of eternal justification. And
we've been looking at the reasons, the points, and why we believe
that justification is an eternal act of God as opposed to a response to a
condition given to man as opposed to the legal declaration being made
at some point in time, but that from all eternity, God has viewed
his people justified. There are several reasons why
we hold that view. And as I've mentioned before,
that these doctrines, a lot of them, You can't just turn to
one passage of scripture and say, there you go. That's how
it works. That's how it is. There is study of God's Word
where we find different angles, different glimpses, different
phrases, different shades that God reveals to us of truth The
Bible says that we study it line upon line, precept upon precept,
hear a little, there a little. Sounds like you'd make a children's
song or something like that. But yes, the doctrine of justification
isn't something that we can just go and point our finger to. in
one or two or maybe even three verses and say, there you go.
That's what the doctrine of justification is all about. It does take a
study of God's word. That is why the Bible encourages
us to study, to show ourselves approved, a workman who is thoroughly
equipped and is not ashamed. And so we can rightly divide
the word of truth so that we can take God's Word and apply
it in all things in our life as He has instructed us. So, we want to continue to look
at this doctrine of eternal justification. Now, we've already looked and
seen that justification is an act of the eternal God. Okay? It's an attack, an act,
of the eternal God. We saw where justification is
an act that begins and ends in God. It takes place outside of
time. It's an imminent act. It's an internal act, meaning
that the justification of God's people is brought about by all
three record bearers that are in heaven. The Father has chosen a people
and given to the Son. The Son takes those people and
stands for them, not only in eternity, but in time as well. and He redeems those people.
He does all things to satisfy the justice of God for those
people. And then the Spirit of Christ
comes and applies that salvation to those people, instructs those
people, gives them assurance of their salvation inwardly,
keeps them from falling away testifies of Christ Jesus to
them, empowers them for works of service. And the Holy Spirit
is the one that gives us hope for the days to come, especially
for the return of Christ Jesus and our inheritance that we will
receive when he comes. So we see that this is an act
of the eternal God, The three-one God, the triune God. The triunity of God works on
our behalf for our salvation and our justification is taking
place because of God. It isn't man that justifies himself. The Bible says, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified. So that means that
none of us will ever be justified before God in a legal way by
keeping the law. Even if you could keep the law,
and that's another thing that's presupposed, is that, well, if
I could keep the law, then I would be justified by God. And I've even heard that said,
even theorized, as it pertains to Adam. If Adam never would
have sinned, then there would have never been death, there
never would have been, you know, he would have been justified
and all this. Listen, there is, number one,
no way that Adam could not have done what he done, but second
of all, God has declared that by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Now that's a principle. That's
a principle that God has revealed in scripture to us that he has
never considered justification by law keeping. So even though
God gives us the law, even though God commanded to keep the law, there was absolutely no possible
way that man could ever keep that law. And he still can't
today. There is no way that you can keep the law. And so it is not just that no
flesh is going to be justified because no flesh can keep the
law. That is true. But that is also
saying that God never intended to justify by the deeds of the
law for man. He never intended for us to be
justified by the law. So even if Adam did stay quote-unquote
sinless, although he wasn't. Even if Adam did continue on
in obedience to God, Adam was of the earth, earthy. He was
made of flesh. That which is of the flesh cannot
please God. He was a natural man. The natural
man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. So even
though Adam, if he would have continued on and never abated
that fruit, that does not mean he would have been justified
by God. Justification was never intended
to be by law. The law was never intended to
be for righteousness. When God gave the law and told
people to keep it, it was never to make them righteous or for
them to be righteous. If they kept that law, that did
not make them righteous. There was a lot of the Pharisees
that outwardly kept the law. Paul said that he kept the law
better than just about all the other Pharisees. There were claims of people trying
to keep the law. Now, that's not true as far as
perfectly. They did not perfectly keep the
law, maybe outwardly. But inwardly, there is no way
anybody can keep the law. Our flesh will always produce
fleshly things, and so we cannot keep the law. But even if we
did keep that law, it isn't going to bring a righteousness to us.
The law was never intended to make us righteous. So anybody
that tries to be justified by law keeping is going to fall
short no matter what, because number one, you cannot keep it.
And number two, God never intended to declare anyone righteous by
keeping it. It was always before the foundation
of the world determined to justify God's people by faith. the faith
of Jesus Christ, His faithfulness, His law keeping, His works of
righteousness, His death, His resurrection. That's what God
was looking at, the works of Christ alone for justification. And so as I said, this is an
imminent act. It is something that is going
to take place in time. It is something that God had
declared, decreed before all time that this was going to happen.
