In Romans chapter four, the apostle,
as you know, has been talking about how God justifies sinners. I'm afraid that not a lot of
people really understand the biblical truth of justification,
to be justified. You know, to be justified is
a legal matter. And people, when they hear, a
lot of people, when they hear the term legal, They think of
something that is not real or something that is fake or something
that doesn't affect us, even spiritually, but that's not true
if you understand what it means to be justified. To be justified
before God and to be justified by God means that God forgives
us of all our sins. He forgives us of all our sins.
We fell in Adam. We sinned in Adam, the scripture
says. Because Adam was our representative and our head and he stood in
our place for the whole human race. We sinned in Adam. Well,
we're forgiven of that sin, aren't we? We're forgiven. And not only
that, we come into this world spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins. And we act upon that at the first
opportunity. We have all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And we can talk about the sins
of our past life, we can talk about the sins of our present
life, we can talk about the future sins. As long as we're breathing
in this air, on this earth, we're sinners. But we're forgiven. And then to be justified before
God means that God does not charge us with our sins. He doesn't
impute those sins to us. In other words, our record is
clean. It's kind of like you're accused, somebody accuses you
of being guilty of a crime and you're innocent. Well, we're
sinners, we committed the crime, but God has determined in his
mind in his sight not to charge us with those sins. He's blessed
is the man whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? And then to be justified before
God means to be declared righteous in his sight. Not only are our
sins not charged to us, righteousness is charged to us. That's the
imputed righteousness that we talk about. Now, when we talk
about justification, here's what we're saying, that God does all
of that, but he doesn't on a just ground. He cannot do any of that
just arbitrarily. I mean, he can't just look at
you, Jason, and say, and I'm gonna forgive you no matter what.
He's gotta do it on a just ground, doesn't he? He's gotta do it
in a way that honors himself. He's gotta do it in a way that
glorifies him. And so all of that, the forgiveness
of sins, the non-imputation of sins, the imputation of righteousness,
well, what is the ground? Well, the ground is the merits
of the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ, period. What Christ did on that cross,
what he accomplished in satisfying the law and justice of God, And
that's why when you read terms like in verse 5, God justifies
the ungodly, you see that God does that in a way that doesn't
deny himself. He does it in a way that doesn't
dishonor his character, his glory, his nature. He does it in a way
that does not dispute who he is or deny who he is. He does
it in a way that is perfectly consistent with who he is as
God. And that's what this righteousness
is all about. Well, think about it this way
now. When we were, according to this list, we're gonna begin
in verse 15 here and just do a few verses. You know, when
we were researching, studying years ago about this controversial
issue of the timing of imputation, the timing of justification,
One thing that the Lord did for, I think, many of us as we studied
through that issue, studied the scriptures, read commentaries,
discussed it with each other. One of the things that I believe
the Lord did for many of us was give us a renewed understanding
and appreciation of the suretyship of Christ. That's what he did
for me. I know Jim and I have talked
about this. Randy and I have talked about this. The surety
ship of Christ. And really that's what this lesson
is all about. The promise that is sure. Look
at verse 15. He starts off, he says, the law
worketh wrath. For where no law is, there is
no transgression. Therefore it is a faith that
it might be by grace to the end, to this purpose, the promise
might be sure to all the seed. Now think about this. If you
have a goal in mind and then there are conditions that you
or somebody has to meet in order to achieve that goal, how could
you assure without fail, without doubt, without any possibility
of failure that that goal could be achieved? Well, now most of
you have been around long enough that you know that that really
is pretty much an impossibility with us. Isn't that right? I
mean, we may have had goals and we may have achieved those goals,
but there was always a possibility of failure with us. It might
be an obstacle that we didn't foresee that we can't overcome. It might be something that we
had to have that we didn't have or lack. There might be circumstances
that come along that will, as we used to say, throw a monkey
wrench in the works. So really, you know, people talk
about, you know, there's nothing that we could do to make it a
100% certainty without any possibility of failure. Now, if God determines
to save a people, to justify a people, how could that be made
a 100% certainty without any possibility of failure? Well,
if God conditioned any of that on us, what would that say? Actually, not only would it not
be a 100% certainty without any possibility of failure,
if he conditioned any on us, if you believe what the Bible
says about us, you'd have to say it would be a 100% certainty
of failure. Isn't that right? Now why is
that? Look at verse 15 again. Because the law worketh wrath. For where no law is, there's
no transgression. You see, look at verse 14, that's
in answer to the, he's building his case here and he says in
verse 14, for they which are of the law. Now, who is of the
law? He's talking about sinners who
are trying to work their way into God's favor by their deeds
of the law. Now, if they are the heirs, heirs
of what? Heirs of salvation, heirs of
blessing, the inheritance. If those who are trying to work
their way into God's favor, if they inherit salvation, well,
faith is made void. Now, what is faith here? Faith
here is the promise of God to save his people based upon Christ. His glorious person and His finished
work. So if you can work your way into
God's favor, I'll say it this way too, if you can will your
way into God's favor, then what Christ did on the cross and what
He did in His obedience unto death is made void. Paul said
something similar to that in Galatians chapter 2, 21, when
he says, for if righteousness come by the law, then what does
that mean? Christ is dead in vain. He died for nothing. If you could save your, you see,
the Bible never, from Genesis to Revelation, never presents
Christ as a leg up on salvation, or as a jump starter. It's all or nothing. Christ is
all or nothing. That's what Paul's saying here.
