To be back in the Lowe's house
and to be fellowshipping with each other. We had a little bit of excitement for
those of you who are tuning in. We were a little bit delayed. We had our big percolating coffee
pot tip over in the floor. We did a quick clean of that
here before we got going. Turn with me this morning, if
you would, to Romans chapter eight. To Romans chapter eight,
we're continuing our messages on the eternal justification
of God, or justification from eternity. Can't remember what
title we put on here, but. Justification. Justification,
my wife's telling me, justification from eternity. She's the one
that types it in. Justification from eternity. I know that there are dear brothers
that are out there that disagree with justification from eternity. They hold to justification in
time. Love those brothers. And while
I realize that justification is based upon something that
Christ did, I believe that this was something that was declared
or decreed or was actually laid to the account of God's people
before the foundation of the world, based upon what we talked
about last week. But Romans chapter eight is where
we'll be this morning. I'm gonna read some verses there.
But just to kind of get us back up to speed, we're looking at
the doctrine of justification And we believe that the scriptures
hold forth that justification or the legal aspect of justification
at least, not the experience of it. Our experience of justification
comes in time. Whenever we believe, we experienced
the fact that we have been justified by God. We experienced the fact
that we have received from God that blessing of justification. Although the actual decree or
the actual laying to the account of each
elect based upon the work of Christ was before the foundation
of the world. So we believe that that was something
that was laid even before Adam sinned, even before any one of
us sinned. God had already determined to
impute our sin to Christ and Christ's righteousness to us,
and we're gonna look at some of that today as we go, but we've
already looked at the fact that justification is an act of the
eternal God. All of the Godhead is part of
this justification, the Father having elected a people, loving
them from all of eternity for, as he said, with an everlasting
love. But the Father elected a people, and remember, this
was before anybody was even created. This group of people was elected
before the foundation of the world. We see many verses, especially
in Ephesians, in 2 Timothy chapter one, We've seen that this is
before the foundation of the world that God the Father has
elected the people that He would give to the Son. The Son, therefore,
having received those people unto Himself and in union with
those people, stood for them in the everlasting covenant And
once his work of atonement, once his work of redemption, once
his faithfulness was completed, then the Holy Spirit then comes
and applies all those things to the elect of God in time,
as God chooses in his time of love. So we see that justification
is an act of the eternal God. It's something that begins and
ends in God. It takes place outside of time. We see that it was an
imminent act of God. It's initiated in the eternal
will of God. It's acceptable to His grace
and to His justice. It's consistent with His love.
It's conducive to His glory. All of this God purposed in Himself. We also seen that it was based
upon, or predicated upon, the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said,
the Father electing a people, give them to God the Son, okay,
who is God manifested in flesh, for God the Son to redeem, to
stand for them. And we've seen that Christ that
we are justified before the foundation of the world because we have
an eternal mediator in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ stood as
our mediator before the foundation of the world. We read verses
like in Matthew chapter one, chapter 16, 1 Timothy chapter
two and verse five, we've seen about Christ being our elect. We've seen in Hebrews that he
stood as the mediator for us, which led us to the second word
or the second office that Christ holds as not only mediator, but
as surety. We looked at the word surety.
Christ is our eternal surety. He didn't become our surety in
time, He became our surety in the everlasting covenant. He
became our mediator in the everlasting covenant. Matter of fact, the
whole reason that God brought forth the son and a body was
prepared for him so that God might inhabit that body so that
that man, Jesus Christ, that God man, would stand as the mediator
between God, who is invisible and divine, and man, who is not
divine, who is natural, who is of the earth, earthy, who is
of flesh, that God-man would stand as a mediator between the
two parties, man and God. But Christ came also as an eternal
surety. who is someone who is a bondsman
or someone who is responsible for someone else. And he stood
for that in the everlasting covenant. So as long as there has been
an everlasting covenant, there has been a mediator, there has
been a surety. Okay, the mediator is the one
that mediates the covenant. The surety is the one who is
the, guarantee that that covenant
will be carried out, okay? The mediator mediates between
the two. The surety makes sure that everything
in the covenant is gonna be as said, okay? So Christ is our
surety. He's the one that makes sure
it's gonna happen. That's why we believe in efficacious
atonement, that whenever Christ died, that that death that he
died, that sacrifice that he became is an effectual sacrifice. It isn't a plan of salvation. It isn't a possibility. It isn't something that he offers. Salvation is not an offer. God
doesn't offer salvation to anybody. God gives salvation as a gift
to those that he has loved with an everlasting love and a chosen
in Christ Jesus. That salvation is a gift to them. So we don't have Jesus out here
dying for everybody and then just saying, okay, now I want
everybody to be saved if you'll just choose me or come to me
or believe on me or be baptized or join a church or anything
like that. Salvation isn't about anything
that you do in its legal aspects, none whatsoever. What you do
as far as believing, as far as trusting Christ Jesus, as far
as repenting of sin, repenting of dead works, all those things
come because you have been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ and
it's been applied to you in the new birth. Even the new birth
itself is a gift of God that he has given to you because Christ
died for you. Okay? anything that has any kind
of gospel that's out there. If you have a preacher, if you
have a teacher, if you have a mom or a dad or a brother or sister
or an aunt or an uncle who is preaching to you the gospel and
they're saying that Jesus loves everybody and died for everybody
and wants everybody to be saved, if you'll just do fill in the
blank, That's a different gospel than what the Bible has. That
is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
the one where we have a surety. The very word itself has in it,
sure. He makes sure this salvation
is applied to everyone that's in the covenant. And this covenant
was an everlasting covenant. It was made outside of time.
