The Imparted Righteousness of Christ — Zac Poonen

Imputed Righteousness and the Danger of Spiritual Pride

Last Sunday we were thinking about how God imputes or puts to our account the righteousness of Christ which is called being justified or declared righteous. It's impossible for God to declare any of us righteous in our human state if we are not clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

No matter, even if all our sins are forgiven, we're not really righteous before God because we have a flesh in which there dwells nothing good which we carry with us till we die or till Christ comes again.

It's very important to remember that because that helps us to remain humble. You know how one of the biggest problems with those who pursue holiness is spiritual pride. You must always remember that. If this church preaches more holiness than other churches, then the danger of becoming a Pharisee is more in this church than in any other church.

I'll tell you that. There may be a danger of becoming worldly in other churches, not so much in becoming a Pharisee. The more strict you are with your personal life, the greater the danger of becoming a Pharisee unless you always keep in mind one thing, that till the end of your life there is sin in you which you are not aware of, unchristlikeness, because you have a flesh in which dwells nothing good and so when a husband despises his wife or a wife despises her husband for not being as holy as he is or she is, you can be pretty sure that that person has not understood the ABC of the holiness of God.

Once a person understands the holiness of God, he's not so quick to judge others. He's very quick to be merciful to others. He doesn't lower his standard of righteousness, but he's merciful to others.

He's merciful to sinners. That's why the most merciful man that walked on this earth was the holiest man that walked on this earth, Jesus Christ. The most merciful person in the universe is the holiest person, Almighty God, and if you find at any time in your life that you lack mercy and you find yourself judgmental towards your marriage partner, it's a sign that you're backsliding.

Take it seriously. When you become hard on others, brother, I don't care how holy you think you are, you are a backslider. That's very important to remember. So that's why once a person recognizes that, he realizes that he desperately needs to be justified, not just forgiven.

Many are content with forgiveness, but it's not enough and that's why the New Testament speaks about being justified, declared righteous, and it is so important. Like we heard this, we thought of that story of the man who came into the wedding feast, not accepting the garment the king gave, but coming in his own good dress and he got thrown out.

That's the lesson. So that's, it's good that God has given us a helpful test. You know, like your temperature goes up, you know, you got a fever. It's the same way. Something's wrong. Whenever you get a fever, then there's, in a healthy state, the body doesn't have any fever.

There's a normal temperature, whether you're in a cold country or a hot country, the body keeps a certain temperature. But when the temperature goes up, it's an indication something is wrong and we all know that physically.

In the same way, when you are not merciful to others, recognize something is wrong. If only husbands and wives would recognize this, their homes would be more like heaven. The trouble is that a lot of husbands and wives, when they judge each other, they think they are holier.

Actually, they are greater sinners. They don't know that. So, like I said, when the devil quoted scripture to Jesus saying it is written, Jesus said it is also written. Like the left hand and the right hand, we need to balance scripture with scripture to get the whole truth of God.

Imputed and Imparted Righteousness

Otherwise, we only got half a circle and half a circle is not complete. So, in the same way, imputed righteousness, imputed means put to our account, is one side of truth. We can say it's like half a circle.

It's not complete. And the other half of the circle is imparted righteousness. That is righteousness that is given to us. So, we looked at Romans in chapter 4. If you remember how righteousness we read in Romans 4 verse 23 was credited to Abraham and it says it was written not for him only, but it is for written verse 24, for ours also, to whom it'll be credited.

There's a difference between something being credited and something being earned. This is not righteousness that we earn. This is something put to our account because we are like beggars coming to the feast.

We got our rags and we can't go into the king's feast with these rags. And so, we are clothed with this beautiful garment of the righteousness of Christ. It's credited to our account freely. But then, that righteousness is credited to us.

We read in verse 5. Now, we are justified. Verse 1, Romans 5. We have peace with God. Now, we can come in peace with God, but that is not enough. We need to come to the place where we read in Romans chapter 8, which is a wonderful New Covenant chapter, that now God's desire is, verse 4, Romans 8, 4, that the requirement of the law, the righteous requirement of God's law should be fulfilled now.

It was imputed to us till now. Now, it has to be fulfilled. Where? Inside us. Because now, we have chosen to walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Holy Spirit. So, there, there's a choice.