We know that because Acts tells us that by the determinate counsel
of God, these wicked men with their wicked hands took and did
wicked things to Jesus and crucified Him. That was all by God's determinate
counsel, God's predestination. There is no way that that activity
was not going to happen. God predestinated for that to
happen. Because that was going to be
the way in which God justifies His people. And so we see that
justification is an act of the eternal God in eternity. And I'm hopefully going to show
that a little bit more as we go on. Now last week, we looked
at Christ. The second reason why we believe
in eternal justification is because we have Christ, our eternal mediator. And we looked at several passages
of Scripture. We've seen in 1 Timothy 2, 5
that there's only one mediator between God and man, and that's
the man, Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ as mediator restored peace. He ratified the covenant. He
reconciled men to God. He was the go-between. To go
between God, who is divine, and man, who is flesh, Christ was
our mediator. And so that mediatorial office
required that he be a mediator between God and us. And so the
office of Christ regarding his saving us, his substitutionary
death, his representing us in his work, could only exist if
the elect were, by God, considered and viewed in Christ from eternity. And we found out that that was
to be true. The elect of God has been in Christ from eternity,
not from, and there's a lot of reformed teaching out there. Another problem that I had with
reformed teaching, we believe in sovereignty, we believe in
election, we believe in predestination. But yet we don't fall into the
same doctrine sometimes as the Reformed people do. A lot of
people think because we believe in God's sovereignty and God's
election and predestination, absolute predestination, that
we are Calvinist or that we are Reformed. We don't hold to those
things. We are not Reformed. The Lord's
Church has never needed Reform. That what was in Rome was not
the church. And that what came out of Rome
is not the church. So we do not claim to be part
of that institution. Also, we do not claim to be Calvinist. We don't look to men for our
theologies. We don't look to men to be our
head. We only have one head of our
church, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the head of our
church. And the doctrine of election, the doctrine of sovereignty,
the doctrine of atonement, All these doctrines that we hold
in the doctrines of grace, these were taught by Jesus. These were
taught in the Old Testament. These were part of Scripture
before ever a man or preacher began to preach them, other than
the Lord Himself and the Holy Spirit preaching and teaching
these things. The doctrines of grace wasn't
something that was just a little secluded here and there, and
then all of a sudden in the 1500s, it emerged out of this harlot. That's not what happened. We have had a mediator that has
stood for us for all time, and in that mediation, We are in
Christ Jesus from eternity. Now, what was all that about
reform? Well, the reformed, there are some within the reformed,
not everyone, but there are some within the reformed churches
that believe and teach that we are united with Christ in time
at the point when we believe. That at that point is whenever
we are united with Christ. They believe that whenever we
exercise the faith that Christ gives us in the new birth, then
we are declared just before God. So the legal declaration comes
at that time. And then the uniting with Christ
then comes. Because they say, well, we can't
be united with Christ while we are still apart from Christ.
While we are still enemies of God. While we are still what
they call under the wrath of God. And they use Ephesians chapter
2 for that. See all that's not right. That's
all out of context. Matter of fact, keep your hand
there in Hebrews chapter 7 because I want to make sure that everybody
understands what we're saying here. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 says,
And you, Hathe quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
where in time past you walked according to the course of the
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. So
he's making a distinction between the children of disobedience
and us. We walk like that other group,
but we are not of that other group. We walk like, acted like,
looked like, talked like, responded like that other group, and the
reason why is because we came from the same lump. We came from
the same lump, and we look that way, act that way, but we are
not of the same seed. We are not of the same group
of people. This is of the children of disobedience, but we are separate
from the children of disobedience. Look at verse 3. It says, Among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and we're by nature children of wrath. It never says that
we are under wrath. It says we are by nature children
of wrath, meaning that we are by our nature in Adam wrathful
towards God, wrathful towards each other. I mean, just look
around. You don't think that we're not children of wrath?
Look at what the natural man is accomplishing out here in
all these riots and the way that people are treated. I mean, we've
seen it through all of our history. Men killing men and just abusing
men and torturing people for no reason. I watched some videos
even this week of an elderly man walking down the street,
and this mob of people just attacks him. And I mean, just beats him
to a pulp and just leaves him on the sidewalk. And one person,
even after they finished beating him, as they were walking off,
turned around, ran back and spit on the guy before he walked off.
I mean, that is who we are by nature. We're children of wrath.
We're quick to shed blood, the Bible says. And so that phrase that we are
children of wrath By nature, children of wrath, it isn't children
under wrath, it's children of wrath. That's our nature. Even
as others. So see, again, there's a delineation
that's being made here of us who act like that and they who
act like that. But look at verse 4. But God,
who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ Jesus by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us
up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves." See, that faith is not of yourselves.
It's not your faith. It's not natural man taking natural
faith and moving natural faith from himself to God. No, it's
a foreign faith. It's not your faith. It's a faith
that's given outside of you. The Bible says that not all men
have faith. But the Bible also says, because
of Him you believe. Because of Him, you've been given
to believe and to repent and to call upon Him. It's because
of Christ Jesus. It goes on and says, "...not
of words thus any man should boast, for we are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them." We just looked in Ephesians
1 the other day. all the in Christ that took place
before the foundation of the world. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. We were blessed in
Christ and we were there with Him in heavenly places before
the foundation. According as He hath chosen us
in Him, that's unity, right? Before the foundation of the
world. that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the pleasure of his will,
to the praise and the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through
his love, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will
according to the good pleasure which he had purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are in earth, even in him in whom Also, we have
obtained inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of the glory who first trusted
in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of His glory." So we see that we
were in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world in union
with Him. And as I mentioned last week,
we call that eternal and vital union. And Christ came and mediated
the covenant that He had made in the Godhead to take that people
and stand in their stead. There was a covenant. The Bible
calls it an everlasting covenant. Look at Hebrews 7, verse 22. We hear it called a different
term here. Hebrews 7. Verse 22 it says, By so much
was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. That word testament
there also can be called a covenant. Look if you would at Hebrews
chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13 and look down
with me if you would at verse 12. That's not what I'm wanting. I'm sorry, verse 20. Now the
God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. So there we see that this testament,
this better testament, this better covenant is an everlasting covenant. So if it's an everlasting covenant,
then that means what? It's always been, right? It's
an eternal covenant. It's covenant that started in
eternity. Covenant is the span of time and will continue on
past time. It's everlasting. It doesn't
end. This covenant doesn't end. The
first covenant was meant to end. It had a purpose. There was a
purpose for the first covenant. Now someone's going to say, wait
a minute. That covenant can't have been made before the foundation
of the world because it's the second covenant. The first covenant
passed away. The second covenant then took
its place. So how can that be an everlasting
covenant? How can that be something that
was made before the foundation of the world whenever the Bible
says that it's the second covenant? Brethren, it was second in experience
of time. that covenant came in after that
first covenant was given to man, the second covenant then was
made manifest. The first covenant that God made
manifest to us was that covenant that He gave in the Old Testament.
But the second covenant that was made manifest to men was
a covenant that was everlasting. It had started in eternity. It
was going to be ratified, or it was going to be set in stone,
if you would, at Calvary, or accomplished at Calvary, and
is going to continue for everlasting. That covenant, just because it
is the second covenant, does not mean that that covenant was
not made from eternity. Now, if you want to argue with
me about that, just argue with God because He's the one that
called it an everlasting covenant. Now, in Hebrews 7.22, we see
that Jesus was made the surety of this better testament. Now,
there are a lot of people out there that they still want to
be under that first covenant. They still think that first covenant
exists. Matter of fact, they think that
the second covenant, the everlasting covenant, the new covenant, they
think that it is a continuation and an expansion of the old covenant. That's not true either. Scriptures
here in Hebrews says that this covenant is a better covenant,
completely separate than the first. Hebrews also tells us that the
first covenant went away. It finished. It's over. It's not to be enacted anymore. That first covenant is gone.
The second covenant has taken its place. That tells me that
it's not the first covenant continued or the first covenant expanded. It is a new covenant. The old
covenant was replaced by the new covenant. The new covenant
is the everlasting covenant. The old covenant was a temporary
covenant, a covenant that had a purpose for a specific point
in time. And that covenant, once it was
finished, it could not do the things that the new covenant
was made to do. Scripture tells us that. Now,
I'm not going to get into all that, but what I wanted us to
see is this Better Testament, this everlasting covenant, this
new covenant, it is mediated by assurity, Jesus Christ. And so that's my third point
on why we believe in eternal justification is because not
only is it an eternal act of an eternal God, and it's mediated
by an eternal mediator, Christ Jesus, but it is also guaranteed
by an eternal surety. Christ Jesus also being that
eternal surety. What is a surety? Well, a surety
is someone who is legally responsible for the debt of somebody else.
A surety is someone who is legally responsible for the debt of someone
else. Someone who has made themselves
responsible for someone else. Something that we can liken that
to today, a couple of different illustrations we can give. Have
you ever bought something and had a co-signer? That means that whenever you
come and you go, whenever I first bought my car, I didn't have
any credit. I was a young man, had not been
working, didn't have any credit. And so I wanted to buy a car.
The creditors looked and said, you don't have any credit. You
just started in the workforce. You don't have anything, no history
for us to look at to see whether or not you're going to be able
to repay your debt. We don't know if you're going
to be able to repay your debt. So someone needs to come in and
co-sign for you. And so I had my grandfather came
in and co-signed on my car for me. Now, what did that mean?
That meant my grandfather came in and said, if Michael Smith
does not or is not able to fulfill his debts, then I will pay his
debts for him. And so he was putting his reputation,
he was putting his credit, his money on the line, his word on
the line. He was telling them if he doesn't
fulfill the debt, if he doesn't do everything that he says he
would do, then I will come in and pay everything that he owes.
