Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm so glad you could join us and I hope and pray that the
Lord will bless you as we study his word. And the subject for
today is entitled, The Three R's of Salvation. The Three R's
of Salvation. And I'm gonna begin with Romans
chapter five, if you'd like to turn and follow along in your
Bibles, Romans five. And then later we'll be going
to Romans 3 and 1 Peter chapter 1, but Romans 5 will start talking
about the three R's of salvation. Now, an old preacher once said
that every sermon ought to contain these three words that all begin,
three phrases rather, that all begin with the letter R. And
it's an easy thing to remember as far as just remembering the
fact of it. But these three R's that I'm
going to give you are things that, unless the Holy Spirit
reveals it to you, you won't see the reality of it. And you
have to understand this is what the Bible teaches. And here,
let me give you the three R's to start off with. The first
R is ruined, ruined by the fall. Now, why that's one of the R's
of salvation is because it tells us why we need to be saved. We
fell into sin and death through Adam, ruined by the fall. The
second R is redeemed by the blood. And that's the ground of salvation.
That speaks of redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's
how we get out of the mess that we're in, that we fell into in
Adam. Our ruination. And then the third
R is regeneration by the Spirit. And that's the fruit of salvation. Being born again. Regeneration
is a term. You find it some in the scripture,
not much. But it describes the new birth.
You must be born again. So those are the three R's. Ruined
by the fall. redeemed by the blood and regenerated
by the Holy Spirit. So let's start with our number
one, ruined by the fall. Now, most people will admit that
they are sinners. We often quote a passage out
of the book of Romans chapter three and verse 23, which says
that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Do
you understand what that really involves? When you say we've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. It's not that
we just have all made mistakes. We have actually sinned, we've
rebelled. Now the word sin in that verse
is the most common New Testament word for sin. There are several
words that describe the issues of sin in the Bible. But the
most common word for sin in the New Testament is that word that's
translated sin in Romans 3, 23, and it's also translated as sin
in Romans 5, in verse 12. And so we've all sinned. And
what it means, it is to miss the mark. Now, you have to understand,
That being a sinner doesn't mean that you are immoral or irreligious
or insincere in the eyes of men. But it means you fall short of
a mark, a standard. And the standard in Romans 3.23
is the glory of God. The glory of God. And what is
the glory of God? Well, the Bible teaches us plainly.
that the glory of God, the glory of God that the Holy Spirit inspired
Paul to write about there, is the glory of God in the salvation
of sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by His grace. And
that's the standard that we fall short of. It is seen in the glorious
person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
the question is, when we come to the three R's, the first one
being ruined by the fall, that's what we're talking about. How
did we get in this mess that we're in? How'd this come about? If you go back to Genesis and
it talks about how God created the world, and everything was
good and man was good, but man fell. And how did we get into
this mess? And look at Romans chapter five
and verse 12. It says, wherefore? and what
he means by wherefore for this reason. Now, what he's talking
about, what are you proving here, Paul? Reason for what? Well, he had said over in Romans
three that there's none righteous, no, not one, not one out of the
whole mass of natural humanity. There's not one person who meets
the standard. That's what he's saying. And
the standard is righteousness. Where is righteousness to be
found? Go around the world, go throughout history of human beings,
and according to Bible, to the Bible, according to God's Bible,
God's word, God's standard, there is none righteous. No, not one. There's none, the best of the
best of the best do not measure up to the standard of righteousness
that can only be found in Christ, the Lord our righteousness. It
goes on there in Romans chapter three and verse 11 says there's
none understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. There's
none that do it good, no, not one, according to God's standard.
Now, how did we get in this mess? Over here in Romans chapter five,
he talks about sinners being without strength. That speaks
of the sinner's inability to glorify God, to honor and obey
God in the right way. It speaks of Christ dying for
his people when we were yet sinners. It speaks of being enemies of
God. Now how do we get in that mess? Verse 12, Romans 5, 12.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and listen
to this, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. Now literally, In the original
language, it would say, death passed upon all men, for that
all sinned. Sinned in Adam. What does that
mean? Does that sound fair? That when
Adam sinned, I sinned? You have to understand that the
Bible tells us that God, in his sovereign purpose, when he created
this world and he put Adam in the garden, He had already purposed
to make Adam the federal head, the representative of the whole
human family. All of his posterity. Now, you
may be a person who says, well, I don't like that. It doesn't
sound fair or just to me. I'd rather stand on my own two
feet. Well, here's the first thing you got to understand about
that. Doesn't matter if you like it or you agree with it. That's
the way it is. The Bible teaches that God views
this whole human race either in one of two persons, either
Adam condemned or Christ justified. And if it weren't that way, you
could just mark it up. We'd all be lost. If you want
to stand before God on your own two feet without a representative,
let me tell you what you're asking for. You're asking for eternal
death and condemnation. The Bible speaks of the non-elect
angels who have no Savior, no mediator, no representative.
God, in His wisdom, for the purposes of His glory, in the salvation
of his people by Jesus Christ the Lord appointed Adam to be
the federal head. This is federalism, federal theology. A lot of people don't like it.