We are walking. God doesn't catch us and force us to walk like some robot. We are not programmed like robots walk. We have to walk. Walk, you know, whenever you walk, you're making a choice to put one foot forward and another foot forward.

You're constantly making a choice. And in the true Christian life, there's a constant choice. The choice that Jesus made. Like, you put your left foot and your right foot, you say, not my will, but God's will, and not my will, but God's will all through your life.

And the more you say that in every area, the more the righteousness of Christ will be imparted to you. That's more than imputed. Both are there in Scripture. And the problem with Christians, especially those who go to Bible schools and study one side of truth, depending on which Bible school they go to, is they come into conflict with people who emphasize the other side.

And this is the problem with a lot of people who think that one group is preaching heresy, and the other group says, no, they're preaching heresy. I say the truth is in both. There are people who have accused us of heresy.

I say, say what you like. We believe completely in imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness. But some people prefer imputed righteousness, especially if there was a lot of sin in their life they don't want to deal with.

If there's a lot of love of money and the world in their life they don't want to deal with, they like imputed righteousness. They like to say there's no effort in the Christian life. It's just trust God.

Jesus is our righteousness. That's it. But we don't see it in their life. We don't see it in their home. And the devil laughs at it. I often think of that story as a children's story called the Emperor's New Clothes.

It's a very beautiful story. If you haven't heard it, I'll tell you. It's about a couple of crooks who wanted to make some money out of an emperor who was, you know, in the olden days there were emperors and he was not so sharp.

So they said, we have discovered a special type of cloth that cannot be seen by everybody. It can only be seen by people who are fit for their jobs. If you're fit for your job you're doing, you'll see it.

If you're not fit for your job, you won't see it. But it's the most wonderful cloth in the world. Of course, there was nothing. So they came before the king and they held up their hands and said, King, can you see this?

Of course, the king couldn't see anything. But if he said he couldn't see anything, that means he's not fit for a job. So he dare not say that. He says, oh yeah, it's beautiful. And just to make sure, he called his prime minister, told him this.

The prime minister came and he couldn't see anything either, but he couldn't admit that because then he had to say he's not fit for his job. He said, oh yeah, it's great, it's wonderful. And all the ministers, they all said it's great, even though they couldn't see a thing.

And then the tailors said, not tailors, these crooks, they said, we want you to dress in this dress when you go for your parade through the city. And they announced to the whole city that only those who were fit for their jobs would be able to see this dress.

The rest wouldn't be able to see it. And so they dressed up this king without anything and he walked out naked and thinking that he's dressed and walked through, as he walked through the city, nobody could see a thing.

They're wondering why, but nobody dared to say that I can't see a thing, because that means I'm not fit for my job. Till a little child said, hey, the king's not wearing any clothes. Then people realized.

This is how many Christians are walking through this world, saying this invisible righteousness of Christ is in my life. Of course, I yell, get angry, and I lust, and I tell lies, and I love money, and I do all things, but I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

Remember the story of the Emperor's new clothes. Are you like that? That's the reason a lot of people don't like what we preach in this church, about denying yourself and taking up the cross. Do you know that Jesus said, it is impossible to follow him if you don't deny yourself daily and take up the cross.

Taking Up the Cross Daily

Let me show you that. This imparted righteousness of Christ comes through that. Luke chapter 9 and verse 23. And Jesus said to all of them, just in case there's any doubt, it is to everybody. If anyone, anyone, anyone, wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Now there are people who say, well, that's all finished. That is before the day of Pentecost. You mean the Jews were supposed to do that? The Jews never believed in taking up the cross. It's in Romans chapter 8.

You find the explanation of that. In Romans 8, we saw the righteousness of Christ must be fulfilled inside us. Romans 8, 4. Because we choose not to walk according to the flesh. That means we deny our self-life and put it to death and choose to walk according to the Spirit.

That is the cross. Because if you set, verse 6, if you set your mind on the flesh, it is death. But if you set your mind on the Spirit, that's life and that's the choice that you make. And he goes on to say, verse, you know, who is he writing to?

He's writing to brethren, dear brethren. Verse 12. Brothers, born-again brothers, who are justified by Christ, we should not live according to the flesh. Does he say, oh, you are born again. It'll be impossible for you to live according to the flesh.

