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 go back into the
Old Testament, into the Psalms. And specifically Psalm 111. And
my text is verse 9. Psalm 111, verse 9. And I want
to talk to you today about three glorious truths. Three glorious
truths that are set forth in this verse. where it says in
verse nine, listen to this, Psalm 111 verse nine. He, that is God,
sent redemption unto his people. It says, he hath commanded his
covenant forever. Holy and reverend is his name. He sent redemption, he commanded
his covenant, holy and reverend is his name. glorious truths,
gospel truths, truths concerning salvation for God's people. Now the first glorious truth
there is just in the words now, God sent redemption unto his
people. What a glorious truth that is.
The second one is this, God hath commanded his covenant forever. And that's a beautiful thing.
That's necessary for the salvation of sinners. And the third one
is holy and reverend is His name. And that's what we see in the
glory of God. The first one, God sent redemption
unto His people. That speaks of the ground of
salvation. Because what is it talking about?
How did God send redemption to His people? Well, I hope if you
have any knowledge at all of the scripture or claim to be
a Christian, that you would say that that's talking about God's
glorious grace and power to send Christ into the world to redeem
His people from their sins. Because that's why He came. His
name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. And in that salvation, He had
to pay the redemption price, a Redeemer. That's who Christ
is. I will sing of my Redeemer. God sent redemption to His people. Now again, that speaks of the
ground of salvation, because the ground had to be laid in
the glorious person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the foundation of the
world, God chose a people and put all the responsibility of
the salvation of those people upon His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And in order to save them, God
imputed, charged, accounted all of their sins, the sin debts
you might say, to Christ. He became responsible for my
sin debt. He became responsible to work
out righteousness for me. He became accountable to do what
was required to save me from my sins. And then, in the process
of time, Galatians 4.4 says, in the fullness of the time,
that's when the appointed time, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, Now, God sent forth His Son, that speaks of His deity. Jesus Christ is God. The Son, God the Son, the second
person of the Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit
in every attribute of His deity. So, in the fullness of the time,
Galatians 4.4, in the fullness of the time, God sent forth His
Son made of a woman. Now, that's His sinless humanity. Jesus Christ was not born into
sin as you and I were. Jesus Christ was born of the
Holy Spirit, conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the
Holy Spirit, that holy thing, that holy seed. And he had a
humanity, a human nature, body and soul, with all the infirmities
and weaknesses of the flesh, but without sin. He is God in
sinless human flesh, God-man. And the reason He did that is
so that He could pay the sin debt for His people, which is
His death. As God, He couldn't die, but
as man, He did die. So Jesus Christ, as our surety,
as the surety of God's elect, His people, was sent forth into
the world The Word made flesh, God manifest in the flesh to
take the place of His people, to substitute Himself in their
place under the law. He was made of a woman, Galatians
4.4, He was made under the law. That is, He became responsible
to satisfy the justice of the law against my sins. So as my
surety and my substitute, and it says he was made of a woman,
made under the law, to what? Redeem them that were under the
law. As my surety, he came and substituted
himself in my place and redeemed me from my sin. He paid the full
redemption price. And the Bible tells us that Christ
alone as the substitute of his people, secured their full salvation
by the merit of his one sacrifice for sins. Hebrews 10, 14 says,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And it's all because of the redemption
price that he paid in the place of his people. that we might,
as Galatians 4, 5 says, receive the adoption of sons. The only
way we could get into God's family by adoption is by the redemption
price being paid by Jesus Christ as the Redeemer. And it's because
we are His sons. The Bible says, God sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Salvation conditioned on Christ, who fulfilled those conditions
to secure and guarantee the salvation of all for whom he died. He is
the very righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. In order
for me to be saved, in order for me to be a full-fledged member
of the household and family of God by adoption and by redemption,
and by regeneration, the new birth. Christ must have paid
the full redemption price. He must have worked out a perfect
righteousness whereby God could be just to justify the ungodly. Over in the book of Isaiah, chapter
46, there's a prophecy of Christ. And it says God, when he calls
sinners to repentance. And he says this, he said, I
bring near my righteousness. What does that mean? He sent
Christ into the world to work out righteousness. Our sins,
the sins of his people, imputed to Christ, his righteousness
imputed to them. So God sent redemption unto his
people. What a statement. What a glorious
truth that is. If God had not sent redemption
for His people, if He hadn't done that, there'd be no salvation
for His people. And notice it says there in Psalm
111, He sent redemption unto His people. Now, who are His
people? Well, some say, well, that means
everybody in the world. No. Matthew 121, I quoted a while
ago, says, when the angel told Joseph that Mary was going to
have a son and not to put her away, you shall call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Who are
his people? Well, that leads us to the next
glorious truth here. In Psalm 111, verse nine, point
one, the first glorious truth, he sent redemption to his people.
Who are his people? He hath commanded His covenant
forever. It's His covenant people. That's
who they are. God hath commanded His covenant
people. His covenant forever of His people. Now, as the first glorious truth,
God sent redemption unto His people, that speaks of the ground
of salvation. The second glorious truth, God
hath commanded his covenant forever, that speaks of the source of
salvation. The source of salvation is the
everlasting covenant of grace made between the Father and the
Son before the world began. And my friend, you can't, listen,
if you study the Bible, you can't get away from this. People want
to get away from it. But you read all the book of
Romans, Ephesians 1 for example, 2 Timothy 1. All of these, how
God chose a people before the foundation of the Lord and gave
them to Christ. Those are His covenant people.
Who did Christ himself say they were? He said in John 6.37, they
are all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Who's that talking
about? Those whom the Father gave him
in sovereign electing grace before the foundation of the world.
That's what it is. In John chapter 10, he says they
are his sheep. He said, for whom did Christ
die? The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He said, I am the good shepherd.
I know my sheep and am known of mine. My sheep hear my voice. What does that mean? What is
his voice? That's the preaching of the gospel wherein Christ
is revealed in the glory of his person, who he is. God manifests
in the flesh and in the power of his finished work on the cross,
the very righteousness of God, which has been imputed to his
people, charged to his people, whereby they have life from the
dead and are brought to here. They have ears to hear. They
have eyes to see. They've been born again. They
have a new heart, a new mind, new life. And they come to Christ
by God-given faith and they repent of dead works and idolatry, turn
away from themselves. That's a glorious truth because
without it, there's no salvation. Yes, God sent redemption to his
people. That's the ground of salvation.
That's the imputed righteousness of Christ. Christ in the glory
of his person and the power of his finished work. And then secondly,
God hath commanded his covenant forever. That's the source of
salvation. God, determined to save a people of His choice,
gave them to His Son. Christ was made the surety of
this covenant, as all of the responsibility of their salvation,
their sin debt, was conditioned, laid upon Him, imputed to Him. And the redemption that He accomplished
for us on the cross was the fulfillment of all the conditions of the
covenant of grace. His righteousness, ensures the
salvation and eternal life of all whom the Father gave him. There'll be none for whom he
died perish in their sins, because when he died, he took away their
sins. He paid their debt in full. You
know what? Where the debt is paid, there's
no debt owed. I've heard people say, yeah,
but you must receive it as a free gift. Listen, number one, Apart
from the Spirit of God, you will not receive it as a free gift.
You will refuse it. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. That's a given. That's what the
Scripture teaches. But listen, you and God's people
will receive it because He sends the Spirit. Remember when we
talked about Galatians chapter four last week, and this week,
you know, how God sent forth his son made of a woman to redeem
them that were under the law? And he talked about how that's
how they became adopted sons, and then verse six of Galatians
four, because they are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit
of his son into their hearts, crying Abba Fath, they'll receive
it. They'll receive it. But see, the law has no hold
or holds nothing against a person whose sins are paid for, whose
sins are not imputed to them, not charged to them. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea rather
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father
ever living to make intercession for us. That's Romans 8 33 and
34. And notice there in that transaction nothing is said about
our believing. Now we will believe. We will
believe and I'm gonna show you that in the next glorious truth.