And he says, the law worketh wrath. The only thing the law
of God can do for a sinner based upon that sinner's works is condemn
him. But then he goes on to say where
there is no law, there's no transgression. Most commentators make the case
there that Paul is proving there, that before the law was given
on Mount Sinai, there was a law because sin was present, and
that's true. And he really makes that case
more over in chapter five. In other words, sin did not begin
on Mount Sinai when God revealed the Ten Commandments. That's
not when sin began. Sin began when Adam fell. as
far as earthly, our case is concerned. So that proves there was a law,
even back then, because if there's no law, there's no sin. You see,
this is the issue of the truth of sin and righteousness in the
Bible. What is righteousness? Righteousness
is perfect conformity to the law, perfect satisfaction to
the law. Sin is anything less. Sin is anything less. Sin is
not just the drunk laying out on the corner. Sin is not just
the prostitute selling her wares. Sin is not just the drug addict.
That is sin now, and we're to avoid it. But sin is the person
who fell in Adam, doing his or her dead level best to make themselves
righteous in God's sight. Now that's what the Bible says
and I want to tell you something, that's the light that people
hate. This is the condemnation, light
is coming to the world. You mean to tell me that I've
gone to church all my life and I walked the aisle and made my
decision and got baptized and never missed a Sunday and blah
blah? You mean all that means nothing?
Now listen to what I'm saying now, don't mistake it. As far
as making you righteous before God, as far as washing away your
sins, it means absolutely nothing. In fact, you could even say it
this way scripturally, it means less than nothing. Paul called
it dung that I may win Christ. In other words, when we compare
to Christ and His righteousness, it's all filthy rags. Isn't that
right? And I want to tell you something.
It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to convict a sinner of
that. That's what it means to convict of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. What is he saying here? He's
saying we've got no hope in ourselves. My hope is not in my works, my
hope is not in my decision. Listen, when God the Holy Spirit
brought me to a saving knowledge of Christ, I did accept him,
I did receive him. But that's not, my hope is not
in what I did, it's what he did. And that's not just splitting
hairs. But now another thing that he's
saying here is where no law is, there's no transgression. He's
also saying where the law is satisfied and perfect righteousness
is found, there's no transgression. Now, that doesn't mean, as some
say, that sin does not exist. You know, I heard a so-called
sovereign grace preacher, and I think he was preaching on Hebrews
chapter 12, or Hebrews chapter 10, where it says, God remembers
our sins no more. You remember that in Hebrews
chapter 10? He said he remembers their sins no more. And that's
stated in the Bible several times. And the preacher actually said
this. He said the reason God doesn't remember them is because
they don't exist. Christ bore them away and now
they don't exist. Well, my friend, that's foolishness. They do exist. Don't yours exist? Don't you have to deal with them
every daggone day of your life? Why are we in a warfare with
something that doesn't exist? They do exist. What that means
when it says God remembers them no more simply means this, God
will not charge us, impute those sins to us. Our record is clean
in his law books. That's what that means. He won't
hold them against us. That's what that means. But they
do exist. We see it every day. So it doesn't
mean they don't exist. They do exist. But where law
is fulfilled on our behalf, there is no transgression counted against
us. They were counted against Christ.