You will live, of course, according to the Spirit. If you believe that, you'll be going around with the Emperor's new clothes, imagining that you have the righteousness of Christ and all the demons of hell will be laughing at you.

Because you're naked and you think you're dressed. Brethren, let me tell you something. Verse 13. If you live according to the flesh, you must die. How many believers believe that? That born-again believers, that's what he's writing to in verse 12.

If they live according to the flesh, what will happen to them? They will die spiritually. Physically, everybody dies. Even those who live according to the Spirit die physically. What type of death is that?

It is spiritual death. You will die. The Holy Spirit says you will surely die. Now let me tell you the first lie written in the Bible. The first lie that was ever written in the Bible. The first lie that the human race heard was when the devil told Eve, you will not surely die.

You remember in the Garden of Eden? You know that story. You don't even need to turn to it. In Genesis 3, when the devil asked Eve, has God really said you shouldn't eat of this tree? And Eve said, yes.

God said you should not eat of it or you'll die. And here is the first lie ever spoken in the universe. The first lie that comes in the Bible. The serpent said to the woman, you surely will not die. Okay, now let's turn to Romans 8 13.

Brethren, if you live according to the flesh, you will surely die. And what does the old serpent say? You surely will not die. Do you know how many believers are listening to the devil just like Eve? Because they don't read the scriptures carefully.

And they don't have teachers to teach them the word. You know, there are evangelists who can bring people to Christ, but they can't teach the word. When you go, when a woman goes for delivery of a child, she goes to a doctor who's an obstetrician who knows how to deliver children.

But then, if she has a heart problem afterwards, she does not go to the obstetrician. The obstetrician will kill her if she does a heart operation. She goes to a heart surgeon. So, in the same way, an evangelist can bring people to Christ, but he cannot lead them to godliness in the heart.

For that, God has appointed teachers. And the biggest problem in Christendom today is evangelists have become teachers. They're not called to do that. It's like the year trying to see or the eye trying to hear.

And all the confusion I've seen in Christendom is with people who are never called to be teachers trying to teach. And not only evangelists, there are a lot of believers who know ten percent of the Bible who also begin to teach, who begin to think that they know more.

It's like some guy off the street who's never gone past high school thinking that he knows how to do heart surgery. And the stupidity of so many believers who listen to them. This is the tragedy today.

That's why in James it says, brethren, don't be many teachers. You can't be something that God has not appointed you to be. And you see, that's why when many times when I point out verses to people in many parts of the world, they tell me, Brother Zach, I never even saw that.

Even though I read the Bible so many times. Exactly. You need someone to show it to you. And it's there. You don't have to listen to a man. You just got to read carefully what's written there. If you live according to the flesh, you'll die.

But here's the cross, Romans 8 13. If by the power of the Holy Spirit you put to death, what's that? That's taking up the cross. The deeds of the body you will live. There are people who have left some of our CFC churches who says, oh, this preaching of the cross and all, that's not what we need.

It's all bondage. Well, that's what the devil wants you to believe. But you watch the life of those people after a period of time. In the beginning, their life will be all right because they've had the momentum of what they've heard in CFC for 10 years or 15 years.

So they keep going. But as the momentum wears out, you know, it's like a train that's been pulled by an engine full speed for a long time. And then the engine disconnects. Do you know that the rest of the train still keeps moving?

It's called momentum. The train is still moving because of the push it got from the engine. But then it's slowly winding down and after a while it stops. And that's what happens. I've seen it happen to people who turn away from the word of the cross after listening to it for 10 -15 years.

The momentum keeps them going in a godly way for some time. You say, hey, it seems to be all right. I say, yeah, hang on. Just wait 10 years and see what will happen. It'll come to a grinding halt and probably go over the cliff and that'll be the end of it.

If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you live, that's how you get imparted righteousness because God never takes away our free will. When we are born again, he doesn't take away our free will.

Spirit-Filling, Free Will, and Spiritual Deception

You've often heard me speak about the difference between demon possession and spirit filling. The Bible speaks about being filled with the Spirit, never about being possessed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never possesses people.

