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. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to
follow along in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching through
Romans chapter 4. Now, I've dealt with this subject
before concerning justification, salvation, justification. Salvation
has many facets, and I'm going to be talking about that. This
is sort of what I call a primer on grace. That's the title of
the message, A Primer on Grace, because I'm going back to the
basics. I do that a lot on this program intentionally because
this program is an evangelistic program. It's designed, or I
design it rather, to reach people who have never heard the gospel,
or those who think they've heard it, but haven't. I know that
sounds a little strange, but it's not. And then it's a teaching
program too, because I want all of you who claim to be Christians
to examine yourselves, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13, when
he told the Corinthian people, those who profess to believe
in Jesus Christ, be Christians, he said, examine yourselves whether
you be in the faith. In other words, that self-examination,
most people when they think of self-examination, they think
of looking inward at themselves to see if they measure up in
some way as to what they believe a Christian should be. And now,
there's nothing wrong with studying the Bible to find out what God
says a Christian, a believer, should be, a sinner saved by
grace. But to examine ourselves whether
we be in the faith, that's 2 Corinthians 13, five, is not a self-introspection. What that is is to ask myself
continually, am I truly in the faith. Now that word faith there
is a noun, not a verb, and it has to do with the doctrine of
Christ, the doctrine of the gospel, the doctrine of grace. And what
that tells me when I examine myself according to the scripture
is this, it answers this question, am I truly sincerely looking
to the true Christ of the Bible for my whole salvation? Or am
I just fooling myself? Do I truly believe salvation
totally by the grace of God? And the reason that's so important
is because we by nature deceive ourselves. One old preacher said
years ago, I heard him say this, he said, we all think we're saved
before we are saved, until we are saved. And that's true because
for years I grew up in religion thinking that I was a Christian,
thinking that I'd given my heart to Jesus, that I had accepted
Him as my personal Savior. And then when I really began
to study the Bible and when the Lord God in His sovereign power
revealed it to me, I found out that I didn't believe this Bible
at all. I believe my ideas, who Jesus
was, who God is, who I was. And that's why it's important
that we examine ourselves. So that's why I keep going back
to the basics. I think about the Apostle Paul
writing to the church at Philippi. He told them, he said, to preach
the same thing to you is not burdensome to me and is good
for you. And I agree with that. Now, you
know, I try to go through the scriptures and this is expository
preaching. Going through Romans chapter
four, and we'll go through other scriptures. But a primer on grace,
and the question is this, what is the reality of God's grace? Because a lot of people, I'm
afraid, and I know I did this for years until the Lord opened
my eyes to see. Christ said you must be born
again or you cannot see the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.
And so he has to give us eyes to see, that's the new birth,
that's a sovereign act of God. He can give light or he can withhold
light. The Bible says that now, that's
God's prerogative. And I know people don't like
the sovereignty of God. Things like Paul writes in Romans
chapter nine, where he wrote, God said, I'll have mercy on
whom I will, I'll be gracious to whom I will. And he said,
therefore, it's not of him that runneth, that means those who
work, nor of him that willeth, not of man's will, but of God
that showeth mercy. And so this is totally, we're
totally subject to God's power and grace, His sovereign power
and grace. There's no other kind of grace
but sovereign grace. And God shows it to whom He will
and He withholds it to whom He will. Now you may not like that,
but you see, God's the creator. We're the creature. We're the
creation. God's the potter. We're the clay. Now we operate on this plane,
on this earth, with the knowledge that we have concerning what
God has revealed in the Bible. And so when I talk about, for
example, the doctrine of election, a lot of people don't like that,
but the Bible preaches it. The Bible says over in Romans
chapter eight, I think it's verse 34, or 33 or 34, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justify
it. And whoever God's elect are,
they cannot be charged with sin. And somebody will argue all the
time, say, well, it doesn't matter what I do. If I'm not one of
the elect, God won't save me. No, you don't know who the elect
are. God does. God's written their
names in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the
world. They're in Christ even before this world was created.