I will take care of him. You will be paid back everything
that is owed. I will make sure of it. And so
then as I go along, if I can't pay for my car, they don't come
after me. They come after my grandfather. He's the one who co-signed for
it. They base the whole entire covenant or the loan which basically
that's what a loan is, is a covenant between you and the bank. You
saying that I would like you to give me money and in exchange,
I will pay all this money back with interest to you. And so
that is a covenant between you and the bank. Well, if I don't
do what I said I would do, then my grandfather is legally bound
to pay for that car. If I just skip out of town and
go away, he can't ever find me again. He is responsible for
that. And so if he is not able to do
that for me, then that car will be repossessed and taken back.
His credit will be ruined as well as mine, but his will be
too. So he is standing instead for me saying, I will guarantee
that this boy will do what he said he would do, okay? That his debts will be paid. Another illustration that we
can use is a bondsman. Whenever someone is in jail and
is convicted of a crime, they can get out on bail. And a bondsman comes before the
court and says, I will pay his bail. And I will guarantee that
he will show back up for the trial. And so now that bail bondsman
is responsible for that guy, and so he has become the surety
for that other person, saying that here is the debt that he
owes as far as his bail, and I will make sure that he lives
up to what he says he's gonna do, okay? Now, how is Jesus our
surety? The Bible says that he has become
a surety of a better testimony, or a testament, or a better covenant. Well, look at verse 6 of chapter
8. But now he, Christ, but now hath
he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also He
is the mediator, and you see that word mediator and surety
is very tightly knit, it's very close, very similar to each other,
okay? Almost can be synonymous. By
how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant. See there,
that's why I know that I can change those words out, testament
covenant, the Bible does. He is the mediator of a better
covenant which was established upon better promises. What was the promises in the
Old Testament that was made in the covenant? Do this and live,
right? Do this and live. If you break
this law, then here is a covering. for that. Here is a sacrifice
that needs to be made. But then whenever we get along
down the line and we find out that by the blood of bulls and
goats, that wasn't what appeased God. That wasn't what God desired.
But that's what He gave until Christ came. That was a picture
of what Christ was going to do. That was a foreshadowing of the
greatness of the better covenant that was going to come in. A
covenant not based upon their performance, but a covenant that
was based upon Christ's performance. So all that Old Testament priesthood,
sacrificial system, law was given to show that we cannot do what's
right. But it also was to point forward
to Christ and His coming and show us that the better covenant
than the old covenant isn't based upon promises kept by us, it's
promises kept by our surety. The promise that He made, past
tense. Well, when did He make it? Well,
He made it before the foundation of the world. He made it at the foundation
of the world. This very act is shown in Genesis
chapter 43. We preached on this a while back.
Turn with me if you would. Genesis chapter 43. Give me a glass of water. Genesis chapter 43. They don't have to have ice in
them, so. Genesis 43. It says, And the famine was sore
in the land. And it came to pass, when they
had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their
father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food. And Judah
spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us,
saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou wilt send our brother
with us, we will go down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt
not send him, we will not go down. For the man said unto us,
Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. And
Israel said..." Remember, Israel was Jacob. Remember his name
changed? from Jacob to Israel. And so these were Jacob's sons,
and they had sold Joseph into slavery, his sons had sold Joseph
into slavery. And those people that bought
him in slavery, long story short, it all came around where he became
part of the government under Pharaoh and became the second
in command overall of Egypt, right underneath Pharaoh. And
these brothers of his had come seeking to be fed because there
was a famine. And they came to get food from
Egypt. And Joseph was there, was the
one giving out the food. And they didn't recognize him.
And so he gave them the food and sent them on and told them,
you know, if you come back, he said, don't come back unless
you have your brother Benjamin with you. He inquired about a brother.
And they did, they said that, yeah, they did have a brother.
And he said, well, bring him whenever you come. Because Benjamin
and Jacob, if I remember right, shared the same mother. And he
was close to Benjamin. But look, he goes on, he says,
and Israel said, wherefore dealt ye so ill with me as to tell
the man whether ye had yet a brother? And they said, the man asked
us straightly, of our state and our kindred, saying, Is your
father yet alive? Have ye another brother? And
we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we
certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?
And Judah said unto Israel his father. Now here it is. Listen
to this. Send the lad with me. and we
will arise and go that we may live and not die, both we and
thou and also our little ones. I will be a surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. So here we see where Judah steps
in as surety for Benjamin. And he tells the father, he says,
listen, let us go. And if I go down and do not bring
the lad back, I will be a surety for him. I will make sure that
he comes back. And if he does not come back,
then you can require, you can blame me for that. I will bear
the blame. I will stand in His stead. That is the first occurrence
of the word surety in God's Word. That word in Hebrew is translated
two times as a pledge. It's translated one time as a
mortgage. One time as an undertaking. The Hebrew word in its root form
means to be security for. But there's another definition
in Hebrew that this word is used for, and I really like it once
I got to kind of pondering on it, because it kind of seemed
weird at first. Another definition for this word,
or the way this word is understood, is to braid. Is to braid. And I thought, man, that's kind
of strange. A shirtie is a braid? But you
think about it. What happens whenever you make
a braid? You take two or three strands
of hair, right? Or groups of hair. And you cross
them over each other. And you weave them together until
they make one thing, right? So in braiding something, you
are taking multiple things and you are combining them together
and making them One, you're uniting them into one. And so the word surety is as
if Christ is standing in our stead, just like here. Judas
said, I will be the surety. Treat me like you would if it
was somebody else. I'm going to stand for Him. I'm
going to make sure He gets back. I'm going to be the security
for Him. But think about it in terms of
Jesus Christ. Whenever He stands before God
as our surety, He is standing with all of His people intertwined
into Him. Matter of fact, the word intertwined
is another way this word was understood in Hebrew. Intertwined,
which also is the same as braiding, right? You intertwine the braid. But you think about that. We
have been in Christ Jesus And whenever He stood, we stood. When He stands righteous before
God, we're righteous before God. Whenever He died the debt for
sin, we died the debt for sin. So as the surety, Jesus Christ
not only stood in our place as us, and that was also being substituted. That's why all these words are
very closely knit. But he also guaranteed that everything
that he did would be applied to us as well. As the mediator,
he made sure that the promises that God made would be given
to the ones that he stood for. And He also made promise that
every one of these that He stood for will get the promises that
God made. That's what He did as the mediator,
as the surety. And the Bible shows that He is
this of the everlasting covenant. If there is an everlasting covenant,
then that means there has been an everlasting mediator, an everlasting
surety, an everlasting substitute. That's why the Bible says that
Christ has stood as the Lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. If Christ stands as the surety,
if He stands as the mediator, if He stands as the substitute,
and God looks upon Him before time, all things are yea and
amen in Christ Jesus. Whenever he looks upon Christ,
he has declared the end from the beginning. There is no way,
as Christ stands for us in that better covenant, there is no
way that it can change because God has declared the end, and
the end is Judah going and getting and coming back. There is no way that it cannot
happen because Christ has said, I will go in their stead, I will
pay their debt, and I will come back. And he has told us all
the promises that God made, I will give to you. And so as the surety,
that's the importance of it, brother. He is the surety. The
law was not the surety. Our obedience was not the surety.
The blood of Christ was the surety. That's why it's said in Hebrews
that it was by the blood of the everlasting covenant. That everlasting
covenant is signed and sealed by His blood. There is no way
that God can get out of this covenant nor would He want to,
but there's no way He can get out of it because God cannot
lie. He has made a promise. Christ has made a promise. Christ
fulfilled all the things that was required by law for these
people to be justified. And so the declaration of justification
doesn't have to wait in time for God to see who is going to
believe on Him. He already knows who's going
to believe on Him. He's already determined who's going to believe
on Him. He doesn't have to wait to declare
that. He declares that from the very beginning. These people
are justified before me and not under wrath, not under any of
my wrath is what I was looking for, but they are justified before
me. Look, if you will, at Ecclesiastes
3.15. Ecclesiastes 3.15 Ecclesiastes
3.15 Let's back up to verse 14. I
mean, this whole passage, of course, you know, this is where
the, I think it was the birds that sang this song back in the
60s. Do everything, turn, turn. This
is where this came from. It came from the Word of God. There is a time, there is a season
for everything. But let's start in verse 14. It says, I know
that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can
be put to it, That means added to it, nor anything taken from
it, subtracted from it. And God doeth it that men should
fear before him. That which hath been is now,
and that which is to be hath already been. And God requireth
that which is past. Now this is in terms of God declaring
all times, all seasons, all activities of everything that's going to
happen. There's a season for everything because God has made
it that way. But look what He says there in
verse 15. That which hath been is now. And that which is to be, the
future, that which is gonna happen, hath already been. Well, how's
that? Because God has declared all
things the end from the beginning. That which is to be hath already
been, and God requireth that which is past. Now, let's look
at the first part of that. That which hath been, is now. That which God has declared in
the past, that which has been declared, is happening now. And that which is to be that's
been declared, the future that hasn't happened yet, hath already
been. How? Because God hath declared
it. See, God looks at these things
that have not been as though they already are. And God requires that which is
past. He requires everything that He
has declared. if God has declared the end to
be salvation for all His elect people of God, based upon the
righteousness of Jesus Christ and His faithfulness, given to
us in imputed righteousness, then the end has been declared
from the beginning. So justification has been declared
from the beginning. God has declared all things from
the beginning, brethren. So if you want to squabble over
when is a man declared justified, all things were declared at the
beginning. God is not sequentially declaring things. He is not looking
at what's going on and making decisions and determining what
he's going to do next. Uh-oh, that didn't go, that wasn't
in my will. I'm going to have to change some
events over here to get it back in line with what I want. No,
that's not how it is. Everything that God has declared
is being brought out in time. We spoke about that scroll that
is written on the front and on the back that the Lamb has opened
up and is bringing forth all the things from that scroll.
