I will be working my way to John
chapter 9 and verse 35. We will look at it in just a
few minutes. Whenever you read John chapter
9, it would be wise to go back and begin at least in chapter
8 and verse 1, but chapter 7 would be even better and read those
three chapters together and get the context. Our Lord Jesus,
in the first 11 verses of the 8th chapter, gives us a marvelous
display of His grace and mercy in forgiving this adulterous
woman. First, He drove away her accusers. That's what He's done for us.
He had the woman alone standing in the midst before Him. And
when God saves a sinner, Somehow or another, he's going to get
you alone with him. Expose your sin and then speak
these words. Your sins are forgiven. The Lord
Jesus said, neither do I condemn thee. He spoke peace to that
poor soul's heart. And that was just too much for
the Pharisees. That was just too much for the
religious crowd in the temple. Our Lord turned and began to
teach in the temple at Jerusalem. The Son of God had come to the
house of God in Jerusalem, but men and women had no idea who
God was, though they worshipped in His house. They had no idea
who the Christ of God was, though they claimed they knew all about
Him. These Pharisees and the Jews and the religious leaders
heard the Lord Jesus speak plainly in the temple on this particular
occasion. He told them precisely who he was. And the problem with
it was not that they didn't understand his words. They understood him
perfectly. The evidence that they understood
him was they attempted to kill him when he declared to them
who he was. They understood exactly what
he said. They just didn't believe. They
just refuse to bow to Him. You see, the problem with men
and women is not that they don't understand the word of the gospel. It is that they do not believe
God. And therefore, they stand in
rebellion continually before Him. Our Lord spoke in verse
12 of the 8th chapter and said, I am the light of the world.
I'm going to show you in a minute. I'm the light of the world. In
verse 16, He declared that He is one with the Father. In verse
19, he plainly told these proud, doctrinally orthodox Jews, the
Pharisees, and their religious leaders, that they flat did not
know God. He said, you neither know me
nor my Father. And you thought I was plain.
You just don't know God. Now remember, he's standing in
the Jews' temple. And he's talking to the most
respected, highly regarded religious people of the day. He said, you
don't know God. If you did, you'd worship me.
Verse 24. The Master declared to these
lost religionists that unless they bowed to and believed Him,
trusted Him, they must forever perish under the wrath of God.
Now hear me. God help you to hear me. No matter
who you are, no matter what you are, or who you think you are,
and what you think you are. Whether a nun or a harlot, before
God it doesn't make any difference. Doesn't make any difference.
Whether a pimp or a priest, before God it doesn't make any difference.
Whether a pusher or a preacher, before God it doesn't make any
difference. It impresses men, makes men stand
back and pat you on the back and applaud you and make you
feel good about what you've done with your life. But before God
Almighty, it doesn't make one speck of difference. Not one
speck. No matter who you are or what you think you are, unless
you bow to Christ the Lord, unless you trust the Son of God, you
must forever suffer the wrath of God in hell because you must
forever die in your sins under the judgment of God. And in verses
28 and 29, the Lord Jesus told these men that they would soon
crucify him. He said, you're going to lift
me up from the earth. And he said, shortly thereafter,
you're going to understand who you crucify. You're going to be made to know
that this one whom you have despised and lifted up on the cursed tree,
is Himself your God and your Maker. Sooner or later, sooner
or later, everybody will know who He is. Then in verse 30 we read, as
He spoke these words, many believed on Him. Oh, thank God for grace. The
Son of God had come to the house of God to fetch out the people
of God. And as he spoke the word of the gospel, many believed
on him. But not everybody. Many hardened
their hearts. And the Lord Jesus was relentless.
He gives them no wiggle room. He just keeps pushing, and prodding,
and picking, and pricking, sticking His finger in their hearts, and
in their consciences, and in their minds, and stirring, and
stirring, and stirring, and stirring, showing their sin, showing their
rebellion, and by showing their sin, and showing their rebellion,
stirring up their sin, and stirring up their rebellion, until at
last, the Son of God spoke plainly. And He says in verse 58, As he
stood before this crowd of religious, self-righteous men, and tells
them that their prized good works are the works of the devil himself,
the Lord Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before
Abraham was, I am. They said later, If thou be the
Christ, tell us plainly. As if he hadn't. They understood
exactly what he said. The Lord Jesus with this statement
declares, he doesn't say, before Abraham was, I was. He said,
before Abraham was, I am. And thus declares himself to
be the self-sufficient, everlasting, eternal God. And they said, let's
kill him. Let's kill him. There's just
too much for him. Alright, now let's pick up reading
in verse 59. Chapter 8, verse 59. Then took they up stones to cast
at him. But Jesus hid himself. You see,
this wasn't the time, the place, or the way he would die. He was
in total control. He hid himself. I don't know
how, but he hid himself. He may have just caused them
all to be blind, or he may have caused himself to be invisible.
I don't know what he did, but he hid himself. He hid himself. And went out of the temple, going
through the midst of them, and so passed by. And Jesus passed
by. Oh, would to God he'd pass by here
now. Buddy came in and said, It may just be two or three meet
together today. That'd be all right if he'll pass by here.
He passed by. He didn't just pass by by accident. This was all arranged. He passed
through the midst of the unbelieving rebels who would not hear and
would not bow to the word. He deliberately passed through
them and caused them not to see him. And he passed by a man who
couldn't see him to cause him to see him. You see it? Look at it. He passed by and
saw a man which was born blind, a man that was blind from his
birth. That's our condition, isn't it? Blind. Can't see. Won't see, can't see. Blind. You wonder, well, why
can't folks see? Because they're blind. They're
blind. No point in getting too mad at
them. They're blind. No point in fussing with them. They're
blind. No point in arguing with them. They're blind. He passed
by and saw a man which was born blind, and the disciples were
with him. And these fellows, they were
like us. They had learned a lot, but they
hadn't learned much. God had given them grace. But
grace wasn't always manifest. The disciples said, Master, who
sinned? This man or his parents? We know
somebody did. We know he wasn't born blind
for just nothing. Now we know better than that.
We're convinced somebody, boy, somebody messed up. Wonder what
his mama and daddy did to cause this. I wonder what he did to cause
this. He was born blind. Who said? What horrible, horrible,
horrible self-righteousness such questions reveal. Don't ever
think to yourself, say something happened to James Jordan, say
something happened to your family, say some terrible catastrophe
comes over. I wonder what Bob did. He must be hiding something. No, that's utter self-righteousness. Utter self-righteousness. The
Lord Jesus spoke plainly. He said, neither this man sinned
nor his parents. But things are this way, listen
now, that the works of God should be made manifest in him. The reason he's in a mess, he's
in. It's so I can show you who I am and display my glory in
Him. That's the reason things are
the way they are. That's all there is to it. That's all there
is to it. Oh yeah, sin. Sin has wrought
the horrible havoc in this world that we see and the horrible
havoc in our hearts that we experience. But things are as they are because
God Almighty is going to show His glory in somebody. in the
work of his grace in his darling son. Now you know the rest of
the story. The Lord Jesus said I'm the light
of the world and he said now watch this. And he mixed some
clay together and put it on this fellow's eyes and he saw. And
he walked away. Now it was the Sabbath day. And
you just don't do things like that on Sunday. Oh, that's horrible. The Pharisees were upset. They
had already spread the word. They said, if anybody says that
this man who in the temple told us we're the children of the
devil, anybody says that this man who in the temple told us
we don't know God, anybody says that this man is the Christ of
God, we'll church him. We'll put him out of the synagogue.
And so they started their inquisition. Word had already gone out, now
don't you dare say this is the Christ. Now don't you dare do
it. If you do, we'll deal with you.
So they started their inquisition. They started, who is this? Is
this the man that was born blind or does he just look like it?
And they said, get his parents, they'll know. Is this your son? Well, yeah, that's our boy. Was
he born blind? Yeah, he would, how does he say? Ask him. And they forsook him. In the
fear and face of the religious persecutors, they looked at their
son, who had been born blind, who had lived all his life to
adulthood as a blind man. And now he saw. And they'd rather
have had him blind. They'd rather he'd stayed blind.
They're glad that the Son of God had never interfered with
their lives, because it caused trouble. They said, he's of age,
ask him. We don't know anybody. We don't
know anybody. And then they called the man in. And they raised their
inquisition. And they argued with him. They
started fussing with him. It's just not possible this man's
prophet of God. It's just not possible that this
man's of God. You have to acknowledge that.
And the fellow, he didn't know much. He wasn't yet converted. He had been the object of great
mercy and power, but he wasn't yet converted. He didn't know
who the Son of God was. All he knew is what he knew. And that's all he told. Look
at what he said in verse 25. He answered and said, whether
he be a sinner or no, I don't know. Maybe he is. Maybe he is. You might be right. You just
might be right. But you're going to have to deal
with this. This one thing I do know, that whereas I was blind,
now I see. And he did it. They said, well
buddy, you can't fellowship in this church no more. No sirree,
you can't walk with us and identify yourself with him. You can't
be part of us and be part with him. But the master wasn't done
with him yet. Look in verse 35, John 9, 35. And Jesus heard that they'd touched
him, they'd cast him out. And when he had found him, he
said to him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? Do you? I know about everybody here today
professes faith in Him. I know most everybody here has
been baptized in His name. I want to know this. It doesn't
even matter if I know. I want you to know. Do you believe
on the Son of God? And the fellow answered, who
is He? Who is He? that I might believe
on Him. You see, if you would believe
Him, you've got to know who He is. If you would be saved, if
you would escape the wrath of God, if you would not die in
your sins, you must believe on the Son of God. But if you would
believe on Him, you've got to know who He is. Who is He? That I might believe on Him.
And Jesus said to him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that
talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. You remember
when the scripture says, whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved? That's what it means right there. It means
to worship him. To worship him. It's not saying,
I believe in Jesus. It's not saying, dear Jesus,
come into my heart. It's not saying, Lord Jesus,
won't you please save me? It's not saying, Lord Jesus,
I receive you. I accept you. But it's worshiping. the Son of God in human flesh
who accomplished redemption for you. It's worshiping Him who
made you to see. Worshiping Him who has revealed
Himself in you. Who is He? That's the question
I want to answer in the next few minutes. Give me your attention. Who is He? I don't know if any
of you have bothered to watch it or not. I was up one night
late. I'd done all the reading I wanted to do that day and I
was tired, but I was wide awake. So I turned the TV on and they
had one of those shows, I think it was on A&E, asking the question,
who is the real Jesus? Who is the real Jesus? And so
I watched a little bit of it. And the longer I watched it,
the wider awake I got. Because it was just silly, ridiculous
speculation on the part of men who think themselves brilliant.
Just silly speculation, just silly speculation. Blasphemous
speculation from men who thought they were honoring him, or pretended
at least to honor him. If you want to know who he is,
if you want to know who he is, It won't do you, listen to me
now, I'm not belittling education, I'm not belittling reading, I'm
not belittling historical facts, but if you wonder who he is,
Ron, reading history books won't do you one speck of good. If
you wonder who he is, listening to the philosophers of the age
won't do you one speck of good. If you wonder who he is, reading
theology books won't do you one speck of good. If you wonder
who he is, you better find out what this book says about him.
What this book says about him, there's no other source of authority. There is no other source of information
that's absolutely accurate concerning him. Outwardly, to all human
eyes, to all natural appearance, to all human reason, he seemed
to be just an ordinary man. Just an ordinary man. Except
for the fact that he claimed to be God when he wasn't. what
men say is true, and it's not. So that would make him a liar.
Except for that fact, folks, everybody would say he was a
good man. Now, he was just a Nazarene. He was a Nazareth. Nobody good
comes from Nazareth. I recall when I first moved to
Danville, some kind of snooty folks, I was looking at a house
and they said, they ran over here. I said, well, we looked,
it wasn't down here at Junction City. Man, nothing, nobody lives in Junction
City. How's that we've all been in Junction City? How come? Nothing good comes from there,
that's a good place for me to be. Nothing good comes from Nashville. Nothing, nothing comes. He was
a carpenter's son. He was, some folks said, a winebibber. He was one who some folks said
was a glutton, but all acknowledged to be a prophet, all acknowledged
to be a morally upright man, and yet nothing spectacular about
him. Isaiah told us that when he came
into the world, he would have no impressive form or comeliness
that we should desire him, no beauty that we should want him. He didn't walk around. When he
was born, laid in Mary's arms, he didn't have a little glow
around his face, didn't have a halo. When he walked on the
earth, he didn't look like one of those pictures that You understand what I'm saying?
Isn't it amazing? All the idolatrous pictures men
draw of him, portray him as if he was some kind of an effeminate
fellow. No, no, no. He wasn't a pretty boy. And he
didn't have a halo or anything. He was just a man, as far as
men could see. Just a man. He's despised and
rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He was treated in such a way, whether it appeared
this way continually or not, at least in the end. We hid,
as it were, our faces from him. We didn't want to look at him.
He was born to a poor, unknown, insignificant family. Lived in
a poor, unknown, insignificant place. Because there was no room
for him in the end, he was laid in a stable's manger. To escape
the wrath of Herod when he was a baby, his parents fled with
him into Egypt, just as the scripture said they must. He grew up in
a small town in Nazareth and worked in the carpenter's shop.
He began preaching when he was about 30 years old. But his ministry
didn't attract anybody impressive. He didn't preach in palaces,
and he didn't preach in governor's mansions. He didn't often even
preach inside a building. He just preached to common folks,
mostly fishermen, not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble.
Nobody much paid attention to him, except for his miracles. Oh, those miracles. Everybody
wanted to taste the food when he fixed it. Everybody wanted
some of the loaves and fishes. Everybody wanted to have those
who were lame to walk, and those whose arms were withered made
whole, and those who were blind to see, and those who were dead
to be raised up again. Oh, let me know His blessings! But before it was over, everybody
who was anybody, who had any influence for anything, turned
thumbs down on Him, said to hell with Him. Let's get rid of Him. Let's send this man to hell as
fast as we can and get done with him. And so they took him and
crucified him. The religious folks thought when
he died they were done with him. Yeah, he won't bother us anymore.
He won't accuse us anymore. He won't torment us anymore.
He won't make us look bad anymore. And if he had just been a man,
Larry, they'd have been done with him. But he's no man. No
mere man. This man is God Almighty. And
on the third day after He died, He arose from the dead and was
declared by His resurrection to be the Son of God with power.
But who is He? Who is He? What think ye of Christ?
Who is He? What does the book tell us? Let
me show you from the Scriptures some things about Him. Turn to
Matthew chapter 16. Matthew 16. I've got nothing
profound to say and I'm really not going to say anything to
you factually about who he is that you won't hear most anywhere.
But having declared the fact of who he is, very few understand
the facts. Very few understand the message.
The Apostle Peter says in Matthew chapter 16, where our Lord is
speaking to Peter, and listen to what he says, 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? And they said, Some
say that you're John the Baptist. Some say you're Elijah. Some
say that you're Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. In other
words, folks, they think you're a reincarnate man. Isn't that brilliant? Well, that's
John the Baptist. He'd been raised from the dead.
That's Elijah! He's come back from the grave.
That's Jeremiah! No, that's Isaiah. He's one of
the prophets. Men will bend over backwards
and contort themselves in every manner possible to believe any
lie coming out of hell rather than bow to the word of God.
Who do men say you are? Well, they can't figure it out,
but they know something strange about you. You must have come
back from another life. Brilliant folks. Sound like politicians
and actors, doesn't it? Where are your folks? Who do
you say I am? And Peter answered and said,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. What a confession. What a confession. Who is He? This is Jesus of Nazareth,
the Christ, not a Christ, not some Christ, not some representation
of Christ, but the very Christ of God. This is what I had to
say concerning Him, because this is what the book says concerning
Him. He is the Christ. He is the Christ. Well, preacher,
how sure are you of that? How confident are you of that? I'm this sure. I'm this sure. I rest my soul on Him alone. And everybody I can, I'm trying
to get them to do the same thing. I want to knock every prop I
can out from under you. I want to take every prop I possibly
can out from under this dear lady sitting here. I want to
do everything I can to destroy every false refuge, every hope,
every glimmer of a thought of merit, every glimmer of a thought
of worth, every glimmer of a thought of righteousness, for my daughter,
my son-in-law, my grandchildren, knock the prophet out from under
them and cause you to cast your soul on Him alone as your wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. How fully convinced
are you? And no hope but Him. And there's
all hope in Him. All hope in Him. This is that
One in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're
complete if you're in Him. Complete. Throughout the Scriptures. Old and new. From Adam to Malachi. One is described, he was called
the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the son of David,
the prophet like Moses, a priest like Melchizedek, the king of
glory, to whom all the prophets give witness. Peter said, you're
the one, thou art the Christ. This is what all the people were
asking the Pharisees, one of the reasons they couldn't stand
him. They said, is not this the Christ? Look what he, come see
a man, tell me all the things everybody did, is not this the
Christ? This was what the Lord Jesus himself publicly said.
He said, if you believe not that I am he, you'll die in your sins.
That means, David, either he's the Christ or he's a liar. Either
he is the Christ of God, the son of the living God, or he's
an imposter. There's no alternative. Either he is indeed God incarnate,
or he is the biggest hoax ever been in this world. All right,
that brings me to the second thing. Who is he? That man, that
man, everybody has Nativity scenes. It's utter, and I wish the whole
world would hear this, it is utter idolatry. It is just sheer
idolatry to take a baby and lay it in a manger and have a representation
of Christ, a baby doll. It's even worse to take a baby
and have a living manger, a living Christmas Nativity scene laid
in a manger. What on earth has this world
come to? I know everybody says, well you
can't make too much money. It's idolatry, James. It is crass,
base, brazen idolatry. Who is he? This man is himself
God Almighty in human flesh. Very God of very God. One with
the Father and the Holy Spirit, equal in all things with the
Father and the Spirit. Yes, he is a man, bone of our
bones and flesh of our flesh, but this man is God. He's the
God-man. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Either that's so or we're just
big fools. One of the two. Either that's so or this book
is a hoax. One of the two. That man who lay on his mother's
breast and who was as dependent upon the breast of his mother's
milk for his life as any baby who ever lived. That man who
learned to crawl and walk and talk like any other man. While
he is a helpless infant as a man, is God Almighty giving milk to
his mother's breast. He's God Almighty. While he walked
on this earth, he's still with the Father in heaven. Somebody
said, well, he laid by his God. No, he didn't. They set aside
his... No, he didn't. He laid aside
his glory as God. No he didn't. He never let it
aside. He was ruining the world when
men drove nails in his head and giving them the strength to drive
the nails. As much as when he said that
there'd be light and there was light. He got almighty. What
does the book say? Turn to Isaiah 7.14. Isaiah 7.14. Now this is not about a speculation.
The book of God is so plain. The Old Testament ain't new.
So plain it can't be mistaken except by deliberate willful
unbelief. Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. and shall call
his name. What? God with us. Look at chapter 9. Isaiah chapter
9 verse 6. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Now that's
not just a nice piece of poetry. That's not stated that way just
to fill up space. But as a child, a man, he was
born. As God, the Son, he could never
be born. He was given. And the government
shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God. How come? Because he's the
Mighty God. The Everlasting Father. Well,
now there you see that Isaiah was confused. No, he got it right.
The everlasting father. He is that one who is the father
of an entirely new race. The prince of peace. He is that
one who is called the word. The word who was with God and
was God. The Word by whom all things were
made, without whom nothing was made. That One of whom the Scripture
said, We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now turn to 1 John
chapter 5 and look at this one more time. I want you to turn
and look at it. I recognize some value in modern
translations. I recognize some usefulness in
them. But any time you pick up a modern translation and you
read the footnotes or you read the passage, you'll either see
that this verse of scripture is left out or that there's a
footnote saying it ought to be left out. And that's utterly
ridiculous. It was never left out of any
translation until Erasmus left it accidentally out of one of
his translations and later put it back in. The aliens have tried,
those who deny the doctrine of the Trinity have tried throughout
history to expunge this text from scripture. But it must stand
and it does stand in the very word of God. This is what the
book says. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. Either Jesus Christ is himself,
God Almighty, or he is nothing. Either he is God Almighty or
he did nothing for you. Either he is God Almighty or
you have yet to pay for your sins. Either he is God Almighty
or you have yet to satisfy God's righteousness. Either he is God
Almighty or you are a fool to worship him. Now there are no
options. None but God could take away
sin. None but God could bring in everlasting righteousness.
None but God could satisfy divine justice. None but God could save
us. Thomas looked at him and he said,
My Lord and my God. I'm like that blind man, I don't
know much, but I know this. You can just argue and fuss all
you want to. Get all the theology books and
textbooks and history books out you want to. I was blind as a
bat, now I see. And he did it. I had a conscience, Merle, that
screamed in my soul day and night. A conscience nobody, nobody,
nobody could call. A conscience no tranquilizer
on this earth could silence. A conscience that could not be
appeased. A conscience of guilt. A conscience
of sin. You say, well, that's just because
you were raised in a religious home. Oh, my soul, no. I saw Him. And Ron Wood, my conscience,
doesn't scream anymore. Because he took away my sin.
He spoke peace to my soul. He's God Almighty. Who is he? I'll tell you who he is. He's
the second man. The second man. The last man,
if you will. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. Verse 21, For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now you've
got to interpret scripture with some sanity. If that means that
all men, as all men died in Adam without exception, all men are
made alive in Christ without exception, then everybody's going
to heaven and it's fine. Universalism is what scripture
teaches. Nobody, nobody will ever suffer the wrath of God.
But the book says otherwise, doesn't it? The book talks about
some folks who are going to hell. The book talks about some folks
who are going to suffer the wrath of God. So the word all does not mean
all men exclusively. It cannot possibly mean that.
What does it mean then? All who were in Adam representatively. All who were represented by him
died when he died. And all who are in Christ representatively. All who are in Him are made alive
by Him. How is that? God deals with the whole human
race in two men according to two men's doings or failings. Just two. Well, I don't like
that. Take it up with God. That's just
the way it is. That's just the way it is. You can argue with
it through eternity if you want to, but that's the way it is.
In Adam, we died. And if ever we are made alive,
it's going to have to be by another man, by another Adam. Oh, how
I thank God that we died in Adam. I do. But how can you say that? The angels sinned one by one,
didn't they? They didn't sin in a representative. They didn't
fall in a representative. And no mercy is given them, Bob.
They're shut up in chains of darkness, reserved until the
day of judgment, suffering the wrath of God, to suffer the wrath
of God forever without hope. Without hope! Without hope! Ah, but we died by something
somebody else did. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe we
can be made alive by something somebody else did. Now that's
hope, because I can't do anything, can you? I can't do anything. Look at verse 45, 1 Corinthians
15. So it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul,
but the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man was a man,
but here's a man who's got life. How be it 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. We're just like our daddy, just
like him. As is the heavenly, such are they also that are the
heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy. We shall
bear the image of the heavenly. Now the teaching of scripture
is plain. Adam and Christ are the federal heads of men. Adam, the federal head and representative
of all men by nature in creation, and Christ Jesus the Lord, the
federal head and representative of God's elect in the new creation. Wherefore, as by one man's sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death hath passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. Therefore, as by the
Ophiuch's judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even
so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men
to justification of life. Now this is what the book teaches. One of the most glorious, wondrous
things in all the world is what the Bible teaches about imputation.
Imputation. That's a big word. This is what
it means. That means that if your little brother-in-law owes
terrible, terrible debt, about as big a debt as a little brother
can get, and you go to the store and you say to the fellow who
was crazy enough to let your little brother have something
on credit, listen, I'll take care of that. Put it over here
on my account. I'll pay for it. I can make it
good. Here's the money. Here's the proof I can make it
good. And the fellow at the store says, all right. And he takes
it right out of the ledger book, moves it over, puts it under
your name. Now it's your debt. It's no longer
his. It's your debt. You're responsible
for it. And legally, morally, if you
were of age, you're responsible for it. That's what imputation
is. When Adam died in the garden,
when he sinned, Adam's sin was imputed to the whole human race. When the Lord Jesus Christ died
at Calvary, the sins of God's elect were imputed to Him. He had made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin. How was He made sin? He didn't
do anything wrong. He didn't have an evil thought.
The Lord God, Bobby, took the load of your guilt. All your sin. Made it over to
his son. And his son voluntarily became
totally responsible for your sin. And he paid it. He paid the debt. He paid the
debt. All the debt I owe, He paid it. Now, God Almighty takes His righteousness
and imputes it to me. It's mine. It really is mine. Well, it's not really yours.
Was my sin really his? Did he really die for it? Was
he really punished for it? Did God Almighty really awake
the sword of justice and sink it into the soul of his dying
son? Because his son was made sin?
Oh yeah. The Lord God looks on this man. and declares, I am the righteousness
of God in Him. Oh preacher, you don't know what
I'd give if I could have that. Believe on Him and you have it. Not you will have it, not you
might have it, not even you shall have it. Believe on Him and He
is made of God, the righteousness of God to you. God help you to
believe. Amen.