But you don't know and I don't know, that's why we preach the
gospel. Christ said, go ye into all the world and preach the
gospel to everyone who'll listen. That's basically what he means.
Our responsibility is to seek the Lord and seek him in his
word. That's why we have this Bible,
this book. This is such a great book. Well,
what is grace? I'm afraid that so many people
who think they believe salvation by grace, are really in a cleverly
disguised system of works that they call grace. We deceive ourselves, Satan deceives
us, that's why we need to go by the word of God. Well, in
Romans chapter four, look at verse one. The apostle Paul,
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that's what we have to understand
now, when we approach the word of God. This is not the apostle
Paul's opinion here. This is not his idea. This is not as what I learned
in the seminary that I went to, which didn't preach truth. This is not Paul line theology. This is basic theology. This
is the theology of God himself, the study of God. When I was
in seminary, we would study Pauline theology, Johannine, that's what
John wrote, Petrine theology, that's what Peter wrote. No,
they're the same theology. And it's the theology of salvation
by the grace of God in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. who fulfilled
all conditions of salvation and provided for all blessings and
benefits of salvation for his people for whom he died. And
that's what the Bible says. So when Paul writes here in Romans
4 or Romans 3 or Ephesians or Philippians, Thessalonians, whatever
book it is, John, Peter, the Old Testament too now. Moses
wrote the first five books, but it was God writing it. This is
God inspired. And if you don't approach it
that way, you'll think just like most people today, well, you
see it your way, I see it my way. No, we've got to see it
God's way and God has to reveal it. What you think about a particular
scripture does not set forth the truth of it. What God reveals
of it sets forth the truth. And so, when we read these words,
understand that Paul, when he wrote this, he was inspired by
the Holy Spirit to write the Word of God. And here's what
he says, he asked a question. He says, what shall we say then
that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath
found? Now, what's his point here? Well,
you know these churches, he's writing to the church at Rome
here. And incidentally, that's not the Catholic Church as we
know it today. That didn't even come into existence
until later on. But this was a group of believers
who lived in the city of Rome. You know about Rome, the Roman
Empire? You know about Caesar and the
Roman legions, all of that? I'm not gonna go into all that
history. But there were a group of people I don't know how many
there were, and it doesn't matter. They're not like churches, they
put up on the wall their attendance and their income. That's not
the issue. The issue is the Lord there with
them. And so a group of believers in
the city of Rome, and they were made up of Gentile believers
and Jewish believers. And so when Paul approaches this,
what shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to
the flesh, hath found? What he's talking about is the
national, natural, ethnic Jews. Because he says this, now listen
to it. He says, what shall we say then that Abraham, our father,
as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Now Abraham is called
the spiritual father of any believer. Gentile and Jew. But he's not
the fleshly, natural father of Gentiles. Now, why is Abraham
called the father of the faithful? Well, it's not because Abraham
saves us. We're not saved by Abraham. We're
not saved by following Abraham. Abraham was a sinner saved by
grace. When God found Abraham in the Ur of the Chaldees, which
is modern day, what, Iraq, or Iraq, I believe. Abraham was
an idolater. And so God called him, God revealed
himself to Abraham and called him out of Ur of the Chaldees.
