tonight to 2nd Timothy chapter
1. I thank the Lord for those of you
who are faithful in our services, summertime, vacation time, It's
hard on churches, church's attendance, that is, and I'm thankful for
those of you who are faithful. 2 Timothy chapter one, and reading
the first 14 verses, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ
Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and
peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. It's
interesting, before we read on, that in all of the letters, the
church letters that Paul was inspired to write, Romans, Corinthians,
Philippians, Colossians, he wishes grace and peace to the churches,
but to the The individuals he wrote to Timothy and to Titus
he includes mercy, mercy, grace, mercy, and peace from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve from
my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day. greatly desiring to see
thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy."
I assume that the tears he is speaking of here are tears that
Timothy shed at their party when they parted, the tears that Paul
says he's mindful of his tears. When I call to remembrance the
unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I'm persuaded that in thee also,
wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of
God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God
hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love
and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher
of the Gentiles, for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed,
I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words
which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. That good thing which was committed
unto thee, by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. So many
subjects, so many truths presented to us in those 14 verses of Scripture. But we are looking especially
at the Apostle's exhortation in verse 13, hold fast the form
of sound words. Last week we looked at the word
imputation. hold fast the form of sound words,
the word imputation. And as I said then, words have
meanings, and it is important that we know the meaning of the
words that we use. Last week, we looked at three
imputations that the scriptures speak to us of. First, the guilt
of Adam's sin is put to the account of his descendants. Second, the
sins of Christ's sheep were put to his account. And third, the
merits of Christ's righteousness put to the account of all those
who trust in him. That's the meaning, the proper
meaning of the word imputation, to put to one's account. To reckon,
that's another definition. but to put to one's account is
the best definition of the word imputation. In Romans chapter
four and verse three, the apostle Paul gives an example of how
Abraham was justified. You know, he's proving there
how men are justified, how God justifies the ungodly. And he
shows in the letter how both are guilty, that is, both Gentiles
are guilty and Jews are guilty. The Jews, for the most part at
that time, believed that just being a natural descendant of
Abraham guaranteed a person a place in the kingdom of God. And Paul
is showing that that's not so, that all men by nature are sinners
and need the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, charged
to their account. And so he gives Abraham as an
example for what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was
counted. It was put to his account unto
him for righteousness. In other words, the righteousness
of Christ was imputed to him, was put to his account, and he
was declared to be just. I don't want to say much tonight
about the doctrine or the truth about justification, but I will
say this. In every body of divinity or
systematic theology book that I've ever looked at or ever read
in, You find this saying about justification almost in the first
paragraph every time, and that is that justification is a forensic
term, a forensic term. In other words, it is a law,
a court of law term, justification. In justification, a guilty person
is as we might say, is brought into the court and he's arraigned,
he's charged as guilty. But then the judge pronounces
him righteous, openly absolves him. God pardons all of his sins
of those that have the righteousness of Christ set to their account.
And it's only for the righteousness of Christ that anyone is declared
to be just, pronounced to be just. When we think of imputed
righteousness, the imputed righteousness of Christ, it is in regard to
justification. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Every child of God here tonight
is justified. And you are not more justified
than another believer. The Virgin Mary was not more
justified. The Apostle Paul was not more
justified than the thief on the cross who was justified. Why? Because everyone who is justified
is justified by the righteousness of Christ being set to that person's
account. But I want us to look at another
word tonight which is similar, a little close to the word imputation,
but it is the word importation. Importation. And someone here
might say, well, that word's not in the Bible. That word importation,
that word's not in the Bible. But I will just remind you, neither
is the word trinity. The word trinity is not in the
Bible. And yet the truth concerning
the Trinity is found all through the Word of God. And we have
one text of scripture that sets forth the truth of the Trinity
as well as all the scriptures that we have concerning the Trinity,
and that is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples. found in Matthew chapter 28,
when he said, go you therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
them, and this is important, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't
say baptizing them in the names of the Father, of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't say in the name of
the Father and in the name of the Son and in the name of the
Holy Spirit. No, it says baptizing them in
the name. God is one. There's one God,
but yet he exists in a trinity of persons. Baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You know, another word that we
are familiar with and we use that is not in the Bible is the
word missionary. Missionary. You don't find that
in the translation we use, do you? And yet we know that that
verse of scripture I just quoted, words of the Lord go into all
nations and make disciples. That is the work of a missionary. He goes out sowing precious seeds. like the parable our Lord gave
of the sower. He goes out and he just spreads
his seed, broadcast his seed. Some falls on stony ground, some
falls among the thorns, but thank God there's some good ground. God has his elect in this world. That's the only reason anyone
is a good ground here because God makes that person a good
ground here. And they receive the seed and
everyone brings forth fruit. And that is so very, very important,
that truth. Everyone of the good ground here,
everyone in which the seed, the gospel took root. brought forth
fruit. Now some 30-fold, some 60-fold,
some 120-fold, but each believer, each child of God brings forth
fruit. Well, look here in our text,
we know that so because in verse 14, that good thing which was
committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in
you. God the Holy Spirit comes to
dwell in every believer so that our bodies, and that's interesting,
isn't it? Our bodies, our physical bodies
become the temples of the Holy Spirit. This local church is
a temple of the Holy Spirit. All of us collectively as a church,
You see this in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. But then in 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, we see that each individual member is a temple of God the
Holy Spirit. He lives in each one. And so
we bring forth fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace,
those things that are mentioned. Arthur Pink points out that there
are three kinds of righteousness. spoken of in the scriptures.
First, there is inherent righteousness, which Adam had when created by
God. When God came, or when Adam came
from the hands of his creator, he was made a righteous man. Lo, Ecclesiastes 7 and verse
29 says, Lo, This only have I found, that
God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. Since Adam, since that first
man Adam, there has been none who have had inherent righteousness. No son of Adam. There's non-righteous,
the Apostle Paul says in Romans 3. And he's quoting from an Old
Testament verse. There's non-righteous, know not
one. So first, there is inherent righteousness. Second, there
is imputed righteousness. Now that is the righteousness
that we spoke of last week, and that's the righteousness of God. That's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the righteousness that
is revealed in the gospel. That is, that imputed righteousness. And that has to do especially
with justification, as I've said. But there's also what is called
imparted righteousness. Inherent righteousness, imputed
righteousness, and imparted righteousness. Now what is meant by imparted
righteousness? Well, I would define it as the
truth that there is a new nature that the Holy Spirit creates
in everyone who is born again. If you look in 2 Peter, for just
a moment, 2 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 2,
grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue. whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, and notice this, that by these
you might be partakers of the divine nature. Everyone who is
born again, born of the Spirit of God and believes in the Lord
Jesus Christ, Peter tells us, is a partaker of the divine nature. Now that doesn't mean that the
nature of God, the essence of God is divided up into little
pieces and somehow believers become little gods. That's not
what he's saying at all. Imparted righteousness means
that what the apostle Paul calls the new man, is in every person
who is saved, every person who is born again. The new man is
very different from the old man. And that becomes obvious. So to partake of the divine nature
means to have a new nature that is like the divine nature, that
is a moral nature. And that's the same thing that
the Apostle Paul, as I said, refers to as the new man, the
new man. Look at this in Ephesians chapter
four. In Ephesians chapter four and
verse 22, Paul says that you put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, the old man. That is that sinful
nature which we brought with us into the world. And notice
he says that that old man is corrupt. It's corrupt according
to the deceitful lust. the sinful nature that we inherited
from our father Adam, the old man. Why is he called the old
man? Because he's as old as you are. He's as old as you are. David
said this, confessing his sins. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. He's not saying that his
mother conceiving him was sinful. He's saying that as soon as he
was conceived in the womb, he was conceived a sinful being,
a sinful individual. Original sin, we call it. That's
the old man. And when we come into this world,
That's the nature that we have, and we live, as he said there,
according to his deceitful lust. But now look in verse 24, the
new man, and that you put on the new man, which is created,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Now you can see the difference,
can't you? You can see the difference between the old man and the new
man. The old man, our nature, is corrupt. And it's also referred to in
the scriptures as the flesh. The new man is created. And only God can create. Only
God can create. Men can take materials and they
can build something and they may call that their creation,
but only God can create. And he is the one who creates
this new man in everyone who is born again of the Spirit of
God. And he's created in righteousness
and true holiness. And the fact that the new man
is created by the Holy Spirit reveals why sometimes He's called
the Spirit. Now, these are all synonymous
terms. The old man, the flesh, the new
man, the Spirit. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ,
speaking to Nicodemus, said, that which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. We're all born of the flesh.
We come into this world, we have an old nature, a sinful nature
that's corrupt. When and if God regenerates us
and gives us a new life, we come to faith in Christ, He creates
within us, we become partakers of the divine nature, He creates
within us a new man, a new man. Look in Galatians 5 and I hope
that this is clear to everyone. Galatians 5 and verse 16. This I say then, walk in the
spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the
flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.
These are contrary, the one to the other. So that you cannot do the things
that you would, but if you be led of the spirit, you are not
under the law. If you notice in those three
verses, the term spirit, we have four times. And each time, it
is capitalized. Two of those times refers to
God the Holy Spirit and must be capitalized. But two of the
times, it doesn't need to be capitalized because it refers
to that which is born of the flesh, its flesh. That's the
reason in every child of God, there is a warfare going on. There's always a tension between
the old man and the new man. So that, as the apostle here
says, you cannot do the things that you would. The flesh, if
it had its way all the time, it would do nothing but sin because
it's sinful. The spirit, if it had its way,
it would never sin because it's holy. It's created in righteousness
and true holiness. This is what is meant by imparted
righteousness, a new nature, spirit that is within every child
of God. in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse
17. I'm sure you're familiar with
this verse where the apostle said, therefore, if any man be
in Christ, any man, if he really is in Christ, chosen in Christ,
redeemed in Christ, regenerated, accepted in Christ, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Romans 7, we won't go there tonight,
but I trust you're familiar enough with that passage of scripture.
Paul is speaking of himself as a believer, as a child of God. And yet he confesses that he
struggles. He's got a struggle always going
on in his existence, his life, so that he cannot do the things
that he would. As I said, if he could, he would
never be guilty of sin. And the same is true of you and
of me. Now, it's important that As one
person said, well, who wins the battle? You got this conflict
going on. Well, let me ask you something.
Who do you feed? Who do you feed? Do you feed
the new man or do you feed the old man? If we feed the old man,
the flesh, if that's what we are engaged in and most interested
in, then most of the time the flesh is going to win out. But
if we feed the spirit, the new man, then the spirit is going
to, most of the time, win out. But there's going to be a struggle.
How many times have you said, well, I just know I'll never
do that again? You do something, and you feel
convicted, and you know it's sinful, you know you shouldn't
have done it, but you do it, but you promise yourself, I'll
never, ever do that again. But you do, but you do. We're not making excuses for
sin, not at all. But we are admitting the truth
that there is an old nature still in every child of God. But thank
God there's a new nature, and that is what I understand to
be imparted righteousness. Look with me in Psalm 45 just
a moment. In Psalm 45 and verse 13, we
read about the king's daughter. Now, this is a church. This is God's people, the king's
daughter. She's the king's daughter because
she's married to the king, the king of kings. She's also, in
verse nine, referred to as the queen, the queen. This is the church, the saved
of God. But in verse 13, we read, The
king's daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought
gold. Now in that verse we can say
both imparted righteousness and imputed righteousness. Imputed
righteousness is her clothing is of wrought gold. That's outward
the garment of salvation. That is the robe of righteousness. And you think about that word
wrought. Her clothing is of wrought gold. You see, this righteousness
is the righteousness that Christ worked out, wrought by his obedience
to the law of God. But she's all glorious within.
She's all glorious within. That's that imparted righteousness. That's that new nature that she
is given. Well, I pray that the Lord would
help us to recognize that there is both imputed righteousness
and imparted righteousness. We live in a day, a time when
people, it seemed like, deny the fact that when a person is
truly saved, there's a change. There's a change. A person begins
to love what he one time hated. The flesh hated these things
of the Lord, but when a person has this righteousness imparted,
this new nature, we come to love the things of God. No doubt there's
people sitting here tonight, if someone had told you 20 years
ago, 15 years ago, that you would love to hear the preaching of
the gospel. You would have thought, not me,
not me, that's for somebody else. That's for those people that
inherited one of those religious genes. I didn't get one. No, what makes the difference? This new nature, this imparted
righteousness that God has given you. Not only imputed righteousness
so that you are declared just before God, but a new heart. To love God, to love the things
of God, to love to serve God. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
this message to us here this evening.