Turn with me to the book of Matthew. We will begin reading there as
soon as we ask the Lord to be with us. Matthew 22, starting
at verse 15. Let's pray. Dear Father, we thank you that
you've given to us your Son. and your word that tells us about
him. We pray that you would also give us this precious faith in
him so that we, in our own hearts, would find him to be precious
to us above all things. That everything else in this
world would grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and
grace. And so, Lord, we pray that you
would be with us as we look into your word. Give us hearts to
understand and hearts to believe you, eyes to see our Lord Jesus
Christ, In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In verse 15 of Matthew,
chapter 22, we read, Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel
how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto
him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we
know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth,
neither carest thou for any man. For thou regardest not the person
of men. Tell us therefore, what thinkest
thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
to Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness
and said, Why tempt ye me, you hypocrites? Show me the tribute
money. And they brought unto him a penny.
And he saith to them, Whose is this image and superscription?
They say to him, Caesar's. Then saith he to them, render
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto
God the things which are God's. When they had heard these words,
they marveled, and left him, and went their way. The Pharisees
and the Herodians gathered together, but rather than taking counsel
with Christ upon hearing His warnings against them, which
we read about in Matthew 21 and the first part of Matthew 22,
they took counsel instead, not with Him, but among themselves
how they might entrap Him. How they might take him and kill
him and their intent was only evil. They opposed their own
salvation. Evil men will not believe no
matter what answer of truth is given. It says in Proverbs 27
verse 22, Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among
wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from
him. That's a strange verse. I remember reading that verse
years ago and wondering, what in the world does that mean?
Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with
a pestle. It's one of those things that druggists use to make pills
and stuff. They grind things up. And so
the comparison is made there and it fits these men here in
Matthew 22. Though the Lord Jesus Christ
had given them warning three times in three parables of the
coming doom upon them because of their impenitence and unbelief.
And though he had in those very same parables told of the grace
of God three times, yet they like the fool in a mortar among
wheat with the pestle grinding on them, they would not depart
from their foolishness. Neither the warnings of eternal
damnation nor the melodious tunes of free sovereign grace will
turn the heart of man. Only God's almighty spirit of
grace can turn a sinner from the error of his way. Remember
Paul? He was one of those kind of men.
God turned him. And He turns all that He will. It says in Zechariah chapter
12 verse 10, and of supplications, and they
shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall
mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and they shall
be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn." This is the promise of God to His people, that He
would show grace to them, grace that would cause them to turn
and cause them to know what they had done. killing his own son. Pharisees opposed paying taxes
to Rome. Herodians approved of Roman taxes
because they benefited from it. They were under King Herod's
rule. Now these two opposing factions joined forces in an
attempt to catch Christ in his words. If Jesus tried to placate
the Pharisees, He would say men did not have to pay taxes. And
the Herodians would then have had him arrested for rebellion
and sedition. But if Jesus appeased the Herodians,
He would say men should pay taxes, but this would alienate the people
from Him. Thus, these men thought that
they had the Lord Jesus trapped either way. If He refused to
answer, they would accuse Him of concealing the truth by avoiding
a straightforward answer, or they could say He was without
understanding. But the wisest among men are no match for the
wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan himself could not
entrap our Savior. Remember in Matthew 4, three
times he tempted him. And Jesus answered him every
time, it is written, it is written, it is written. And the Lord Jesus
says in John 14 30, that Satan has nothing in me, he says. Nothing in me. He can find nothing
in me. And so these men, certainly, who were the children of Satan,
could find nothing in the Lord Jesus Christ. His wisdom overcame
their attempts to entrap him. And his answer is so wise, often
I've marveled at it. Many times I've thought about
it. Though evil men rule, And the taxes they impose require
us to labor to pay those men and their taxes. Yet, rulers
and taxes are ordained by God. God uses rulers to accomplish
His will. Daniel chapter 4 verse 17 says,
"...the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it
to whomsoever He will, and He sets over it." The basest of
men. The basest of men means the worst
of men. God told Israel not to rebel
against the Babylonians in Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 4 and following. He told them that when they go
there to Babylon, that they were to give their sons and daughters
in marriage, and take sons and daughters in marriage, build
houses, and seek the peace of that place. And then in Romans
13 verse 7, it says, "...render therefore to all their dues,
tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to
whom fear, honor to whom honor." And then 1 Peter chapter 2 verse
17, Peter says, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God,
honor the King. Christ knows the hearts of all
men. As is seen here in these wicked
men who came to Him to try to entrap Him. He even knows those
who set their mind to hide their thoughts from Him. In Acts chapter
1 verse 24 it says, "...the Lord knows the hearts of all men."
These men came to Jesus pretending that they wanted to be His disciples
to lower His guard that they might entrap Him and get Him
to tell them what was really on His heart. They thought if
they lowered His defenses And made him think that they wanted
to be his disciples and he would tell them something that he would
not have told them otherwise. So they pretended themselves
to be disciples wannabes. They wanted to be his disciples.
They thought to flatter him. They said, we know that thou
art true and teach us the way of God in truth. Neither carest
thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men." It didn't
matter who it was, the Lord Jesus Christ would tell them the truth.
He didn't seek the praise of men and He didn't fear the wrath
of men. He told the truth no matter how
great or how lowly a man was. He did not fear men. But in all
of their collective wisdom, these men proved what God said in Psalm
chapter 14 verse 2 and 3. They are together become unprofitable. I've often admired the perfect
wisdom of Jesus' answer that He gave these men. He did not
avoid the question. He did not appease one or the
other of these groups of men. They thought they had trapped
Him, but His answer actually silenced them instead. He said,
render to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, but to God the
things that are God's. And he actually held up a penny,
which is amazing. He took some of their money,
he says, look at that, you tell me, answer me. He always asks
them a question, and their own words condemn them. Or their
own words taught the truth. Here he says, whose image is
on it? It's Caesar's. Well then give
to Caesar what's Caesar's, but give to God those things that
are God's. I think the greatest and most
memorable truths are always expressed in concise terms, full of wisdom. Psalms 12 verse 6 says, "...the
words of the Lord are pure words as silver, tried in a furnace
of earth, purified seven times." Seven times. You can see God's
word is, "...as if the Lord Jesus had thought about those things
until there was no better answer to be given." And He gave that
answer. The Pharisees, when Jesus said that render to God the things
that are God's, the Pharisees did not render anything to God. They actually stole from Him.
They robbed Him of His glory by turning men from the gospel
to their own commandments. In Matthew 15 verse 9 it says,
they teach for doctrines the commandments of men. And Paul
told Titus, in Titus 1.14, not giving heed to Jewish fables
and commandments of men that turn them from the truth. That's what the Pharisees did.
They gave out their own commandments and it actually turned men from
the truth. They never rendered anything
to God. The Pharisees turned men from God by their self-seeking
and self-righteous ways. And the Herodians were just like
them. No man renders to God what is God's due. It says in Psalm
29, verse 2, "...give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. All men by nature seek their
own." It says in Isaiah 53, 6, "...we have turned everyone to
his own way." It is only when we are converted Do we, in faith,
ascribe all things to God in Christ? Only when we're converted do
we actually ascribe all things to Christ. Remember what Jesus
said? Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, but to God
the things that are God's. That answer silenced them because
they knew then the issue here was not whether to pay Caesar
taxes or not. What was the issue? Render to
God the things that are God's. We've all turned to our own way.
It is only, the only way we can render to God what the things
that are God's are when we are converted. when we believe the
Lord Jesus Christ and by that ascribe all things to God in
Christ. Only then do we see that He loved
us when we did not love Him. Only then do we see that Christ
died for us when we were without strength, when we were yet ungodly,
when we were sinners, and when we were the very enemies of God.
Romans 5 verse 6 and through 11. It is only when we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ as our all before God that we worship
God in spirit and in truth. Remember what Jesus told the
woman at the well? She said, do we worship God in
this mountain here in Samaria or in Jerusalem? And Jesus' response
to her was, no, it doesn't matter. The place isn't the issue. Worship
is in the heart. and you worship in truth." So
he answered, he says, you worship you know not what. We know what
we worship for salvation is of the Jews. We only worship God
when we understand and come to Him through the salvation He
has accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3.3
says, we are the true circumcision which worship God in the spirit
and have no confidence in the flesh. but we rejoice in Christ
Jesus. It is only then that we know
that we are not our own when God saves us and shows us Christ. Only then do we know that we've
been bought with a price. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 says,
you're not your own. You've been bought with a price. Remember what we read last week
in Hosea chapter 3 verse 1? God told Hosea, go And to this
woman who was an adulteress, and he says, and marry her and
buy her. So he went and he bought her.
We're bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
bodies and in your soul and your spirit, which are Christ's, which
are God's. Because we have been bought out of the greatest love
and grace with the price of Christ's own blood by the Spirit of God
dwelling in us, therefore we love the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
only by the Spirit of God showing us what Christ has done that
we can actually love God. It says in Psalm 29 too, I've
already read this, "...give unto the Lord the glory due His name.
We owe God our love and worship and praise, yet no man renders
to God his due. No man gives God what God deserves."
How can we render to God what is God's? That's what Jesus said.
What belongs to Him? Well, first of all, Render means
to give. And the first thing that God
is owed from us is obedience. God is sovereign. He is sovereign
in His requirements. And He is sovereign in requiring
all men to obey Him. He is sovereign in His judgments.
He holds all men accountable to His law and to His justice.
We owe God obedience with our whole heart, soul, mind, and
strength. And we owe Him that obedience
joyfully. Joyful obedience with a heart
full of gladness. There is none holy as the Lord,
therefore it is to Him that we owe all obedience. If there was
someone else who was holy, we would owe that to them, but He
is the one who created us. We are accountable to His justice.
His justice demands punishment for every failure to keep His
law with joy and gladness from our heart. True obedience is
a matter of the heart. God deserves our comprehensive,
all-inclusive obedience, not in action only, but in our thoughts,
and our motives, and our words, and all that we are, with all
of our strength. Yet our obedience cannot earn
anything from God. Our obedience is due to Him,
because He is God, because He made us, because He is worthy
of all of our lives. Therefore, When we have done
all things which we're commanded to do, Luke chapter 17 verse
10, Jesus said, when you've done all things commanded to you,
then you've only done your duty. You haven't earned from God.
You owe God your obedience. You cannot therefore earn by
your obedience. Our obedience to God must be
with joyfulness and gladness of heart. Look at Psalm chapter
100. I just want to read this to you. We'll read it again in
a minute here, but Psalm 100. This is a song. Actually, there's
music you can put to it. It says in Psalm 100, Make a
joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with
gladness. Come before his presence with
singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is
God. It is he that hath made us, and
not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving
and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless
His name. For the Lord is good, His mercy
is everlasting, and His truth endureth to all generations. If we serve God half-heartedly
or begrudgingly, we do not serve Him at all. If we only serve God half-heartedly,
we actually bring a curse upon ourselves. Look at Deuteronomy
chapter 28. Deuteronomy 28 says that God tells the children of
Israel, in verse 47 of chapter 28, He says, I can find it. He says, "...because
you did not serve the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with
gladness of heart for the abundance of all things." Because of those
things, in that context, that's why the curse came upon you.
And so we owe God our obedience. That's the first thing we owe
Him. What else? We owe God faith. Not only obedience,
but we owe God this honor too. That we believe Him. Think about
it. To doubt God is to mistrust Him. It is to hold Him suspect as
a common liar. Unbelief is the root of every
sin. It was the first sin. Remember
Eve? Satan said, Yea, hath God said? And she doubted. He said,
You shall not surely die? She doubted God's goodness too,
because Satan said, God knows that in the day you eat thereof
your eyes will be opened to know good and evil, as if God was
withholding from her something good that she needed. And so
she doubted, and she listened to the serpent, and she ate the
fruit. That's unbelief. That's the root
of all sin. By nature, we do not believe
God's testimony of Himself. Remember Romans chapter 1, verses
18 and following? It's all about how men know the
truth about God and still suppress it. We don't know. We don't believe
God's testimony of Himself. And apart from His grace, we
do not believe God's testimony of our own selves. One of the
first marks of grace in God's people is that He convinces us
of sin. And until we are raised from
spiritual dead to spiritual life in our souls by the Spirit of
God, through the preaching of the Gospel, we do not believe
God's testimony of His Son. John chapter 1 verse 10 and 11
says, He came to His own and He was in the world. The world
was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came to His
own and His own received Him not. Then it goes on to say how
any do receive Him, it's by God. It was for unbelief that Israel
fell in the wilderness. Remember that? He says in Hebrews
chapter 3 verse 19, therefore because of their unbelief they
fell in the wilderness. It was for unbelief that Israel
was cut off from Christ. In Romans chapter 11 verse 20.
For unbelief men are under the wrath of God. John 3 36. God
is true. He is truth itself. Therefore, failure to believe
Him is the root of all sin and the greatest evil of all." What
else? We owe God our worship. God alone
is worthy of all worship. Matthew chapter 4, Jesus said
in verse 10, "...thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve." And we owe Him our love. Why wouldn't we
love God? God is love. He is good. He is holy. He made us. He gives all things to us. This
is the very first and greatest commandment. Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and
with all thy might. Deuteronomy 6.5 And we owe him,
as we just read in Psalm 100, our praise and thanksgiving.
We owe him our own selves. But how can we render? How can
we give those things that are due to God? We have surely, totally
failed to do so, haven't we? We are therefore sinners. And
our sin is not in our failures only. It is in the core of who
we are. In our core of our being. In
our nature. We oppose God. Romans 8, 7 says,
the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the
law of God. Neither, indeed, can be. Now the Pharisees and the Herodians
asked if it was lawful to give tax money to Caesar. Their question
had an evil intent. But even if they asked that question
sincerely, that is not the issue. The issue is not, is it lawful
to pay taxes to men? This is the issue. What is due
to God? What is His due? What are we
to give Him? Jesus said, give to God the things
that are God's. And there's only one way we can
fulfill this commandment. That way is revealed in the gospel. Therefore, I want you to turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And I want to ask this question
and answer it from these verses. What is the gospel? Sometimes the simplest questions
and the things that people consider to understand are the ones we
least understand. What is the gospel? Look at verse
1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. which I preached to you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand." So it's by the gospel
that you, it's the gospel you've received, it's the gospel in
which you stand, and by which you are saved. If you keep in
memory what I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain. Keeping in memory means that
we hold the gospel. The gospel, believing the gospel
is not an act. We do just once. 1 Peter chapter
2 says, to whom coming. We're constantly coming to Christ.
Constantly taking of Him and believing Him. And then in verse
3 of 1 Corinthians 15 it says, For I delivered unto you, first
of all, this is the gospel, that which I also received. How that? Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures. That is the
Gospel. The Gospel is about Jesus Christ. It is Christ that died. Remember
Romans 8.34? It is Christ that died. He is
the Son of God. He is God's chosen. His anointed
mediator for His people. His anointed King. the king to
rule over them for their salvation. He is their high priest to bring
them to God and their prophet to make them know God and to
make God known to them. He is their covenant head and
their husband who acts for them to God in all things. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the gospel is about Christ's
substitutionary death for his elect people. Notice it says
how that Christ died for that substitution. Our sins. Those are the ones for whom he
died. The gospel is about how Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures. It is how he fully paid and made
satisfaction to God for all the sins of all of his people. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 says,
"...when he had by himself purged." That means to cleanse us, to
wash us from our sins. In Leviticus 16.30, on the Day
of Atonement, the high priest would go in and make atonement
that you might be clean before the Lord on that day. The gospel
is not new, it was promised in eternity and it was revealed
throughout scripture. Scripture tells how God clothed
Adam and Eve from the skins of an animal. Scripture tells about
how Abel offered a lamb and that God accepted him when he accepted
his lamb. Noah was saved in the ark with
his family because the ark was that propitiation in which Noah
and his family were put that endured the judgment of God and
by which they were saved from that judgment. God saw the blood
of the Passover lamb. for those who were in the house
where that blood was sprinkled on the doorposts. And throughout
the Old Testament, all the years and centuries of the Levitical
priesthood, sacrifices and offerings were made in the tabernacle day
and night. The prophets tell of Christ's
sufferings and death in Isaiah 53. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 10
and 11 says that this was the message of all of the Old Testament
prophets. And you can read the Psalms in
Psalm 22, and 31, and 38, and 40, and 69, and 88, and 89, and 110,
and we could just go on and on. Thus, the Gospel is what Christ accomplished as it's revealed in Scripture. He says He died for our sins. What Christ accomplished and
what He obtained in His death, in His burial, and in His resurrection.
It is how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
That He was buried and that He rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. The gospel is good news. It is glad news from heaven to
sinners. About what Christ did in His
life and in His death. His life and His death is history. This is an important point. Jesus
died. Jesus was buried. Jesus rose
again. It's not part of your history.
It's part of His history. The gospel is not about what
God is doing in your life or my life today. The gospel is
not about miracles. The gospel is not about some
life transforming experience. It's not about what we experience
at all. Luke chapter 10. Jesus told the
disciples when they said, the devils are subject to us. And
He says, do not rejoice in this, but rejoice rather that your
names are written in heaven. He told them to rejoice in the
fact that God from eternity had put their names in the Lamb's
Book of Life, given them to Christ to save and redeem, and that
He would do that. And so the gospel is about what
Christ did 2,000 years ago. What he has already accomplished
according to the promises and the prophecies and the types
and all the historical accounts throughout the Old and New Testament
scriptures. The Gospel is about what Christ
accomplished and obtained by Himself when He fulfilled and
finished the eternal will of God to save His people from their
sins. And the Bible declares the Gospel
to us as the glorious achievements of the God of Heaven who purposed
from eternity to have a people for Himself and how that in time
He came and He bought them in the person of His own dear Son. You can read about that in 1
Peter 1, verses 18-20. But why is the gospel good news?
The gospel is good news because it is the power of God to salvation
to everyone that believeth. The gospel is about Jesus Christ's
glorious, eternal achievements for sinners chosen by God. The
Gospel is good news because it tells what Jesus Christ actually
accomplished and obtained. What He did for chosen sinners
by His death and at the time of His resurrection. I'm going
to give you several things the Gospel did. What Jesus did in
the Gospel or told to us when God preaches the Gospel to us.
First of all, It says in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 18-21 and several other
places that He reconciled us to God. Reconciled us. Remember Romans 5.10? When we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. That's what reconciled us to
God. It was His blood that reconciled us to God. Think about that.
Let that sink into your heart and conscience. The death of
Christ, God looked at Him and received from Him full satisfaction
to justice, and the wrath of God was expended upon Him and
taken away from us. Isn't that substitution and satisfaction
and reconciliation? By His death, Christ took away
God's wrath from His people. Romans 5, 9 says, Therefore being
justified by His blood, we are saved from wrath through Him.
He made full payment for our sins by the offering of Himself. He bore our sins under the wrath
of God. He says in Matthew 20, 28, He
gave His life, a ransom to God for His people. He paid God's
justice, what was necessary to free us from the prison of our
own sin and unbelief and the judgment God had against us.
He gave His life. He bore the curse and He saved
us from the curse of God's law. And having paid the full just
compensation for our sins, He made making full remission of
those sins. Remission means the debt was
paid. It was completely forgiven because
it was fully made. Compensation was fully rendered.
God no longer remembers the sins of His people. Look at Hebrews
chapter 10. I want you to see this. You know,
you might find that I constantly refer to the same scriptures,
and I was thinking about that the other day. I thought, maybe,
maybe I'm going to bore you, or you'll find it repetitive. But then I thought, if nothing
else in all of my life, perhaps these scriptures will become
as dear to you as they are intended to be to God's people. Look at
Hebrews chapter 10. I'll read verse 9 through He says, Then Jesus said, when
he came into the world, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh
away the first, the first covenant, that he may establish the second,
the eternal, the everlasting covenant, by the which will we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once,
once for all eternity. And every priest, every Old Testament
priest, standeth, he doesn't sit, he stands, daily, not once,
every day, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in
their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more." Why? Because full remission has been
made. Now, where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. All sins
remitted and forgiven. By a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us
draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith." When
you see what Christ has done, it gives you a full assurance
of faith. It's not what we experience, it's what He did that made the
difference. What else? What did the gospel,
what did Christ do in the gospel? What is told to us by God Himself?
What is the glad tidings sent from heaven? Remember the context? We owe God our obedience, our
faith, our worship, all of our lives, our praise and thanksgiving. But there's only one way we can
render all that to God. It's what Christ did. Well, it
says in Hebrews 9, verse 12, He also obtained eternal redemption
for us. Payment had been made. The lawfully
imprisoned debtor and captive is therefore set free. All their
sins have been forgiven. And the Lord Jesus, we just read
in Hebrews 10, He made His people holy to God. Look at Hebrews
13. Hebrews chapter 13, the same
thing is said there in verse 12. He says, "...wherefore Jesus
also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood,
suffered without the gate." There it is. He made them holy to God.
That's what the word sanctification means. Set apart. Made holy to
God. In Numbers 23-21, God says He
sees no iniquity in Jacob. No sin. Jeremiah 50-20, in that
day, The Lord would seek and He would find for, let me just
go to that, Jeremiah chapter 50 verse 20. I don't have the
words sufficiently memorized. Jeremiah chapter 50 verse 20,
look at this. Underline it, draw a box around
it, remember it. He says, In those days and in
that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought
for, and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve."
Those God reserves are His elect people, the remnant. Those He
gave to Christ from eternity. To pardon means to Remove all
punishment. It means to set them free from
the punishment. And that could only be done if
their sins were remitted. Which He says happened in the
first part of the verse. He looks for their sins. It's
gone. It's gone because Christ paid for it with His own blood. Not only did He make them holy
to God, but He established their everlasting righteousness. Which
means He justified them before God. Romans chapter 4 verse 25. Take a look at that. The Lord
Jesus Christ did these things by Himself 2,000 years ago. The accomplishment has been He
has obtained what He set out to do. It's finished. And He
tells us these things. What did I say? Romans 4.25.
I can't do two things at once. Romans 4. He says, verse 25. who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification." When God raised
Christ from the dead, it was our justification. God received
from Him and justified His people because of what He received from
Him. Full, everlasting righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ, His obedience,
the obedience of one man made many righteous. Romans 5.19.
He justified them by His death and His resurrection is our justification. His blood rendered full satisfaction
to God. His obedience in His dying was
that everlasting righteousness. And having received that from
Him, God justified His people by raising Christ from the dead.
And we just read in Hebrews 10.14, He perfected His people forever
by one offering. He saved them from their sins. Remember what He says when He
came into the world? Matthew 1.21, His name shall
be called Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. And then in Hebrews 9.15, He
secured their eternal inheritance, their eternal life in Himself.
Remember what Jesus told Martha? He says, I am the resurrection
and the life. He told His disciples in John
14.19, He says, because I live, you shall live also. Just because
I live. If the Spirit of Christ dwells
in us, we will be raised up again. We are raised in Him and we shall
be raised in our bodies, because He secured for us eternal life,
eternal inheritance. He fulfilled every condition
required to put God's everlasting covenant of grace into force. That covenant in which God committed
Himself to be our God, to make us His people, and to write The
law of the spirit of life, the gospel, on our hearts. Romans
8 verses 1-4 That covenant in which He said
He would put His Spirit within us, and that He would no longer
remember our sins, and never, never leave, never forsake. No, not ever. That is the Gospel. And that is why it's good news.
Because Christ obtained it. He accomplished it. It's done.
And God tells us what's already done. And that's why it's good
news. It's accomplished. Look to me,
Jesus said. Behold me, behold me, Isaiah
65 verse 1. The gospel is therefore good
news because Christ has done all and God received what he
did for his people. He did it by himself. We did
not do one thing. He did it a long time ago. It is therefore done. He cried,
it is finished. It was perfect. What He did is
eternal. His resurrection and His ascension
and His enthronement in glory is God's proof to us that what
Christ did is done and accepted. It is good news, not only because
Christ did it a long time ago outside our personal experience,
and without our personal contribution, and because He did it by Himself,
but it is good news because His work is complete and perfect.
Nothing can be added to it. Nothing can be taken from it.
Remember Ecclesiastes 3.14? What God does is forever. Nothing
can be added to it. Nothing can be taken from it.
Just like in creation. And He said, it's very good. God said that. Christ sat down. And God's people were saved by
it. And it is good news because what our Lord Jesus did. He did
with eternal benefit. He forever perfected, forever
justified, forever redeemed, forever put away the sins of
His people. God's not going to change. What
Christ did has secured our eternal redemption. And it is good news,
because all that Christ did, He did for those who were without
strength, ungodly, sinners, even the enemies of God. It is good
news because there is nothing in salvation that depends on
me, the sinner. From first to last and everything
in between, God has done all in Christ. Christ died for those
God chose. The Lord Jesus chose his people.
We did not choose him. He told his disciples, you have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Salvation does not depend
on my will. My choice, my work, or my anything. In fact, it is in spite of my
sin and in spite of my unbelief. This salvation that Christ finished
And which is declared to us in the gospel, is declared to us
as perfect and finished and eternal. That we might believe Him, that
we might look to Him in confidence and trust and hope and assurance
as everything in our salvation. We come, we stand, and we will
be presented, saved, before God, perfect in Christ, without spot
or wrinkle or anything, because God sees us in His Son. He does not see two. He sees
one. We are one with Christ. One in
eternal election. Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. One in His covenant headship.
What He did, what He suffered, was our doing and our suffering. That's what it means in 2 Corinthians
5.21 when he says, God has made him to be sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
God justified his people for what he received from his Son.
Jesus said, render to God the things that are God's. We owe
God our joyful obedience with our whole heart, soul, mind,
and strength. Christ rendered that obedience
to Him for His people. Believing Christ, we render to
God what is God's. Perfect. joyful, loving, obedience,
with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength from our Redeemer. Remember Jeremiah 33 16, and
this is the name by which she shall be called, the Lord our
righteousness. His righteousness is ours. And
we owe God our most ardent love, but believing Christ we learn
how that we loved I'm sorry, but believing Christ we learn
how that He loved us from everlasting. We learn that God so loved us
that He gave His Son for us. That Christ loved us and gave
Himself for us. And that the Spirit of God loved
us and raised us from the dead. Ephesians 2 verse 4 Believing
Christ, we learn what love is. It is not that we love God, but
that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins. It is because we believe the
love that God has to us, as revealed in the Gospel, that we believe
Him. We have known, 1 John 4.16, we have known and believed the
love that God has to us. We can only love Him if we see
that in Christ He first loved us. 1 John 4.19 We owe God our
worship, but we can only worship God if and when we worship Him
in Christ. I just referred to that a minute
ago, John 4, verse 22 and 23, where Jesus said, You don't know
what you worship, but we know what we worship, for salvation
is of the Jews. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him, who worship Him in spirit and in truth. And so
we can only worship God when we worship Him in Christ. And
all our praise is due to God. We can only praise God in Christ.
Don't you know that? Remember, look at Isaiah chapter
12. This is what the Lord says His
people say. This is how we praise Him. Isaiah
chapter 12. This is one of the ways we praise
Him. It's all It's all sort of summarized
in this one way. Isaiah chapter 12, verse 1. He
says, I will praise thee, though thou
wast angry with me. Thine anger is turned away, and
thou, you, comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord, Jehovah, is my
strength and my song. He also is become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation." And it goes on. So our praise to God springs
from what Christ has done. It can't come out of a sinner
any other way. Therefore, we have been bought
with a price. We are not our own. We are to
glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God's.
We owe our whole self and our soul to our faithful God, our
Creator, our sovereign and gracious Savior. These things are God's. Therefore, may God give us grace
to look to Christ as He is declared and revealed to us in the Gospel.
May God give us faith to see Him, and embrace Him, and trust
Him, and know Him, and love Him, and find our all in Him. And
may we praise and thank our great God and Savior from our very
heart and soul. Render to God the things that
are God's by looking to Christ and giving your all to Him in
worship and praise. Romans 12 verse 1 and 2 says
this. Paul says, after declaring the
gospel to the Romans, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. The Pharisees and the Herodians
wanted nothing more than to entrap and take and kill the Lord of
Glory. So they asked Him if it was lawful
to pay taxes to Caesar. But Jesus, who is the wisdom
of God, silenced their entrapment, and He directed them to the Gospel. It is only in believing Christ,
as He is revealed in the Gospel, that we can render to God the
things that are God's. And we know that we render to
God the things that are God's because our answer to every question
and every requirement and command of God is Christ and Him crucified. Knowing Christ completely, perfectly,
eternally has fulfilled the will of God and that God is pleased
with Him for sinners. Knowing that God commands us
in the gospel to look to Him and come to Him, and come by
him we therefore cast the weight of our eternal souls on his promise
and the truth of the gospel that he preaches to us." Isn't that
what it means to render to God the things that are God's? I
think that it is. Because that's the only way any
sinner can come to God, can worship God, can find cause to praise
and love God, and can find their obedience fulfilled in Christ.
And their faith springs from what God reveals in the gospel.
Everything in the Bible is meant to teach us what Christ has done
for us. May God so teach us today. Let's
pray. Father, we thank You for Your mercy. Thank You for Your
love to us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You that by His
blood He washed all of our sins. Help us, dear Lord, to find ourselves
in Him. And we pray that according to
Your Word, according to this confident expectation, we would
appear before Him in glory around the throne, singing these praises
unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. To Him be all glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen.