The sermon that I'm going to
have this morning, as you can see on the screen, the title
is God the Justifier. And as I begin the message, that's okay. Anyway, a lot of it's taken from
Romans 8, 28 through 39. But this morning, a lot of it's out
of chapter 8 of the book of Romans. And I've entitled the message,
God the Justifier. And if you look down at Romans
8, I want us to look at verse 33. where the Apostle Paul writes,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. Now, the message this morning
is going to have so much to do with who it is that justifies
the ungodly, who it is that justifies the elect. And it's clear that
it's God and God alone. To begin the message, I want
to make a statement. All believers do not begin the
journey of faith with perfect knowledge. We all grow in grace
and in knowledge of God. The Holy Spirit teaches us through
God's word. God's elect are initially brought
to believe the true gospel, and that never changes throughout
their growth. To be clear, The gospel that
we're talking about here that declares that salvation is based
in condition on the person and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The very righteousness of God
that Christ worked out and he imputed to the account of all
those that the father chose and give to his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that never changes. That
gospel doctrine never changes. Now concerning non-vital issues
that I call it, non-vital issues in doctrine, a person that says
they never change is either lying to themselves or they're a very
stubborn person because we all change as we go through this
walk of faith and we learn. We learn more and more about
who God is and how he saves sinners. The problem is when certain individuals
want to fight this doctrine of justification from eternity by
implying that if you believe justification from eternity,
then you must believe that Christ did not have to come to this
earth and die on a cross and shed his precious blood. We've
had this accusation leveled at some of us, a few of us. In other
words, they say that since I believe that there is an eternal aspect
of justification, that we really don't believe that it was necessary
for Christ to come and die. Let me say first of all that
that's a lie. It's just a flat out lie. Nobody
has ever heard me or any other person here at Eagle Avenue Grace
Church say such a thing. And the sad thing about this
is that the individual that has just told, he just told a lie
about me and other people who believe that God has justified
his elect from eternity. And either this individual did
it in ignorance or he did it with a malicious intent. But
either way, it's just a lie, and when someone says things
like this, they put into question their own integrity and their
character, no matter if it's a preacher or a person in the
pew. But I'll just say this this morning, that God, the eternal
God, is the justifier. It says it very clearly that
it is God that justifies, And God is eternal, and He's the
eternal God. He don't change His mind. He
determined all things from the beginning. He chose the elect,
and He chose them in Christ. And that's from eternity, from
the beginning, from before the foundation of this earth. The
Word justified according to the Greek dictionary and according
to Strong's Concordance. And everywhere else I could find,
That to justify means to declare or to pronounce or make one to
be just and righteous. Now, this is God who makes this
pronouncement. This is God, the eternal God,
who makes this declaration. He justifies his people. And
God, as the eternal God, he's not like us. He views everything
in what I'll call the eternal wants. God knows everything at
one time. He views everything at one time. You and I, we get it in bits
and in pieces progressively. But that's not the way with God. He knows it all. He views it
all. He's determined it all. He sees it all. He views everything
irrespective of time. He's not bound by time. He doesn't
have to wait just to see what will happen or if he'll be able
to fulfill his purpose, especially his purpose of grace and salvation
to his people. God doesn't have to wait to see
if something's going to be done. We know that the sovereign God
that we worship, This immutable God, unchangeable God, this all-powerful
God, when He wills to do something, it's done in His eternal mind. I believe it was John Gill who
said, the will of God to do a thing is the doing of it. And it's
that way especially when He wills to do it in His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is equal with Him, in the Godhead, and who
is in harmony and agreement with Him, and there is nobody that
can stop either one of them. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter
3. It says, I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. and God doeth it that men should
fear, that is, have reverential respect before him. God does
it and he does it well, and there's not anybody nor anything that
can stop him. Look over to Romans chapter four,
verse 17. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickened the dead, and calleth those things which
be not as though they were. Paul here is speaking, speaking
of God dealing with Abraham and talking with Abraham, having
a son, which was against the laws of nature, both with Abraham
and his wife, Sarah. Both being old, almost 100 years
old, both of them being old, And Sarah, never having a child,
she was barren. Now, you and I might say something's