Abraham was a sinner saved by grace. But when he calls Abraham
the father of the faithful, what he's talking about is Abraham
is a prototype or a prime example of how God saves sinners. And
so if we believe the gospel, If we've been brought by God
in the new birth to believe in Christ, we're doing the same
thing that God did to Abraham. That's what he's saying. Believers
are called the seed of Abraham. We'll see that later on in this
chapter. Over in Galatians chapter three,
Christ himself is called the seed of Abraham. Not because
Christ himself was saved like Abraham, but it was through the
earthly, fleshly, physical lineage of Abraham that the human body,
the humanity of Christ came into the world. He was made of the
seed of Abraham. And that's his humanity, his
sinless humanity. And of course, Abraham, and then
as it came down to Judah, the tribe of Judah, Jacob's son Judah,
Israel's son, and then on down to King David, that line, Solomon,
on down through the tribe of Judah. And so he was made of
the seed of David, according to the flesh. And both Mary and
Joseph were of the tribe of Judah. And he came through Mary, the
Virgin Mary, but he wasn't conceived by a father like Joseph, by a
physical father. Christ was made of the seed of
David in the womb of the Virgin Mary as he was conceived by the
Holy Spirit. And so, In his fleshly human
body, he came through the lineage of Abraham. So he says, what
shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to
the flesh, hath found? Now Paul is talking about the
doctrine here of justification. Justification. Because in verse
two, listen to what he says. For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory, to boast, but not before
God. Now, how was Abraham justified? Now, that's what Paul was dealing
with here. Now, why is Paul dealing with that? Well, he had just
finished in chapter three, giving one of the most, we may say,
technical or detailed truths and teachings of how God
saves sinners by His grace. And back up in chapter three,
now we'll back up. I'm gonna take my time, I'm not
gonna whip through chapter four. I want you to see this. This
is a primer on grace. And back up in chapter three
in verse nine. What Paul had done here, Way
back in, and I'm gonna read chapter three now, but way back in chapter
one, the apostle Paul had posed this issue, that if we're going
to be saved before God now, we as sinful people, we're going
to have to have the righteousness of God. Now, how in the world
Can a sinful human being, how in the world could any human
being, even if he wasn't sinful, but we are, but how in the world
could any human being claim to have the righteousness of God?
Because what is the righteousness of God? Well, that's God's righteousness.
And Paul is saying here that if you're a Gentile, he starts
off in Romans 1.18 bringing in Gentiles and the whole human
race actually guilty before God. And then he goes to the Jews
in Romans chapter two. The Jews who had been privileged
throughout the Old Testament times with revelations from God,
miracles, God kept them together until Christ came. and all of
their privileges, they had the law of Moses, they had the tabernacle,
they had the sacrifices, the feast days, all of those things
that were really intended by God to point sinners to Christ. Every one of them, even the Ten
Commandments. The Ten Commandments was never
given to the Jews to be a way of salvation, that by their law
keeping they could be justified before God. What is it to be
justified? It means to be forgiven of all
my sins on a just ground. And that's important. That last
part I said, now that's really important. You need to understand
that. You know, preachers all up and down this country, they'll
teach the forgiveness of sins, but not on a just ground. They'll
teach forgiveness based upon your believing. That's not a
just ground for forgiveness. They'll teach forgiveness of
sins because of your repenting, your crying over your tears.
I heard a preacher on TV years ago, a famous preacher, had thousands
of people watching him. And he said, what is the cost
of forgiveness? And here's his answer. The cost
of forgiveness is your repentance. No, sir, that's not a just ground. You see, if God's gonna forgive
my sins, He must be just in doing so. Somebody would say, well,
now, what about God's mercy? What about His love? What about
His grace? Well, God is a merciful God.
Oh, listen, Lamentations 3 tells us, it says, if it weren't for
the Lord, we'd all be consumed. If it weren't for His grace,
we'd all be consumed. We'd all be damned forever, eternally
damned. But His mercy, His faithfulness
endures forever. God is a merciful God. God is
a loving God. God loves. Now, I'll tell you
this much too. God also hates. You don't believe
that? You better read your Bible. And
preachers say, well, God doesn't really hate. He just loves less.
That's a lie. Now God's hatred is not sinful
like our hatred is. If I hate someone, it's sinful
because it's selfish. It's vengeful. But when God hates
someone, you know what it is? It's strict justice. It's righteous
indignation. We can, even believers can strive
for righteousness, righteous indignation. David said, I hate
every false way. And I can say that. There's only
one way of salvation, and that's by God's grace through the blood
and righteousness of Christ. And I hate any other way. Anybody
who comes along and preaches any other way, I hate that way. Now, am I to love them? Well,
as a human being, I am. The Bible says, love your neighbor
as yourself. But what I do is I pray for their
salvation. I don't speak peace to them.
