Please be finding your way to
Leviticus 7, and while you're turning there, let me just mention
that it was made known to us just before service that Debbie
James' dad has passed away, Tim James' wife, and let's do remember
her and the family during this time. Leviticus chapter 7 deals with
the subject of imputation. I'm particularly interested in
trying to teach this evening about one particular aspect of
imputation. This passage emphasizes the single
foundation of imputation. Let's read the verses and we'll
talk some more about that. Verse 15, And the flesh of the
sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten
the same day that it was offered. He shall not leave any of it
until the morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering
be a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day
that he offers his sacrifice, and on the morrow also the remainder
of it shall be eaten. That is, at the very latest.
But, verse 17, the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice
on the third day shall be burnt with fire. And if any of the
flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all,
On the third day, it, that is the sacrifice, shall not be accepted,
neither shall it be imputed unto him who offers it. It shall be
an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear
his iniquity." Imputation only has one foundation. It's a single
element, a single truth, a single reality. And that foundation
of imputation, contrary to what almost everyone universally believes,
is not faith. Faith is not the foundation of
imputation. Let me give you an example of
what I was taught years ago as a young religionist lost and
as far away from the gospel as I could be in Bible college.
I remember one day in Dr. Hampton's math class, we'd been
studying greater than, less than, and equal to. And when he got
to the lesson on equivalence, he stopped and he said, you know,
this thing about equal to can be no better illustrated than
by the doctrine of imputation. Well, I was a young lost religionist
seeking to be a young lost theologian, so I was greatly interested in
how math could teach me something about theology. So I perked up
my ears and he made this statement. He said, Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. He went on
to say, therefore, in mathematical terms, faith equals righteousness. If we put our faith in Jesus
Christ, then he will count it the same as righteousness. I
want to be very clear right up front that nothing could be further
from the truth. Faith cannot be, absolutely cannot
be, the foundation for imputation. God does not impute righteousness
unto a single one of his people because they believe. And whatever
else you understand about that verse my math teacher quoted
or its original verse back in Genesis 15, 6, it is not teaching
that if you believe, God will impute righteousness unto you.
This, however, teaches exactly The very heart of this passage
teaches exactly what imputation is based on. Did you see that
part down there in verse 18? It, that is the sacrifice, notice
these two words that stand out, shall not be accepted, neither
shall it be imputed to him who offers it. Imputation rests solely
on this foundation, whether or not the sacrifice is accepted. This works very simply. If the
sacrifice is accepted, righteousness must be imputed. And yet if the
sacrifice is not acceptable, it will never be imputed. It's
all founded on the sacrifice. The sacrifice is the foundation
of righteousness. Faith, however, is the means
by which we partake of it. Did you notice in this particular
type of sacrifice the whole the subsequent act after it had
been offered on the altar was to partake of it, to eat it,
actually to consume it all. And that is what faith is illustrated
in. To consume the sacrifice is to
partake of that righteousness of Christ that's been imputed
to us. Look in Romans chapter 4. Let me share with you something
from this latter part of that chapter and on into the fifth
that makes this so very clear for us. Romans 4 verse 23. This is speaking of Abraham. Now, it was not written for his,
Abraham's sake alone that it was imputed to him, that righteousness
was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed
if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Now, if you stop right there, doesn't it sound awfully much
like what my math teacher was saying? If you believe, it'll
be imputed to you. But let's read on. Verse 25. Jesus our Lord from the dead
who was delivered because of, that is the actual meaning of
that preposition translated for, who was delivered because of
our offenses. He had no reason. He had no reason
to die if it wasn't for our sins upon him. That's the only reason
God killed him. Had our sins not been present in his body
on the tree, God would have not killed him. God couldn't have
killed him. God can't kill a righteous man. You know, let me stop and
say this about that. This thing about the Lord's death
is not, it's not play acting with God. It wasn't a matter
of God making a deal with his son that somehow he would say,
well, son, I know you're not guilty, but I'm going to have
to treat you like you are. You know, I know you didn't do any
of these things, but I'm going to have to follow through as
though you did. Oh no, that's not what it was.
There was a true, a true transference of sin to the Savior. God couldn't
have killed him. God can't kill the righteous
man. He's just. His holiness would forbid it. But he says,
he was delivered because of our offenses then. And look at this,
and was raised again because of our justification. Because
his death was successful, the sins were atoned, then God was
obligated to raise him up in evidence of that. Now look at
verse 5. The first word of chapter 5, verse 1, therefore is actually
in the original the third word in the sentence and I'd like
to read it that way because it stands between two thoughts that
often get confused. He was raised again because of
our justification. Having been is actually the past
perfect tense. Having been justified therefore,
why for? because he was offered, he was
delivered, and because he rose again to prove it. Having been
justified, therefore, and then he goes to the next thought,
by faith we have peace with God. It's the justification of Christ's
work. That's the foundation of imputation.
And then after that is faith, which is the laying hold of it.
Look what it said. By faith we have peace with God.
We come to partake and actually become righteous through union
with Him, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And he adds accent to
that in verse 2 when he says, by whom also we have access.
That word access is not just the possibility of access, but
the word access literally means a coming to. Faith is a coming
to the righteousness of Christ. It's the coming to in our experience,
the coming to in our understanding, the coming to in our oneness
with Christ. That's what faith is all about. Let's go back to
our text before I get too far away. Back in Leviticus, the
problem shows up clearly in verses 15 and 16. We have twice repeated
there that these types of sacrifices were to be consumed on the very
first day. I believe any saved Israelite
at that time had no trouble doing that. For any saved Israelite
would have certainly seen the symbolism of actually eating
the sacrifice, partaking of its flesh. They would easily have
seen that union with Christ, union with the Savior, oneness
with the offering, and therefore receiving of its benefits was
what was prefigured in that. They would have had no trouble
eating that thing. I dare say a lot of them ate it before they left
the tabernacle. But then there were those others that for whatever
reason may not have been able to have completely eaten it that
day. And he says, at the outside limit, the next morning. But
he said, here's the problem. Now, the problem that was going
on here was based on this. Now, this was a very humid and
arid climate there. It was desert. It was probably
temperatures that ranged much like the mid-south of our country.
You might, if you offered a sacrifice one day and it was left overnight,
it would probably be okay the next morning. But if you left
that thing out in the kinds of temperatures that they had two
days and waited until that third day, you're talking roadkill. No, you're talking a sacrifice
that in no way, in no way could foreshadow the glorious death
and resurrection of Christ. And he said, it shall not be
eaten. He said, if you do, if you eat this, it looks there
in verse 18 again, if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of
his peace offerings be eaten at all on that third day. Now, I don't think it's by mistake
or by coincidence that the third day is mentioned twice in this
verse, because the point of this passage is, is that a rotten
piece of flesh cannot symbolize the glorious satisfactory atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. A sacrifice that was left to
rot would be the clear image of God leaving his son to rot
in the grave because he didn't succeed. Let's take a look. We already read that earlier
in Romans, or actually in Psalm 16, but I'd like for us to look
at the commentary on that in Acts chapter 2. In Acts 2, Peter
actually spends a good bit of time on that passage out of the
Psalms in his message on the day of Pentecost. Let's spend
just a few moments there. Look at verse 25. For David speaks concerning him. He says he's speaking about Christ
in that passage. And therefore we know that the
words were the words of the Lord Jesus to his father looking to
him in trust that he knew that what he was about to do as hideous
as it was to bear the sins of his people would not go unfulfilled.
He says, I foresaw the Lord always before my face. He's on my right
hand that I should not be moved. therefore did my heart rejoice
my tongue was glad moreover also my flesh will rest in hope even
though i know i will die under his wrath i'm dying in hope he
had the sure knowledge he knew god he knew who the father was
he knew the holiness and the justice of god he had no fear
of dying under his wrath without hope for he knew a just god would
honor that a sacrifice like that he said therefore flesh shall
rest in hope, verse 27, because thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption,
to see decay, to see rottenness. That's why that sacrifice could
not have been left to the third day. putrefying and rotten and
absolutely dead and gone and wasting away, it couldn't represent
Christ. That's why God said it was an
abomination to even think about eating something like that. It
was absolutely beyond conception that a person could find Christ
in such a sacrifice. Verse 28, Thou hast made known
to me the ways of life. You've made known to me resurrected
life. thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. Now look at verse 29. Men and
brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David,
that he's both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us
unto this day. He's not talking about himself. Therefore, being
a prophet, and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne, He, seeing this before,
spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither did his flesh seek eruption. This Jesus
hath God raised up." Now, since a rotten sacrifice rendered imputation
of righteousness impossible, we understand that the effectiveness,
then, of Christ's death on the cross is clearly taught in the
truth about his resurrection. We know about what he accomplished
through what happened afterward. The resurrection serves that
purpose. It teaches us this absolute success of Christ's death. Look
back at verse 23. Let's back up just a few verses
in that passage. Notice, I think it could be Peter's
whole summation of that passage. Christ being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up,
having loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that
he should be held by that." Not possible. Why was it not possible
that he should be held by that? Because he was the Son of God?
Well, yes. Because he was God in the flesh?
Absolutely. Because he offered a perfect
sacrifice? That's exactly right. And how do we know he did? By
the resurrection. If there had been no resurrection,
we would have no reason to believe that the sacrifice had succeeded
in putting the sins away. Had no reason to even have a
beginning to believe that it had been accepted and therefore
the righteousness was imputed. It's because of who Christ is
that we understand and are sure of what He did. Look with me
in Romans chapter 8. Here's a familiar passage. Romans 8, 32. God who spared
not spared not his own son. In what
way would he have spared him if he could? Well, certainly
he would have spared him his anger, but he did not spare. Certainly he would have spared
him his wrath and vengeance, but he didn't spare him. He would
have spared him for many things as a loving father, the eternal
father of the eternal son, the very apple of his eye, but he
spared not one ounce of his wrath against his son. Now, he said,
he who spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. What did he deliver him to? Did
you know if it were possible for a person to go through this
world having almost successfully kept the law, may be offended
only in just one minute point. Do you know what his punishment
would have been? eternity under the wrath of God. Now just suppose to me I wonder
how many, I wonder how many sins of my own, I don't even know how many of them
I have left to sin before I leave this world, that were piled upon
the body of my Savior. How many eternities worth of
sin that I alone put upon Him, and then I count yours, and I
count every other sheep of this present age. and every other
dearly beloved sheep of every age, past and those yet future. And I count up the numbers of
eternities that my Savior bore. He spared him not. He delivered
him up to the full payment of every single thing that our sins
deserved. And here's the question he asked
about that. If that's true, if the debt truly was paid, not
in part, but in full, not sparing even a little, delivered up the
full bulk of God's wrath against all of that mass of sin, he asked
this question, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things? How can God, who is just, not
give us what Christ purchased? Now that's the question of this
passage before us. Verse 33 asks the question differently. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God who
justifies. How can you find even one sin
that you can lay on the most wicked sinner that Christ died
for? How can you find a single thing
against Him? God justified them. Who are you to say it ain't so?
What do you know about it? If you know anything about God,
if you know anything about His holiness, anything about His
justice, if you know anything about the perfection of Christ
and the absolute totality of His sacrifice, you know that
that can't be. God can't find any one of them
guilty. But wait a minute, Mark. Here's
the response I got of one of my friends not too long back
that I asked about that. I asked him this question. I
said, Do you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ died for all men of all times? Absolutely do. He sure
did. I said, well, what went wrong?
What do you mean? Got a puzzle? What do you mean?
I'm just saying that if He died for all the sins of all men of
all times, and some of them are in hell, then what went wrong?
