GOOD NEWS and BAD NEWS – Credits Don’t Transfer

 

 

Your Credit Don’t Transfer

Have you ever heard the phrase “credits don’t transfer”? If you transferred from one school to another you probably had to deal with the idea of transferring credits. Good if you had credits – bad if you had none.

I was finishing my shower today when I felt, heard in my thoughts or sense God saying to me “credits don’t transfer”. “Yikes”, I thought. What can that mean? I prayed. I pondered. I thought. What if God is saying I do not get credit for anything I have done in the past (except for my salvation of course)? “That could be good news or bad news”, I reasoned.

Good news if all the bad things I had done in my past are not credited to me. Bad news if all the bad things I had done in the past are credited to me.

Good news if all the good things from my past are credited to me. Bad news if none of the good things I had done are not credited to me.

But the thought persists. “Credits don’t transfer”.

It is true that God will judge the deeds of the wicked and repay them for their wickedness through judgment and condemnation.

It is also true that God will judge the deeds of the righteous and will reward them with His Crowns of Glory, which we then return to Him, for they are due Him, and they are from Him. (So, really, no lasting credit to us).

How does this play out in life?

If I still brag or remind myself and other of my past accomplishments or ‘good deeds’, I may be trying to ‘transfer credits’ to my account. (This would be me, justifying myself to God. Never a good idea.)

If I claim humility and tells others of my humility through stories, tales and remembrances, of my past, then there is a really good chance that I may be trying to ‘transfer credits’ to my account.

If others’ accomplishments secretly bother me or if I am compelled to match their story with one of my own (of equal or greater value), then there is a really good chance that I may be trying to ‘transfer credits’ to my account.

The Bible says that the only credit a Christian gets is the Righteousness of Christ, which is “imputed” or credited to their personal spiritual account. And when it is done, it is forever done – at least in God’s Mind.

(Righteousness is the quality of being morally right or justifiable according to divine standards, signifying a right standing with God. It encompasses both the holy character of God and the ethical behavior expected of humanity, a gift of grace received through faith in Jesus Christ.)

But even though when this is done, it is done – meaning it is completed and is never needed to be repeated – it is to be remembered and refreshed in our mind and behavior, day by day.

This act of God crediting my account with His Righteousness is called Justification. Martin Luther the great reformer said that this is the issue upon which the church rises or falls. Justification is more of a legal concept, that is, God is Holy and our Judge, and we are sinners and guilty. So, how can we be justified or declared righteous in the sight of God if we are guilty?

Justification which is by faith alone through grace alone and Christ alone is “imputed righteousness”. Because we have no righteousness of our own, God credits us with His Righteousness. The Bible says that our righteousness is like filthy rags (which is really no righteousness at all), and since we don’t have inherent or ‘built in’ righteousness of God, we need “imputed righteousness” – righteousness that is attributed or credited to our account. When Jesus comes into your life, Who is without sin – the life we have not lived – He dies the death we deserve and should die, the death for sin; He rises to conquer the enemies we could not conquer, that is Satan, sin, death, hell and the wrath of God – then Jesus on the cross, took our place and put us in His place – Second Corinthians 5:21 says God made Him sin Who knew no sin, so we might become the righteousness of God. Martin Luther called this the great exchange, so that my righteousness (which is filthy anyway and does not reach God’s standard of righteous) is inadequate – it falls flat. And the Righteousness of God does not naturally dwell in me, it is not inherent in me – it is only found in Christ.  This means is a “great exchange” must take place: that is, Jesus gets my condemnation and I get His great gift of salvation; He endures the wrath of God and He gives me the grace of God. What that means now is that my righteousness is Jesus Christ. (In other words, God made Christ sin Who had no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God). I say again, righteousness is not in me but it is in Christ, and it is imputed to me as my own. It is imputed, credited, attributed, reckon or granted to me, meaning when I stand before God and if He would ask why should He let you into His kingdom of heaven, you and I can say it is because we have come with Jesus Christ Jesus as my Savior, and He is my righteousness. I come before God not with my performance but with His performance, and I come in Christ positionally inheriting the righteousness that he is given to me as a gift of Grace – that is justification – that is right standing with God and among people. (This is the new birth, where Jesus says to Nicodemus you must be born again. This is the new birth of the New Covenant – also known as regeneration – where God’s work for you then begins to work in you. This means you get a new mind you no longer conform to the pattern of this world, but you transformed by the renewing of your mind you get a new heart you get new emotional life you get new desires. The Apostle Paul says, in Galatians, that the spirit is against the Flesh and the flesh is against the spirit to keep you from doing what you want to do so if you. If you were regenerated – born again – you have new desires, you are thinking things like ‘I want to know Jesus, I want to learn the Bible, I want to become more like Christ, I want to find a church, I want to get to know other Christians. I love them like brothers and sisters and family. By this, you know that you have been justified and when regeneration ‘kicks in’, you think and act differently than before. In other words, you think about Jesus all the time and feel bad about some things in your life that need to change. You want to read the Bible and have a desire to learn the Bible, and to worship God. This says that you have been born again. That is God working in you. There is change. Again, justification is God’s work for you because of Jesus’ work of regeneration in you.

Want to talk about this? Make comments below or connect with.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young – a sinner saved, restored and set free by God’s Grace. Please join me in this adventure of a lifetime!

(PS: much of the foregoing, although found in the Bible, was influenced by a teaching from pastor Mark Driscoll).