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 that this program
will be beneficial to you, either in the salvation of your soul
or in the edification of your heart, your mind, affections,
and your will. Last week, I preached a message
called The Liberty of God's Grace from John chapter 8. It's where
Christ said, the truth shall make you free. And today I want
to continue that, the liberty of God's grace from Romans chapter
six. And I want to talk to you about
the reality of what Christian liberty is and what it's about. And we're going to talk about,
I'm going to give you some biblical terms. You know, a lot of times
theological, doctrinal, biblical terms, people almost try to avoid
them. But we're gonna talk about the
liberty of God's grace. We're gonna talk about, first
of all, the liberty of justification. The liberty of justification.
And then secondly, the liberty of sanctification. Sanctification. And we're gonna see that. Now,
to be justified, and of course, justified, the word, Oftentimes,
you'll see the word just. This person is a just man. You'll see the term justify or
justifies. God justifies the ungodly. Someone who's justified, justification. Justify is a legal term. It's like being before a judge. Having been accused of a crime,
And you're either going to be pronounced guilty or not guilty,
given the evidence. And if you're pronounced not
guilty, you're justified. If you're pronounced guilty,
then you're condemned. Now, of course, we know God is
the supreme judge of all, and he's committed all judgment unto
the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the issue of the liberty
of God's grace in justification is being justified before God. It's not necessarily being justified
before men, okay? It's being justified before God.
It's like standing at the final judgment and hearing the declaration
of the Supreme Judge, okay? And that's what this justification
is all about. Now, sanctification is another
matter. We're gonna talk about that in just a minute. But in
Romans chapter six in verse seven, it says this, and this is the
Apostle Paul writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He says,
for he that is dead is freed from sin. He that is dead is
freed from sin. Now, if you have a concordance
in your Bible, that word freed, if you look at your concordance,
more than likely, The word justified is put there because that's what
the word is. A lot of times you see the word
just, justified, justification. It can be translated righteous,
righteousness. And that's what righteousness
is, perfect satisfaction to God's law and justice. For he that
is dead is freed from sin. Well, first of all, what kind
of death is he talking about? He can't be talking about physical
death here. Why not? Well, multitudes will
die physically in a condemned state. They're not justified. Physical death does not justify
us before God. Physical death does not satisfy
the law and justice of God. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. It is appointed unto men once
to die, then after that, what? The judgment. Many, Christ spoke
of it in Matthew chapter seven. In verse 21, he said, he said,
not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father,
many will say unto me in that day, that day is the day of final
judgment, which takes place after death. That takes place after
the second coming of Christ. All will be physically dead then.
But he says, many will say unto me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in your name? He said, I'll say to them, depart
from me, you that work iniquity. I never knew you. So physical
death does not justify a person. To be justified means to be not
guilty. It means to be not charged with
sin. I've dealt with this last week.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, Psalm
32, two. And that means God doesn't charge
them with sin. In the book of Romans, over on
chapter eight, it says here, in verse 33, it says, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. In other words, if you're justified
before God, that means God doesn't charge you with your sin, even
though you're a sinner. I'm a sinner. I deserve death
and hell right now. And if God were to charge me
with my sin, that's what I would receive. That's why David in
Psalm 130 in verse three made this statement. Oh Lord, if thou
Lord should us mark or charge or impute iniquities, who would
stand? So there's a people that God
does not charge with sin. Now, to be justified not only
means to be not guilty, it means to be righteous in God's sight
based upon the righteousness of another, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul, when he was expounding upon David's words in Psalm 32
too, in Romans 4.6, he said, blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. That is without
our works. It's not without a work, it's
by Christ's work as the surety and substitute of his people,
but it's without our works. So when we read this in Romans
chapter six and verse seven, for he that is dead is freed
from sin, what kind of freedom is he talking about? Well, he's
talking about justification. Man by nature in a condemned
state must be justified. He must be set free by the pronouncement
of the judge of all, who says, in reality, this person is not
guilty. This person is righteous. Now
here's the question of questions. And this is what you need to
imprint upon your mind and think about and ponder and seek, because
it's the issue of the whole of Scripture. And that's this, how
in the world Can a holy, righteous, truthful, just God look at a
sinner like me and in reality and justly and rightly pronounce
me not guilty? Actually pronounce me righteous.
How can He do that and still be just? And He must be, He must
be a just God as well as a Savior. He must be a righteous judge,
as well as a loving father who saves. He must be a true God,
true to His holiness, true to His truth in Himself, as well
as a merciful God and a gracious God. You see, God is grace and
love and mercy, but He cannot express His grace, His love or
His mercy without expressing, consistently with that, his justice. Now how can that happen? Well,
look back at Romans six. Here's the liberty of God's grace.
Verse three. He says, no you not, that so
many of us as were baptized or are baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized into his death. Now he's beginning to answer
that question. He's talking about being baptized into Jesus Christ. Now I know that most people today,
when they hear the word baptized, they think about the Christian
ordinance of believer's baptism. And that is an important subject.
Believers are to confess Christ in believers' baptism. That's
the New Testament way. That's the command. There are
two New Testament ordinances, one of confession and one of
remembrance. Water baptism is an ordinance
of confession. That's why we go down into the
water. It's not for infants. It's not for unbelievers. It's
not a rite of passage. I see these churches today trying
to drag children down the aisle and get them into the baptistry.
and I think it's sad. It's just another form of infant
baptism. Baptism is for believers, and
believers only. And then the second ordinance
is the Lord's Supper, which is a memorial ordinance, remembering
the Lord's death. So those things are important.
But that is not what Paul is talking about here in Romans
6, when he talks about being baptized into Jesus Christ, being
baptized into his death. Now, when we're baptized in water,
confessing Christ, we identify in his death, burial, and his
resurrection. But what he's talking about here
is the believer's union with Christ as Christ stood in his
place. as surety and substitute. So
look at verse four, it proves it. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we might
also walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. Now the planted together there
means this, that Christ died on that cross to pay the sin
debt for His people, God's elect, His sheep, as their sins had
been imputed to Him, charged to Him. He was made guilty, He
was made sin, and He died on that cross for all of them at
once together. He did the work for His people. He was, 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says
that Christ was, God made him to be sin, Christ who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
They were planted with him together. When he died, I died, not in
my own person, but in the person of my substitute, my representative,
my surety, my redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for me. Now how do I know if he died
for me? He says that in verse four, he says that we should
also walk in newness of life. Am I walking in newness of life?
That means am I a sinner saved by grace? Am I a believer, trusting
Christ for all salvation? That's how I know he died for
me. If you go through this life, never coming to a saving knowledge
of Christ, never believing in him and die in unbelief, he didn't
die for you. because all of his people were
planted together in the likeness of his death. And verse five,
they shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. They're
gonna be raised from the dead unto life. But look at verse
six. He says, knowing this, that our
old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. The old
man there. is that old connection with Adam
in condemnation. That's been totally eradicated,
totally removed, totally dead, crucified, not in the process
of dying as some say, but it's dead, that's past tense. That
means we're justified if you're in Christ. And that's what he
says, for he that is dead is freed, is justified from sin.
They've been set free, that's the liberty of God's grace. Justified. by God's grace through the Lord
Jesus Christ and based upon his shed blood and his righteousness
imputed. That's liberty. God does not
charge them with their sin and he can do that and remain true
to himself because Christ paid the debt. Christ satisfied justice. Christ did the work. God is both
a just God and a savior, a righteous judge and a loving father based
upon the death of Christ, the blood of Christ. And that's proven
by the fact that he didn't stay dead, he was buried and raised
again the third day because of the justification of his people. Jesus paid it all. All the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. Now that's what the Bible means
when it talks about our sins purged. Our sins washed away. That means Christ paid the debt.
They're not charged to God's people. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again. Seated at the right hand of the
Father, ever living to make intercession forth. You heard the term propitiation? Propitiation? That's what that
means. That means a justice satisfying
sacrifice. who paid the debt in full, satisfied
God's justice in full, so that he can be just when he looks
at a sinner like me and says, not guilty, and says righteous. I am righteous, not in myself,
but in Christ, based on his righteousness imputed. Now, I'm free from the
bondage of the law. I'm set at liberty in Christ. I don't owe a debt. You ever
been in debt? When the debt's paid, while you're
in debt, you're under the bondage of debt. When the debt's paid,
you're free. Well, my debt's paid. And I didn't
pay it. In fact, I didn't even contribute
one penny to it. Christ paid it all, and I'm free. Now that's justification. But
now let me talk to you about the liberty of sanctification.
Now look over at Romans chapter six and verse 17. He says, verse
17, but God bethanked that you were the servants or the slaves
of sin. Now that's an unbeliever. But
you have obeyed from the heart. The heart is the mind, the affections,
the will, the conscience, the inner man. And of course, that's
the new heart. See, the natural heart won't
do this. You've obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you. That's the gospel. And he says in verse 18, being
then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
Now the word free there means liberated. And what is he talking
about? He's talking about the liberty
of sanctification. Now what is sanctification? To
be sanctified, and sometimes the word holy and holiness and
sanctification are interchangeable, It means to be set apart within
ourselves. And what is he talking about?
He's talking about being set apart by the gospel. That's the
liberty of sanctification. He's not talking about moral
purity. He's not talking about what we wear or don't wear or
what we watch or don't watch or anything like that. He's talking
about being sanctified by the Holy Spirit in the new birth
through the gospel. And that's what he means. Look
at verse 17 again. He says, you were the servants
of sin. You were slaves, you were in bondage. But now you've
obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine. What is that doctrine? It's the doctrine of Christ.
It's the doctrine of grace, salvation by the grace of God. It's the
doctrine of the gospel. The Bible says the gospel is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. He
said, to the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. God's elect have been set free
legally in Christ. At some point in time, they're
going to be brought under by the providence of God and the
power of God, they're going to be brought under the preaching
of the gospel. And they're going to be liberated
in their hearts, liberated in their minds. They're going to
find out that God chose them before the foundation of the
world. Even though they're ruined by the fall and deserve nothing
but death and hell, God chose them in Christ before the foundation
of the world. They're gonna find out that Christ
came to die for their sins on the cross and redeem them by
his precious blood. And they're going to find that
out when they're born again by the Spirit. They're given eyes
to see, ears to hear. They'll be liberated within themselves.
They'll be set apart by the gospel. And look at this, look at verse
17 again. But God be thanked, you were
the servants of sin, but you've obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine, which was delivered you. Now, if you have a concordance
again, look at it, it probably says something like this, and
literally this is the way it should read. Where to you were
delivered. Now, the gospel is delivered
to God's people When they hear it and are given eyes to see,
ears to hear, Christ said, my sheep hear my voice. When the
preaching of the gospel comes, God, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And so it's delivered
that way. But what this verse is saying
is that you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which you
were delivered to. In other words, God delivered
you. If you're under the preaching, here's what I'm saying. If you're
one of God's chosen people, one who Christ redeemed on the cross,
died for on the cross, at some point in time, under the sovereign
power and majesty of God through the Holy Spirit, you're going
to providentially be delivered, be placed under the preaching
of the true gospel. You're not gonna remain under
a false gospel. You're not gonna remain outside
the gospel. you're gonna be delivered to
the true gospel. And when God the Holy Spirit
in the new birth sanctifies you, sets you apart by giving you
a new heart, a new mind, new affections, new will, a cleansed
conscience, being then, verse 18, made free, liberated from
sin. You became the servants of righteous.
Now to be liberated from sin doesn't mean we stop sinning.
Paul said, this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. He said, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this day? Believers throughout the New
Testament are commanded and encouraged to fight sin within themselves.
So to be liberated from sin here does not mean that we stop sinning. Listen, I'm a believer. I have
to fight sin every day of my life. It's a warfare of the flesh
and the spirit. To be liberated from sin means
that I'm liberated from the bondage that kept me in the darkness
of legalism and sin trying to establish a righteousness of
my own. I'm liberated from that. I have found righteousness in
Christ. And so to be a servant of righteousness
is to be a servant of Christ. It's not just talking about now
you were immoral and now you're moral because that's not righteousness. You see, now, if a person is
immoral and God saves them, then they become moral in the eyes
of men, of course. That's part of it, but it doesn't
save you, it doesn't make you righteous. Your morality is not
your righteousness. Your works are not your righteousness.
Your prayers are not your righteousness. Your love for God and love for
God's people is not your righteousness. Christ is your righteousness.
And you're a servant of Christ, who is the Lord, my righteousness. And that's what it is to be a
servant of righteousness. That's the liberty of sanctification. Paul spoke of that in 2 Thessalonians
2.13 when he was showing the separation or the distinction
between the people of God and the people of the world. And
he says, we're bound to give thanks, brethren, beloved of
God, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel. That's 2 Thessalonians
2, 13 and 14. He called you by our gospel.
You see, those whom God has liberated legally, by pronouncing them
not guilty and righteous because of the blood and righteousness
of Christ, at some point in time, they're going to be brought under
the preaching of the gospel, and God's going to inform them,
reveal to them that great transaction that Christ accomplished on the
cross, and they're going to trust Him for all righteousness. They're
going to be liberated in sanctification. They're going to be set apart
from the world by the grace of God. That's liberation, that's
the liberty of God's grace. So we're free from the bondage
of the law. Those who are in Christ, who
died with Him, who were buried with Him, who arose with Him.
Those who stand before God not guilty, not being charged with
their sins, justified, righteous in God's sight based upon the
imputed righteousness of Christ. Those who have been set apart
in the preaching of the gospel, born again by the Spirit, and
brought to faith in Christ and repentance of their dead works.
They're not in bondage to the law. Their consciences are clear
by the blood of Christ. That's what washes me clean.
Free from the bondage of deception. You know, Satan's deception is
a bondage. Second Corinthians four and verse
three says, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are
lost in whom though God of this world, had blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ should shine in unto them. Blinded. I mentioned this last week. If
you've ever been in a dark place, a dark room that's just pitch
black, well, you're bound. You don't have freedom to move
about the room without hindrance and without harm. But when somebody
turns the light on, then you can see where to go and where
not to go. You've got freedom now to move. And that's what
happens when the Holy Spirit sanctifies God's people under
the preaching of the gospel. He frees them, he liberates them
from the deception and the darkness of sin, of self-righteousness
and religious pride. And he shows them that they have
no righteousness in themselves. But righteousness can only be
found in the person, the glorious person. of the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and based upon His finished, successful, powerful
work of redemption on the cross, as He died for their sins, was
buried and arose the third day. You know, the Bible says that
sin demands death. That's bondage. And when people
seek to do things in order to attain or maintain or earn salvation,
that keeps them in that bondage of death. But when we see that
Christ has conquered sin, Christ has conquered the grave, conquered
death. Then we're liberated to live
in and by Him. And that's the liberty of grace. It's not a liberty to go on sinning. We're to fight sin. But it's
a liberty to obey Christ and follow Him and rest in Him and
in the assurance of salvation that comes by Him as the Lord
our righteousness. none other name given among men,
whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness. 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
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.