(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right well if you would turn to your Bibles to Matthew 28. Matthew 28 is our passage that we're gonna read from. We'll go ahead and read the chapter and then we'll go into the sermon. In the Bible you have the New Testament which is you know towards the end of your Bible as a whole. The very first book of the New Testament is Matthew the Gospel according to Matthew. The very last chapter of Matthew chapter 28 the Bible reads, men and the angel answered and sent unto the woman fear not for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified he is not here for he is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and behold he goes before you into Galilee there shall you see him lo I have told you and they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy and did run to bring his disciples word and as they went to tell his disciples behold Jesus met them saying all hail and they and they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him then said Jesus unto them be not afraid go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me now when the now when they were going behold some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done and when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel they gave large money unto the soldiers saying say ye his disciples came by night and stole them away while he while we slept and if this come to the governor's ears we will persuade him and secure you so they took the money and did as they were taught and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain where Jesus has appointed them had appointed them and when they saw him they worshiped him but some doubted and Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even into the end of the world amen so this is the famous resurrection story of according to the Gospel of Matthew Matthew Mark Luke and John these are the gospel or the New Testament good news according to these four individuals and Matthew shows us a couple of clear things when it comes to the gospel account or the resurrection you know today's Easter and in Easter as New Testament Christians we have two holidays that we celebrate the Old Testament talks a lot about different holidays you know the Passover is a holiday the blowing of trumpets is a holiday there's other holidays of the Old Testament tends to signify or point out and as New Testament Christians once the death burial and resurrection occurred we have two New Testament holidays one of which is Christmas which is obviously the birth of Jesus Christ into the world the virgin birth and then the second New Testament holiday is the resurrection Jesus Christ raising again from the dead and having these two New Testament holidays we need to understand the significance and importance of what is actually occurring in this event it took the resurrection for us and anyone to be saved so in understanding more deeply the the doctrine of the resurrection we can better help understand how we can help each other and how we can you know be pleasing to God in our day to day life so the title of this message or what I want to get into is what's known as the imputation doctrine of the Easter Sunday service imputation this is a aspect of the gospel that is not necessarily under emphasized but it's not I believe emphasized enough there are burial there's a lot of different aspects to the gospel or salvation that a lot of people highlight and the Bible highlights but the doctrine of imputation is a very critical understanding of what it means to be saved and how we can know we're saved and things like that and I'm gonna first go into a couple of just other aspects to the gospel that maybe you know or most people already know and one of which let's go right into it is the concept of our sins being forgiven you and I know that when you were saved your sins were forgiven in Romans 3 23 the Bible reads for all of sin to come short of the glory of God I have saved you have sinned and not only that we have even sinned today some people think that once you believed in Christ or you were saved you will automatically stop sinning and that's not true because obviously we still have the flesh and we still have the temptation to be able to sin but our sins are forgiven elsewhere in the Bible talks about how our sins are as far as the east is from the west meaning that when God looks at us he doesn't see a sinner he used to see a sinner though we have sin in the book or the Epistle of John talks about if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us notice it doesn't say if we say we had not sinned it says it says if we have not sin meaning we currently today have sins that we commit all the time every day the Bible teaches for instance that the thought of foolishness is sin just thinking something stupid in the sight of God is considered sinful you know there's not a just man upon the earth that do with good and sin if not sin is inevitable in our life being that we have this sinful flesh but you know we understand the penalty person is hell but that's why we celebrate the resurrection or the gospel the gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ the Son of God came into the world and paid for the punishment of sin he elsewhere as a matter of fact I'll have you turn to Colossians Colossians talks a little bit about this the concept of pain or having our sins forgiven go to Colossians chapter 3 Colossians chapter 3 verse 12 it reads put on therefore as the elect of God elect just means the chosen put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another even or forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do you so basically the Bible saying that in the Church of Colossians that amongst the brethren there were disputes and arguments and issues where it says if you have a fault one with another it says forgive them their faults one of the biggest attributes for us as Christian is forgiveness why because it says in the later half of 13 even as Christ forgave you so also do you because Christ forgave me of my sins I should be able to look at my brother in Christ and when he does me wrong or does me dirty I should also forgive him of his faults even though you don't just you know allow and accept it you know we are sinners and we have to deal with you know if as brothers and sisters in Christ you know I know I fought with my brothers and sister in my biological family so we're gonna fight with each other as Christians we're not always going to see eye to eye but we should be able to forgive each other our faults as Christ forgave us Romans 5 8 says and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us even though we are in sin and we have sin Christ still came and died for us and forgave us of our sins so that's one major aspect and as a matter of fact it says the same thing in Ephesians 4 32 you don't even go there it says and be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sakes has forgiven you so once again it's just reiterating that brothers and sisters in Christ whenever there's a problem we need to just forgive each other and understand that as Christ forgave us we ought to forgive each other so that's a major aspect of the gospel that everyone kind of knows everyone knows that God forgave us of our sins Jesus Christ paid for the penalty of sin but another aspect of the gospel that is kind of well known is the concept of new birth you ever heard the term being born again right this is a Christian term that comes from the Bible and it's very not like and as a matter of fact turn if you went to person to her John 1 the gospel according to John the very first chapter look down at verse 12 it says this actually this started verse 11 it says he came not or he came unto his own and his own received him not this is in reference to the Jewish people Jesus Christ came to the you know to the kingdom of Judah he came unto his own and his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were not which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God and the Word was made flesh and will among us and we beheld his glory the glories of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth so notice it says that to them gave he power to become the sons of God that means there are people who are not children of God and elsewhere and if you want to go ahead and turn over just two pages to John chapter 3 the famous story of Jesus speaking to Nicodemus which is a Jewish Pharisee and he's asking him about you know how to be saved and in John chapter 3 verse 3 Jesus answers and says unto him verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God so Jesus Christ is making it very clear to be saved to become a child of God to become a son of God you need to be born again and then the question would then ventured well how how do I become born again and notice we're in John chapter 3 the most famous passage in the whole entire Bible it's just a couple verses down telling us how do we become born into the family of God or become children of God and it's in John 3 16 it says before God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life so the answer to the question of what must I be do to be saved or what do I have to do to become a child of God believe on the Lord Jesus Christ John 1 where we just were a second ago it says to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name we don't need to work to be a child of God I mean you didn't work to be born into your family you know your parents did all the work we did nothing we were just born so obviously the thing we have to do to be born into God's family is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ this this is an aspect of the gospel that a lot of people understand born-again born-again believers becoming a child of God and once you're in God's family you're always in his family just as it being that I'm in my biological family no matter what I do I'm never not gonna be a part of the family and you may be the black sheep you may be the you know redheaded stepchild and you may be the one who gets beaten all the time but you're never not gonna be a child of God once you put your faith in Christ you're saved you're sealed into the day of redemption and you know if I did bad and in my family my mother or father would never throw me in an oven to discipline me they'll discipline me in ways but they'll never destroy me and that's what the Bible teaches that once you're a child of God he says I will never leave thee nor forsake thee your sins are as far as the east is from the west your sins are forgiven you are born into the family of God these are two major aspects to the gospel another aspect that people kind of understand more it's a little bit less emphasized as much as those first two is what's known as the spirit being brought back to life turn to your Bibles to Romans chapter 4 after the Gospels we have the book of Acts and after the book of Acts we have the book of Romans the epistle of Paul to the Romans the people of Rome had an epistle written to them by the Apostle Paul and in chapter 4 it explains what it means what what it means to have the spirit be brought back to life notice what it says in chapter 4 verse let me get there myself 17 it says and notice we're now in parentheses as it is written so this means this is not new this is written in the Old Testament I have made thee a father of many nations referring to Abraham before him who before him whom he believed even God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were notice that way it says quickeneth the dead the Bible uses the word term quickeneth to mean brought back to life you know something was quickened and that's what the Bible says is your dead spirit is brought back to life when we as Christians or we people of this world were born into this world there's a doctrine out there known as the age of accountability that means that children babies up to about five years old it's different depending on the child's recollection of things are not in the sight of God considered saved they're considered safe because a baby or a one or a two or three year old or a four year old you know unfortunately with how things happen there are accidents is where babies die you know I mean people have abortions all the time those babies are dying children who get in a car accidents is horrible situations where children die they have to understand that they have sin they deserve a place called hell and that there's a son of God who died for their sins and there it's not necessarily able for them to recollect these things but nevertheless the words of God are true and it says for all of sin to come short of the glory of God but if they don't have concept of sinner they don't have concept of things of salvation and the sight of God they're known as safe King David at the time when he committed adultery with Bathsheba was gonna have a baby with Bathsheba and then God said that baby is going to die and David said I am not going to be with him or I will go where he is meaning that the baby when he died went to heaven children are under the age of accountability to not accountable for their sins because they can't recollect everything what they're doing but the Bible teaches elsewhere that when we sin we recognize what we're doing is wrong I mean you don't have to teach a child not to lie or you don't have to teach a child to lie you have to teach them not to lie we have a sin nature when a child gets caught stealing a cookie out of the cookie jar their natural instinct is to be like I didn't do it it was someone else and even though you see chocolate chip all over their mouth and there's a chair by the refrigerator reaching up for the the cookie jar their natural knee-jerk instinct is to lie or to sin and that is whether they understand that or not is what the doctrine of the age of accountability goes into but there is a part in the Bible where it says and this is the Apostle Paul speaking that you know there was a time when I knew no sin and then I understood sin and I died now when he said he died did he physically die no think about the Garden of Eden the very first story of sin entering into the world right Adam and Eve were the first people created by God and when God told them of all the trees in the garden thou mayest freely eat except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou mayest not eat for the day thou eat thereof thou shalt surely die and that's what's known as the one rule the law eat anything just don't eat that one tree that's the rule so he gave them a lot of liberty and freedom to do whatever they wanted just don't break the one rule do not sin do not transgress the law and then Satan came in and tempted even you will not die in the day you eat there but rather you will be as God knowing good and evil so here's the thing every good lie has a little bit of truth mixed in with it because if you want to directly inadvertently just lie to someone the best way to convince them of that is mix the truth into it because that's how you're gonna get someone to be deceived and he says the day you eat there if you will not die but rather you will be as God knowing good and evil so here's the thing let me ask you this when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge and good and evil do they physically die they didn't but their spirit died because their spirit died that's when sin entered into the world because God said the day you eat thereof you shall surely die he didn't mean physical death though because of that now we have physical death he says your spirit will die because the Adam and Eve spirits died they needed to be quickened or brought back to life because you and I have sinned and we understand how we've sinned our spirit died and that spirit needs to be quickened or brought back to life this is the doctrine of the spirit becoming born again or brought back to life or quickened you know aspects to the Gospels our sins are forgiven another aspect of the gospel we're born again another aspect of the gospel is that our dead spirit is brought back to life but the title of this message and the doctrine I want us to understand more is the doctrine of imputation this is an aspect of the gospel that tends to get shuffled to the side or not spoken of a lot but it's very important for us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to know the doctrine of imputation what is imputation right basically imputation think about the like the term input into a computer right if you're a computer software engineer you need to input information of the computer you need to put inside of it something right so the doctrine of imputation is saying that Jesus Christ is righteousness is put on to us when Adam and Eve sin in the Garden of Eden right and I believe Adam and Eve eventually got saved and some speculate that he wasn't but my reasoning why I believe that Adam was saved for sure is because in the Gospel account of Luke it talks about a genealogy of Mary Jesus's biological mother and as you follow that genealogy so and so they got so and so and so and so we got so and so if you to the very end it gets all the way to Adam and it calls Adam the son of God Adam is the son of God in multiple ways in the sense of he was the first created thing on the planet first created human person but not only that I believe he was the son of God in the sense of the Bible says to them that believe on him to them gave me power to become the sons of God he wasn't just the son of God because he was first created I believe he was the son of God because his spirit was brought back to life because he was in him and Adam and Eve or Adam and Eve were the first ones to sin so God when he kicks them out of the Garden of Eden they go ahead and sow themselves fig leaves they sow to themselves aprons of figs of trees which represents them trying to cover their nakedness because they were naked and they acknowledge at that point when they've sinned that they're naked and they become ashamed and they try to cover their bodies and they try to cover it with the the things that they found and they sowed they worked their own little garments and put it on them to cover themselves and that represents us trying to work our way to heaven or us trying to have our own way to God and cover our own sins but God rather when he sees them he go he goes and kills an animal it takes the skin of that animal and covers them with that because God is the one you got to think about the Lord Jesus Christ being the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world God killing an animal where the shedding of blood is there's no atonement God had to shed blood someone had to die in place of Adam and Eve so they didn't have to so God killed this animal took the skin of that animal and covered Adam and Eve with with it this is the doctrine of imputation Christ's righteousness was put on to us as believers that's what it means to have imputed righteousness and you're in Romans 4 look look verse number one well you get there let me just explain something actually let's just read it really quick what shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh have found for if Abraham were justified by works he hath were up to glory but not before God let's pause there really quick notice what it says for if meaning that it's not possible for if Abraham were justified by works you cannot be justified in the sight of God by your works it says for by the works of the lash on no flesh be justified in Galatians says it for if Abraham were justified by works he hath were of the glory but not before God so if he's not going before God who any glory in front of mankind people could look at Adam I'm sorry people could look at Abraham and the great things that he's done and say that is a man of faith you know God told him to get up and to go into a land that he doesn't know of or about or anything of that takes a lot of faith that just trust that God will provide for you in a land you don't know it takes a lot of faith to be willing to take your only son and sacrifice him to God which pictures the father sending Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for our sins so takes a lot of faith imagine you had a son and you just said okay I'm gonna sacrifice my son knowing that God is able to even bring him back from the dead if you and I saw that we'd be like that guy's a lot of faith that guy's a lot of trust in the Lord so it says if Abraham were justified by the works or by works he hath were of the glory but not before God those things Bible teaches that our righteousness is or as filthy rags on the side of the Lord when I do good things when I keep the Ten Commandments when I help the old lady across the street when I do good things and I try to present this to God as my ticket into heaven what he's looking at is a filthy rag he's like that's disgusting you're you sow the fig leaves to cover your own self your own sin that you have problems with he says you need to put on righteousness you need to put on Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ was pure he was sinless but let's keep reading it says now to him that worketh is not reward or is the reward not reckoned of grace but of death but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness so it says to him that worketh not you have two people standing side by side there's this guy who is a horrible drug addict debauched fornicating derelict convict who has a horrible wicked person but puts all his faith on Jesus Christ as his way in heaven he truly believes that but on this side you have a church going nice decent person of society contributing to the poor trying to keep the Ten Commandments and doing all these good things but does not only have his faith in Christ this guy's righteousness is ours filthy rags and it's filthy and as horrible of the sinner this guy is Christ's righteousness is put on to him so when God looks at this guy he sees the sinless Lamb of God that is imputation Christ being inputted unto us now the words that get you brought up in this which are synonyms for the word of imputed our words like account notice what it says right there his fate is counted for righteousness and in verse 4 it says now to him that worketh not is now to him that worketh is not reward not reckoned of grace but of death so sending them that the Bible uses for the word of imputed is reckoned and accounted and what's funny is I just looked up the generic dictionary definition of these words and it's it's amazing how God's word is so accurate because when you look up just the generic worldly people of this world's understanding of words it lines up with what the Bible teaches the word account and sure enough you don't know what this means but the dictionary definition of an account is the action or process of keeping accounts it's obvious there's an accountant for a business they keep the numbers they they check out to make sure all the numbers are accurate so you once again the doctrine of imputation has to do with counting your righteousness and your bad you're good and you're bad right and then another word that is used is reckoned think about the day of reckoning right you've heard that term