Hidden Agenda or Ignorance?

I had a conversation with someone the other day and this brother got me all wound up about something, and now I can't stop thinking about it. There is something that is the heart of the Gospel Message of Justification By Faith, that no one seems to know anything about. In some denominations it is never spoken of and others it might be touched on, but usually only briefly in passing. It is beyond me why not, and I have wracked my brain trying to figure out what it is, Hidden Agenda or just Ignorance.

Christendom in general has blatantly left this all important doctrine and left it trampled in the dust, choosing rather to dwell on rudiments of the world, traditions of men and human wisdom. Most miss it completely and only some touch on it briefly. It is the heart of Justification by Faith, and it is IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS! How can something so important, fail to be taught? This imputed righteousness is what is getting us to heaven, and almost nobody is talking about it! Granted some say that salvation is not our works, but they fail to mention what is! Am I the only one that this strikes as being a bit odd?

The first time I believe that I ever heard the term "imputed righteousness" used, was on some cd's that I ordered from Adrian Rogers just over two years ago. Right from a child til I was in my twenties, I had never even heard that we don't get to heaven by our own works! I heard that on the radio I believe. I think of all that time wasted while I was growing up, sitting in a pew listening to rudiments, traditions, and human wisdom (all of it is our righteousness) that has no bearing on anyone's eternal salvation. That`s right! Let's put this in perspective. Our right doing or our righteousness and has NO BEARING on our eternal salvation! What I mean by that is, the murder called the Son of Sam has just as much of a chance and access to eternal life as I do, regardless of what He has done in the past. Mother Teresa has no better chance at eternal life than I do, regardless of all the good she has done. Let that sink in! We need to understand this. We have all sinned and because of that, we cannot get in on our own righteousness. This is the message of the gospel! The message of the bible is this, We have sinned and because of that, we are already condemned and have earned eternal death in the lake of fire. There is nothing we can do to get ourselves out of this condemned state, except believe that what Jesus did is enough, to not only get us of that condemned state, but give us eternal life. Therefore our righteousness is just a useless pile of crap as a means of getting us in right standing with God and getting us into heaven. (I can't overstate this) It won't succeed in getting us anywhere. You can solve world hunger and bring peace to the whole world and it wouldn't get you a wink at heaven. If you don't understand that then you don't know how stinking filthy your are, covered in all your sin.

So here is what we have come to. I recommend you read from verse one to verse nine to get the whole context.

Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9 ¶ And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Paul starts out in this chapter by saying that if anyone (Mother Teresa, the Pope, the preacher...) thinks that they can have confidence in the flesh (the way they have lived their life to get to God and inherit eternal life) he can more. He goes on bragging about what tribe he came from, how he was an upper class Hebrew, a Pharisee etc. and he says that concerning the righteousness that was his that he got from obeying the law, he was without blame. Nobody could lay blame to Paul and say that he broke the law. He was zealous for God and for His law and if anybody could have confidence in the way they had lived to get into heaven it was Paul. But look what he goes on to say. All that righteousness that Paul got from obeying the law, he counted as DUNG as far as getting to God was concerned and getting to heaven. All of it! MANURE! Not just compost, the real stuff! Paul`s hope was that he wanted to be found on judgment day not with his own righteousness, but that other righteousness which comes to a person by faith in Jesus Christ. That righteousness that you get into heaven with, that is called the righteousness of God. (Read Romans chapter 4) We are talking about God's righteousness that is manifested through the life of one Man, the MAN CHRIST JESUS! God's righteousness is how Jesus Christ lived while he was here on earth. All of His righteousness is placed to a persons account, who simply accepts the gift of salvation freely without any offering of works and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart. It is called imputed righteousness!

Saddly, this wonderful message has been lost in today's "Christianity". Most of what is taught on the radio and so on, is how to make your marriage better, how to make your life better and better, by doing the right thing, (sounds like Dr. Phil, or Oprah) and the heart of the gospel message has been lost in the shuffle. God's righteousness has been lost in the shuffle. Man`s righteousness has been elevated to such a high extent that God`s righteousness is hardly ever found. The true gospel is as foreign to most ears as snow is to someones eyes who lives on the equator. To prove this, walk around at your church, never mind the street, and ask people to explain imputed righteousness to you.

I do realize that I always had access to a bible growing up and therefore had no excuse, but when growing up, you sit week after week listening to messages about how our righteousness is the be all and end all, you start reading the bible through religious glasses, the truth is hidden because it is so foreign to you.

