The
Imputation of Christ Jesus
By Nick Bibile
This subject has to do with the heart of the
gospel; it is the most essential part of the gospel. This was the hear of the
difference between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism at the reformation.
The question is;
God is righteous, man is unrighteous, then how can an unrighteous man dwell in
the presence of the righteous God in heaven? The Psalmist cried out the
following.
"If you, O LORD, kept a record of
our sins, O LORD who could stand?" (Psalm 130:3)
The answer is negative, no one.
Ro
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way
Ro
The Bible recognizes but two specific and distinctive charactersthe
SINNERthe SAVIOR. The rest of the Bible declares salvation. The divine
arrangement. The saint is but the sinner converted, justified, pardoned,
adopted, sanctified, saved, glorified.
Ac
Salvation is of the LORD. (Jonah 2:9)
It shows the depths of my sin and the heights of Gods grace where we can
never measure.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God.
The Loveliness of
God and the Lowliness of
God is infinitely
lovely because he is infinitely excellent. When I say he is infinitely
excellent it means that he is raised up on high in authority, power and his
qualities are superior to any one on this earth and in heaven. He is infinitely
exalted above all, even the angels in heaven worship him day and night. There
is infinite greatness, infinite majesty and infinite glory in God.
Isaiah 6:3, the
angels were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD almighty; the whole earth is full of
his glory."
We will not have
any idea of God until we come to grasp his holiness. His holiness will uncover
our sins, show our nakedness.
Even the prophet of
God cried out in the presence of God, woe unto me, I am ruined. It took only
one glimpse of the holiness of God and Isaiah was brought to zero, as he saw
how wretched he was in the presence of Gods holiness.
Re 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify
thy name? For thou only art holy
God is absolutely,
positively, infinitely holy in his nature. There is none good but God, none
holy but God. The heavens are not clean in his sight.
The question is who can
stand before the Holy God?
1Sa 2:2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is
none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
On the other hand we
are creatures made out of dust of the ground. As God is highly exalted we are
lowly creatures. We look noble, puffed up, arrogant and beautiful creatures,
but before comparing to his infinite loveliness we are as worms of the earth.
Job 25:6 How much less
man, that is a worm? And the son of man, which is a worm?
The word worm here
in Hebrew is rimmah it means a maggot. Oh! My friend in the site of Infinite
exceeding loveliness of God we lowly creatures are maggots. How do you like to
see a maggot on a dazzling white wedding dress? Well, that is how man in
compared to Gods beauty.
God created man so
wonderfully, then why do we look like a maggot in his presence? It is the
three-letter word, sin. The sinner may look pretty outside to men but not to
God. The sinner does not love God but hates God. If the sinner loves God he
will obey and follow God.
Joh 14:23 Jesus
answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Why does the sinner
hates God? The sinner hates God because God is infinitely holy. Sinner would
like a god who would compromise his sins, that is why there are religions of
men, the good works of man. That is why there are so many religions in the
world today; they obey the traditions and commandments of men. In the sight of
men they look good, they have a god, they have religious feelings, good works,
ceremonies.
But will hate the
true living God. They say they love God but their god is not the God of the
Bible.
Joh 14:6 Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.
Jesus is not just
another prophet, a way but the way. Christ is not just truth of many truths but
the truth. Many would say they believe in Christ and he is a great man. But
they will not believe when Jesus said he is the only way to God. They are
contradicting their statement as they are not telling the truth but Christ is
telling the truth, as he is the truth. He is the truth regarding not only to
what he said but regarding to his character, who he is. He is the life. The
giver of life, the author of life. He is the way to eternal life. The only
mediator between God and man is Christ.
There is a great
gulf between Gods holiness and the sinner.
Isa 59:2 But your
iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his
face from you, that he will not hear.
Sin is an infinite evil against the
infinitely Holy God.
God is infinitely
glorious, and then he is infinitely worthy of love, honor and obedience. We
lowly creatures are obligated to love him 100% without any sin. Jesus said;
Mr 12:30 And thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
How many love God
100% with all their heart and soul and strength? Anything less than that is a
great sin. In this flesh there is no way we can love God 100% and in this evil
world with an enemy who is always tempting it is absolutely impossible to love
God 100%, so we all have broken the most important commandment.
Carnal mind is
hatred toward God. Sinful man hates God.
Ro 8:7 Because the
carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God.
To hate the holy
Lord God is the deepest crime! You would be a fool to come against God and
fight against Him who is infinite in power and omnipotent in strength. Think of
the consequences! Think of Him who has power to cast both soul and body into
hell. You are not hating a man but infinitely holy God and against whom you
rebel the God who made you, who preserves you, who has fed and clothed you, who
has lavished upon you every blessing, who has never wronged you, or injured
you, or done you harm, but has always blessed you with nothing but good! Yet
man who is a born sinner rebels against God by not following Gods way but his
way.
Man having sinned, God's righteousness demanded that the penalty should
be fulfilled. God is the only true righteous Judge and the righteous Judge will
not compromise with sinners. He had said, "The soul that sinneth shall
die;" and unless God can be false, the sinner must die. Moreover, God's
holiness demanded it, for the penalty was based on justice. It was just that
the sinner should die. "The soul that sinneth shall die;" (Eze 18:20)
The brightness of
the Father's glory, and the express image of his person, who thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, became flesh, and subjected himself to the very
law to which we were bound; that he perfectly obeyed that law, and suffered its
penalty, and thus, by satisfying its demands, delivered us from its darkness of
bondage, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
Ga 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the
adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son
into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
The curse was upon us as Adams disobedience sin entered all humanity;
there was a double curse as we have violated all Gods moral law, the 10
commandments. Oh! How wretched we are as we realize there is nothing good in
this flesh! Who can deliver us from the wrath of God? Our blessed Savior Christ
Jesus left his heavenly throne, came down to this earth born of the virgin
without sin. "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God: thy law is my delight; We
broke the law, Christ came to fulfill the law, we disobeyed God, Christ obeyed
the Father. He became the representative of his people; he was without sin,
holy and righteous but offered to die for his people. The weight of sin was
poured upon Jesus the holy one of God. The weight of sin of all His people
where no weighing scale can weigh was poured upon the Lord Jesus! What a
horrible picture! The odor of all sin was poured upon the holy one of God. Even
the Father could not look at his beloved Son, as his eyes are too pure to look
on evil.
Mt 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?
Hab 1:13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look
on iniquity.
Imputation.
The Greek word for imputation is
logizomai it means to reckon, count, account, compute. Pass to ones account. To
charge to another persons account.
Our English word comes from the
Latin word; imputo the word imputation is the act of imputing.
"God
made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Also in Romans 4:22-24, the apostle wrote,
"written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit
righteousness for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the
dead."
How
precious is the righteousness of Christa righteousness that fully justifies our
person, completely covering all our deformity, and presenting us to God,
An
imputation is charging to another account. At the cross the guilt and the
penalty due to the believing sinners were imputed (charged, or credited) to the
account of Jesus. Then the righteousness of Jesus was imputed (credited) to the
believing sinners account. Now the believing sinner have become righteous, and
it is not the believing sinners righteousness but a righteousness that is
outside of that believing sinner and that is the righteousness of Jesus. For
the Son of God, though spotlessly pure, took upon him the disgrace that was due
to us and transferred his righteousness and holiness to the believing sinner.
Christ
was treated as the sinner though he never sinned, and the believing sinner is
treated if he were the righteous one. Christ stood in the sinners place as he
was numbered with the transgressors; the believing sinner becomes righteous as
he stands in Christ place. Christ who had no sin was charged with human guilt.
We who lowly creatures the maggots of the earth were charged with the
righteousness of Christ!
Oh!
The love of Christ to the believer, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Oh this weighty text! No man living can exhaust it. Who could ever
get to the bottom of this statement?
We
are said to be "made righteousness." What is more, we are that is the
believing sinners not only made righteousness, but we are made "the
righteousness of God. "This is a great mystery. The righteousness, which
Adam had in the garden, was perfect, but it was the righteousness of man: ours
is the righteousness of God. Human righteousness failed; but the believer has a
divine righteousness, which can never fail! The justice of
God that was the great barrier to the salvation of sinners does not stand as a
barrier anymore. Now the sinner can be pardoned, justified through the blood of
Jesus Christ!
His
name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:6)
"BUT
now a righteousness from God, apart from the LAW has been made known to which
the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through
faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." (Romans 3:21)
The
sinner is pardoned through the blood of Christ, and he is justified by the
righteousness of Christ. By the disobedience of the first Adam, we are plunged
into condemnation; by the obedience of the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven,
we are delivered from condemnation; by the one we are made sinners, and by the
other we are made righteous. (See Romans 5:17-19.)
'The
Lord our Righteousness,' and He says to you, "I am the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believes; I am your righteousness without a
work of your own; I have kept the law, have obeyed every command, and have
honored every precept; believe only in me and you shall be justified from all
things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses, or by the
most perfect obedience of your own."
Isa
61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God;
for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with
the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and
as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Not
what my hands have done can save my guilty soul.
Not
what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.
Not
what I feel or do can give my peace with God.
Not
all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.
Thy
work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin.
Thy
blood alone, O lamb of God can give me peace within.
(Horatius
Bonar)
Gods
grace to the unbelieving sinner.
What
is forgiveness? God's grace remitting our sins. What is justification? God's
grace accepting our persons. What is sanctification? God's grace purifying our
hearts. What is adoption? God's grace making us sons. What is our final
salvation? God's grace keeping us from falling, and preserving us into His
eternal kingdom. Thus, each round of the ladder that lifts us from the mouth of
hell to the gate of heaven is an unfolding of the boundless grace of God to
lost sinners, vile, graceless, and hell deserving.
The power of the gospel is that it can make the unholy man into a saint;
it can make the drug addict, the drunkard, the thief, the adulterer and the
self-righteous into a righteous man. Jesus' first miracle was to turn water
into wine. He came to turn the sinners into saints, the unrighteous into
righteousness. This is the power of the gospel!
Ps
32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not
iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Now
the sinner who is converted to a saint, a child of God by Christ work alone
sees it is not the world that he loves but Christ. He can say the following
scripture.
"The Lord is my portion, says my soul;
therefore I will hope in Him." Lament. 3:24
Remember when God gave the land of Canaan to the Israelites; he
portioned the land to each tribe but not to the tribe of Levi. (The tribe of
priesthood that did the sanctuary service to the Lord) The Lord told Aaron.
Nu 18:20 You shall have not inheritance in the land, neither shall
you have any part among them, I am your share and inheritance.
Now the believers are the true priesthood of God. We are a royal
priesthood. Many people who love this world, the world has become their
portion. They love this world and spend so much time and money for things that
is going to perish. The material things have become their portion. But to the
true believer as the Lords priesthood, this world is not our portion, the Lord
is our portion. We are told to give up the world, deny our selves for Christ,
he alone becomes our portion and our inheritance is not of this earth of
anything of the world but heaven. What a portion, it is not of man but of God!
We may be poor in this world, without much money and materialism but what an
inheritance waiting for us, it is an everlasting inheritance from God, it is an
infinite portion! He took my earthly portion and gave me a heavenly one. He
transferred me not only the righteousness of Christ but also a heavenly
inheritance that is waiting for me, O beloved this is the good news, we who
were against God now he becomes our portion! All of his grace, his imputation.