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 TODAY.
I'M GLAD YOU COULD JOIN US FOR THE MESSAGE. AND I'LL BE PREACHING
FROM THE BOOK OF GALATIANS, CHAPTER 3. I'LL BEGIN, BASICALLY, MY
MAIN TEXT IS GOING TO BE VERSE 13 AND 14. WE'LL LOOK AT SOME
OTHER VERSES TOO. BUT THE TITLE OF TODAY'S MESSAGE
IS REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. NOW,
THE BIBLE TEACHES that God's people, his elect, his church,
his chosen people, the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ, he
called his people his sheep, he said the good shepherd gives
his life for the sheep, he said his sheep would hear his voice,
that they are sinners saved by grace based upon the justice
of God satisfied by the blood of Christ. And that truth is
communicated in the scripture, revealed in the scripture in
various ways, but it all teaches the same truth. That there is
a price to be paid. We could call it a sin debt.
In other words, there are many words in the New Testament for
sin. We can talk about sin itself. The most common word is found,
for example, in the book of Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That word sin
means to miss the mark. It means to come short of the
mark. Like a target, you're shooting
a gun or an arrow into a target, you miss the mark. And that's
the most common word for sin. And that's a good word for sin
because what it teaches us is that all of us, by nature, miss
the mark. And the mark is righteousness,
perfect righteousness that can only be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. But there are other words for
sin. There's iniquity, or we could say inequity, means it
doesn't balance out, doesn't equal out. Nothing I do equals
righteousness. Therefore, if it doesn't measure
up to righteousness, it's iniquity. And then you can talk about transgression,
trespasses, all of those things. Another word for sin is debt,
running up a sin debt. It's kind of like a criminal.
A person who commits a crime will often say they owe a debt
to God's, to the justice, to the law, to society. Well, when
a person sins, we fail in Adam, the scripture teaches, the representative
of the whole human race, and we fail in him. We're born dead
in trespasses and sins. And then our sins, our personal
sins, they, in essence, run up a debt. And so we owe a debt
to God's justice. Well, that debt has to be paid. We sing a hymn called, Jesus
Paid It All. Paid what? Paid the debt. And
what was the price? The price of that debt is the
blood of Jesus Christ. Now, that's called redemption. So that sinners saved by grace,
the elect of God, however the Bible describes them, the sheep,
the church, believers, they are redeemed by the blood of Christ. And the blood means His death.
The wages of sin is death. you know a lot of people when
they talk about the blood they get caught up in the idea of
the physical blood like there was some magical power in that
physical blood and that's not what the scripture teaches at
all the blood of christ is his death as the payment of the sin
debt by that his people are redeemed they are bought back and he paid
the price in full with his blood So that's why we call it redemption
accomplished. Christ accomplished redemption
for his people. And the Bible teaches in so many
passages that the church, the called out ones, the elect of
God who are brought to faith in Christ are redeemed by the
blood of Christ. But now so many people today
have a wrong idea, a wrong view of redemption. Most, I'll say
most people today, because that's all I hear, you know, from most
people, they believe that, well, Christ redeemed everybody. He
redeemed, He paid the sin debt for all people, without exception,
the whole world. And I know the Bible uses the
word world, but that's not what it means. And therefore, all
you have to do is receive the debt. or receive the payment
and you're saved. But that's not what the scripture
teaches. Christ did not redeem every individual
without exception. Who he did redeem are those who
eventually will be brought by the power and grace of God to
faith in Christ. And that's what this teaches.
The Apostle Paul here had been talking about the law in its
condemning power. In other words, if I commit a
crime and I'm guilty, then the debt has to be paid. There's
a debt. And he's talking about the impossibility
of a sinner being saved, being redeemed, as it were, or being
justified, declared not guilty and righteous before God by their
deeds of the law. He says in verse 11 of Galatians
3, no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. That's
evident. For the just shall live by faith. And that living by
faith means looking to Christ, who paid the debt in full. Looking
to Christ for redemption. Looking to Christ for righteousness. And he says in verse 12, the
law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live
in them. The law doesn't require you to believe it. The law requires
you to do it. If you're seeking salvation based
upon your law keeping, the law says do and live, disobey and
die. And how strict is that law? It not only looks upon the outward
person and what we do in actions, sinful actions or don't do, but
it looks on the heart. The spirit of the law reaches
the heart, the thoughts. Christ taught that in the Sermon
on the Mount, Matthew chapter five, when he said, it's not
just sinful to kill a person, it's sinful to be angry enough
to kill a person, to desire a person's death. It's not just sinful to
lust after another person or to commit adultery, it's sin
to lust, even to have the thought You see, the law condemns that.
You know, I hear people all the time say, well, it's not a sin
to think it, but just to do it. In God's sight, it's a sin to
think it, as well as do it. So what does that teach us? Well,
it teaches us that there's no hope of salvation for me based
upon my works. That's the case. But here's the
hope of salvation. Redemption accomplished, verse
13 of Galatians 3. Christ, hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Christ redeemed his people. That's the us there. Talking
about believers. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Christ hath redeemed us. He paid the price. He satisfied
God's law and justice. You see, I say this all the time
on this program because people are so confused about it today
or ignorant of it. And that is, when you talk about
God's love, it's not just me looking at you with some kind
of a religious smile and saying, oh, God loves you. When we talk
about the death of Christ, it's not just putting out a blanket
statement, oh, Christ died for you. That's not what the scripture
teaches. God does love, he loves his people. And Christ died for them. So
when we talk about God's love, when we talk about God's mercy,
our God is a merciful God. He shows mercy to the chief of
sinners, Paul said. Our God is a gracious God. But His love, His mercy, His
grace is based upon and must be based upon His justice satisfied,
redemption by the blood, redemption accomplished. So that any notion,
any notion that I may have that God loves me without justice
satisfied, without Christ, is just me fooling myself. Somebody
told me one time, they just cannot stomach the idea of a God who
hates people. And I asked him, why not? and
he couldn't answer. But I'll tell you exactly why
not. You know why people cannot stomach the idea of a God who
hates people? It's because we all by nature
in our pride and self-righteousness believe that we deserve God's
love. But the Bible teaches otherwise.
If God were to give me what I deserve and what I've earned, it would
be his hatred. Now understand me, God's hatred
is not like your hatred. It's not like my hatred. If I
hate, you know what it is? It's a sin. You know why? Because I'm so selfish. And you
too. Human hatred, hatred coming from
sinful human beings, of other sinful human beings is nothing
but sin. But hatred from God is not sin, it's justice. Whenever you read about God hating
all workers of iniquity, or God hating, Jacob have I loved, he
said, Esau have I hated. Don't parse that down as the
way false religionists do. Oh, that just means he loved
Jacob more than he loved Esau, or he loved Esau less. That's
not what the word means. It means God rejected Esau. upon a just and right ground. And what was it? Esau's sins. It means he just gave Esau what
Esau deserved, but he had mercy on Jacob. And then later on in
Romans 9 there, he says, I'll have mercy on whom I will, and
I'll be gracious to whom I will. So when we talk about love and
grace and mercy from God, Here's what it's based on, verse 13
of Galatians 3, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Now, how did Christ redeem us from the curse of the law? Well,
he says in verse 13, being made a curse for us, for it's written,
and here's a quotation from the book of Deuteronomy, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. quotation from Deuteronomy, simply
means justice is satisfied. In the case of when Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the law, when he redeemed his people from
the curse of the law, justice was satisfied. That hanging on
a tree there refers to capital punishment. Somebody getting
what they deserve. Well, how was Christ, who is
God in human flesh, without sin, Christ who is the perfect God-man. Christ who never sinned, never
committed a sin, never even thought a sinful thought. How was He
made a curse for us? Well, the Bible teaches this,