gonna happen in the future, and we might declare something and
it'd be absolutely impossible for us to carry out, and absolutely
impossible for us to do. But God's not that way. Whatsoever
He desires, that He does. And this is how God is. Nobody
can stop Him. Not the will of man, not the
will and work of Satan or demons or anything, nobody can stay
his hand. As Nebuchadnezzar, King Nebuchadnezzar
said back in Daniel 4, verse 35, and all the inhabitants of
the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth and none can stay his hand and say unto him, what doest
thou? There was no possibility of Christ
not performing the work that our justification was based on. There is no chance for that transaction
to fail, and no need for any contingency plan, because both
the Father and the Son would be faithful. to what they both
promised. Christ will be faithful to the
Father in doing the work that was necessary for the elect salvation,
and we can take all our buts and all our ifs, and they will
none apply to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God in human flesh. Whatever Christ promises to do,
and whatever he entered into that covenant to do, that covenant,
that everlasting covenant with God, the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, there's no way that it cannot be done. Look
over at Isaiah 42. Isaiah is a recording of God's
word concerning the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, Behold, my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth, I have
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentile. He shall not cry nor lift up
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised wreath
shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall not be quenched. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. till he hath set judgment in
the earth, and the isles shall wait on his law. In eternity,
when the Father and the Son agreed on that covenant, that everlasting
covenant, that included his elect, his elect in that covenant, and
Christ stood as the surety and the mediator of that covenant,
There was no possibility for him failing to perform all the
work that he agreed to do. As a matter of fact, the Bible
says that he's the surety of his people. So that means being
a surety rather than a guarantor. A guarantor being the one who
will be responsible if the debtor is not able to do what's required.
Christ is the surety. And in old eternity, the son
was appointed by God as surety for his elect. He took the responsibility,
all the responsibility on himself for every part of their salvation. And as Robert said, there's some
sermons out there having to do with suretyship and exactly what
that means. And that plays such an important
part in looking at how God justifies His elect in eternity. See, Christ
took on that office of surety in that everlasting covenant.
And when He took on that office, God the Father laid all the debt
of His elect upon Christ. He didn't wait until Christ come
and die on the cross. He didn't wait till faith. He
laid all the debt, all the debt on Christ in that everlasting
covenant of grace before time. And Christ took on that debt,
and all of the elect that were put in Him at that time were
justified. They were in Christ. And the
truth is that the Lord, according to Isaiah, laid on Him, laid
on Christ, held Christ responsible and accountable for our iniquities
all the iniquities of the elect. The truth is that when it says
it is God that justifies his elect, he is the justifier. And it says in Romans 4 verse
5, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies
the ungodly. Now, there was no waiting to
see whether or not anybody would be ungodly. There was no waiting
to see whether or not Adam who was our federal head, would fall
and sin. God said to Adam, in the day
that you eat of that tree, you'll surely die. And he did. He died
spiritually, and eventually he died physically. He died because
God appointed and ordained it. There are some who insist that
all the elect were justified at the cross. That's an important
word to them. Everything they write, everything
they preach, and if you listen to it, it'll contain this reference
in some way or another, this emphasis, that all of God's people
were justified at the cross. I know one reason that they insist
upon this is because they want to ensure that men do not make
faith the cause or the condition. In other words, those that might
believe that we're justified at faith. To those that promote
that the elect are justified at the cross, it's almost blasphemy
to them if you believe justification from eternity. But over in Romans
3, verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. The apostle is talking about
people, Jews and Gentiles, both sin, the whole world sins, and
comes short of God's glory. We're all, by nature, as we're
born in this world, guilty before God concerning those sins. They have to be dealt with. Then
in verse 24, it says, being justified freely by His grace. through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, or having been justified. Young's literal transaction says,
declared righteous freely. And that word in another place
is translated without a cause. They were justified without a
cause in themselves. They are justified or declared
righteous freely without a cause in themselves by the grace of
God. And one of the next words that
that it says here, through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.
And that's what I believe that the Bible teaches from cover
to cover. We know and we preach and believe that it is through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And I've never since the
Lord taught me the gospel, I've never stated it any other way,
never believed it, anything else, and I know that I've never said
Nor do I believe that it wasn't necessary for Christ to come
and die on a cross. We have said here that it's through
the redemption of Christ, which is the ground and the foundation
of that justification. It is God that's just in every
sense. It is God that pronounces the
justification and declares us righteous. This just God, who
is also a Savior, and it is God who sheds his blood, God the
Son, which is the foundation upon which we're justified. That foundation on which we're
accounted righteous. But if justification begin at
the cross, those who insist upon it, they have a problem. They
have a real problem. because they have become their
own enemy in their logic. They say that God could not actually
justify his people until Christ shed his blood on the cross. In other words, God would not
be writhe in declaring them something that they are not until Christ
died on the cross. So they must have been justified
at the cross, they say. The problem with that is God
says of his saints in the Old Testament that they were already
righteous. They were just. They were declared
so and were viewed so by God himself. And if they were not
righteous, he would not have said that they were righteous.
So men say, well, God would not be telling the truth until the
blood of Christ was shed. Well, he wouldn't have been telling
the truth unless they were justified. God, in his word, calls them
righteous. Now, I don't know what these
fellows do with all of those Old Testament saints that died
before the cross, because God calls them righteous. You just
go look at your Bible concordance all the number of times you hear
that phrase, the righteous, as God speaking to his people as
the righteous. And you talk about God not being
able to call somebody something until something happens in time.
God can't call anybody anything that he does not see them to
be and find them to be in his sight. God can call his people
righteous at any point as long as he does it on a just basis. God cannot act contrary to himself. Let's look at a few scriptures
here, speaking of how God calls some of the Old Testament saints
righteous. Psalm 34, 17. The righteous cry,
and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. David lived before the cross.
The psalmist speaks, of the people that already existed. They were
already suffering afflictions and trials, and it says that
they were already calling on the Lord. But God calls them
righteous. And again in Psalm 34, 19. Many
are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivered Him out
of them all. You see, God put His people,
His elect people, His church, the Bride of Christ, He put them
in Christ from the foundation of the world, and he viewed them
in Christ before this world was ever created. Paul writing to
the Ephesians in Ephesians 1, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according that he
has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. That's that everlasting love
that God has for His people. I suppose you'd have to call
justification a spiritual blessing. The elect were blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. You see, God
has always viewed His people in His Son. In Christ, according
to He had chosen them, in Him before the foundation of the
world. And that we should be holy and without blame. Now,
you tell me how we could ever be holy and without blame in
the sight of God before the foundation of the world unless we were in
Christ. Look at Jeremiah 23. And this
is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness,
speaking of Christ, the Lord our righteousness. Then in Jeremiah
33, 16, and this is the name wherewith
she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Christ was
the Lord our righteousness and his elect, his church. were viewed
in him as righteous before the world ever was. Look at Isaiah
45, 25. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. Young's literal translation
says, are all. It uses the word Yahweh, but
in the Lord are all the seed of Israel justified. You tell
me when all of God's people, all of His elect, were put in Christ. God has always
viewed His elect in Christ. If we were made the righteousness
of God in Him, and that's what 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, says,
for He hath made Him That is, the Father made Him Christ to
be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. We have to ask ourselves this
question honestly. How long has the elect been in
Christ? How long? That's the easiest
question to answer in the Bible. We've been in Christ since before
this world began. We've been in Christ from old
eternity, as Brother Gary Shepherd said. And you can't be in Christ
and not be viewed by God as righteous. You are complete in Him, in the
New Testament, that means justified. Look at Romans 8 verse 1. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them, which are in Christ
Jesus. Abraham is a prime example of
this. Look here in Romans 4, beginning verse 1. What shall
we say then about Abraham, our father? As pertaining to the
flesh hath found. For to Abraham were justified
by works, he hath wear off the glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness."
When was that? Well, it was a long time ago
with Abraham. It was before the cross. It wasn't
separated from the cross. It wasn't without the cross.
But it was a long time before the cross. Even James knew about
imputation. Look at James 2 verse 23. And
the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed
God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. It was
accounted to him. And he was called the friend
of God. Also look at what Scripture says
of Noah in Genesis 7. It says, And the Lord said unto
Noah, Come thou in all thy house into the ark. Y'all know that that ark was
a picture and type of Christ. For thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation. That's God speaking to Noah. I say that's a good definition
of justification that you can find. It is for God to see us
righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. Also look at Genesis 18. that be far from thee to do after
this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the
righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee, shall
not the judge of all the earth do right? When God was about
to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, when God was about to destroy
that wicked place, and Abraham's talking with God, about the destruction. First of all, was anybody in
Sodom or anywhere else righteous in themselves? The answer is
no. There was one man, though, who
was already righteous and was already in the purpose of God
justified, and his name was Lot. The judge of all the earth did
right, and he spared and brought out righteous lot. Look at Hebrews
11 verse 4. By faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. God testified of his guilt, and
by it being dead yet speaketh. Abel's gifts were a demonstration
of his faith. His faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
as the one God had promised and appointed to be the salvation
and savior of all God's people. And God says that Abel showed
by that gift that he brought that he was righteous. Look over
at Revelation 13. and all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of
life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. All
these people deceived by the beast and the false prophet,
all of the symbols of Satan's emissaries and lying prophets
and seductive religion and their deception is so great that in
Verse 8 it says, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him whose names are not written in the book of life, of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Christ is said to
be the one who shed his blood. His blood is the blood of the
everlasting covenant. The blood of Christ is so bound
up in and a part of and inseparable joined to our justification.
It's at the heart of it. Always was before the foundation
of the world. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. The Lamb prophesied. The Lamb
on Calvary. The Lamb seen by John there in
Revelation. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Those
Old Testament saints And the believers in the New Testament
to this day look to the one that the Father looked to before this
world was ever created. When God chose a people in eternity,
He chose them in Christ based on what Christ would do for them
at the cross. When God justified them, He was seeing the righteousness
that Christ would bring in and accomplish at the cross. And
even in eternity, future, what will be the song of the redeemed,
worthy is the lamb that was slain. So the cross was not only the
focal point in the beginning, it always will be throughout
eternity. I think sometimes preachers and
people in our day are describing justification like three men
describing a building from three different points of view, a view
in the building. Each view is different according
to where the man was standing. Or maybe they're like that fairy
tale, that fable about these blind men describing an One touches
a leg. One touches a trunk. One touches
his tail. And everybody gives a different
description. But it's the same elephant. Well,
there's only one justification. And these are the various aspects
of it. We are justified according to
the scriptures in the eternal mind of God. as He predestined
and determined that His Son, our surety, would come to the
earth in the fullness of time and die on the cross of Calvary. We're justified by the blood
of Christ as He fulfilled His promise to God the Father. And we're justified by faith,
meaning that God the Holy Spirit gives us the faith whereby we're
able to lay hold of, trust in, and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ through faith in his blood. It's only one justification,
but it's three aspects of that justification and what takes
place over time. We say, how about Abraham? What did he do? Well, he worshiped
God everywhere he went. He built an altar and he called
on the name of the Lord. Well, what did Abel do? What
did he do? We only know one thing he did,
and he offered up to God an appointed sacrifice, which typified Christ
and Him crucified, His shed blood. He brought that blood sacrifice.
So Titus says in Titus 3, that being justified by His grace,
we should be heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
And really the issue is not when, the issue is who is the justifier? And how does God justify His
people? It is God that justifies. God the Father in that eternal
aspect of it. God the Son in His work of dying
on the cross. And God the Holy Spirit in giving
life. and faith, enabling us to believe
where it's manifested in us. When you go to Romans 8.30, moreover
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. The first thing is this, it's
God that does it all. But this verse creates a problem
when you got your theology all set up and in order, and you
want everything to just be in order. And you've already said
that calling means the effectual calling, the work of the Spirit. But this is whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. I believe there in that particular
verse, it means named or chose. He predestinated. He named and
He chose. In whom He called, named and
chose, He justified. Past tense. In whom He justified,
then He also glorified. Now, there's no problem if one
chooses to still hold on to this calling as being the effectual
calling. He made known who they were to
Him, to this world, His justified saints. He has glorified them,
and one day to be glorified in the sense of being glorified
bodies. But they will be glorified because
He justified them. Rather than believing that it
is not necessary for Christ to perform the work that He did,
I believe it was absolutely essential I believe it was absolutely impossible
for Him not to come in time because He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. I believe I understand the part
of when in this matter, but that eternal aspect of justification,
it belongs to God alone in His eternal mind. God has determined
all things. And our immutable, unchangeable
God does not change His mind once He determines it. It's God
that justifies. Well, I pray that God will use
that message. He'll be glorified in it.