine favour. The law of God is Gods standard of righteousness in which man could never attain to his just demands and perfection, if man could have accomplished this then Jesus didn’t need to come die on the behalf of man. It is my belief that this doctrine is not taught on enough in today’s modern church. If the believer does not understand that the guilt and penalty of sin has been removed past present and future, it can easily cause the child of God to live a defeated Christian life.
Imputation of Righteousness
This next subject is tied very closely with the pervious justification by faith, in fact the very words Imputation of Righteousness is a direct result of Justification by faith but is still just as important to be studied. The very term means that there has been a legal decree made in heaven by God placing the righteousness of Christ into the believers account by and through the Cross making the believer righteous in Gods sight. When we look at Romans 6:11 it says “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord”. The Greek word for reckon here is logizomai and means to count, compute, calculate, count over, or to take into account. The word actually takes on a accounting term or a bankers term meaning for the believer to examine what Christ has placed into our own account, in other words examine what the Cross as put into our report; which is his righteousness, that mankind could never attain only through his shed blood. The believer has no righteousness of his own. Gods word gives us in grave detail a description of mankind without the blood of Jesus Christ applied to our account in Romans (Rom 3:1-19). The reason I find this doctrine so very important is for two reasons, number one is, because of the death of Christ, the believer now knows that he has a righteousness imparted to him so he can be free from the guilt and commendation of the devil. Number two is that the believer now knows that the Judge of all heaven can look down upon him and see him as righteous. And for anyone that fears the Lord at all this ought to make you shout!
Sanctification
The doctrine of sanctification how I see is found in the pages of Romans chapter 6, most pastors and teachers usually skip right over this great chapter because it’s has been said by some that they should just leave it to the scholars to understand. If the believer does not understand this great chapter then he does not properly understand how to live for God. The word sanctification just means consecration, purification, to make something clean. When the believer exhibited faith for the very 1st time an amazing transformation took place. When one is truly born again what happens at that very moment is a miracle indeed. At that very moment the believer is sanctified, then justified, then baptized and placed into the body of Christ and the power of the sin nature is broken all at that very moment. The believer has now been made 110% sanctified, made whole and clean in the master’s sight, all by believing in what Jesus Christ accomplished at the Cross for his behalf. But there is also another side of sanctification that one must understand, which is called progressive sanctification, This doctrine is simply not being taught in the modern church today because it deals with a subject that is not popular among most Christians, it is Gods will that every believer be transformed by the power of God into the image of Christ. This requires on the believer’s part a renunciation of self. Jesus said Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. This means to deny ones own strength, own will power, own ability, ones own desires, and ones direction in life. The good work that God has begun in us he will continue to perform it until the trump sounds and we are glorified. This also requires ones faith to be in the Cross of Christ on a continual basis that the work will not be interrupted. We as believers should pursue sanctification, we should always be looking for the life changing power of the Cross to have its perfect work in us on a daily basis, this is the way of the Cross, and this is the way God can make a man or women of God, someone that will stand up and speak the truth in the face of adversity no matter what the cost. The child of God is never to attempt to sanctify self by his or her own efforts. Such a one will be wasting time; this is why Jesus said to deny self, simply because we can’t do it! Only the moving and operation of the Holy Sprit can transform the believing sinner into the image of Christ which is a direct result of the Cross.
Identification
The understanding of how the believer can identify with Christ is found in Romans 6:3-5 “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:” The way the believing sinner can identify with Christ is because that’s were he now lives! In Christ. God has placed him into a new environment because of the Cross. Most believe that these passages of scripture are speaking about water baptism; nothing could be further from the truth! They all refer to being baptized into Christ, The very word here; baptize in the Greek syntax means to place something into a new environment. The phases that we find throughout the pages of the bible; (In Christ, By Christ, Through Christ. In him, by him, through him) all refers to our new position in Christ. These short phrases have been found throughout the New Testament over 110 times and always point us to our position in Christ as a result of the work of Calvary. The very trick of Satan is to get you to move from the position that Christ has placed you in which is in him. every morning the believer wakes up he should always remember were it is that he has been placed and stay there. Note the repeated declarations in this Sixth Chapter of our actual identification with the death of Christ: These verses refer to our union and identification that we have with Christ.
Verse 3: "We were baptized into His death."
Verse 4: "We were buried with Him through baptism into death”
Verse 5: "We became united with Him in the likeness of His death."
Verse 6: "Our old man was crucified with Him."
Verse 7: "He that hath died is justified from sin."
Verse 8: "We died with Christ."
Verse 11: "Reckon yourselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God
Verse 13: "Present yourselves unto God as alive from the dead."
As well it was the Great Apostle Paul that said in Galatians 2:20 “ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The believer should always be aware of the snare of the enemy which is to move you to another Jesus another Gospel or another Position. Folks; if it’s not the Jesus of the Cross, than it’s another Gospel!
In his Grip!
