You turn to Luke chapter 22. While you're turning there, I
guess many of you know by now that there was a very severe
flood in Pikeville and that building, as I understand it, where they
meet, the flood got up over the pews. It got so high and all
the way over to the other side of the street. So remember them. Also, y'all remember that pictorial
phone book we did? What's done? I got a copy of
it. I put it out for people to proof it and don't know what
happened to it. So if if anybody inadvertently picked it up, just
put it back to where people can go ahead and and proof their
information in it. And or if it's lost, I guess
we'll call them and get another one. Tonight, I'm going to speak
out of Daniel chapter four on a lesson I must learn. If you can read that passage
of scripture, Daniel chapter 4, I know you'd find it helpful. Luke chapter 2, verse, not 22,
I'm sorry, Luke chapter 22, verse 37. For I say unto you, that this
that is written must yet be accomplished in me, and he quotes a passage of scripture
regarding himself from Isaiah chapter 53 verse 12, and he was
reckoned among the transgressors. for the things concerning me
have an end. Some two or three months ago,
a man called me and said, not from this church, but from another
church, he called me and said, I wish that you would preach
a message on what the Bible means by imputation. I have wanted to preach on this
for some time, but I've been hesitant for a couple of reasons.
First, because I know it means a whole lot more than I'm able
to talk about. I mean, it's just it's just beyond
what any man can say sufficiently of this glorious doctrine. And I also hesitate to deal with
the topic. And then go to the Bible to find
out what it says. It just doesn't seem like there's
much inspiration in that. That seems academic, you know,
find a good topic and go to the Bible and find out what it's
all about, because I want to read a passage of scripture that
the Lord speaks to me, inspires me, that I believe this is what
the Lord would have me say. And that's what I want to preach
on. I don't want to just be given a topic and try to deal with
it systematically. Well, this week, I believe a
scripture opened to me that I'd never much considered before
that tells me what the Bible means by imputation. It thrilled
me and it smoked me and all kinds of things that went through my
mind. And we're going to look at that
passage of scripture at the conclusion of this message. What does the
Bible mean? by imputation. Now, it is a biblical
word. It's found many times in the
Old Testament. I just read Psalm 32, 1 and 2,
where we read the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord will
not impute iniquity. As a matter of fact, in the Old
Testament, that same Hebrew word is translated by 18 different
words. in the King James Version that
gives us some idea of the importance of this. Let me give them to
you real quick. It's translated in the Old Testament, the same
Hebrew word is translated account, consider, conceive, count, cunning
work, devise, esteem, find out, hold, imagine, impute, invent,
be like. mean, purpose, reckon, regard,
and think. All those words are used to describe
this. I think only it is this concept
found in the scripture, this thing of imputation, whatever
it means. In the New Testament, the word
is found 35 different times, and there are 12 different words
in the King James Version that are used for this same Greek
word. 12 different words are used in
the translation, all of which give us a different shade of
the meaning of imputation. Now, before I go on talking about
what I believe the Bible means by imputation, religion uses
this word, and religion uses a concept, not the concept the
Bible uses, but they use a concept of this free will and reformed. Arminian and charismatic all
use the word in their doctrine. But they do not give the biblical
meaning, and that's what I need to understand. What does God's
word mean by this thing of imputation? Here is how most religious people
use the word imputation with regard to the gospel. Because of imputation, that's
Christ's righteousness being imputed or charged to someone's
account, God views the Christian as righteous even though He really
isn't. Is that righteous? Is that righteous? If God views
me as righteous, although I'm not, imputation is viewed as
a righteous legal standing before the law, even though, in fact,
you're a lawbreaker. Is that righteous? For God to
view you as righteous before the law when, in fact, you are
not. Kind of like a man who is not
guilty before the law because he hasn't been caught. The law
finds him not guilty, but in reality, he is guilty. When religion
talks about sin being imputed to Christ, They think of God
treating Christ as though he were guilty. But he wasn't. Now, is that just? Would it be right on God's part
to treat the Lord Jesus Christ as guilty if he wasn't? Would there be any justice in
that? By imputation? We are treated
just as if we never sinned, though, in fact, we do sin. And Christ is treated just as
if he did sin, though, in fact, he did not. And that is how we're
saved. Now, is there righteousness in
that concept? My conscience doesn't find any
satisfaction in that. None. If that's the case, God is not
just. Let me show you this in scripture.
Turn to Proverbs 17. Proverbs 17. Verse 15. Proverbs chapter 17, verse 15. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination
to the Lord. That person who says God justifies
someone who really is not just, and that person who says God
condemned Christ, even though he were not guilty. It says here
both of those people alike are an abomination to the Lord. And that's strong language, isn't
it? An abomination to the Lord. What would we do with an earthly
judge who justified people who were guilty? And what would we
do with an earthly judge who condemned people who were not
guilty? would get rid of that person
would be put in prison. They certainly would not be allowed
to be a judge. Now, let me give you the 12 ways
or the 12 words that are used to translate this in the New
Testament, which will give us a better idea of what the Bible
means by imputation. I want to know, don't you? I
want to know what the Bible means by this word. In 1 Corinthians
4, verse 1, Paul said, Let a man so account of us as stewards
of the mysteries of God. Now there the word is translated
account. Account us that because that's what we are. Let a man
account us as stewards of the mysteries of God because that's
exactly what we are. We're stewards of the mysteries
of God. That's how to view us. In Romans
3, verse 28, Paul said, We conclude, that's the word. We conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
That's the same word translated in Puget. We conclude. I mean,
this is the conclusion we draw. A man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. In Philippians chapter 3, verse
13, Paul said, I count not myself to have apprehended. The word
is count. I can't, this is, I've not laid
hold of this thing. I've not got, I'm not perfect. I'm not, I don't count myself
to have apprehended. In 2 Timothy 4, verse 16, Paul
said concerning his people, the people who didn't, who forsook
him, he said, I pray that it might not be laid to their charge.
to their charge. It's what's laid to your charge.
And then in Romans chapter 14, verse 14, it's translated esteem. If any man esteems it to be unclean,
to him it is unclean. And then in Romans chapter 4,
verse 8, it's translated imputed. As a matter of fact, turn with
me there for a moment. Romans chapter 4. I want to stop here
for a moment because remember the name of this message is what
does the Bible mean by imputation? Well, here the word is translated
Romans chapter 4, beginning in verse 6. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered, blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, in the Bible, this imputation,
imputation, and it means, well, first of all, if he doesn't impute
me with my sin, or if he doesn't impute my sin to me, that means
he doesn't charge me with it. That means he doesn't hold me
accountable for it. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. That's what impute means. If he doesn't impute sin to me,
it's because there isn't any sin for him to impute. Now in
the scripture, we read three different imputations that took
place. First, there was the imputation of Adam's sin and transgression
to the entire human race. By one man's sin. Death. Reign. Look over Romans
chapter 5. I want you to see this. Romans chapter 5, verse 18. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, talking about Adam's transgression, judgment came
upon all men to condemnation. When Adam sinned and fell, I
sinned and I fell. I was condemned for what he did,
because when he did it, I did it. Romans chapter 5, verse 12,
someone says, well, how can that be? That seems like middle-James
axis. I don't know, but it's so. I don't know how to explain
this, but I know I'm united to Adam. Whatever he did, I did.
When he sinned, I myself personally sinned. Look at Romans chapter
5, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned. When Adam sinned, you and I did.
His sin was imputed to us so that it's not just legally charged
as we actually see it. I see it. I personally see it
when Adam said. Now, the other imputation with
his two other imputations that took place. There's the imputation
of our sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the reason that my
sin cannot be imputed to me is because my sin was imputed to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark chapter 15 verse 28 says,
He was numbered. And that is one of the words.
He was numbered with the transgressors. And that's a quotation from Isaiah
chapter 53. Would you turn with me back there? Isaiah chapter 53. Now this is
something that I'd never seen before. Verse 12, Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, Isaiah 53, 12. Therefore will I divide
him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil
with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death,
and he was numbered with the transgressors. and he bared the
sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors. He was
put in that bunch, the transgressors. He was numbered with the transgressors.
Now look up in verse 11. It says of Isaiah 53, it says,
he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied
by his knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall
bear, he shall bear their iniquities. Now I looked that word bear up
in the Strong's Concordance, and it gave as the definition,
gravid. G-R-A-V-I-D. Does anybody here
know what that word means? I didn't think so. I didn't either.
You know? Wow. Well, let me. It means pregnant. It means pregnant. Now, there
is no relationship that is close as a woman who is pregnant with
her child. That is the closest relationship
that can even be conceived. A woman with her child. That's how real sin was to the
Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. And that is how truly he experienced
sin. Not in the commission of it,
but in all of the effects of it. The shame. The guilt. The humiliation. The darkness. Being forsaken
of God. Being punished. Everything that
sin is, he experienced when he was numbered, when sin was imputed
to him. And there is the imputation of
his righteousness. Now, there's the third way of
imputation. Adam's sin being imputed to me,
My sin being imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ so that he became
pregnant with it, the scripture says. That's what the word actually
means. And his glorious righteousness being imputed to me. 2 Corinthians 5 21 says, For
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made. Anybody know the rest of the
verse? the righteousness of God, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now, just as my sin literally
became his so that he was guilty of it, and that's why he was
punished. He was guilty. He was guilty, just as truly
as My sin became his by imputation so that he was guilty of it.
His righteousness becomes mine so that I actually performed
it. It's mysterious, isn't it? You
don't know man could come up with something like this. No
man could execute it. But God does. All the bad things
I know about myself, they're worse. But they're not imputed to me.
They're not imputed to me. They were imputed to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree, and His perfect righteousness is imputed to me. This word is translated number,
Mark 15, 28, a numerical calculation. It is translated reason. They reasoned with themselves.
If this takes place, that will take place. Literally a logic. In Romans chapter 6, verse 11,
it's translated reckon. Paul says to every believer,
you reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. The only reason God would tell
me to reckon myself to be dead truly indeed to sin is because
I am in fact In reality, in truth, dead to sin. Sin ain't nothing
to say to me. I have no sin. It's God. He's been washed away. It is
translated, suppose, in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 5, I suppose that I'm
not a wit behind the very chiefest apostles. The reason he suppose
that is because it's so. It's translated, think, 2 Corinthians
3, 5, not that we're sufficient of ourselves to think anything
as of ourselves. If we did, it'd be a lie. So
we don't do that. And it's actually translated despised in Acts chapter
19, verse 27, where those fellows who had been making the idols,
they, Paul had said, you know, that's wrong. And they were all
upset. And they said, not only is our craft, our craft in danger,
But the temple of the great goddess Diana shall be despised. It's
going to be viewed as nothing. One of the reasons it's viewed
as nothing is because it is nothing. God does not view me as righteous,
though I'm not if righteousness is imputed to me. If God has
imputed righteousness to me, I am righteous. all together. Let me show you a couple of scriptures.
Romans chapter 8. Verse 33. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God delayed. Christ lays up to my charge. Here's the only answer. It is
God that justifies. Look at Revelation chapter 19. Verse 8. And to her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. That's
all it says. The fine linen, clean and white
is the righteousness of the saints. His righteousness is my righteousness. One other scripture, Isaiah 54. Isaiah chapter 54, verse 17. No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness, their personal righteousness,
not a righteousness which is imputed to them, but their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord. He doesn't impute sin to me because
there's nothing there to impute. He took it away. Now, behind imputation, there's
no way I can understand this thing of imputation unless I
have some understanding of the glorious doctrine of the believer's
eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact,
union with Christ is behind every doctrine in the scripture. How
can you understand election if you don't understand chosen in
him? It just becomes an arbitrary choice. How can I understand
how God can view me as holy unless I'm united to Him? And He is
my holiness. He is my righteousness. He is
my salvation. Hebrews 2,11 says, Both he that
sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one, being one with
Him. I am what He is. He became united to me. And He became one with what I
am. on the cross. Now, I don't understand that,
but that's what happened. Being united to him, I'm one
with who he is, perfectly righteous, and he became united to me. He
is united to me. He became one with what I am
when he was made sin on the cross. Now, mysterious, profound, incomprehensible,
altogether glorious. On the cross, God viewed him
as sin because he was made sin. And just as truly as he was made
sin, all of the elect are made the very righteousness of God
in him. You know what's amazing about
it? There's a lot of things amazing about it, but one of the most
amazing things about it is how little we believe it. How little we believe it. I mean,
we can sit there and listen to this. If I believed this, I'd be doing
flips right now. I'd just be so joyful if I really
believed this as I should. Oh, we always have this unbelief
with us. It's always there. We hear something
like this. This is what satisfies my conscience. This is what gives me peace and
joy. And this is what motivates me
to give myself wholly to Him. This doesn't create in me, well,
I'm already right. No, I want to give myself completely,
totally to Him. That's my only reasonable search.
And turn with me back to Luke chapter 22. And this is the passage of Scripture
that just I haven't really thought about it much before in the past.
But I believe this tells us what the Bible means by imputation.
Luke chapter 22. Verse 37, this is our Lord's
words just before Gethsemane. He's speaking to his disciples
just before he enters the Garden of Gethsemane. For I say unto you that this
that is written must yet be accomplished, finished, done, fulfilled in
me. It hadn't been accomplished yet. But it has to be. And here's
what it is that must be accomplished in me. And he was reckoned. That's the word. He was reckoned
among the transgressors. For the things concerning me
have an end. And they said, Lord, behold,
here are two swords. And he said unto them, It's enough.
And he came out and went, as he was wont, to the Mount of
Olives, and his disciples followed him, and we know from Matthew's
account it's called the Garden of Gethsemane. The word Gethsemane
means winepress. He treadeth the winepress of
the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God alone. alone. And this is what imputation
means. Go on reading. Verse 40. And when he was at the place,
remember, he's being now numbered with the transgressors. He said,
pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them
about a stone's cast and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father,
if thou be willing. Remove this cup from me, the
cup of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God, as I am
being made sin. Nevertheless, not my will but
thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in This is the Son of God being
in agony. In Matthew's account, it said
He was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Mark tells us He
was sore amazed, terrified, terrified. Now this is what this thing of
having sin imputes. All that sin is, he was made
to be to this extent. Verse 44, and being in agony,
he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great
drops of blood falling down to the ground. He was sweating blood
in being made sin. There's no way we can understand
this because we don't understand what sin is. We don't understand
how bad it is. We don't understand how evil it is. We're used to
it. We're desensitized. It doesn't
really bother us. Not like we might say it does,
but we're used to it. But here the only one who knew
what sin is, he who knew no sin, knew what sin is. And as he was
made to bear sin, he sweat blood. Under the agony of the awful
load, he was alone. His father forsook him. He didn't
have anyone helping him at this time. He didn't have the thought
of, well, my father knows I didn't really do this. But he's treating
me as if I did? No, he was guilty. Guilty. He couldn't even say
to himself, I know I didn't do it. It's just charged to my account. No, he was guilty. That's what imputation means.
He was made sin. All that sin is, he was made
to be. He had no life. The wrath of
God pressing upon him. You know, hell's eternal. The
reason being is because sin is so evil and no man can satisfy
the justice of God. That's why it lasts forever.
But such is the glory and the greatness and the dignity of
this man, the God-man Christ Jesus, that he satisfied God. That's what he did on the cross.
Sin was paid for. Sin became his. See, if I die
for sin, so what? I'm a sinner. But if he dies
for sin, all the difference in the world. Do I understand this? No. Ain't no way I can. This was
a transaction between him and his father when he was made sin. But he put away that sin by that
great sacrifice. Here are his last words. It is
finished. He didn't say it's 90% finished,
but now it's up to you to do the rest. He said it is finished. Sin was put away and the elect
were made the very righteousness of God. How can I know if I have some
part in this glorious imputation? This is so glorious, it's so
utterly unhuman. Only God can do something like
this. How can I know if I have some part in this glorious imputation? Turn to Romans chapter 4, verse
23. It was not written for his sake
alone, Abraham, that it was imputed to him, that righteousness was
imputed to him. It wasn't 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 was raised
again for our justification. Now, that word believed in verse
24, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from
the dead. Put this word in there too. If we rely on. If we rely on. Him that raised
up our Lord from the dead. Here's who I'm relying on. Him. I'm relying on Him to do
everything for me. Now, if you rely on Him, you
don't have any other hope. You don't have any other confidence.
If you rely on Him to do everything for you, it's because He's done
everything for you. The reason you rely on Him is
because He's done something for you. The one evidence that God
has done something for you is faith. As many as were ordained
to eternal life Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. I can't look at myself and I
can't look at you and say, yes, Christ's righteousness has been
imputed to you and your sin was imputed to him. I can't look
at myself and even somebody's conduct and conclude that. The only evidence is faith in
Christ. And this, one last scripture,
turn to 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 14. For the love of Christ constrains
us It causes us to do things that
we wouldn't have done. And it causes us to not do things
that we would do. That's what this constraining
love is, love to me. The love of Christ constrains
us because we thus judge that if one died for all, who's the
all? All he died for. All the elect. All those who believe. If one
died for all, then were all dead. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore, henceforth,
know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now, henceforth, know we him no more. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation,
to which, or namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed to us the word of reconciliation." Now then,
we're ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you. Now, can you get, I can't get
my mind around that. God beseeching me? But there it is. As though God did
beseech you. By us. We pray you, in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Let's pray.