Now let's turn back in our Bibles
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The past few weeks we've been
studying through this chapter concerning the reality of a gospel
ministry. What is a gospel ministry? There
are many ministries on this world today. Many who claim to be gospel
ministries. We claim to be a gospel ministry.
Are we really? This is a self-examining message
in that sense. And somebody says, well, you
know, we're not to judge others. The Bible doesn't teach that,
by the way. You know that, don't you? I hope you do. When it says,
judge not that you be not judged, it's talking about self-righteous
judgment there. The same one who made that statement
said in John 7, 24, he said, judge righteous judgment. And
of course, the only way we can do that is to judge by God's
Word. And it doesn't mean that we're
setting ourselves up as judges of all men and women. It doesn't
mean that we can peer into people's hearts. But it does mean this.
It means that we can and should and must study and immerse ourselves
in the word of God, which is a word of judgment, so that we
can know without fail that we as individuals are saved by the
grace of God in Christ, And have that assurance that God not only says we can have, but commands
us to have. God commands his people to have
assurance. Did you know that? Some people
say you can't have assurance because if you have it, it's
presumption. That's not so. You see, presumption is any confidence
of salvation that's based upon an improper ground, a wrong ground. But assurance is a confidence
of salvation that's based on the grace of God in Christ. He
is my hope. That's what that is. And so we
go into the Word of God and we understand these things. We learn
these things. We talked about the gospel persuasion. Look back at verse 10 of 2 Corinthians
5. He said, For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, That every man, every one may
receive the things done in his body according to that he hath
done whether it be good or bad. And that's the judgment of our
person and our works according as they measure up to the standard
of God's righteousness in Christ. It has nothing to do with what
I've earned or what I deserve. See, this judgment is not based
upon what you've earned or what you deserve. If it is, then you
will be sadly, sadly disappointed. because the wages of sin is death.
This judgment has to do with how I stand before God. Do I
stand in Christ, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness,
or do I stand on my own, which is damnation? That's the issue. And knowing this, verse 11, here's
the gospel persuasion, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord,
and that terror is the terror of a sinner, coming before a
holy God without a mediator, without a savior, without Christ. We persuade men. What do we do?
We preach the gospel. We preach the word of God. Not
our opinions, not our judgments, but we preach Christ and Him
crucified and risen. but were made manifest unto God.
In other words, we're responsible and accountable to God on this
issue to preach His word and not man's. And I trust also made
manifest in your consciences that this word by the power of
the Holy Spirit has reached your heart, reached your conscience. Remember, we talked about the
cleansed conscience, the conscience cleansed of guilt. How? By the
blood of Christ. you see if anything else cleanses
your conscience it's not grace anything but the blood of christ
if you if you're religious activity cleanses your conscience if your
baptism if you're praying cleanses your you see christ the blood
of christ what he accomplished on calvary is the cleansing blood
what can wash away my sins what do we say what's the next word
anybody know nothing but the blood of Jesus. Do you believe
that? If you don't, don't sing it anymore. Nothing but the blood
of Jesus can wash away my sins. And that's the gospel persuasion.
If God the Holy Spirit under the preaching of the word ever
gets hold of you, gets hold of me, our hearts, that's what we'll
sing. And not just go around singing
that song all the time, but that'll be our life right there. And
then, verse 12, we see the gospel commendation. For we commend
not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory
on our behalf, that you may have some what to answer them which
glory in appearance and not in heart. God the Holy Spirit under
a gospel ministry gives us a ground of operation whereby we operate
to the praise of the glory of God's grace. In other words,
we're not in this just to get numbers in. I wanna see that,
don't get me wrong, I wanna see this building filled up. I'd
love to have so many people here, we'd say, well, we gotta build
on or go somewhere else. But that's not the key, see? That's not the issue. How many
people you have says nothing about whether this is a gospel
ministry. Nothing. If that was the standard,
then the ballgames would be the most spiritual places you could
go today. I mean, I'm telling you, you
can get them flocking down. I don't care if they have the
flu. They'll be right there. But this is not a numbers game. It's not appearance. It's not
a feel good. And I'm going to talk a little
bit about that in these verses we're going into today. It's
not just how it makes you feel. I mean, I hope you feel good,
but that's not the issue. That's not the standard. But
see, our commendation is, do we preach the word of God? You
test what I say this morning. Don't take my word for it. I tell you. You all don't think
I mean that, do you? You think you'd offend me if
you questioned me. You wouldn't. No, sir. Listen, I preach as
a dying man to dying men and women. And this is serious business
now. These are issues of eternal life
and eternal death. And you test me, test the spirits,
test the preachers by the Word of God. That's what you're to
do, that's your responsibility. And I'm to preach the Word of
God. And then, if God the Holy Spirit is pleased to apply it
to your heart, then your conscience will be cleansed. That's the
commendation and we glory in heart. That is, we glory out
of our hearts. We glory in Christ from the heart. Paul wrote, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of Christ. Well, look at verse
13. Now verse 13, 14, and 15. There's three words here. And I don't know that I'll get
to all three of them this morning. But the title of the message
expresses those three words. And it's the gospel goal, that's
the first word, the goal. And then motive, that's the second
word. And then fruit, that's the third
word, the gospel goal, motive, and fruit. Now, is this a gospel
ministry? Well, look at verse 13. Now,
Paul, this is a strange statement that he makes here. Why does
he make it? He says in verse 13, he says,
for whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God. Or whether we be
sober, it is for your cause. Now what does that mean? Well,
back then, when they said that somebody was beside themselves,
and it may be the same today, I mean you may have heard this
term, that's the same thing as saying you're crazy. You've gone
mad. You're not working with a full
deck. That's what that means. That's
the kind of... And who was saying that to Paul?
Well, it was false preachers. You know, false preachers...
You know, whenever the Lord used one of his apostles or his evangelist
to go into an area and preach the gospel and establish churches,
local bodies of believers, here in Corinth, establish one in
Ephesus, several in Galatia, Philippi, those places. It wasn't
long after the apostle or the evangelist left and went on their
missionary journeys, it wasn't long that false preachers crept
in to these churches. And you especially see that in
the book of Galatians. You know how it even starts out.
He said, I marvel that you're so soon removed from the gospel
that I preach to you. And that's when he said, let
him that preaches any other gospel, though we are an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel, let him be anathema. In other words,
that's a word of damnation. There's only one gospel, and
it's the gospel of God. It's the gospel of His free and
sovereign grace. It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ that declares Him to be God in human flesh, Emmanuel,
God with us, the Word made flesh, God and man in one person. Not
a little God, not a lesser God, but God Almighty in human flesh. That's who Christ is. To deny
or question His deity or His humanity is to deny and question
the gospel itself. And it's the gospel of the cross.
The finished work of Christ to save sinners from their sins.
Not to make a stab at it. Not to attempt to save anybody. But to actually save His people
from their sins. That's what a gospel ministry
is all about. I'm telling you of this person
who did this great work and he completed it. It's not a gospel
that teaches that God has done everything He can do, now the
rest is up to you. I think I made mention of this
Wednesday night. I said, if that's the truth, then don't pray to
God for the salvation of anybody. Why? Because He's done everything
He can do. Pray to the sinner you're trying to get saved, as
they say. Because the rest is up to him
or her. That's not the gospel. That's not the word of God. You
see, that's a modern corruption. of truth that was intended to
hone the gospel or what they call gospel around the felt needs
of the sinner. Keep that word in mind, felt
needs. I want to talk to you about that. But here's what he's
saying. Paul preached the gospel and
he preached the one way of salvation and when he came before people
to preach it there were many who would say paul are you crazy
you've gone mad and then these false preachers who crept into
the churches one of the ways that they sought to discredit
the gospel was to discredit paul himself and they said now listen
to what this man says he's crazy you remember over in the book
of acts paul was preaching to a man named Festus. You remember
Festus told him, he said, Paul, much learning hath made thee
mad. You've gone crazy. You ever had
anybody tell you that? When you tried to witness to
them the truth of how God saves sinners? You see, this is the
issue. The gospel ministry is serious
business. And then we preach it in light
of judgment. and in light of the separation
that it brings among men, listen, the gospel, the true gospel excludes
everyone and anyone seeking salvation or final glory in any other way
but God's way through Christ. Now, it includes anyone and everyone
who comes to God as a sinner seeking mercy in Christ. But
Christ said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. No man. The gospel preaches one
way of the forgiveness of sins. No other way. The blood of Christ. There's no other way. Some who
claim to be Christians say, well, it's Christ plus baptism. Some
say it's Christ plus your decision. Some say it's Christ plus church
membership. Some even go as far as to say
it's Christ plus your works. My friend, that's a corruption.
There's one way. Christ plus nothing. The blood
of Christ cleanses me from all sin. Past sin, present sin, future
sin. Some say His blood cleansed me
from my past sins but not my future sins. I've got to make
an atonement or make some kind of a restitution or some kind
of penance for that. That's a false gospel. Somebody
says, well, people believe all kinds of things about that. You're
exactly right, they do. But there's only one way of forgiveness
of sins, and that's the blood of Christ. Paul, you've gone
crazy. You're a fanatic. You've taken
this thing too far. If what you say is true, then
I'm not saved. Or if what you say is true, my
grandpa or my grandma wasn't saved. You've gone crazy. You
see what I'm saying? That's what happened to Paul.
The gospel preaches one way of justification before God. What
is it to be justified before God? It's to be not guilty. It's to be declared righteous
in God's sight. What is the one way? Romans 10
and verse 4, For Christ is the end of the law, the fulfilling
of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Christ
is my righteousness. None other. My works do not make
me righteous. That's right. Even the good works
that sinners do. What did brother Joe read there
in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10? For by grace are
you saved. That means it's undeserved and
unearned. through faith, by means of faith,
that's how we lay hold of Christ, and that not of yourselves, that
faith is not of you or me, it's the gift of God, lest any man
should boast. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. And in verse 10, what does it say? For we are His workmanship,
we're not self-made people. You see, if you're a Christian,
if you're a believer, you're not a self-made person. It's
not of your own free will. You're His workmanship. Created
in Christ Jesus. That's what Christ did on the
cross. Unto, not because of, but unto good works. That's the
fruit. Which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. That's a gospel ministry. Now,
what is the goal? Well, Paul says here in verse
13, whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God. If I'm saying things
to you or to anybody that causes unbelievers to look at me and
say, you're crazy, I'll tell you why I do it. It's for the
glory of God. That's what he's saying. If I'm
beside myself, it's to God. I'm saying it because this is
God's Word. It may make me look like a fool
in the eyes of the world. But you know what he said over
in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, he said, the preaching of the
cross is foolishness to them who are what? Perishing. But unto the saved, who are being
saved, it's the power of God, it's the wisdom of God. The Jews,
they sought after a sign. They were looking for religious
signs. Aren't people looking for that today? The Greeks, they were looking
at, they were wanting philosophy, the wisdom of men. Aren't people
trying to get that today? But unto them which are called,
called how? By the Holy Spirit. under the
preaching of the gospel. Christ and Him crucified. The person and the finished work
of Christ. There's the power of God. There's the wisdom of
God. You see? So Paul's saying this. If what I'm preaching to you
seems to be so radical, so strange, weird, even foolish to the unbeliever,
That men, to the point that men call me crazy, men call me a
fanatic, it's because I'm speaking to you the Word of God to the
glory of God. This is what God's Word says.
I've heard people say, well, I don't believe in this doctrine.
I don't believe in that doctrine. I always tell them, say, you
better believe what the Bible says. You say, well, that doesn't
make sense to me. It doesn't matter. It's what
God's Word says, period. Remember I told you one time
I was traveling through a town And I saw on the marquee of a
church building this saying, it said, God said it, I believe
it, that settles it. No, sir. Take one phrase out
of there or remove it. It's not God said it, I believe
it, that settles it. It's God said it, that settles
it, I believe it. That's the way it should be.
But people have it backwards. Paul says it's for the glory
of God. And then look here in verse 13, he says, or whether
we be sober. Now, what is it to be sober?
It's to be clear-headed. It's to be thinking right. That's what he's talking about.
He's not talking about not drinking alcohol here. And that is wrong
to drink alcohol to the point where you're drunk and all that.
And you know what that does to the mind. And you know what it
does to the eyes and to the tongue and to the reaction and all that. Well, he's talking about being
sober in the truth here, concerning the things of God, concerning
the things of the gospel. And he says, if I'm telling you
things clearly, without without any uh... options here i mean
i'm i'm speaking to you straight forward that's what he's saying
soberly clear thinking here this is it you don't have to walk
out this door wondering what that preacher says what he believes
he's sober he's sober minded he's sober tongued he's preaching
those things that are clearly taught in the word of god he
says if i'm preaching it that way i'm doing it for you Because
that's what you need. You need the Word of God. Now,
a gospel ministry, now listen to me very carefully, a gospel
ministry is not here to meet our felt needs. And I'll tell you why. First
of all, sinners by nature do not know what they need. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Look over Romans chapter 3 with me. Sinners by nature, we by nature,
we don't know what we need. We're like children. You got
little children, say they're around 2, 3, 4, 5 years old.
Do they really understand what they need or do they only understand
what they want? Huh? Do they understand that
they need to eat that spinach? Or do they just know all they
want is a piece of candy? Huh? They don't know what they
need because they are children. And the reason that we by nature
do not know what we need is because we're sinners. Look at Romans
3 and verse 10. It says, as it is written, there's
none righteous, no not one. Now, you need righteousness.
What is righteousness? We don't even know by nature
what righteousness is. We think it's somebody who's
religious, somebody who's moral, somebody who's charitable. Somebody
who deserves the key to the city. What is righteousness according
to the scripture? I'll tell you exactly what it
is. It's perfect satisfaction to God's law and justice. It's
a legal term. It is. In fact, you could just
as well replace it with justice. There's none just. No, not one. What's that saying? Well, we
quote this verse all the time. And that's another thing, too.
We quote verses of Scripture like a byline. You know, just
like a saying. Like a bumper sticker or something. We say, it's down here in Romans
3 and verse 23, what does it say? It says, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. You know what that literally
means? We missed the mark. We don't make it. Well, what
do I have to do to make it? Well, join the church. Will that
do it? Not according to the Scriptures. Well, get baptized. Will that
do it? Not according to the Scripture. Well, why don't you get on your
knees tonight and pray all night? Will that do it? Not according
to the scriptures. That won't make you righteous.
That won't wash away your sins. Well, what if I just give away
everything that I have? Will that do it? No, it really
won't. What is the standard of righteousness? You don't have
to turn there. Mark this verse down. Acts 17
31. God hath appointed a day in the
which he will judge the world in righteousness. by that man
whom he hath ordained, in that he hath given assurance unto
all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." There's the
standard, Christ crucified. You see, if I could do anything,
religiously or morally, and even sincerely, to make myself righteous
before God, Christ would not have had to have come and died
on that cross. That's exactly right. And my attempts in unbelief
to make myself righteous by my works before a holy God is a
denial of Christ. If righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain. Galatians chapter 2 and verse
20. That's a frustration. He told the Jews. They said,
well, Well, you've got to be circumcised to be right. He said,
well, if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
If that'll make you righteous, you don't need Christ. You've
still missed the mark. Look on at Romans 3 and verse
11. He says, there's none that understand
it. Understand what? Well, I know
people that understand a lot of things that I don't understand.
Some of you men, you understand how to fix things, how to build
things, and I'm all thumbs. There's some of you who understand
higher mathematics, and I'm all ignorance there. He's not talking
about that, is he? There's none that understandeth
what? Understand God's way of salvation. He says there's none
that seeketh after God. Now notice he doesn't say there's
none who seeketh after a God. He says, there are none that
seeketh after thee, God. Verse 12, they are all gone out
of the way. What is the way? Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but me. Tonight I'm going to preach on
the righteous man's way. What is the righteous man's way?
It's the way of Christ. It's the way of grace. They are
together become unprofitable. He says, there's none that doeth
good. No, not one. Now, don't get the accept me
syndrome there. You know, there's some people
who kind of read that that way. There's none righteous, no not
one, except me. There's none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after, except me. There's none that do, oh,
except me. No, don't get that. Who's that
talking about? That's talking about all of us by nature. Listen, salvation by your decision
is an except me religion. I'm telling you. And it's not
a gospel ministry. We need righteousness. Where
are we going to find it? There's not but one place to
find it. Paul wrote it in Philippians chapter 3. In verse 7, he talked
about everything that I thought recommended me unto God. He said,
I count it all but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord, and do count it but done that I may
win Christ and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith, which
we receive by God-given faith. I don't need man's righteousness.
I need God's. the righteousness of God. Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the
Jew first and the Greek also. For therein is the righteousness
of who? Of God revealed from faith to
faith. What is that? That's Christ and
what he accomplished. That's what we need. It's not
our felt needs. You know what happens, you know,
when you operate on your felt needs. Well, let's put it this
way. If a person feels their need for companionship, what
do they do? Well, they look for a place where
they can find companions. If they feel their need for entertainment,
what do they look for? They look for a place where they'll
be entertained. If the preaching of the gospel is just boring
to you, you'll go somewhere where you get entertained. You know,
where they hoop and they holler and plug it in, you know, whatever. But that's what you need. That's
your felt need. I'm going to tell you something. You don't
need that. You need truth. You need the gospel. You need
righteousness. You need to hear Christ and Him
crucified, preached. You need your soul fed. You need life. He read in Ephesians
2, and you hath He quickened. That means giving life. You need
life. Where are you going to get life?
Not in entertainment. Not from companions. Now listen,
don't get me wrong. I love to be entertained. I love
companions. But that's not what I'm here
for. I'm here because I need Christ. And He's my life. I need His Word. That's what
I need. And I didn't know I needed that
before He told me I needed that. I was just like a little child.
I wanted the candy. I didn't want the greens and
the vegetables, the protein. I just wanted the outcroppings
of false religion that made me feel good. Until God the Holy
Spirit comes and convicts me in my heart and shows me I don't
need any of that, I need Christ. That's what I need. That's the
gospel goal right there. It's to glorify God, not man. It's to give Christ the preeminence
in all things, in creation, in providence, and especially in
the salvation of a sinner. This gospel is preached aiming
for the salvation of sinners. You know why I know what we need?
Because it's the Word of God. And it's for the edification
of believers, that we might grow in grace and in knowledge of
Christ, and not grow in self-righteousness and self-importance, but grow
in Him. That's what He's talking about
here. And if what we say makes the world think that we've gone
absolutely stark raving mad, then so be it. It's for the glory
of God. And if what we say is so clear
and pointedly aimed at our situation and our real needs, then it's
for your salvation. I'm not saying these things to
make any of you mad. Some of you may get mad. I'm
not saying these things to offend anybody, but some will get offended.
I'm not saying these things to run off anybody, but some will
go and never come back. I'm saying these because this
is what you need. I know it because it's what I
need. It's what this old sinner up here behind the pulpit needs.
That's the goal. Well, look at verse 14. Now,
here's the motive. Here's the motive that should
be set forth in a gospel ministry. The motive of this ministry.
The motive of worship. The motive of obedience. Verse
14. This is what drove the apostle Paul in his ministry. And listen
to what he says. He says, for the love of Christ
constraineth us. That's what constrains. That's
what drives. That's what motivates and energizes
me to preach this gospel and to live unto the glory of God.
It's not legalism. If you don't do it, you'll go
to hell. It's not legalism. You better get right with God.
Remember Job's friends? That's what they were telling
him. Job, if you want to be blessed, you better get right with God
and do right. It's not mercenary operations, just serving God
for what we can get out of Him. You know, that's probably the
most popular false gospel today, right there. And a lot of times
it comes in the form of money. You've seen them send your seed
in, a hundred bucks and God will give you a thousand, all that.
Listen, if you do that, you're not serving God. You're hired
out to Him. That's a mercenary. That's somebody
doing something for hire. That's not giving. That's investing. You might as well go down here
to some investment counselor and give it to them. The same
thing. You're a mercenary, you see.
No, Paul said, I'm not a mercenary, I'm not a legalist. The love
of Christ constrains. And what do you know about the
love of Christ? Well, I read about it in Romans chapter 5
there. When was the love of Christ shown for His people? Huh? When? Well, when they finally
straightened up and joined the church. No. Or when they finally
straightened up and got to acting right. No. When we were what? Yet what? sinners. Enemies, he said. Not just sinners. He said it even further than
that. He got a little clearer, a little more sober. He said,
even when we were enemies. Why is that important to put
it that way? I'll tell you why. Because just about everybody
I know will say, well, I'm a sinner. In the sense of saying, well,
I know I'm not perfect. But see, what kind of a sinner am I? I had a man tell me one time,
he said, well, I know I'm not perfect, but I've never done
anything that deserved to go to hell. Oh yes, you have. If God ever, now let me put it
to you this way. I've said this before, but just
to make the point, just to be sober here today. I've been preaching
this gospel for about 30 years now. And from the time that I
began in the preacher school here, I preached at Cottageville
and then went down to Albany and then came back here in 2003,
about 30 years. I've learned a lot. I know I've
got a lot more to learn. There are things I used to say
even as a gospel preacher that I don't say now and things that
I didn't say that I do say now. I mean, that's just learning
and growing. I know that upsets a lot of people, but I'm sorry. But I've been a preacher for
30 years. Now listen to me. Today, standing before you in
this pulpit today, I am no more deserving of the salvation that
God has given me in Christ than I was before I was saved. I still don't deserve it. And
I still haven't earned it. And never will. It starts by grace. It continues
by grace, and when it finally reaches its pinnacle, you know
what it'll be by? By grace. That's right. What do I know about the love
of Christ? 1 John 4, 10. Herein is love,
not that we love God. What's that saying? It's saying
by nature we don't love God. And it's also saying that God's
love towards His people, His elect people, His sheep, is not
deserved and not earned. And His love for them is not
a reaction to their love for Him. Not that we love God, but
that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation, the
sin-bearing sacrifice that satisfies the justice of God, the righteousness
of God for us. That's what constrained Paul.
God loved me and still loves me when I don't deserve His love.
When do I not deserve His love? I never deserve it. At my best
and at my worst. I'll give you a little sober-headed
thinking on that one. Here's David, King David, committing
adultery with Bathsheba. Does he deserve the love of God
then? Absolutely not. But here's the same David sitting
down and penning the 23rd Psalm by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Does he deserve the love of God then? Absolutely not. I'm telling you the truth. You
say, well, you've gone crazy. Yeah, it seems that way, doesn't
it? But that's to the praise of the glory... At my best and
at my worst, salvation is by grace. Understand that? That's what Paul said. When Paul
was saved, where was he going? Brother Mahon always said he
wasn't going to a prayer meeting, was he? He was on his way to
Damascus to arrest Christians and put them on trial and hopefully
it was in his mind that they be put to death. And God saved
that man. When did God start loving Paul? The Bible says He never not loved
Paul. He loved him with an everlasting
love before the foundation of the world. How could God love
such a sinner? Not but one way. In Christ. In light of what Christ would
accomplish in His death on the cross. Look at it. Verse 14.
For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that
if one died for all, who's the one there? That's Christ. Who's
the all there? That's His sheep. He said, I
lay down my life for the sheep. That's all who would be brought
to faith in Him. He says, then we're all dead. Now, what does that mean? Well,
it means this. Turn over to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. If Christ died for all his people,
his sheep, his church, it's what the scripture says, he redeemed
the church with his own precious blood. Then all were dead. Now we know
we were all by nature dead in trespasses and sins. We know
that. The Bible teaches that. That's why we need salvation.
Spiritually dead. Spiritually dead. But what I
believe he's talking about there in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse
14 is the same thing I believe he's talking about here in Romans
6 and verse 3. Look at it. He says, know ye
not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into His death. Now what does that mean? Well
now I know most people when they think of baptized they think
of water baptism. They think of the ordinance of
baptism and the Bible teaches that. That all who believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ are to confess it in believers baptism. But the word baptized in different
contexts has different meanings. And this is not talking about
water baptism here. You know what the word baptized
really means? You know what the literal translation
of it is? It's placed into. That's what it means. Some say
immersion. That's what that means, placed
into. That's why we baptize by immersion when we do the water
baptism. It's not sprinkling. It's not pouring. It's placed
into the water and brought out of the water because we're identifying
symbolically there with the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of Christ. And that's the way we're to be
baptized. But here it's not talking about water baptism. What's it
talking about here? It's talking about union with
Christ. Look at it. Know you not that so many of
us as we're placed into Jesus Christ, we are united with Christ. When? Before the foundation of
the world. The Scripture says, Ephesians
chapter 1, 2 Timothy chapter 1, we could go all over. We were
placed into Jesus Christ, we were placed into His death. What
does it mean? It means when He died, I died.
He died for me. My sins were charged to Him,
imputed to Him, accounted to Him. His righteousness is charged
to me, accounted to me, imputed to me. When He died, I died. When He was buried, I was buried.
He's my representative. He's my substitute. He's my surety. He did it for His people. The
Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. He bore our griefs. He bore our sins. That's right. He was made a curse for us, for
His people. He was made sin, Christ who knew
no sin, for us. See, He's a substitute. He didn't
do it for Himself, He did it for His people, His sheep. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. When He died, I died. When He was buried, I was buried.
When He arose again, I arose again. That's right. What does
that ensure? It ensures the fruit of salvation
that I'll be born again and I'll come to Him and rest in Him.
Look at verse 4 of Romans 6. Therefore we're buried with Him
by baptism into death. We were placed into His death.
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we might also walk in newness of life.
For if we've been planted together in the likeness of His death,
we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Turn to
Ephesians chapter 2, the portion of Scripture that brother Joe
read. That's what Paul's talking about. He's talking about being
buried Dying and being buried and being risen with Christ.
He is our representative. And that's what we confess in
Believer's Baptism. That's why we go down into the
water. And that's why we come up out of the water. We're saying,
He died for me. When He died, I died. He died
for my sins. He put away my sin. He satisfied
law and justice. for my sins. He established an
everlasting righteousness of infinite value for me so that
I can stand before God justified in Him. We're made the righteousness
of God in Him. And look at Ephesians 2. Now
he said we're dead by nature. Children of wrath by nature.
But look at verse 4 of Ephesians 2. But God who is rich in mercy
That's what this thing's all about. It's about mercy. It's
not about what we earn or what we deserve. For His great love
wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. Now what's he talking about?
He's talking about the resurrection of Christ. That's quickening
means life. Christ died, He was buried, and what did He do? He
rose again the third day. It's a quickening. He says, we
who are in Him now, not all without exception now, because some die
and go to condemnation. But those who are brought to
faith in Christ, He says, we were quickened together with
Him. Now this quickening, you know, the new birth is called
a quickening. You must be born again. But not all of us were
quickened together in new birth. Some of you were quickened before
me. Some of you have been quickened after me. But here's a place
we've been quickened together. How? In the resurrection of Christ
for His people. Did He die for you? Was He buried
for you? Did He rise again for you? And
you were quickened together, all of us together. Now that
excludes our works, doesn't it? That's what He did on the cross.
That's totally His work, isn't it? But you know what? That's the definition of grace.
Look at the parenthesis that follows it. By grace you're saved. That's what the Holy Spirit inspired
Paul to say. He said, you say, wait a minute now. I wasn't even
born then. No, it was all Christ. You were
on His mind. You were on His heart. You were
in the mind of God, chosen before the foundation. I wasn't even
there. You weren't there either, were you? It didn't have anything
to do with my works, what I deserve or what I've earned. By grace
you're saved. And then he says in verse six,
look at it. And hath raised us up together and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Where's Christ now? The
Bible says that the God-man, mediator, is at the right hand
of the Father, ever living to make intercession for. Now are
you there personally? No. But you're there in Christ
if you're one of his. Go back to 2 Corinthians. That's
what Paul's saying here. If one died for all, then all
were dead. In other words, if He died for
me, then I died with Him. Verse 15, look at it. Look at
verse 15 of 2 Corinthians 5. And that He died for all, that
is all His people, all who died in Him, were buried in Him, rose,
risen in Him, that they which live should not henceforth live
unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose
again. There's the fruit of His death. that we don't live for ourselves,
but we live for the glory of God in Christ. Now, how are we
going to do that? Well, if He died for me, I know
this, I'm going to be born again by the Holy Spirit. I'm going
to be brought under the preaching of the gospel and given life,
brought to faith in Christ, repentance of dead works, and live my life
for the glory of God. That's the fruit. You see, there's
the goal, the motive, and the fruit. That's not the cause of
my salvation. My living unto the glory of God
in Christ is not the cause of my salvation. It's not the ground
of my salvation. It's the fruit of my salvation
in Him. You see the difference? Unto
good works. All right.