They will believe. But the whole foundation and
guarantee and security of their salvation is in God's justifying
grace based upon the righteousness of Christ. They cannot be condemned. What is the evidence of a sinner
who is one of God's covenant people from the beginning? Chosen in Christ from the foundation
of the world. Salvation, 2 Timothy 1, given
to us in Christ Jesus before the world began. What is the
evidence that Christ died for me, that He worked out righteousness
for me, that I have His righteousness imputed to me? Well, look at
the third glorious truth here in Psalm 111. Again, He sent
redemption unto His people. There's the ground. Number two,
he hath commanded his covenant forever. There's the source.
Holy and reverend is his name. There's the fruit. What does
that mean? Well, this is the fruit of salvation,
which is the glory of God. In all of this, in the fact that
he sent redemption to his people, in the fact that he commanded
his covenant forever, God is glorified. in every attribute
of His nature. Holy. What does that mean? That
means God is unique, separate. There is none like God. And when God the Holy Spirit
brings a sinner to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
you'll say, oh my soul, I never knew God before. Until you see,
2 Corinthians 4, 6 says this, that the God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness in the creation hath shined in
our hearts, in our minds, in our affections, in our will,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And when you come to that, under
the preaching of the gospel, by the power of the Spirit, you'll
find out that the God you were worshiping before that, he was
an idol. God must be a just God and a Savior. He's holy. He's holy. And so holiness refers
to God's uniqueness. Most people, when they think
of holiness, they think of moral purity. Well, certainly God is
morally pure. There's no sin in God. He's not
the author of sin, He cannot sin. But it's more than that. There is none other like Him,
the one God. There's one God, one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He says He's a
just God and a Savior. That's glorious. That's unique. That God, this is the question
of questions. This is where God brings us to,
to bring us to an understanding of the gospel of His grace in
Christ. How in the world can a holy God, how can He save a
sinner like me and be just in doing so? How can a man be just
with God? God cannot just sweep our sins
under the rug. He cannot just look over them.
He cannot arbitrarily just cause them to vanish. Sin deserves
death, for the wages of sin is death. How can God be just and
righteous and still be merciful to me? Well, here's His uniqueness. He's both a just God and a Savior. And how is he both a righteous
judge and a loving father? Based upon the blood of Christ. He sent redemption to his people. He commanded his covenant forever.
Oh, he's holy. There's none like God. None to
compare him to. And then, Reverend is his name. What does that mean? That means
he deserves to be worshipped, revered. to be believed, to be
honored, to be loved, to be exalted. No one else deserves that. Only God. Holy and Reverend is
His name. What is His name? His name is
His glory. His name is the revelation of
Himself that sets Him apart from anything else, anyone else. The
Bible says in Romans 10, 13, whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. What is His name? I'm not talking
about just a label. I'm talking about His attributes,
His nature that reveal His glory and His power in the salvation
of sinners through Jesus Christ, our Lord. God is the righteous
judge. He always judges according to
truth. So how can He look at a sinner
like me and declare me righteous and not be unjust in doing so?
I'm not righteous in myself, I'm a sinner. But in God's sight,
my sins have been taken away. They were laid upon Christ, imputed
to Him, and by His bloody death on that cross, He put them away.
He bore away my sins, He paid my debt in full, He drank damnation
dry, and He brought forth an everlasting righteousness, which
God imputes accounts to me in His sight. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Now, you know, the rest of this
psalm leading up to verse 11 shows all that, but let me show
you verse 10, the very last verse of this psalm, because how it
all flows, it's just a beautiful psalm. Read the whole thing sometime. But he says in verse 10, he says,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now, that's an amazing
thing. When you speak of the fear of
the Lord, you're not talking about being afraid or a fear
of punishment or anything like that. You're talking about an
awesome reverence. And so when you see these three
glorious truths, The ground, the source, the fruit. He sent
redemption. He commanded His covenant forever.
Holy and reverent is His name. If God the Holy Spirit ever reveals
this to you, you'll fear God. You know in Romans 3, 18, it
says that man by nature, one of the things that characterizes
him, there's no fear of God before his eyes. But when the Holy Spirit
shows you these three glorious truths, That's when you begin
to fear God, which means this. That means that's when you begin
to reverence God. That's when you begin to appreciate
Him. That's when you begin to worship
Him and praise Him and depend upon Him and come to Him like
a little child comes to their parent because they're totally
dependent upon the parent for their well-being. And that's
the beginning of wisdom. That's where it all begins. And
then it says in verse 10, a good understanding have all they that
do his commandments. Now doing his commandments, now
think about that. You know, a lot of people would
say, well, that means we keep the 10 commandments. Well, we
don't. And even in our efforts to keep his commandments, we
fall short. You think about the two main
commandments. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself. That's perfect love. And when
God reveals Himself to His people and brings us to see these three
glorious truths and to fear Him, The Holy Spirit does impart the
love of Christ, shedding it abroad, Romans chapter five says, within
our hearts, and we do love Him. But the Bible says that we love
Him because He first loved us. And it says in 1 John 14, herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and gave
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And so if you're
a believer, if you're a sinner saved by grace, a child of God,
born again, you do love God, but your love's not yet perfect.
Why not? Well, it's because you still
exist in this world, in this flesh. What is flesh? It's sin, self-love. And there's
a battle going on within us. We desire to love God perfectly,
but we can't do that because the flesh intervenes and contaminates
it. And therefore, we're totally
dependent constantly upon Christ. So when we talk about doing His
commandments, here's exactly what we're talking about. We're
talking about not just trying to be moral people, we should.
Well, we're talking about continuing to believe and rest in and follow
Christ. To plead Christ as my only righteousness
before God. I don't want to stand before
God and God to look at me and say, now, whether or not you
enter into eternal blessedness or eternal damnation depends
upon how much you love me. Because if he does that, it's
eternal damnation for me. You say, well, preacher, aren't
you trying to love God? Yes, I am, but I'm not perfect,
not yet. I will be when I come to glory,
but I want to stand there in the love of Christ, in His perfect
love. That's what Paul was talking
about in Philippians chapter three when he said that I may
know Him, that I may know Him and be found in Him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ. You see, I'm depending on His
love for me. I'm depending upon His righteousness
imputed to me. And so, doing His commandments
has to do with believing in, resting in, and following the
Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of our dead works, repenting
of our sins. And then He says in verse 10,
He says, His praise endureth forever. And that's what it's
all about. Doing His commandments involves
praising Him forever. Not trying to praise ourselves
or seeking praise for ourselves, but praising Him. And that's
what these three glorious truths are about. Look at them again.
He sent redemption unto His people. That's Christ. That's the ground
of salvation. That's His blood. That's His
righteousness imputed to me. He commanded His covenant forever.
That's the eternal. aspect, the source of salvation.
Where did my salvation come from? It didn't come from me. It didn't
come from my choice. It didn't come from my free will.
It came from God's sovereign will before the foundation of
the world. Love me with an everlasting love
and all of it conditioned on Christ who would come in time
as my surety, my substitute, and my redeemer and pay the redemption
price. Fulfill all righteousness on
my behalf. The gospel is the preaching of
an everlasting covenant. David said this on his deathbed
in 2 Samuel 23.5. He said, Although my house be
not so with God, he hath made a covenant with me, ordered in
all things, and sure. Who ordered it? God did. Why
is it sure? Well, if it's conditioned on
me, it wouldn't be sure. But it's sure because Christ
is the surety. And he said, this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. And so his
covenant, he commanded his covenant prayer and holy and reverend
is his name. God is so, there's no God like
this. You survey the religions of man
and look at their God. There's none like our God. I
hope you enjoyed this and 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
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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.