If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to the book of Romans 8. And you can follow me in your
pastor's outline that's in your bulletin as well. Romans 8. I'm in Romans 8. We are in our third consideration
of what has historically been called the golden chain of salvation,
verses 28 through 31, and more particularly verse 29 and 30.
And because of the importance the inherent doctrinal truths
that lay there in those words. It's incumbent upon us to just
take our time and work it through. We will have probably just two
more messages in chapter 8, and we'll be able to proceed to chapter
9. In Romans chapter 8, verse 29
and 30, we read these words, for whom He, that is God, did foreknow, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. That's the purpose. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. And you have already been warned
and told that this portion of Scripture in verses 29 and 30
are described in what we call the past tense. This is a package
of completed facts on the part of God. God himself is describing
to us what he has purposed and what he has planned and what
he has worked out in terms of the salvation of those that believe
on him. The theologians have called this
the golden chain because this becomes for every believer their
security in Christ. It's not so much the fact that
we know it. There is a benefit in that. But
it's the fact that God has already accomplished it for us in Jesus
Christ. And so the believer can rest
in this reality that the God who made the heavens and the
earth has accomplished eternal redemption for us who believe
on such a level that it can never be revoked or changed or altered
for all eternity. It's a chain that starts in heaven
and it drops down to the earth and it calls sinners to itself. And the sinner by grace lays
hold of the chain. And as long as you can feel that
chain down here, you're good to go. Because you and I know
that the God of the Bible, He cannot lie, He cannot fail, and
He does not what? He never changes. And so we call
this the security of the believer, not the assurance of the believer.
That's something else. But the security of the believer
is that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. And that's where we find our
comfort and we find our rest as well. But it's important for
me to remind you that the apostle Paul is summing up and pressing
together this great truth to continue to affirm to his Jewish
brethren why it is that those of us who rest in the grace of
God in Christ and are justified freely by his grace apart from
words will never ever falter, ultimately, so as to depart from
Christ. His Jewish brethren, who had
come to the faith out of a history and background of legalism and
works, were asking the question over in Romans 6, 1, then if
we are saved by grace, is it not such then that we shall go
on living in sin that grace may abound? The apostle said what? God forbid. God forbid and then
he began to develop the reason for which true believers will
never stumble fall or depart from God It's because they are
in Jesus Christ when you and I are in Christ in a vital saving
way you are one with him and he is one with you and Child
of God, that's where your strength is Your strength is in him Your
staying power, your keeping power, your preserving power is in Jesus
Christ. And this is what the believer
has to learn all the days of his life or her life is to be
able to draw from the promises of God those things that are
necessary to get you through your everyday life. Life is challenging,
isn't it? But Jesus has already said that
we have overcome the world. The man or the woman, the child
of God, the people of God that have come to trust Christ have
already overcome the world. In the world you're going to
have what? And that's exactly what Paul is dealing with in
this 8th chapter as we keep the big picture. What he knows is
that this body of believers called the Roman Church is going to
head into, in a few years, a major thelipses, a major set of troubles,
a major set of challenges. He saw it prophetically. Christ
warned about it that wars and rumors of wars and troubles will
come and the Roman Empire is going to crumble and the believers
in the Roman Empire have to know where their confidence lie. You
and I, in the time of trouble, must know that God is our shelter.
You and I, in the time of difficulty, must know that Christ is your
hiding place. In the midst of trouble, you've
got to be sure you've got someone that has your back. You've got
to know that, because trouble is coming. And it's very important
for the Christian to be prepared for that trouble. It doesn't
matter what that trouble may be. It may be physical sickness.
God may have blessed you with great health all your years and
you are scratching your head about how good God has been to
you and You know, you have friends and loved ones who are quite
sickly all the time and you wonder why not you Well, it's coming
be sure that it's coming. So so what you do beforehand
is you shore up in your walk with God the promises of God
over against the stormy day and Now unless the Lord Jesus Christ
comes back and he hasn't although I had it on some specious advice
today He may be coming back on October 7 2015 But don't sell your stocks If
he comes back we are delivered are we not but I want you to
settle down because it's been 2,000 years since that promise
has been made and And I think there's a whole lot of other
work to be done in the kingdom as well. And so while the believer
does say with John in the book of Revelation, even so come quickly,
Lord Jesus. While it is not God's purpose
to send his son back, we've got work to do. And one of the things
that you and I are called to do is to prepare ourselves for
the difficult days. The golden chain of the unbreakable
promises of God in our scriptures, his foreknowledge, his predestinating
purpose, his call, his justification, and his glorification are truths
that Paul is teaching us by the Spirit that are over against
the troubles that are coming in our lives. What Paul would
have you and I to know is that the weight, the weight The weight
of brilliance and glory inherent in what God has done for us in
Christ makes the trouble so bearable as to be nothing in reality. It makes the trouble that we
go through so bearable as to be nothing Comparison but what
you and I must do is drink deeply of the Word of God and grasp
these truths and own them for Ourselves so as to have the necessary
life jacket to get through the storms I raise a question then
around Romans chapter 8 Verse 20 verse 30 rather as we are
working through the golden chain. We have already looked at for
knowledge We know that for knowledge is not merely God's prescience.
I It's also God's determination. It's God's purpose. It's God's
love. Those whom he foreknew in this
sense means that he has foreloved them. Those whom he has foreknown
in this sense means that he has foreloved you. I have loved you
with an everlasting love. Therefore, have I drawn you with
loving kindness. When we ask the question, what
kind of love it is? The answer is an everlasting
love. And what that means is God has
loved me before the foundation of the world so that everything
that's made ultimately will redound to me experiencing that love
in Christ for all eternity. that foreknowledge of God's covenant
purpose for you, child of God, then moves into what he calls
his predestinating or preordaining purpose, and that is to conform
you to the image of Jesus Christ. Now that becomes the part that
you and I now have to really work with. What does it mean
to be conformed to the image of Jesus? Well, you can best
know that by looking to the life of Jesus Christ because he is
a model for us. Not only is he our Savior, that's
great. Not only is he our atonement, our justification, our propitiation,
that's wonderful. Not only is he our God, he is.
But he is the firstborn among many brethren. And what that
means is he is the prototype, he is the archetype of every
believer. So as Christ is, so are you. to the degree that you and I
come to know more about Jesus, you come to know more about yourself.
Not only in terms of what you will look like on that final
day, we'll talk more about that in a moment, but the process
that brings you there. So when Paul says, in order that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren, he is conforming
us into the image of Christ. That means there's some things
that you and I must go through in order to look like Jesus.
And this is where the believer must, while he rejoices in the
promises of God, he must also embrace that ingredient or that
element of suffering by which those promises are made real
in their life. And while you rejoice in the
promises and embrace the suffering, here's what you do. You revel
in, you enthrall yourself in. You fix yourself in this one
concept that we're going to work through today and that is the
glory of god You must understand that god saved you to behold
his glory We're going to deal with that again today as we have
dealt with it as a topic over the years Nothing is more beneficial
to your soul Than to have your understanding captured by the
glory of God. Nothing is more beneficial to
your well-being than for you to once again revisit the fact
that God has called you to glory and virtue because the difficulties
in this life, child of God, will, if they can, diminish your view
of God's goodness in your life. The difficulties in this life
if they could they would cause The promises of god to shrink
to such a degree that your troubles will be larger than the promises
of god And and what's going to help you get through your troubles?
There's a glimpse of his glory And if you drink deeply of that
glory, it will so impact you that your troubles while there
Will not affect you because you will know this too came to advance
the glory of god in my life And this is where we are. So in our
text, it tells us in verse 30, for whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Verse
30 tells us strictly these words, moreover whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And we talked about that, didn't
we? that God calls you. If you are one of his sheep,
he called you in due season, didn't he? This is where the
rubber meets the road in terms of God's eternal purpose of grace
in Christ, where the believer, having been lost in his sins
and trespasses, the sheep whom the Father had given to the Son,
hear the call of the Gospel, and that Gospel now brings you
into a relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and
by God the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel.
Him whom he has called, them he also what? Justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. We want to deal within the last
two points in that portion of scripture. Those whom he had
called, he also has justified. Justified. Now why is Paul bringing
this up? He's bringing this up because,
once again, justification is at the heart of the book of Romans.
It's what he meant when he said in Romans chapter 1, 16 and 17,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God and
the salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and
also to the Gentiles. For therein in the gospel is
what revealed the righteousness of God. From faith to faith,
as it is written, the just shall live by faith. What Paul understood
was the privileged message that we preach to everyone is that
God is justifying sinners through the merits of Jesus Christ. Now,
when once we declare justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ
apart from works, we expose those who are God's sheep from those
who are not. Because the sheep will hear the
gospel and they'll respond to that good news. Let me see if
I can find some sheep in the house. What does it mean to be
justified freely by the grace of God? It means to be declared
righteous. by a God who is so holy that
the angels are not even clean in his sight. What does it mean
to be justified in the sight of God? It means for you and
me, who are hell-bound sinners, to be caught, red-handed in our
sin, caught, and then to be condemned by the guilt of our own conscience.
and then to be captured by the law of God and drugged before
the court of God Almighty and condemned to hell. And but God,
who is the judge of all, sitting on his throne, having every right
to send your sorry tail to hell, acquits you right there in the
courtroom, acquits you, acquits you. acquits you of every crime,
of every guilt, of every sin, of every rebellion, not for your
sake but for Christ's sake. He acquits you, He exonerates
you, He liberates you, He frees you, He releases you from the
guilt and condemnation that you justly deserve. That's what it
means to be the righteousness of God, where? In Christ. Christ the judge says yep I know
he's guilty but I have just acquitted him on the grounds of the perfect
obedience and righteousness of Jesus Christ which is transferred
to my account simply because God loves me enough to do it
do you know the soul that is able to walk out of the prison
of sin and judgment is a happy soul you're looking at a happy
brother right now happy brother happy brother Because I'm justified. I'm justified. And justification
is not merely just as if I have never sinned. That'll work, but
that's only half the ledger. It also means just as if I have
obeyed all of God's precepts from the beginning of time on
into eternity impeccably, flawlessly for all eternity. In God's eyes,
He sees me as eternally obedient before Him. This blows me away. Does it blow you away? See, this
is why Paul called this, Peter called this the unspeakable gift
and full of glory. This is not even believable stuff
and yet I believe it. Do you believe it? We call it
the wisdom of God, the wisdom of God, that Christ would be
made unto us righteousness. And under this rubric of justification,
which is our first point, let's contemplate this thoroughly.
I want you to get this. You who are a believer in Christ
by faith, have been declared righteous before God, not on
the basis of what you have done, but on the merits of your substitute,
Jesus Christ. You guys do get that, right?
