Turn with me to the second epistle
of John. And in jest, I was informed that
this is in the New Testament. As if somebody would have trouble
finding the second epistle of John. But if you would, just
drop down to the third epistle in verse number four, and let
me just read it before we start reading chapter starting with
chapter 1 and reading the whole chapter, the second epistle.
It says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth. Now, I'm not going to try to
say anything about that verse. I'm just going to let it say
what it is. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth. And what a blessing, if that's
the case, with you, with me, with any of us, what a blessing
that is from the Lord. It's only by His grace that any
of us is here. Brother Marvin and I were talking
a little bit about it yesterday. I get so upset with pride sometimes,
and even when I say this, perhaps the pride is creeping in again.
I get so upset with myself when I think about what I think sometimes. Here I am supposed to be, claiming
to be one of the elect of God, and I want to put myself off
in left field somewhere and say, I'm over here. You're over here. Pride, that's all it is. And
that's why we need and have such a great Savior. And it is by His grace, by His
grace, as Scott has so aptly taught us all, by the grace of
God that he did that. Anyway, beginning in verse 1, The elder
unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and
not I only, but also all they that have known the truth. for
the truth's sake which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for
ever. Grace be with you, mercy and
peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoice greatly that
I have found of thy children walking in truth, as we have
received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee,
lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that
which we have from the beginning that we love one another. And
this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the
commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you
should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not these things which we have wrought, but that we received
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For
he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds.
Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper
and ink, but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face,
that our joy may be full. The children of the Elect Sister
greet thee." Our Father, we attribute everything as best that we can
unto Thee at this moment, thanking Thee from the bottom of our heart
for the grace and for everything that You have taught us and everything
that You have done for us. Knowing, Our Father, that even
having the thought that refers and attributes everything to
You is simply by Your grace and not by our works or anything
we've done or could do. Thank You, Our Father, again
for this service. Thank You for our pastor. Thank
You for each member. We remember Bob and Carla again.
Pray, Our Father, that Your will be done in his life. Forgive
us of our sins. Bless the reading to our hearts,
we pray, and the remaining service for Your glory. And our good
we ask and we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Turn with me to the book of Romans,
chapter 7. upon the subject of the honor
of the believer's union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The honor
of that union. In verse 1, he is going to tell
a group of Jews, that is, those that know the law, where all
men stand concerning their obligation to the law of God. Verse 1, Know
ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how
that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? Now, this is a universal truth. It doesn't matter. You just take
law, all law, God's law primarily. what Paul is speaking of here,
but all laws to which a man is rightfully subject demands obedience
or there is a penalty for the breaking of that law. We live in the United States.
As long as we live in this country, citizens of this country, were
subject to the laws of this land. We had gone down into Mexico,
U.S. citizens. But because we were
in another country, we were subject to the laws of that country,
whatever the laws are. Ignorance of them did not make
any difference whatsoever. Driving down the road one day,
there was three wreckers. They had three nice, big, nice
SUVs on them. One of them, one of these big
expeditions, I think what it was. A great big thing. Brother Cody was telling me and
Brother Carl, he said, you see that word on the side of that? T-U-R-I-S-T-A. I may have told
some of you this. He said what happened is somebody
came down and didn't have the right paperwork, didn't pay the
little bit of money to get the right sticker or the right piece
of paper or the right stamp, and the police stopped them,
asked them for it. Didn't have it. Lost the vehicle. Don't redeem it. Just lost it. Still got to pay for it in the
United States. He lost him. That was the law. He broke the
law. Know ye not how that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he lives? Well, in like manner, whenever
Adam, my representative, because I was born, I came from the loins
and you did too of Adam. Adam is our representative. When he fell in the garden, we
all fell in him. When he was disobedient, we were
all disobedient because Almighty God looked at mankind in that
representative. By one man's transgression, sin
entered the world, and death by sin, and therefore under the
penalty of that law. of which Adam broke. The day
you eat of the fruit, you are going to die. There was the law
of God. There was the word of God. There
was the demand of God. And when Adam disobeyed God,
sin has now dominion. Of all found in Adam, sin has
dominion over him. And death by sin, by virtue of his disobedience, And what has happened is Adam
joined himself to, married himself, obligated himself to sin, married himself. And therefore, there is a penalty
for that marriage. Man married to sin has got one
wage coming, one payday coming. Wages of sin is death. Joined
himself to disobedience. Aligned himself, obligated himself
to the law of God and its demands. Sin. that will free me from the obligation
of that marriage." You know, we might as well think about
this and just get real honest about it and figure out what
happened in the garden. That's a good question. What
happened in the garden? We said, well, Adam sinned against God. That's true. What was the extent
of that sin? He joined Himself, too. He married
Himself, too. Disobedience to God. He married
Himself. He joined Himself. We kind of just make it, just
kind of say it. Brother Carl, it almost sounds like, well,
we fell in Adam. He joined Himself, aligned Himself,
bound himself. And the only thing that is going
to free from the obligation that Adam obligated himself, and not
only Adam but me and you, the only thing that is going to eliminate
that obligation, Scripture says, is death. how that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as that man is alive. Well, to illustrate what Paul
is really saying, we look at verses 2 and 3. For the woman
which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so
long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, She
is loosed from the law of her husband, so then if while her
husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man." Now, here is what Paul is saying. He is saying that a woman that
has a husband, Legally, they're married. She's bound to that
husband as long as that husband lives. She's got a husband, it's
legal, came, had a wedding, signed papers, registered over at the
courthouse. They're married. Married hadn't
been dissolved. There's no writ of divorcement. There's no inconsistencies. Nothing was ever... They're just
married. They got up one day and they're married, you know.
They're bound as long as they're married. There's only one way
that that marriage can be eliminated if they're married. Death. I mean, Glenn and I are married. We just came over here. Brother Scott performed a wedding,
and I signed a paper. She signed a paper. I brought
it over there. Married. Now, she's bound to
me, and I'm bound to her by the law, but by love. Now, if nothing was ever done,
There was no divorcement. There was no nothing. If she
just up and just, while we're married, if she goes and marries
somebody else, we're still married. I found out. I read it in the
paper. You see what I'm saying? I mean, we're married. If a woman has a husband and
she goes and marries another man, she's going to be called
an adulteress. Now she's married legally. She's married to two
people now. Never dissolved the first marriage,
she just married somebody else. Got a religion that says that's
okay. It's not okay. That's illegal. If they were
married and one of them goes and marries somebody else while
they're still married, that's adultery. Adulterous is what he says. Now,
let me give you a scenario of thought here and listen to what
I say. I'm going to share with you something
that I thought through. When we fell in Adam, when we
sinned in Adam, as I said a while ago, joined ourselves, married
ourselves. Marriage is a giving of yourself. I give myself to you. I'm going
to bind myself to you, and I'm going to follow after you, and
I'm going to be faithful to you. Marriage. Marriage. Joining.
That's what happened in the Garden. We fell in Adam, and we married
ourselves to sin. bound now, bound to sin. Sin hath dominion over us. They are in the flesh. And I know this, the only way
that that marriage can be dissolved is by death. So being found in
Christ, when He went to the cross, And when He died, being found
in Him, we died. And so therefore, we died in
Christ. And you say, okay, having been
found in Christ and died in Christ, dead now to the law. That's what
Scripture says. They would be in Christ, dead
to the law. Joined with Him, died with Him, raised with Him,
and now having died to the marriage that we had to sin and bound
to the law and its legal standing against us. Now, having died
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be married honorably to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that is so. Those things
are so. But the only problem is I picked
it up in the middle of the story. I picked it up in the middle. You see, the problem is that
the Lord Jesus Christ and His church was married before the
foundation of the world. We start thinking about ourselves
marrying ourselves to sin and having to die in Christ in order
to be married to the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, no. We were married
to Him first. The Scripture says, I'll read
this, you're going to look in Isaiah 54, 5, For thy Maker is thine husband, the Lord of
hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God
of the whole earth shall He be called. Turn over to Jeremiah
3.14. Jeremiah 3.14. chapter 3 and verse 14 says this,
ìTurn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married
unto you. I will take you, one of a city,
two of a family, and bring you to Zion.î Look over to Jeremiah
31. Jeremiah 31, 31, Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto
them, saith the Lord." You see, and you remember, God doesn't
change. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. If He is the husband to His church
now, at what point was He not? And if He was not, then that
means at one point in time or essence, then He was not in the
relationship of a husband, and then He became. a husband. No, no. We've always been his
bride. He said, I have espoused you
to myself in an everlasting covenant. Your maker is your husband. Christ has always been the husband
of the church. You see, what happened is we
pick it up in the middle of the story. And we start trying to
relate ourselves to having married ourselves first to sin and then
had to die in Christ to legally be married to Christ. Oh, no.
No, we were married to another. And in rebellion against Almighty
God, married ourselves while being married to Him. Married
ourselves to sin. A woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. And if
the husband be dead, she's loose from the law of her husband.
Christ hasn't died. So that if while her husband
liveth, she be married to another, she shall be called an adulteress.
Let me tell you what the problem is. In the garden, we adulterated
ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not an insignificant
thing. were adulteresses. We were married to Him first,
and in rebellion against Almighty God, we said, I'm going to marry
myself to another. Adulteresses. Spiritual adulteresses. Now, the first thing I know about
this is that This act is an act that is against the law of God.
Exodus 20, verse 14 says, I shall not commit adultery. It's wrong. It's wrong. What did we do? We wronged Almighty God. We fell
in Adam. We just married ourselves to
another while being married to Him. That's what actually happened. And what's the penalty of that?
Well, let me just read this to you. Leviticus 20, verse 10,
And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even
he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer
and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. Both of them. You see any connection here of
Christ being made sin and He died and we died? In Him, He
was made what we are. You see Him making, being made
sin. What He said is, I will be made
what she is. She's an adulteress. I'll be
made sin. And when He died, we died. He
aligned Himself. Christ and His church were married
one-one before the foundation of the world. And that union
is never to be dissolved. He doesn't change. If he's a
husband, he's always been a husband. If he's always been a husband,
he's always got a bride. If he's always got a bride, nothing
is going to change with God. The Lord will never put his bride
away, but we were unfaithful. He is a just God. The soul of
this Synod is going to have to die. What have we done? We married somebody else while
we were married to Him, legally bound to Him, lawfully bound
to Him. How can God Almighty be just
and justify that adulteress? How can He do that? One way,
in a substitute. He is going to take that adulterous
wife and he is going to make himself to be what she is. And he is going to put away her
guilt. And she is going to die with
him. She is going to die deserving exactly what he gets. The very one in whom I was chosen,
the one who is my husband, my surety, my federal head, made
sin. Why? Because I wronged him. What did he do wrong? Nothing.
Holy and harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Who did
the wronging? I did. I married somebody else.
I was married to him. And just in his face, just said,
I just think I'll just marry somebody else. But He didn't leave me to myself.
He didn't let me go. He made what I am. There on Calvary's tree, He made
Himself answerable for what I did. Christ has redeemed us, brought
us back, paid the penalty of what we did. Redeemed us from
the curse of the law. How? Being made a curse for us. For whom was He doing this? His
bride. Those that the Father had everlastingly
loved and gave Him in Christ. This is your bride. It's not
good that the man should be alone. The Lord Jesus. God Almighty
gave Him a bride. One that was fit. for him. Chose her in him. And he knew
her. Always known her. Loved her. Gave himself for her. Buried
Calvary in a substitute. This adulterer right here died
under the judgment of Almighty God. Justice was served. What
did I do? I sinned against God. What did
he do? He took what I did and made himself
what I am. And under the penalty of Almighty
God's law, he died and put away the guilt. But three days later,
this object of God's mercy was openly displayed to be free from
that debt and that curse of the law. How? Because Almighty God
raised him. Why? Because God, before the
foundation of the world, had purposed to justify her, to pardon
her, to forgive her, and said, I'm not going to lay that charge
to your account. But I did it. I know I did it. And you did too. You that believe.
You did too. But here's the mercy of it. Blessed
is the man, David, to whom God will not impute sin. In that everlasting justification,
Almighty God, who looked upon His own, those that absolutely
in Adam, absolutely while being married to another, married themselves
to another. Almighty God before the foundation
of the world who knew them, justified them, looked upon them
in the righteousness of His Son, the One in whom the Father trusted
first. He will, He will, He will put
away their guilt and He will have that righteousness imputed
to them. Listen to this, Romans 8, 33-34. Let me read it. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. This unfaithful adulteress
received the just due in a Redeemer. God Almighty did not just sweep
it under the rug. Men speak of forgiveness as if
God Almighty could just say, well, I just I tell you what
I'm going to do. I'm just not going to. We just won't fool with it.
Don't worry about it. No. Not one fraction against God's honor
and justice, not one is going to go one page. No, no. God is
just. I will in no wise clear the guilty. I will not clear the guilty. He had to deal with me. He had
to. Why? Because I adulterated myself. And did it? Yes, I did it in
a substitute, but I'm telling you I did it actually with my
eyes wide open. Did it. Is there any possibility? that
this act of rebellion is going to be brought up again. I did
it. I did it. The Lord Jesus Christ,
my surety, my federal head. Is there any possibility? I can
tell you this, I'm sure it will be brought up again as far as
Satan's accusations are concerned. The accuser of the brethren.
I don't doubt that. But who shall lay any charge?
to God's land. God justified them. Is there
any possibility? Hebrews 8, 12 says, I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Why? Because He took care of
these iniquities in His Son. His Son made that. There is,
therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Paul says
in verse 4, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring
forth fruit. unto God. All the sheep of God,
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, become dead to the law
by His body. That broken body. We had the
Lord's table here last Wednesday night. It's my body, He said, which
is broken for you. you that I have everlastingly
loved. I have always loved you. But
we adulterated ourselves. I have always loved you. We sinned
against you. I have always loved you. He took himself, made himself
to be. We are by his blood justly freed
from the demand and guilt of the law. died as our substitute. Turn over to Hosea. I want to
read something to you. If you've got a Cambridge Bible
like I've got, you can turn to page 1127 in the Old Testament. Hosea chapter 3. Hosea here is
a beautiful picture of our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Hosea
the prophet speaking. Hosea 3.1, Then said the Lord
unto me, that is, to Hosea, and Hosea, here is a picture of Christ,
go yet, love a woman, beloved of her friend, and he says to
his own, he says, I am your friend, yet an adulteress, according
to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel who look
to other gods and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me
for 15 pieces of silver for a homer of barley, half a homer of barley."
What did the Lord tell Hosea to do? He said, I want you to
go and buy an adulterous woman. Make her your wife." We were his wife before the foundation
of the world. Adulterated ourselves, and what
did he do? He bought us back, redeemed us. I'll tell you, this marriage
that we have to him, this is an honorable marriage. Where
is the adulterous wife? of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know,
I said before, I know what I did in the garden. And you that be
found in Him, you did too. Where is she? She's dead. She's dead. Dead to the law. Dead to sin. Oh, the presence
of it is still there. And we're going to deal with
this, Lord willing, probably next week or so when Paul starts talking
about it. You just keep reading through
chapter 7 of the book of Romans. That's toward the end of this
chapter when Paul says, I see in me that is in my flesh. That's
in this chapter. Where is this woman, though?
Where is this woman that owes any debt for her adultery to
the law of God? Where is she? She's gone. She
died. She died in a substitute. The
law executed her. Why? Because that's what she
deserved. That's what she deserved. When
did the law do that? At Calvary. Actually, actually
shed His blood. But Almighty God, saw Him slain
before the foundation of the world. He was slain in the mind
of the will and purpose of Almighty. It was done. That's how God could
justify her before the foundation of the world. Pardon her before
the foundation of the world. Adopt her before the foundation
of the world. Why? Because Christ paid her
debt. It was so. Back in Romans 7 verse
5, For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were
by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
When we were in an unregenerated state, only found in the flesh,
an unregenerated state of spiritual death, dead to any ability to
be able to know or love or seek after Almighty God, the motions
of sins which were by the law, the affections of sin which were
stimulated. Sin is an evil. Next week, probably, we'll see
there. Sin is like a hiding dog. It's just there. And it takes that which is holy,
just, and good, the law of God, and takes that which is good,
God's law, and by sin takes it and works it against it. That
which was given actually, if a man would have obeyed it, would
have been life to him. But sin taking occasion, the
Scripture says, by the law brought death, Paul says, in me. When we were in the flesh, the
motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. But now, verse 6, we are delivered
from the law that being dead wherein we were held, that we
should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the
latter." Delivered from the works of the law for righteousness.
God's people don't look to the works of the law to establish
their righteousness. Relieved from that and relieved
from its curse. Why? We died. The church, she's
the first to admit what she is being found in Adam. Unfaithful. Unfaithful. Did you do it on
purpose? Yeah. Yeah, I did. It was exactly
what I was doing. And my federal head, Adam, How
can you say, Marvin, you knew what you was doing? He knew what
he was doing. And what he did, I did. When
God told Adam, the day you eat, the day you marry yourself to
another, the day you marry yourself to rebellion, the day you marry
yourself to sin, and the day you eat, the day you align yourself,
bind yourself, you're going to die. Oh, but being delivered from
the law, being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve
in newness of spirit. That's what we've talked about
this morning as a new man, as a new creature, a new love. And we serve Christ in the newness
of that spirit. New will that loves Him who loved
us. Possessing. His imputed righteousness. He has put away our guilt by
His blood. Turn to Ephesians 5, and I'll
close. Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5, verse 23. What kind of a rule do we have? What kind of a rule does a husband
have toward his wife? Ephesians 5.23, For the husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church, the Savior. He is the Savior of the body.
Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives
be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that
He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish." Where is this adulterous woman that adulterated herself? Where is this woman that broke
God's law? and married another while she
was yet married to Christ. Where is she? She died. She died
in Him. She's not here. She's justified. What does that mean? That means
that there is no law that can be charged to her that says she's
wrong. Christ paid her debt. Where is
the debt that she owes? It's not there. Christ paid her
debt. No, I'll tell you who she is. The Lord says, you see this woman
right here? This one with my imputed righteousness. She's not guilty. No, the one
that's here, this is my bride. What's her character? She's spotless. There's no blemish in her. There's
no wrinkle in her. She's holy. Why? Because he is holy. Now
let me tell you something. Now this is grace. This is salvation
by grace. There is nothing swept under
the rug here. No, we did what we did with our eyes wide open. And I am telling you, there is
no one that is going to lay any charge to God's elect. Why? Because God justified her. Nobody
is going to say, Well, he just swept it under a rug. Let me
tell you something, he didn't sweep anything under the rug.
He laid down his life and he paid her eternal debt in one
sacrifice. And he put away her sin. And
nobody can lay anything to her charge. He justified her. And he charged her with his righteousness
and he robed her about. And when she is looked upon now
by Almighty God, he sees no wrinkle, no spot, no blemish. He sees
Christ. And what difference does it make
what anybody else says about her? God justified her.