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 with the message, I'll be preaching from the Psalms
today, specifically Psalm 53. And my main text is the last
verse of this chapter, Psalm 53, this song written, I believe,
by David, written by God through David. And the title of the message
is salvation of Zion. You've heard the term Zion, Z-I-O-N. Okay, what is Zion? And salvation,
the salvation of Zion. And let me, this is a short Psalm,
it's just six verses, but let me read the whole thing to you
to set up what I'm going to say. It begins with a strong indictment
by God, an indictment of man, man by nature, fallen in Adam,
ruined by the fall in his sins. And what I want you to understand
now is that when I read these first verses, don't relegate
them off to someone else. How do they apply to you? How
do they apply to me? You may say, well, that doesn't
apply to me at all. I'm telling you, it does. It applies to all
of us by nature. And I say that all the time,
but when I say nature by nature, I'm talking about how we are
naturally born into this world. And what does the Bible teach
me about myself, about what I am by nature? And it tells me that
I fell in Adam. Adam was the representative of
the whole human race, the whole human family. And when he fell,
we all fell into a state of sin and death. That's what the scripture
teaches. And as a result of that, we are
born spiritually dead by nature. When we're born into this world,
we have physical life from God, the spark of life. We have physical
faculties, mental faculties, emotions. We have a conscience.
But it's all spiritually dead. that is void of spiritual life. And that means by nature, we
will not receive and accept and love and believe the things that
glorify God. And that's the reason that we
have to be born again. You must be born again. Remember
what Christ said, you must be born again or you cannot see
the kingdom of God. Now I have, you know, ever since
I've been born, I've had physical sight. Some people are born without
that physical sight or they lose it. But I can see, but before
I was born again, I couldn't see the value, the truth, the
worth, the glory of the salvation that God has freely and fully
provided for His people in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. My
eyes, my mind was blinded. You see, and I couldn't see the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And the way that we gauge
that is how do you respond to the preaching of the true gospel? And that's what it's talking
about. And so look at these first verses, Psalm 53, it says, the
fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Now, if we looked
at that in the original and saw how it really works out, what
the fool's saying, he's not just talking about atheists only.
Now, they say there is no God, but literally what this verse
means is the fool had said in his heart, no God for me. And it's an indictment against
man who refuses the God of the Bible. I heard a story years
ago about an old preacher who was preaching, a visiting preacher
at another church, where they didn't preach the true gospel,
the doctrines of grace, the doctrine of Christ. And the man got up
and he preached things about election, God's sovereignty,
God chooses whom he will, passes by others. And the preacher went
home with a family to eat dinner, and the man whose home it was,
he was offended by the message, and he told the preacher, he
said, preacher, he said, my God wouldn't do the things you said
your God would do. And the preacher looked at him,
he said, well, I expect you're right. But his God, the God he worshiped
was an idol. The preacher preached the true
God. And so what the man was saying essentially was, no God,
I won't have that God. It's like when they told Christ,
the Pharisees told the Romans, we will not have this man to
rule over us. We don't want him. And so man
by nature rejects. The Bible says it, 1 Corinthians
2.14, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. Neither can he know them. They're spiritually understood. Spiritually discerned. So the
fool has said in his heart, no God for me. Corrupt are they
and have done abominable iniquity. Now iniquity means it doesn't
balance out. And he says there's none that
doeth good. Now the goodness that he's speaking
of here is not the goodness that man gauges and judges. You know, we see people in the
world who do a lot of good things according to our standard of
goodness. A morals person, a charitable
person, all of that. But he's talking about there's
none good, no not one, according to God's standard of goodness.
Now this is repeated over in Romans 3. There's, Romans 3 in
verse 10, there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that
seeketh after God. There's none that, they're all
gone out of the way. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. And so it says in verse two,
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if
there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Verse three. Every one of them is gone back.
They are together become filthy. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Now what I'm telling you is this.
Now God's looking down. He's not trying to find out information. He's making a point. And here's
the point. That among men and women by nature,
all born of Adam, We are all equally sinful. We equally fall
short. Every one of them has gone back
together, become filthy in God's sight. And he says, there's none
good that doeth good, no, not one. There's none good by nature.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. You know, there's
another Psalm that gives you the exact same words as this
one. This one adds a little bit to it. It's Psalm 14. Read that
one sometime. But here he's talking about the
nature of man. And basically here's what he's
saying. You can sum it up like it's summed up in Romans 3.23.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If
God, now think about it, as we are born in our natural, spiritually
dead, sinful state, and listen now, if you deny that, then you
don't need salvation. If you believe that you're born
good or innocent and you have that spark of goodness, you don't
need salvation. You don't need Christ. But I
need him. I need salvation. And so here's
the point. If God were to come down here
and gather the whole human race through all generations together
and leave us in our natural state and just simply give out this
offer and say, now how many of you will serve and worship me
None of us would say yes. We wouldn't choose him. And that's
why we must be born again. So he says in verse four, now
look at Psalm 53. Have the workers of iniquity
no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they
eat bread? They have not called upon God.
He's talking about false preachers there, I believe. Workers of
iniquity. They preach a gospel that does
not lead sinners to side with God against themselves and look
to Christ for all righteousness. Verse five, there were they in
great fear where no fear was. That's legal fear. The Bible
says in Romans 3.18 that by nature there's no fear of God before
eyes, no reverence of God. But here this is a legal fear.
For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against
thee, thou hast put them to shame because God hath despised them.
God hated them. That's what that means. I know
people don't like to hear that, but that's what the Bible teaches.
If you get mad at me, that's okay, but I didn't write this.
God did. God despised, God hath despised
them. But there is a people whom God
loves. And who are they? And that's
what the sixth verse here is dealing with. And he says, oh,
that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion. The salvation
of Zion. When God bringeth back the captivity
of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad. That's a verse that applies to
all believers. all whom God has given spiritual
life and brought to faith in Christ. And so what he's talking
about is salvations of the Lord. And it's the salvation of Israel,
and it comes out of Zion. What is Zion? You know, people
use that term. We have a hymn, we're marching
to Zion. Well, literally speaking, it
was a hill on the outside of Jerusalem, I think that David
built a palace there, a home there. But Zion is a picture,
it is a type, it is a symbol of God's kingdom, the church,
God's city, God's Zion. and it's made up of Israel. Now Israel here, as far as Israel
is concerned, there can be temporal, imperfect or incomplete applications
to the nation Israel under the old covenant for a limited period
of time. But the ultimate, perfect, and
complete revelation belongs to spiritual Israel. Now, who is
spiritual Israel? Well, they are those who are
saved. What does the word Israel mean?
It means those who have prevailed with God. Well, how can I, a
sinner, prevail with God? There's only one way. That is,
come before Him washed in the blood and clothed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God said it. He said, this is
my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. There's
one God and one mediator between God and man. Amen. The man Christ
Jesus. And it'll come out of Zion. Let
me show you some other scripture here. Look at the book of Isaiah,
chapter 46. And go to the last two verses
of that chapter. Verses 12 and 13. This is Isaiah
46, verse 12. God says, hearken unto me, you
stout-hearted. Now what is a stout-hearted person?
It's a proud person. Not humble, you see, not humble
before God, an unbeliever. Hearken unto me, you stout-hearted,
that are far from righteousness. You're trying to be righteous,
you're trying to be good, but you're far from it, you cannot
attain it. And so he says in verse 13, I
bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off, and
my salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel, my glory. Now, how is God gonna bring near
His righteousness? He sent Jesus Christ, His Son,
into the world, made of a woman, that's His humanity, sinless
humanity, made under the law, that's His responsibility of
salvation, has to be of satisfying the law, and it was on His shoulders,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law,
that they might receive the adoption of sons, and so it's all conditioned
on Christ. Zion, the church, is saved by
God bringing near his righteousness. You look at these terms back
here in Psalm 53. Israel, he says, when God bringeth
back the captivity of his people, his people were in captivity.