So never ever think that the righteous standing that you possess
is a consequence of anything that you have done, not even
your faith. Faith does not accrue to you
righteousness It simply affirms it. Faith does not produce righteousness. It simply agrees with the righteousness
that God has already given you. In other words, when you and
I are walking by faith, we have been given the gift of faith
in order to say yes to God. Am I making some sense? Very
clear. Because otherwise, if faith could accrue to me righteousness,
faith then would be a what? A word. You got that. So never
say I'm justified by means of faith as if it's the source of
righteousness. I am justified by the grace of
faith, which affirms the righteousness that God has already provided
for me. But there are four aspects of
God's justification that I want to call your attention to briefly
before we jump deeply into the last category of the graces that
God has given us in the golden chain. Four aspects of justification. This is very important. Justification
is a fourfold reality revealed in the scriptures according to
Romans 830. And the first is, now mark this
now, we were, what do we call that in tense forms? Past tense. We were justified, watch this,
in the eternal purpose of God. We were justified in the eternal
purpose of God. That's a past tense reality,
which means in eternity past, when God set his love on you
and chose you in Christ, he justified you in Christ before the world
began. In other words, before you had
a beginning in existence, God had already justified you. Now,
ladies and gentlemen, is that possible for God to do? Now,
it's certainly possible for God to do, but He has to do it on
certain grounds or certain criteria. And that criteria is the same
for everything that you have in God, and that's this, in Christ. Whenever you say, in Christ,
all of the promises of God are yes, in Him. And when you say
in Christ, not only are all the promises of God, yes, in him,
they have been from eternity past. What that means is in God's
eyes, he has never toiled or struggled with the fact that
when you were born into this world, you were born a sinner.
You came out of the womb with your fist against God, running
the opposite direction. All we like sheep have gone astray.
That's certainly true. So we have segued into another
doctrine critical to God's glory and your salvation Do you know
what that doctrine is the doctrine of sin all have what? And come what that's right, and
I'm talking about everyone coming out of the womb with the exception
of Holy Jesus. I All of us are born sinners. Isn't that what David says? In
my mother's womb was I conceived and born in sin. That's all of
us. But that never troubled God.
Do you know it didn't trouble God that Abel was a sinner? It didn't trouble God that Enoch
was a sinner. It didn't trouble God that Noah
was a sinner. His wife was a sinner. Their
three sons were sinners. It didn't trouble God. Why? Because
He had chose them in Christ before the world began. And in Christ
before the world began, He had secured their justification on
the grounds of Christ's obedience. This is a beautiful truth. And
so the Bible tells us in Revelation chapter 13 verse 8 that Jesus
Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Do you guys see that? Now watch this. In the mind of
God, Revelation 13, 8, Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Here's a marvelous truth in the
book of Revelation. As the church is going through
major tribulation, as John sees it, here's where he assures every
believer. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship the hymn, There is the Beast, whose names are
not written in the book of what? The lamb that was what slain
from when the foundation of the world now, this is critical Do
you believe that Jesus had already? Accepted the position of being
the sacrifice of his people before him and the Father and the Holy
Ghost made the world Do you believe that Jesus already accepted the
terms of the covenant between his father and himself that he
would be the sacrificial lamb? Before the world was made. Do
you believe that? So then when the world was made, do you know
God made this world and patterned this world to teach that truth
all the way through scripture? Do you remember Genesis chapter
22 when Abraham and Isaac went up to the top of Mount Moriah,
which is the same place where our master was crucified? And
Isaac asked the question, father, I see the wood, I see the fire,
but you know, you and I've been doing this thing a long time,
something missing here. And remember what his father
said, son, Jehovah will provide, watch this now, himself a sacrifice. And when he was about to thrust
his son through with the dagger, the father says, stop. Now I
know, not that he didn't know, now it's been revealed by your
action that you believe me. This is James' argument in James
chapter 2. Faith without works is what? So what God was demonstrating
to you and me is that men and women who believe God and trust
God will do what God tells them to do, even though they don't
fully understand it. Because God won't lie, He won't change,
and God can't what? He can't fail. And do you know
Abraham was able to look behind him? And he saw a ram stuck in
the what? Thickets. Now watch this, saints. He looked behind him. He didn't
look in front of him. Had he looked in front of him,
he would have saw Jesus in the future. When he looked behind
him, he saw Jesus in the past. What do we mean by that? God
had already had a lamb. He had already had a ram. He
had already had a sacrifice. Brother Isaac was going to go
through trouble, but he wasn't going to die. And see, you and
I are like brother Isaac. We go through trouble, and it
looks like we're going to be put on the altar. But Christ has
already accomplished eternal redemption for us. Isaac was
already just as justified as daddy Abraham. We simply have
to go through the trials. Do you see that? And this is
true for every believer. Now here's a principle that runs
through scripture. You got to get it. Now the just shall live by what? You better get that. Now the
just shall live by faith. Is that true today? Do we walk
by faith? Do we live by faith? And by God's
grace, we're going to die how? In faith. Was it true in the
days of Jesus Christ? Did they walk by faith? Was it
true in the days of Moses? Did they walk by faith? Was it
true in the days of Noah? Did they walk by faith? Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord, didn't he? Was it true
in the days of Adam that they had to walk by faith? Absolutely.
Absolutely. So the just shall live by faith
has been a principle operating since the beginning of time.
You and I were justified in the eternal purposes of God before
the world began. So we call that theologically
eternal justification. Point number two, we were justified
in time by the cross of Jesus Christ. When Christ died on Calvary
Street 2,000 years ago, on the day of, as it were, Passover,
His death justified us from all things, as we learned in Acts
chapter 13, from which we could never be justified by the works
of the law. And so we read in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18, Christ
died the just for the unjust. in order that he might bring
us to God. So mark this now. We were justified in eternity
and then we were justified when? In time. By what? The cross work
of Jesus Christ. I want you to get the pattern.
Before time and then in time. Now, whether it's before time
or in time in terms of 2,000 years ago, doesn't matter a whole
lot for us, but it does for God's glory. Because whether it was
in eternity or 2,000 years ago, you and I didn't exist but over
the last 50, 60, 70 years. If Christ had died 300 years
ago for our sins, it means that we were justified by his death
on Calvary 300 years ago. but that he died 2,000 years
ago means that we were certainly and evidently justified by the
merits of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.
According to 1 Peter chapter 1, it says that Christ came into
the world in due time to manifest this glorious truth. That for
which God the Father had purposed in eternity past, Christ came
into the world to manifest. In fact, the way that Peter puts
it was He was the lamb without spot and blemished who was manifested
for you in these last times. God has brought comfort to our
soul by the death of Christ on Calvary's tree. And we know it
because it's been affirmed by multiple witnesses. It's been
written in scripture. You have a Bible. I have a Bible.
We can read our Bibles. The Bible plainly tells us that
Jesus of Nazareth died And he was buried and he rose again,
what? The third day. This is the heart
of the gospel for which many women have died. The historic
facts of the death of the God-man Jesus Christ. For Christ also
hath once suffered for sins the just, that's Christ, for the
what? Unjust, that's me. that he might bring us to God
being put to death in the flesh, but what? Raised again or quickened
by the Spirit. Third point then under the consideration
of justification, being cleared from all guilt, being exonerated
and being liberated from the condemnation of the law is that
we are what? Justified by what? There he goes. So now we're speaking in what
we call the present tense, right? So we were justified in eternity.
We were justified at the cross 2,000 years ago. That's Isaiah
53, 11. By my righteous servant's knowledge shall he justify many. But we also are justified by
faith right now. We were justified in eternity.
We were justified 2,000 years ago. But there's a justification
that must occur your conversion by which in your own conscious
you are able to Know what God has done for you in Christ stay
with me for a moment now So that he might have died for you as
the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. It's beautiful
But it doesn't benefit you if you don't know it that he might
have died for you 2,000 years ago is magnificent, it's historically
affirmed, but the sinner that does not know his justification
does not benefit from what happened 2,000 years ago until somehow
this truth comes to them and makes itself home in your soul. Are you guys hearing me? Now
we're getting to another concept that I'm going to weave together
as we move towards the doctrine of glorification. It's required
that those for whom Christ has died hear the gospel, isn't it?
This is the reason why we go into all the world and preach
the gospel. This is why we love missions. This is why I say that
the missionary, the true biblical missionary, is the most highly
esteemed individual in the whole of the ministry of the church.
The man, woman, or the child, the family that is willing to
hazard their lives, that men and women might know Christ,
are the bravest people on planet Earth. They are the bravest people.
To go to another country and to minister to people the gospel,
Where in you have no commonality with those people nothing in
common and you pour out your love with the objective of them
knowing Jesus Christ and God works through that in order to
bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ is a Magnificent manifestation
of another kind of love is that true a bunch of you folks. I love you to death now, you
know 40 years ago if you was walking down the street and saw
me you'd cross the street and And I'd probably cross the street
over at you to try to get another $20 out of you. Do you know why?
Because when we were lost in our sins, when we were lost in
our sins, we were divided. We were in different camps. Some
of us were thugs and crooks, and the others of you were trying
to hold on to your money. When you saw us coming, you crossed
the street. But look at God. He then brought
us together. He has made us a family of believers. He has changed our hearts, put
us in the same body, and we can love one another even to the
point of dying for one another now. Is that a marvelous work
of grace? I'm going to show you something
about that here in a moment. It's absolutely magnificent. But do
you know why that happened? Do you know why, as our elder
talked about this morning, one in Christ, one in the family
of God, one with the Father, the body of Christ. That only
happened because somebody was brave enough to preach the gospel
to you through which the Holy Ghost worked to affirm Jesus
Christ to your soul. And you heard that gospel as
Acts chapter 13 verse 39 so clearly affirms. Pull that up for me.
Acts chapter 13 verse 39. Hear what Paul says again. He
said, with regards to those that are saved, he says, And by him,
that is Jesus, all that what? Are justified from what? Boy,
that's shouting news right there. Leave it right there. That's
crazy. I feel so good. I want to sing
like James Brown. I feel so good. Think about it
for a moment. That's why I like to block letters
on white pages. Cause you know, I don't feel
this way all the time, but the text has been saying that in
my Bible for the last 40 years. Every time I go there, it says
the same thing, justified from all things. Isn't that crazy?
Justified from all things. And that's what we call the Aries
verb form. And that means that's a past
tense. I'm already justified from everything. Only God can
make that claim. This is what makes the gospel
so amazing. God has justified us from everything. from everything,
listen to it, from which you could not be, could not be, could
not be, could not be justified by the works of the law. Do you
see that? You and I better never ever contemplate being declared
righteous by our good works. Paul is saying to that group
that are among them, Jesus Christ is the only way a soul can be
made right with God. Are y'all hearing me in the auditorium
today? Jesus Christ is the only way a soul can be made right
with God. And when you, by faith, look
to Christ, you are justified from everything. There's not
one thing that can hold you of which the law would condemn you.
Because of this going back to our point then mark it in your
mind. We are justified by faith in our what conscience when the
spirit works We are justified by faith in our conscience when
the spirit works It is a marvelous day child of God when you are
sharing the gospel with loved ones or friends Our peers and
constituents and you know that they haven't yet got it. You
know what I'm saying? You're sharing the word with
him. You you know, they don't have it yet Because see, when people
get it, things change. They change. See, like when you
and I share the gospel and talk about how great God is, and how
good Christ is, and how amazing grace is, and they go ho-hum,
they ain't got it yet. They ain't got it yet. The ho-hummers
ain't got it yet. And I will talk about that when
we move into our next point. But the day the man or woman gets
forgiveness of sins, through the merits of the blood and righteousness
of Christ, there's an immediate change. There's an immediate
change. The soul is liberated and the
heart now is in compliance with God. And the spirit is free and
at rest. And you could tell by the way
they talk. I got it. That's the work of the Spirit.
First Corinthians chapter 6 verse 11. Watch how the apostle puts
it. This is a wonderful text. Verses 9 through 11 is kind of
a body of language that we're working through, some of us,
to deal with this crazy mess that's going on in our present
culture whereby people can actually profess to be Christians and
their lives don't change. Your life better change if God
gets a hold of you. You used to be this. You were
that. But now you're this, right? There's a radical change. If
any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a what? Something's changing,
right? It ain't all staying the same.
Now other stuff falling off little by and by, right? We'll get there.
But something better change radically at the initial confrontation
of the gospel. If it comes in power, it better
do something for you. Now watch this. And such were some of you,
but you are what? Now, do you understand that what
Paul is doing is using sacerdotal language or religious language,
the ceremonial language of the temple, where the unclean are
being made ceremonially clean by a washing process? Because
see, you and I are filthy by nature. Justification is about
washing filthy sinners. And the washing is an experience.
By the way, you know how you know we're sinners? Like when
you try to clean your little babies in the bathroom, you know
how they have fits and conniptions and conundrums when you try to
wash them and they squiggle and move? Because they don't want
to be washed. That means they're sinners. How come they're toiling
over the water? They don't want to be washed.
And when the power of God works through the preaching of the
word to wash you, you know it. So what Paul is talking is experiential
grace that gets a hold of the heart and washes the heart clean
of all that filth and perversion and wickedness that crusts over
the soul because you have wallowed in the mire all the days of your
life and you're used to vanity. And when the water of the washing
of the word comes and purges you, isn't it refreshing? You've
been washed. Now watch this. But you've been
washed, but you are what? Sanctified. There you go. Those
are synonymous terms. You've been washed and now you
set apart. See, because the metaphor in scripture is you don't get
brought into the kingdom until you're washed. On the outside,
we hose you down through the gospel. That's called evangelism.
Big old fire hose, washing you down. Once we see that all the
crud is off, we bring you on inside. And we're speaking in
terms of just the practical affirmation that you're a child of God. All
people can hear the gospel no matter what you are, where you
are, what your circumstances are. But when you are truly brought
into the kingdom of God, you are washed into the kingdom.
Do you hear what I'm saying? When you're truly brought into
the kingdom of God, you are washed into the kingdom. Pastor, do
I have to get washed over and over again? Absolutely. Yes,
you do, because your feet get dirty, your hands get dirty.
But that initial washing is a one-time washing where the Spirit of God
cleanses your heart and your conscience and says to you, you
are mine. You are mine and you are part
of the family and so the holy ghost washes us sets us apart.
He says but you are Justified and I want you to mark how this
declaration of justification comes You are justified in the
name of the lord. Jesus. There's the instrumental
means of our justification That's the instrumental means there's
no justification apart from the cross work of christ. You guys
got that now watch the last line and by the spirit of our god
and by the Spirit of our God. Pastor, what are you saying?
The Spirit of God has to speak peace to your soul. As the gospel
is proclaimed, and as justification is set forth, and as the liberty
of the believer is declared, and as the freedom of the cross
is set forth, the Holy Ghost has to say to you, are you hearing
me? Justify. He has to speak to your
conscience, justify. Free to go. Not guilty. This is Romans chapter 4 verses
25 and then Romans 5 1 is very clear Christ died for our sins
He was he rose again for our justification He died for our
sins. He rose again for our justification.
We are justified having been therefore justified by faith
We have what we got peace with God. This is the work of the
Holy Ghost. Are you guys hearing me? No one
can do that but the Spirit of God. No preacher can do that.
I cannot declare you justified. All I can do is declare justification
and pray the Holy Ghost justifies you. We cannot declare our children
justified. All we can do is declare justification
and pray that the Holy Ghost plants into our children's heart
the peace and righteousness and joy that comes with the Holy
Ghost. Writing with my kids over the course of three or four days,
you might call that torment. It all depends. I had three of
them, four of them, three, four, no, three. Got a bunch, y'all
know. So I was with three of them this
week, almost all week long, and we were really enjoying ourselves.
And you know, as a parent, aren't we always looking for that evidence,
always looking to see, okay, y'all talk now, y'all talk. You
know how teenagers do, they don't like to talk, right? Especially
when, you know, they wonder what parents are up to, so they shut
down on us. But my kids was talking all through
the trip. I loved it. Talking all through
the trip. Because I get to see what's in
the heart. Out of the abundance of the heart
that the mouth what? Yeah, go ahead and talk, children.
Go ahead and talk. I know you think I'm asleep. I'm not asleep.
I'm listening. I got to know where my kids are
at, right? I got to know. They go to talking and laughing
and joking and think daddy over there sawing wood. No, that's
a decoy. I'm listening to see what crazy
stuff getting ready to come out your mouth. And I might pop right
out of my sleep if I have to and jump in the middle of the
conversation. But I was hearing so many good things. about their
love for God and their love for the grace of God and their understanding
of the gospel and their understanding of this crazy world that they
have to deal with and their own strategies of dealing with it
both in high school and in college and in their post-college years.
Do you know that makes a father's heart feel good when your kids
are able to talk like that? What has happened? The Spirit
of God has spoken justification to their souls. They know that
they are children of God and they know that on God's side
they've got to fight this battle for the glory of God in Christ
over against this crazy culture. My heart felt so good. I thanked
God for it as I came home I just want you to understand then as
we are dealing with and coming to our final point under this
topic of justification We are justified by faith in our conscience
when the Spirit of God works that way That's John 16 8 when
he the Spirit of truth has come. He will convince the world of
sin of Righteousness and of judgment. Is that true when we believe
all three don't we we believe in sin and We believe in the
righteousness of God and imparted righteousness to us living right
for the glory of God. And we believe in judgment. We
believe in the judgment of Christ on the cross 2000 years ago.
Now is the judgment of this world. Now, if the son of man be lifted
up, if I'd be lifted up, I'll draw all men to myself. It was
that judgment child of God that brought you to God. It was that
judgment that allowed God to say to you, acquit it. Exonerated! Freed! Let her go! It was the judgment of Christ
on the cross. But there's a final judgment coming, isn't it? On
the last day, and we believe in that too. And so finally,
the last point. This is something that people
struggle with, but I'm going to lay it down and I'll let you
just struggle with it. I don't mind letting you struggle.
Point number D. Not only were we justified in eternity in the
purpose of god. Not only were we justified in
time by the cross work of christ Not only are we justified by
faith in our own conscious when the spirit works? And by the
way, that justification is a continual work I love it because you and
I Will frequently say to ourselves i'm not justified And you would
be right And you would also be wrong because while in yourself
you are still a sinner you are the very righteousness of God
in Christ. So the Holy Spirit has to help
you overcome self-condemnation. Beloved, when our heart condemns
us, know this, that God is greater than our hearts. 1 John chapter 4, if you need a
text. He's greater than the heart. This is crazy. So God will come
in to rescue you from you And you need that sometimes. You
know how some days you just know you're going to hell. You know
you're going to hell. You know you're going to hell.
If God had to pick somebody out to keep hell burning, it would
be me on this day. You know it. And then the next
day, you are a child of God singing songs and hymns, thanking God.
Aren't you crazy? You're crazy. Aren't you crazy?
You're just as happy as a child of God witnessing and preaching
the gospel and telling folk to get right with God. The day before,
you're the only person on the way to hell. But that's the spirit
of God who recovers you. He recovers you. You better thank
him. He recovers you. It's absolutely
amazing. He recovers you. That's his work. That's his job. Remember, his
job is to be a record with your spirit that you are a son of
God. Even when you want to take off the ring, change your name,
not be part of the family because all of the mess you've done,
he said, no, that ring is on permanently. Your name is sealed
in blood. And watch this now. The contract
is reserved in heaven and you can't get it till you get there.
And by the time you get there, you won't want to change it. This is the immutable, irrevocable
love of God to sinners like us. I love him. Don't you love him
for that? The last one, we will be. That's called what? Future
tense. We will be justified by God. We will be justified by
God. This is huge. There's a day coming. for those who believe the gospel
that on the last day the world of unregenerate men demons and
devils who all hurled accusations and charges and hostilities against
Christ and against God and against every believer there's a day
coming when every believer will stand before God and God will
say to the angels to the devils and to the unregenerate world
I told you That was my child. I told you he was one of mine.
I told you she was my child. I told you through them that
salvation comes by faith in Christ alone apart from works. God's
going to justify us on that day. That's going to be a day wherein
God will be vindicated for having entrusted us with the gospel
of which we shared with the world for which we died. They rejected
the gospel, they rejected Christ, they rejected us. But on that
day, God's going to reject them while first publicly receiving
us. and letting the whole world know
that they were telling you the truth when they told you you
need to get right with God right now. And the only way of getting
right with God is through faith in Jesus Christ. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? I'll show you the verses so that you understand
this. Romans chapter 2 verse 13. I'm going to run through
these verses quickly and get to my last point. Romans 2 verse
13. This is Paul's argument for the whole principle of what we
call righteousness. Now watch this. For not the hearers
of the law are just before God But the doers of the law what
shall be justified future tense. I love this Now paul's device
here is to use the law and jesus does it too in the book of revelation
to say to all legalists justification Will only come When a man perfectly
obeys god's law Are you hearing me? Right. Justification will
only come when a man perfectly obeys God. Don't think that if
you obey the law today, but you mess up tomorrow, then the next
day you obey, but you mess up, that you're going to be justified.
So over against the legalist, what he says is there's a day
coming when all of us will either be justified or condemned. Are you guys hearing me? So on
the last day, you, child of God, will be justified by God for
everything that you did for his name's sake. And the world who
are trying to get right with God by their own works will be
rejected by God for doing all that they did by their own good
works. Are you hearing me? Another text,
another text, Matthew chapter. 13 I believe it is in Matthew's
gospel Matthew's gospel chapter 12 verse 37 Matthew's 1237 listen
to what Jesus says here around us being justified on the last
day. I love it This is Christ speaking about the importance
of us Having a knowledge of the gospel and our hearts being right
with God so that what comes out of your mouth is the truth of
God Here's what he says. He says for by your words you
shall be what and by your words you shall be what and It's in
the future tense. Do you know what that means?
Matthew 12 37 is tied with Ecclesiastes chapter 12 around the last two
or three verses when Solomon says and God shall bring every
secret thing to light. He will judge the secrets of
men on that day. See daily you and I are saying
things. Now what we say either justifies
us or condemns us. But the day wherein that will
be exposed is on the last day. So I'm going to just help some
of you now who are trembling in your boots. Wonder, well, Pastor,
how do we straighten all this mess out? Because I see a lot
of stuff that I don't even justify myself with. Two ways. Are you ready? Stand square on
the grounds of Christ's righteousness as your only hope for glory.
You ready? Stand square on the grounds of grace alone Christ
as the basis of your acceptance on the last day that's gonna
require faith So that whatever you do the basis of your hope
is Christ the second thing you do Are you ready when your mouth
go to run in every day and you know, you see a step ain't right
Are you ready? This one is good. You take a
bath in the blood of the lamb every day You jump into the labor
and you swim until everybody every part of your body is washed
in the blood of the lamb Pastor where that's at first john chapter
1 verse 9 If we confess our sins He is just and faithful to have
already cleansed us from all of our sins and justified us
from in his sight That text is how you keep short order with
god Are you hearing what I'm saying? That's how you keep short
order with God. Otherwise, you're going to live presumptuously.
And we never give anyone who lives presumptuously any right
to the grace of God. No presumption, only faith. Take the bath, go to the Father,
say, I screwed up, I messed up royally, and come in repentance
and in faith, get washed by the blood, by the sprinkling of the
Holy Ghost, and then walk away in renewed obedience to God.
Am I making some sense? That's how you walk with God.
Does anybody walk with God like that, like I do? I do it every
day. You know who taught me how to do that? David taught me how
to do that. David taught me in Psalm 32 Psalm 51 against you
and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight
that you might be justified on the last day father wash me With
his son cleanse me purge me and I will be cleansed Restore to
me the joy of your salvation. I'm your child. I need that grace. I'm not used to being nasty I'm
used to fellowship with you That's how you do it. That's how you
do it. Some of y'all ain't doing it. That's what you need to do.
If you want to stand before God on that last day, you will have
to prove that you trust Christ as your Savior. And if you trust
Him, when you sin, you're going to go to Him. And you're going
to acknowledge the blood. And you're going to see the blood
as that cleansing factor by which you get up the next day and keep
walking with God. Well, pastor, I'm going to do it again. Well,
do it again. Do what again? Take a bath again. Why do I gotta keep doing that?
Because you're simultaneously sinful and righteous at the same
time. Well, when does it end, pastor,
when Jesus comes? Well, that's a long time. Get
to practicing. Because if you die without Christ,
you're going to hell. I used to hear these nuts. I'm
sorry, I'm getting unkind in the pulpit. I used to hear these
nuts. Talking about when once you save,
you don't have to ask for forgiveness anymore. You just go on. Bob
George used to teach this crazy foolishness on the radio, completely
mangling the grammar of first John and destroying the whole
tenor of scripture and the intimation of the gospel, which mandates
your walk with Christ as one of a real vital relationship.
What kind of relationship are you going to have with anyone
where you keep stepping on their toes and spitting on them and
maligning them and making them look bad and feel bad and think
that they're going to continue to walk in a harmonious unified
relationship with you? Why do we think that if we can't
do it with one another on a horizontal level, you know, your husband,
your girlfriend and all of that, we're going to be able to do
it with God. We're going to dog God and think that God's still doing
backflips because he loves us. You got another thing coming.
We love him. Do we love him? Because he first
loved us. And we long to be right with
God. Do we not? And we long to do
it right because he's so lovely to us. And that's the way love
works. Love doesn't presume on God.
You better go to him every day. I love the way it happened with
David, just as an example. David messed up royally when
he got in trouble with Bathsheba. Remember that? And the Holy Ghost
had to back up away from him, like he does. Because sometimes
we'll try to justify our sinfulness and God will have to jack you
up, right? He really jacked David up. You want to learn how sin
will mess you up? You better go check David out.
He lost the whole kingdom because of that one indiscretion. He
lost the whole kingdom. And there was scandal and all
kind of mess going on in David's life as a consequence. Y'all
watch that movie, Empire? I don't. I'm just asking and
just in case you do. I don't. But if y'all wallowing that filth
That's what happened to David. His son started going to war
with one another. One of his boys raped his own
sister. His other boy took all of David's concubines and wives
up to the hilltop and had sex with them in the public. You
talking about a scandal? That's what happens when you
think you're going to jack up your relationship with God and
presume upon his mercy. It's not going to happen. Are
you hearing me, child of God? That's why I'm laying down this particular
pastoral caveat here, because it's critical. Because we got
a bunch of reprobate Christians in our culture that think like
they can live like hell. Actually enter into the kingdom
of God with joy and fullness is not going to happen if we
confess our sins And that's in the present indicative verb form
if we are confessing our sins He is faithful and just to forgive
us. I love this. This is in the past
since Ares He has already forgiven us. He has already cleansed us
from all unrighteousness in David's account when Nathan finally came
to David a year after he sinned remember that I And he gave David
the parable. Jacked David's head up. Remember,
David got all self-righteous. Find that man. I'm going to kill
that man. Take that poor little you lamb
from that brother. Go get him. Nathan said, you
the dude. You the dude. David's heart was
broke. And as David says, I'm the one.
I'm guilty. Immediately, Nathan said, God
has already forgiven you of your sins. And that's how it works
for the believer. When you acknowledge your guilt,
God has already forgiven you. And we know that it's only grace
that causes us to acknowledge the guilt. Isn't that true? That's
a great blessing, great blessing. Let's go to our last and final
point then. I think I'm going to just touch on this a little
bit and close it down. This is a marvelous reality that
God would have already, in his own purpose and grace, justified
us before the foundation of the world justified us at the cross
work of Christ. Justified us by faith in the
preaching of the gospel This is why we do it and he will justify
us on the last day as well It's a magnificent truth, which allows
the child of God to endure a lot of things But if you'll notice
in Romans chapter 8 verse 30 Something needs to be brought
to question before we deal with our last point briefly I'm just
gonna touch on my last point and then we'll pick it up more
fully next week moreover whom he did predestinate then he also
called pastors and when he and then he called whom he called
he also justified pastors and whom he justified then he also
what isn't there a word missing there in our theology wouldn't
we put another word in between justification and glorification
what would be that word sanctification Isn't that an interesting thing
that Paul does not actually insert the doctrine of sanctification
Between justification and glory when I have told you that those
are the three stages that we experientially go through We're
justified by the work of Christ outside of ourselves. That's
not a feeling but we're sanctified by the work of the Holy Ghost
in us that's an actual experience y'all got that and Glorification
is something that we will experience when Jesus comes to us on the
last day. Are you following me? Why then
did Paul remove the doctrine of sanctification? Can I tell
you why? Because sanctification is the start of glory. The soul that experiences the
sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost and the renewing of the
mind and the rebirth where faith is planted in your heart, you
have already begun the glorification. I want this to come home. If
you are a believer in Christ, if you've been born again, God
has done something glorious to you. Are you ready for this?
The man or the woman who has actually heard the gospel has
already been glorified in their hearing. In their hearing. The man or the woman who has
comprehended the beauties and splendor of Jesus Christ by faith,
has already been glorified in their scene. In their scene. Do you see him like I see him?
I see him. Do you see him? I've seen him,
Mother Banks, for 35 years. I remember the day he revealed
his glory to me. I remember the day when Christ
manifested himself to me. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
Do you understand how it was the moment before it was all
dark? The moment after a revelation, a blistering glory, a manifestation
of this perfect man, Jesus Christ. It changed my life forever. You
know what God had done? He had glorified my sin. Do you
remember the day the heart just went warm, blistering hot? Over the overtures of the gospel
when the gospel came in power and subdued your soul Do you
remember that second corinthians chapter 4 verses 4 through 6
that was the day that god caused the light To shine out of darkness
and it shined in your heart and it gave you that saving knowledge
Of the glory of god in the face of christ. Do any of you guys
remember that day? Was that a glorious day? Can
I tell you what happened? God had begun to glorify you
Glory begins at conversion. Glory begins at conversion. In whom the God of this world
has blinded the minds of them which believe not. We know a
whole lot of people like that. Lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. Verse 5, mark this now. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's
sake. Verse 6. Here it is. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts. Stop right there. God pierced
the heart. Do you know what entered into
your heart the day He pierced your heart? Glory! Glory! You got to believe that. It was
the glory of God that penetrated your heart. It entered in. And it stayed there and it went
up to your ear and gave you hearing. We know that the hearing ear
and the seeing eye, the Lord has made both of them. Christ
warned, Jehovah warned. There are people who do not have
ears to this day. They have ears, but they can't
hear. There are people who have eyes today, but they can't see.
They have yet to hear the gospel. They have yet to see the glory
of God in Christ. They have yet to feel. the warmth
and the life and the power and the fullness of God's grace.
Y'all know what I'm talking about? Where when the Spirit of God
enters in, He takes over. He just takes your heart and
turns it upside down, dumps it out. Straighten his out and pours
his glory into it and he fills you up so full of his glory that
you are utterly amazed At this thing that's happening to you.
You know something that's happened, right? You know God entered in
did he enter in God entered into the heart? Sat on your heart
and he took over and he began to cut all the lights on in the
house. Did he cut all the lights out? That's the work of the Holy
Ghost. So he's going into the different
chambers of your soul and revealing the sin there and and causing
you to agree with Him to get rid of this and get rid of that
so He can put this in and put that in. Am I making some sense
out of God? What I'm talking to you about right now is the
present work of glory in the soul of the believer. For God,
who commands the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the what?
Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Verse 7. I'm going to
use 2 Corinthians 4 as my final text. Verse 7 says this. Now
watch this. One of these days I will slow
down. I'm getting ADHD with this stuff. I used to tell my kids,
y'all need to slow down because, you know, us old folks, we used
to being slow. Here I am, stuck now. Computers
will do that. Won't computers do that? Got
you moving so quick. Come on now, come on, come on.
But we have this treasure. See the treasure? You can write
by your Bible, the glory. That's what you can write, the
glory. I'll defend myself next week. I'll show what I'm talking
about next week. I'll prove what I'm talking about
next week. But we have this glory in earthen
vessels. You know what the earthen vessel
is? This thing here. This limited
vessel, this weak vessel that right now possesses the glory.
This weak thing. But we have the glory in it.
Is it in it? We have the glory in these vessels
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
So he leaves us weak in order that he might manifest his power.
Are you seeing that? He leaves us weak in order that
he might manifest his power. Pastor, what are some of the
evidences of his power? Our ability to love God back
and our ability to talk about how glorious Jesus is. Our ability
to praise Him and to exalt Him and to magnify Him and to worship
Him. After all, He called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light to give Him praise, to
worship Him, to exalt Him, to bestow upon Him weight and honor
and heaviness. and heaviness. I have the glory
in order that I might be able to glorify God visibly and publicly. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
Do y'all know how to glorify God? Do you know how to glorify
God? Do you know how to exalt Him in praise and in thanksgiving?
Can you say hallelujah? Can you say thank you Lord? Can
you say thank you Lord? We magnify you. We exalt you. We praise you. We adore you. We lift you up. We exalt you
with everything that's in us. Glory be to his name. Glory be
to his name. God is good. God is wonderful. God is magnificent. Bless his
holy name. Hallelujah. To the Lord God most
high, we worship you, oh God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Bless his holy name. Bless his holy name. We glorify
you, God. We thank you. Get glory to yourself,
O God, for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, the
majesty, the fullness. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Listen to me. Listen to me. He made you for that. You were
not praising him like that before he saved your wretched soul. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen.