• All have sinned. Romans 3:10-12
    • This leaves us with four possibilities:
      • No escape - not compatible witht he love of God
      • Saved in sin - not compatible with the justice of God
      • Lived so righteously that merits forgiveness - not possible
      • God imputes righteousness - Romans 4:6-8
  • This has two possibilities:
    • God imputes righteousness without respect to what one does.
    • God imputes righteousness with respect to what one does.
  • This leaves two possibilities:
    • Man lives so good that God counts him righteous because he has merited forgiveness.
    • Because of man’s faith in Christ, God forgives him, i.e. imputes righteousness, to him. Romans 4:6-8
  • This has two possibilities:
    • God counts man righteous even though he is not truly righteous.
    • God counts man righteous because God imputes righteousness unto him, forgives him, does not impute sin unto him.
  • This leaves us one possibility:
    • Man is not saved by his own righteousness, but by the mercy of God.
  • Imputed righteousness does not mean that Christ’s personal righteousness is accounted as mine. It does mean that my unrighteousness has been seen and forgiven, as made possible by the sinless life and death of Christ and by my complete trust and reliance upon Him!
  • Thus, God’s amazing grace is seen:
    • In giving the gospel
    • In His continued forgiveness to those who walk in the light (I John 1:7
  • If we walk in the steps of that faith of Abraham, God will not impute sin unto us; rather He will forgive us - impute righteousness unto us. And being forgiven, we will be righteous by the grace of God.