Some have called the book of Romans the Constitution of Christianity. The book of Romans holds much truth that the believer must know and understand as it refers to living for God. In this study I have picked out five things that I think are of great importance for every believer to understand listed as follows;
1. Justification By Faith
2. Imputation of Righteousness
3. Sanctification
4. Identification
Justification by Faith
We will now take a look at each one these; Justification by faith is a term used by the apostle Paul in the 3rd Chapter of Romans he says; therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. One the reasons I believe this is of such great importance is because Justification by faith in which Paul is defending here goes way deeper than one can imagine, and should be studied very extensively by every student of the word. The understanding of this doctrine is key to understanding the message of the Cross; if one does not understand what he has been given then it would be very difficult for one to operate in the benefits that Christ has provided for us on the Cross. Justification is the act of God removing the guilt and condemnation from the believer, when the believer is trusting by faith in Gods redemption plan. Condemnation has sent untold millions of souls to hell. This doctrine is simply but yet the devil does a great job at trying to erase it and keep the believer from these truths being apart of our daily thought process. One of the jobs of the enemy is to make you believe that you have to earn your salvation someway; he wants you to believe that after you are saved that you have to work for your salvation. Most of us in someway or another have thought this way. Justification has to do solely with the legal side of salvation. It is a judicial term, a word of the law courts. It is the sentence of a judge upon a person who has been brought before him for judgment. It is that gracious act of God as Judge, in the high court of Heaven, by which He pronounces an elect and believing sinner to be freed from the penalty of the law, and fully restored unto the Divine favour. The law of God is Gods standard of righteousness in which man could never attain to his just demands and perfection, if man could have accomplished this then Jesus didn’t need to come die on the behalf of man. It is my belief that this doctrine is not taught on enough in today’s modern church. If the believer does not understand that the guilt and penalty of sin has been removed past present and future, it can easily cause the child of God to live a defeated Christian life.
Imputation of Righteousness
This next subject is tied very closely with the pervious justification by faith, in fact the very words Imputation of Righteousness is a direct result of Justification by faith but is still just as important to be studied. The very term means that there has been a legal decree made in heaven by God placing the righteousness of Christ into the believers account by and through the Cross making the believer righteous in Gods sight. When we look at Romans 6:11 it says “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord”. The Greek word for reckon here is logizomai and means to count, compute, calculate, count over, or to take into account. The word actually takes on a accounting term or a bankers term meaning for the believer to examine what Christ has placed into our own account, in other words examine what the Cross as put into our report; which is his righteousness, that mankind could never attain only through his shed blood. The believer has no righteousness of his own. Gods word gives us in grave detail a description of mankind without the blood of Jesus Christ applied to our account in Romans (Rom 3:1-19). The reason I find this doctrine so very important is for two reasons, number one is, because of the death of Christ, the believer now knows that he has a righteousness imparted to him so he can be free from the guilt and commendation of the devil. Number two is that the believer now knows that the Judge of all heaven can look down upon him and see him as righteous. And for anyone that fears the Lord at all this ought to make you shout!
Sanctification
The doctrine of sanctification how I see is found in the pages of Romans chapter 6, most pastors and teachers usually skip right over this great chapter because it’s has been said by some that they should just leave it to the scholars to understand. If the believer does not understand this great chapter then he does not properly understand how to live for God. The word sanctification just means consecration, purification, to make something clean. When the believer exhibited faith for the very 1st time an amazing transformation took place. When one is truly born again what happens at that very moment is a miracle indeed. At that very moment the believer is sanctified, then justified, then baptized and placed into the body of Christ and the power of the sin nature is broken all at that very moment. The believer has now been made 110% sanctified, made whole and clean in the master’s sight, all by believing in what Jesus Christ accomplished at the Cross for his behalf. But there is also another side of sanctification that one must understand, which is called progressive sanctification, This doctrine is simply not being taught in the modern church today because it deals with a subject that is not popular among most Christians, it is Gods will that every believer be transformed by the power of God into the image of Christ. This requires on the believer’s part a renunciation of self. Jesus said Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. This means to deny ones own strength, own will power, own ability, ones own desires, and ones direction in life. The good work that God has begun in us he will continue to perform it until the trump sounds and we are glorified. This also requires ones faith to be in the Cross of Christ on a continual basis that the work will not be interrupted. We as believers should pursue sanctification, we should always be looking for the life changing power of the Cross to have its perfect work in us on a daily basis, this is the way of the Cross, and this is the way God can make a man or women of God, someone that will stand up and speak the truth in the face of adversity no matter what the cost. The child of God is never to attempt to sanctify self by his or her own efforts. Such a one will be wasting time; this is why Jesus said to deny self, simply because we can’t do it! Only the moving and operation of the Holy Sprit can transform the believing sinner into the image of Christ which is a direct result of the Cross.
Identification
The understanding of how the believer can identify with Christ is found in Romans 6:3-5 “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:” The way the believing sinner can identify with Christ is because that’s were he now lives! In Christ. God has placed him into a new environment because of the Cross. Most believe that these passages of scripture are speaking about water baptism; nothing could be further from the truth! They all refer to being baptized into Christ, The very word here; baptize in the Greek syntax means to place something into a new environment. The phases that we find throughout the pages of the bible; (In Christ, By Christ, Through Christ. In him, by him, through him) all refers to our new position in Christ. These short phrases have been found throughout the New Testament over 110 times and always point us to our position in Christ as a result of the work of Calvary. The very trick of Satan is to get you to move from the position that Christ has placed you in which is in him. every morning the believer wakes up he should always remember were it is that he has been placed and stay there. Note the repeated declarations in this Sixth Chapter of our actual identification with the death of Christ: These verses refer to our union and identification that we have with Christ.
Verse 3: "We were baptized into His death."
Verse 4: "We were buried with Him through baptism into death”
Verse 5: "We became united with Him in the likeness of His death."
Verse 6: "Our old man was crucified with Him."
Verse 7: "He that hath died is justified from sin."
Verse 8: "We died with Christ."
Verse 11: "Reckon yourselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God
Verse 13: "Present yourselves unto God as alive from the dead."
As well it was the Great Apostle Paul that said in Galatians 2:20 “ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The believer should always be aware of the snare of the enemy which is to move you to another Jesus another Gospel or another Position. Folks; if it’s not the Jesus of the Cross, than it’s another Gospel!
In his Grip!
