R C Sproul on Imputed Righteousness

"Imputation is more than central; it's essential to the New Testament gospel. Friends, I beg you never to negotiate the concept of the imputed righteousness of Christ. That's the article upon which we stand and fall because without His righteousness all we have to offer God is filthy rags ... The righteousness by which we are justified is an alien righteousness - a foreign righteousness. If this expression is unclear to you, know that Luther also described justification as a righteousness that is outside of us, apart from us.

The only righteousness that will justify us is the righteousness of Christ. We are naked and helpless without the cloak of His righteousness covering us. We are foul in God's sight until He imputes to us the righteousness of Christ".

R C Sproul - "Preaching the Cross" - Crossway Books, Illinois (2007) - (p97-98).

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Sanctification

"You see, Christians 'do righteousness' because they are righteous. That is the right way to put it. You do not make yourself righteous by what you do, but you are first made righteous. And then the appeal comes to show your righteousness in your behaviour".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Exposition of Chapter 14:1-17 - Liberty and Conscience" - Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (2007) - (p256).

Rob Rufus on the REAL Cross-Centred Life

"I've read the whole of Isaiah 53 many times but what is the obvious clear message of what happened on the Cross?

Simply this - that Jesus was crushed so that God would never crush you. Jesus was pierced so that God will never ever pierce you with sorrows or with sickness or with poverty. Jesus was punished so it is a guarantee that God will never ever punish you! Jesus was made a guilt offering by God so you will never feel guilty".

Rob Rufus - "Established in the Gift of Righteousness - Part 1" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 4th January 2009.

Ryan Rufus on Position vs Practice

"We don't preach obedience, we don't preach holiness, we don't preach performance - we preach position in Christ because as you have a revelation of that righteousness will flow from your spirit, obedience will flow from your spirit, holiness will flow from your spirit".

Ryan Rufus - "4 Things That Will Happen in 2009" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 28th December 2008.

Rob Rufus on the Promises of God

"Every promise God has made is yes and amen in Christ! So every promise - it's His absolute will for you to live in the benefits and fullness of New Covenant promises! Yet most Christians hardly live in any of them. What's the reason? The condition for all the promises to work is not you being more obedient or more holy or fasting or coming back under the law. The way you are going to come into every promise being fulfilled is that you get established in righteousness as a gift".

Rob Rufus - "Being Established In The Gift Of Righteousness" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 4th January 2009,

Joseph Prince on the Purpose of Calvary

"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin" - What does "shall not impute sin" mean? Does it mean that you shall never sin again? Did Jesus die on the Cross to free us from committing sinful actions or harbouring sinful thoughts? If He did then allow me to conclude with reverence that He failed. You and I know fairly well that we can still be tempted with sinful thoughts and tempted to commit sinful actions and there will still be times when we fail.

When David described the blessed man as one to whom the Lord will not impute sin, he meant that even when this man sins, God will not count his sin against him nor punish him for his iniquity. Too good to be true? That is why David defined this man as a blessed man! And this blessed man is you and me!".

Joseph Prince - "Destined To Reign" - Harrison House Publishers, Tulsa (2007) - (p16).

Rob Rufus on the Main Reason Why Jesus Died

"If the main reason for Jesus dying on the Cross was to stop us sinning then He failed but if the main reason for Him dying on the Cross was so that your sins will never be imputed to you again because they have already been charged to Him - if the main reason He died was so that your sinning and sin can never again seperate you from the love of God then Jesus utterly succeeded in what He did".

Rob Rufus - "Being Established In The Gift Of Righteousness" - City Church International, Hong Kong - 4th January 2009

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Imputed Righteousness

"Christians are people who have been declared righteous by God, who know that justification is by faith only, and that God 'justifieth the ungodly' (Romans 4:5). They believe all Paul's arguments in the first five chapters of Romans. This is how Christians think of righteousness; not little details here and there but this whole matter of their standing before God and the declaration of God that He "accounts" them as righteous.

Not only that, Christians believe that they have been clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that God has put this "robe of righteousness upon them" (Isaiah 61:10). They know they have been born again, 'born of the Spirit'. They now belong to the realm of righteousness, whereas before they did not.

Here is a man who has a conception of righteousness; he wants to be rid of everything that is wrong; he wants to be wholly right, he is interested in holiness.

Do you see the point? The righteous are unconcious of their righteousness. That is the glory of their whole position. I trust I am making this clear to you. Christians are righteous in themselves because they have been brought into the kingdom of God and the realm of righteousness".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans: Exposition of Chapter 14:1-17 - Liberty and Conscience" - Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (2007) - (pp257-265).

John Hosier on 2 Corinthians 5:21

"This is arguably one of the most important verses in the Bible ... It tells us what God did - He sent his Son ... It tells us who Jesus is - He is sinless ... It tells us what Jesus did - He was made sin ... It tells us who we are - the righteousness of God ... It tells us where we are - in Him".

John Hosier - "2 Corinthians 5:21" - Church of Christ the King blog - 25th November 2008

Dr Lloyd-Jones on Imputed Righteousness

"We become Christians immediately because it is this giving to us, this reckoning to us of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our iniquities are pardoned, our sins are covered. All this sin will never again be imputed to us and positively and gloriously, we are clothed with a "righteousness divine ... Jesus Thy robe of righteousness, my beauty is, my glorious dress. Bold shall I stand in Thy great day, for who aught to my charge shall lay? Fully through Thee absolved I am, from sin and fear and from guilt and shame".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans 3:20 - 4:25: Atonement and Justification" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1971) - (p174).

Dr Lloyd-Jones on Justification Being ALL of God

"That is what is meant by justification. It is all God's action. We do nothing at all - we cannot do anything at all. We have no works, our righteousness is as "filthy rags", it is "dung", "refuse". We love nothing at all. We are ungodly. We are helpless. We are hopeless. God does it all. It is entirely God's action. It is what He does with these sins of ours which He puts on Christ and punishes them in Him. It is what He does with Christ's righteousness which He puts on us. It is all done to us and we receive it passively from God".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans 3:20 - 4:25: Atonement and Justification" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1971) - (p174).

Dr Lloyd-Jones on Our FREEDOM from Sin!

"So let me once again state this great and most blessed doctrine; God does not reckon our sins to us. But you may say how can He do that and still be God? We have committed these sins, how is it possible or God not to reckon them to us though we have committed them and are guilty of them? The answer is that He has reckoned them to His only, begotten Son".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans 3:20 - 4:25: Atonement and Justification" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1971) - (p177).

Dr Lloyd-Jones on the True Nature of Justification

"Let me put it like this: the man who is truly blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven as debt, whose sin is covered up so that God will never look at it again. He is one to whom it is never going to be imputed as a crime. There is the negative aspect. But it goes beyond that; he is also one to whom God reckons this righteousness of Jesus Christ. That is the doctrine of justification by faith. Here are we - all of us sinners in the sight of God. What does this doctrine tell me?

It tells me that as I stand there on trial my debt is cancelled, my sin is covered. God has cast my sin behind His back. He will never look at it again. He will never see it again. It is blotted out - out of His sight for all eternity. And I shall never be charged with it as a crime. I am completely delivered from it. But over and above that God puts this to my account and reckons to me, this righteousness of Jesus Christ His Son".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans 3:20 - 4:25: Atonement and Justification" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1971) - (p176).

Dr Lloyd-Jones on the Positivity of Redemption!

"God never leaves us in a negative position. God does not merely forgive us our sins. It is possible for somebody to forgive you and yet to feel rather distant towards you ... Forgiveness is only the negative aspect and God never stops at that. God always goes on. God is never satisfied with anything less than reconciliation".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans 3:20 - 4:25: Atonement and Justification" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1971) - (p175).

Dr Lloyd-Jones on Imputed Righteousness

"Notice this other interesting statement: "he is a man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, he will not reckon sin to him". What does that mean?". The man has committed sin, how then can he be a blessed man? The answer is that though he has sinned and is guilty of many sins, God will not put down sins to this man's account in His heavenly ledgers. He might do so, He has a perfect right to do so. He does not put them down in the account. He leaves them out. He has sent them away - He has covered them up. He has forgiven them!".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans 3:20 - 4:25: Atonement and Justification" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1971) - (p175).

Dr Lloyd-Jones on Clothed with His Righteousness

"Let me use the kind of illustration that was obviously in the mind of Count Zindendorf when he composed his great hymn on this theme ... "Jesus Thy robe of righteousness, my beauty is, my glorious dress". This is the picture. There is a man standing in his rags, in his filth. There is the condemned, guilty sinner before God, the prisoner in the dock.

What happens? Well God puts on him this robe of righteousness - He puts on him the white robe of Christ's perfection and now He sees that and nothing else. That is the doctrine of justification. He puts that to our account".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans 3:20 - 4:25: Atonement and Justification" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1971) - (p174).

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Justification by Faith

" ... The whole essence of this matter of justification by faith only. It puts that to our account. When we have nothing at all; God puts in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He imputes it to us; He reckons it to us. He just takes it and puts it there as if it were in our account, and thereby clears our guilt and debt. He does not make us righteous in doing so ... we are left, in this matter of justification, exactly where we were; but God puts this to our account and thereby clears our debt. He pronounces that all His claims against us are satisfied. Let us never forget that justification is forensic, is legal. It does not make us righteous; it declares us to be righteous. And we are declared righteous because the righteousness of God is put to our account".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans 3:20-4:25: Atonement and Justification" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1971) - (p167).

Rob Rufus on Law and Grace

"The law took the disobedience of Adam and condemned us all - grace took the obedience of Jesus and declared us all to be perfectly righteous in the Father's eyes".

Rob Rufus - "Do Christians Need To Confess Their Sins To God?" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 8th June 2008.

John Stott on C H Hodge and the Gospel

"(C H Hodge) To impute sin is to lay sin to the charge of anyone and to treat him accordingly ... similarly to impute righteousness is to set righteousness to one's account and treat Him accordingly"

John R W Stott - "BST Series - The Message of Romans" - IVP, Leicester (1994) - (p127).

John Stott on the Terms of Justification

"The imagery of counting and crediting is financial but that of imputation is legal. Both mean "to reckon something as belonging to someone" but in the former case, this is money, in the latter, innocence or guilt".

John R W Stott - "BST Series - The Message of Romans" - IVP, Leicester (1994) - (p127).