You say, well, that applies to physical Israel. Well, it has
a limited application to them, a physical one, a temporal one.
They were in bondage in Egypt, God delivered them. They were
in bondage in Babylon. God delivered them. They were
in bondage in Rome. God did not deliver them. In
fact, he destroyed them. That old covenant was over. The
new covenant was established by Christ. Many of the passages that talk
about the captivity of Jacob says he will bring back the captivity
of Jacob. Well, the only complete eternal
spiritual fulfilling of that promise is in the church. who
many times in scripture are called sons of Jacob. And so what does
he say? Jacob shall rejoice and Israel
shall be glad. Now look at what's happening
here. Jacob, the name Jacob, that's a popular name and I know
people name their children Jacob, but the name Jacob means a supplanter,
a cheat. And that's what he was named.
You say, well, why was he named that? I don't know, but God intended
it. It was God's work. And so Jacob, spiritually speaking,
in the spiritual application of it, refers to God's people
in their sin. What am I? I'm a sinner, saved
by grace. But you remember back in the
book of Genesis, God changed Jacob's name. And he said, you'll
no longer be called Jacob, but you'll be called Israel. What
does Israel mean? It means one who has prevailed
with God. That was given in the episode that Jacob wrestled with
the man, who I believe was a pre-incarnate visitation of Christ and would
not let him go until he blessed him. And that's a picture of
a sinner who sees his sinfulness holding on for dear life. knowing
he has no hope but Christ. And that's what happened. In
the book of Malachi chapter three and verse six, the Lord says,
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. That's not talking about physical
Israel. They were consumed. They were
consumed in AD 70. It's talking about God's elect
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation And you see
the different names they're given, Jacob and Israel, even the word
Jew. If you look over in book of Romans,
in Romans chapter two, listen to this. He says in verse 28
of Romans two, for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly,
neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise
is not of men, but of God." That's talking about the new birth.
In other words, what God's teaching us there is that if we've been
born again by the Spirit, evidenced by our looking to, resting in
Christ and His righteousness alone, we are spiritual Jews,
we're spiritual Israelites. I know a lot of people don't
like that, but that's what the scripture teaches. That's the long and
the short of it. Salvation comes out of Zion. In other words, the church who
Christ redeemed with his own precious blood, they are the
living witnesses on earth of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. What is a church for? Now, that's
an interesting question, isn't it? A lot of people, they think
the church is here to relieve the bad things or the oppression
that man suffers here on earth, and that's not what the church
is here for. Now, I'm not against anybody being charitable and
doing charitable works to help people, but the mission of the
church is to be the pillar and ground of truth to preach Christ,
to preach the gospel, to seek out Christ's sheep by preaching
to everyone. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. And that's how salvation comes
out of Zion because Zion preaches Christ. And we can make a physical
application even to Christ in that sense. Salvation comes out
of Zion. Where was Christ born? He was
born in Bethlehem. And he was raised in that area
of Judea. And he worked and operated in
that area. He never went outside those borders,
in fact. And he is the salvation of his
people. Stand still and see the salvation.
So he came out of Zion. But you see, that's all the glorious
fulfillment of all of that. is in the salvation of His church
by His blood and His righteousness. He died to save His people from
their sins. He died for His sheep, to bring
them into the fold. He stood as our surety, having
the sins of His people, the people whom God gave Him before the
foundation of the world. He stood as their surety. That
means all of the sins of God's people were imputed, charged,
accounted to Him. and by his righteousness that
he came unto the earth as our substitute, took my place under
the wrath of God, and satisfied justice, drank damnation dry,
as I say, and redeemed me from my sins. They're the redeemed
of the Lord. And they are known by the fact
that they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse
six of Psalm 53, it says, when God bringeth back the captivity
of his people, Jacob. Now, what is that captivity?
That's our bondage in sin. You see, we're born in sin. We're
born spiritually dead. And we're in bondage to sin until
Christ, by the Spirit, sets us free. And that reveals, you know,
there's two types of freedom that the Bible teaches us of.
And if you'll look over at Romans chapter six, you'll see that.
Look with me there. Romans chapter 6. It speaks of
a legal freedom and a spiritual freedom in Romans chapter 6.
And here's the legal freedom. He says, and it's based upon
the death of Christ and the union of his people in that death.
Romans 6, 7 says, for he that is dead is freed. That word freed there means justified
from sin. What does that mean? That means
we're forgiven of all our sins. On what ground? On the ground
of the death, burial, resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. On
the ground of His righteousness imputed. We are made right with
God. We have a right relationship
with God. We can come near to God. He accepts
our persons and our works. Why? On what ground? The righteousness
of Christ. That's our legal freedom. The
law cannot hold me any longer. The law cannot condemn me, for
there is therefore now no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Over in Romans
8, it says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies. So we are set free from that
bondage of sin by the death of Christ legally. But that's not
all salvation is. There's another part that stems
from that. His righteousness imputed to
me is the ground of my salvation. The fruit of it is a spiritual
freedom that comes in the new birth through the preaching of
the gospel, wherein the Holy Spirit brings me to faith in
Christ, sets me free in my mind and my heart and my conscience.
And it says here, look at Romans 6 and verse 17. It says in verse
17 of Romans 6, but God be thanked that you were the servants of
sin. Now that's not just talking about
an immoral person. It's talking about people who
are in unbelief. Unbelievers, all unbelievers,
whether they're model citizens or criminals in prison, they're
servants of sin. The Pharisees appeared righteous
unto men, but they were servants of sin. So you were the servants
of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart. Now, what kind of
heart is that? That's the mind, the affections,
and the will, that's the new heart that God gives his people
in the new birth. That's spiritual life. He raises
them from the dead spiritually. Ezekiel spoke of that. When God
told him, he said, I'll give them a new heart. I will cause
them to walk in my statues, believe the gospel. And it says, you
believe from the heart, obeyed from the heart, that form of
doctrine which was delivered to you or which you were delivered
to, that's the gospel. You see, that's how the Holy
Spirit regenerates and brings us in conversion to Christ. Under the preaching of the gospel,
he gives life to the dead. And from that gospel preach,
he applies that great truth to the new heart, the mind, the
affections, the will. Convicts us of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment and drives us to Christ. And he says in verse
18, being then made free from sin. Now, that word freed over
in Romans 6-7 was justified. That's the legal freedom. But
here, the word free is a different word. It's liberated. That means
we're let out of jail. We come out of jail, and he says,
being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. And what is a servant of righteousness?
Well, it's a servant of Christ. It's a believer, a justified
sinner. A saint, a sinner saved by grace. who has freedom to come unto
God, knowing and being assured that he will be accepted and
blessed, not because of his own merit or his own work or his
sincerity or anything in him or done by him, but because of
Christ, the merits of Christ, his righteousness imputed, charged,
accounted to me. That sets me free. That cleanses
my conscience. See, everybody has a conscience,
you have a guilty conscience, a condemned conscience, but what
will set me free in the court of my own conscience? Well, it's
when I find relief, when I find satisfaction, when I find peace,
when I find salvation that's come out of Zion in Christ. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. And that's who he's talking about
here. spiritual Israel, sons of Jacob. The Bible teaches that
all in passages like for example, Romans nine and Galatians three,
you can read these, that the people of God, the seed of God,
the seed of Christ, the seed of Abraham are made up by those
who believe in Christ, whether they be physically Jews or physically
Gentiles. Romans 1 16 says, for I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first. Okay. It came through the Jews and
to the Gentile. In Ephesians chapter two, we're
told that any wall of partition or natural division that separated
believing Jews from believing Gentiles is gone. They are brought
together in what Ephesians two calls one new man in Christ. They make up Zion. God's brought
near his righteousness. I hope you can see that. 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 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.