It wasn't made in time with man. Okay, it wasn't like the covenant
of the Old Testament where God said, do this and live. Or if
you do this, you're going to die. Okay. This is a covenant that God made
with himself. And so Christ has stood as our
surety. Now today, I want us to look
and see what was entailed in that everlasting covenant, and
that was given to us. Of course, we've read Ephesians
chapter one ad nauseum, okay? We've read that over and over.
We read it all the time. And just about everything that
we talk about around here, somehow or another, we get around to
Ephesians chapter one. And we will read that again to
refresh our memories here in just a minute. But I want us
to go to Romans chapter eight, And I'm gonna start reading in
verse 28. Our eternal justification comes
because we have an eternal God that justifies. We have Christ
who is our eternal mediator. We have Christ who is our eternal
surety. but we also are justified because
we have all spiritual blessings given to us eternally, from eternity,
or before the foundation of the world. Look with me in verse
28. It says, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Now, if you are watching or listening
and you're not following along in the King James Bible, like
we preach and teach from here, you might have a different version,
a newer modern translation or something like that. In your
Bible, it will say, to them that love God, to them who are called,
the word thee is not there. In the Greek, the definite article
thee is there, okay? And so the King James translator's
got it correct by putting thee there because there is a thee in the
original text. It is a specific group of people
that is being talked about here, thee called. All things work
together for good to them that love God. And this is qualified
here, who is the ones that love God. to them who are the called
according to His purpose. Now, keep your hand right there.
I want to remind you of something that we talked about a couple
of weeks ago in 2 Timothy chapter one and verse nine. Remember,
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but here it is, according to His purpose and
grace. which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. So here again, we see that we
were saved, and then there was a calling again before the foundation
of the world, not the one that's in time. There's a calling that
we have experienced in time, but this is a calling that was
done before the foundation of the world. And God here is saying
that there is a group of people who are the call according to
his purpose. You see, that's the same people
who are in 2 Timothy 1.9, those who are called according to his
own purpose. Now, in 2 Timothy, we see that
he's talking to Timothy, my dearly beloved. But if you remember, these things,
were not just for Timothy. He was speaking of other people
who believed on the Lord. Remember his grandmother Lois,
his mother Eunice? They were ones who had taught
and trained Timothy and Timothy had come into grace and salvation
by God and just like his mom and grandma, okay? And so Paul, grouping himself
with Timothy and Eunice and Lois, speaking of people who have been
saved, right? So back in the Romans it says,
who are thee called according to his purpose? For whom? Who is the for whom? Well, it's
those who are the called according to his purpose, okay? And the ones who love God are
those people. For whom he did foreknow, Now,
we've talked about the word foreknow again. If anybody's watching
and listening and you've not ever heard us talk about that
before, that word foreknow is not to know what's gonna take
place ahead of time. That word foreknow is an intimate
relationship term. It means to forelove or to have
an intimate relationship beforehand. Okay, the word fore, F-O-R-E, means before, okay? The word no there for know, that
word know means to intimately have knowledge of. And of course,
I've given the illustration on many occasions. We understand
that how it's defined by God, because he uses this word in
speaking of, like whenever a husband and a wife know each other, okay? Whenever they come together in
union as a husband and wife, there is an intimate union that
takes place, and that is knowing your spouse. And if you remember,
whenever Jesus was to be born, Mary had not yet known a man,
okay? So that is an intimate relationship
with another man. Well, that's what this word for
no means, for whom he did love beforehand. Remember, the Bible
says that he has loved us with an everlasting love. For whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. So those same people
that he foreloved, he predestinated to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called. And who he called, them he also
justified. And who he justified, them he
also glorified. All these were past tense, remember? So, the called, according to
his purpose. This calling is a group of people,
a specific group of people that has loved him. but they loved
him because he first loved them. Verse 29. Those that, them that love God