You never hear about demons filling people. You always hear about demons possessing people. What's the difference? The difference is when a demon possesses a person, the person loses control of himself.

They say things they don't want to say. I've heard that myself from demon possessed people. They say things they don't want to say. When the demon is cast out, then they can say what they want to say.

They start tearing their clothes and rolling on the ground. They don't want to do it. Definitely they don't want to do it. The demon forces them to do it. They are exactly like robots, controlled by a demon.

And when the demon is cast out, then they have their free will again. So they have no control over themselves when they are demon possessed. But when the Holy Spirit fills a person, he doesn't take away our free will.

The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. We get more control over ourselves, but we are the ones who make a choice. See for example, those who have never spoken in tongues, they think that speaking in tongues is the Holy Spirit just makes you babble something without your control.

No, then you would be demon possessed. I've heard demon possessed people speak in tongues. When the demon is possessed, when the demon is cast out, they stop speaking in tongues because it was not them.

It was the demon. But when the Holy Spirit possesses a person, he chooses to speak in tongues under the control of the Spirit. It's just like teaching. I don't believe that I have a natural ability to speak in anointed Word of God.

Not at all. It's a gift God has given me. I can't glory in something. It's like a cake somebody else made. How can I take the credit for it? It's a gift God's given me, but it's completely under my control.

Otherwise you won't know when this meeting is going to finish. If the Holy Spirit is speaking through me and I don't have any control of myself, thank God I have control of myself so that you know when this meeting will finish.

So whenever you lose control of yourself, whenever I hear somebody say, Spirit of God came upon me and I couldn't stop speaking in tongues, I say, brother, that was not the Holy Spirit. Must have been some other spirit.

Or I got thrown from here to there. That's definitely not the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit gives you complete control over yourself. You may have a lot of joy that you don't want to stop praising the Lord, but you can choose to stop if you want.

There's complete freedom. You choose to, like you choose to walk left, right. You choose to put the flesh to death. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, still God doesn't take away your free will.

It's very important to understand this. Then you won't be deceived by all these people who say, oh this wonderful thing happened to me, I couldn't control myself. Don't be impressed by that. That's demon possession.

And if you one day saw an angel of light in your room, you would think that came from heaven. But the Bible says that when the devil appears to people, he always appears as an angel of light. Do you think the devil can fool people if he comes with black horns and hooves and says, I'm coming to do some good to you, you'll run away.

If he wants to fool you, he has to come as an angel of light. And 2nd Corinthians 11 says, he comes like an angel of light and when he preaches, he preaches righteousness. Let's turn to that verse. It's very important to know it in these days of deception.

2nd Corinthians 11 says about how the devil deceived Eve. That's how it begins, verse 3. And Paul is writing to these believers in Corinth and saying, I'm afraid. He says, actually verse 2, I want to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Not just with imputed righteousness, but with a purity that comes through the Holy Spirit making you a pure virgin inside, spiritual virgin. But he says, I'm afraid. Even though Paul stayed, by the way, Paul stayed in Corinth for one and a half years.

Imagine listening to the Apostle Paul for one and a half years and still being deceived. When we are proud and we think we know more than the Apostle Paul, then you're bound to be deceived. And that can easily happen to people in a church who don't know 10 of the Bible, but they think they know such a lot or they read something on the internet or books.

Do you know the number of believers I've met who've gone completely astray by reading this, that and the other on the internet? From people whom they don't know, I say, when you read that guy's article on the internet, do you know anything about his personal life?

Do you know whether he's divorced or not? Do you know anything about how he's brought up his children? Do you know whether he lives a godly life? Do you know whether he's a lover of money? Do you know whether he's built any local church?

Do you know anything about his co-workers? You know nothing and you read this and you think you're so clever and you see you understood something, some new doctrine. That is exactly how the devil's leading so many people astray.

When Paul told Timothy, he said, remember my teaching, he said in 2nd Timothy 3, and remember from whom you learned it. That's very important. From whom did you learn? Do you know anything about that person's life?

If you don't know anything about a person's life, be very careful not to read what he writes or listen to what he says. That's what's protected me. So Paul says, I am afraid, verse 3, like the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness.

