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 going to several
passages of Scripture, but I'm going to go back to one that
I began with last week in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 concerning this subject,
turning to the Lord. And that's the title of last
week's and this week's, you could say it's part two or just a two-part
message. But I want to give you some scriptures
that show you what exactly happens when God the Holy Spirit brings
a sinner lost in his sin, spiritually dead in trespasses of sin, gives
that sinner life in the new birth, and brings that sinner to turn
to the Lord. Now, the apostle Paul had been
talking about that when he talked about the veil that was over
the hearts of the old covenant Jews who were unbelievers. Now,
there were some believers in that nation, but it was only
a remnant. But the majority of the nation, there was a veil
over their heart. That is, they were blinded, he
says. Their minds were blinded in verse
14. concerning the law. What is the law? What does it
require? Why was the law given? What does
it say about God? What does it say about me? What
does it say about salvation? And of course, they looked at
the law as a way of salvation, but that's a wrong way of looking
at it. That's the veil that was over
their heart. It was the veil of ignorance, the veil of self-righteousness,
the veil of religious pride. And he says in verse 14 of 2
Corinthians 3, their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth
the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament.
Which veil is done away in Christ? It's only the light of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ that removes that ignorance,
that self-righteousness, that veil, that blindness. If you
read the Old Testament or the New, if you don't see the grace
of God in the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ, and based on
His righteousness alone, there's a blindness there. If you look
at, like I mentioned last week, the man who told me that his
hope of salvation was in his keeping of the Ten Commandments.
Well, that's blindness. Because you can't keep the Ten
Commandments. The law of God requires absolute
perfection. And the only way that we can
find perfection, we're sinners, you see. Even as sinners saved
by grace, there's no perfection in me. There's only perfection
that's given to me by Christ. I'm perfect in Him, not in me,
but in Him. I have His righteousness charged,
imputed, accounted to me. And I stand before God in Christ. And so that's what the whole
Old Testament is about. And that's what the whole New
Testament is about. That's what the Christian religion
is about. The gospel is the revelation
of the righteousness of God, which is Christ's righteousness
that He accomplished by His obedience unto death as the surety and
substitute of His people and which is imputed to all of His
people. and His righteousness imputed.
It is number one, the ground upon which God is reconciled
to me and I'm reconciled to God. It's the ground of my justification
before God. See, my believing is not my justification. My believing makes me aware and
knowledgeable of my justification. But it's Christ's righteousness,
His blood The merits of His obedience unto death, that is the ground
of my justification before God. God looks at me and declares
me not guilty. God looks at me and declares
me righteous, not based upon anything in me or anything that
comes from me, but in Christ, my surety, my substitute, my
redeemer, my intercessor, my Lord. And then that righteousness
imputed is also the source and the power of spiritual life given
in the new birth. The life that I have is not from
me. I'm not the source of it. God
is. It's life from the divine. The
faith that I have is not of me. It's a gift of God. Not of works
lest any man should boast. The repentance. is a gift of
God. All of it. It's a gift of God.
It didn't come from my inner being. It came from God who gave
me a new heart. That's the inner man. Well, he
says in verse 15 of 2 Corinthians 3, but even unto this day when
Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. When they read the
Old Testament, they're blinded. Nevertheless, when it shall turn
to the Lord, now that's the title, turning to the Lord, the veil
shall be taken away. When God the Holy Spirit turns
a sinner to Christ, that's when that veil of self-righteousness,
ignorance, pride is taken away. Verse 17, now the Lord is that
spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty.
Now that liberty is twofold. And I've preached on this quite
often on this program, mainly out of Romans chapter six, but
you just mark that down. But that liberty is, first of
all, freedom from condemnation. That's a legal liberty from condemnation. In other words, I'm not guilty.
I have Christ. He took my guilt. He was made
a curse for me. He was made sin for me. and that
legal liberty is the fact that I'm righteous in God's sight
based upon Christ's righteousness imputed, I'm not condemned. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. 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. So that's the first liberty. And the second liberty is a spiritual
liberty in our experience when we're brought out of that deception,
brought from death, spiritual death, to spiritual life, brought
from darkness, ignorance, to light and knowledge, brought
from unbelief to faith in Christ. How does that happen? Well, let's
read verse 18 again. But we all, with open face, beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
When God the Holy Spirit brings us to see these things, out of
darkness into his marvelous light, That's when we are changed into
the same image from glory to glory. That's when we see our
hope, our salvation, our oneness with Christ and by the Spirit
of the Lord. Let me give you a couple of verses
that show what happens when you're brought from self to turn to
the Lord. And first of all, look at 2 Corinthians
4 and let's begin at verse 3. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3,
right down the page there. He says this, he says, but if
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Now the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation, the Bible tells us. to everyone that believe it,
to the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the justified
shall live by faith. So the gospel is the good news
of salvation with all of its blessings and benefits conditioned
on the Lord Jesus Christ And it goes on, it doesn't stop there.
The gospel tells us that Christ, God in human flesh, without sin,
came and fulfilled all those conditions to ensure the salvation
of his people. Now that's good news to a sinner.
But if it's hid, it's hid to them that are lost. The gospel
shows the way of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. The gospel shows the way of righteousness. by the obedience unto death of
Christ. So those who know the gospel, they know the way. But
those who don't believe and know the gospel, they're lost, they
don't know the way. And it says in verse four of
2 Corinthians 4, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. You see, there's a verse that states plainly the goal
of Satan in his operations, sinful operations in this world. You
see, most people think that Satan is just simply trying to get
people to be immoral and all of that. And I'm sure Satan doesn't
mind that, but that's usually just the bare trappings of the
depravity of man. Satan's goal is to hide the gospel,
the true gospel from you. Now I want you to think about
this. I'm not saying this just to be offensive, but you do need
to think about it. One of the main signs that Satan
has been loosed upon the earth, you remember Revelation talks
about how he'll be brought up from the pit, he'll be loosed.
And it says to deceive the whole world. Revelation chapter 12. and other passages. Now, one
of the main signs that we're getting closer to the end of
the last days and that Satan has been loosed is false Christianity,
false Gospels, wolves in sheep's clothing. You'll have people
in cults who'll come along and claim to be the Messiah. But
then you'll have false preachers in what we call socially acceptable
religion preaching a false Christ. They won't claim themselves to
be Christ, be the Messiah, but they'll point you to a false
Christ. And the only way that you can
know the difference between the true Christ and a false Christ
is by the doctrine of Christ revealed in the Bible. Who is
Jesus Christ? Well, he's God in human flesh
without sin. What did he accomplish in the
death that he died? Well, most people believe, well,
he died to make sinners savable if they would cooperate. Well,
that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that his death
was a propitiation. You ever heard of that term?
Propitiation. It's related to the Old Testament
Hebrew term, mercy seat. And you remember the mercy seat,
the lid on the top of the Ark of the Covenant that was in the
Holy of Holies? The high priest would come in one time a year
and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. That spoke of satisfaction
to God's justice. That's what propitiation is.
God's wrath turned back because His justice is satisfied. Now
let me tell you something. If you understand Christ's death,
you understand propitiation, the mercy seat, the blood, the
righteousness that He accomplished, you'll understand that not one
sinner for whom Christ died on that cross could perish in hell.
Well, who are those for whom he died? Well, didn't he say
in John chapter 10, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and
they know me and they follow me. That's believing in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's for believers. It's not
for, you know, the gospel is not God loves you and Christ
died for you. The gospel is that God saves
sinners by His grace based upon the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all conditions for His people. Now
you believe it. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And all who do have been born again by the Spirit. Not because
they believe. They believe because they've
been born again. That's the evidence, you see. Well, he says here,
verse 5 of 2 Corinthians 4, for we preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord. We don't preach salvation in
ourselves, conditioned on ourselves. We preach Christ and ourselves,
your servants for Jesus' sake. We're just ministers. We're just
servants. And here's the key. Look at verse 6. Here's what
it means to turn to the Lord. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now his face is his person. His
face involves everything that identifies and distinguishes
him. It is who He is, what He did,
what He accomplished, why He did it, where He is now, He died,
He was buried, He arose again the third day, He ascended unto
the Father on high, and He's seated at the right hand of the
Father, ever living to make intercession for His people, and He's called
in that capacity the one mediator between God and men, and He's
called Jesus Christ the righteous, because it's His righteousness,
the merits, the worth, the value, the quality, the excellency of
His obedience unto death that He pleads on behalf of His people. He doesn't get up there and brag
about you and me. He gets up there and brags about
Himself because He's the only one who earned it and deserves
it. The glory of God. What is the glory of God? Well,
it's His value. It's His success. It's His virtue. It's who He is. It's expressed
in many ways in Scripture. The glory of God in creation,
the glory of God in providence, but the glory of God in salvation. There's a term that Isaiah used,
that God used and communicated through the prophet Isaiah to
the people of Jerusalem and Judah. that kind of encapsulates His
glory in salvation. And the term is a just God and
a Savior. And what does that mean? Well,
in order to be a Savior, a righteous Savior and be true to Himself,
God had to be just. He has to be just. In other words,
God cannot save me He cannot love me, He cannot show mercy
or grace to me at the expense of His justice, His truth, His
righteousness. He must be both a just God and
a Savior. And if He cannot be just to save
people, then He's not gonna save people. He must be just and justifier. And so when he saves a sinner,
it must be on a just ground. And there's only one just ground
upon which God can save sinners, and that's the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, His righteousness imputed. Now let
me show you that over here in 2 Corinthians 5. Look over to
the next chapter. He's talking about the new creation,
verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature, or a new creation. Now, whatever this
new creation is, it's the work of God. It's not the work of
man. And it's not the work of man
cooperating with God. It's something that, to be in
Christ, the Bible talks about the believer's union with Christ. And that can mean many things
in different contexts. There's an eternal union. Ephesians
chapter one speaks of the eternal union of God's people with Christ.
And in that eternal union, that's before the foundation of the
world, where God chose a people, gave them to Christ, put all
the responsibility of their salvation up on Him. Christ as their representative,
Christ as their surety. having all of their sins imputed,
charged, accounted to Him. And that was before the foundation
of the world. That's the eternal mind of God.
Second Timothy chapter one speaks of that. Talks about salvation
which was given us, that is believers, in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Ephesians 1.3, blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. There's also a redemptive union
with Christ. Now Christ, having been given
these people, having gone under the law to accept the full responsibility
to pay for their sins, he had to substitute himself and become
man, that is the word made flesh, God man, in order to die in their
place, go to the cross of Calvary, suffer, bleed and die, be buried
and raised again the third day as their substitute. Having all of their sins imputed
to him, charged him, he had to pay the debt. He had to redeem
them. He had to be a ransom for many. And in order to do that, he had
to be made sin. That is, their sins imputed to
Him. In order to do that, He had to be made a curse. He had
to be brought under as guilty. Guilty, not because of sins in
Him, but because of their sins imputed, and He had to be condemned. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That's what He said on the cross.
That's that legal separation between the father and the son,
which is mind-boggling. But he actually had to be separated,
alienated from the father to pay the debt. That was part of
the debt. So he substituted himself. So the Bible talks about when
he died, he didn't die for himself, he died for his sheep. That's
that redemptive union. And then, when they are brought
by God to turn to the Lord, that's what we're talking about, That's
the spiritual union when the Holy Spirit comes out from Christ
and imparts spiritual life from Christ to them and brings them
to faith in Christ. And that's the new creation.
And he says here, he says, old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new. Now he's not talking about that
you quit doing this and quitting it. He's talking about our judgment
of things, our view of things, our whole world has changed.
Whereas before we were seeking to establish our own righteousness
before God, now we're submitted to Christ's righteousness. And
so he says in verse 18, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled
us unto himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation, to wit, or namely, verse 19, that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing, not
charging, not accounting their trespasses unto them, and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now here's what
it means to turn to the Lord. Look at verse 20. Now then, we
are ambassadors for Christ. Now he's talking about witnesses
of Christ preaching the gospel. Witnessing the gospel of reconciliation. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Now that's the key. That's what
it is to turn to the Lord, is to be reconciled to God. Now
what is the ground of reconciliation? What is the ground upon which
sinners turn to the Lord and are reconciled to God? Verse
21 of 2 Corinthians 5. For he hath made him to be sin
for us. That's sin imputed to, the sin
debt, the demerit of all the sins of all of God's people,
his elect, his church, his sheep, were imputed, charged, accounted,
reckoned to Christ. He is the surety of His people. He was made sin. And it's the
only way He was made sin, legally, by imputation. He wasn't made
to be a sinner. If He was, listen, if Christ
was made to be a sinner, He could not have died for my sins. He
wasn't infused or corrupted or contaminated with sin. He suffered
the infirmities of the flesh and the consequences of sin in
his body. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. And so he was actually guilty
and cursed based on sin. He was made sin. for us. And he says, who knew no sin.
That is Christ who knew no sin, had no experience within himself
that could be called sinful. And here's the key, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now that righteousness
of God is the righteousness of Christ who is God in human flesh. And it's the payment of the debt. It's the merit, the value. the excellency, the worthiness
of what he accomplished on Calvary, which equals the righteousness
of the law, the righteousness that God requires, and it is
imputed to God's people. So, whenever we turn to the Lord,
what do we do? We turn, as we're brought by
the Holy Spirit, to turn away from ourselves, Admit that we
have no righteousness and can work no righteousness and we
turn to Christ and submit to him as the Lord our righteousness
He is it he's all he's my all-in-all and Paul described it over here
in Philippians 3 very beautifully and you need to read this whole
chapter But he described it this way. He says in Philippians 3
verse 7, but what things were gained to me and Those things
that I used to really think recommended me unto God and made me righteous,
those I counted loss for Christ. When I see Christ, when I see
my sins and I see Christ's righteousness, it's all Him. And he says, verse
eight, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but done that I may
win or gain Christ, turning to the Lord, turning away from myself. And be found, verse nine, be
found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ or the faithfulness
of Christ, that is his faithfulness to do what he agreed to do in
the everlasting covenant of grace, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. That's turning to the Lord. Now,
what Paul was talking about back here in 2 Corinthians 3, in verse
16, nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall
be taken away. In other words, when you see
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, when you're
brought by the Spirit to be reconciled to God by His grace through the
righteousness which is in Christ, When you see that all of your
religion, all of your efforts, all of your works are nothing
but dung in the sight of God, evil in the sight of God, and
turn to Christ as the Lord your righteousness, as your only hope
of salvation. That's when you turn to the Lord.
That's when the veil's taken away. That's when there's liberty.
Now you're free, totally free. Not free to sin. but free to
obey God, obey Him, liberated. And your mind's freed up. Now
that doesn't mean you won't still be a sinner. Only two types of
people, sinners lost in their sins, sinners saved by grace.
What that means now is you know the way, the way of righteousness,
the way of life, the way of glory, the way of forgiveness, which
is Christ. And in your fight against sin,
you turn to Him continually. 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
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today and may the Lord be with you.