May I turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 4 for our meditation before the Lord's Supper. Romans chapter 4. Our focus this evening is going to be on the doctrine of imputation. Specifically, the Apostle says in verse 5 of Romans 4, "...but to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly." Some have taken offense at the reality that God in the gospel justifies the ungodly.
And if we were to ask the question, how can such a thing be just? Well, the doctrine of imputation helps us to understand. I don't think it would be an underestimation to say it is that word or that doctrine. or concept of imputation that in many respects at the time of the Reformation was the chasm between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Now there were certain other things to be sure, many other corollaries, many other doctrines that were at stake in that particular battle, but imputation is what the Protestant reformers insisted upon. that God imputes, God reckons, God counts, God accounts to sinners.
Rome insisted on infused righteousness. They looked at the moral transformation of the sinner as being that which commended themselves to God. And so what we find here in Romans chapter 4 and chapter 5 as well is Paul's insistence upon a lot of things, but one of the things that we'll look at tonight is on this doctrine of imputation. And I'll explain this as we move along tonight.
But beginning in Romans 4 at verse 1, I just want to read the chapter. so our minds are focused upon the context. What then shall we say that Abraham, our father, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say?
Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but those also who walk in the steps of faith, which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of no effect. Because the law brings about wrath. For where there is no law, there is no transgression.
Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations. In the presence of him whom he believed, God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations. According to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be.
And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore, it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us.
It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for this epistle to the Romans.
We thank You for the rich theology that the Apostle sets forth. We pray that tonight, as we consider these things, our hearts would be warmed and encouraged as we consider Your kind dealings with us. We know, Father, this is not a righteousness that we've earned, a righteousness that we have worked for, but it's a righteousness imputed to us and received by faith alone. Father, thank you that you've answered to every need that man has.
Thank you that our Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel is delivered up because of our offenses and raised for our justification. May you be glorified now as we consider these truths and we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, if you look at Romans 4-5, but to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. If you were a stranger to the Bible, if you didn't understand the gospel, you could see where that might cause some offense. The Lord justifies the ungodly? And even more so if you did understand or you did have some concept of biblical justice.
Proverbs 17, 15 tells us that he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just, both of them alike, are an abomination to the Lord. Well, if you consider the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you consider our lives, you will see that according to Proverbs 17, 15, there's a problem. He who justifies the wicked. Isn't this what Paul tells us in Romans 4, 5? justifies the ungodly, and he who condemns the just." Doesn't the Bible testify that Jesus was holy, harmless, and undefiled?
And nevertheless, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, putting Him to grief. If we take these things into consideration, some would say this is an offense. And they would be right. The gospel is an offense to the unspiritual man.
Man works or operates in terms of a barter system. He thinks that if he does enough good things, then God will reward him. The apostle says that cannot be the case. That is never the way it is in terms of man's acceptance with God.
He says in verse 4 of Romans 4, Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. In other words, if we were able to obey the law perfectly in terms of the covenant of words when we got to heaven, it would be because we deserved it. But never forget that Romans 4 comes on the heels of Romans 1 to 3, where the apostle testifies that all man everywhere is dead in his sin. All man everywhere has gone astray.
There's no fear of God before us. There is none who seeks after God. There is none righteous. We are all justly liable to the punishment and wrath of God.
So if we're going to move from Romans 1.18 to 3.20 into a state of favor with the Lord God Most High, it must come from the Lord God Most High. It must be monergistic. It must be the Lord Himself who reaches down in mercy and delivers us from our sins. I submit that the way that we understand this whole concept of God justifying the ungodly and God laying upon the Lord Jesus Christ the sins of the world is the doctrine of imputation.
And what is the doctrine of imputation? It means to reckon to one's account. to credit to one's account. The word is used in a forensic or legal way. It is the language of the law court.
It's not the language of moral transformation. It is the language of this whole idea of crediting one's account or to reckon. It destroys the notion of Rome's transformation of character approach to justification.
Imputation Defined and Confessed
Our Confession outlines it this way in chapter 11, paragraph 1. It says, those whom God affectionately calls, He also freely justifies. Not by infusing righteousness into them. This is absolutely crucial that we get this.
You might say, well, how does this warm the heart when we come to the supper of our Lord? If good theology and precision in terms of our acceptance with God does not warm your heart, then may I suggest you pick up more theology and seek God's grace to warm your heart as you understand these concepts. But our confession says He also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous. That's good news!
It's not our moral transformation that God says, well, I'll accept that, that's the best you have. No, He accounts us as righteous, He accepts us into His sight, and then it goes on to say, not for anything wrought in them, the moral transformation, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone. This is why it's gospel. This is why it's good news.
This is why God can justify the ungodly. It's because of what the Lord Jesus has accomplished in His perfect life and in His death and resurrection. It says, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone. Not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness.
Not even our faith. God doesn't say, wow, you have faith, therefore you are righteous. No, faith is the instrument by which we appropriate the blessings that God gives us freely. The faith itself is a gift from God.
They then say, but by imputing, there's that idea of reckoning to one's account or crediting to one's account, but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law and passive obedience in his death for their whole and soul righteousness. That's what Protestantism is all about. That is what biblical Christianity is all about. That is Pauline through and through, and you see that here, argued by the apostle in Romans chapter 4.
So he references this idea of imputation.
Abraham and David as Examples
Note the two examples or the two illustrations that he gives here in Romans 4, 1 to 8. First is Abraham. Abraham, verses 1 and 2. What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. You see, Abraham was not justified by works. He was justified by faith. It was imputed to him.
It was accounted to him. It was reckoned unto him when he believed the God who made the promise. It wasn't by Abraham's works, which, incidentally, is pretty intriguing. Because if you look at salvation history, Abraham was a pretty good guy, wasn't he?
I mean, all things being equal, in Genesis chapter 12, to remedy the situation that man had created in Genesis chapters 3 to 11, which culminates at Babel, when the people want to make a name for themselves and build this tower which will reach up into heaven, God confounds them, He confounds their lip, He scatters the nations, and on the heels of that, He comes with the remedy. He calls Abram. He tells Abram to leave the land of Ur of the Chaldeans. And what does Abram do?
He leaves. He leaves his father. He leaves his household. He leaves his wealth and riches and all those things.
John Chrysostom made this observation concerning Abraham. He says, for a person who had no works to be justified by faith was nothing unlikely, but for a person richly adorned with good deeds, Abraham, not to be made just from these, but from faith, this is the thing to cause wonder and to set the power of faith in a strong light. So Abraham was received by God, not on the basis of his works, but on the basis of faith. Again, instrumentally, it connects him savingly to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice in verse 3, for what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Accounted there is the idea of imputed. was reckoned, it was credited to his account. It wasn't the moral transformation from having come in contact with the living and true God.
Now that happens. When we're justified freely by His grace, moral transformation then kicks in. We call that sanctification. But we're received by God, not because of our degree of sanctification, but because of our justification at the hands of our merciful Father, wherein faith is the instrument. by which we come into contact.
I hope that this is making sense to you all. As we move through these passages, I want us to see and appreciate God's gospel. We've already referred to verse 4. Now, to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt.
The contrast is clear. Salvation based on works righteousness equals a debt paid by God to the person. That's not grace. You see, when somebody says, this whole gospel isn't fair, they're right, you know.
Do you know what fair is? Fair is every miserable son and daughter of Adam burning in hell for all eternity. That's fair! That's justice, that's righteousness, that's equity.
What is gracious is that some of the sons and daughters of Adam will not burn in the lake of fire for all eternity, but will enter into heaven. We don't sing amazing justice, how sweet the sound. We sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound. I was lost, now I'm found.
I was dead, now I'm alive. I was blind, now I see. That isn't because we worked well. It's not because of our righteousness.
It's not because God has become our debtor. But it's because God in Christ has saved us. It's because God has given us or imputed to us this righteousness of Christ that avails with Him. The gospel is the gospel of grace.
And this is what Paul takes pains to illustrate in this section. Verse 5, But to him who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. The one who does not work is not Paul's way of saying, it's bad to do the right thing. He's not saying that Christians shouldn't pursue good works.
He is condemning the person out there who looks to their works as the basis for their acceptance with God. He says, those are the ones who are excluded. The ones who are accepted, the one who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. You see, just like it was in Abraham's case.
Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Paul says the same is true for the Christian. The one who believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Douglas Moo makes this comment on Romans 4-5.
He says, the one who justifies the ungodly is justly famous as a succinct and bold statement of Paul's conviction that our standing with God is wholly of God's free grace. That's his point. That's why the Protestants emphasize this. This is why it has creedal encapsulation in the documents of the Reformation.
This is crucial. How does a man get right with God? It comes by God pardoning his iniquity and imputing the righteousness of Christ to him, which is received by faith alone. Mu goes on to say, what is highlighted by the phrase that he is the one who justifies the ungodly, what is highlighted by the phrase is the nature of God.
It's not highlighting his injustice. It's not highlighting the fact that he's wretched. It's not highlighting the fact that he's inequitable. But as Mu says, it highlights the nature of God, loving, freely giving, and incapable of being put under obligation to any human being.
Again, we'll see in just a moment this doctrine of imputation, how in terms of the legal courtroom, God is not subject or God is not under wrath or condemnation for dealing unjustly. In 326, Paul calls God the one who is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. You see, the Gospel not only answers to our pardon, it not only answers to our imputation of righteousness, but it answers to the justice and the righteousness and the glory and the majesty of God. In fact, that's what Paul is pointing out in Romans 3, 25 and 26.
The cross demonstrates the righteousness of God. And when the Father crushes the Son, it is to demonstrate his righteousness in how he can be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So Abraham is an example and then David is an example. Notice in 4.6.
Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. We just read this at the outset of worship. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.
Now, consider who authored that. David, David the king of Israel, David the national hero, David the one our hearts throb when we read Samuel, and we see him on his exploits, and we see him spinning or twirling that sling when he drops Goliath with that one stone that nails the giant. right in the head. Don't you just see David walk over to that giant, take his sword out, and lop his head off? Maybe some of you ladies don't.
You say, that's kind of gross. Most men say, yeah, David, go! But we see David, we reflect upon him in his younger career when he's out in the fields and he's a shepherd. What prepared him to meet the giant?
When he's watching over the flock of sheep, bears and tigers and all manner of predatory animals came after his flock. And what did he do? With bare hands, he ripped these things apart. You mess with David, right?
David was the man. But imagine David on the day of judgment. Why should I let you into heaven? Because I was a faithful shepherd.
Because I slayed the Goliath, or I slayed the giant Goliath. I led Israel to the best of my ability. Oh, but David, don't you remember that encounter with Bathsheba? Don't you remember the way that you covered it up?
Don't you remember the marching orders given to Joab to go out to the battle and put Uriah in the hottest part so that he could die and so that your sin would be covered? Don't you remember that, David? Well, yeah, Lord, but can you just look the other way and accept the 80% of my good life and not remember the 20%? Now, look at what David muses on in the Psalms.
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven. You see, we don't go to heaven because of our works. We don't go to heaven because of our righteousness. We don't go to heaven because how we keep the law.
Remember Romans 1.18 to 3.20 is a reality. All we light sheep have gone astray. Every one of us has defied God. Every one of us has broken the Ten Commandments.
Every one of us is liable justly to the wrath and fury and punishment of God. And David knew this, and David understood this, and David realized the only way I am commendable to my God is because He pardons my sin, because He forgives me. He says, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. You see, David couldn't do that.
He tried. He tried even before the murder of Uriah to get Uriah to lie with his wife. He called him in from the battle and he said, go and refresh yourself at home. And what does Uriah do?
He's a man of honor, so he lays on the floor outside the house. David plies him with alcohol. Certainly when he gets a little bit of a buzz on, he'll go home to his wife and he'll have relations with her. No, Uriah is a man of honor.
He's not going to do that. You see what David's attempting to do? He's trying to cover his sin. This is what man does.
He tries to cover his sin. When Adam and Eve sin in the garden, what do they do? They hide themselves among the trees and they put garments over their private parts. They're trying to cover their sin.
David understood all too well what it was to try and cover sin. Uriah didn't cave in. Uriah was then sent to the hottest part of the battle. Uriah was slain in battle.
And as far as David was concerned, the perfect crime had been carried out. And the last statement, 2 Samuel 11. But the thing that David did displeased the Lord. He tried as hard as he could to cover it.
But when all was said and done, and the prophet approves him, and the forgiveness is received, when David muses in the Psalter, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. By implication, we can say, blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall impute righteousness. This doctrine of imputation is the reality by which the active and the passive obedience of Christ is the foundation, the basis, the ground of our acceptance with God, and it's received by faith alone.
That's Paul's meaning. We have Abraham, we have David.
Three Types of Imputation
Now, if we ask the question, How many acts, how many types, how many ways of imputation does the Bible speak of? There are three. Three times, three situations, three occurrences where imputation is applied in terms of sinners and our Lord.
Adam's Sin Imputed to His Posterity
The first is the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity. People say, oh, that's not fair. I remember talking to a philosophy major from UCLA. Well, that's not fair.
I never liked that whole idea of original sin. I never liked the fact that people today are held accountable for something that Adam did. God deals with man on the level of two men, Adam the first and Adam the second. It is God's prerogative not to test every single human being.
It is God's prerogative to look at man through federal headship. And the first instance of imputation is Adam's sin imputed to mankind. He took a federal role. He stood in a covenant of works as the federal head or representative of all his posterity.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism says it this way. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression? The answer, the covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression. You say, well, the Westminster divines concocted this covenant theology, but where does the Bible teach that?
Romans 5. Romans 5 is a passage rich in theology and what we call covenant or federal theology. Notice in 518. 518a, therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men. resulting in condemnation. It's the imputation.
It is the reckoning. It is the accounting. It is the case that God does not deal with each and every one of us as individuals and put us in this probationary period in the Garden of Eden and giving us this tree of the knowledge of good and evil and prohibiting us from eating it upon the pain of death. He did that with our federal representative.
He did that with our covenant head. And so we in Him fell with Him. And if you have a problem with that, you cannot justly accept the imputation of Christ's righteousness, which we'll see in just a moment. But Romans 519a, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners.
This is an unfortunate translation in the New King James. Made is imprecise. The verb is best translated as constitute or appoint. The term does not speak to a moral change within the descendant of Adam.
It refers to the change in legal or forensic status of the descendant. And then in 1 Corinthians 15, 22, the Apostle Paul says, for as in Adam, all die. So you see the first leg, or the first aspect, or the first kind of imputation is Adam's sin to his posterity.
The Elect's Sin Imputed to Christ
The second is the imputation of the elect's sin to Christ. The imputation, constitution, accounting, reckoning, legal, courtroom, that imputation of our sin unto the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Leviticus fleshes this out with its sacrificial symbolism. Already in Leviticus chapter 1, when the worshipper came to the tabernacle with his animal, he laid his hand upon that particular animal.
Now, we understand what that means because we have Leviticus 16 and we have the rest of the Bible. There is something of a transfer going on. There is something of an imputation going on. It is the worshipper saying, my sin is upon this sacrifice, and when its throat is cut, the sin is punished in the victim.
We're not left to guess when we get to the Day of Atonement. In Leviticus chapter 16, there are two animals that the high priest deals with. There is the blood of the one goat that he takes into the most holy place, that he sprinkles there for his sin. He sprinkles there for the sin of Israel.
And then there's a second goat that is not executed. It does not have its throat cut. It is not put to death. That goat, in the presence of all Israel, has the high priest lay his hands upon that goat, and he confesses the sins of Israel.
What's going on? Constitution, reckoning, accounting, imputation. The sin of Israel is placed upon this goat and then this goat is driven out into the wilderness as a perfect picture, a symbol, a sacrament, if you will, of God's removal of guilt from the people of Israel. We have the prophet Isaiah, who speaks in Isaiah 53, 6.
He says, "...and Yahweh has laid on Him," this is the servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, "...the iniquity of us all." So Yahweh lays upon the Son the iniquity of us all. Later in 53.11 it says, And the Lord was pleased to bruise him, putting him to grief. John Gill comments on Isaiah 53.6, That is, God the Father, against whom we have sinned, from whom we have turned, and whose justice must be satisfied. He has laid on Christ, His own Son, the sins of all His elect ones, which are, as it were, collected together. and made one bundle and burden of, and therefore expressed in the singular number, iniquity, and laid on Christ, and were bore by Him, even all the sins of all gods elect, a heavy burden this, which none but the mighty God could bear." It's glorious.
This is how we know it's particular atonement as well. When that high priest in Israel put his hands on that goat and he confesses the sin of Israel, he's not confessing the sins of Canaan. He is not confessing the sins of the Hittites. He is not confessing the sins of the Hivites.
He is not concerned about the Jebusites. It is the confession of sins. It is the imputation of Israel's sin to that scapegoat. And the same thing is true in the New Covenant.
The Lord Jesus says in His high priestly prayer, I do not pray for the world. Neither does He die for the reprobate. He dies for Israel. He dies for His church.
He dies for His elect. He dies for His sheep. He makes atonement. He doesn't make it possible.
He doesn't make it probable. He doesn't make it something that you can activate. He actually saves His people from their sins. Christ has the sin of the elect imputed to Him.
John 1.29, when the Baptist sees Messiah, he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Again, the language there is suggestive of the old covenant sacrificial system. The people would understand what he meant. The Lamb of God is the one upon whom the sins of the world has been laid. and the Father crushes the Son in order to save His people from their sins.
And then 2 Corinthians 5.21, another passage that teaches the imputation of the elect's sin to Christ. For God made Him, Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. Now we know that this is legal. We know that this is forensic.
We know that this is the connotation of imputation. Because when Christ had the sins of the elect imputed to him, it wasn't a moral transformation. He wasn't actually guilty of murder. He wasn't actually guilty of adultery.
It was constituted, it was reckoned, it was imputed unto him. The same thing holds true with us. We are imputed as righteous. That doesn't mean we're as holy as Jesus in our acts.
It doesn't mean that our moral transformation is such that we never sin. It's the language of the courtroom. It is the language of justice. It is the language of God reckoning according to His gracious plan.
So we have the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity. We have the imputation of the elect's sin to Christ our Lord.
Christ's Righteousness Imputed to the Elect
And then thirdly, we have the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the elect. You see, 80% goodness doesn't cut it with God. Not that I think any of us are near 80%, but let's just suppose for a moment. Can you honestly, with your Bible in your lap, or your Bible in your closet, or Exodus 20 opened up, or Deuteronomy 5, say, yeah, yeah, I'm doing quite well with those.
I'm doing really awesome. I mean, sometimes I think we evidence or manifest that sort of a disposition, but in our heart of hearts, before a high and holy God, can we honestly say that, man, we're doing well? I don't think so. Maybe you can, so you don't have to listen to this part. 80% doesn't get it. 99.999% doesn't get it.
God demands 100%. That's why we need Christ. He was holy, harmless, and undefiled. He never disobeyed the Father.
He never disobeyed his human parents. He continued in subjection to them. He paid taxes to Caesar. He did everything that was required of him, every step of the way.
That's the righteousness that avails with God. One man as well said, if you want to see what righteousness looks like, there's only 33 years in the history of the world that you can look at. And that's the life and the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's it!
That is acceptable to God and no other. Even if we did our best, even if from this day on we never sinned again. We've got all the sin in our background that needs to be dealt with. It's Christ's righteousness that we desperately need, and what we find in the scriptures is that the gospel answers to that.
At the end of Romans 4, we read, verses 22 to 25, and therefore, It was accounted to him for righteousness. This is Abraham. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.
Back to Romans 5, we read, the first part of verse 18. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. Notice this, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. You see, God deals with us in this way.
Covenant headship, Adam and Christ. In Adam all die, in Christ all shall be made alive. Romans 5.19, we read that verse. The first part, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.
Again, constituted, reckoned, accounted. It's not moral transformation that is primarily in view here, which unfortunately is communicated by the New King James use of make, but the verb indicates that constitute is what's going on here. It is a change in legal or forensic status. 1 Corinthians 1.30. You can turn there.
I just want you to see the imputation of Christ's righteousness given to the elect. 1 Corinthians 1, beginning in 26. It's a wonderful passage of Scripture. I always feel guilty when I say this is a wonderful passage of Scripture. Every passage of Scripture is a wonderful passage of Scripture.
Every single one. This one is too. 126. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world and things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.
That no flesh should glory in His presence. You see, this is the design of the Gospel. Yes, our blessedness is involved. Yes, our felicity is involved.
Yes, our pardon is involved. And yes, our righteousness is involved. But the grand design of God's holy gospel is His glory. It is His honor, it is His praise, it is His majesty, it is His excellence that is upheld and viewed by the moral order so that all praise and glory and honor redounds to His great name.
I think if sinners, redeemed sinners, got a hold of that, there'd be no debate over Calvinism and Arminianism. When we see the chief end of God, is to glorify God and to enjoy Himself forever, then it really puts the debate in the proper sphere. There is no place for human boasting, there is no place for human applause, there is no place for credit on our behalf. But of Him, he now says in verse 30, you are in Christ Jesus.
Why are we in Christ Jesus? But of Him. It's not because you came forward in a tent meeting. It's not because you raised your hand when every eye was closed and every head was bowed.
You are not in Him because of what you've done. You want a verse dealing with monergism or one-ism in terms of who saves who? But of Him you are in Christ Jesus. It's not because of you, it's not because of your wisdom, it's not because of your righteousness, it's not because of your law keeping, it's not because you were wise and came forward when the altar call was published.
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus. Never forget that. You are where you are because of a gracious God. And conversely, in terms of comfort, you are where you are because of the grace of God.
You're not going anywhere. You're not going to be ripped out of His hand. You cannot mess it up if you are truly in Christ. There is nothing in the language of the Apostle at the end of Romans 8 that shall separate us from the love of God. which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." You see what men call Calvinism, or the doctrines of grace, or whatever you want to call it.
I call it Pauline and Isaac theology, or Isaiah, whatever the adverbial form or adjectival form is. It is the theology of the Bible. It's not just to shut the mouths of free willers, it's to provide boatloads of comfort for the elect. We're in Christ because of the Father.
Christ has become all of this to us because of God's grace. We have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ because God chose us for this before the foundation of the world. We have redemption through His blood. We have righteousness because of Christ's work.
We have the Spirit who is the seal and guarantee of our final inheritance. We have everything in Him. It's not just to win theological debates, it's to bring great comfort to the soul of man when there's struggles and discouragements and trials and difficulties. What gets you through a day when everything is against you?
Is it, but of me, I'm in Christ Jesus? No, it's but of Him. I am in Christ Jesus. And then note what he says.
But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. You need these things and you have these things because of our gracious God. You need righteousness. God answers to that in the Gospel.
The Lord Jesus fulfilled the law. God imputes that righteousness to us. It is received by faith alone. We need sanctification.
Yes, our initial setting apart, being vessels of God Most High, but on a daily basis, we need to put off sin. We need to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we do this in our own strength? Do we do this in our own flesh?
No. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and who gave himself for me. We need righteousness, he answers. We need sanctification, he answers.
We need redemption. And I think the redemption there has in view the final day, that final acceptance with God. Not that there's a two-stage process, not that it's a new perspectivism where there's a first stage of justification and then a final justification. I think the whole idea is the gamut of salvation as it comes out from first to last.
Fesco defines or Fesco comments on this verse this way. He says, when one is united to Christ, he receives the wisdom of God through calling. Righteousness through imputation, sanctification through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and redemption through the cross. Everything we need is given to us by our Heavenly Father. 1 Corinthians 15.22, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
And then a final verse with reference to the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the elect, 2 Corinthians 5.21. Again, we've already rehearsed it. God the Father made Him Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us. Remember the elect?
Sin imputed to the Son so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Righteousness of Christ imputed to us. Again, our dear Baptist brother, just as Christ is made sin or a sinner by the imputation of the sins of others to Him, so they are made righteousness or righteous persons through the imputation of His righteousness to them. And in no other way can the one be made sin or the other righteousness.
So brethren, when Paul says in Romans 4-5, God justifies the ungodly, when Paul says in Romans 3-26 that God is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, it is because of this legal declaration. It is because of covenant theology it is because a federal headship it is because God most high took our sin put it upon his beloved son punished him in our stead to satisfy divine justice he then took the righteousness of Jesus Christ accomplished by his perfect life and imputes it to us so that when we stand before him on that day we can sing with top lady, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Thou lie to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. From first to last and everywhere in between, salvation is of the Lord." So we see, in imputation, it answers this particular issue or question.
We see that it does uphold the justice and the righteousness of God.
Justice and Grace United in the Gospel
Go back for just a moment to 321 in Romans. But now, the contrast there is between the wrath of God revealed in 118, Detailed explanation up to 3.20. And then Paul shifts gears. But now, he says, wrath is revealed, 1.18, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
And then in verse 21 of chapter 3, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And then chapters 4 and 5 explain how that is the case. God imputes.
God declares. God graciously receives the elect because of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see in this not only the justice of God, but the graciousness of the Gospel.
The Glory of Protestant Justification
Listen to Sproul. He says, this is the glory of the Protestant doctrine of justification. The person who is in Christ is at the very same instant a sinner and just. Right?
Right? You're justified freely by his grace. Are you perfect right now? If this is any evidence of being perfect, I'm just kidding.
Perfect people would be going, yeah. I'm just really kidding. Just trying to wake everybody up. Christ is at the, the person who is in Christ is at the very same instant a sinner and just.
He says, if I could be justified only by actually becoming just and having no sin in me, I would never see the kingdom of God. You hear that? It's the problem with all false religion. It's the problem with everything non-Christian.
It's the problem of repudiating the grace of God. If I could be justified only by actually becoming just and having no sin in me, I would never see the kingdom of God. He says, the point of the gospel is that the minute a person embraces Jesus Christ, all that Christ has done is applied to that person. All that he is becomes ours, including his righteousness.
Luther was saying that at the very instant, I believe I am just by virtue of the imputation of Christ's righteousness. It's Christ's righteousness that makes me just. His death has taken care of my punishment, and his life has taken care of my reward. So my justice is completely tied up in Christ.
That's the point of the Apostle in Romans 4.
The Lord's Supper and Imputed Righteousness
That's the point of the supper tonight. It is to remind us not of our goodness. It is to remind us not of our worthiness. It is not a reward for our having done well in this week.
But it is a continual reminder to us that Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ has given Himself for us. And that because God is gracious, He has placed us in Him, we eat this bread and we We drink this cup and we proclaim not our goodness, not our worthiness, not that this is an award for good behavior, but we proclaim His death until He comes. This points us to Romans. This points us to the cross.
This points us to the reality. of a living, dying, risen Savior who has accomplished everything for us and has provided righteousness, who sanctifies us by the power of the indwelling Spirit, and has redeemed us by the blood of the cross itself. This time is a great reflection upon the great gospel truth that Christ has died and we have everlasting life as a result. Well, praise God. Not only did he die, but he rose again as the Apostle encapsulates the whole scheme in verse 25.
He was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised for our justification.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray and thank God for his mercy and his grace. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your work. We thank You that You are just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ.
Thank You that You have dealt so mercifully with us. Thank You that You have blessed us richly with every spiritual blessing. Thank You that Jesus Christ has done what He has done on behalf of all those whom the Father had given Him. I pray that You would bless the Word as it goes forth.
I pray that You would encourage our hearts She would strengthen us with gospel truth, with the reality of a gracious and a sovereign God, and may these things cause us to find comfort in the coming weeks and months and years as we persevere in this lower world. May the truth of the cross always be that which encourages our hearts. And we pray through Christ the Lord. Amen.