If you can acknowledge one thing, that the devil is cleverer than you, you'll be humble when trying to think that you know you won't get deceived. The devil is cleverer than all of us. Our only protection is if we humble ourselves and accept the Bible.

And those who don't read the Bible, the devil can fool them like anything. By his craftiness, your mind, the devil's after your mind, remember this, will be led astray from simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

You'll get taken away from that fervent devotion to Jesus to argue about doctrines and things like that. And you know the devil's got your mind. When your devotion to Jesus is gone and your mind is taken up with this doctrine and that doctrine and arguing about this, you know the devil's got you.

And then somebody can come and preach another Jesus, verse 4, and you'll receive it. And you can receive a different spirit, like I said, where you lose control of yourself and you accept it. And you can even hear a different gospel.

A gospel that says, Jesus has come primarily to make you rich and to make you healthy. And it says you will accept it. You know the number of people who are accepting that false gospel today, even though it's not found anywhere in the New Testament.

How do they do that? Because they've not understood that the old covenant was abolished 2 ,000 years ago. We are in a new covenant. It's like somebody in India not knowing that, you know the British stopped ruling India 64 years ago.

It's finished. Somebody says no. What do you do? The old covenant is abolished. People don't understand that. They go back to the Old Testament to get commands and frighten people and get a gospel from there.

It's not the gospel. Then he goes on to say, and he says in verse 13, about these false apostles, deceitful workers, who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. And that's not surprising. Verse 14, because Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

That's what I said. If Satan wants to appear to you anytime, I guarantee he'll come as an angel of light. Definitely. That's the only way he can deceive you. If he comes as he actually looks as a devil, he'll scare you.

You'll run away. So when you hear in some meetings, Pentecostal meetings, somebody says, I saw an angel. Uh-huh. Another fellow says, I saw two angels. And this becomes a competition there in the testimony meeting.

I mean when I listen to it, it's like a guy saying, I saw a devil yesterday. Okay. Another fellow says, no, I saw two devils. Okay. That's how I hear it. But people who don't know the scripture say, wow, that person saw an angel and the angel actually spoke to him.

And what did he speak? Did he tell him to go and murder somebody or hit somebody? No, because it says here in verse 15, the servants of the devil will preach righteousness. How can the servant of the devil fool you by saying, go and kill somebody, go and hate somebody, go and steal somebody's money.

No, no, no, no, no. He will preach righteousness, but their end will be fatal. So how do you distinguish between the righteousness proclaimed by the devil as an angel of light and by his preachers and the righteousness which is imparted by the Holy Spirit?

Humility as the Test of Christ's Righteousness

I think there are a couple of tests. One is humility. It's one of the greatest tests. You often heard me speak about the three secrets of the Christian life. You know it? Humility, humility, humility.

Because that is the primary characteristic of Jesus. And the devil has got zero humility. You know how he became the devil? By pride. His heart was lifted up and he began to think how beautiful I am, how clever I am, how intelligent I am, how smart I am.

And whenever you get thoughts like that in your mind of how good-looking you are, you look into the mirror and say, boy, how good-looking I am. You better be careful who's whispering that into your ears.

It's definitely a demon. And you're listening to it. You keep listening to that, you'll get accustomed to his voice. His whole aim is to puff you up. You're not so ugly like some of those others. You're pretty good-looking.

You're pretty smart. You're clever. You know the Bible. You can preach well. He doesn't stop anywhere. You can sing well. Wow! You can play those instruments beautifully. A lot of people in church admire you, man.

You're somebody. And you listen to all this rubbish instead of saying, get behind me, Satan. I'm not going to listen to you. How many of you recognize the voice of the devil there? There's a lot of difference between encouragement and flattery.

You need to distinguish even when a brother comes and flatters you. The devil is a great flatterer. A flatterer spreads a net for the one he's catching. If you read Pilgrim's Progress, you'll find the flatterer comes and catches a Christian in a net.

And it's a net you can easily fall into because if you're waiting for praise from somebody, the flatterer will catch you easily. You've got to be careful. So the way to distinguish the righteousness of Christ which is imparted, it'll make you more humble.

And if you're not growing in humility, brother, you've probably got some other righteousness. The humility of Christ has got a particular aroma. It doesn't stink. You know, pride stinks in God's eyes.

It doesn't stink in the nostrils of men, but it stinks before God. And it's one of the ways in which you can recognize whether someone is a godly person or not. And you know, humility also can be faked just like everything else can be faked.

And you need to learn to distinguish between genuine humility and fake humility. You can't artificially put it on. It's like body odor. The odor in your body comes out when you perspire and you can't stop it.

It comes out and what's inside comes out. And if there's pride inside you, however much you try to cover it with acting humble and speaking humble, a discerning man can see through your pride. You can see it in the way a person walks, in the way a person talks, in the way a person looks.

The Bible speaks about haughty eyes. Be very careful that we don't have a righteousness which didn't come from God. If it really came from God, it'd make you deeply humble, deeply devoted to Jesus. Otherwise, it is another Jesus and there's a lot of it in the world today.

So, the way to distinguish it as I see is, is there a cross there in my holiness? Did I get this holiness without a cross? Then it's fake. The Bible says about the cross in Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2, we read verse 5.

Here is one of the finest verses that describes what imparted righteousness is. This is not put to our account. This is what we have actually partaken of. Have this attitude, Philippians 2, 5, which was in Christ Jesus.

That is the imparted righteousness. And I tell you, we don't have it completely. If you had it completely, you'd say, I've become like Christ. But this is what it says, the Holy Spirit. Have the same attitude that is in Christ.

Once you're born again, I tell you, you need only that one verse for the rest of your life. In every situation, here's the verse, have the attitude that Jesus had. When you men look at a woman, a pretty woman, have the attitude that Jesus had.

When you're tempted to pursue after money, have the attitude that Jesus had. When you look at a hypocrite and a Pharisee, have the attitude that Jesus had. When you look at a fallen, adulterous woman, have the attitude Jesus had.

When you see a murderer about to be crucified, have the attitude Jesus had. It's the answer to all of life's situations. When somebody calls you a devil or Beelzebul, prince of devils, have the attitude Jesus had.

Say, forgiven brother. One verse can take you all through life after you're born again. Have this attitude in you, which is in Christ Jesus. And the primary thing mentioned there is humility. Notice that.

Christ's Humility, Servanthood, and Obedience

Though he was in the form of God, he did not think equality with God is something I must hold on to and show off to other people who I am. No. He became a man. That itself is humility. And when he became a man, he took the lowest place of a servant.

Not even a servant. It says born servant means a slave. Do you know in those days slaves were lower than servants. Servants get a salary. Slaves get nothing. Lower than servants. And he emptied himself of all those privileges he had as God.

And you know you see a little bit of that in the Mount of Transfiguration when the three disciples Peter, James, and John were with Jesus. For a brief moment, the veil was taken away from Jesus. And they saw a shining glory brighter than the sun.

And they fell on their face. Blinded they fell on their faces. And then the glory was covered immediately. If Jesus had lived like that on earth, people wouldn't have come anywhere near him. You know it says once Moses just went up to the mountain for 40 days, talked to God and he came back.

His face was shining so much that people were scared to look at him. He had to cover his face with a veil. Imagine Jesus who lived before his father all the time. Nobody would have been able to come anywhere near him.

Everybody would have fallen flat. But he hid it. He emptied himself of that. He didn't want to scare people. Have this attitude that Jesus had. Have you experienced a height of holiness and glory? Hide it brother.

Hide it. Don't try to show off how holy you are. That is the devil. The devil is a show-off. Jesus was not a show-off. He constantly hid the glory he had. He would heal people and say don't tell anybody that I healed you.

Don't tell anybody. That's what I do when I pray for people who are sick. I say Lord I want other people also to pray for them. A lot of people so that nobody thinks it was my prayer that healed that person.

So that nobody ever credits me with anything. I pray. I sincerely pray this. I tell you Lord let's get the church to pray for that person. Let so many people pray so that you say Jesus did it and no man gets the credit.

You walk that way my brother sister all your life and God will give you amazing revelations in your heart that no human being ever gets. You'll get to know God and knowing God is eternal life. You will discover that all the honor of men is garbage.

It's garbage. Have you seen that the approval and honor of men is garbage? It's one of the main things you need to see if you want to have the attitude that Jesus had. He emptied himself, became a servant.