It's just delightful to be with
you, and I trust the Lord will bless our meeting together. I love you, love your pastor,
love this church, and thank God for you. Would you turn to Luke
chapter 22? Luke chapter 22. I'd like to read the 37th verse
of Luke chapter 22. For I say unto you that this
that is written, and we just read what he's referring
to out of Isaiah 53, the passage of Scripture that your pastor
just read. For I say unto you that this that is written must
yet must, it's absolutely necessary for it to be accomplished in
me. And he was reckoned among the
transgressors. But the things concerning me
have an end. A couple of months ago, Brother
Bruce Crabtree called me and said, I would like to hear a
message with regard to what the Bible means by imputation. And I thought I would too. What
does the Bible mean by imputation? And notice I'm saying, what does
the Bible mean? That's all I'm concerned about. I thought I would like to preach
on that sometime, but I've been hesitant for a couple of reasons.
First, because I know it means a whole lot more than I can get
hold of. You know, regarding all the truth
of Scripture, the mysteries that God has revealed, they are just
too profound to explain. there to be proclaimed, there
to be believed, but as far as explained, can you explain the
Trinity? Can you explain how God became
flesh? Can you explain imputation? You can believe it, but as far
as an explanation, that's beyond us. And I also hesitate to deal with
the topic and then go to the Bible to find out what it says. There just doesn't seem to be
much inspiration in that. I like to be inspired by a passage
of scripture, and I know that's what I want to preach from. But
just going to the Bible kind of in a systematic way to find
out what it teaches about something, it's kind of academic. It's kind
of hysterical to me. I just don't like that. But I
was reading this verse of scripture that I just read, and I thought
that gave me just a glimpse as to what imputation means. And we're going to come back
to this verse at the end of this message. Now, imputation is a
biblical word. It's found in the New Testament
thirty-five times, translated by twelve different words, but
it's the same word in the original. Thirty-five times this word is
recorded, and it's a part of the great mystery of godliness. In the Old Testament, It's found
a whole lot more times. The Hebrew word that's translated
in Psalm 32, verse 2, imputation or impute, is translated by 18
different words in the Old Testament. And that gives us some idea of
how broad this is. Let me give them to you real
quick. It's translated by the word to count, consider, conceive,
count, cunning work, devise, esteem, find out, hold, imagine,
impute, invent, be like, mean, purpose, reckon, regard, and
think." That same word is translated by all those different words. And in the New Testament, the
same word is translated by twelve different words in the King James
Version. all of which give us a different
shade of the meaning. Now, before I go on, religion
uses this word. Free will religion uses this
word. Reformed religion uses this word. Charismatics use this word. Armenians
use this word. This is a word that religion
uses. However, they give a different
meaning than the Bible. And I want to know what the Bible
means by this. And I tell you, if I can get
a hold of it, if you can get a hold of it, it'll fill your
heart with joy, with thankfulness, with confidence, rejoicing in
God your Savior. Now here is how religion, I don't
know what else to use, your average Baptist, Methodist, whatever,
this is how religion uses this word imputation. Because of the
imputation, Christ's righteousness imputed, God views Christians
as righteous even though they're not. Is that righteous? You know, when you read that
passage in Psalm 24, I thought to myself, There's imputation. Blessed is he who has clean hands and a pure heart and has not
lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. That is a description not only
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but so real is imputation that that
describes That's imputation. Many view it as a righteous legal
standing before the law, even though, in fact, you're a lawbreaker. Now, I want to ask a question.
Is that righteous? If God views me as righteous,
even though I'm not. Now, somebody's thinking, well,
I'm not. I know, but stay with me. Stay with me. When religion thinks of sin being
imputed to Christ, they think of God treating Christ as though
he were guilty, although he really wasn't. Is that righteous? Is that righteous if that is
what imputation is? By imputation, we're treated
just as if we've never sinned, though we did. Now, is that righteous? Christ is treated just as if
He really did sin, although He didn't. He was punished. Now I ask again, is that right? Now my conscience doesn't find
any satisfaction in that because it's really not right. Let me
show you a scripture in Proverbs chapter 17. If that's the case,
God is not just, and I don't find any comfort in that. I don't
find any rest in that. I don't find any assurance in
that. Look in Proverbs chapter 17, verse 15. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination
to the Lord. Now, if God justifies me when
I'm really wicked, if he condemned Christ when he was really without sin,
it says here. What would we think of a human
judge who did that? What would we think of a human judge who
condemned the innocent? And what would we think of a
human judge who justified the wicked? We'd put them out of
business, wouldn't we? We wouldn't accept a judge like
that. Now, let me give you the 12 ways
that this word impute is translated in the New Testament, which will
give us a better idea of what the Bible means by this word. In 1 Corinthians 14, 1, Paul
said, let a man so account of us as stewards of the mysteries
of God. There the word is translated
account. Now, that doesn't mean let a man account of us as stewards
of the mysteries of God, even though we're really not. No,
let a man account of us as stewards of the mysteries of God, because
that's what we are, stewards of the mysteries of God. It's
translated in Romans 3.28, conclude, therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. It's translated
count in Philippians 3.13, I count not myself to have apprehended.
It's translated charge in 2 Timothy 4.16, I pray that it might not
be laid to their charge. It's translated esteem in Romans
14.14, If a man esteems it to be unclean, to him it is unclean,
if that's the way he imputes it, if that's the way he counts
it. It's translated imputed in Romans chapter four, eight. And
that's where I want to stop for a moment. Imputed. Turn with me to Romans chapter
four. Romans chapter four. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven. and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin." Now, like I said, this is a mystery
revealed in the gospel that we wouldn't have known anything
about. And we never know it unless he
was pleased to make it known, this thing of imputation. Now,
there are three imputations that took place in Scripture. First,
there was the imputation of Adam's sin to us. Would you turn with
me to Romans chapter 5? You're there in Romans 4. Look
in Romans chapter 5. Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Now, by that offense of one,
every man was condemned by what he did. But it means more. Understand
this, in this thing of imputation, it doesn't simply mean that his
sin was charged to me, although it was. It means I did it. Look in Romans chapter 5, verse
12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and death
by sin, so death passed upon all men, for all men have that
sin imbued into them." It doesn't say that, does it? It says, all
men sinned. When Adam sinned, I sinned. Not simply Adam's sin was charged
to me, but I did it in the person of my representative, I did it. Somebody says, how can his sin
be imputed to me? How could that be fair? And I
understand that objection. But the fact of the matter is,
it's fair because you did it. And let's say it wasn't imputed
to you. How would you do on your own?
What if you stood on your own without his sin being imputed
to you? Would you fare any better? Why, you'd be just as bad off.
No. Adam's sin was imputed. It was
a charge to everybody so that we actually did. That's the language
of Scripture. That's the language of Scripture.
All have sinned. When Adam sinned, I personally
sinned. Now, the second imputation is the non-imputation of sin. And we read about that in Psalm
32.1 in this passage we just read in verse 8. Blesses the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, everything I
think about myself, I am conscious of sin right now. My sin is ever
before me. But here's my hope. Everything
I think about myself is a lot worse than I think. If the truth
were known, it's a lot worse than I think. And I'm glad I
don't know how bad I really am. I don't even want to know. But
here's my hope that that sin was not imputed to me. that I'm
not charged with it. That God doesn't impute it to
me. That simple. Here's my hope.
Everything I know about, I know I'm a sinner in and of myself.
I wouldn't deny that for a second. But here's my hope that God does
not charge me with that sin. He charged His blessed Son with
my sin so that my sin became His sin. So that He was guilty
of it. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ in
his person never committed a sin. And even when he was made sin,
he never committed a sin. I've heard preachers say, well,
on the cross, Christ became a sinner. No, he didn't. Don't say that. He was made sin. And that's worse. That's worse. He was made sin. Now, the reason that I can be
without sin as my sin became his. Turn to Isaiah 53 for just
a moment. Isaiah chapter 53, verse 12. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great And he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and
he was numbered." That's the Hebrew word imputed. He was numbered
with the transgressors. That's who he was numbered with.
The transgressors. Now, what does all that mean?
Well, look up in verse 11. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Now, I preached out of Isaiah
53 sometime in the last six months. I remember I looked up the meaning
of every word in there. And you know what the word bear
means? You can look this up. I looked
it up in the Hebrew Strong's Concordance. the definition was
gravid. Anybody know what gravid means?
I didn't. So I looked the word up in Webster's
Dictionary. What does gravid mean? It means
pregnant. Now what relationship is as close
in our experience, or a woman's experience, as a woman with a
child in her belly? There's no relationship that
is closer than that. Now Christ Jesus, when he was
made Sian, all that Sian is, he was made
to experience. Not in the commission of it.
Forbid the thought not in the commission of it. But He experienced
the darkness. He experienced the guilt. He
experienced the shame. He experienced the humiliation. He experienced the embarrassment
before His Father of sin. Now, you and I can't much understand
this because sin doesn't really bother us. We're used to it.
We're desensitized. We're hardened. But oh, His Holy
Soul was made sin. And all the humiliation of being
caught, of being exposed, of being in darkness, of being forsaken. All that He experienced. He was graven with sin. And you know what breaks my heart
more than anything else is that it doesn't break my heart anymore
to talk about this. He was made sin. And there is the imputation of
his righteousness to those he died for. Their sin literally
became his so that he himself was guilty of it. That is why
he was punished. When he was on the cross, he
couldn't say, I know I didn't do it, but I'm doing this for
my people. Nothing like that. He felt all
the shame and the guilt of sin. And that's why he was punished.
Literally, the sins of his people became his. And his righteousness, and here's
the joy of this, his righteousness literally becomes mine. It's my righteousness. I'm not treated as if I was righteous. I am the righteousness of God
in Him. And I wouldn't dare say that
if the Bible didn't say it. Second Corinthians 5.21 says,
For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now, I'd be scared to say that
if it wasn't in God's Holy Word. But this is our hope and this
is what gives us confidence. This is how we can draw nigh
and expect to be heard and expect to be received and expect to
be embraced by the Father because we are righteous before Him. I love the way God said of Noah,
thee have I seen as righteous before me. And if God sees me
as righteous, there's only one reason, because I am righteous. Just as truly as he was made
sin and bore all that that means, every believer is made the very
righteousness of God in him. Now, let me give you these other
words real quick. It's translated numbered. He
was numbered with the transgressors. It's translated in Mark 11, 51,
reason, they reason with themselves. It's translated reckon, Romans
6, 11. I love that passage of scripture where Paul says, reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Now, would God tell
me to reckon myself to be dead indeed to sin if I were not in
fact dead indeed to sin? Sin has nothing to say to that.
perfectly righteous before God. Well, I don't feel it. Believe
it. That's what God's Word says. It's translated, suppose, 2 Corinthians
11, 5, I suppose I'm not a wit behind the chief apostle, though
I be nothing. Now, the reason he supposed he
was not a wit behind the chief apostle, because he wasn't a
wit behind the chief apostles. It's translated, think, in 2
Corinthians 3, 5, not that we're sufficient of ourselves to think
anything as of ourselves. Now, the reason we don't think
anything of ourselves is because there's nothing to us. We know that in
and of ourselves. It's translated, despised, Acts
14, 27. If we can't make idols, this
is what the fellows were saying that were being, Acts 19, where
Paul had come in and said the idols were nothing and they tried
to get him arrested. And they said, if we can't make idols,
the temple of the great goddess Diana will be despised, imputed
as nothing. And the reason it would be imputed
as nothing? Because it is nothing. That's
the only reason. Now, God does not view me as
righteous, though I'm not. Here's the glory of imputation.
He views me as righteous because I am. has imputed righteous to me,
he views me as altogether righteous." He doesn't impute sin to me because
there's no sin there to impute. It's been put away and every
believer stands before God without guilt. Now behind the great glorious
doctrine of imputation is the altogether mysterious, great,
and glorious doctrine of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews
2.11 says, both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are
all of one. Not real close. Not tight, but
one. You see, as He is united to me, and I
don't understand this, I'm just telling what, none of us understand
this. You know, the reason the Lord turned the lights off when
our Lord was hanging on the cross, it was to let us know we can't
see what was going on. We don't much understand this
at all, I realize that, but I do believe it. Christ Jesus the
Lord became one with what I am. He became one with what I am. And I am one with who He is. So that, as 1 John 417 says, as he is, so are we in this world right
now. On the cross, God viewed him as sin because
he was made sin. And right now, he views all of
his elect as the very righteousness of God in him. And that satisfies my conscience. It really does. I find satisfaction
in that. And not only does it give me
peace and joy, it motivates me to give myself completely to
Him who loved me and gave Himself for me. That's enough. Now, back to Luke chapter 11. This is what I want to close
with, because I thought when I read this passage of Scripture,
this gave me some little glimpse of what the Bible actually means
by imputation. Now, in verse 37, he says, For I say unto you,
that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me. It hadn't been accomplished yet.
Now, it was accomplished because Christ was the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world in eternity, but in time He had
to come and experience this. No way out. That which is written
must yet be accomplished in thee." And he was reckoned among the
transgressors. He quotes Isaiah 53, 12, for
the things concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord,
behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, it's enough.
And he came out and went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives. Actually, the Garden of which
means winepress. And this is where his suffering
began. It didn't begin when they nailed
those nails through his hands and his feet and lifted the cross
up in the stand and he bore all that horrible physical agony. Actually, that was nothing compared
to this. And I wouldn't dare say that
that was But it wasn't the physical agony. Let's go on reading. He came out and went as he was
warned to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed
him. And we know from the other accounts, at that time when he
went away, they fell asleep. They fell asleep. And when he was at that place,
He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled
down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from The cup of His wrath, the cup
of His displeasure, the cup of Him being forsaken, the cup of
being made sin as a man. And I don't understand this,
but as a man, He was overcome with the thought of this. And
He says, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this
cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but
Thine be done. an angel unto him from heaven,
strengthening him, and of what it says, being in an agony. You and I can't possibly understand
this. Being in an agony. He prayed more earnestly And
his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to
the ground. He was under such pressure, under
such stress in being made sin, that blood burst out his pores.
You see, his Holy Soul had a capacity for suffering that you and I
don't have. We can't understand this because we're sinful. Sin
doesn't bother us. Not really. We say it does when
we get kicked, but not much. Not like this. He sweat, as it
were, great drops of blood." Now, if you can understand just
a glimpse of what was going on in Gethsemane, you can get a
glimpse of understanding of what imputation means. When His Holy
Soul was made, Mark's account says at this time
that he was exceeding sorrowful and very heavy. Matthew says
he was sore amazed and terrified. He who knew no sin was made sin. And that heavy load crushed him
without his body being touched. He became guilty, and all the
shame, and all the hell, and all the disobedience, and all
the rebellion and wickedness that's associated with sin, he
was made to feel. You always like to feel guilty
before God when you know you've sinned and He's seen you do it. And you feel such guilt, you're
afraid to confess. He felt that so much more acutely
than you and I could ever feel. Understand this? No. Believe it? With all my He put away sin by that great sacrifice. So that
when we read, who shall stand in the hill of the Lord? He that
hath clean hands and pure heart, who hath never
lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall
receive blessings. from the God of this salvation.
Now that is how real imputation is. That's a mystery, isn't it? That's just a mystery that the
only way we can't, we believe. Now, how can I know if I have
some part in this glorious imputation? I want to know, don't you? How
can I know if I personally have some part? You can know right
now. You can know right now if you have a part in this. Romans
4, verse 23. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone, Abraham, that it was imputed to him. And you remember there in Genesis
chapter 15, where the Lord appeared to Abraham. And he said, Abraham, look at
the stars. Can you count them? He said,
no. He said, that's how your seed's going to be. Now, Abraham
was an old man with a wife who had already gone through menopause.
But you know what? He believed the Lord with no
evidence but the naked Word of God. He believed the Lord and
it was counted to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone. that it was canon to him for
righteousness, verse 24, Romans 4, but for us also to whom it
shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again. for our justification. Now do
you believe on Him? Do you rely on Him who raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead? He was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. Do you believe
Him? Do you believe what He says?
Do you believe that what Jesus Christ the Lord did is enough
to make you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in God's sight. Well, this was written for you. You have every reason to know
that you had some part in this glorious imputation. Now remember,
one of the glorious things about the gospel, I know the way we
think. We think when we hear of the, I guess the particular,
what's the word, well just the fact that God elected everybody,
not everybody's elect. Christ only guides the elect.
God the Holy Spirit only calls the elect. And they're the only
ones that are saved. We have a tendency to think,
well, what if I'm not one of them? Listen, beloved, that doesn't
keep anybody out of the kingdom of heaven. The gospel in its
very nature doesn't keep people out. You're already out. I'm
already out. It brings people in. Do you believe
the gospel? and this is for you.