Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book of
Romans, chapter 8. Romans, chapter 8. And I'm going
to begin really with verse 31. And what I want to talk to you
about, it's a subject that I deal with quite often on this program.
So a lot of people might say, well, you're repeating yourself.
But that's what gospel preaching is. It's line upon line, precept
upon precept. And the message that we have
from the Bible, from God's word in the gospel, is a message of
life and death. And so I want to deal with this
subject in really just one message, just to give you an outline of
what I call essentials of justification. Essentials of justification.
And I want to tell you, I wrote a pamphlet or a short book on
this subject. And if you'd like to have a copy
of it, just write to us or go online. It's called Essentials
of Justification. You hear me speak about justification. on this program a lot. If you
look at Romans chapter 8 and verse 33, it says this. It opens with a question. It's a rhetorical question that
the Word of God is going to answer. It says, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. God justifies. Now, justification
is one of the essential, basic, core doctrines of the Bible,
of the gospel, of salvation itself. Just about every time that I
preach, When I talk about justification, I always take a little time to
define it for people because a lot of people don't really
understand it and they don't understand the importance of
it. This is the heart of the gospel. Salvation in the Bible
is a big word, not because of the number of letters in it,
but because of the scope of it. The word saved or saving, salvation,
is used with about every verb tense that there is, past, present,
and future. And that's because salvation
has such a wide scope concerning God's relationship, God's purpose
to save His people from their sins by Jesus Christ the Lord. For example, there is an eternal
aspect of salvation. Second Timothy 1 and verses 9
and 10 speaks of that. It talks about a salvation which
was given to God's people in Christ Jesus before the world
began. So there's an eternal aspect
of it in the mind and the purpose of God. And somebody said, well,
does that mean we were always saved? No, we were lost and then
we're saved. There's a time aspect to salvation
also. But let me say this, there's
an eternal aspect, there's a legal aspect. I wrote about this in
a book called, What is Salvation? And you can get that book too,
if you'd like to read about that. The legal aspect has to do with
the justification of God's people in His, we might say it this
way metaphorically, in His court of justice. Because in salvation,
we can talk about the mercy of God, the love of God for his
people. We can talk about the grace of
God, the compassion of God. But in salvation, we must also
speak of the righteousness of God, the truth of God, the justice
of God. If you speak of one without the
other, you don't have the gospel. And a lot of people today, they
like to talk about God's love. And they really destroy God's
love in the minds of people that they preach to when they talk
about God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, now the rest
is up to you. And that's not in the Bible.
God's love is the salvation of his people. And those whom he
loves, he saves. And I can show you that easily
in scripture. But the thing about it is, God
has attributes, and He reveals those attributes, those characteristics
in the Bible. And in those attributes, we see
who God is, what He's like. And you can get books on this,
you know, about the attributes of God. But what the Gospel does,
it brings together, by the grace of God, in the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, both the righteousness and the justice
and the truth of God, working consistently together with the
mercy and the grace and love of God to save sinners. You see, God's gonna save people.
God loves His people and He's merciful and He's gracious, but
not at the expense of His justice. Justice must be satisfied. And
that's really the main thing in the gospel as far as how God
can be just and justify the ungodly. Well, it says here, who shall
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. And then it goes on in verse
34, it says, who is he that condemneth? All right, talking about condemnation. The Bible teaches that by nature,
we all fell in Adam. and we're born into a state of
spiritual death and depravity and we're sinners who deserve
condemnation and who've earned condemnation. And that means
the best of us, the worst of us, and everybody in between.
And if you don't see that, you don't see the reality of sin.
You don't see the reality of God's justice. That's the case. So it says here that God is the
one who justifies, and it says, who is he that condemneth? And
look at the next line. It says, it is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. And then it goes on to say in
verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And
basically it says nothing. Nothing will separate God's people
from His love. They shall be saved. All the
objects of God's love. Now, the Bible does teach, and
I know people do not like to hear this, but I'm sorry, it's
Scripture and I'm going to tell you the truth, that God does
hate. But now, His hatred is not a
sinful hatred. It's not God having a temper
tantrum. It's not like our hatred. When we hate, it's usually sinful.
I mean, there is a righteous indignation, a righteous hatred,
but when we hate other people, the Bible, the law of God tells
us to love God perfectly and love our neighbor as ourself,
and our neighbor includes our enemies. And so we don't measure
up in that love. Christ loved his people with
an everlasting love. But the thing about it is God
expresses hatred. He hated Esau. He hates the workers
of iniquity. And we'll talk about that. So
there is hatred. God's hatred is His just and
righteous wrath against all who stand before Him in sin. without Christ, without being
washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness. So, the
issue then in salvation is, can I be justified before God? Now,
what is it to be justified? Number one, remember, it's to
be forgiven of all my sins. I'm a sinner. I deserve condemnation. In all sin that comes short of
the glory of God, I cannot save myself by my works. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified. That's spoken of in Romans chapter
3. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified. I cannot be justified in God's
sight by my works. That's what the Bible teaches.
By my law keeping, my best efforts will always fall short. So that
begs the question, how can a sinner be justified before God? How
can man be just before God? And there is a way, but it's
God's way, it's not man's way. And the problem with man by nature
is he doesn't want it God's way, he wants it his own way that
gives him room to boast and to brag and to claim that he makes
the difference between saved and lost, justified and condemned. But it's to be, listen, to be
justified is to be forgiven of all my sins on a just ground. Now, what is the just ground?
Well, some people will tell you it's because they made a decision
for Christ, walked an aisle, shook the preacher's hand, got
baptized. That is not a just ground upon
which God can forgive sin. The only just ground upon which
God can forgive sin is the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's it. and all for whom that blood was
shed are justified. And then secondly, to be justified
before God is to be declared righteous in His sight. In God's
sight now, God who knows my thoughts, my motives, His word discerns
the hearts of men. So I can't hide it from God.
I can hide it from you, but I can't hide it from God. And yet He
declares me righteous on a just ground. Now what is that just
ground? It's the righteousness of Christ.
Now we'll talk about that. So let me give you these essentials
of justification. Number one, the essentials of
justification in Romans 8, 33, who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. God is the only source of justification. He is the justifier. He is the
judge. Not man, not the preacher, not
the counsels of men. Only God can justify. And so
my issue now, as far as my salvation, is do I have a right standing
with God? Justification is an imminent
reality in the mind of God. And I use this term metaphorically,
it's like being in his court of justice. How do you stand
before God? For God is the only source of
justification. So it is God who justifies. Now, we want to be right with
men and women and we want to have a testimony of morality
and sincerity and charity and truth and all of that. But whatever
men say in this area of justification, it doesn't matter. It's what
God says. He is the only source of salvation itself. Every aspect of salvation, God
is the only source. Man, now listen to me, man is
never the source of salvation or any part of it. It's only
God. It begins with God, it centers
around God, and it glorifies God. Even the good works of His
people are aimed towards His glory, not their own. That's
what Matthew 5 and verse 16 says. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and do what? Give you the
key to the city? Honor you? No. Glorify your Father,
which is in heaven. And the light there is not the
good works. The light there is the gospel of Christ, who is
the light. So understand that it takes the
light of Christ to shine on me as I preach the gospel, as I
witness the gospel, to show you the reality that I'm not saved
by my good works, I'm saved by His good work, and that's His
obedience unto death on the cross as my surety, my substitute,
my redeemer. So number one, God is the only
source. Number two, God's elect, are
the only objects of justification. Now look at it, verse 33. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of who? God's elect. It's God that justifies. Now
who are the elect? Well, the Bible teaches us this
now, and I know this is another truth that people don't like
to hear. But before the world began, God chose a people to
save. Now you can read that all through
the scriptures, but I'll give you one passage that if you just
study it, Ephesians chapter one, where it talks about how God,
in His grace now, and it's not that God looked down through
a telescope of time and foresaw what His elect would do, because
it's the election of grace. But it says in Ephesians chapter
one, verse three, It says, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Verse five says,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted
in the beloved." The elect of God are sinners who deserve nothing
but condemnation and death and hell. But God, by His grace,
chose them. Chose them to save. And that's
what the Scripture says. Who shall anything to the charge
of God's elect? They're the only objects of justification. And they're justified before
God in Christ. And so that's the second essential.
If God be for us, who can be against us? The Bible says, who's
he talking about? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Now the third essential is the
ground of justification. Now remember I told you justification
means forgiven of all my sins on a just ground. And declare
righteous before God on a just ground. Well, what is that just
ground of justification? Well, look back at verse 34 of
Romans 8. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. In that one verse, You have the
whole work of justice performed by Christ, not for himself, but
for his people of the elect. The ones, he said, who were given
to him before the foundation of the world. Now, don't get
in mind, in your mind, don't look at this and say, well, then
it doesn't matter what I do. If I'm not one of God's elect,
I can't be saved, blah, blah, blah. Listen to me. You're not
God, and I'm not God. All you can know is what God
reveals and what God commands. And I'm telling you that we are
sinners who deserve nothing but death and hell, but there is
a way of salvation. You need to seek that salvation
from God. Now, I know you won't seek it
unless God draws you. Scripture says that. No man can
come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. John
6, 44. And I pray God will draw you,
and you pray that too. come to Christ for salvation.
That's all you know. You don't know the workings of
God before the foundation of the world as to whose names are
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. All we know about that
is if God brings me to believe in Christ and rest in Him, then
I know my name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life before
the foundation of the world. That's what I know. That's what
Paul said to the Thessalonians. He said, I know your election
because the gospel came to you not just in word but in power.
In other words, you heard it and you believed it. That's a
gift from God. For by grace are you saved through
faith that not of yourselves. Faith, listen, believing in Christ
is not the result of a spark of goodness or willingness within
us. Because if left to ourselves,
we would never come to Christ. And I'm presenting Christ to
you as He is in the scripture, the Lord God as He is in the
scripture. And if you refuse that, that's just what you naturally
do. But if you hear it and believe
it, that's the work of God. So the ground of justification
is Christ, His blood, His righteousness. And it says here, He died. It's
Christ that died. The justice of God was poured
out upon Christ in the stead of His people. Justice had to
be satisfied. Righteousness had to be accomplished. And in the mercy of God, He sent
His Son. The love of God sent Christ.
Herein is love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us and
sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That's 1 John 4,
10. That word propitiation means a sin-bearing sacrifice that
satisfies justice. And in Christ, mercy and truth,
righteousness and peace are met together. In Christ, God is both
a just God and a Savior. In Christ, God is both a loving,
gracious, merciful Father. who loves his children and protects
them and saves them and keeps them, as well as a just and righteous
and truthful God. He's both just and justifier. So the ground of justification
is the righteousness of Christ. Now, that's called the righteousness
of God because Christ is both God and man in the gospel, Romans
1, 16 and 17. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, the Jew first, the Greek, or the Gentile also.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, The justified shall live by faith. That is, looking to Christ for
all salvation. so here is He died but He died
as the surety of His people and I'll explain that in just a moment
a little more. He died as the substitute of
His people, their iniquities were laid upon Him, the Lord
has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, all of His people,
all of His sheep, He died for His sheep and He was bruised
for our iniquities. that were charged to him. And
again, I'll talk about that in just a moment. And then he rose
from the dead. What does that mean? That means
that sins were put away, the debt was paid, justice was satisfied,
righteousness established, and now he's seated at the right
hand of God, making intercession for us. If Christ intercedes
for you, you're justified. You are saved. You're sure for
heaven's glory through His blood and righteousness. So as God
is the only source of justification, the elect of God are the only
objects of justification. It's an imminent reality in the
mind of God. Christ's blood and righteousness,
or Christ's righteousness which covers it all, is the only ground
of justification. Now, fourthly, what is the only
means or instrument of justification? And it's the doctrine of imputation. Imputation. How does God accomplish
this? Through His Son. You see, Jesus
Christ was and is a perfect person who knew no sin, did no sin,
never had a thought of sin, never broke the law, He's the impeccable
Christ, God manifest in the flesh. So how could God justly punish
His Son, His perfect, harmless, holy Son, and be just in doing
so? How could He punish Christ for
sins that Christ had never committed? And on the same token, how can
God declare me a sinner righteous? And this is where the blessed
doctrine of imputation comes in. And I'm gonna talk about
that Lord willing next week about imputation, but I'm gonna talk
about it today too. But look at what it says, go
back to Romans 8.33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? What's he talking about there?
He's talking about imputation, imputing. Now the word imputing
means to charge, to account, to reckon. If you run up a debt,
for example, a debt of money, that debt is charged or imputed
to your account. And it will be until the account
is paid. Well, here's what happened before
time ever began, in the everlasting covenant of grace, God appointed
his son, the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ,
very God of very God, to be the surety of his people. And what
does a surety do? He stands for the debt of others. He takes others and he says,
if they can't pay it, I will. Well, there's never been a time
that we could pay our sin debt. And sin is a debt to God's law
and justice. So the debt was imputed to Christ,
so that it cannot be imputed to God's people, His people whom
He loved. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Well, who did He impute those
sins to? He imputed them to Christ. So Christ was made sin, as 2
Corinthians 5.21 tells us, and even guilty, not for sins that
He committed, not for any sins that contaminated him or were
infused into him, but totally in a legal way based upon sin
imputed to him. He stepped up in the everlasting
covenant of grace and basically said, willingly said, Father,
I'll save them, put their debt on my account, I'll repay it.
And so Christ suffered the just for the unjust, the sins of God's
elect were charged to Christ. And He took them to the cross
and died the death that we deserved, and satisfied justice, and brought
forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value, which God
has imputed to His elect." You see that? Sin imputed to Christ,
righteousness imputed to His people. And that's how they were
justified. So I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I'm justified. I'm still a sinner in myself.
And I will be until I die and go to be with the Lord. But I'm
righteous in God's sight. And that's not God pretending
that I'm something that I'm not. Oh no, I'm really righteous in
his sight based upon Christ's righteousness imputed. He still
sees my sins, but He doesn't charge them to me. That's what
the Bible means when God says, I'll remember their sins no more. God doesn't change. He doesn't
forget and memorize. God will never charge the sins
of His elect to them. He charged them to Christ. And
then the fifth essential has to do with the new birth, with
faith, with knowledge. That's the fruit of justification. In other words, those who are
justified will be born again by the Spirit under the gospel
and they will come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and
persevere in the faith under Him by His preserving grace.
That's the essentials of justification. I urge you to get that book and
study this, but you can see it here in God's Word. I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.