are loving God because he first, now is that not what the Bible
says? That we love him because he first loved us? That he has
shed his love abroad in our hearts? The reason that we love God the
God of the Bible that is. Now there's people out there
that love a God in their own imaginations, but to love the
God of the Bible as revealed in the Bible, as revealed by
God, how God has revealed himself. God has revealed himself as one
who loves some and not others, right? But there are some people
that don't love that God. They love the God that loves
everybody and that wants to save everybody. but that's not the
God that is revealed in the Bible. We're to love the God that is
revealed in the Bible. The Bible says that he is God
and there is none beside him. There isn't any other God. There
isn't a God out there that loves everybody, that died for everybody
and is wanting and trying to get everybody saved. So if that's
the God you're loving, you're loving not the God revealed in
scripture, but a God that's revealed in your own mind. Here, the love,
of God that foreknows somebody is the God that sheds his love
abroad in the hearts of his people to love him for who he is, I
am that I am. We don't try to make excuses
for God. And see, that's the thing, brethren.
There's a lot of preachers out there, even men who believe in
sovereign grace, who want to make excuses for God. Back in
the early days of our country, in the 1800s, over in England
and here in the United States, some influence by a man named
Andrew Fuller began to invade the Baptist churches. And Andrew
Fuller, in his teaching, began to teach, even though while teaching
a sovereign grace type gospel, still in that gospel, he presented
the fact that God died, or Christ died for everyone, and that God
does have a love for everybody. and that there is this mixture
of Arminianism and what people call Calvinism in his teaching,
okay? And so Andrew Fuller actually
kind of muddied the waters and his influence began to reach
within the Baptist churches and began to spread through the Baptist
churches. And men began to take on that
doctrine. And the reason that it was so
receivable to so many is because, as the Bible says, this gospel
is a hard gospel. This gospel is not an easy gospel
to preach, to teach. It's not a gospel that just reaches
out to everyone and makes them feel ooey gooey. This gospel,
the Bible says, is a stumbling block. It's a rock of a fence. It's something that to some is
the saver of death, the Bible says. It's not a popular thing. Matter of fact, Jesus himself
said that the messengers of this gospel will be persecuted, that
it will cause divisions in your own family, among your own friends,
that this gospel is going to be something that literally shapes
the foundation of all things. And so if that's the case, we
look at these things and we see the ones who God foreknow, the
ones who love God, the ones who are called according to his purpose.
This isn't just a universal thing, because to love the God of the
Bible is not a natural thing. Now, granted, Romans tells us
that the natural man by God has been given knowledge of God. That's why we say there's no
such thing as atheists. If you believe the Bible, then
there's no such thing as that, and they may call themselves
atheists. But deep down inside, there is something there that
they know, that there is something that controls all things, that
is above all things. Now, whether they make that to
be a totem pole, or whether they make that to be a rock singer,
or whether they make that to be their own self, or as many
atheists do, science becomes their god. But yet that innate knowledge
that there is a divine order, there is a God that's out there,
Romans tells us plainly. And I trust what God says about
it, other than what some man is right there lying to me saying
that he doesn't believe there's God. But that's in Romans chapter
one, if you wanna check that out, I won't read that now. But so, Those who love the God of Scripture,
love the God of Scripture because God has shed that love abroad
in their heart. That love shed abroad in their
heart is a spiritual blessing that come in the new birth. That
love is something that they didn't have before. And I know there's
a lot of religionists out there who claim to be Christians, who
are running and doing a lot of good things. They attend churches,
they give their money to the to the church and to the poor
and they read their Bibles and they, you know, all this stuff.
But listen, if you reject the God of the scriptures and you
reject the gospel of scriptures, then what you're doing in the
end is going to be, Lord, Lord, did we not do all of this in
your name? They truly believe that they're
doing it in God's name. And what is he gonna say? Depart
from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. That word knew you is the same
as what we see here. For whom he did foreknow. So there are people that God
foreknows, and there are people that God does not know. Now let me ask you. Now, you
say, why does this have all to do with justification and everything?
It does. It has something to do with justification.
And I want to get to that, and hopefully it will be clear and
not murky the way that I present this. God knows all things, right?
He's omniscient. We use the word omniscient. Omni
meaning all, science meaning knowledge. God has all knowledge. He knows all things, OK? So, every person that is in hell
or will go to hell, does God know them? As far as knows who
they are? Well, of course. He created them,
right? There's not one person that's
ever been alive that God has not created. He has made all
things. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil, right? So even the wicked God has made
and as the potter knows his pot. And Romans says that as the potter
who makes the pot, every pot, determines the use of that pot,
whether it be of noble use or of ignoble use. Determines whether
that pot is a vessel of mercy or a vessel of dishonor. Vessel of glory or vessel of
dishonor. Okay? So the creator creates all those
things. He knows them. He made them. So whenever God
stands before the religionist who has spent their lives serving
a God, serving a Jesus, preaching a gospel in the name of a Jesus,
and he says, depart from me ye worker of iniquity. That means
that all that stuff that they were doing in the name of Jesus
is works of iniquity because he never knew them. Now,
let me ask you, how can he not know them if he made them? How can he not know them if he
knows all things? Well, that's because the word
know isn't talking about a cognitive knowledge of, but it is a relational
knowledge of, like we were talking about. He doesn't have an intimate
love for them. He doesn't know them as a husband
knows his wife in that intimate relationship. Now, let me make
something else, bring something else into this to maybe help
make it clearer. When Adam was created and brought
forth, his wife had not been made manifest yet, right? But she was there. The Bible
says that God created them male and female, and the wordage in
the Scriptures is, and he called them Adam. but yet she wasn't there yet.
She wasn't there yet. God caused a deep sleep to come
over Adam, and he pulled a rib out of Adam's side, and out of
that rib, he made woman. Now his wife, who was in him,
is now made manifest. She was already there. But before
she was brought out, the Bible says that God called them Adam
and blessed them. Now, Eve was blessed, but she
had not been made manifest yet. She was still in Adam. But she
had not been brought forth yet, not made manifest, couldn't see
her, didn't know nothing about her. Didn't even know that she
was in existence, but yet she was in Adam. And when God blessed
Adam, he blessed Eve in Adam. Just like whenever he talked
to Abraham, And in Abraham was all the seed of God's elect. The spiritual seed that is. Okay. And he said, I'm going to bless
you. And all those who bless you,
I will bless. And all those who curse you,
I will curse. But yet that has a spiritual connotation. He was
talking about all the seed of Abraham spiritually, not physically. We learn that in also in Romans.
It's not the children of the flesh who are the children of
the promise, but it's the children who are of the spirit. It is
those who are of faith, the faith of Abraham. It's those who have
received that faith that only God can give. And that has become the blessing. and how it was
passed down was in Abraham. Even though they had not been
made manifest, it was in Abraham. So, now what does that have to
do with us? Well, whenever we look at this
and we say, for whom he did foreknow, that is a intimate knowledge. That means that he loved us and
he As the Bible said, He has given us to Christ because He
loved us and He gave us to Christ. And we were in Him before the
foundation of the world. And just like Eve was in Adam,
we as Christ's bride are in Him, even though we may not be yet
manifest. But yet all the blessing All
the spiritual blessings was made and given to us in Christ. And so that was laid to our account
because it was laid to Christ. We were, so to speak, in his
loins before we ever were brought forth. We were his seed. And
because we were his seed, then we were blessed. That is why he says we were called
and justified and glorified. He says, what shall we then say
to these things? What should we say to the fact
that God has foreknown us, predestinated us to be conformed to the image
of his son? that he might be the firstborn
among men. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he called,
whom he called, he justified, and whom he justified, then he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us, right? If
that's the case, if God has made it clear from before the foundation
of the world that these are his people that he foreloves and
he has done all these things for them, outside of them, and
nothing can change that fact, then what can we say? If God
is for us, who can be against it? Who can cause this to change?