So is it a hidden agenda or ignorance? Probably a bit of both. Maybe more towards the ignorance side because this message is so little understood. But I also do believe that there is a fear of telling people the truth (by those who are in a position of influence) and really setting them free, because it is easier to control people who are under bondage. You tell them the truth and set them free... You never know what might happen. This gospel message will set a person free! I have seen it numerous times. When you stop relying on your own righteousness and reckon that all of Christ's righteousness has been put to your account, you are truly free! There is no more need to build on that pile of dung that was formerly your righteousness. You have all the righteousness that you'll ever need to get you into heaven, from now to eternity, and it is Christ's righteousness! We are going to heaven on the best righteousness available and His righteousness is all we need!

Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

2Co 5:21 For he (GOD) hath made him (JESUS) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

What Died?

This in the most misunderstood chapter in the entire bible. When I read commentaries on this Romans Chapter 7 frankly I am confused too. What most commentaries say is that Paul is saying in a round about way, that the law died. While I may not be as smart as most people, I have a book that leads dumb people to truth. What has got most people in trouble in reading scripture, is reading their own experience into it. People look at the words and say that is can't possibly mean what it says, because they haven't experienced it. We probably all do it or have done it at one point or another, but often God expects us to believe something that doesn't fit our reality, because He is faithful that promised. Just like Abraham...

Romans 4:17 ¶ (As it is written, I have made thee (present tense) a father of many nations,) BEFORE him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and CALLETH THOSE THINGS WHICH BE NOT AS THOUGH THEY WERE.
Ro 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Ro 4:19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
Ro 4:20 HE STAGGERED NOT AT THE PROMISE OF GOD THROUGH UNBELIEF; BUT WAS STRONG IN FAITH, GIVING GLORY TO GOD;

God called Abraham's body, (now dead at a 100yrs old) alive when he seemed incapable of producing seed and Sara's womb alive when she was way past her child bearing years. This was completely against both of their realities but they against hope believed God and staggered not at His promise, thereby glorifying Him.

How does this translate into Romans ch 7? In ch 7 we are introduced to a wife, her husband , the law and Christ. The first verse states a fact...

Ro 7:1 ¶ Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

Very important statement. This immediately refutes most assertions that the law is what died in this chapter. This verse clearly states that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. How could the law then die? If the law died somewhere through out this man's life, then this verse would be false. If the law died at this man's conversion, and therefore no longer had dominion over the man, then immediately this first verse would be untrue and Paul's whole argument would fall apart. We know that something did die in this chapter, and we know that it was the husband, but who is the husband?

Ro 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

This woman seems to want to be loosed from her husband, who is probably a mean old miser, and she wants to be loosed from him, but she won't break the law. She wants to be married to another man (Who is Christ) but Christ won't marry an adulteress and she can't kill him because Christ won't marry a murderer. So what is it that we struggle with, wherein sin dwells? I contend that the husband in this wonderful example is the flesh. And scripture agrees. (The flesh is what hurts when you pinch it) The wife is an illustration of us, the husband is our flesh and we need the flesh to die so that we can be dead to the law and be married to Christ.

Ro 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

So is seems that we are "dead to the law", by the body of Christ so that we can be joined to Christ. What died when Christ died? I contend that it was His flesh (His body)

Ro 7:5 For WHEN WE WERE IN THE FLESH, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

It seems that I am right, "When we were in the flesh", seems to be insinuating that we Christians are no longer in the flesh. Our flesh seems to have died at the same time when Jesus flesh died.

Ro 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

"THAT BEING DEAD WHEREIN WE WERE HELD". Wherein were we held? The flesh. Romans chapter 7 is just a continuation of Chapter 6 explaining to those contentious Jews who were saying that this Gospel was contrary to the law and simply called sinners righteous, when they were not, and did not produce any real righteousness in their experience. Also Paul's point is that this Gospel does not contradict the law, but is an extension of it, if you will. The Law and the Gospel work together. The Law reveals our sin, and the need we have for Someone to save us.
Romans ch 8 gives us a wonderful conclusion...

Ro 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Ro 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

God sending Jesus in the likeness of our sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh on the cross when He was crucified so that we being baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1Cor 12:13) bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh (Eph 5:30) might fulfill in our experience the righteousness that is in the law. Why? All because of something that happened outside of our experience that God expects us to believe, because He said it. God called Abraham and Sarah's bodies alive (able to have a child) when they were not and He calls us dead when we are not. It comes down to believing the bible or believing our experience because clearly the bible says that we (the flesh, the old man) have been crucified with Christ and the law does not have dominion over dead people and we are therefore under grace, free to sin no more and alive unto God.

Col 3:3 For ye are (present tense) dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Ga 5:24 And they that are Christ's have (past tense) crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Ro 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is (present tense) crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Ro 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Ro 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
2Co 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, THAT IF ONE DIED FOR ALL, THEN WERE ALL DEAD: