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 today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to continue preaching in the book
of Isaiah, chapter 45, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. And
the title of the message is, A Just God and a Savior. And I've taken that title from
verse 21, but we'll go back and read a few verses before that. A Just God and a Savior. Now,
I want you to understand how important That identification
of the God of all grace is a just God and a Savior. I preach this so much. It's the
heart of the gospel. It goes back to the age-old question
that was posed in the book of Job, for example. several times. And you know, scholars, biblical
scholars say that Job is the oldest book of the Bible. And
I don't know that that's true, but it doesn't matter. It's all
the Word of God. But if that is true, then you
can understand how old these questions are. For example, one
of Job's friends asked the question, how can a man be just with God? Now, first of all, what's he
asking? How can man who is a sinner, a sinful person, be right with
God? To be just with God is to be
forgiven of all my sins. Now listen, don't just say forgiveness,
add this. To be just with God is to be
forgiven of all my sins on a just and righteous ground. a basis,
you see. There has to be something solid
on which we can stand and claim to be forgiven. Now what I'm
telling you is God cannot, because of His character and His glory
and His nature, as a just God, a holy God, a righteous judge,
God cannot simply and arbitrarily just say, well I forgive you.
Now, when we talk about forgiveness amongst human beings, we're to
forgive each other unconditionally because we're all sinners. But
God is not a sinner. God is not a sinful being. God
is a just God. The Bible says that he reveals
himself in judgment. Shall not the God of all the
earth do right? This word just, can also be translated
righteous, both in the Old Testament Hebrew and in the New Testament
Greek. To be justified is to be forgiven of all my sins, past
sins, present sins, future sins, on a just and righteous ground. And then to be justified is to
be declared righteous before God. I'm righteous in God's sight. Not by my works. The Bible says
in Romans 3 in verse 10, there's none righteous, no not one. Well, what's that talking about?
It's talking about man by nature in his natural state, fallen
in Adam and born in trespasses and sins, spiritually dead, depraved
in darkness and unbelief. There's none righteous, no not
one. And here's what I want you to know. That includes the best
of us and the worst of us and everybody in between. None that
doeth good know not one. That's good according to God's
standard. Because God's standard of righteousness and goodness
is perfection. And so when we look at this,
God is a just God and a righteous God. He cannot save me or you. Somebody says, but no, wait a
minute, God's merciful, God's loving, God's gracious. Yes,
He is. But He cannot save sinners in mercy and in grace and in
love, apart from His justice, His holiness, being honored and
satisfied. And that's why this phrase adjust
God and a savior is so important. Going back to Job now, he said,
how can a sinful man be justified with God? How's that possible? Well, it's certainly not by the
works of man. You can work as hard as you want
to work trying to keep the law, but that won't do the trick.
That will not fulfill righteousness. And so that's the issue. And
this is what we need to focus on. Look at verse 20. This is
Isaiah the prophet speaking to the people of his day in the
Southern kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem. And he says here in
verse 20, and he talks to them in terms that pronounces judgment
upon them because of their sin. They were a rebellious people.
And we all are by nature now. And God never saves any of us
because we're better than them or better than anybody. If God
saves any sinner, me, you, whoever, it's by grace. And so when I
talk about God cannot show mercy without justice satisfied, the
word propitious He's the propitiation for our sins. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. The old publican said that word
is propitious. That shows mercy based upon justice
satisfied. God cannot show grace without
justice satisfied. Romans 5 21, as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That verse there is
where we get the title of our media ministry here, reign of
grace ministry. Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And he cannot love
sinners apart from justice being satisfied. First John four and
verse 10, hearing his love, not that we love God, but that he
loved us, his people, not all with exception, and sent his
son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins. So you see a just God and a savior. And this is something that God
had revealed in his law and he given to the nation Israel through
Moses and he gave them the 10 commandments which showed them
the high requirements. of God's law and it required
more than just not doing the act. For example, when he said,
thou shalt not kill. Can I say that I've kept that
law perfectly? I've never physically murdered
anybody. Well, he told them in the Sermon
on the Mountain, Matthew chapter five, I believe it's beginning
with verse 21. You've heard it said by them of old, thou shalt
not kill. He said, I say unto you that to be angry enough to
kill is sin. Be angry enough. Have you ever
wished somebody dead? Gotten so angry? And you see
what I'm saying? The law reaches the heart. Paul
dealt with that in Romans chapter seven. He said, before the spirit
came and revealed the reality of the law, he said, I really
didn't know the law. I thought I was keeping it. But
then I found out that the law slew me. In other words, if I'm
going to come before God and claim to be a law keeper, then
I better be perfect. And I'm not. And so when Isaiah
spoke to these people, he told them that God is a just God and
a savior, but he's got to be both. And he says in verse 20,
he says, assemble yourselves and come. draw near together,
you that are escaped of the nations, and that's the people that actually
come out of Babylon a hundred years later, but he says, they
have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image
and pray unto a God that cannot save. Now, one of the main questions
you and I and all of us need to ask ourselves is this, are
we praying, trusting, depending upon a God who can save or one
who cannot save? Well, you say, well, that's a
silly question. We're all trusting the true and living God. Are
you? The God of the Bible? The God who saves sinners by
his grace? Who is both a just God and a
savior? Or do you just have some idea
of God? I'll tell you what, this God
that preachers are telling people about, they say, God loves everybody
and Christ died for everybody and the rest is up to you. That's
not a God who can save. That's a God who cannot save.
You say, well, he just limits himself. You won't find that
in the Bible. You might find that among preachers and people
who claim to be Christian, but you won't find it in the Bible. If you see somebody bowing down
to a wooden image or a graven image, that's idolatry. But remember,
idolatry begins in the mind and the heart. It begins with a false
idea of God. Do you know God? Do you know
the God of the Bible, who He is and what He's like and what
He does? For example, He says that He's the God of election.
I was preaching on that one time, we had some visitors and a man
went out and asked a lady, he said, what do you think about
this thing of election? And she told me, she said, well, I didn't
know what to tell him. I said, well, I'll tell you exactly what
to tell him. Tell him it's in the Bible. It's in God's word. If it's in God's Word, it's true.
Whether you understand it, believe it, or like it, or what? He's
the God who chose a people before the foundation of the world and
gave them to Christ. And Christ said in John 6, 37,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will unknowwise cast out. He said, this is the
will of him that has sent me, that of all which he had given
me, all whom he had given me, I should lose nothing, but raise
it up again at the last day. They're called his sheep in John
chapter 10, verse 11. He said, I'm the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for who? For the sheep.
And he said, I know my sheep. And he said, I've got other sheep,
other than this Jewish, the elect of God out of this Jewish folk,
them also I must bring, he said. Why? Because he's their surety.
He's their substitute. He's their redeemer. And so he
tells us, if you're praying to a God that cannot save, where
does that leave you? It leaves you lost. And look
at verse 21. So tell ye, he says, and bring them near. Yea, let
them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? Now what the Lord is telling
Isaiah to tell him is this is no new message. Somebody might
say, listening to this program, they might say, well, I've never
heard these things before. You may have never heard them,
but they've been around since the beginning. This is no new
message. This is what God proclaimed from
the very beginning. When Adam and Eve fell and put
on their fig leaf aprons, which represented man's works and efforts
to hide his nakedness, his shame, what did God do? He took an animal
and slew that animal. He killed that animal. He shed
blood. Why? Because he's a just God.
That pictured God's justice satisfied in the death of a substitute.
And he made coats of skin, took those fig leaf aprons off, removed
those works, and put coats of skin on them. That's representative
of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see that? See, I have no righteousness,
except I have Christ's righteousness, which has been charged to my...
My sins were charged to Him, His righteousness to me. So who's
told this from ancient times? He said, have not I the Lord,
verse 21, and there is no God else beside me. Well, what's
so special about you, God? What's so distinctive about you?
Here it is, a just God. and a Savior. There's none beside
me, he says. Now that's the holiness of God.
That's the separateness of God. That's the uniqueness of God. There's one God, one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Who is this God? He's a just God and a Savior. He's a righteous judge, Romans
2 tells us he always judges according to truth. He never pretends. He never denies himself. His
judgments are always true and clear, and they're always right. That's who God is. And he's both
a righteous, but he's also a loving, merciful, gracious Savior. On what ground? Well, look at
verse 22 of Isaiah 45. This is great. He says, look
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I'm
God, there is none else. Look unto me, he says, look unto
who? A just God and a Savior. Not just some idea of God. Not
just the God of creation. Now we do look to the God of
creation. God created this world. But if all you see is the God
is the creator, then you haven't seen the true and living God.
You don't really know him. You know some things about him.
Paul deals with this in Romans chapter one, when he talks about
there's a general revelation of God in nature. There's also
a more specific revelation of God in the conscience and in
the law, the law of God written on man's heart. But my friend,
the saving revelation of God by which the Holy Spirit reveals
the true and living God and brings sinners to salvation is in the
gospel message that presents the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest
in the flesh, His person, the glory of His person, and the
power and success of His finished work, which is called the righteousness
of God. And that's how God can be both
a just God and a savior. So he says, look unto me, and
be ye saved all the ends of the earth, not just the Jews, not
just the Gentiles, but God's people all over this world, for
I'm God, there's none else. And look at verse 23. Now here
he's being more specific. He says, I have sworn by myself
What does that mean? That means God, Hebrews chapter
six talks about men swearing oaths to each other, making promises. And men always swear by something
to make the oath or the promise valid in their minds. Men and
women always swear by something greater than themselves. Well,
his point in Hebrews six is that God has sworn He has sworn to
save His people from their sins. His chosen people, He has sworn
to save them. He's given an oath to save them. And it's backed up, His oath
and His promise. Well, what does God swear by?
There's nothing greater than God. Well, he says, I have sworn
by myself. What that means is that God has
engaged everything that he is in his nature, his glory, his
character, his power, his love, his grace, and his mercy. He
has engaged all of that to ensure the salvation of his chosen people
in Christ. And so he says, I have sworn
by myself The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness.
You see, this is the thing about the gospel. The gospel is the
revelation of the righteousness of God that comes to his people
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. You think about Romans chapter
one, verses 16 and 17. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and the Greek or
the Gentile also. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. From faith means knowledge
revealed, that knowledge of just God and the Savior of Christ
and His righteousness revealed. To faith means knowledge believed
in the power of the Holy Spirit. From faith to faith, as it is
written, the justified, those who are forgiven, those who are
declared righteous, made right with God, reconciled to God,
those who are saved by grace, shall live by faith. They live
by looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith.
So back here in verse 23 of Isaiah 45, he says, I have sworn by
myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
justice satisfied by Christ, and it shall not return. That
means it's gonna, wherever God reveals it in the salvation of
his people, it's gonna hit its mark. It's not gonna return void. And he says, that unto me every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Now there he's talking
about his chosen people. They're gonna bow. And they're
gonna swear. What do you mean they're gonna
swear? They're gonna swear by God. They're gonna have confidence
in the Lord of their salvation. And here's what they say, verse
24. He says, surely shall one say, in the Lord, have I righteousness,
righteousness in all strength. In other words, my righteousness
is of God. He's going to declare that my
salvation, all of it, the beginning of it, the final glory of it,
and everything in between, is of the Lord. My forgiveness,
the forgiveness of my sins. It's not given to me or come
to me based upon anything that I do. You know, a lot of preachers
tell people that you cannot be forgiven until you repent. That's
not true. You'll only repent if you ever
see by the revelation of God that he has forgiven you of all
your sins through the blood of Christ. Repentance is the result. Faith is the result. You see,
salvation is not conditioned on you or me. It's conditioned
on Christ. The Bible says that those who
belong to God, saved by His grace, that they are blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's Ephesians 1.3. It says
in Romans 8, he that spared not his own son, how shall he not
with him freely, unconditionally, without a cause, give us all
things, all things in salvation. The Spirit of God reveals unto
us those things that are freely, unconditionally, without a cause,
given to us. First Corinthians 2. And what
is freely given to us? All of salvation. When Christ
When he came into the world and he grew in wisdom and stature
in his humanity now, not in his deity. And he came upon the scene
to be baptized. And he came to John the Baptist,
this is recorded in Matthew chapter 3. And he told John to baptize
him. You remember John said, I'm not
worthy. And he said, no, suffer it to be so. He said, allow this
to happen. Because, he said, suffer it to
be so for us. And I believe he's talking about
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, spoken of himself in
the plural, for us to fulfill all righteousness. Jeremiah in
chapter 23 and chapter 33 called Christ Jehovah Sidkanu in the
Hebrew. That's a transliteration, obviously. And it means the Lord, our righteousness. And so he says, surely, verse
24, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength.
I have no righteousness of my own. I have no power, no strength
of my own. My salvation, my continuation,
my preservation is all based upon what the Bible calls the
imputed righteousness of Christ. Paul wrote about that in Romans
chapter four. He began talking about Abraham
as an example of how God justifies the ungodly. And how does he
do it? By his grace. And that grace
reigns through righteousness. And he says in verse six of Romans
chapter four, he described the blessedness of the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Well, what does
that mean? Over in 2 Corinthians 5.21, it
says this, for He, that is God the Father, made Him, that is
Christ, the Son of God, to be sin or made Him sin for us who
knew no sin, that is Christ who knew no sin, for us that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's a great exchange. That's the heart of the gospel.
What's it saying? How was Christ made sin? By the
Father imputing, charging the sin debt of His people to the
account of Christ. And Christ willingly took it
upon Himself to pay the debt. That's called redemption. He's
the ransom prize. We're redeemed not with corruptible
things, were redeemed with the blood of Christ. He paid the
price. And that's why he came to this
world and took into union with his deity, a sinless human nature,
and walked the earth in obedience to the law. He said, I came to
keep the law, and I've kept it every jot and tittle. He told
him, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom
of heaven. In the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. And then he goes on in verse
24, he says, and all that are incensed against him shall be
ashamed. That's unbelievers. All who live
their lives in unbelief and die in their sins shall be ashamed. But whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall not be ashamed. And how do you call
upon the name of the Lord? As he is revealed in the gospel
message by the Spirit that brings a sinner to faith in Christ and
repentance of dead works, wherein we know how God can be both a
just God and a savior, a righteous judge and a loving father, a
heavenly father, a saving father, a merciful father. And upon what
ground does he forgive my sin? The blood of Christ. The satisfaction
that Christ brought in his death. And upon what ground can he declare
me righteous? The righteousness of Christ imputed.
And it says in verse 25, in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel
be justified and shall glory. That's spiritual Israel. That's
those who believe in Christ, both Jew and Gentile, the eternal
election of grace. the elect of God. They know a
just God. They know God as a just God and
a Savior. Do you know Him that way? Seek
the Lord. 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
by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.