Nobody. That's why we say against what
Andrew Fuller was saying. One of the things he was saying
is we've got to get people all around the world out there preaching
the gospel because there are people that are dying and going
to hell who are never hearing the gospel. We have to reach
them so they don't go to hell. Well, see, that's not what the
Bible teaches. There's not one person that's
gonna go to hell because somebody didn't get to them first. That
could have saved them from going to hell. The only ones that's
gonna be in hell, the only ones that's gonna be in heaven, are
the ones that God has predetermined before the foundation of the
world. Those are the only ones. It's not gonna be about your
works, whether good or bad. Now granted, the reason people
go to hell is because that they have sinned against God. And
God does judge them for that sin. He holds them accountable
for their sin. And so God is not just sending
people to hell because of nothing. He is sending them to hell because
they have sinned against God. And it's God's choice to do that.
whether we like that or not. And that's not a popular teaching.
I know that. And I know that there's many
that reject that. And matter of fact, I've had
many who have even used that against me to say, you know,
try to pull at your heartstrings. You mean to tell me that you're
going to believe in a God that's like that? And what about if
one of your kids is like that? Or they may say, you're never
gonna grow a church if you preach that kind of gospel, because
who wants to come and worship a God that picks and chooses
who he sends to hell, and they don't have any say in the matter? Well, brethren, here's the thing.
It doesn't matter what we believe or what we say. It matters what
this is. You can believe in that God that
does it the way you want it to be done. All you want, that's
not gonna change the truth of the matter. It's not gonna change
the fact that God has said these things in his word. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. Now again, who's the us all?
We gotta go back to the context, right? Context determines who's
the us. It's not everybody all, it's
the us all. Who is the us? Well, those who love God. Those who are the called
according to His purpose. And those people were before
the foundation of the world called. Those whom He foreknew are the
us. Those are the ones that He predestinated. that He called, that He justified,
that He glorified. These are the ones who He give
Christ up for. He delivered Him up for us all.
How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Freely give us all things. See,
He give Christ up for us all, and if He, if God, is willing
to give up Christ, his son, his only son, for us, then how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things? Now, what is that talking about?
That's talking about exchange. If he spared not his, if he punished
his son for us, then why will He not then with
His Son give us all things? See, Christ took our sin for
us, and if God is just and righteous, then He will give us all things
that was owed to Christ due to His righteousness. And it's freely there, right?
We don't have to work for it. We don't have to earn it. It's
freely given to us. It's a free gift. That's why
we call this free grace. It's free. You don't have to
work for it. It's given to you without any
cost, except for the cost of Jesus Christ, but not no cost
to you. Now look at verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect. It is God that justifies. Now, if God, as we have seen,
has given us all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, not in earthly
places, in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, according as he
has chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world,
as all these verses we've been reading, neatly woven together,
consistently says, then the question is, is who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? The answer is
nobody. Nobody can lay a charge to God's
elect, ever. Not even God can lay a charge
to his own elect. The only one that can lay the
charge to God's elect is Christ. But what does it say there? It
is God that justify it. So Christ cannot lay anything
to our charge. Why? Because God has justified
us. Who is he that condemneth Nobody,
why? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So what does
all that have to do with justification? Well, if there is any time that
there is a charge laid to God's elect, then that verse is not
true. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? You say, well, that was before
they believed. But once they believed, then
God took that charge away and justified them because they believed. Well, then we have a problem,
don't we? We have a problem. Look with
me, if you would, at Romans chapter 4. We have a problem. For anybody
who believes that justification, the legal aspect of justification
is pronounced or declared and applied to someone's account
in time has a problem. Because the Bible says, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's love? Now last week we
read, didn't we, that we were by nature children of wrath,
but we were not under wrath. But look here, Romans chapter
four, and if you would look with me, starting in verse six. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputed righteousness
with our words. Okay, so here we learn that the
imputation or the lay, that word imputation, kids, means that
God reckons to our account or God counts it to our account. Oh, that's kind of crazy to say
it that way. He lays that to our account,
okay? He lays that to our account.
Okay. Quick, quick illustration. Quick illustration. We got Wayland
over here and here's his bank account. And we have Mike over
here. Here's my bank account. Okay.
Say I have a hundred dollars here in my bank account and Wayland
has zero dollars in his bank account. Okay? And then I come
in here and I take my money and I put it over here and I tell
the bank here, lay that to his account. Did Waylon do anything to get
that $100? No. I give it to him freely. But at some point, this money
that was mine, who I, through the works of me, got, laid that
to Waylon's account. So now Waylon has $100 that he
absolutely did nothing for. It was freely given to him. And
it was laid to his account. But once it's laid to this account,
you know what the bank does? The bank says, that's Waylon's
money now. That belongs to Waylon. And if I come five days later
and say, you know what? I give that money to that guy.
Can you give that money back to me? The bank's gonna say,
well, no, you can't have that money. Well, how come? It's mine. I
give it to him. Well, you can't have that money.
You laid it to his account. It becomes his. As soon as it
goes into his account, it can't be taken out anymore. Now, if he gives it back to you,
that's another thing. Now, that's another story as
it talks about salvation because does the child of grace, can
they give that righteousness back to Christ? Well, no, because
they don't have any righteousness of their own. See, this is a
faulty example in some area, but enough to get and let you
see. That laying to our account, so you kids can understand, that
was laid to your account. That's what the word impute means.
God imputed, he laid upon our account Christ, okay? But it says here, it says, the
blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without
words, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered. So that's a group of people. There is a blessed people, right? Now, a lot of times people are
using the word blessed. Blessed are they. That word is
blessed, okay? Blessed. So blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins. So it is a group
of people. Now, in this illustration that
I give you, blessed is Waylon, whose account was credited $100. Was Cayman's credited $100? No. Who's
the ones that's in the blessed category? Well, in this illustration,
it was Waylon. The ones who are blessed are
the ones who receive or get this laid to their account. So that
means they've been blessed. God has blessed them. They didn't
become blessed by doing something. They were blessed. And because
they were blessed, they received that. Waylon didn't do anything
to get that $100. He was blessed with it. I give it to him freely. without any kind of works owed,
I give it to him. And so he became blessed by that.
That's what this word is talking about. Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven. So that's a group of people.
There's a group of people whose iniquities are, present tense,
forgiven, and whose sins plural, all of their sins, not just some
sin, but all their sins, whose sins are, present tense, covered. Verse eight, blessed is the man
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, if you will turn back with
me, because in the mouth of two or three witnesses, a thing is
established, right? Turn back with me if you would
to Psalms chapter 32. That New Testament passage there
was a quotation of David speaking in Psalm 32. And let's go back
to where it was in the Psalms, Verse one, Psalm 32, verse one. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Now remember, this was said before
the cross. This was said before Jesus died
in time. Blessed, past tense, is, present
tense, The blessing came before the reality of it was experienced. Blessed is. They are blessed
now because of something that was done prior. Blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven. So that means that word is there.
Transgression is forgiven. Is it present? Perfect. You know what that means? In
grammar, I'm not much of a grammarian or anything like that, but I've
done enough to learn some things. That means that that is an action
that took place in the past and it's a continuing action. It's
something that happens in the past and keeps on going. It's
continual, okay? The present is right now, right?
The future is not yet happened. The past is already happened,
right? Those three things, past, present,
future. Well, present perfect is something
that means that it is happening now because of something that
already happened in the past and it keeps on going into the
future. So it's a continual thing. even
before the present, it happened. And even after now, it's gonna
keep happening. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered. But look at the wording, how
it is here in Psalms. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. and in whose spirit there is
no God. Brethren, this is something that
happened past tense. And if ever there is a time that
somebody is imputed, laid to their account, iniquity, then
this verse has no meaning, right? Then that means there's nobody
that falls under this category. then why put this in there? If
God has imputed sin to everybody, then this verse does not have
any meaning. Sin has been laid to their account.
This is saying the man that's blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. See, if God, like today, God
has imputed sin to me, I'm still a sinner, I've not been born
again, I've not repented of my sin, I've not believed upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, and God has imputed my sin to me, and then,
tomorrow, I'm born again, and God forgives me of my sins. And
God has reconciled me to Christ, and reconciled me to God, and
I believe upon Him, trust upon Him, and repent, and all these
things. Today, and I do that, and now
God says, okay, I'm not gonna count your sins against you. But yesterday, you did. So if
that's the case, I don't fit that category, because I had
sin imputed to me at one point in time. even though it may not
be effective today, you've wiped that clean today, I still had
it at one time imputed, so I don't fall into the category of the
unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.
You see where I'm getting at? Does that make any sense to anybody?
Is that understandable? You can't have sin imputed to
you and fall into the category of never having sin imputed to
you. So this verse has no meaning if justification was not considered
before iniquity began. Justification was declared before
iniquity even came into play. so that people would fall into
this category so that we would, in Ephesians, as it says, be
before him blameless in love. See, all this is tied together.
I know it's kind of a general message, I know I'm not a good
orator, and I know I don't put things out very well, but if
you'll go back to the beginning of this series on eternal justification
and listen to what I've been saying, and listen to these verses
and how they all tie together, how they're all saying the same
thing. It all has to do with God's eternal love. It all has
to do with God giving something before the foundation of the
world, calling people before the foundation of the world,
applying a salvation to them before the foundation of the
world, blessing them before the foundation of the world, all
in union with Christ Jesus. It's all about Him. And His faithfulness
is what God accounts in the covenant as the ground in which He can
do that before even Christ comes in time and does His thing. Turn with me to Numbers 23. Numbers 23. Here's another verse that would
make no spiritual sense. if God ever accounts His people
with iniquity. Numbers 23, and if you would,
look with me down to verse 19. God is not a man that He should
lie, neither the Son of Man that He should repent. Hath he said and hath he not
do it? Oh, excuse me. Hath he said and
shall he not do it? Now, brethren, that's a rhetorical
question. What's that saying? God can't
lie. And so if God says he's gonna
do something or does something, he cannot go back on it. He's
not gonna go back on it. It will happen. He will do what
he says he will do. or hath God spoken and shall
he not make it good? So if God has promised something,
if God has determined something or promised something, then he's
gonna make good on it, okay? We make deals with people all
the time. We say something to people and
then we go back on it, okay? I've heard you kids all the time.
You've made wagers with each other. Well, if you'll do this,
then this person does it, then you don't do it for him. God is not like you. He can't
lie. If he says he's going to do something,
he's going to do it. Verse 20, behold, I have received commandment
to bless. You see that? Now this is speaking
of Christ here. Behold, I have received commandment
to bless and he hath blessed and I cannot reverse it. Now there's a physical aspect
to this as it pertains to what's going on here in the Old Testament. But brethren, there's a spiritual
application to this as well as it pertains to God. Behold, I
have received commandment to bless and he has blessed and
I cannot reverse it. This blessing cannot be reversed. So that means it's given and
it can't be reversed. Now look at verse 21. He hath
not, past tense, beheld iniquity in Jacob. neither have he seen perverseness
in Israel." If ever there is a time that God has beheld iniquity
in Jacob and perverseness in Israel, which by the way, those
two words refer to the people of God, okay? The spiritual people
of God, not the physical, but the spiritual people of God.
in its spiritual application, okay? Again, there's a physical
application, but there's always a spiritual application behind
that. There's a physical reality and a spiritual application behind
it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob. If ever there was a
time he beheld it, then this isn't true. Neither hath he seen
perverseness in Israel. If there's ever a time that he
saw our perverseness, this is not true. But look at this. He has blessed and cannot reverse.
When was the blessing, the spiritual blessings given? It was in heavenly
places, in Christ Jesus, as He had chosen us in Him before the
foundation of the world. That's when the blessings were
given. Okay, so that was before we were born,
before anybody was born, before anybody was created, before anything
was created. And that was before any sin.
That's what God had declared, that I'm gonna bless them with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. And we've seen that those
spiritual blessings had to do with being predestinated, being
called, being justified, being glorified. And he says here that
those that are blessed, it cannot be reversed. Thus, he hath not
beheld iniquity. Is there iniquity in Jacob? Absolutely
there is. Is there perverseness in Israel?
Absolutely there is. That's why I was saying last
week. There is the practicality that yes, we practically have
sin and have iniquity, but legally God has never applied that to
our account because of the everlasting covenant. That's why he can say
he has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor seen perverseness
in Israel. That's why he can say, blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord impudeth not sin. Those statements
are true because of eternal justification. But I love the end of that 21st
verse. It says, the Lord his God is
with him. and the shout of a king is among
them. Now, I did a little looking at
this verse this morning before we came here, trying to break
this down just a little bit more so that we might understand this.
What does it mean to be held? He had not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. Well, the Bible 13 times translates
that word beheld or behold. 36 times the Bible translates that
word look. So he says, he has not looked
upon iniquity in Jacob. Five times that word is translated
considered. He has not considered the iniquity
of Jacob. Four times that word is translated
regarded. He hath not regarded the iniquity
of Jacob. Four times that word is translated
see. He hath not seen the iniquity
of Jacob. Three times that word is used
respect or respected. He hath not respected the iniquity
of Jacob. Two times that word is looked
down. He has not looked down on the
iniquity of Jacob. One time it's for look about. He has not looked about the iniquity
of Jacob. One time that word is translated,
look back. He has not looked back at the
iniquity of Jacob. Past, present, future. He has not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. there is not a time that God
has looked at, considered, regarded, seen, respected, looked down,
looked about, or looked back at the iniquity of Jacob. Now, brethren, how is that? Because
we know that there is iniquity in Jacob. For all have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make God out to be a liar. We have sinned, but God has not
beheld that sin. That word iniquity, it means wickedness. He has not
beheld wickedness in Jacob. It means vanity. It's translated
vanity in several places. He has not beheld vanity. The
Bible says that God has subjected the creation to vanity, but not
willingly. He subjected it to wickedness.
He has subjected the earth and the creation and man in his natural
nature to unrighteousness. That word iniquity is also translated
as unrighteousness throughout the scriptures and evil throughout
the scriptures. So God hath not beheld wickedness,
vanity, unrighteousness, or evil in Jacob. But yet we have it,
we've done it, we've done it, but he doesn't beheld it. He
doesn't look upon it, consider it, regard it. It says, neither
hath he seen perverseness in Israel. Why? Because the Lord
his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. There is a king that shouts,
it is finished. There is a king that shouts,
my blood, my blood. There is a king that shouts, not guilty. Brethren, the reason that we
have justification and it's from eternity is because all spiritual
blessings was given to us in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. We'll end with that in Ephesians
chapter one again. Let's just read it and we'll
be done. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us, verse three,
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
We just read that justification is one of those spiritual blessings.
And we've just seen that that spiritual blessing was given
to us in heavenly places, according as He had chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, so that the purpose of eternal
justification is so that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. The purpose of eternal justification,
being blessed with spiritual blessings and heavenly places
before the foundation of the world is so that he will not
behold iniquity in Jacob, so that he will not see perverseness
in Israel, so that he will not impute sin unto those people
when in time it happens. So it happens beforehand. Grace
begins in eternity and is manifested in time. Again, I want to remind
you of those verses that we read again a thousand times. Who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our words, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. You say, well, why do that? Why do that? Why does Jesus need
to come? Why does Jesus need to come? Because, verse 10, so
that it might now be made manifest, but now, but is now made manifest. See, God had already declared
it, decreed it, had already settled it in heaven before the foundation
of the world. But he wanted to bring it about.
Why? He wanted to manifest that. He wanted to manifest that grace.
He wanted to manifest that mercy. He wanted to manifest those vessels
of honor. That though they were full of
iniquity and full of transgressions, full of sin and evil and wickedness,
that even though that they were wrathful against God, that God
by his grace can bring them out of that. It was to show forth
His mercy and grace, as Romans 9 says, upon the vessels of honor. It was to glorify Himself in
His Son by redeeming those people that He, before the foundation
of the world, contracted with Christ to love, to save, based
upon the grounds of that covenant, which was Christ's faithfulness.
Christ's sacrifice, His blood. The imputation of sin to Him,
the imputation of righteousness to us, the only way that that
could be ratified was with blood. And whenever ratified with blood,
God made it manifest to all of His creation. So all of His creation
could see the marvelous work of God, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death and hath brought in life and immortality to light through
the gospel. Justification from eternity comes
because all spiritual blessings have been given to us from all
eternity. All right, anybody got any questions or comments?
Any reproof or rebuke or? I would say a funny story, but
we don't want to do that. We'll do that at lunch. All right. Probably have maybe
one more, maybe one more week. Maybe one more week in this,
maybe two. I've got a few more notes here
that I want to show about eternal justification. So Lord willing,
we'll try to pick up with this. next week. All right, let's bow
and have a word of prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
once again, we're so thankful, Father, for all that you've done
for us. We thank you for this day and this time together. Thank
you for the Word of God. We thank you for justification.
We thank you for all the spiritual blessings that we've been given
in heavenly places. And Father Lord, we just ask you to be with
us now as we gather around the table for taking this food, Lord,
we ask that you might bless it to the nourishment of our bodies.
Bless the fellowship together. And thank you for this day that
you've given us together as a church. And I pray, Lord, that your words
that have been said today might come not in power of man's wisdom,
but as come in the power of God, and that it might have been edifying
to those that are here And Lord, I just pray that you might be
glorified in all that we say and all that we do. As you continue
to be with our church, not only as we bear witness of the truth
here in Joplin, but Father, that you might bring others that believe
these truths to come and be part of our local congregation and
be a part of the labors here. Again, we thank you for all that
you are and all that you've done in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it's in his name that we pray, amen.