4:5
“But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”
Nothing you can do. Remember Jesus’ parable of the vineyard? A guy comes in at six in the morning and is promised a day’s wage. A guy who comes in at three in the afternoon is promised the same amount. You don’t get what you deserve, you get what God has determined to give you from the beginning, eternal life. Your salvation includes a promise of eternity with God, and you cannot earn that no matter how many hours you put in.
God “justifies the ungodly.” While you are yet in your sins, you become justified. Before you can do anything good for God, God saves you. How
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can He do that? God just disregards sin? “Oh well, poor creatures don’t know any better, let it go.”
Jesus on the cross said to His Father, “Forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” He didn’t say, “Ignore them.” He didn’t say, “Disregard their actions.” He didn’t say, “Understand them.” He didn’t say, “Excuse them.”
Sin must be dealt with. Sin cannot be overlooked. Especially this heinous sin of crucifying God in the flesh. Sin must be forgiven. Paid for.
Redeemed. Vengeance belongs to God and he will have His vengeance on sin. And He did. When Jesus asked for God to forgive them, He was offering Himself to be the means of the payment for those sins.
Another reckoning, imputation, accounting, crediting, was taking place. God was crediting, imputing to, His own Son the account of sin that all of His people had ever sinned, or will ever sin. A transfer was made from your guilty account to His sinless spotless account. He became your sin in that moment and God had to judge Him for it.
Isaiah 53 again: He carried our griefs, our sorrows, our transgressions, our iniquities… And then God took the righteousness that was credited to Christ and placed that in your account. That’s how you got saved. Not by shaking a preacher’s hand, praying a sinner’s prayer, walking the sawdust aisle of a tent meeting, crying your heart out. All these things may have happened, but your salvation was wrought by God in heaven via Calvary.
Your faith is accounted for righteousness. Here’s Bible scholar and preacher Arthur Pink.
It is called the “righteousness of God” because He is the appointer, approver, and imputer of it. It is called the “righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:1)” because He wrought it out and presented it to God. It is called the “righteousness of faith (Romans 4:13)” because faith is the apprehender and receiver of it. It is called man’s righteousness
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(Job 33:26) because it was paid for him and imputed to him. All these varied expressions refer to so many aspects of that one perfect obedience unto death which the Savior performed for His people.
Once more the apostle appeals to David as an authority on this matter. He will quote from Psalm 32.
4:6
“… just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.”
As we said earlier, this salvation message, this Gospel message, though it was now being announced worldwide beginning with Paul, had been around for a long time, hidden inside the words and works of some of God’s great men. David is lifted up as an example of such a man.
Did David know grace? Imputed righteousness? Absolute unconditional forgiveness of sin? Oh, I believe so. Ever hear the name Bathsheba? God’s special servant turned aside to the twin evils of adultery and murder.
When confronted with his sin, what did he cry to God?
Isaiah 51: “Have mercy. According to your lovingkindness (not your law, where there can be no mercy). Blot out my transgressions. (Not, let me explain why I did this and you’ll understand me. Get rid of it altogether!) Wash me. Cleanse me. I acknowledge my transgression. I admit it.”
That’s how we get saved today. We admit our sin from our gut. We appeal to His mercy and grace, not to some excuse or justification or blame. We ask God to cover our sins by the blood of the Sacrifice Jesus.
What was God’s response to David’s admission? 2 Samuel 12:13, David said to the prophet Nathan, “I have sinned…” Immediately Nathan says to David, “The Lord has put away your sin.” It’s gone. Forever. Sin has consequences here, and you will have to bear the consequences. But you are not guilty, David. Case closed. Sin is put away. The Judge of all the
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earth has heard your guilty plea and has granted you a full pardon. Go in peace.
Yes, David knew about imputed righteousness. Grace. Full forgiveness. Hear him in the Psalm:
4:7-8
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
That is New Testament doctrine in the Old Testament, and Paul reaches for it freely. Tell them, David, what I’m trying to say here. There is a way to escape the wrath of God. There is a way to have all my sins covered. There is a way to avoid imputation of sin and receive imputation of righteousness. The Law, though it spoke loudly and clearly, is not the final voice in this matter. Grace and Mercy have come to cancel the debt that the Law imposed.
People who experience this are blessed people. He uses the word twice. David used the word that was actually a name of one of the twelve sons of Jacob, Asher. It means simply happy. Paul used a word that means essentially the same, “fortunate”, “well off”, “happy.”
Not slap-happy, or silly. But genuinely favored by fortune and content with your “hap” or circumstance. When you are happy with money, that circumstance can change rapidly. If you are happy about a relationship, or the winning of a game or a nice meal, all those things flee away, and you are then unhappy. But this circumstance is like a well upon which you can draw all the time. Regardless of your other circumstances, this “hap” is constant if you just bring it up and think about it:
I was lost, going to Hell. Jesus paid the debt for my sins. Now I am not lost. I am found. I am important to God. I am on my way to heaven. Can bring great joy on a dark day. Be happy. For good reason.
