Calvinism – Tiptoe thru the Tulips
6. Imputed Righteousness
A. MUCH TROUBLE - MANY FACTIONS IN THE CHURCH.
B. PROPHESIED IN OUR TEXT - MUCH COMES FROM WITHIN
( Acts 20:29-30 ).
C. OUR GENERATION IS NOT EXEMPT. ONLY ONE WAY TO SEE THE END OF
SUCH DIVISION( 1 Cor.4:6 ).
D. HERESY OF THE 70's - IMPUTATION OF CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS.
A. HIS FRIENDS VOUCH FOR HIM( Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 2:21-22 ).
B. EVEN HIS ENEMIES( John 8:46; 18:38; Matt. 27:3-4 ).
C. GOD GAVE HIS APPROVAL( Acts 2:22 ).
A. NECESSARY TO QUALIFY HIM AS JUDGE( John 5:22; Matt. 7:1-5 ).
B. NECESSARY FOR HIM TO BE A SAVIOR( Heb. 5:8-9 ).
C. HIS OBEDIENCE HAD PURPOSE - TO QUALIFY HIM AS A SACRIFICE.
1. OT sacrifices imperfect, not complete value( Heb. 5:8-9 ).
2. Sacrifice of Jesus, worth more than all mankind( John 3:16 ).
3. But God's will must be followed( Heb. 10:5-18 ). Suppose Jesus had sinned.
Whose sins would he have died for? His own!( 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:24 ).
A. QUOTES:
1. "From this it is also evident that we are justified before God solely by the intercession
of Christ's righteousness. This equivalent to saying that man is not righteous in
himself but because the righteousness of Christ is communicated to him by
imputation."
"You see that righteousness is not in us, but in Christ, that we possess it only because
we are partakers in Christ... The only fulfillment he alludes to is that which we obtain
through imputation."
"To declare that by him alone we accounted righteous, what else is this but to lodge
our righteousness in Christ's obedience, because the obedience of Christ is reckoned
to us as if it were our own." ( John Calvin, THE INSTITUTES OF THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION, vol. 20, p. 350 ).
2. "Those whom God effectively calleth he also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness into
them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, 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; but
by imputing the obedience and sacrifice of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and
his righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God." THE
WESTMINSTER CONFESSION. ( Gordon Clark, WHAT DO PRESBYTERIANS BELIEVE?
p. 120 ).
3. "Christ not only bore our penalty on the cross, but in his life he perfectly obeyed his Father. It is
the personal righteousness of Christ's sinless obedience that is put to our account, on the basis of
which are declared not guilty." ( Gordon Clark ).
4. Baptist Encyclopedia: "Christ imputes or reckons his righteousness to every one of
them, and it becomes their own just as really as if they had wrought it our for themselves. His
perfect earthly obedience... he place to the credit of each member of his elect family. He give the
righteousness he acquired to every saint. He has obeyed... for all trusting disciples, and he gives
them this divine righteousness. Paul, the great apostle declares that his righteousness justifies
without any of our own works. Christ's obedience is as much ours as they are his."
5. Albert Barnes: "When righteousness of Christ is said to be imputed to us, the meaning is that God
so places it to our account, that in the eyes of the law we are held righteous and, therefore, treated
accordingly." "That the righteousness of Christ is imputed to man and that the obedience of Christ
becomes man's, thus it is not necessary for man to render full gospel obedience in order to be
saved."
B. ILLUSTRATE WITH THE LEDGER.
C. QUOTES FROM OUR BRETHREN:
1. "Calvin was right in doctrine, wrong in terminology"( Wayne McDaniel ).
2. "I will stand in judgment only with the righteousness of Jesus."
3. "Because of his obedience, those who are in him can be saved although they never do
achieve perfect obedience themselves. They are saved not because they obey perfectly, but
because they believe on Jesus"( GG 2/12/'70, Ed Fudge ).
D. ROBERT TURNER'S ILLUSTRATION:
1. His clean garment over our dirty clothes( Isa. 64:6 ).
2. It is said God does not regard good in us( Rom. 3:9-12 ).
3. Is that what that passage teaches?
4. ( Acts 10:35 ). Righteousness is noted by God.
A. MORE QUOTES:
1. John Walvoord: "It is reckoned to the believer at the moment of faith and becomes
his forever by judicial declaration of God. The righteousness thus imputed meets
completely the demands of a righteous God and is the sole basis for our acceptance
with God."
2. Gordon Clark: "But it is otherwise with Biblical justification, for if favor with God
depended on our future conduct, eventual salvation would be based on our works –
clearly contrary to Scriptures - and we could never have assurance of success. When
our position depends of Christ's merits instead of our own, we have no need to fear."
B. QUOTES FROM OUR WAYWARD BRETHREN:
1. God overlooks sins of weakness - Hitting thumb, cussing, being killed.
But aren't all sins of the flesh sins of weakness. What about fornication?
( Eph. 5: 5 ) What about Ananias and Sapphira?
2. God overlooks sins of ignorance, i.e. instruments, institutions, tongues.
3. "I will make nothing a test of fellowship which the Lord had not made a condition of
Salvation." Ed Fudge, Carl Ketcherside. In their literature, only baptism and the
Lord's supper were areas where they would be firm.
A. THE PASSAGE USED DOESN'T TEACH IT( Rom. 4:3, 5, 9, 11, 19-24 ).
1. In our text faith is reckoned for righteousness( James 2:21-23 ).
2. It places conditions upon forgiveness( 1 John 1:6-7; Psa. 32:5 ).
B. It has been argued that life is in the blood( Lev. 17:11 ).
1. What does this verse mean? Blood is an atonement, for in the shedding of blood life
is given and the price is paid.
2. Not a balanced ledger, but a clean one.
C. Hebrews 10:5-9. IT HAS BEEN ARGUED THAT GOD DOESN'T WANT SACRIFICE.
( see verse 10 ).
A. WE ARE CLEANSED BY HIS BLOOD( Heb. 9:11-14 ).
B. WHEN WE SPEAK OF HIS BLOOD, WE ARE REFERRING TO HIS DEATH
( vs. 15; Rom. 5:8-10 ).
C. JESUS CLEANSES OUR SIN BY PAYING THE PRICE( Rom.6:23; 5:8; 3:25 ).
propitiation, hilasterion (hil-as-tay'-ree-on); relating to appeasing or expiating, having
placating or expiating force, expiatory:
1. the well-known cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of holies, which was sprinkled with the
blood of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement Heb 9:5
2. an expiatory sacrifice; a piacular victim Rom 3:25 (Thayer's Greek Lexicon,)
hilasmos, 1. an appeasing, propitiating,
2. the means of appeasing, a propitiation:(Thayer's Greek Lexicon)
COVER DOESN'T IMPLY HIDING, BUT SATISFYING THE CHARGE.
D. THROUGH HIS BLOOD WE HAVE FORGIVENESS( Eph. 1:7 ).
E. BUT FORGIVENESS IS CONDITIONAL!!
1. For the alien( Acts 2 :38 ).
2. For the erring child( Acts 8:22; 1 John 1:9 ).
3. Both must walk in the light( 1 John 1:6-7 ).
Is instrumental music light or dark? institutions? charismatic gifts?
F. CAN WE FELLOWSHIP THOSE IN THE DARK?
( 2 John 9-11; Rom. 16:17-18 ).
A. 2 Tim. 4:2. IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON.
B. BEWARE OF THE WOLVES AND FALSE BRETHREN( Acts 20:29-20 ).
