That's great. I plan to sing that first Sunday
in June. I get a little disturbed and
I'm guilty that we think of singing such great hymns so seldom. Isaac Watts rolled over in his
grave to think folks only sang that because Christmas time was
coming. What a delight. Joy to the world, the Lord has
come. Turn with me if you will to Matthew
chapter 16. Matthew 16. Our text this morning is a very,
very familiar passage of scripture. It contains two questions raised
by the Lord Jesus. Questions that he asked his disciples. The first was apparently discussed
among them a little bit. And then a consensus answer was
given by one of the disciples, it may have been Peter, it may
not have been. The second was apparently answered without any
discussion at all, immediately. It was answered by the Apostle
Peter. Let's begin in verse 13, Matthew 16, 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Now, our Lord very well knew
what men said about him. He asked this question not to
get information for himself, but to draw out from his disciples
their thoughts concerning the matter. He was about to tell
them of his death as their substitute. That's what's described in the
latter part of this chapter. And he wants them to understand
clearly who he is and why he has come into the world. And
so he asks his disciples this question. Whom do men say that
I, the Son of Man, am? Now, the opinions of men concerning
heavenly spiritual things are really insignificant. They're
really insignificant. It really doesn't matter what
men say about anything spiritual, about anything religious, about
anything concerning the word of God and the things of God.
And when you hear men say the things they do that are so ludicrous,
don't get too hot and bothered by it. It doesn't matter. Their
opinions don't matter. They're insignificant. Now, as
I said, the disciples apparently discussed this a little bit,
kind of like you and I do. They hear folks yakkin' and they
talk about it. Now, I've had this question, who do men say
I am? Well, what do men say about him? And in verse 14, after some
discussion, they gave this opinion. Some say that thou art John the
Baptist, and some Elias. And others, Jeremias, are one
of the prophets. Now, obviously, these disciples,
like most of his disciples today, perhaps like many of you, they
thought the world in general, and particularly their own families
and friends and neighbors, those who were religious anyway, had
a much higher opinion of the master than they actually possessed. They talked this thing over,
and they said, well, some folks like Herod, they think you're
John the Baptist raised from the dead. And that's pretty high. This man, he must be. No way
to answer for him except to say he's John the Baptist raised
from the dead. He's a mighty prophet, great prophet. Others
say, no, no, this is Elijah. This man, his words are clothed
with fire like Elijah's. He's a bold, bold prophet. And the prophet said, Elijah
truly must come. This must be him. This is Elijah.
And then others said, oh, I think he's Jeremiah. That tender-hearted,
ever-weeping man of sorrows. That sorrowful, sorrowful prophet
Jeremiah. And others said, well, I don't
know which one he is, but he's one of the prophets. He's got
to be because the words of the prophets are both echoed in his
words and exemplified in his life. And men say many, many
things that appear to be true and honoring with regard to the
Lord Jesus. Yet no man's opinion is true. Let it sink in. No man's opinion
is true. None. In fact, by the pretense of honoring
him, by the pretense of tipping their hat toward him, while refusing
to believe him, while refusing to trust Him as Savior and Redeemer,
as Lord and King, while refusing to worship Him as God Almighty. Every pretense of honor is but
blasphemy and a revelation of hatred and malice, the enmity
of the heart against Him." So you hear folks this time of the
year talking about Jesus and all the sweet things folks say
about Jesus. It's pretty, well-dressed, splendidly
adorned blasphemy and hatred, unless they worship Him as the
God He is. No man's opinion as to anything. None know the true character
of our Savior. except those who are born of
God and taught of God. None know his true character
except those to whom and in whom he is revealed. Now precisely
because the opinions of men are always both wrong and insignificant,
do you notice how our Master responds to this? Look at it. Do you see a response? Do you see a comment? He just
ignores what the men say. because it's insignificant. It
doesn't matter. It doesn't affect him, it doesn't
affect the course of things, it doesn't affect anything. What
men think concerning such things is totally irrelevant. It doesn't matter how high up
they are in the religious scale of things, how high up they are
in the social scale of things, how high up they are in the economic
scale of things, how high up they are academically, how high
up they are politically, it doesn't matter. The opinions of men are
totally insignificant. Then our Lord raises a question.
