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Over-Drawn at the Righteousness Bank

Yesterday in church we continued preparing for Easter by focusing on the cross.  We discussed the importance of the incarnation - Christ becoming one of us - with regards to the cross. We concluded that the incarnation and the sinless life that Christ lived amongst us was important for two reasons.

1.  His sinless life was necessary so that He might be the acceptable sacrifice for sin.  All sacrifices required in Scripture had to be animals "without blemish."  Jesus, our sinless Saviour, was the ultimate Lamb of God without blemish.  As a consequence, He could take upon himself the penalty for our sins.

2.  His perfect righteousness was necessary so that it might be imputed to us.  Not only did his sinless nature qualify him to pay the penalty, it also could be exchanged for our guilt.  Instead of sin being found in our account, the righteousness of Jesus was credited to us.  Now when God looks at a sinner saved by grace, he sees the righteousness of Jesus.

I really like the bank metaphor.  Before Jesus my account was infinity in the hole.  If I had all of eternity, I could not dig myself out of that debt of righteousness that I owe to God.  Unfortunately, that is not the sum of my problem.  In order to be accepted into heaven, I need to be infinity to the good in the righteousness bank.  Again, my chances are nil.  Praise the Lord that I am not counting on myself but upon the perfect righteousness of Jesus.  In being the sinless sacrifice on my behalf he destroys the infinite debt that stands against me.  In being the perfectly righteous one he credits his infinite righteousness to my account so that I may receive his reward of eternity with God in glory.  In Christ, I go from having an infinite debt to having an infinite credit in God's righteousness bank.  GLORY!

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