"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (Rom. 4:8)."
"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 (II Cor. 5:21)."
IMPUTATION is God reckoning to your account what Someone else has done, and God reckoning what you have done to Someone else's. God imputes the obedience of Jesus Christ equally to all of His elect and looks upon us as the ones who obeyed. AND God reckons that everything sinful we have done, and will do, was actually committed by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why He punished His Son on the Cross. IMPUTATION is the Innocent Son of God being made guilty, and the guilty given His innocence. This is the only gospel that saves.
IMPUTATION demanded the death of the God-Man. God didn't simply 'say' that Jesus Christ took our sins. He, by necessity, became One like us and suffered for us. IMPUTATION satisfies God's justice because the exchange of guilt for righteousness is from one human being to another Human Being. Imputation is similar to a change of garments, but the garments must FIT both parties. Christ garments of obedience are justly exchanged for our sin-stained garments of disobedience because He took upon Himself the form of a man and became subject to His own Law. As eternal God, the garment of our sin could not fit upon Christ. Therefore, The Son of God is made the Son of Man and the exchange completely honors God's justice. "Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people (Heb. 2:17)."
ONLY God manifested in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, could do righteousness accepted by God. You and I have never and can never do any meritorious righteousness of our own. What is righteousness? Righteousness is doing, not trying to do, or saying you ought to do, but actually doing what is absolutely perfect all the time. But "God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, no one (Ps. 53:2)." Therefore, God, by His Grace, reckoned the obedience of Christ to be our own. Christ obeyed His Father perfectly. Even while enduring the wrath of God, His cry "My God my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" was uttered in absolute loving obedience. The Wonder of Grace is that He did this for others. Everything He did, God imputes to our account and declares we actually did it. This is the only righteousness God accepts, and everyone who brings any other merit shall be found a transgressor and cast into hell.
Only God manifested in the flesh could satisfy His judgment against sin. Our efforts at improvement only increase our sin. We cannot fix what we've broken, and God is not accepting anything you could ever do to atone for the sins you have already committed. People talk about walking an isle to atone for their sins, saying a prayer, or trying to keep the Law next time, but NONE of these things does anything but heap self-righteousness on top of transgressions. God is no monster or fool who would send His Only Begotten to the Cross if there was anything you or I could do at anytime to cover one transgression. God could only find pleasure or the satisfaction of His justice, in the death of His own Son. O and bless God! He has satisfied HIMSELF! "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand (Is. 53:10)." By Grace, God charged ALL of our sins to Jesus Christ and punished Him as the worst of all transgressors. Christ was bearing the sins of all of God's elect, and He bore them as His very own. He had no iniquity in Himself, but He became guilty for our sakes. Therefore, He did not answer His accusers and died without argument. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth."
Only IMPUTATION satisfies Grace. If you lift a finger to do anything to satisfy God, and He accepts anything you've done, then it is no longer salvation by grace. Grace is God choosing whom He will be gracious to, and being gracious unto us without any regard to anything that we will ever do. "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work (Rom. 11:5-6)."
God's Grace is free to sinners and totally irrespective of any human works at any time; it is received by faith. Therefore, believers shouldn't lose hope of seeing Christ save the most foolish and proudest of rebels. God justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5). Therefore, turn your eyes away from the hopelessness you see in people's flesh and behold the glorious God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ– the same God who gave His Son to the Cross and delighteth in Mercy.
God warns that rejecting this Gospel is despising His Son, His grace, and the gift of righteousness. All who refuse to repent are worthy of hell and shall surely suffer for calling God a liar (I John 5:10). Yet, there is no excuse for you not to believe when God's grace flows so freely through Jesus Christ. Why will you perish when all things are ready, and the Master bids thirsty souls to come unto Him and drink? He doesn't need anything from you, and there are no conditions for you to meet. Believe only.
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