He saith unto them, verse 50, But whom say ye that I am? Now
about this question there's not any discussion. No discussion
at all was made. The Lord asked the question,
and Peter popped up with the answer. And Peter's not always
wrong to do so. A fellow like Peter, when he
gets in trouble, he gets in big trouble. When he's not in trouble,
he's real helpful. He popped up with the answer,
and he gives the answer in such a way, and it's recorded here
in such a way, that the Holy Spirit seems to imply, since
this is not an answer that was discussed, this is not something
they talked about, he seems to imply that Peter's answer is
the answer given by all disciples, by all who believe God. And there's
further evidence of that. If you read the book of Ephesians,
Paul tells us that the church of God is built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, and the foundation of the apostles
and prophets is what Peter's about to speak here. Our Lord
said, I'll build my church on this foundation, on this rock.
And he's talking about Peter's confession. His confession here. Now read what he says. Thou art
the Christ. the Son of the Living God. Now I take Peter's confession
for my own. I sometimes have folks to write
or call, or when I'm traveling they'll ask me, what's your confession
of faith? We live in a generation where
everybody wants to have a confession of faith. You're commonly considered
a moron if you don't know the creeds. You're a spiritual idiots
if you don't follow the traditions of history. And when you speak
with a southern accent, that's kind of compounded, you know.
But I don't follow creeds of men, not even the best of them. And there's a reason for it.
Because any time you say, this is what I believe, and you sign
your name to it, and you require a church to be built on it, then
the word of God becomes insignificant. Anytime. If there's a place where
there's competition between what the scriptures say and what the
creed says, folks will throw the scriptures away and hold
to their creed. Always. Always. Never an exception. Never an
exception. Well, what's your confession
of faith? Here it is. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. I believe that Jesus of Nazareth,
that man born at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, is the Christ. Not a Christ, but the Christ,
the only one there is. The very Christ of God. This
is the whole of my hope, the whole of my peace, the whole
of my assurance before God. I hang all the hope of my soul
on Him. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Reckon that so? Do you reckon
that so? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, is born of God. Either I am redeemed by his blood,
or I'm not redeemed. I have no other hope. Either
I am made righteous by his obedience, or I have no hope of righteousness.
Either I am sanctified by His grace, or I have no hope of sanctification. Either I am raised from the dead
by the power of His Spirit, or I am yet dead in trespasses and
in sins. The Apostle Paul puts it this
way, In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and ye are complete in Him. Either I'm complete in Him. or I'm incomplete. That's all
there is to it. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Now this is what that means.
Of Him, of God, are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto
us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. You are complete in him. Oh, hear me. If right now God's
given you faith in Christ, As we read the scriptures, as we
prayed, as we looked in the opening words of the text, if God spoke
to your heart and gave you faith in Christ and you can look to
Him and say, Bless God, I do believe that Jesus is the Christ. You're complete in Him. Irrevocably,
forever complete in Him. Complete. You are made the righteousness
of God in Him. You are made to be sanctification
in Him. You are made to be holy in Him. Altogether so. Now outwardly, to the human eye,
to all natural appearance and reason, You take any standard
you want to of human judgment and examine this man and outwardly
you have to conclude that Jesus of Nazareth was just an ordinary
man while he walked in this world. Folks called him the Nazarene,
the carpenter. Many even called him evil names.
They said he's a glutton, he's a winebibber. He's a friend of
publicans and senators. Isaiah told us plainly that when
he came into this world there would be no impressive form,
no comeliness, no beauty that we would be attracted to him
or that we would desire him. In him is no beauty that we might
desire him. Pictures of what's supposed to
be Jesus. All of that stuff you know, I
hope you know, is just so much trash and idolatry, all of it.
If you've got them, burn them. Don't give them away. Don't put
them in the closet. Burn them. I don't care if you have an original
Michelangelo, burn it. Get rid of it. Horrible stuff.
Horrible. But they all picture him as a
sort of pretty fellow, you know. You look at him, boy, he's nice
looking. He's sharp, mild, tender. Whatever it was that he looked
like, there was nothing in him to attract your eye. Nothing in him. No beauty, no
form, no comeliness. Oh, he was a specimen of manhood. Nothing in him to attract your
eye. Nothing. Nothing. Jeremiah tells
us that he was a man of constant sorrow. Or Isaiah does. He says he was despised and rejected,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Any one of those
fellas you look at his face, you see grief written all over
his face. Furrows in his brow. He looked
to be 50 years old when he was just 30. Acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. When this man came into the world,
he was born to a poor, unknown, insignificant family. Because
there was no room for him in the inn, he was laid in a cow
stable, a manger. When Herod made his decree that
the infant should be put to death to save this child, he was carried
by his parents down into Egypt, as the scriptures said he would
be. He grew up in a small out-of-the-way town called Nazareth. Some of
you may know this, some of you may not. When I first came here,
we were looking for a place to live, and we were informed rather
quickly Not to live in Junction City. Don't live in Junction
City. Nobody lives over there. So we
rented this house in Junction City. No good thing comes out
of Nazareth. No good thing comes out of Nazareth.
That's where the Lord Jesus was. Other side of the tracks. That's
not where the rich, the mighty, the noble come from. He began
preaching when he was about 30 years old. But his ministry,
nobody paid attention to it. The only folks who really followed
him with any tenacity were a few ignorant fishermen and some women.
Everything he taught, not some of what he taught, every solitary
thing he taught with regard to himself, the character and work
of God, man's sin, righteousness, redemption, and salvation. Everything
he taught in his day, as in this day, was rejected by the common
people and by the religious leaders who led them. Finally, even though
his miracles had given him some popular appeal and folks followed
him around so that they could eat the bread and loaves and
fishes, but finally, finally even popular opinion turned against
him and everybody turned thumbs down on him and he was crucified
like a common criminal by the Romans at the behest of the Jews. Everybody cried, crucify him,
crucify him. Everybody who could get near
came by and spit in his face, beat him with their fist. And
when they buried him, they put him in a borrowed tomb, and they
said, we're done with him. We've had enough of this man.
And if he had been the man they thought he was, they would have
been done with him. But this man is no ordinary man. This man is the Christ, the son
of the living God. And three days after he was buried
in the tomb, he came forth in life and entered into heaven. and
took his seat on the throne of unrivaled dominion to rule and
reign forever. And now this man is the Christ,
the son of the living God, indisputable fact. What think ye of Christ? Who is he? Why did he come here? What did he do if he really did
anything? Where is he now? What's he doing?
I said, Brother Don, those are simple questions. They are. They
are. But they're the most important
questions you will ever deal with. They're vital. Let me show
you from the scriptures what I believe concerning him. Number
one. that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Christ. You turn if you will to John
chapter 8. Throughout the Old Testament
scriptures, from Genesis to Malachi, there was a promise of a man.
One man who would be God's Messiah, one man who would be the Redeemer
of Israel, one man in whom all the nations of the earth would
be blessed, from whom all blessings would come. That man was sometimes
called the seed of woman, sometimes the seed of Abraham, sometimes
the seed of David. He is described as one who was
a prophet like unto Moses, a priest after the order of Melchizedek,
who was pictured in Genesis 14. To Him give all the prophets
witness. What's that mean? That means
when you open this book and you start reading. That's talking about Him. To
Him give all the prophets witness. Now, when Peter made this confession. He said, Thou art the Christ. That is, Thou art the one of
whom Moses spoke, of whom David spoke, of whom the prophets spoke. Thou art the Messiah, the anointed
one, the sent one, the one of whom God Almighty said, there's
one coming, the seed of the woman, who shall crush the serpents
in. We believe Thou art The Christ, the Son of the Living God. This
is what the people asked the Pharisees. Our Lord had been
working wonders among them, and in John chapter 4, the religious
leaders who wouldn't receive Him, who wouldn't believe Him,
who wouldn't bow to Him, who wouldn't acknowledge Him, the
folks said, is not this the Christ? What else could He do to demonstrate
it? Is not this the Christ? And in
John chapter 8, our Lord Jesus Himself proclaimed plainly that
He is the Christ. He says in verse 29, If you believe
not that I am He, you shall die in your sins. And then they come
to him again in John 10 and said, If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. He said, I told you. I told you. But you don't believe.
And when he got done telling them what he'd come here to do,
He came to redeem his people, to give his life for his sheep,
and take it again. This commandment he has received
from his father, that he give them eternal life and they shall
never perish, and that no man can pluck them out of his hand,
and no man can pluck them out of my father's hand, for I and
my father are one. Oh, now we understand what you
said. You said your God Almighty come in human flesh. And it picked
up stones to stone him. That's the second point. Not
only is this man the Christ, but Jesus of Nazareth, who is
the Christ, is himself very God of very God. He is the second person of the
Holy Trinity, one with and in all things equal with and coexistent
with the Father and the Spirit. Yes, he is a man. Blessed God,
he's a man. Bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. But this man is God. He is the God-man. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now let's see if the
Old Testament said he would be. Turn to Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah
chapter 7. Now there are lots of people,
lots of people who claim to be Christian and folks sometimes
accept them as Christian, of course they ought to, they believe
the same thing, who deny that Jesus Christ is God. My dear
sister, she, bless her soul, love her to death. One of the
sweetest, most thoughtful, caring people I've ever met in my life. Last time we were together she
told me about going up New York listened to the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir, and she said, I got to hear their bishop or their elder,
whoever it was. I said, Gene, don't you have
any idea who those folks are? Well, I just went to hear the
music. Deny that Christ is God. They're not brethren. They're
pagans. I started to say, forgive me,
don't forgive me, hear me! Hear me! They're pagans! They're
idolaters! As are all others who deny that
Christ is God. You have these folks coming around
your door wanting to talk to you about the scriptures. Study
the scriptures. First thing they want to talk to you about is
that Jesus is a God. He's like God. He's sort of God.
No, either He's God or He's an imposter. Either He's God or
He's a liar. Either He's God or you're yet
in your sins. Either He's God or He's useless. Now let's see
if the book says he is. Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14. Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive. That'd be hard to do, unless
he's God. And bear a son. Not give birth
to a son, bear a son. And shall call his name Emmanuel. God with us. He comes out of
the virgin's womb. And there's God right here in
the world. There's God in human flesh. God with us. Look at chapter
9. So, Pastor, you're stretching
that. Well, I'll let you think so for just a second. Look at
chapter 9, verse 6. Now the language of scripture
is precise for a reason, because we're to believe it as it's given.
For unto us a child is born. Here's a man, a child, that holy
thing formed in the womb of the virgin, his holy manhood. A body has not prepared me because
this will be God's sacrifice for sin accepted by him. Unto
us a child is born. Unto us A son is given. Remember back in verse 14 of
chapter 7? This virgin is going to bear a son. She can't give
birth to this son. This man who is the Son of Man
is God the Son, and He doesn't have a beginning. He has come
into the Virgin's womb. He has come into that holy thing
prepared for Him by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin's womb.
He has come into human flesh, and He is born of the Virgin,
but He is eternal God the Son! The Son is given. And the government
shall be upon his shoulder. What government? All of it. And
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor. What's this? What's he called? Anybody read
it? The Mighty God. Not a God, not even a mighty
God, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. For the increase of his government
and kingdom, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David
and upon his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment
and justice from henceforth even forever. Yonder he sits on the
throne of David. It's called in Hebrews 4, verse
16, the throne of grace. It's called in Hebrews 1, thy
throne, the throne of God Almighty. That is, He's sitting there.
Now how is it going to be accomplished? How is it that he's going to
come into this world through the will of the Virgin and by
his obedience at last ascend up to the throne and sit king
forever on his holy throne in his holy hill of Zion? The zeal
of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Not a matter of question,
not a matter of, well, maybe these folks will let him be,
maybe they won't let him be. No, no, no. This is the work of God.
All right, the Old Testament then plainly declares our Savior
to be God. Let's look in the New Testament,
see what it says. Turn to John 1. Let's look at a real familiar
passage, and then one that maybe is not so familiar. John chapter
1. You got it? In the beginning
was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. Actually, oddly stronger than
that. In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God. One with, face to face with,
equal with God. And God was the Word. God was
the Word. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not
anything made that was made. Look in Romans chapter 9. Romans
chapter 9. Let's just pick up verse 5. Talking about God's elective
purpose. Christ coming into the world. Whose are the fathers?
And of whom concerning the flesh Christ came. Now watch how the
Holy Spirit describes Him. Who is over all, God, blessed
forever. Oh yeah, He's God our Savior.
The Lord God said to His Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. You see, it is absolutely essential
that this one who is our Redeemer, the Christ spoken of in the Old
Testament, become a man, that he is a man just like us, but
he must be God. For only God can satisfy justice,
only God can put away sin, only God can forgive sin. As a matter
of fact, the Jews, they said, who but God can forgive sin?
He's our total God. He forgives sin. saw it, and the master said,
Thomas give me your hand. Put it here. Here, feel this
right here. Thomas said, my Lord and my God. This is my God. This is my God. Preacher, do you really believe that that man who was born at
Bethlehem, that little baby, that man who was raised by Jewish
parents, that man who was crucified upon the curse tree. Do you really
believe he is God Almighty? I hang all my soul on the fact
that he is. Yes, sir. He's God Almighty. He's God Almighty. Now here's
the third thing. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. When I say I believe that Jesus
is the Christ, when the scriptures say He is the Christ, this is
what I mean, this is what the scriptures mean. I believe that
Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, is the second Adam. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 21. Now God Almighty deals with two men, just two
men. He deals with you in one of two
men. He either deals with you on the basis of who and what
you are in your father Adam by nature, or he deals with you
on the basis of who and what you are in the second Adam, the
last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's darling son. And the first
Adam came into being a long time after the second Adam, because
the second Adam is God Almighty. The first Adam, our father Adam,
was created by the second Adam to be a picture and type of him
who was to come and accomplish redemption. That's clearly stated
in Romans chapter 5. Look here in 1 Corinthians 15,
21. Since by man came death. By man came also the resurrection
of the dead. That is, if you died by man,
you got to be raised by man. For as in Adam all died, that
is, everybody who was in Adam. That didn't mean the angels all
died in him. That didn't mean all the dogs died in him. That
means all who were in him died in him. That's all human beings. Even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. That doesn't mean all men. That
doesn't mean all angels. That doesn't mean all dogs and
all cows. All who are in Him. And some
preachers say that's ridiculous. It is ridiculous. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not die to redeem anyone, as Brother Lindsay so
clearly stated earlier, except those who are redeemed. That's
all. He was not a representative for
all men. He's a representative for those
who are in Him. I'll write another verse, 45. And so it is written,
the first man Adam, that one who stood in the garden, was
made a living soul. God breathed into his nostrils
and Adam became a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. He's the one who's got life.
He is life. He gives life. Albeit that was
not the first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and
afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy.
As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
What's that mean? As he is, so are we in this world. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, We shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now the teaching of scripture
with regard to Christ being the federal head and representative
of God's elect is plain and crystal clear. Turn to Romans 5, if you
will. Romans chapter 5, verse 12. Paul has been declaring accomplished
justification by Christ. And he says in verse 12, wherefore,
since we were justified by Christ when he died, wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now
do you notice at the beginning of verse 13 a little mark like
this? You grade school children, you
remember what that is? That's a parenthesis mark. It goes all the way down
to the end of verse 17. There's another parenthesis mark.