Johnny looked at me. He said, I don't know what you're
talking about. And I said, if He paid the debt
Did he pay the debt? He absolutely did. Paid them
all off. I said, well, was the payment accepted? Was God satisfied
with it? Absolutely was. Well, then why
are they in hell? He said, because they didn't
believe. I said, well, you just said they were paid. Yes. You
just said God was okay with it. Yes. Well, then why are they
in hell? Because they didn't believe. And I said, Johnny,
something went wrong there. Either God's an unjust tyrant
who is demanding payment twice for the same sins or else Christ
just failed. I don't understand what you're
saying, Mark. I don't understand what you're saying. I feel so
sorry for him. He honestly did not understand what I was saying.
Paul was asking that same question. Who can find anything to lay
on to the charge of anyone for whom Christ died? God says they're
just. Now, if God says they're just, they're just. All we have
to do is close our mouth. He asks a further question in
verse 34. Who is he who condemns? And look at this. Here is the
cornerstone of this passage and brings us right back to our text.
Who is he who condemns? It's Christ that died. Don't you know who He is? Don't you know who He was? Don't
you have any inkling of the power of that person, eternal power,
absolutely righteous power, the ability to do what He set out
to do? It's Christ that died. How could you find anyone for
whom He died guilty of anything? It's Christ that died. And he
goes a little further and he says, yea rather. Yea rather
is an expression in the Greek that says there's something even
more important I want to share with you. Not only did he die,
but he's risen again. Right back to that thing. What
is that? That's the proof. That's the proof positive, the
proof infallible that what he set out to do he did. Not only
that, he goes on to make one other assertion. who also maketh,
that is, is continually making intercession for us. Ever since
he bore those sins, ever since he was raised successful and
accomplished his purpose, and ever since he rose from this
earth and went back to sit at the right hand of God, he's been
there as our witness. You know why God's not angry
with us? Because of who sits beside him and what he did. And
he sits right there and every day, all day long, God looks
to him and he finds no fault in us. He says, that's what,
how could anyone condemn any one of those, not a single? It's
impossible. Peter said, it's not possible
that the grave could have held him because it was a satisfactory
atonement. Now, who Who does this, who could
possibly, our text when it talks about those false Israelite worshipers
who could eat a three-day-old rotten sacrifice just as easy
as they could a fresh one right off the altar, who could that
possibly be referring to in our time? I think it should be evident
from the fact that the rotten sacrifice and the mention of
three days twice, which leads us to the resurrection of Christ,
shows that there was some misunderstanding, some great lack of knowledge
about Christ. And I know that it's at least
two things. They were, number one, they were lost Israelites.
They clearly had no understanding, no appreciation of union with
Christ. You know, the more I understand
about Christ, the more I want to be just found in Him. I used
to say that a lot. I know back in the early nineties
when the Lord first revealed His Son in me, I knew enough
to know that that's what I needed. I've come to understand a little
bit about that. I don't think I can be in Him close enough.
I want to be absolutely just one with Christ. I don't want
a righteousness that's a judicial standing somewhere in heaven
and leaves me here apart from it. I don't want a righteousness
as many talk about that is based on the righteousness of Christ. No, I want Christ. I want Him
who is my righteousness. Oh, no. No, I think these false
believers in Israel were those who had no understanding of union
with Christ and therefore had no understanding. They could
tell no difference between a successful sacrifice and one that didn't
succeed. They could just as easily eat
a three-day old stinking sacrifice as to eat a fresh when they had
no discernment of Christ, no understanding of his resurrection. I think there are a lot of people
like that today in false religion who have no understanding. of
the resurrection. You can tell that pretty much
by what they spend their time on. Once they get on that doctrine,
the big thing is about proving that it really happened. We have
to show the scientific evidence that this was an historically
verifiable act that truly happened. You know, that's aimed at agnostics
and atheists and people who don't care. I don't care if they believe
or not, and I'm not really particularly cared about whether you believe
in the historical validity of the resurrection or not. What
I want to know is Do you understand the biblical significance of
that resurrection? Because in that resurrection
is the proof of whether or not you and I are saved. False believers today have no
understanding of the resurrection and the evidence of that is that
they have no discernment between a good sacrifice and a bad sacrifice. You know, we are blessed here. There are a lot of people who
come and a lot of those folks who come, they come and listen
and they can nibble on our sacrifice. They can hear something they
like and go away feeling pretty good about that. You guys preach
of Jesus too, don't you? And then they can go right on
down the road and go to someone who has a rotten, putrid, failed
sacrifice and just enjoy it just as much. Just like Israel did
of old, it makes no difference to them. They don't discern.
They don't discern the victorious death of Christ. I like what
Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 15, 17. Let me just read that
one to you. He said it's like this. If you want an equivalence,
if you want a true biblical equals statement, here's one. He says,
and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. You're believing
for nothing. If God left him to die and rot in the grave,
you have no reason to trust him for anything. Not only is your
faith in vain, you are yet in your sins. That thing goes both
ways. If Christ didn't rise, you're
yet in your sins. If anyone died a believer, died
as someone who was professing to have faith in Christ and went
to hell, There's only one reason that that could possibly be true,
and that is that Christ didn't rise from the dead. It could
not have happened. Matthew speaks very specifically
about what actually happened on the cross, and he speaks with
great precision. In Matthew 121, he says, and you shall call his
name Jesus, Savior, in essence. And then he gives three pairs
of words that are unmistakable, for he shall say He spoke with
great confidence. He shall say he shall not attempt
to save He shall not do his best to save he shall not make it
possible for you to be saved He simply made the clear statement.
He shall say Second two words his people Paul said who can
condemn any of God's elect he died for everyone, he died
for chosen people, he died for his people and Matthew says,
for he shall save his people. Here's the part that I like,
from their sins. I don't know about you but I
remember my days Though, thankfully, they're getting foggier, my days
in religion. I remember less about them and
I'm glad for that. But I do remember this about
the things we taught about Christ's death. We taught that he was
a sin offering. We believe somehow that sin was
sort of just like a, you know, something separate from us that
he could just die for sin. That's what people said a lot
then. He died for sin. As though you could die for guilt or you
could die for, you know, some general feeling. No, he didn't
die for sin. He died for the sins of his people. Specific sins, specific sinners. successful savior do you understand
that? That's the gospel. That's why
God couldn't leave him in the grave because it could not be
any other way. He put those sins away. I don't
understand it. I have some knowledge, you know,
we do have higher knowledge. We have the highest knowledge.
Our knowledge of Christ is so high that even though we know
him, Even though we know exactly what we're trying to say, we
can't find words to say it. But I know this. I know that
the sins that continually issue forth out of my heart and out
of my mind, that I can't stop. Those continually come out of
me. And did you know that even though
they're brand new to me, They're long gone to Him. I don't know
how that works, but I know that somehow I've been united with
Christ for a long, long time. Because somehow the sins of this
sinner were found in His body before I was ever born in Paintsville,
Kentucky in 1955. I don't know how to explain it
any other way except union with Christ that transcends what I
know about time. I was found in Him. before I
ever came to be. And those sins that are continually
coming to make themselves known in their ugly reality to me,
He's already known them well. And He put them every one away.
And they can do me no harm, even though they pain my heart. No,
the resurrection It's the full proof of redemption accomplished.
And if you deny the accomplished redemption, you prove simply
one thing. You don't believe in the resurrection. You can't
believe in the resurrection and not believe that it's done. It
can't be both ways. Christ can't have put sin away
and not put sin away. He either did or he didn't. God
can't have said, I receive it and am satisfied with it and
I'm pleased with it. He can't be that and then say,
but I'm going to send you to hell anyway. The gospel of this
day. is just as foolish as those old
Israelites munching on a rotten piece of meat thinking they were
doing the sacrifice of Jehovah. Well, let me finish with this.
I hope someone who hears this message will ask this question.
If it's like that, Mark, if Christ's work of justifying sinners was
so completely finished on the cross and so absolutely guaranteed
by the resurrection that its results cannot be changed. Then
what is faith for? What is faith for? Well, the
fact that a person would even have a question like that shows
how faith is misrepresented in today's religion because most
folks think that faith is changing things. But faith has nothing
to do with changing what is and cannot be otherwise. Christ died
for whom He died for, and you can't go back and change that
number. He accomplished salvation for every one of them, and they
cannot be lost, and God must save them. And so He either died
for you or He didn't. That's the simple gospel fact
of His death. He either died for you or He
didn't. Your sins were either put away or they're not. So you say,
well, then what good is faith? Well, look with me in Romans
chapter 10. verse six. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaks on this wise, say not in thine heart, who shall
ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down
from above. You know this, this very question is an excellent
evidence of the fact that Paul preached particular redemption.
This is only a question you would ask when confronted with particular
redemption that Christ only died for his elect. He says, well,
what can I do then? What could I do to make sure
that he came down to die for me? Paul says, don't think like
that. That's the wrong question. You're
not coming to Christ that way, you're just sticking with the
works of your flesh. What can I do about that? What
can I do to make something happen? He said, don't think like that.
Look at verse 7. Or here's the other question
people ask when confronted with particular redemption. Or who
shall descend into the deep? That is, to bring up Christ again
from the dead. What can I do, Mark, to make
sure that when he rose, he rose and it was evidence that my sins
were put away? What can I do to buy into that?
What can I do? And Paul says, wrong question. Don't think like
that. It's not what you can do. Faith
has nothing to do with what we do with Christ. Faith is coming
to terms with what He did or didn't do for me. That's where
faith is. Look at verse 8. But what saith
it? What does that Old Testament
word say? By the way, you might want to
read that for yourself. It's in Deuteronomy 30, verses 11 through 14 is where
this comes from. But He said, But what saith it?
The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. It's something that you say and
something that you have within you. That is the Word of Faith
which we preach. He said, I've been telling you
about it already. It's not what you can do, I'm
telling you. It's what's been done. It's the Word of Faith.
That is, verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus. Now there's faith. There's the greatest expression
of faith a sinner in this world will ever know. A sinner comes
and says, what can I do? I can't go back and change the
reality of that day. I can't put myself in that number. I can't do anything. And what
can I do? I can fall on my face and I can
say, Lord, There's nothing I can do. You are the master of my
salvation. There is no part of it in my
hands. There's not a thing that I can
do about that. I fall on my face before you and worship and say,
whether you died for me or whether you didn't, I see it's all in
your hands. That's the first step of faith. Look at the rest
of it. And shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead. Here's that sinner
that comes to Christ and says, Lord, I don't know if you died
for me or not. I only know that either you did or you didn't.
I can't do a thing about it, but I do know this. I do know
this. I do know that not a single person
that you died for can possibly be lost because the Father raised
you from the dead, and I know that whoever you died for is
going to be saved. Paul says that that is true faith,
for it says if you fall down and recognize it's out of your
hands and in His alone. And if you find yourself on your
knees saying, and I know somebody's going to be saved whether it's
me or not, Paul says, thou shalt be saved. And suddenly two things
that seem to us to be so contradictory come and make such a perfect
pair. One is the irrevocable, irreversible effects of Christ's
death. and comes to be paired up with
His infinite mercy that any sinner who falls on their face before
Him and says, Lord, I don't know if You died for me or not, just
have mercy on me. And he never rejects a one. Mark,
that doesn't make sense to me. Well, maybe if the Lord is pleased,
it might make sense to you one day. It makes plenty of sense
to me. He receives no one who comes with their own aid. He
receives all. who regard Him as Lord of their
salvation and who recognize that He is the effectual Savior of
everyone for whom He died. Well, may the Lord be pleased to grant
us not to fall into that company who can't discern the difference
between a true Christ and a true sacrifice and a false. And oh,
may we cherish, may we cherish our precious sacrifice for it
has been accepted It already has been imputed unto us. Let's
pray.