It's the Lamb. He's the one who is governing
all things. He is the one who is bringing
about by providence all things. He is the one who is ruling over
the kingdom of God, over the creation of God, and in the people
of God. Right? So God has declared all
things. And Christ has stood from the
foundation of the world as the Lamb slain, as the surety, as
the mediator. Thus, He is our sponsor. He is
our bondsman. He is our surety, our security. Whenever Christ as a surety engaged
the Godhead in the New Covenant, for all of His elect from everlasting,
they were justified. They were declared righteous. Christ took on their obligations. John Gill says this, he says,
whenever Christ drew nigh to His Father in the council of
peace, and undertook to be the Savior and Redeemer of His people,
He substituted Himself in their place instead. He interposed
between the creditor and the debtor and became surety for
the payment of the debts of the latter, and so stood engaged
for them and in their room." Now let me ask you, If Christ
stands as surety, that means he is standing for a debtor,
correct? A surety stands for a debtor,
one who is in debt to someone else. And if that other person
is not the debtor, then that means he is the creditor, right? So that he is the one giving,
the other is the one that owes. Right? The creditor is the one,
I'm sorry, that is owed. The debtor is the one who owes. And Christ is the one who stands
between them and says, everything that you require of this guy,
I And everything this guy requires
for you, I will give to you and he will be satisfied. That's what a mediator does.
That's what a surety does. That's what a substitute does. I'll probably do this illustration
again next week as it pertains to some of the stuff we'll talk
about next week. But let me give you an illustration that Wilson
Thomson gave in his Triumphs of Truth. And I've used this
illustration many times in speaking on eternal justification. Because
there's a lot of people that cannot picture how God can justify
somebody before they ever believe. Do you mean to tell me that unbelievers
are justified before God? Well, let me ask you this. Whenever you begin to believe
the Gospel, do you believe 100% all the time? Do we not have
doubts? Do we not have lack of faith? Do we not even fully understand
that which we believe? See, if justification hinged
upon perfect faith, perfect belief, then none of us would be justified. That's why it's not by our faith. Didn't the disciples, the Bible
reveals and claims that they were already saved by Christ,
they were already filled with the Holy Spirit, but yet they
say, we believe, help thou our unbelief. Jesus even said, O
ye of little faith. The Bible says that He gives
to each man a measure of faith. And that isn't, well, I give
you 50% faith now, and then from now on, I've got 50% faith, and
then if He gives me more than that, I've got more than 50%.
He may give you 50% today, and tomorrow He may give you 5%. An hour from now, He may give
you 75% of that. You see what I'm saying? But here's an illustration for
those that say, well, what do you mean? You mean an unbeliever?
Someone who's never even heard the Gospel is justified? Absolutely. Because it's not based upon you.
Justification is a legal transaction that took place within God. The
Father giving to the Son, the Son taking and redeeming, and
the Holy Spirit applying, that is all the part that was in the
Covenant. And so it didn't have anything to do with you at all,
ever. You experienced that salvation.
It's made manifest in 2 Timothy 1, 9 and 10. It was made manifest by the appearing
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death
and brought life and immortality to life. Here's the illustration. You're in a courtroom. The debtor,
the one who has transgressed, is locked up in jail, over in
the jailhouse. The court proceeds, convenes
together, and the judge who is righteous and stands upon the
law and upon justice and will not budge whatsoever, the only
thing that will satisfy him is the full completion and satisfaction
of the law. And one step forward before that
judge and says that guy that's over in that jail cell, I'm gonna
stand for that guy. I'm gonna be a surety for him.
I'm gonna guarantee that all his debts will be paid. And I have done nothing. I am
guiltless. No guilt whatsoever. yet I will
take his punishment upon me. I will pay his punishment for
him if you will let him go. And the judge then must determine
whether or not that exchange, that surety, is equal and commensurate
with the guilt and with the law and its demands. And so the judge looks upon that
surety and says, okay, I see that you have no guilt. I see
you are innocent of all things, but yet you have taken upon yourself
to pay the debt for this man and to take his punishment. If you do that, that this man,
I will declare him just justified, not guilty. And so that was signed
and sealed for the foundation of the world as the lamb slain.
But in this courtroom, the judge says, I, the judge, hereby declare
that jailer number one is justified of all crimes commensurate with
the fact that this surety will pay all his debts and receive
the full weight of punishment due to jailer number one. And so he cracks the gavel. Now
what happens? The judge then says, come and
leave this man away. And now Christ, the guilt of
all of us who are His is now laid to His account. He is now
responsible for all our guilt, all of our sin, and all of our
punishment. And so God lays that to His account
and lays the innocent part to the jailer's account, our account.
That's called imputation. He imputed everything that we
were to him and everything that he was to us. Now, we're still
in jail. He's not been punished yet. But yet the declaration came
from the gavel, from the desk of the high court, of the high
court priest or justice, judge, who said, what this guy promises
to do is enough for me to say, this guy's not guilty. And so
he goes, bailiff, go down and let that man go. Put that man
in the cage until his time of execution. Now let me ask you
this. That man in that jail cell has
not even heard the fact that this guy's coming in his stead.
Is he justified? Yes, based on what? Based upon
the decision of the judge to let him go because this man came
and said, I'm going to do everything that he required for this man. And that judge deemed it so,
that it was worthy, that it was commensurate with the law, that
it was righteous, that it pleased him. It satisfied that law. And so the bailiff goes down
and tells the guy, hey, guess what? You're free to go. The
guy's like, what? Yeah, you're free to go. Yeah,
there's been somebody that's come in and took your place.
And all that you owe and the penalty and punishment that you
were going to receive, he's agreed to do that. And listen, that
guy had never done anything. He's innocent, completely innocent,
never done anything. But he's willing to go all the
way and be executed for you and pay all your debts. And you're
free to go. Now let me ask you, that guy
might sit there in that jail cell and say, don't sound right.
Are you serious? You might even have doubt. Are
you serious? Somebody that's innocent came
on my behalf and said that they were going to die for me. They
were going to take on all my debts and clear my name. And
besides that, the judge actually agreed to that? You mean the
judge agreed to let me, the person that did it, go free, and this
guy that didn't do it or has never done anything, pay that
price? No, I don't buy that. And he
may sit in that jail cell with the door swung open wide by the
bailiff and still doubt that he is that person. Is he any
less justified? No, he's not. And that jailer may come back about
10 minutes later and that guy is still sitting there and says,
hey, guess what? You're free to go. You're free
to go. He may not still believe it.
Is he still justified? Absolutely. You mean, even doubting
God? Yep. He's still justified. Why? Because it wasn't ever based
upon him. It was based upon the law. and the fulfillment of that
law, and the payment of those wages, or that penalty. Then all of a sudden, that man's
eyes are opened to see the innocent man being taken into captivity
and put into a jail cell. All of a sudden, he now can see
that it's true, that God really did do that. And so he steps out of the jail
cell. Still can't believe it's true.
Maybe still a little bit of doubts. He sees that guy in the jail
cell and knows, well, obviously the judge has put that guy in
jail and told me I can go free, but I just don't understand how
it works. I don't understand it. Is he still justified? He's still as much justified. Then he says, you know, If that
guy took off, I know what I did. I know it was me. I know I am
guilty. And there is no way that God's
gonna let me go. He may even go back into the
jail cell and say, nah, this is a trick. They're gonna shoot
me when I get out. Then he sees that guy sitting
over there still in the jail cell waiting for his time of
execution. So that jailer, or that the guy in the jail, he
comes out and he says, you know, it really is true. They're letting
me go. He really did. He's really taken my place. And
so now he comes over to that guy in the jail and says, thank
you. I don't know why you did it,
but you did it. And he says, Listen, don't doubt
it. I'm going to pay everything that
you owe, and I'm going to take on every bit of your punishment
for it. And the guy says, well, I tell
you what, that is more than I could ever
repay. I don't think I could ever repay
you for that. He says, there's no need to.
There isn't no way that you can repay this. Just say thank you. It's good enough. And even if you don't say thank
you, it's good enough. I'm doing it for you. But there's
no way that the guy can turn around and not say thank you.
He says thank you. Because he realizes now what had been done
for him. And then he even goes to the
bailiff and says, you know what? I'll tell you what. Can I sit here
with this guy? Visit with him? Talk with him?
Can I serve him until those days are done? Yes, sir, sure. So out of his love for what was
done for him, that guy waits on him and does whatever is needed
to be done until that guy's execution. Now, is that guy justified? Yeah,
the guy, but the other guy hadn't been executed yet. But then the day of execution
finally comes. And the guy lives up to everything
that the court demanded, does everything that the court demanded.
That guy is still right up to the point before that execution
takes place, is still doubting, this guy's gonna back out on
me. This guy's gonna back out on me. I don't know, is it true? I mean, that judge is awful stern. I don't know. But then the execution comes. The debt is all paid. Nothing
left to owe. And the guy then fully understands. Nobody's coming after him. He's
looking over his shoulder. Nobody's coming after him. But the guy was justified before
he even knew it. Just as justified as he was,
as after the fact that it happened, and he saw that it happened,
and seeing nobody was coming after him. He was just as much
justified as he was before we ever knew about it. Why was he justified before? because the promise of the surety
was enough to satisfy the justice of God. The blood of the surety, which
was promised to be shed on behalf of His people, was enough for
God to say, The Bible says, blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not sin. Now brethren, if there's
ever a time that the Lord imputes sin to us, that verse has no
meaning. See, the man that's blessed is
the man that has never had his sin imputed to him. Jesus stood
before our sin ever came into being and said, I will be their
surety. I will take their place. Everything they owe, I will pay. Everything that's required by
the law to be done, I will do. You'll let them be free. And God said that He blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ
Jesus, so that we might be before Him in love, without blame. Brethren, that's justification.
And it's an eternal act. It's an eternal declaration.
Now, is there a time that we experienced that? Yeah, there
was a time that that guy in the jail cell finally experienced
that justification, right? When he finally seen that man
crucified, or whatever, taking his place. All the doubts that
he had went away whenever he finally was able to see that
someone actually took his place. How does that work with us? Well,
we live our life and until we're born again, we don't have the
spiritual capacity to even see those things. We don't have eyes
to see, ears to hear. But we're born from above and
then we are brought the good news of the Gospel. And we may
be told that Gospel over and over and over, but we just can't
believe it. We just don't believe it. until
one day God gives us eyes to see and ears to hear. And the
Holy Spirit teaches us in the heart that this is yours. And then we begin to see that
it wasn't just Christ died for people in general, but He died
for me. He took my place. That I am justified before God. See, justification doesn't happen
as a condition based upon us. It comes upon a condition kept
by the surety. We are eternally justified because
of our eternal surety. Does anyone have any questions
or comments? Any additions? Corrections? Reviews? It's a beautiful thing. Why did God do it that way? so
that it might be by grace. If He did it any other way, it'd
be by works. But it's by grace. Through the faith of Jesus Christ
experienced by the grace and faith given to us in the new
birth. We experience it by faith, but
it was purchased. It was solidified. It was based
upon. the faithfulness Christ Jesus
assured, to go and get the lad and bring the lad home. And guess
what? There's another promise in that,
remember. If I don't bring the lad, then I bear the blame. Why do we believe in particular
redemption? Why do we believe in effectual
grace, effectual atonement? Because Jesus, like Judah, and it's strange, Jesus is the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, that Jesus said, if I don't bring
those that You've given Me to you, I bear the blame. I bear you in mind. Brethren, salvation is guaranteed
to all the elect of God. Not one will be lost. All that
the Father giveth Him shall come to Him. And all that come to
Him, He will in no wise cast out. All right, let's go on.
Our Heavenly Father, we come once again thanking You for Christ
Jesus. Thank You for all that He is, for all that He has done,
and all that He is going to do. Thank You, Father, for the salvation
we have because of Him. Father, I pray that You just
might continue to minister that reality to our lives. Encourage us with that Gospel. that Christ has saved His people
with an everlasting salvation. It cannot be touched by the hands
of man. It isn't dependent upon the conditions
of our law-keeping, our righteousness, our acceptance, our belief. Yes, those things come, but only
because of Christ. Father, I thank You for this
church. I thank You for the time we've
had together today. I pray, Lord, that You might expand this church,
that You might grow and number the people here, Lord. But more
importantly, I pray for those that are here that You might
grow them inwardly, spiritually. Lord, I pray that they might
grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Father, Lord,
we just ask that You'll be with us as the week goes on, that
You might help us to be witnesses of You. Father, I pray for those
that are not converted, that are not saved, Lord, that have
not professed Christ Jesus. Lord, I pray for them. I pray
for my children. I pray, Lord, that You would save them. Lord,
I pray that You would give them eyes to see and ears to hear
to believe the Gospel, to truly know Christ that His love would be shed abroad
in their heart and that they might come believing upon the Lord Jesus
to be baptized and to be part of the church. Lord, I pray that
You might bring others in Joplin alongside to help in our labors
here, Father. We pray that week after week,
and we look to You as head of the church for those. We water,
we plant, But Father, we know that You
give the increase. Our hope is in You. And we look
to You, Father, and we ask that You just might bless this church. Bless this work that is being
done here. I pray that You continue to help
me to be a better pastor, preacher, father, husband, worker. Father, Lord, I pray that You
would just be with us now as we leave. to eat, to my blessed
food we're about to eat, to the nourishment of our bodies. In
Jesus' name we pray, amen.