Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, ‘Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not.’ —Martin Luther
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross gave us things that are truly, too great to fully understand. Throughout the Great Story of human history, some very important things were “imputed”—that is, they were credited and passed on to someone else. Yes, hard to understand, yet by the counsel of the Holy Spirit, we can understand these things through faith:
- When Adam sinned in the garden, his sins were credited to you and me because we are Adam’s seed. So we wake up as a baby in this world “in Adam,” and his sin is on our record, and then we add to it profusely.
- When our sins were placed on Jesus on the cross, they are credited to Him, and He died with them there.
- When we put our trust in Jesus Christ, our sins are not only erased from the record forever, but we become “in Christ,” and His righteousness is credited to us.
Simply put, God is offering you a deal through Christ:
- He gets your sin.
- You get His righteousness.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
That, my friends, is the best deal that could ever be offered! I would encourage you to seize this immediately if you have yet to do so because you will never hear a better one.
Dear Jesus, I have done nothing to deserve what You are crediting to me. You take my sin. I am taking Your righteousness—I have become the righteousness of God. Enable me to begin living the Truth of this great mystery! Amen.