oh watch out for the day of reckoning because the word reckon is the action or process of calculating or estimating something and the last word being imputed like I said not trying to make the worldly dictionary say what the Bible says but the Bible actually ended up finding out what that word meant was accurate and a dictionary dot-com it says represents and then it puts in parentheses something especially something undesirable and parentheses as being done caused or possessed by someone and a synonym is attributed so obviously the world's understanding of these words are basically there's an accounting there is a balancing of there is a thing that is not desirable that something gets put to it so a lot of people think that to go to heaven I asked a lot of people what do you think it takes to go to heaven be a good person do good things go to church fill in the blank right and then I asked him well the Bible teaches that you know the wages of our sin is death so a wage you think about money right you go to work and you may earn a wage you know we have a minimum wage in America whatever your state's minimum wage is but basically what that's saying is the time spent at you at this place you have to at least make this much money so it says for the wages of our sin is death we deserve to die because of our sin right when you explain to them that we all have sinned and we all deserve to go to hell for our sin they say well here's the thing I don't think that's bad I think my good outweigh my bad but like I said a moment ago the Bible teaches that our filthy rags or our righteousnesses are filthy rags so in the balancing scales of our works or our actions sin is like a 2,000 ton brick and then our righteousness is no matter what they are are like a feather and you're we're found wanting our sins are not the wages of our sin is death we deserve to die our sins outweigh our righteousnesses in the sight of God so with that being said how do we tip the scale how do we get back to balance well remember what the Bible said just a second ago in verse 4 now to him worketh not or to him that worketh is the word not reckoned of grace but of debt but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness his low leave his trust his faith what Jesus Christ had done so many 2,000 years ago the day in which we are celebrating today his death his burial and his resurrection is how we are saved not by works of righteousness which we have done but it's according to his mercy are we saved so basically the doctrine of imputation is saying that when God looks at us he sees Jesus Christ in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us elsewhere in the Bible and actually if you would turn to 2nd Corinthians just two more books over 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 this is one of the best passages that explains the concept of imputation Christ's righteousness being inputted into us when God looks at us he sees Jesus Christ's righteousness and not our wickedness notice what it says I should have had you keep a finger in Romans 4 but we'll go back there in a moment it says for he has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him he who knew no sin Jesus Christ had never sinned he lived a perfect sinless life that you and I and no one could ever live because he was fully God and he was fully man he was fully divine but he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin the Bible says so he who knew no sin became sin for us that we may be known as the righteousness of God so basically Jesus Christ at this death was known as a substitutionary atonement this is a fancy way of sacrificed himself I tend to tell people that a substitute teacher is in place of a teacher right the teacher sick the substitute shows up in place of that teacher so if I a sinner deserve to go to hell for my sin and Jesus Christ died for my sins and I deserve to go to hell he substituted himself for me as elsewhere in the book of Acts it says in chapter 2 he's seen this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell and neither did his flesh see corruption because his soul was not left there meaning it was there for those three days and three nights but the glorious news of the gospel is not just about his death and his substitutionary atonement it's not just about his burial and how his flesh did not see any corruption but rather it's about his resurrection and his life that through his life through his righteousness through our faith and what he has done he says if you do this I will give you eternal life you do not need to buy this you didn't earn this you don't even deserve this but because I love you Jesus Christ saying I will give you eternal life says you know in John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life Romans 6 where we quoted earlier says the wages of our sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord so go back if you went to Romans chapter 4 he who knew no sin he became sin for us that we may be known as the righteousness of God well let's keep looking at Romans 4 about the concept of imputation in Romans 4 to start over what shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh of the found for if Abraham were justified by works he hath were up to glory but not before God for what saith the scriptures Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt now I'm gonna pause really quick and we're gonna keep moving forward not reckoned of grace the Bible teaches in Ephesians 2 8 9 it says for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourself it is the gift of God and it is not of works the sunny man should boast so basically the Bible is saying is that we are saved by grace and if we don't understand grace is just something you don't deserve you don't deserve this Lisa and I my wife and I used to when I met her played volleyball at this Bible College and sometimes when you would like serve the ball and it didn't make it over the net we'd say give them grace like let them try it again because they don't deserve to try it again but let them try it again and basically grace is just something you don't deserve and an acronym that I use to explain grace to people is actually a really accurate way to understand imputation it says grace G R A C E God's riches and Christ's expense Jesus Christ paid for it all he was the one who put think of the analogy of a courtroom you know there's a judge and there's a guy who committed these crimes and the judge says do you understand you've done these crimes yes I've done these crimes okay you have a bail of st. 18 quadrillion dollars you can't pay this bail so a man or God comes into that courtroom and says I'll pay that bail you know I don't deserve for this guy to come and pay my bail but he came in and says the judge looks at me and says do you have 18 quadrillion dollars no I don't have 18 quadrillion dollars but then a man walks in and says I have 18 quadrillion dollars and I'll give it to you and you know what your debt that you owe your imprisonment I'll go into that prison for you and you could come and take this 18 quadrillion dollars and you can go scot-free so that's what the concept of imputation is talking about but let's keep moving forward it says but him that work in that but believe it on him that justified the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness even as David also described the blessedness in the man under whom God imputed righteousness without works saying blessed are they whose sins are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is a man to whom the Lord will not impute sin so basically it says blessed is those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin so when God looks at you he's not inserting your sin into your account he inserted that sin into Christ on the cross when Christ died on the cross it says he bear our sins on the cross and not just my sins and not just your sins but the sins of the whole world everyone sins was put on Jesus Christ's account he was the one that paid for the punishment let me ask you this is everyone going to be saved is everyone on their way to heaven not everyone believes in the Lord Jesus Christ not everyone puts their faith alone in him not everyone was imputed righteousness unto them and the doctrine of imputation is important for us as Christians to understand why because you got to see it like this unto whom much is given of him should much be required once you are saved and you've put your faith alone in Jesus Christ you are sealed into the day of redemption you are on your way to heaven no matter what and of these two analogies that I gave you of the crackhead the weirdo the derelict and the good churchgoing guy assumably this crackhead puts his faith alone in Christ and then from that day forward and the rest of his life decides to still be a crackhead and a horrible person and a derelict and whatever let me ask you this do you think God died for some of his sins or all of his sins did he die for the sins of his past or the sins of his future Jesus Christ died some 2,000 years ago before I was a twinkle in my great-great-grandfather's eye but he knew I would sin he knew that I would live a life where I would sin and not only that the Bible says like it said in John the Epistle of John if we say we have no sin not had have no sin to deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us meaning that some people think and a lot if not 97 percent of churches believe that once you are saved once you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ you are automatically never gonna sin or you're gonna always do the right thing and you're gonna live a good life and you're gonna be looking like this churchgoing guy who goes to church and does good things false doctrine not true we should keep the Ten Commandments we should not lie we should not steal I should help the old lady across the street I should read my Bible and I should go to church but only one time in the Bible is the question asked what must I do to be saved or what do I have to do and the answer simply was believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved now you might that it's possible if you believe you will be saved why because your sins are forgiven why because you were born into the family of God why because your dead spirit was quickened why because Christ is righteousness was imputed unto you so God doesn't look at a sinner anymore though we still have sin those sins are as far as the East is from the West and this is something that we need to understand is important to the believer because what I first had us read was the gospel according to Matthew at the very end it says the Great Commission teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded you so basically what Jesus is saying is that it's not by works of righteousness which we have done or what we do but it's according to his mercy mercy that we are saved we are not kept saved by the adherence to the law we are kept saved by Christ's righteousness but should we continue in a life of sin no unto whom much is given like eternal life was given to you unto whom much is given of him should much be required you are held to a higher standard because you are saved and when God looks at you he sees his own child now let me ask you this in I don't have children but if I had a son and my son I have a rule you know eat your broccoli before dessert and he decides not to eat his broccoli I'm gonna chasing him I'm gonna chastise him I'm gonna discipline him but if the neighbor kid doesn't eat his broccoli before dinner dessert I can't just walk up to that kid and start disciplining him in the old Hawaiian days we used to do that kind of stuff but it's not socially acceptable anymore to discipline other people's kids but what I'm trying to say is that we as Christians now that there are three things there are three things that a Christian has the ability to do that no one else in the world can do and the first thing is understand the Bible the Bible teaches that the natural man receives not the things of the spirit and neither can he know them because he is spiritually discerned meaning that there are three camps in the Bible there are the sons of God the sons of mankind or the sons of Adam and then there are the sons of the devil the soul or the spiritual war that is going on is for the souls of mankind sons of God and the sons of the devil are trying to convert sons of mankind to their camp and the Bible teaches that once we're saved we're always saved and we're always going to be a son of God but once you're a child of the devil you all you will never be saved you are condemned you are done finito finished you are a reprobate according to the Bible the word reprobate just means rejected of God God rejected you has he rejected Satan and that's why you're known as a child of the devil so basically when the souls of the the unsaved not the sons of the devil just a regular unsaved a joke here's God's Word he cannot understand them he can only understand what God allows him to understand and it only has to do with believing on his son if a person wanted to try to figure out any other deep truth as an unsaved person the Bible says he cannot understand these things the natural man perceives not the things of the Spirit because these words that I preach unto you these words they are spirit in their life so basically saying that the Jesus Christ is the Word of God and we need to believe in those words to understand those words we don't see by sight we see by faith you know and that's something that the world doesn't understand because they really want to logic things and to be able to be their own arbitrary person of right and wrong left and right up and down truth and non-truth God says basically that one ability that we as Christians have that the rest of the world doesn't as we can look at the Bible and read it and understand it and that's a huge blessing that some people don't realize they have as Christians to know the mysteries of the universe of any and everything that the Creator has told us the instructions the famous Bible basic instructions before leaving earth you and I can look it and study it and understand it and know that's one number two is that you and I as believers can get someone saved the Bible teaches basically that an unsaved person cannot get someone else safe because they themselves do not have eternal life they do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them but you and I once again back to the concept of imputation have the Holy Spirit inside of us this is what's known as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the Bible teaches that if Christ be in you and you're a child of his if you believe on him then are you the Son of God and the Holy Spirit is one of the people of the Godhead that is you know Jesus is in the Father the Holy Spirit's in Jesus and the Holy Spirit's in me so I have a connection to the Father through the Holy Spirit through the Son of God through the Father so you and I when we go out and preach the words of God it's as if God is preaching those words to him holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost we only know that these words are true because the Bible teaches us that God's moved the hearts of these people to make them speak the words of God we can understand the Bible we can get people saved and the last thing is this we are able to walk in the spirit what does that mean I'm not going to go into it for sake of time because this is another doctrine that can go really deep into but it's in Romans 6 7 & 8 is the concept of the war waging between the flesh and the spirit because remember the unsaved spirit is dead it's not alive so they don't have a war between the flesh and the spirit they just have their flesh driving them in life whatever the flesh wants like food or lust or covetousness or whatever it wants it's driving it to do whatever but in the heart of us born-again believer our spirits alive Holy Spirit's inside of us Christ's righteousness is put on to us so in our life when we come to decisions we tend to stop and think to ourselves the famous statement what would Jesus do is something that we're able to fulfill in our lives the unsaved I'm not saying the unsaved can't do good or right things I'm not saying an unsaved person can't help an old lady across the street I'm not saying that an unsaved person can't read the Bible he won't understand the Bible and when that guy helps a lady across the street God sees a filthy rag he's like oh that's great but you're a sinner see because we are able to walk in the spirit Jesus Christ makes it clear says you must deny self pick up your cross and follow me deny self means deny the old man that you were your flesh in those chapters Romans 6 5 6 & 7 I'm sorry 6 7 & 8 Paul talks about the war that he is going through in his heart and in his mind it says to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is peace and everlasting life he says the things that I would do I do not the things I want to do I can't do the things I don't do those the things I don't want to do I do those there is a war waging in my spirit that when I sin it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me Oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me of this body of sin so basically at the point of the resurrection of the second coming of Christ this flesh the body will be peeled away