They were imputed to Christ and he died. And he put them away. He bore the penalty. He suffered
under the wrath of God. He drank damnation dry. That's
what he did. So Paul's point here is that
those who seek to be justified by deeds of law are actually
breaking the law. That's what they're actually
doing. A person who's trying to be saved, trying to be righteous
based on their law keeping before God, they're actually breaking
the law. Why? Because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. So
that brings forth a problem now, and here's the problem. Man is
a sinner. What does that mean? That means
we're gonna be failures. If salvation's conditioned on
me, failure. How about you? And I know that's true all the
time, 24-7. Right now I'm standing behind
a pulpit preaching the truth to you. If salvation were conditioned
on me right now, failure. But you know there are times
in our lives where that failure kind of really rises to the top
and we see it in vivid technicolor. I've been going through that
the last month. And I can tell you right now,
I'm sure not proud of myself in my thoughts. But I can also
tell you this, that Christ has not let me go. I'm still in the
palm of his hand, and he's good at reminding me of things I need
to be reminded of constantly when you go through a severe
trial. We're all going through trials.
Some trials are more severe than others, aren't they? But he's
going to keep us. So how do you solve this problem
of our failure? Well, God did it, and here's
how he did it. Look at verse 16, therefore it
is of faith. What is that faith? That's the
promise of God to send Christ into the world to do for us successfully
what we cannot do for ourselves, that it might be grace, grace,
unmerited favor, unmerited blessings, unmerited salvation, to the end
that the promise, the promise of salvation, the promise of
being justified, the promise of being forgiven, the promise
of being made righteous, might be what? Sure. To who? To all the seed. Now who's the
seed? He's talking about the seed of
Abraham there. And who is the seed of Abraham? Every sinner
whom God brings to faith in Christ. the seed of Abraham. How can
it be so sure? Because Christ is our surety. Before the foundation of the
world, he was made our surety in the everlasting covenant of
grace. That means God chose a people and gave them to him. I mean,
he gave us to Christ. Didn't Christ say, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me? He gave you to Christ. If you're one of his, he gave
you, if you're a believer, it's because you were given to Christ
before you were ever born, before you fell in Adam. And that means
he willingly took all the responsibility to save me, to forgive me, to
justify me, to make me righteous, to keep me and to bring me to
glory. Christ took all the responsibility to do that. My sins were imputed to him.
His righteousness imputed to me. And that's the only way it could
be sure to all the see. If it were conditioned upon your
believing, would that make it sure? Without any possibility
of failure? Now think about it. What is,
in Hebrews 12, what is the sin, now listen to, what is the sin
not only that besets us, That gets in our way. But what is
the sin that so easily besets us? And I've heard preachers
go there and they'll say, well, that's just talking about some
particular sin that you just can't conquer. Well, first of
all, you can't conquer any sin. The only one who conquered sin is
Christ. Secondly, the context tells us what the sin that so
easily besets us is. And you know what it is? It's
doubts and unbelief. In these past few months, I've
asked myself this question several times. Bill, do you really believe
what you've been preaching for the over 30 years now? I've asked
that question. You believe that? Do I really
believe what I've been preaching to you? And you know what? By God's grace, yes I do. Do
you believe that God is sovereign in all things? Yes I do. I don't
understand it all. And I gotta tell you, I don't
like it all. Does that shock you? But I know this, I know this,
whatever it is, it's for the best. Do you realize that? Whatever God does is the right
thing to do. I know that. Even though I may
not see it at a given moment, it's the right thing. It's for
His glory and the good of His people. So, I'm like that, who was it,
that fellow who came to Christ whose child was sick, who said,
Lord, I believe. What was the next line you remember?
Help thou mine unbelief. That's sin that so easily, you
see if it was conditioned on our believing, the only assurance
we could have is an assurance of failure. But it is a faith,
it's by God's grace in Christ based upon his merits alone that
it might be grace that showing that we're sinners and don't
earn it and don't deserve it. And it's for this purpose that
that promise that God made before the foundation of the world in
Christ might be sure to all the saints. All the promises of God
in Christ are in him, yea, and in him, amen. Christ is our sure,
and I think about old King David on his deathbed. Although my
house be not so with God, he hath made a covenant with me
that is ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my
salvation and all my desire. How could David say it's sure?
Because it's not conditioned on David, who was a failure in
himself. Conditioned on Christ, who's
the victor. Think about it. I've got three things listed
here on your lesson. God will not impute sin to our
account. That's a surety. Why? Because he imputed it to Christ.
Christ took care of it. God cannot impute it to Christ
and impute it to me, too. That would be unjust. Secondly,
Christ, our righteousness, intercedes for us on our behalf. Even while
I'm at my lowest moments, and I've been there, and I'm not
saying that, you know, everybody, when they go through a pretty
heavy trial, they start thinking about Job. But I'm like that
old country preacher. And he stood up and he said,
now listen, he said, I'm going through some hard trials, but
I haven't even begun to commence to get started to be where Job
is or was. But I do identify with Job in
this way. You know, at the end of his troubles,
he made this statement. He said, I've heard of you by
the hearing of the ear. But now mine eye seeth you, and
I repent in sackcloth and ashes." And there's a lot of speculation
about what Job meant by that, and I'll tell you what I believe
he meant. Nothing wrong with hearing about God by the hearing
of the ear, because the Bible says faith cometh by hearing.
I see these things. I read these things. I read Romans
8.28. You do too. I read Ephesians chapter 1. God
works all But there are times in life where you experience
things that you didn't experience before. And that's what I believe
Job meant. I believe these things. I've
heard of these things. Now might I see that I've experienced
them. I've gone through them. I can
see them first hand, face to face. And I repent. And what was Job repenting of?
His bad thoughts, his dishonoring thoughts towards God. And that's
what I repent of. That's what you repent of. when
we go through these severe trials. But it just reminds us that,
hey, if it were conditioned on me, I would have lost it a thousand
times, more than that. But here's a promise that's sure
to all the seed, the seed of Abraham, that's believers. You
can read that in Galatians chapter three and verse 26. Who is the
seed of Abraham? People say, well, it's the Jews
today. No. You know, I was listening on
the radio the other day, coming back, and there's these people
talking about, you know, people who are against Israel today
and how bad that is. Well, I'm not against Israel.
I'm not against them. They're our allies. As far as
I know, they're the only democracy in the Mideast, and I think we
ought to support them politically. But now when it comes to the
Bible and religion, I can't support unbelievers in any country, in
any religion. I pray for their salvation. I
haven't given up on Israel in the sense of this. I pray for
the salvation of the Jewish people, but I pray for the salvation
of the Arab people too, don't you? I pray, God, save your people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. But you see, the seed of Abraham
is believers. That's those who cling to Christ,
those to whom God imputed their sins to Christ. And then look
here, he says, in verse 16, he says, and not to that only which
is of the law. It's not just to the physical
Jews, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham. It's
anybody who believes the gospel that Abraham believed has the
assurance that is brought about by the surety. And he says, who
is the father of us all? Not just the physical Jews, but
to believers, Jew and Gentile. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to the Jew first and the Greek, the Gentile also.
And verse 17, he says, as it is written, I've made thee a
father of many nations. Paul goes back to Genesis 17
here and he quotes, part of the covenant promise that God made
to Abraham. Abraham wasn't gonna be just
the father of one nation, but of many nations. Why? Because
God has an elect chosen people out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. That's why. And he says, before
him whom he believed, before God, that's who he's talking
about, whom Abraham believed, even God, who quickeneth the
dead, So now this relationship with Abraham, by which we can
claim Christ is our surety, can only be claimed by those who
are quickened from the dead. That means they've been born
again by the Spirit. They've been given life. You
see, if Christ's righteousness is imputed to you, life is going
to be given to you, spiritual life, and that's going to be
evidenced by faith in Christ and repentance of dead works
and idolatry. And he says, and call those things
which be not as though they were. This has been God's purpose all
along. It was a done deal in God's mind,
folks. God calls those things which
are not as though they were because nothing's going to change his
mind. It's like we were talking about the issue of the timing
of imputation. You know, I've often said it
this way. I can summarize my view on it. The cross did not
change God's mind towards his people. The cross revealed what
God's mind always had been, has been towards his people. But
aren't you glad we have Christ as our surety? He's the God-man. He's the one who died and was
buried and rose again. He's the one who ever lives to
make intercession for us. He's our surety. And that's how
the promise is sure to all the seed. Okay.