by Pastor James Noriega

Last week we looked at propitiation and expiation, sin paid for and removed. Here, we will see how those roll right into justification, Christ’s righteousness imputed to you. Martin Luther calls this the great exchange:

“This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ¹s, and the righteousness of Christ not Christ¹s but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us with it and fill us with it; and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them.” (Isaiah 53:4-6, II Corinthians 5:21)

In essence, God takes your filth and in return, he gives you his righteousness. If you can ponder for a moment Jesus, taking upon himself your sin—him who knew no sin, becoming the curse of God… Jesus became your obscenity to God; he was obscene to God. Because Jesus became that curse, you’ve been released from the curse of the law.

Jesus not only took your curse. He became your curse, and you became his perfected righteousness. You see, there has to be an exchange for a full justification. Just leaving you with removed sin means that you are now not unrighteous. But because of a complete justification, Jesus has given you his righteousness. His righteousness is imputed to you.

In counseling we often see distortions in believers living by a works-based philosophy which comes from practicing ungodly repentance. You have been set free from the law, free from works. You don’t work at God’s love; his love has been given to you. The believer without an understanding of justification tries to behave his way out of sin. As a believer, the gospel isn’t about un-sinning or managing your behavior. In Matthew 5:28 it says that sin doesn’t start with a physical act; it ends with it. Sin doesn’t start when you open your computer and go to a porn site, when you over-eat, when you under-eat. The start of sin is in your heart. When you understand justification by the cross of Christ, it doesn’t leave you trying to figure out how not to sin. The cross of Christ frees you from sin. Your behavior becomes about God, not about your behavior.

Additionally in counseling, the idea is to sniff out religion, self-righteousness, and ungodly repentance. Once you have discerned the man-made behavior, Christ’s righteousness is revealed to you. I believe Scripture tells you that you didn’t behave your way into sin. How could you possibly believe you could behave your way out of it? You worshiped your way into sin. You worship your way out. Justification allows you to worship your way out of sin. Once you experience the righteousness of Christ, you are giving God glory—not yourself.

Pastor James is a Biblical Living Pastor at Mars Hill Church West Seattle. He currently oversees counseling for the campus, and is responsible for equipping and training volunteer biblical counselors and leaders at all levels.

If you are hurting and would like to speak with a counselor, please email westseattlecare@marshillchurch.org

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This was the sixth post in the series Bringing Counseling Back Into The Church
To read the other posts in the series click HERE.