I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. I'm going to read a verse of
scripture from 1 Corinthians 4, verse 1. Let a man so account
of us as of the ministers of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God. Now the word account
is the word that is generally translated impute or reckon. I've entitled this message, What
the Bible Means by Impute. Now when Paul says, let a man
in count of us, let a man so account of us as the ministers
of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, he is not saying,
look at us and count us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the
mysteries of God, even though we're not. but do that because
that's what we in fact are. Account us to be what we are. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? If you know the correct answer
to that question, you know, no, nothing is too hard for the Lord.
He's omnipotent. There's nothing beyond the range
of His power. Now, He can't act contrary to
who He is. He can't act contrary to His
attributes. He's always omnipotent, He's
always sovereign, He's always holy, He's always just, He's
always merciful, He is who He is, and He can't act contrary
to His attributes, but there's nothing too hard for Him. Now, is it too hard for Him to
give you a history that's perfect, that has no sin? that when your
life is brought up on judgment day, there will be no sin, perfect
righteousness. Is it too hard for the Lord to
do that for you? The answer is no. It's not too hard for the Lord
to do that. As a matter of fact, this is
what the Bible is all about. How God can be just, absolutely
impartially just, and yet justify someone who is unjust and sinful. Yes, God is able to do that. That's his glory, his ability. And let me repeat, his ability
to be just and yet justify someone who is sinful and make it to
where my actual history is a history without sin. Perfect. Now, how can that be? Well, Paul says, let a man so
account of us, and I'm using this to try to describe what
imputation means. What does the Bible mean by this
word impute? Account us to be, impute us to
be what we really are. Now, I would like to try to give
a personal story about myself to illustrate what impute means. Sometimes preachers have way
too much to say about their personal story, and I don't want to be
guilty of that, but I want to tell you something that actually
took place with me that made this thing of what the Bible
means by impute very real and very powerful. I probably knew
the definitions and knew what it meant to some extent before
this took place, but the Lord used this. to teach me what the
Bible means by impute. In 1988, I was 29 years old. I started becoming very ill. It went on for some weeks and
I started swelling. I got edema. I gained 20 some
pounds in just a few days. and I was having tremendous headaches. I had encephalitis. Not only
was my body swelling, but my brain was swelling. I had encephalitis. As a matter of fact, I have a
shunt right now that had to be made in order to handle that
encephalitis at that time. I had to drill in my head to
take care of that. But I was very, very sick, brought
into the hospital, and I didn't know what was going on at the
time, not totally, but they brought people in to kind of give me
my last goodbye. And all of a sudden I realized
when people were coming to me the way they were, oh, it's not
good. I realized I was going to die. And I started looking at that
time. I can remember being by myself
that night thinking in a couple of hours, I'm going to die, and
I'm going to stand before God in judgment. This is my last
night here on earth, so I thought, and I'm going to die, and I'm
going to stand before God in judgment. Now, I was a preacher
at the time, but I started trying to figure out whether or not
I would be accepted on judgment day. Am I really saved? Has the
Lord really done a work of grace in my heart? And you know what
I did? I started looking within to find evidence in me that I
was saved. I started looking to the way
I was, the things I did, the things I didn't do, the things
I practiced. I started trying to look for
some kind of evidence that would let me know that I was saved. And you know what happened? I
couldn't find any. I looked inside my heart, and
all I saw was sin. Now, somebody may be thinking,
well, you're really sinful then. No more than you are. No more
than any man is. But I was made to see this in
its reality, that all I was was sin. with sin. And I remember I started crying. And I thought, I'm going to hell.
I'm not a Christian. I'm going to hell. I'm not saved.
There isn't anything about me that would even make me think
I'm saved. My motives are all bad. I'm just an evil person,
and I'm going to hell. And I started crying, thinking
for sure I'm going to be in hell that very night. You can imagine
the horror of that. Sometime during that period,
The Lord brought a scripture to my mind, Psalm 32, 1 and 2. When I was in that horrible state
of fear, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guide. Now at that time when the Lord
gave me that, I didn't hear it audibly, I wouldn't say that,
but I believe God the Holy Spirit prompted me to think of that
passage of scripture. And I thought everything I'm
thinking about myself is true, but here's my hope, God doesn't
impute it to me. What a blessed thought. Everything
I thought about myself was true, but God doesn't impute it to
me. And at that time, I felt peace. I'm ready to go. I can go into
God's presence now because all my sin's not imputed to me. I
have Christ's righteousness. It's not imputed to me. Oh, what
a blessed thing that was. What peace. I was even looking
forward to death at the time. I think I learned what the Bible
means by imputing, how the Lord will not impute sin. Now, the Bible does describe
this as the blessed man. the man to whom the Lord will
not impute sin. And when Paul says, impute us
to be servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of
God, he's not saying count us to be what we're not. He said,
believe us to be what we are. Now, if God didn't impute sin
to me, it was because there was no sin to impute to me. How can that be? If I committed a crime, a horrible
crime, and I was found guilty and I said to the judge, yes,
I'm guilty, I'm guilty, but don't impute that crime to me, what
would the judge say? Lock him up, throw away the key. You can't conduct yourself that
way. So how can God be just and not impute my sin to me? The only way God can impute righteousness
is because righteousness is there. He doesn't look at me and say,
well, he's sinful and he's guilty, but I'm going to treat him as
if he were not. And I'm going to impute righteousness
to him, even though he's guilty. No, God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. He will not clear a guilty sinner. He will not clear anyone who
has guilt before him. The great mystery of the gospel
is how he can be absolutely just and yet justify clear of all
guilt somebody who in themselves they're really guilty. That is
the subject of the scriptures. That's the great mystery of godliness,
how God can be just and justify the ungodly. Now most people
erroneously, and let me use that word erroneously, Most people
erroneously view biblical imputation like this. You're sinful, and
God counts you righteous anyway, in spite of that. You're sinful,
and God still views you as righteous, even though you're not righteous.
Kind of like a virtual righteousness. Not real, virtual. God treats
you that way. Now that is not what the Bible
means by imputing. The word impute is found 124
times in the Old Testament and 41 times in the New Testament.
And it's always used as a verb. Perhaps you've heard someone
talk about imputed righteousness. There's no such thing. There's
only righteousness imputed. Imputed is never an adjective
like this kind of righteousness or that kind of righteousness.
Understand this. There is only one righteousness,
the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ the Lord. The doing, the law-keeping, the
perfect life of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the only righteousness
there is. You and I do not have a personal
righteousness. If you think you do, you're deceived. You and I have not kept one commandment
one time, not in our heart, not one commandment one time. If you say I have, you may really
believe you have, if you do, but you've told a lie even though
you don't know it because you haven't. All the law does is
expose sin. And no man, woman, boy or girl
has any personal righteousness of their own. Isaiah said, our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Why did Paul say, oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him not having my own righteousness?
I don't want to have anything to do with God's view of me based
on my own personal righteousness, the works that I perform. Paul
said, I don't want to have anything to do with that. Not having my
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Jesus Christ, the righteousness which is of God
by faith. The only righteousness there
is, is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that is what David
was speaking of in Psalm 71, 16, when he said, I've made mention
of thy righteousness, even thine only. Now, his righteousness. imputed to a believer. That is my hope of being righteous. His righteousness imputed to
me. God imputing. Remember, God can
do anything. Nothing's too hard for Him. He's
able to do this. He's able to lift my sin off me, place it
in His Son, His Son bear it and put it away, and take His righteousness,
the righteousness of His Son, and make it mine, so that my
history is His story, the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, I'd like to read a few scriptures,
I think, that will help us some in understanding this. In Numbers
23, verse 21, we read this with regard to God. He hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. Now I can show you from the scriptures
all kinds of sin in Jacob. I can show you all kinds of sin
in Israel. The scripture records much of
it. Yet we read, he, God, hath not
beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in
Israel. Now how God sees things is how
they are. If He has not beheld iniquity
in Israel or perverseness in Jacob, there's a reason there
is no iniquity or perverseness in Israel and Jacob. Colossians
1.22 says, He's made us holy. This is talking about every believer.
This is not talking about every man, but it's talking about every
believer. We are holy. This is by virtue
of the work of Christ on the cross. He made peace by the blood
of the cross, and because of what he did on the cross, every
believer is holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. And his sight is how things really
are. If God doesn't see sin, it's
because there's none to see. If God sees me as holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable, it's because I am, in fact, holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable. That is the work of Christ on
the cross. Let me read another passage of
Scripture, and this will explain this. in Leviticus chapter 16,
talking about the scapegoat. This was the great day of atonement
that pictures the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
We read in verse 21 of Leviticus chapter 16, and Aaron shall lay
both his hands upon the head of the live goat. That's what's
known as the scapegoat. That's a term that's used, not
necessarily with reference to what happened in Leviticus chapter
16. If somebody's a scapegoat, they take the blame. You've all
heard that in different areas of life. Well, that came from
right here. Leviticus 16, and Aaron shall lay both his hands
upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the
iniquities. of the children of Israel, and
all their transgressions, in all their sins, putting them
upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand
of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all, A-double-L, all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited." Second Corinthians 5.21, there's
not a more important verse of scripture in all the Word of
God than this. For He, God, hath made Him, the
Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin. The King James Version has the
2B in italics. It was put there by the translators.
We'd be better off reading it without the 2B. For he hath made
him sin. Now how can that be? The same
way the scapegoat took the sins of Israel upon himself. God who, nothing's too hard for
him. He took the sins of his people
and Christ bore them in his own body on the tree. He became guilty
of those sins. He hath made him sin for us who
knew no sin. Oh, he's the spotless lamb of
God. He never committed a sin. But that perfect righteousness
that he worked out, the only righteousness there is, for he
hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God. Did you hear that? Every believer possesses, because
of Christ's work for them, the very righteousness of God. The only righteousness there
is in Him. John said in 1 John 3, verse
5, he was manifested to take away our sins. My sin became
His sin. He took it away. Just like the
scapegoat was led by a fit man into the wilderness to be seen
no more. He took my sins away. He cancelled
them. He made them not to be. They
were expunged from the universe. They were cancelled. They were
blotted out. He made my sins not to be. He
was manifested to take away our sins. In Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth
not. Now that is my history. I've
not sinned. In Christ, I've not sinned. In
the new man He gave me, it's the new man that doesn't sin.
He sinneth not. Now, I remind you again, is anything
too hard for the Lord? Can He do this? Can He give me
a new history? Can He make my sins not to be
and give me a new history of perfect righteousness before
Him? Not only can He, He did. He did. He was numbered with
the transgressors, and that's the word counted or imputed. Transgression was imputed to
Him. God can do that. My sin was imputed to Him. It became His. He was numbered
with the transgressors, and because those transgressors became His,
He was punished for them and put them away. And just as He was made sin,
literally, Not figuratively, literally. Every believer is
made the very righteousness of God in him. So when God imputes
righteousness to me, he doesn't impute righteousness to me even
though I'm not righteous. He imputes righteousness to me
because I am righteous. My sin became his. His righteousness
becomes mine. So I go back to that time in
the hospital and that scripture came to me. I don't know how
clearly I understood it then, but the reason my sin was not
imputed to me was there was no sin to be imputed. He put it
away. Where righteousness is, righteousness
is imputed. Now I would like to close by
reading a few scriptures out of Romans chapter 4, where Paul
uses this word four, I mean nine times, this word impute. Now
he says in verse 1, What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? How is
he saved? How is he righteous before God?
Abraham, the friend of God, the father of the faithful, how is
he saved? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he'd have whereof to glory. If he was saved because
of something he did, he'd have something to glory in. I did
this. I'm saved because I did this.
But Paul says, not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted, it was imputed unto
him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace. That's the word imputed. If you're
saved by something you do, that means the reward is not given
to you because of grace, but it's given to you because of
your works. God is paying you what he owes you. He owes you
salvation because of what you've done. If you think you're saved
by works, God's reward is not a gift of his grace, but a debt
he owes you. To him that worketh not. Romans
4, 5. To him that worketh not. He understands,
he believes that if salvation is dependent upon him doing something
or stopping doing something before he can be saved. To him that
worketh not. He knows he cannot be saved by
his works in any way. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him. that justifieth the ungodliness. You believe that what Christ
did is all that's needed to justify you, even though in and of yourself,
you're ungodly. You believe that his glorious
work on the cross made everybody he died for just in God's sight,
without sin, perfect, justified. You believe on him who justified
the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Even, verse six, here's what
all this means, even as David also describeth the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without their works. God imputes righteousness to
me, not because of some work I've performed. Same, verse seven,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now in verse 22 of the same chapter,
speaking of Abraham, and therefore it 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 if
we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No, you believe on Him, He's the one who caused you to
believe. Now don't wait for Him to cause you to believe right
now, but if you believe it's because He caused you to believe. If
you believe on Him that raised up our Lord from the dead, He
was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. This imputation of righteousness,
this non-imputation of sin is yours if you believe on Him. Believe. Here's the command of
the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And what a salvation it is. To
receive a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your
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