I've entitled the message for
this evening, what the Bible means by impute. What the Bible means by impute. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No. He's not going to act contrary
to his nature or to his character. He cannot act contrary to who
he is. That's who he is. But is anything
too hard for the Lord? Is it too hard for the Lord to
take me with my history? and make me stand before him
with a perfect history, having never sinned. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4,
verse 1, let a man so account of us Let a man so impute to us. Let a man reckon us. Let a man
number us. Let a man so count of us as of
the ministers, the servants, the under rowers of Christ. That's the lowest form of a servant.
Those fellows who are down in the bottom of the ship with the
oars. The lowest form. And we are stewards
of the mysteries of God. I love that word mystery. I love
the mystery of scripture. A mystery is that which we could
never have known had not God been pleased to make it known,
it would never have been known apart from revelation. The mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven. The mystery of the resurrection.
This is a scriptural phrase, the mystery of the resurrection.
You think of how mysterious this is that decomposed dirt could
be raised again to eternal life. Would you have ever known that
without the Bible making it known? Think of the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the spiritual resurrection, the mystery of
the resurrection, the mystery of his will. Do you know we actually
know God's will? And I'm not talking about, I
just want to know God's will for my life. I don't want to be harsh,
but you're up to your neck in it. I just want to know God's
will for my life. Whatever's going on, that's God's
will for your life. That's the way it is. God's God. He's completely
in control, but he's made known to us the mystery of his will
of redemption. This is the will of him that
sent me that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing. We know his will. I know the
will of God. The mystery of the church, the
two shall be one flesh. I speak concerning Christ in
the church. Now this is mysterious. This is mystery. I'm United to
Jesus Christ. I have been so eternally. So
is every other believer. What mystery union with Christ. This is not something you can
grasp. You just believe it. All the
mysteries of the scripture, not something that are intellectually
comprehended. You just believe them. You expect
me to just swallow that? Yep. It's God's revelation. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. What a mystery that God spent
nine months in a womb and that he came out on a certain day
and that he lived 33 years on this earth. The first 30 years
being in utter obscurity, nobody knew who he was. His brothers
and sisters didn't get it. They had holiness, perfection,
living in their home and they didn't see it. Oh, the mystery of the kingdom
of heaven, the mystery of the faith. Now a steward is one who's
responsible for that, which does not belong to him. The manager
of a farm would be a steward. Now let's take your retirement
savings. Maybe you don't have any yet,
but if you do think about this, maybe you're looking forward
to retirement in the next five years. Um, what would you want? of a steward that took care of
your retirement money, what would be real important to you? Brilliance? Eloquence? Faithfulness. You don't want him stealing your
money, do you? You want him to be faithful. It's required in
a steward that a man be found faithful. More on that next week. See the
word account. Let a man so account of us. Let
a man impute this to us. Let a man reckon this to us. Let a man number this of us as
of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of
God. When Paul says account of us
as servants, and stewards of the mysteries of God. He's not
saying count us this, even though we're not that he says count
us this because that's what we are. We are ministers of Christ. We are stewards of the mysteries
of God impute to us what we actually are. Now that helps me. To understand this thing of biblical
imputation, the imputing of righteousness. God imputes righteousness to
me because that's what I am. How can that be? God doesn't
impute righteous to me, even though I'm not stay with me. He imputes righteousness
to me because that's what I am. Now the question is, how can
that be? And let me remind you how I introduce
this message. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? As long as he's not acting contrary to his attributes. I love that scripture reading
we just had out of Isaiah 45 when he called himself a just
God. and the savior. He's both. He's an absolute, just God. And
he's the savior of sinners. What does the Bible mean by impute? Now I'm almost embarrassed. Uh, to tell this story again
because many of you have heard it on numerous occasions, so
bear with me. But I'm going to give a personal story where this
thing of imputing became real to me like it never had before. A personal experience. In the
fall of 1988, I became very ill. I'd been feeling bad for several
months. And then one weekend, I got on
the scales and I'd gained 25 pounds in two days. And I said,
Len, am I gaining weight? And she said, I was swollen,
very swollen. I was having terrible headaches.