and will be given new body so that we cannot sin as believers because our spirits alive but this flesh needs to die kind of like a seed and that's another message for another time so basically turn to your Bibles to Hebrew 4 just so we can end on a positive because look walking in the spirit is a doctrine that the Bible clearly emphasizes and goes into a lot like I said Romans 6 7 & 8 and there's a constant war between the hearts of believers to do the right thing and we're not always able to do the right thing that's why it says put on the new man walk in the spirit because it's not guaranteed you're gonna do that you have to choose you this day whom you will serve and I'm sorry Hebrews chapter 4 my my step grandpa told me one time and this is just like a worldly analogy but it actually was pretty enlightening and it basically he talks about how and everybody there's two wolves there's a good wolf and a bad wolf and these wolves are gonna eat is who are you gonna feed so in your life if you feed your bad wolf your good wolf is gonna become malnourished and it's gonna want to eat it's gonna force itself and get the food because it's malnourished and then if you feed the good wolf all day the bad wolf's gonna want to eat and it's gonna force itself so the Bible is telling us to in a sense starve the bad wolf let it try to keep put on the new man deny yourself the old you pick up your cross and follow the new man or the new your spirit because we're made new in Christ but in Hebrews 4 this is what I'm trying to say about how we are able to walk in the spirit it says and chapter 4 verse 14 it reads seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession for we have not in high preach which cannot be touched with the in feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 10 1st Corinthians chapter 10 so it says we cannot be touched with the infirmities of our own feelings but rather he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin Jesus Christ was tempted in every way but he did not do sin so what look what it says in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 11 it reads now all these things happen unto them for in samples this is referring to the Old Testament stories of the children of Israel walking out of the wilderness in Egypt and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come wherefore let him that thinketh he stand thinketh he standeth take heed lest ye fall that's a good verse to memorize wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest ye fall if you think you're above sin and you're above doing the wrong thing you better take heed lest ye fall there have no temptation taking you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but with the temptation also maketh a way to escape that you may be able to bear it so basically what the Bible is saying is when temptation comes in our life it's not if or it's not maybe it's when temptation comes we are God is not tempting us above that we are able he was tempted to know points like as we are yet he was without sin but I was put on that righteousness I am able to in a sense do as Christ did now I am NOT going to be pot it's not gonna be possible for me to always do that but I have the ability to walk in the spirit as Christ always walked in the spirit and notice when it says there is no temptation but such as is common to man so sins that are common to us or things like greed and envy and let me it's not I'm could be tempted to go to McDonald's and buy McDonald's and just glutton out I'm tempted to look upon a woman and lust after her I'm tempted to look at my neighbor's truck and be like oh that's a great-looking truck and covet his truck I'm able to do this but also he says it's not gonna tempt you above you're not able meaning that he left a way out for you and you think about the Lord's Prayer you know our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread the bread of God the Word of God and deliver us of our debtors forgive us of our debts for because we didn't you know because we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us for that was the kingdom in the heaven and glory forever amen so when we find ourselves in lives having temptation about to sin you gotta understand Christ's righteousness was imputed unto you you have the ability to walk in the spirit you can overcome sin in your life because Jesus Christ was tempted at all points like as we are yet without sin I'm not saying you will be perfect I'm not saying you have to be perfect I'm not saying you need to continue in a good life to be saved I'm saying you are able to deny myself pick up your cross and follow after him the doctrine of imputation is important for us to know on this Easter Sunday because yes your sins are forgiven yes you were born again in the family of God yes your spirit is alive but you have put on Christ's righteousness let us walk therein it's not guaranteed you would but we should you know unto whom much is given like salvation like Christ's righteousness of him shall much be required so let's meditate on those things is today and this week and to help us to understand what it is that God wants of us let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father thank you so much for your word thank you so much for sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross and that his righteousness was put on to us and that you're never gonna tempt us about that we're able and help us to understand we need to take heed lest we fall but you taught us that a just man will fall seven times but also get up seven times and help us to never forget that in this Easter to just glorify Jesus Christ the Son of God and to just be thankful that we are able to come to the throne of grace boldly and in Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen.