We're there again to the 4th
chapter of the book of Romans. Romans chapter 4 and that 16th
verse. I want to talk about that a little
bit here this evening. Verse 16, 4th chapter of the
book of Romans. We read to you some here this
morning. from the first through the sixth
verse and also read to you from the twentieth through the twenty-fifth
verse about him who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by faith
that we are connected with him, and faith is a gift of God. God,
it's a gift of God's free favor. It gives us a gift, a gift to believe and to trust
in Him as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures as to who He
is and what He's done. And it also gives us a sure and
certain understanding that what he said
is true. But here in this sixteenth verse
it says, he's talking about the salvation of God and the righteousness
of God, the obedience of God in Christ. Therefore it is of
faith. Therefore it is of faith. Faith
is not salvation. Faith joins us to the One who
is salvation. And faith is a gift of God. Faith
doesn't die for us. Faith doesn't suffer for us.
Faith works no miracles for us. Faith joins us. Faith is a gift
of God, and it joins us to Him who is salvation, who is our
righteousness, our obedience, our sin-bearer, our sanctification,
our justification. He's everything that a poor,
miserable, hopeless, down-and-out sinner needs to be made right
with God. It is all in the Lord Jesus.
God put it all in Christ. So, therefore, it is a faith
that it might be by grace free favor of God to the end. To the end, the promise might
be sure to all the seed, to all those all the seed that was promised
to Abraham, that seed, those people, human beings that would
ultimately and finally be saved by the grace of God through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, therefore it is of faith that
it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure
to all the seed. Now, men come to earthly inheritance one of about three different
ways. They either come by airship. They inherited it from their
father or their mother or their uncle or They come to earthly inheritance
either by airship or gift or purchase inheritance. And everyone that receives an
inheritance, however he receives it, whether he inherits it or
whether it's a gift or whether it's purchased, Every one of
them can tell how he came by what he received. He can tell
you. Who was it was telling me before
church? Someone was surrounded by property,
had several hundred acres or maybe a thousand acres, all that. Someone said, He must have been
a good businessman to manipulate and be able to own all this land. He must have been a fine businessman.
And the fellow that knew him said to this other fellow that
made the statement, he must have been a good businessman. Well,
I said, no. I said, he's no businessman at
all. He said he'd never done anything.
He said all that was given to him. All that was given to him. Now, if he'd be honest with you,
and you asked him how he'd come to get a hold of all that, if
he was honest, he'd have to say, I inherited it. I didn't earn
it. I didn't buy it. It didn't come
from my good works. It was given to me. I inherited
it from my father. Now, I say that a man who inherits
something in this life by gift or purchase, he is able to tell
how he came by this estate and by what right he has to hold
on to it. He can tell you that. Now, in light of that, let us
examine our heavenly inheritance. We are heirs of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. We are believers. We have been adopted into the
family of God. Not everybody, not every human
being that came from the loins of Adam but these that are the object
of God's free favor. He gives them an inheritance,
and that inheritance is in His Son. And He wrought that inheritance
for us, heavenly inheritance. If each one that has an earthly
inheritance can tell how he came by his inheritance and by what
right he has to hold on to it, then I think that those of us
who have a heavenly inheritance, we ought to be able to tell how
we come to possess it and by what means we hold on to it and
enjoy it. Well, we could say that this
inheritance is yours if you are a believer in God's Christ. Now, I don't mean just a head
belief that you believe that he was and is in history and
he's His name is revered in various places and people honor Him on
the Lord's Day and honor His birth and honor His death and
so forth. I know who He is. He's Jesus
and all that. I'm saying those that know who
He is, that He is God Himself. And the desire and the will and
the purpose of God was to save a portion, a great many, a number that cannot be numbered. He determined by His will and
purpose to save so many out of Adam's fallen race. It's sovereign grace, sovereign
mercy. He's going to save some of them,
and those that he saves, they're going to know who saved them. They're going to have an inheritance,
and they're going to know how they come to get that inheritance. And I say that this inheritance
is By purchase. By purchase. Now, not that you
and I ever did anything to contribute to the purchase of it. We never
contributed one single solitary penny to buy it. But yet it comes
by purchase. But Christ, who is our elder
brother, he paid the full price for our inheritance and our salvation. It comes by purchase. We didn't
pay a penny for it, but he paid all that we owe. He paid the full price. It was
not like I'm buying a $100 bicycle and I give the man $20 and next
month I'll give you another $20 and then the next month I'll
give you another $20. But he paid the full price, the price
that was demanded for our salvation. for the salvation of God's people,
he paid the full, complete price that the justice of God demanded. God's justice, God's holiness,
the chief attribute of God, he has several attributes, but the
chief attribute of God is his His holiness demands that justice
be satisfied, that the sinner pays what he owes to God. That is what justice demands.
Justice demands that I pay what I owe to God's strict unalterable,
inflexible, unbending justice. God demands that. I can't do
it. I can't do it. If it was left
up to me, I'd have been in hell an hour after I was born, or
a minute after I was born. If there would have been a condition
put upon me to pay, I couldn't pay. I come empty-handed. I'm in debt
ten thousand talents, not a penny to pay. But in the wisdom of
God, in the Trinity of His persons, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I'll
pay the price. I'll purchase thy redemption. These that you gave me, All that
the Father giveth to me comes to me, and I will not in any
wise cast them out. They'll all come to me. And he
said, I'll pay what they owe, their debt against God, the accumulated
sins. I'll take all the penalty that's
due their sins. your people that you gave to
me. Thine they were that you have given to me. And so I will
be their surety. I will stand in their stead.
I will become a man like their men." So he became a man. He took upon himself our nature
apart from sin. He had no sinful nature. And
he lived a perfect life. Not a single flaw in his 33 years
upon this earth. Not a single flaw. Not a blemish. He said, I'll pay what they owe.
As a man and as a sinless man, I'll offer myself sinless perfection. I'll bear the judgment that's
due them against their sins. I'll take their penalty. I'll
take their punishment. I'll take all that. Just think
of the sins that we have committed in our lifetime. Words that bring no honor to
God that we've uttered. Thoughts that have been dirty
and polluted. Acts that have All of our little,
so-called little sin, there's no such thing as a little sin.
Sin is obnoxious to God, this monster. And our Lord Jesus Christ
now, He said, I'll pay for every sin of my people, those that you
gave to me. I come for a people. those that you gave me. They
must be redeemed. They must have a righteousness.
Justice must be satisfied. And I as a man, I'll stand for
it. I'll go there born. I'll sign
my name and guarantee that I'll pay everything they owe." And
he suffered. Suffered. No one knows. Now he said, he who knew no sin
suffered, suffered for sin, because my sin and your sin, if you're
a believer, was transferred from you and laid on him. The sinless man, and that sinless
man, all man, all man, he is hungry, he got thirsty, He got
tired. He got sleepy. He wept. He is
a man. And all of our sins, all the
punishments due to our sins, 16 ounces to a pound, no more,
no less, laid on Him. He said, I'll bear their punishment. He purchased our redemption by
the giving of himself in our place and in our room. So it's yours by purchase. Not that you did ever contribute
one penny to buy it, but Christ, our elder brother, my soul, what
a brother, We have our elder brother. I have one brother. He's about 79 years old. One brother. Haven't seen him
for several years. Lives in Detroit City, up in
that area. Been there for 40 years or more. He's my elder brother. And I
like him. I love him. Hope the best for
him. But would he ever in life of
what our Lord did for me. Would he ever do that for me? Well, no, he couldn't because
he's a sinner like I am. But we have an elder brother,
I mean a true brother, who sticketh, he's a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother. when I was unlovable. There was
nothing lovable about me. There may have been something
lovable about you. I think probably there was. But
there's nothing lovable about me because I know me better than
you know me. There was nothing in the catalog
of love that was lovable about this poor, stupid, rebellious,
ignorant, arrogant, polluted, condemned sinner. That would
attract him to me. Nothing. He did it out of pure,
unadulterated love, my elder brother. He stood in my stead. So I'm going to bear his sins.
I'll bear the punishment that's due him. Christ, our elder brother, paid
the full price for it, therefore it is called a purchased possession. Over here in the book of Ephesians,
chapter 1 and verse 14. Look at that with me, if you
will. I will read it to you. Ephesians 1 and 14. Listen to what it says. At least
I thought that's where it was, yes. The eyes of your understanding. See, prior to our being saved
by the grace of God, we can't see anything. No spiritual thing. We can't see spiritual things.
We can't see and understand how God can be just and justifier
of a poor sinner. We can't see that. We can't understand
that. We believe that every man stands
on his He's like a tub. Every tub stands on its own bottom. We stand, all of us, on our own
hind feet. We stand or we fall in ourselves,
what we do and what we don't do. And if I do enough, standing
on my own, God will pity me and have mercy. No, I won't. I won't
have mercy. Listen. Prior to the entrance of the
Lord Jesus Christ into a man's spiritual soul. His eyes are
opened and he sees how nasty he is. He sees the awfulness
of sin. And he sees the love of God in
Christ Jesus. And he hears that voice, You
who were dead in trespasses and in sin. Happy Quicken! Happy Quicken! He hears that
great verse of the Apostle Paul who said, He loved me and gave
himself for me. We say that God would love me,
a sinner like I am, a black sinner, blacker than hell itself, worse
than a thousand devils, God could love me! And when that love is
shed abroad in our hearts, our eyes are opened and we understand
and we begin to know who he is and what he has done. The eyes
of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the
hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints. a purchased possession. Oh, my
soul, purchased by the Lord Jesus himself. It's yours if you are
a believer. Don't tell me, just say, I believe
in Jesus. Tell me that you believe in the
Christ of God who was God in Christ reconciling the world
unto himself, that he stood in my place, in my room, and bore
my sins, and provided me with a perfect righteousness and sanctification
and justification. Tell me that you are in love
with this person and in his work. It's yours by gift. He gives
it to you. A gift is not a gift if it's
got a string attached to it. where you can take it back. I
give you this, but I've seen you don't appreciate it, so I'll
take it away from you. That's not a gift. A gift has
no strings to it. It's free. How free can free
be? It's a free gift. It's yours. It's by the Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom, the Bible says, in Luke. Chapter
12. Turn there with me. Luke Chapter
12. Luke 12 and 32. You found it? It says, Fear not. Little flock. There wasn't many
of them. There ain't many in God's flock
in light of the billions of people that have walked the face of
this earth. Of the billions of people that are alive right now,
there's not many in God's flock. Little flock. It's a little flock. Not a big flock. Little flock. Fear not, little flock, for it's
your Father's good pleasure. You see, I said it was by purchase,
and I said it was a gift. And He said, For it is your Father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom, to give it to you, not
sell it to you, not you buy it, not you contribute something
by your effort to lay hold of it, but He gives it to you. It's yours by heirship. You was born to inherit it, not
by your natural birth. I'm not talking about your natural
birth, but by your spiritual birth. You was born to inherit
it. joint heir of God, I've already
said. And you're a joint heir with
Christ, your elder brother. And if you'll turn with me again
to Romans chapter 8, I'll read another Scripture that will call
this to your attention. Romans chapter 8 and verse 17
says this. Well, it says, For we have not
received the spirit of bondage, that's verse 15, to fear, but
ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby ye can cry,
Father, have a Father, my Father which is in heaven. You believe
that God is your Father and you cry to him. The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And if we are children of God, then heirs of God and joint-heirs
with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may
be glorified together, or glorified with him. So it's yours by heirship. to inherit, not by your natural
birth, but by your spiritual birth, a joint heir of God. How do you hold this heirship? Why, you hold it by faith. Know this, faith, in a sense,
is your title to it, since faith joins you to him who is our elder
brother. It is by faith, you see, that
it might be by grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. Works have nothing to do with
it, as I tried to say this morning. They neither give us a right
to it, nor do they give us a title It's a gift of the free favor
of Almighty God, this purchased possession. Works neither procure a right
or a title to it. It's a gift of free favor of
God. to her ship and purchase of it,
or all and everything attached to it, are of the free grace
of God. Even faith to enjoy it is a gift
of God. The promise is by grace the promise
of life eternal. is by grace, and it is sure and
certain, else God's truth would fail. If it was not sure and
it was not certain, the promise of eternal life in Christ, then
the Word of God would be null and void. It would fail. If it was suspended but upon
the smallest condition of works, if it depended upon a condition
that was very small relative to a good work. That's what I'm
saying. If it was like that, then every
soul here this evening would forfeit his title to heaven. and would fall into the jaws
of hell immediately. But it is sure to all to see
because God who promised it cannot lie. It says this, Therefore
it is a faith that it might be by grace to the end. The promise might be sure to
all to see. sure to all to see, God who cannot
lie, promised eternal life before the world began. Look over here
in the book of Titus, chapter 1 of the book of Titus. Chapter 1, verse 2, sure and certain. Life is in
Christ. My sin is on Christ. He paid
for them, the sin bearer. Righteousness, sinless perfection
is in Him. By one man's obedience, it's
all in Him. Quit looking to yourself. Quit
saying, I've got to do this and I've got to do that. What you've
got to do is trust Him. Everything you need as a sinner
is in Him. You've got to believe in Him.
You've got to cast your whole soul, the weight of your whole
soul, in the arms of this man. It's in Him. If you're in Him,
Heaven is sure and certain, as if you had already been there
for 10,000 years, if you trust in God's Son. If He's your cover,
If He's your sin bearer, if He's your obedience, if He's your
righteousness, then you are sure and certain of eternal life.
Listen now, it says this, Paul, a servant of God and apostle
of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, God's
elect, God's God of people, He chose them in Christ and put
them in Christ before the world ever was. He calls them here
in time. How does he call them? By the
gospel. Christ died. Christ suffered. Christ lived.
Christ rose again. Christ bore my sins. Christ provided
me a righteous soul. All right, listen. According
to the faith of God's elect, and they acknowledge and know
the truth which is after godliness. Now listen to this. In the hope
of eternal life, which comes That cannot lie, promised before
the world began. Isn't that something? Promised before the world began.
Well, our elder brother, our Lord Jesus Christ, purchased,
paid the full price for our inheritance. Our inheritance is the promise
of eternal life, to live forever. He purchased that right and gave
us that title. And on what he did, on the righteousness
that he provided, entitles you and I to be a joint heir with
God and a joint heir with Christ. And what he has, we have. And when we come to the end of
life's way, we'll fall asleep, and we'll fall asleep again. And when we wake up, we'll be
where he's at. We shall never die. I'm the resurrectionary.