As a matter of fact, the reason I have this shunt in my brain
right now, it's because of those headaches I was having. I was
having encephalitis and it was terribly painful. I had what
was called nephrotic syndrome. at the time, and it was caused
by lymphoma. They didn't know that yet, but
they put me in the hospital, and I was having these terrible
headaches that were unbearable. And while I was not totally aware
of what was going on, some people came to me to say goodbye to
me. Some of you did that. Some of you were there. And when
that was happening, I knew this is not good. What is going on? And I heard the machines beeping
in the background in the hospital room. And I thought, this is
my last night here on earth. I'm going to die tonight and
I'm going to stand before God. And you know what I did at that
time? Am I saved? Do I know the Lord? Am I a believer? Will I go to heaven if I die
tonight? Will I stand before God and be
accepted? Or will I be rejected and sent to hell? I thought truly
in my mind that within maybe two hours, that's the thought
that was in my mind, I'm going to see God and stand before him
in judgment. And I started looking within.
to try to find a reason to think I was saved. I was looking at
evidences, things either I did or didn't do and things about
me that would think, well, God's done a work of grace in his heart.
Look, he's this, he's that, or he's not this, or he's not that.
I started looking for evidences to give me some assurance that
maybe I am saved and I will be in heaven. I was a preacher at
this time. 1988, we started this church
in 1982. I was still a preacher and I was looking for these evidences.
And you know what? When I looked within my heart
to find an evidence that I really was saved, I could not find one. Not one. I looked at this part
of my life. I looked at that part of my life.
All I saw was sin. That's it. And I thought I am
going to hell this very night. And I remember hearing those
machines beeping and I started crying. I thought, I'm going
to hell. There's no hope. I'm going straight
to hell. There's no hope of me being saved.
I see what I am. And this scripture was brought
to my mind. I didn't hear this audibly, but
I heard it in my heart. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven. who sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute. There's the word, iniquity. And in whose spirit there is
no guile. And I saw clearly at that time
that everything I thought about myself was true and I didn't
know the 10th of it. But God didn't impute it to me. He didn't impute it to me. How can that be? If I did it, how can it be that
he did not impute it to me? That's how the Bible describes
this blessed man. What if I came up? What if I
committed? Well, let's just make it real personal. What if I murdered
one of your children? And I came up to the judge, I
said, guilty as charged. I did it. But don't impute it
to me. Don't impute it to me. Don't
let it be charged to my account. What's the judge going to say?
Lock him up and throw away the key. No judge would allow anything
like that to be happening. How is it that I can be so sinful
in myself that I couldn't find one thing in my heart that would
make me think, one motive, one desire that would make me think,
I'm gonna be in heaven. Couldn't find one. And yet my
hope was that all those things were true, but here's my hope
that it was not imputed to me. God did not impute my sin to
me. Now, how can that be? And another way to put it is,
how can God be just? and justify the ungodly. How can he be a just God and
a Savior that we just read about in Isaiah chapter 45? How can
God be just and justify the ungodly? Now I know when I saw that, I
had peace. And I was ready to die. I'm going to stand before God
and be accepted because my sins have not been imputed to me.
I'm good to go. And I was actually looking forward
to death. And the thought of being accepted
by God, the thought of being in his presence, I loved it.
I mean, I haven't had a time like that since then when I had
such assurance and joy. When you need grace, he'll give
it to you. You think, I'm afraid I wouldn't
be able to handle that. Well, when you're put in that place, you'll
be given whatever it is you need. And I was at that time. But I
don't know. that I understood it, I just
believed the great doctrine of biblical imputation. God not imputing me with my sins. Now, listen to this. The reason
God did not impute my sins to me is there was no sin to impute
to me. Do you hear that? If I stand before God in judgment
and I'm accepted and justified, it's because there will be no
sin there to charge to my account. There was nothing to impute to
me. He said, I'll be not by no means clear the guilty. I was
cleared because I had no guilt. Now most people erroneously view
biblical justification like this, you're sinful and God counts
you righteous anyway. Even though you're sinful, even
though you're a scoundrel, even though you're bad, God doesn't
impute it to you, he counts you righteous anyway. That's not
biblical imputation. If God imputes righteousness
to you, and doesn't impute your sin to you, it's because you
are in fact righteous before him. Now that's the great mystery
of the gospel, how that this man standing before you can stand
before God perfectly righteous and holy and without guilt. Now, to think that he sees you
As guilty and decides to not impute your sin to you and cancer
is righteous. Even though you're guilty, that's
unjust. That's not what imputation means
in the scripture. He only imputes righteousness
where there is righteousness. I hope the Lord gives me and
you the grace to lay hold of this. This word is used 124 times in
the old Testament and 41 times in the new Testament. And it's
always used as a verb. This is very important. You ever
heard somebody talk about imputed righteousness? There's no such
thing. There's righteousness imputed, imputed righteousness. Well, okay. There's imputed righteousness.
And then there's this kind of right. You're using the word
as an adjective. There's only one righteousness. You believe
that? There's only one righteousness,
the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ. That's the only
righteousness there is. That's what David spoke of when
he said, I've made mention of thy righteousness, even thine
only. David, why are you only speaking
of his righteousness? Because it's the only one there
is. That's why. Righteousness imputed, not imputed
righteousness. That's error, that's wrong, that's
a complete misconception. It's not imputed righteousness,
like there's this kind of righteousness and that kind of righteousness
and there's imparted righteousness and infused righteousness and
everybody's thinking, what in the world? Your mind's that there's
only one righteousness and that righteousness is the righteousness
of Christ that God imputes to the believer. The first time the word is used
is in Genesis chapter 15, verse six, when it is said of Abraham,
he believed the Lord. He believed the promise God gave
him. God gave him a promise. You're going to have a sea greater
than the sands of the seashore, more than the stars in the sky.
And the scripture says, Abraham believed what he said. He didn't
have any evidence. He didn't have any kids. All he had was
the promise of God. And he believed the Lord and
it was counted to him for righteousness. What was counted to him for righteousness?
His faith? No, righteousness was counted
to him for righteousness. He believed the Lord. And the
evidence that he had righteousness imputed to him by the Lord is
that he believed the Lord. Turn with me for a moment to
numbers 23. Beginning in verse nine, from the top of the rocks, I
see him speaking of Israel and from the hills I behold him,
lo, the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned. That's
the word among the nations. You see, God puts a difference
between the believer and the unbeliever, doesn't he? and the
believers not reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob
and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the
death of the righteous and let my last in be like his. And Balaam
said unto Balaam, what hast thou done unto me? I took thee to
curse my enemies and behold thou has blessed them all together.
And he answered and said, must I not take heed to speak that
which the Lord hath put in my mouth? And Balak said unto him,
come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou
mayest see me, thou shalt see but the utmost part of them,
and shalt not see them all, and curse me then from thence. And
he brought him into the field of Zopham, to the top of Pisgah,
and built seven altars, and offered bullocks and a ram on every altar.
And he said unto Balak, stand here by the burnt offering while
I meet the Lord yonder. And the Lord met Balaam and put
a word in his mouth and said, go again unto Balak and say thus.
And when, when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt
offering and the princes of Moab was him. And Balak said unto
him, what hath the Lord spoken? And he took up his parable and
said, rise up Balak and hear hearken unto me, thou son of
Zippor. God is not a man that he should lie. Isn't that glorious? How natural is it for us to lie?
Do you have to teach your kids to lie? Comes natural, doesn't
it? Not God. He's not a man that
he should lie. Neither the son of man that he
should repent, or change his mind, regret. Hath he said, and
shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment
to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. Now
look at this. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Neither hath
he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him
and the shout of a king is among them. And I know exactly what
that shout is. It is finished. That's how God can look at Jacob
and Israel. and not behold iniquity. God's
got perfect vision. And if there was any there to
see, he would see it. But he doesn't because there's
nothing there. Turn to Colossians 1. Colossians 1 verse 20. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross." You know, every time I read this,
I feel it needful to say this. Have you made your peace with
God? No, he made my peace with God. And he did it effectually. He made peace. by him to reconcile
all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes or
before time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in his sight." How God sees is how it is. Men, you don't see right. We
don't see this. How God sees things is the way
they are. In Isaiah 53, 12, he was numbered
with the transgressors and that's the word. That's the word, numbered
with the transgressors. He was imputed, accounted a transgressor,
and that's quoted twice in the New Testament. Mark 15 and Luke
22, for I say unto you that that which is written must yet be
accomplished in me. And he was reckoned among the
transgressors. He was numbered by God. He was
accounted by God. Among the transgressors. Now, how was Christ reckoned
a transgressor? Very familiar scripture, but
I'd like you to look at it with your own eyes. Second Corinthians
chapter five. Verse 21. Now remember, this has spoken
of him. Nothing's too hard for the Lord. As long as he's not
acting contrary to his attributes, nothing's too hard for the Lord.
Can the Lord do this? He did it. He did it. For he hath made him sin. You notice the 2B is in italics. It would more accurately read,
for he hath made him sin. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. He, God, hath made him sin for
us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. All the sins, all the individual
sins of all the elect He bore in his body on the tree. Turn
to Leviticus 16. Here's the Old Testament illustration
of this with regard to the scapegoat. Verse 20, and when Leviticus
chapter 16, verse 20, and when he hath made an end of reconciling
the holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation, the altar,
he shall bring the live goat. This is the goat that was not
offered up as a sacrifice. 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,
and 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 their iniquities. land not inhabited. God can do this. He can take
my sin and place it in that cup and
have that his son drink that cup in Gethsemane's garden And
when he drank that cup, he drank in all the sins of God's elect. And he bore them in his own body
on the tree. And what happened as a result?
We are made the righteousness of God. The only righteousness
there is. We are made the righteousness
of God in him. First John chapter three. First John chapter three, verse
five. And you know that he was manifested
first John chapter three, verse five. And you know that he was
manifested to take away our sins. Now that's why he was manifested
to, to take them away, to remove them, to make them not to be. Did he do it? Absolutely. He purged him, put them away.
Now look, whosoever abideth in him, sinneth
not. That is the history of every
believer. You see, not. You sin not. You abide in him,
here's your history. You sin not. Whosoever sinneth, he's not sinning. Neither known him. For he hath made him to be sin
for us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made. Every believer, listen to me,
you are, and I wouldn't say this if the Bible didn't say it, I
say this with fear and trembling, but if you're a believer, you
are a part of this we who is nobody less than the righteousness
of God. And that can only be known by
faith. You can't look in your heart and say, yep, I think I
know, you know this by faith, you believe what God says in
his word. I go back to that time in the
hospital when that scripture came to me. I do not know that
I understood it clearly. I understood it enough to know
that my sin wasn't imputed to me. And I know the joy I got
from it, but I want to understand how. And I know I can't fully
comprehend it, but this word is mentioned by Paul. nine times
in Romans chapter four. And I want us to close by just
reading this passage from Romans chapter four. Verse 28, therefore we conclude,
this is chapter three, verse 28. And that word conclude is
the word impute. This is the conclusion we draw
from all this. We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. Chapter four, verse
one. What should we say then that
Abraham, our father, is pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Now,
is this the way Abraham was saved? Abraham, the father of the faithful?
Abraham, the friend of God? Is this the way Abraham was saved?
What should we say about Abraham? It's pertaining to the flesh,
I found. Four, verse two. If Abraham were
justified by works, if he did something that God said, okay,
I'm gonna save him. That's what works are. You doing
something that will cause God to save you. Okay, I'll save
him. He did it. He did what needed to be done. If Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory. He could say, God saved
me because I did this. And you're not saved because
you didn't do it. I am the difference. You know, if you believe in universal
redemption, if you believe that Jesus Christ shed his blood for
all men, and some of those men will be in hell. But not you
because you did something to make it work. All that is salvation
by works, nothing more. That means you've made the difference. But not before God. For what saith the scripture,
that's always the issue, what saith the scripture, Abraham
believed God and it was counted, it was imputed unto him for righteousness
now, to him that worketh. I'm trying to please God. I'm
trying to do his will. I'm trying to obey his law. To
him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of
debt. God's paying you what he owes you. If salvation is by
works, that means God's paying you what he owes you. God's debtor
to none, but you're trying to make him a debtor. That ain't
going to work. But to him that worketh not, he sees that salvation
by works is impossible for him. but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted. That's the word for righteousness. And here's what this means, verse
six. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputeth righteousness without their works. Saying,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. He imputes righteousness and
does not impute sin. Now is that blessed? Now let's
pick up in verse 17, chapter four, as it's written, speaking
to Abraham, this is God speaking, I've made thee a father of many
nations. He hadn't had any kids yet, but God still says, I've
made you a father. You see, if God purposes something, it's
done. It's historical even when it hadn't happened yet. That's
what he says here. He says, I've made thee a father
of many nations before him whom he believed, even God who quickens
the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations according
to that which was spoken. So shall thy seed be. And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead, when
he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully
persuaded that what he had promised He was able also to perform,
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, me and you tonight, right now, 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. That's why he died for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. And the reason
that sin is not imputed to any believer is because Christ bore
it and he was delivered for our offenses and put them away and
was raised again for our justification. And every believer stands before
God having never sinned. May God give me and you the grace
to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our righteousness before God. Amen. Pray. Lord, we're so thankful. And grateful. That nothing's
too hard for you. That you can lift our sins. Off of us. And cause your son to drink them
in on the cross. And Lord, we're amazed as we
hear him cry. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? And we know it's because that's
what we deserve. And he took what we deserve and
he put our sins away. He removed them, made them not
to be, and gives us his very righteousness. So we stand before
you without guilt. Lord, teach us this. This can't
be taught merely by man. Teach us this and enable us to
Enter into the joy and the peace of believing thy son. In his
name we pray. Amen.