Now what that means is that everything from verse 13 through verse 17
is an explanation of what he's talking about. But if you read
the sentence without the parenthesis, you get the sentence flowing
exactly as it gives it. So let's read it without the
parenthesis. Verse 18. It says in verse 12, wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all are sin. And
then he gives the inspired explanation of it, verse 18. Therefore, as
by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Let me see if I can illustrate
it so that everybody here sees. Bob Duff, you for the next couple
of seconds represent this whole congregation. The whole congregation. So whatever you do, the whole
congregation has done in you. That's the all in Adam. Bobby
Estes, you represent all these folks here. Now all that you
do, they've all done. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about everybody. No, he's talking about everybody in him
and everybody in him. And that's exactly what Paul's
talking about here. When Adam sinned, the whole congregation
of humanity died in Adam, and were brought into judgment in
Adam. And when Christ lived in obedience,
the whole congregation of God's elect, all the men in Him, lived
in Him, died in Him, and were justified in Him, and now live
in Him forever. This is by imputation. Imputation
and representation are vital aspects of gospel truth. So vital
that to deny imputation is to deny the whole gospel. Now this
is not a fine, insignificant point of theological orthodoxy.
It's vital. Hear me well. If a man denies
the sin, fall, and ruin of our race in Adam, he must deny redemption,
righteousness, and salvation by Christ. If a man denies salvation
by Christ alone, he must deny the fall of man and Adam. The
two stand and fall together. Both are by imputation. Imputation. It's kind of like Mother Lydia
was giving us the difference between... Let's see if I can
get it right. No, I can't get it. How do you
say it? I know the word, but it's irrevocable
to this simple minded fellow. Imputation simply means a legal
charge. That's what the word means. When
Adam sinned, his sin was imputed to me. and you, and to everybody else. I don't like that. Take it up
with God Almighty, that's the way it is. That's what the book
said, we just read it in Romans chapter 5. I like it. When the angels sin, nobody's
sin was imputed to somebody else. They sinned individually. They
rebelled individually. They perished individually with
no hope. Oh, but if I fail in a substitute,
if I was ruined by something somebody else did, if I were
brought to condemnation by something somebody else did, then there's
hope, maybe. Somebody else will arise in whom
I can live. Here He is, Jesus of Nazareth,
the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He is the second Adam. He is the last Adam. He is the
second man. He came here, a representative
man, and lived in this world in perfect righteousness with
no sin. But one day, God Almighty laid
on Him the iniquity of us all, and He took it all away! And
now, the righteousness of God is imputed to all who believe. That means we're righteous in
Him. How? Without doing anything. It was
done all together outside of us. We became sinners outside
ourselves. And we became righteous outside
ourselves. Our hope before God is all together
outside our experience. It's accomplished at Calvary
through the Son of God. Now look back here at Romans
chapter 4. Let me show you this imputation. Verse 21, the illustration is
Abraham being fully persuaded that what he had promised he
was able also to perform. And therefore it, not Abraham's
persuasion, not even Abraham's believing the persuasion, but
rather the object of Abraham's faith, Christ Jesus the Lord,
was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed. Now, I don't know how on earth
our translators translated that the way they did. If I am still
interested, I'll take it up with them when I meet them. But the
word translated shall be is a present active verb. It ought to be translated
this way, to whom it is being imputed. It's not something that
we're going to get later on, but to whom it is being imputed. if we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered because of
our offenses, delivered to death, and raised again because of our
justification accomplished by him. Now this is what that means.
When Christ died, our sins being imputed to him, he justly died. And when he arose from the dead,
his righteousness being imputed to him, we were justified. But
that justification, having been accomplished at Calvary, is a
perpetual, infinite merit and efficacy. So that if right now,
Larry Cripps, for the first time in your life, you believe on
him, That righteousness is being imputed to you and has been being
imputed to you and will continue to be being imputed to you forever. Got that? Therefore being justified. By faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now back to Romans 5.19 again.
For as by one man's disobedience Many were made legally constituted
and declared to be sinners. So by the obedience of one shall
many be made legally constituted and declared to be righteous. I believe that this man is the Christ, the son of the
living God, that he is the second Adam. And therefore he deserves
all praise, honor, and glory. But let me pass on to this one
last thing. I believe that all, Jew or Gentile, male or female,
rich or poor, all who hear his voice, who hear the word of his
grace, and believe on him. Have eternal life.