We have a federal system in our country. We have representatives
that we send, we elect them. Now we didn't elect Adam, but
I'll tell you who did, God did. And it was his sovereign right
to do so. And if you don't like it, you
argue with him. That's what he says. Wherefore,
as by one man, who is this one man? Adam, the representative,
the federal head of the whole human race. So that when Adam
acted in rebellion against God, sinned against God, declared
his autonomy, that means his self-rule, that's what he did,
He fell, and the whole human race fell in Adam. Wherefore, verse 12, wherefore,
ruined by the fall, wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into
the world. That's how sin got here, through
Adam's rebellion. And death by sin. Now death is
the just sentence and consequence of sin. Back over in Genesis
chapter two, the Lord told Adam and Eve, he says, you can eat
of all the trees of this garden except one tree, and that's the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now what that tree
represented symbolically was God's sovereign right to set
the rules, to make the rules and set the standard of what's
right and what's wrong. The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. Doesn't mean that Adam and Eve, before they ate,
they were stupid. or they didn't know right from
wrong. Because God told him, you can eat of any tree except
that one, and he said, in the day that you eat of that tree,
you shall surely die. That's the punishment. Sin demands
death. And death comes in many forms.
For example, what God actually told Adam back in Genesis 2,
verse 17, in the day that you eat thereof, dying thou shalt
die. And we can talk about physical
death. Now, Adam did not die immediately physically, but the
process of aging, the coming on of disease and corruption
and decaying, that began. Adam lived to be 800, 900 years
old, but he died physically. The Bible says this body is dead
because of sin. Even sinners saved by grace die
physically, and that's a consequence of sin. Wherefore, as by one
man, sin entered the world, and death by sin. And then, what
happened to Adam immediately? Spiritual death. Now this is
what you have to understand about being ruined by the fall. It
brought on spiritual death. Over in the book of Ephesians,
chapter two and verse one, It starts out like this, and you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. That's spiritual death. Now what
does that mean? Spiritual death, ruined by the
fall. And spiritual death means that
we don't have a spiritual capacity to know believe, love, and appreciate
the things of the Spirit of God, the things that glorify God. We have a conscience, but it's
defiled. We have a mind, but it's fallen. We have a will. You can do what
you wanna do, but the problem is in spiritual death, you won't
want the things that glorify and honor God in Christ. That's
why it says in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 14, the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them, for they are spiritually understood. You have to be given
spirit, you have physical eyes, but you don't have, by nature,
as we are naturally born, but you don't have spiritual eyes.
The Bible says if we have spiritual eyes, we've been given them in
the new birth, and we'll talk about that in a minute. That's
why Christ told the disciples in Matthew chapter 13 when he
spoke in parables as a judgment against those who refuse to believe.
He said, blessed are your ears for they hear, blessed are your
eyes for they see. Christ said you must be born
again or you cannot see the kingdom of God. You don't have spiritual
eyes. So spiritual death, means you
do not have the spiritual capacity and ability to receive and know
and love and appreciate the gospel. Somebody says you have your own
free will, accept Jesus as your personal savior. No, you don't.
God has to make you willing in the day of his power. He has
to draw you with cords of love. You don't have a natural will
that would desire to come to Christ as he's revealed in this
book. Now I know how preachers preaching.
They preach a counterfeit, a false Christ that appreciates you and
lifts you up and makes you feel better about yourself, but that's
not the Christ of the Bible. So when he says, wherefore as
by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, death
passed upon all men. Now, there is a third, what the
Bible actually calls a second death, because that physical
and spiritual death come together. There's a second death, and that's
eternal separation from God. That's condemnation. That's the
wrath of God upon those to whom God imputes, charges, accounts
sin. Now, everybody who fell in Adam
was ruined by the fall, brought in to be subject to physical
death and without spiritual life, spiritually dead. But not everybody
is going to experience the second death, which is eternal death,
which we found in Adam. And that's where we come to the
second R. Redeemed by the blood. And whose blood is it? Obviously,
it's talking about the blood of Jesus Christ. And what is
redemption? Redemption is buying someone
back off of, you might say, the slave market. paying the price. It might be buying one out of
debt, paying their debt in full. Redemption. And how does redemption
come? We fell in Adam, ruined by the
fall. And the only way that we can
be saved by God's grace is through the redemption that comes. Now
look over at Romans chapter three. He speaks of this. Verse 23 is
a verse I referred to. Romans 3 23, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's our natural state. But look at verse 24, being justified. Now what is it to be justified?
That's a legal term. It has to do with being forgiven
of all our sins and being made righteous in the sight of God.
It means that God's justice against me which is the penalty of death,
is satisfied so that I'm set free, legally. I'm pronounced
not guilty. And it means that God will not
charge me with sin. David said in Psalm 32, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, whose sins are
covered. And Paul, Quoted him in Romans
chapter four when he said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. My sins have to be charged to
someone else, a surety, who can stand in my place and die in
my place and pay my debt to God's justice by the price of his death,
his blood. That's redemption. I have to
have a righteousness that equals the standard of the glory of
God. Where am I gonna find that? Not in me, not by my works. I can only find it in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what it says in verse
24. Look at Romans three. being justified freely, unconditionally,
without a cause, by his grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Through Christ Jesus as the representative,
the federal head of his people for whom he died, known in the
Bible as the election of grace. It says in verse 25, Christ whom
God has set forth, to be a propitiation, a justice-satisfying sacrifice
that turns back the wrath of God, satisfies His justice through
faith in His blood, that's His redemptive work, His righteousness,
to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God, that's the sins of the
Old Testament saints. Verse 26, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." You see, in order
for sinners to be saved out of the mess that we fell into by
Adam, and the mess that we got ourselves into by our own sins,
is for God's justice against us to be satisfied. God must
be just when He justifies, when He saves. He is a God of love,
but His love is founded upon justice satisfied. First John
410, hearing his love, not that we love God, but that he loved
us and sent his son to be the propitiation of our sins, just
a satisfying sacrifice. God is merciful, but his mercy
is founded upon justice through Christ. He's a gracious God,
but grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now look over at First Peter
chapter one. And listen to these words in
verse 18 of 1 Peter chapter one. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.
Verse 19, you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot who barely was
foreordained before the foundation of the world. but was manifest
in these last times for you. There's redemption by the blood.
That's righteousness established, imputed to me whereby I stand
right with God by his grace. Now the third R is regeneration,
and it's the new birth. And right here in 1 Peter 1.18,
or one, we have the same thing. He says that Christ was manifest
in these last times for you in verse 20. That means he came
to earth to do the work. Verse 21. who by him do believe
in God. Those who believe in God have
been born again. They've been regenerated. You
see, we were set free legally. We who believe were set free
legally by the redempting blood of Christ. His righteousness
imputed. That's the ground. And as the fruit of that, we
are set free spiritually when we are born again by the Spirit,
John chapter three, and given faith, the gift of faith. Ephesians
2a, for by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. So who do by him do believe in
God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory,
that your faith and hope might be in God, the God who saves
me by the blood of Christ, the God who saves me based on his
righteousness. And verse 22, seeing you have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit,
"'unto unfeigned love of the brethren, "'see that you love
one another "'with a pure heart fervently.'" Look at verse 23. "'Being born again, or having
been born again.'" See, this is only those who are regenerated,
they've been born again by the Spirit, given life, spiritual
life. See, naturally, we're spiritually
dead, but having been redeemed by the blood of Christ, we will
be given spiritual life. "'Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, "'but of incorruptible by the word of God.'" The Holy
Spirit brings a sinner under the preaching of the true gospel
and gives that sinner life. He makes that gospel, the power
of God, unto salvation. By the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever, for all flesh is as grass, and all the
glory of man as the flower of grass. This is verse 24. The
grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. Look at
verse 25. But the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this
is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now do
you see the issue there? Regeneration. This is God's people. God's chosen people whom he chose
before the foundation of the world and gave to Christ, made
Christ their surety. They were ruined by the fall,
brought into sin and death, spiritually dead. And we've all sinned and
come short of the glory of God. But if we're his, We've been
redeemed by the blood. We've been made righteous in
Christ. And the proof of that is the
fruit of it that's regenerated by the Spirit. We've been born
again by the Spirit. Christ told Nicodemus in John
three, you must be born again or you cannot see the kingdom
of heaven. Nicodemus didn't understand what
he was saying. He thought he was talking about physical birth.
And Christ told him, he said, look, you must be born of water
and of the Spirit. or you cannot enter the kingdom
of heaven. Marvel not that I've said unto you that you must be
born again. The flesh can only produce flesh.
You can't, listen, there's no physical way that a person can
be redeemed by salvation or regenerated by the spirit. That which is
born of the spirit is spirit, begotten again by the word of
truth. As Peter said here, having been
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God. Paul wrote in Romans chapter
one in verse 16, he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. to the Jew first and to the Greek
also or the Gentile. Verse 17, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written, the just or the justified shall live by faith, by looking
to Christ. Now, I'm preaching to you the
gospel. Has it been made the power of
God unto salvation for you? Well, do you believe it? Do you
repent of everything else? Do you count everything else
but done that you may win Christ and be found in Him, not having
your own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God, which
is by faith? Do you see that you have nothing
to recommend you unto God except Christ crucified, risen from
the dead, His blood, His precious blood? You present Him before
God. and not your works, not your
decisions, not your dreams or experiences, but Christ and Him
alone, His righteousness alone. Do you see that you have no righteousness
to recommend you unto God, but Christ alone, the merit of His
obedience unto death? Do you see that you were ruined
by the fall? But you've been redeemed by the
blood of Christ, bought and paid for. You know everyone whom he
redeemed, they will be born again, regenerated by the Spirit, and
they will enter heaven's glory. Christ said it this way in John
6, 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. That's the word of God. That's
the three R's of salvation. Ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. That's the
only way that God saves sinners, by His grace, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, and there's no other way. I hope
you'll join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.