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How
Can I
Live Forever?
Chapter 9
The God Of Make-Believe
A
strange thought emerges out of all the good news that we
have considered thus far, and that is that God has the
ability to make believe.
At
first one feels like rejecting the very idea, and yet
Scripture tells us in no uncertain terms that
. . .
God
`calls things that are not as though they were.' (Romans
4:17)
On what basis,
however, does God do this? Quite
simply . . .
`He
sees the end from the beginning, and beholds the result
of His work as though it were now accomplished.' (DA606)
With
these thoughts in mind, let us now return our attention
to the statement quoted earlier from page 62 of Steps to
Christ, and let us carefully analyze this statement in
the light of the claim that God makes believe. In
this statement we will notice, beyond a shadow of any doubt,
how God makes believe that possible future
realities are present facts.
1)
`If you give yourself to Him as your Saviour, then,
sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are
accounted righteous.' (SC62)
Are
we perfectly righteous when God accounts us righteous?
Not at all! If we were perfectly righteous at this time, He would not
have to "account" us righteous.
Thus
it is that God makes believe that Jesus' righteousness
is our righteousness. And, please take careful note dear
fellow-searcher after hope, that all we have to do is to
"give ourselves to Him."
Notice too that God
accounts us righteous regardless of how sinful our past
life may have been. Is this not the high note of grace? Will
you not join me in offering to God your heartfelt
thanks?
2)
`Christ's character stands in place of your character.'
(SC62)
According
to Scripture, all that we have to offer to the Lord is
equated with filthy rags. Therefore, we surely do need a
God who can make believe that Jesus' character is our
character. If not for God's ability to do this, what hope would there be for
any of us?
3)
`You are accepted before God as if you had not sinned.'
(SC62)
Well
now, how could God ever accept us "as if we had never
sinned" if it were not for the fact that He makes
believe?
If we are to experience the rest and the peace
that God wants us to find in Jesus, we have to accept
that He makes believe. God wants us to have
the blessed assurance if we have
given our lives to Him in faith, our past sins are not just
forgiven, not just forgotten, but, as far as He is
concerned, they were never even committed. Talk about
amazing grace? Talk about absolute hope?
Martin
Luther had a war-cry which shook the religious world of
his day, it was a war-cry that gave power and impetus to
the reformation. That war-cry was - "Simul justus et
peccator." This Latin phrase is translated,
"simultaneously righteous and yet a sinner."
Luther had
realized from His studies that God "calls things that
are not as though they were;" that God is able to make
believe that fallen beings are righteous and that they
have always been righteous. He had
came to understand that all of the merit for salvation
lies in the Sacrifice of Jesus. To a guilt-ridden world,
one that was burdened by the idea that man must earn his salvation by
attaining to a certain standard of perfection, Luther
declared that the perfection lay in the Sacrifice and
that this perfection was secured by the Sacrifice - for ever and for
everyone. This is what Paul is referring to when he
tells us that . . .
`We
have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of
Jesus Christ, once for all. By one sacrifice He has made
perfect for ever those who are being made holy.'
(Hebrews 10:10; 14)
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`We can make no atonement for ourselves; but by faith we can accept the atonement that has been made.' (1SM321/2) |
We
must understand, therefore, that perfection is not based
on our condition just prior to our death, but on our
condition throughout the span of our lives. This is why our only
hope lies in God's ability to consider Jesus' entire
life as though it were our entire life. This is also why
Scripture assures us that it is the Sacrifice that makes us
perfect. By faith, the imperfect, that is, we who are
still in the process of being made holy, are considered
to have always been perfect by a God who "calls things
that are not as though they were." And, remarkable as it
may sound, all of this is only possible because we serve
a God of infinite kindness, a God who makes believe, a
God who makes believe even to the point that He is able to "justify the wicked." (Romans
4:5)
As
the inspired pen states this awesome, though-provoking truth, . . .
`In
ourselves we are sinners; but in Christ we are
righteous. Having made us righteous through the imputed
righteousness of Christ [a righteousness that is all His
and none of ours - a righteousness that He puts to our
account], God pronounces us just, and treats us
as just. He looks upon us as His dear children.'
(1SM394)
Then,
as
Jesus would joyfully tell us, . . .
`The
Father beholds not your faulty character, but He sees
you as clothed in My perfection.' (DA357)
Then,
in yet another classic statement, we are again
confronted with God's precious ability, not only to
forgive, not only to forget, but even to make believe
that the bad in our lives never even took place. The highlighted portions of the
following passage accentuate this remarkable facet of
God's character. Please take time to consider each word
carefully for words such as these are the seeds of our
hope.
`The
ONLY WAY in which he [you and I] can attain to
righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to
God the merits of Christ, and the Lord places the
obedience of His Son to the sinner's account.
Christ's righteousness is accepted in place of man's
failure, and God receives, pardons, justifies the
repentant, believing soul, treats him as though he
were righteous, and loves him as he loves His Son.
This is how faith is accounted righteousness.' (1SM367)
Notice
in the second to last sentence that God treats us as
though we were righteous. Clearly our own filthy rag
righteousness plays no part in this good news. We are
accepted on the strength of our faith in His
righteousness and, in exchange, God makes believe that
we are righteous and He loves us as He loves Jesus.
`Can
God love the sinner as He loves His own Son? - Yes;
Christ has said it, and He means just what He says.'
(1SM300)
If
you are anything like I am, dear reader, you will ponder
on these things with amazement. The only problem with
the good news is that it is so good that it can be
difficult to believe. In fact, to call the good news
"good news," is the understatement of all time for no
word in any language can adequately describe the
goodness of God. Can a mere word, or a phrase, or a book, or, for
that matter, all the books in the world, even begin to
describe a kindness that is infinite and eternal?
The
following is yet another of those pearls of very great
price. It is one that, with due consideration, can only
leave us filled with hope and courage.
`Through
faith, the believer passes from the position of a
rebel, a child of sin and Satan, to the position of a
loyal subject of Christ Jesus, not because of an
inherent goodness, but because Christ receives him
as His child by adoption. The sinner receives the
forgiveness of his sins, because these sins are borne by
His Substitute and Surety. The Lord speaks to His
heavenly Father saying, ``This is My child, I reprieve
him from the condemnation of death, giving him my
life-insurance policy - eternal life - because I have
taken his place and have suffered for his sins. He is
even my beloved son.'' Thus man, pardoned, and
clothed with the beautiful garments of Christ's
righteousness, stands faultless before God. The
sinner may err, but he is not cast off without mercy.
His only hope however is repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Father's prerogative
[privilege] to forgive our transgressions and sins,
because Christ has taken upon Himself our guilt and
reprieved us, imputing to us [putting to our account]
His own righteousness.' (6BC1070)
In
exchange for simple faith we receive all these gifts
and, please note, we receive them "not because of any
inherent goodness" in us. Isn't it amazing to think that
right now, today, if we have genuine faith in Jesus as
our Saviour and Substitute, we stand faultless before
God, clothed with a righteousness that is all His and
none of ours, a righteousness that satisfies fully the
demands of the law?
Incredible!
Let
us not think either that this is a teaching that is
exclusive to the New Testament.
The Jews may have
visited the sanctuary in person, but they, like us, only
entered the Most Holy place by faith, and they were
given the same hope and the same assurance.
On
the Day of Atonement, early in the day, the Israelites
were to approach the sanctuary as repentant sinners,
and, at the end of the day, the Lord would declare them
to be cleansed from their sin. Notice the words of God.
`On
this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you.
Then, before the Lord, you will be clean.'
(Leviticus 16:30)
[Atonement
means `at-one-ment.' Through His sacrifice, Jesus
breached the wide chasm between a perfect God and sinful
man and he thus made us `at one' with God.]
Notice
that the atonement was made for the
Israelites, and not by them; and it was
this atonement which enabled God to declare them to be
"cleansed." But did the few short hours of one special
day see their characters completely changed? No! They
were cleansed because their sins were transferred by
faith to the sanctuary, and, as a result, the Lord was
able to consider them perfectly clean. In themselves
they were much the same as they were on the previous day,
but "before the Lord," and because of their
faith in the sacrificial Lamb, they were justified -
considered by God as though they had never sinned.
Just
as it was back then, so it is today, the only difference
being that ancient Israel looked forward to the
fulfillment of the promise, while we look back on the
promise fulfilled. The principles however remain
unchanged . . .
`Sinners
can be justified by God only when He pardons their sins,
remits the punishment they deserve, and treats them
as though they were really just and had not sinned,
receiving them into divine favor and treating them as
if they were righteous. They are justified alone
through the imputed righteousness of Christ.' (3SM194)
It
is as we grapple with concepts such as these that we
realise the greatness of our King, for, behind these
concepts lies the unfathomable Character that conceived
of them. As repentant sinners, let us therefore rejoice
in the knowledge that . . .
`It
is the glory of God to conceal a matter.' (Proverbs
25:2)
These
thoughts draw our minds to the parable of the prodigal
son. The prodigal son's father rushes out to meet his
son and immediately He calls for the best robe to
throw over the boy's shoulders - all of which speaks of
the best robe of Jesus' righteousness which God gives to
us when we come home, humbled and broken by sin, and we
accept of His warm embrace.
`O
Precious, loving, long-suffering, long-forbearing Jesus,
how my soul adores thee! That a poor, unworthy,
sin-polluted soul can stand before the Holy God,
complete in the righteousness of our Substitute and
Surety!' (UL377)
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Our
Part |
The
Blessing |
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We
give ourselves
to Him and we accept Him
as our Saviour . . . |
We
are considered to be righteous. |
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Jesus
character stands in place of our character.. |
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We
are accepted by God. |
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God
considers us as though we had never sinned. (SC62) |
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