I don't lie to them. I don't say you're okay and I'm
okay. Remember back, and some of you all may be as old as I
am, and you can remember back during the 70s when that fellow
wrote the book, I'm okay, you're okay. That's a message of false
preachers today. We're all okay, we're just going
different roads on the same guy. No, that's not the case. So to be justified is to be forgiven
of our sins on a just ground. Yes, God is merciful. Yes, God
is loving. Yes, God is gracious. But he
must be just to do so. And that's what Paul had written
back here in Romans chapter three. He brings both Jew and Gentile
in guilty before God, sinful people who are in need of a righteousness
that we cannot produce. And let me tell you something
now. It's established that righteousness is not just our efforts to be
moral. Righteousness is not human morality. Righteousness is the perfection
of the law. And notice I said the perfection
of the law, which can only be found in Christ, who kept the
law. Romans 10 and verse four says,
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. He's the finishing of it. And
so he says in Romans three and verse 10, as it is written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. Do I have righteousness? Not
in myself. Not by my works. He says in verse
11 of chapter three, there is none that understandeth. By nature,
we don't understand these things. God has to teach us. He has to
reveal them to us. That's why we have his word.
There is none that seeketh after God. Now man by nature is religious. He seeks after a God, but it's
a God of his imagination. Unless the true and living God
reveals himself to his people, We'll continue seeking a God
of our own imagination. He says in verse 12, they are
all gone out of the way, that is God's way. They are together
become unprofitable. Even in religion, there is none
that doeth good, no not one. That's goodness according to
God's measure. God's standard, not man's. And
he draws the conclusion down here in verse 19 of chapter three. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God." Guilty meaning subject to the judgment of God. Condemnation. In light of that, there's a therefore,
verse 20, therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
All the law can do for us is show us our sins. That's why
sinners who seek salvation by their law keeping are deceived. And if they continue in that
until up through death, they'll die in their sins. You see, righteousness
is the perfect satisfaction to the law and justice of God. So
God, to be justified, by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified
in God's sight. To be justified is to be forgiven
of all my sins on a just ground. Now, according to the Bible,
what is the only just ground upon which God forgives sins?
Like that preacher who said, what is the cost of forgiveness? And he said, your repentance.
No, sir, that's not a just ground. The only just ground is the blood
of Jesus Christ. And that's what he says here
in verse 21. But now the righteousness of
God, remember we said we got to have the righteousness of
God. The righteousness of God without the law, that's without
our law keeping, is manifested, it's made known by being witnessed
by the law and the prophet, even the law, Moses and the law and
the prophets of the Old Testament. Verse 22, even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe, for there's no difference. Verse 23, for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now think
about that. He says the righteousness of
God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Now some translations
will change that. And they'll say by faith in Jesus
Christ, but that's not right. He's not talking about a believer's
faith in Christ at this point. He says, all them that believe,
that's talking about faith in Christ, but it's faith in Christ
in the glory of His person. Who is He? He's God manifest
in the flesh, and the power of His finished work, that is His
work of redemption on the cross, to bring forth the righteousness
of God, which God has freely imputed to all who believe. How do I know I have Christ's
righteousness charged to my account? God has brought me to believe
in Him. So it's the faith of Christ. It's Christ's faithfulness
to do what the Father sent Him to do, and that's to obey unto
death, even the death of the cross. And here's what he says,
verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. What is the glory of God? That's the glorious person and
work of Christ. In other words, we don't measure
up. And so in this primer on grace, before we get to Abraham,
what we have to see is we're on the same boat as Abraham.
We're sinners who cannot save ourselves. We're sinners who
cannot work out righteousness for ourselves. We're sinners,
if God's gonna save us, it's got to be by His grace. through
the righteousness of Christ, and that's what he says in verse
24, being justified freely, unconditionally by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. 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.