Alright, if you would, open your
Bibles with me to 1 John chapter 3. You notice in the bulletin
this morning, Brother Don Fortner is going to be here to preach
for us Wednesday night. I would strongly, strongly encourage
you to be here to hear him preach if at all possible. Also, we've
got a, all of you know I'm sure already, a new baby boy, Boone
Simpson Martin. Now that's a man's name, he's
just a little fella right now, but he's gonna, Lord willing,
he'll grow into that to where I hear mama and baby are doing
well and I'm very delighted for that. And also you'll notice
a young lady sitting here on the second row, Mabel Lynn. She has grown up at Todd's Road
Grace Church and is a freshman at Marshall University. Now,
I talked to her mama and I promised her mama we will take care of
her. So I want you all give her your
cell phone numbers, meet her. If she needs something, one of
us is going to be with her until her mom and daddy get here. So
you'll make her feel very welcome. I'm delighted she's here. We've
sent our children to Lexington for so many years. I'm so happy
William's come our way. We're going to take care of her
while she's here. All right. All right. First John chapter three.
We'll read the first nine verses. Behold, with awe and wonder,
behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore, the world
knoweth us not because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear, we should be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath
this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure, Whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the
transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth
in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for
his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God." We'll end our reading there. All right, let's stand
together as Mike leads us in singing our call to worship. This promise is proclaimed to
all who trust in Christ. Christ Jesus keeps His saints
secure. They cannot be condemned. The walk I sin, I know, and feel
so very low. Nothing I say or feel or do will
change my God, I know. His word can never be broken
or changed at all. This sinner justified by grace
from grace can never fall. No sin can justice charge against
my ransomed soul. When Jesus died, He paid my debt
not part, but paid in whole. Thank you, DC. That's a great
call to worship. Good words. Let's turn now to
page 103. Great hymns of faith book, we'll
call it the Red Book. We'll sing the chorus after the
first, third, and fifth, the Adonai. One day when heaven was
filled with its praises, One day when sin was as black as
could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, Dwelt among
men, my example is He. Living He loved me, dying He
saved me. I since far away rising he justified
freely forever one day he's coming Oh glorious day One day they led him up Calvary's
mountain, One day they nailed him to die on the tree. Suffering anguish, despised and
rejected, Bearing our sin, our Redeemer is He. One day they left Him alone in
the garden, One day He rested from suffering free. Angels came down for His tomb
to keep vigil. O Father hopeless, my Savior
is He. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming. Oh, Gloria! One day the grave could conceal
him no longer. One day the stone rolled away
from the door. Then he arose, oh, for death
he had conquered. Now is ascended, thy Lord evermore. One day the trumpet will sound
for His coming One day the skies with His glory will shine Wonderful
day, my beloved one's bringing Glorious Savior, this Jesus is
mine. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising He justifies freely forever. One day He's coming. Oh, glorious day. That's a great song. 466. 466. Great thought, Christ liveth
in me. Sinful me. Amazing grace. Once far from God and
dead in sin No light my heart could see But in God's Word the
light I found, now Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. As rays of light from the under
sun The flowers of earth set free. So life and light and love
came forth From Christ living in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. As lives the flower within the
seed, As in the comb the tree. So praise the God of truth and
grace, His Spirit dwelleth in us. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. With longing all my heart is
filled, That like Him I may be, As on the wondrous thought I
dwell, That Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. If you would, open your Bibles
now to Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah 23. Woe be unto the
pastors. that destroy and scatter the
sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the
Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people.
You scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited
them. And behold, I will visit upon
you the evil of your doing, saith the Lord. I will gather the remnant
of my flock of all countries, whether I have driven them and
will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful
and increase. And I will set up shepherds over
them which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor
be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David
a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judah
shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his
name, whereby he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Jehovah Sikhinu. We'll end our
reading there. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, Lord, we thank you
that you are God alone, that you're God over all, ruling and
reigning, always accomplishing, your purpose. Father, we thank
you that it is your will, your purpose, to save your people
and your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, through his obedience
to the law, through his sacrifice, his blood that washes your people
whiter than snow. Father, we thank you. We thank
you it is your will and your purpose to feed your sheep through
the preaching of your word, to call out your sheep through the
preaching of your word. And Father, I pray this morning,
I beg of you that you would bless your word as it's preached. I
beg of you that you'd not leave me alone in this hour. Father,
get much glory to your name. Don't make your glory depend
upon my weak words and foolish intellect, but Father, uphold
me with your spirit. Open my mouth, and I might be
enabled by your grace to exalt your matchless name, to bring
glory to your name. Father, bless your people. Oh, I pray that you not leave
the blessing to the hearts of your people up to my foolish
words, but Father, open my mouth. Cause your gospel, your word
to go forth in power, to reach the hearts of your people, to
save, to feed, to comfort, to strengthen and edify us. that
you might enable us to leave here this morning rejoicing in
Christ our Savior with his name in our hearts and upon our lips.
Father, I thank you for this place, a place you've given us
we can meet together to worship. I thank you for this family of
believers that you've called together. Father, make us faithful
to your word, to serve you, to preach your gospel to our generation
and our day. Give us the faith to obey your
commandment, to believe on Christ, and to love one another as you've
given us commandment. Cause us to be a help and an
encouragement to one another, I pray. Lord, we pray for ourselves. Father, we pray for all of your
people who are meeting together today to worship. Bless your
word. Bless your servants and bless
your people through the preaching of your word. Reveal Christ to
us. Teach us by your word. Give us a teachable submissive
attitude, heart for what the gospel that you'd have us to
hear. Father, we thank you for our new baby. Father, how we
pray you bless little Boone, that you'd watch over him, that
you'd protect him. Father, that you'd be merciful
to him. We beg your mercy upon him as
you've given him physical life. Father, we pray that in your
time, you give him spiritual life. Reveal Christ to him and
in him in your time. This is our heartfelt prayer
for all of our children, Father, that you'd save our children,
that you'd be merciful to them. And Father, for those that you
brought in the time of trouble and trial, we pray for them. Those who are heartbroken or
sicknesses and sorrows and darkness and pressure. Father, we are
so thankful to know these things are not an accident, but they're
under your direct control for the good of your people. Father,
we pray that you'd be with your people, that you'd comfort them,
that you'd provide a way out as soon as it could be thy will.
And we pray you'd give us the grace to wait on thee, to wait
on the Lord. All these things we ask in that
name which is above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. Looking down through the ages,
God beheld the dying soul. Sin had brought separation, nevermore
could man be whole. There must come a Lamb, one whose
blood alone redeems, bringing gifts to the Father of the souls
made white and clean. And when He sees me, He sees
the blood of the Lamb. He sees me as worthy and not
as I am. He views me in garments
as white as the snow. The Lamb of God is worthy, and
He washed me white as snow. So He left that holy city, traveling
on to the cross, just to bridge the gulf to glory. and to rescue
all the lost. By His blood He entered into
the throne of our God. On the mercy seat He placed it,
salvation for His own. And when He sees me, He sees
the blood of the Lamb. He sees me as worthy and not
as I am. He views me in garments as
white as the snow. Lamb of God is worthy, and He
washed me white as snow. And when He sees me, He sees
the blood of the Lamb. as worthy and not as I am. He views me in garments as
white as the snow, for the Lamb of God is worthy and he washed
me white as snow. For the Lamb of God is worthy,
and he washed me, this I know. Well, I hope I can preach that
this morning. If you would, open your Bibles again to Jeremiah
chapter 23. I'll read to you the verses.
It's been our text for some time. I don't know how long it's been,
but Lord willing, next week we may have a different text. I
think this may be the last message we have here from Hebrews 11,
32, where the writer says, And what shall I more say? For the
time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak and of Samson,
of Jephthah, David also and Samuel and of the prophets, of the prophets. I've titled the message this
morning, The Faith of the Prophets, and I've subtitled it, Righteousness
Imputed and Imparted. Dan, I don't know if you can
fit both of those on sermon audio. If you can't, use the subtitles,
what folks would see there on the internet. There are many
texts that came to my mind When I thought about preaching the
faith of the prophets, I wanted to preach on all of them. I thought
about David, Psalm of the Cross, Psalm 22. I thought about Isaiah's
vision in Isaiah 6 when he saw the Lord high and lifted up.
I thought about Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 40, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Tell her her warfare is accomplished.
I thought about Isaiah 53 where the prophet 700 years before
Christ was born talked about Christ and His work in past tense.
I thought about that. I thought about Isaiah chapter
61, the text our Lord chose for His first recorded public message
when He said He'd come to set the prisoner free. He came to
preach the gospel to the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted.
He told them that day, this day is the scripture fulfilled in
your ears. I thought about that. Well, I settled upon Jeremiah's
prophecy in Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah wrote of his faith.
the faith of all the prophets in this coming Messiah. They
wrote of one who would come, who would save his people from
their sin. Jeremiah wrote of Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord, our righteousness. Centuries before Christ came
incarnate, Jeremiah and all the prophets told us that God's people
are made righteous in Christ, in his obedience to law, not
in ours, but in him through faith in him. Now, the fact that God's
sinful people are made righteous in Christ, our representative,
our substitute, is one of the most important doctrines in all
of scripture, in all of the gospel, that we're righteousness. How
is it the sinner is made righteous? I put this in an article in the
bulletin this week. My strongly worded advice to
you is do not try to figure out how God did that. Or when God did that, because
you're wasting your time. And when you do that, you missed
the blessing. Here's the blessing. We're made
righteous in Christ through faith in him. Let's rejoice in that.
Let's be thankful for that. If we do the other trying to
figure out this, how and when we're going to put our eyes on
the doctrine and what we think and off of the one who is our
righteousness, see him saying. These two verses of our text,
Jeremiah 23, verses five and six, Robert Hawker wrote this
about these two verses. He said, these two verses contain
an epitome of the whole Bible. It's Christ and his offices,
Christ and his works, Christ and his character, and all that
refers to his glorious person and finished salvation. That's
pretty two powerful verses, isn't it? Let's look first at the first
four verses here. Jeremiah 23. We'll see what leads
up to Jeremiah giving us this prophecy of Jehovah's Akinnu.
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep
of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. You scattered
my flock and driven them away and have not visited them. Behold,
I'll visit upon you the evil of your doing, saith the Lord.
I will gather the remnant of my flock. out of all countries,
whether I have driven them, and will bring them again to their
folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase, and I'll set up
shepherds over them, which shall feed them, and they shall fear
no more, or be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith
the Lord God." Now, just like in Jeremiah's day, there are
false prophets today, always have been, always will be, till
the Lord returns. But this is equally true. The
Lord has never left himself. without a witness, ever. The
Lord has reserved his true preachers. God's given them the message
that they're to preach. And the Holy Spirit uses that
message that they preach to save God's people, to feed and comfort
God's people. And the Lord promises here, this
is his promise now to his people, my people will not be lacking. They're not going to be dismayed,
they won't be lacking. And it's because of who God's
servant preaches. That's why they won't be lacking.
It's because in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're complete. In Christ,
we're not lacking anything. In Jeremiah and all the other
prophets, they all had faith and looked forward to that coming
Messiah. And they were saved by faith,
through faith. They weren't saved by their works
or through faith. The exact same way you and I
are. The only difference is they look
forward to Him. We look back to the Christ who's already come
and finished the work. We're saved by looking to and
trusting in the very same Savior Jeremiah and the prophets did.
So now let's look at Him who the prophets preached, who we
preach. Let's look at Him who we must believe. There's one
I'm going to preach to you this morning, Jehovah Sidkenhu. You
and I must believe him. If we would be saved, we must
believe him. Jeremiah begins verse five, behold,
behold, sit up and pay attention. The Holy Spirit is getting ready
to show us something awe-inspiring, someone awe-inspiring. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David
a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper. and
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." Now, Jeremiah
and the prophets, they had faith in this Savior, and they knew
He would be both God and man. And if the Lord has saved us,
our faith will be in the same Savior, this God-man. First,
Jeremiah shows us the Savior's a real man, and it's got to be
that way. The Savior must be a real man
so He can be our representative. It's impossible to understand
the gospel until you understand representation. God sees the
whole human race, every human being that's ever lived. He sees
them in one of two representatives. He doesn't look at us in ourselves.
He sees us in our representative. It's either in the first man,
Adam, or the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam. And all of us,
this is what the truth of representation teaches us, that all of us have
done what our representative did. We did exactly what our
representative did. When Adam sinned, all of us sinned
too, because we were in Adam. We did what our father Adam did. That's why we're guilty, because
we did what Adam did. When Adam sinned, sin was imputed
to us because we sinned in him as a just charge. Well, when
the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed the law, all of his people obeyed
the law perfectly. His people did exactly what Christ
did. So they're righteous. Now God,
he can't be our representative. The son of God can't be our representative
because he's got a different nature than we do. So God had
to become a man so that he could be our representative. In Jeremiah
and all the prophets, they understood this and they believed it. Now,
I'm just certain there's no way they could have understood this
as clearly as you and I do. We see Christ incarnate 2000
years ago. We see how Christ came and finished
the work, died on the cross. Well, it's easier to see that
this side of the cross, isn't it? But they couldn't have understood
that like we do, but they did understand it and they did believe
it. Abraham knew the Messiah is going
to come through the seat of Isaac. That's why he was sure if he
takes Isaac up the top of that mountain and offers him up, slits
his throat, kills him, burns his body to ashes, God's going
to raise him from the dead. Because he knew the Messiah is
coming through that boy's loins. David and Solomon, they knew
that Christ would come through them. They knew it. God told
them the King's going to come through them. They knew that.
Well, Jeremiah knew it too. He knew. He tells us there's
going to be a branch of David. You know, you think of a family
tree. There's a branch on David's family tree that's called the
Branch, capital B. There's a man coming. He's going
to be a man descended from David. But Jeremiah and the prophets
also knew this. He'd be a righteous branch. He didn't just say branch here.
He said a righteous branch. The Savior must be a real man.
But he's got to be righteous. can't be born from Adam's sinful
seed. That's why the Apostle John said
in him is no sin. There's no original sin in him
because he's not born from Adam's sinful seed. The Lord Jesus was
conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
Christ is the descendant of Adam through Mary. Not through his
foster father, Joseph, not through any human man, but through the
Virgin Mary. That's how the Savior descended
from David and became a real man. He was Mary's firstborn
child. It was her baby boy. He was a
real man. But second, the Savior must be
God. He's also got to be God so that
he can be righteous. There's none good but God. Only
God can be righteous. So the Savior must be God. And
the Savior, Jeremiah knew this Savior, the branch of David.
He knew he's God because he's the king. Another capital, capital
K. He is king because he's God.
This baby, Mary's baby boy was king of kings and Lord of lords,
depended on her to feed him and take care of him and keep him
alive. Yet he's king of kings and Lord of lords. There's another
thing I'd counsel you not to try to understand, but rejoicing.
You know why God did that? So there'd be a representative
come who could save his people from their sins, who could be
righteous, who could give an obedience to his people that
they could not earn for themselves. So he'd be the sacrifice, the
only sinless sacrifice that ever existed. So his blood could put
away the sin of his people. That's what we rejoice in. And
all the prophets understood something about this God name. May not
have understood as clearly as you and I do, but they understood
it. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 11 verse 1 that this branch, capital
B, he's speaking of the same one Isaiah is writing up, shall
grow out of Jesse's roots. This branch is going to grow
from Jesse's roots. He's going to be a real man.
But Isaiah also knew that branch would be God. Because in Isaiah
4 verse 2, he writes about that branch. He said he should be
the branch of the Lord. Now, wait a minute. Is he a branch
of David? Is he a branch from the root
of Jesse, or is he a branch of the Lord? Which one is it? Well,
it's both, isn't it? He's the God-man. The prophets
knew that. And all saving faith bows to
King Jesus. We bow to Him. We bow before
Him begging. He does not have to do anything
for us. He's God. He's the King. And
the root of all sin is rebellion against the sovereignty of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the root of all sin. That
was Adam's sin. I'm going to be his God. I'm
not going to have him tell me what to do. That was Adam's sin. And it's the root of all sin
ever since. And in the gospel, God commands us. Believe on the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not a good idea. That's
not good Baptist theology. That's not something, some, you
know, warm, fuzzy feeling that God commands us to believe on
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And right here, right now, this
minute where you sit, you haven't believed on Him, you know why?
It's rebellion against the crown rights of God. That's exactly
right. If we haven't bowed to the righteousness
of Christ, it's just stubbornness. It's stiff-necked self-righteousness
that says, I can add something to that. I don't need to do it
God's way. I'm going to do it my way. And
we better hope God doesn't let us have our way. Because if he
does, we're going to go to hell. And it won't be because of our
sin. It'll be because of our self-righteousness. Because of
our stubborn insistence to have it my way. All sin is the root
of it. It's this rebellion against God's
sovereignty. Scripture plainly teaches the
Bible, the Gospel boldly declares that the Lord Jesus Christ died
for His elect. I was talking to Brother Todd
Nyberg yesterday, told me he listened to the preaching of
this man who kept saying over and over and over again in his
message, Christ died for those who believe. Well, that's true,
isn't it? That's true. But if that's all
we say, that's not the Gospel. You know what that man would
not say? Christ died for His elect. And only His elect. And those elect, they will believe
that Christ died for His elect. The gospel boldly declares that. And saving faith says, I believe
that. That's the Savior I need. Saving
faith hears that Christ died for His elect. Saving faith says,
Lord, choose me. Lord, save me. I need You to
save me. Even though I don't deserve it,
save me. Unbelief hears that and says, that's not fair. That's
not fair. I want to have a chance to exercise my free will. But
we better hope God don't let us that way. Better hope. And
since the Lord Jesus Christ is God, he's the God-man, he's the
one that God sent, he will be the one to execute, to carry
out judgment. This is the one, the one God
sent. This God-man will satisfy God's justice. but suffering
the right verdict. When it talks here about executing
judgment, it means executing a right verdict. He's going to
suffer the right verdict for the sin of his people. He's going
to suffer and die for that sin. He's going to be the one, by
his death, he's going to be the one to make it right for God
to have mercy on his people. Because his death is going to
put away the sin of his people. He'll make it right for God to
save his people from their sin, because he's going to wash that
sin away with his perfect blood. I just love that, how the death
of Christ makes it right for God to have mercy on his people.
Because of the death of Christ, God's character demands he have
mercy on his people. Because of the death of Christ,
God's justice God's law demands those people for whom Christ
died be saved. I love that. Oh, I love that. Christ is the one, this God-man
is going to suffer as the substitute of his people so they'll never
die. He's going to suffer the just
for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous that he might
bring us to God. And Jeremiah tells us this Savior
will prosper. He says the same thing Isaiah
said, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Here's something that Jeremiah
and the prophets knew nothing of. They knew nothing of a savior
who tried to save a king. They knew nothing of a savior
who shed his blood for people that wouldn't accept him and
go to hell because they wouldn't accept him. They knew nothing
of that. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper. Everyone for whom he died shall
be saved. The prophets, they believed and
they wrote of the Savior who reigns in victory because he
saved everybody. He came to save. Not one of them
is lost. That's what he tells us in verse six. In his days,
Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this
is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Now don't you love that? Believers
love to hear of the successful Savior. That's all my hope. That lets me breathe easy. He
shall save His people. They shall dwell safely. Because of who He is, the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, cannot fail to save His people from
their sin. All of God's elect, all of spiritual
Israel, They shall be saved and they shall dwell safely. They
can never lose their salvation because Christ has completely
and utterly saved them. And you're going to hear about
a lot of false saviors. So Jeremiah tells us, here's
his name so that you can identify him when you hear about him.
His name is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness.
Now here, His righteousness imputed. And you'll notice that I did
not say imputed righteousness. There's no salvation in trusting
in imputed righteousness. There's salvation in trusting
the one who is righteousness. It's righteousness imputed. Righteousness is a person. How
much more plain could I say, could Jeremiah make that? That's
his name. His name is righteousness. Righteousness is a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. His character is righteous. So
that's his name, righteousness. I reckon you wouldn't find too
much argument anywhere that God's holy, that God's righteous. Here's
the blessing. Here is the miracle of miracles. His name is the Lord, our righteousness. He came to make his people righteous. in him. Not anything we do now.
It's through his obedience to the law, his obeying the law
as a man, as our representative. He made his people righteous. And here's how that happened.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous one, he lived a life. He was
born a man, born under the law, and he obeyed that law perfectly
from his conception. to his birth, to being a child,
to being a little boy, a young man, a man in the prime of life,
he always obeyed God's law perfectly. He's the righteous one. And that
obedience, he took that obedience, that righteousness that he'd
earned as a man, and he traded it with his people. He traded. And this is not a trade any of
us would make. He traded his perfect obedience
for all of the disobedience, all of the sin of his people.
He took the sin of his people and he made it his. He called
it mine iniquity. That's what he called it. Now
he wasn't a sinner. I'm not. Nope. Nobody's saying he's a
sinner. I wish I was anyway, I wouldn't
tell you what I wish, but nobody's saying he's a sinner. but he
called it his sin. He became guilty of it. He felt
the shame of it. He said, it's so great. I can't look at it. Now, if I
went down to the city hall and I paid a speeding ticket for
my brother, Jonathan, that'd be a nice thing to do. And I'd
walk in there with my head held high. I didn't want to be shamed
up. I didn't get a speeding ticket. I didn't get a speeding ticket
because they clocked him instead of me. He's the only reason. But
I'm not guilty of nothing. I'm just paying his fine. I'd
hold my head up high. Christ felt the shame of it. He made sin. And he took that
sin and he suffered everything, everything that sin deserved.
Now, this is something only God can do. You can't even think
of it. I shouldn't even use that illustration, Jonathan. I'm sorry,
because there's no human illustration that can illustrate this. This
is something only God can do. He made his holy, sinless son
sin for his people, and he suffered all the punishment that that
sin deserves, and he died the death that that sin deserves.
And because of that sacrifice, the sin of God's elect is gone. It no longer exists. It's been
blotted out by the blood of Christ. Christ has made his people righteous
by taking their sin away from them and paying for that sin
and giving his people a righteousness. Now, when we say that God imputes
the righteousness of Christ to his people, people mistake what
that means. They think they This is what
they think. They say, well, this person,
this sinner is me. I'm guilty and I'm vile. But
God's imputed the righteousness of Christ to me. And when he
did that, he made me righteous by imputing Christ's righteousness
to me. But that's not an imputation
at all. When we say God imputes righteousness, the righteousness
of Christ, his people, we're saying that God reckons, he imputes,
he reckons his people to be righteous because Christ has already made
them righteous by his sacrifice. This word reckon or impute is
an accounting term. God doesn't impute righteousness
to a sinner and call them righteous, even though they're not. That's
not imputation. God can only impute. He can only
reckon what is actually true. Now, if I make a $100 deposit
in my checking account, and then I can, when I do that, after
I do that, I can go home and I can impute $100 to my ledger.
because I actually gave the bank a $100 bill. But if I just sit
there and say, you know, I'd like to have a little more money.
I'd like to buy a few more things. I'm going to impute $100 to my
checking account. I'm going to go out and write
$100 worth of checks. And I never made a deposit. If I do that
long enough, I'm going to bounce checks. Why? Because I've got
a false balance. Well, God's not going to bounce
any checks. He's not ever going to have a false balance. God
has a true balance. And he reckons he imputes righteousness
to somebody only because he's already made them righteous in
Christ. Christ has taken their sin away from that. Now you see
that? That's righteousness imputed.
And righteousness imputed gives us, gives God's people, a righteous
legal standing before God. That's something that must be.
Christ made his people righteous. He made it so that righteousness
is the only thing God can impute to his people because he's taken
their sin away. The only thing left is he imputes
righteousness to them. That's a legal standing. But
salvation requires more than a legal standing. Salvation requires
a heart work, heart work. And we must be given a righteous
nature. It's got to be a new righteous
nature. God's not going to take the old
nature and fix it up. patch it up and make it appear
to be righteous somehow, God's going to give a brand new righteous
nature to his people in the new birth. And that's where righteousness
imparted comes in. See, righteousness must be imputed.
We've got to have a righteous standing before God. But righteousness
also must be imparted. It must be put in us so that
we are righteous. A sinner God must see them legally
as righteous. But God's going to accept us
in His presence. We've got to actually be righteous. And God the Holy Spirit causes
a sinner to be born again. That's what happened. He imparts,
He puts in them a righteous nature. A nature that God can accept.
A nature that God loves. I told you earlier that when
Adam sinned, all of us sinned in him. He's our representative.
Sin was imputed to us. in Adam. Was that real? I mean, was it? Were you made guilty in Adam?
Was that real? Well, I'll tell you how real
it is. We see Adam's sin imparted to us when we receive his nature,
when we're conceived. And when we're born, we come
forth from the womb speaking lies. We come forth from the
womb with a nature that hates God, that refuses to believe
on Christ because Adam's nature was imparted to us in our birth. I hate to say anything about
Amy's brand new little grandson, but that's the way he came forth
from the womb. He blessed his heart, he couldn't help it, could
he? That's nature. That sin in Adam was real, wasn't
it? You just watch Littlefeller. You'll see it eventually. It'll
leak out on him. See, that's sin imputed and imparted. Righteousness works the exact
same way. God's elect were made righteous. Christ obeyed the law for them.
We did what he did. And Christ's righteousness is
imparted to us in the new birth. We're born from a sinless seed,
the preaching of the word of God. God uses that seed and plants
it in the hearts of His people, and the Holy Spirit causes it
to be life. And that new nature is righteous,
it's holy, and it can never sin. And the evidence of it is this.
Just like our nature of Adam will leak out on us, the nature
of Christ in you will leak out on you too. You know the evidence
of it? You suddenly believe God where
you didn't before. You suddenly love the gospel
where you didn't before. You suddenly need to hear the
gospel or you didn't need to hear it before. What happened?
It's given us a new nature. That's righteousness imparted. OK, how real is that? How real is it? Look over at
Jeremiah chapter 33. Jeremiah wasn't finished just
yet talking about this branch. Jeremiah 33 verse 14. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord. I will perform that good thing which I promised under
the house of Israel, under the house of Judah. The days coming,
I'm going to send my son into this world to accomplish what
I purposed. And I'm going to send my spirit into the hearts
of my people. And I'm going to perform that
which I promised. I'm going to give them a new righteous nature. It's going to be imparted into
them. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Verse 15 is, now here's
how I'm going to perform that good thing. In those days, and
at that time, will I call the branch of righteousness to grow
up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in
the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem
shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith
she shall be called, the Lord, our righteousness. Jehovah, said
Kennedy. But Jeremiah is saying exactly
the same thing he said back in chapter 23. I mean, it's obvious
here he starts talking about this branch. It's obvious he's
still talking about Christ, isn't he? He says the exact same thing
right up to the point where he says, this is the name wherewith
she shall be called Jehovah Sikindu, the Lord, our righteousness.
Now, wait a minute. I thought that's his precious
name. It is. But here, he says, this is the
name wherewith she shall be called. The bride's union with Christ,
the union that God's elect have with Christ is so real that she
is called by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah Zikinu. No longer do we bear that worthless,
shameful name of Adam. but we're called Jehovah Zikinu. When the father sees his people,
he doesn't see us in ourselves. And he doesn't see us and Christ
or Christ and us. He doesn't see separate. When the father looks at his
people, he sees one person. He sees his son. He sees Jehovah
Zikinu, the Lord, our righteousness. The believer is so much one with
Christ. We are Him. We're as loved and
accepted of the Father as Christ Himself. We're as righteous as
Christ Himself. This is the name with which she
should be called. And she's going to be called
that because that's what God made her. Now, I've used this
illustration before, but I can't think of a better one. Janet
was born. down at King's Daughters Hospital,
and they filled out a birth certificate, and she was named Janet Conley.
Janet Conley. She still looks like a Conley,
but now she's Janet Tate, isn't she? Janet Tate. But she looks
like a Conley. She acts a whole lot like a Conley. It's just in her DNA. She looks and acts so much like
Granny Connolly. Sometimes I call her Faye. If the Lord lets us live long
enough, I know exactly who I'm going to be married to. I've
sat at her table so many times. Faye Connolly, that's who she
is. It's just her DNA. She's a Connolly. But when she
married me, she got a brand new name, Janet Tate. Janet Tate. And when she did, all things
became new. She got a new address. She and
I moved in together, got us a house. She got a new name. She got a
new address. She got a new way of doing things. Before we were
married, she did things this way and I did them this way.
We found a way to compromise. We got a new way of doing things. Things that work for us. And
after all these years, she and I are much more alike than we
are different. She's Janet Tate. She really
is. That seems weird to you, doesn't
it, Rosalie? You can't think, you're Janet Tate. She's got
the same nice name as you do. But she was born Janet Connolly
and there's a lot of Connolly left in her. We get together
with her sisters and she's got an aunt. I mean, man, they just
seem like they're identical. It's just they look so much alike.
Well, that's a believer going through this life. You trust
Christ, your name, you've got a new name now. It's Jehovah
Sikkim. Almighty God, has made you righteous
in His Son. And you will never be more righteous
than you are sitting right here, right now. Never. Even in glory,
you won't be more righteous than you are right now. But oh my
goodness, there's a lot of Adam left in us. There's a lot of
Adam. Oh my goodness. I'm glad there's
a lot of Conley and Jane. I'm glad. Oh, it's so good for
me. She's a lot like Granny Conley. But that thing about us being
like Adam, I'd like to get rid of it, wouldn't you? Oh, I'd
like to get rid of it. Oh, I hate it. I hate how much
like Adam. When I look at myself, I look
down at my heart and I don't see any righteousness there.
All I see is Adam. I hate it. My brother and my sister, you
hang on to this promise. It's not going to be like that
forever. One day, you're going to lay everything that came from
Adam down. You're going to go be with the
Lord. and you'll be perfectly like him. Perfectly. You won't even have the bridge
of Adam's nose. Perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. One last
scripture, 1 John chapter 3. This is the passage we read to
open the service and I want to close with it. 1 John chapter
3. It won't be like this forever.
One day we'll be perfectly conformed to his image. Verse John 3, verse
2. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Now are we Jehovah's akin. And it does not yet appear what
we shall be. There's a whole lot of Adam.
That's all we see, Adam and us. But we know that when he shall
appear, we should be like him. For we shall see him as he is. And if you know him, you can
say in your heart, Lord, hasten the day. That's him who we must believe. God make it so. Let's bow together.
Our father, how we thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's not thanks as we ought to
offer it. It's not praise that's worthy
of your matchless name, but father, we thank you. We praise you.
how we thank you for the Lord, our righteousness, that you have
made your people righteous in him. Father, we're thankful. This is the one we must believe. Father, we beg of you that you
give us each heart here this morning faith to believe you,
to believe your son. Leave here this morning being
found in him. Not having our own righteousness,
but being found in him. His perfect, spotless righteousness. It's in His matchless name. And
for His glory, we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing 132. I serve a risen Savior, He's
in the world today. I know that He is living, whatever
men may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear
his voice of cheer, and just the time I need him, he's always
near. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with
me along life's narrow way. salvation to impart. You ask me how, I know He lives,
He lives in my heart. In all the world around me, I
see His loving care. And though my heart grows weary,
I never will despair. I know that He is leading Through
all the stormy blasts, the day of His appearing will come at
last. He lives, Christ Jesus lives
today. He walks with me and talks with
me along life's narrow way. salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives with me. Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,
Lift up your voice and sing. Eternal alleluia to Jesus Christ
the King. The hope of all who seek Him,
the help of all who find. The lover is so loving, so good
and kind. He lives He lives, Christ Jesus
lives today. He walks with me and talks with
me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation
to impart. Oh, I know He lives, He lives
within my heart. you.