that the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity,
the Son of God, who is co-equal in every attribute of nature
with the Father and the Son, that before the foundation of
the world, in the everlasting covenant of grace, God chose
a people and gave them, as it were, to His Son. And His Son
accepted this responsibility to save them by redemption, to
redeem them. all of their sin debt was placed
upon the shoulders of Christ. And that's called imputation. That means my sin, if I'm one
of His, as evidenced by believing in Him, that means that before
the foundation of the world, all my sins were charged to Him. He became accountable, responsible
for my sin debt. Now that's talking about how
Christ is my representative and Christ is my surety. He became
my surety. You know what a surety is? If
you sign a, if you co-sign for a person who's taking out a loan
or buying a car, what you're saying is that, well, if they
can't pay the debt, you'll pay it. Well, there was never a time
where I could pay my sin debt. Christ was my surety from the
beginning. My sin debt was imputed to Him. And in order to pay that debt,
what did He have to do? He had to die on the cross. That's substitution. Now, how
could God be just and righteous and true and punish His holy,
sinless Son for the sins of another person? the sins of his sheep,
the sins of his church. How could God do that and be
just in doing so? It was Christ who willingly became
the surety of his people based on sin imputed to him. Over in the book of 2 Corinthians
chapter five and verse 21, this is stated. It says, for he, 2
Corinthians 5, 21, for he, that is God the Father, hath made
him, that is God the Son incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ, sin for
us. It says to be there, but the
to be is in italics. That means it was added by the
King James translators. It would read, for he hath made
him sin. That word sin there is the most
common New Testament word for sin, which means to miss the
mark. He made Christ to miss the mark for us. So how did Christ
miss the mark? He kept the law perfectly. In
Himself, by His actions, by His thoughts, He kept the law perfectly. He didn't miss the mark. He's
the righteous Lord. So how could He be made to miss
the mark? By imputation. God charging,
accounting, reckoning the sin debt of His people to Christ.
And Christ willingly took that debt. You know, in order to be
the savior of his people, there's three requirements that had to
be met. Number one, the person had to
be appointed by God, appointed by God. Well, who's the only
savior? Who's the only one that God appointed? Man appoints all kinds of people.
They go to other men, they go to other gods, but God appointed
one person, his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person
of the Trinity. Secondly, not only did the Savior
have to be appointed, anointed, that's what Messiah means, he
had to be willing to do that. And the Bible teaches, Christ
himself said, as recorded in the Bible, that he willingly
laid down his life for his sheep. He said, no man takes my life
from me. You know, fallen humanity, when
Christ was crucified, fallen humanity had within our hearts
murder. But he was laying down his life
willingly. We could not have crucified the
Lord of glory unless he willingly allowed us to do it. That's what
he said. And so he was willing. And thirdly,
he had to be appointed. He had to be willing. And thirdly,
he had to be able. Can he pay the debt? Well, as
God-man, God in human flesh without sin, Christ was able to pay the
debt to law and justice. He kept the law perfectly. He
went to the cross. He died, was buried, and raised
again the third day. for the justification of his
people. And that's what it means that he was made sin for us.
It says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, who knew no sin. Now that's referring
to Christ. That's not referring back to
us because we know sin well. We know it too well, but Christ
knew no sin. He had no influence or contamination
from sin within himself. People talk about this verse
and they say, well, sin was transferred to him. If you want to talk about
sin being transferred, you have to talk about imputation and
the debt of sin transferred to Christ. That's it. There was
no sin in him because he was the perfect God-man. Now it says
in verse 21, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. And that's a beautiful truth. What that teaches us is
this, that as Christ, the surety of God's people, was made sin,
the sin being imputed to Him, His righteousness, on the other
hand, has been imputed to them. They're not guilty. They're righteous
in God's sight. What is that righteousness? The
righteousness of God. It's the entire merit, the value,
of what Christ accomplished in his redemptive work. Redemption
by the blood, his obedience unto death as the surety of his people.
You see, how much is a million dollars worth? It's worth a million
dollars. How much is the righteousness
of God worth? It brings about salvation to
all of his people. So go back to Galatians 3 now,
verse 13, hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree." Now there's the ground of salvation. There's the ground
of being justified before God. I stand before God, saved, blessed,
justified, sanctified, certain for heaven's glory, based on
one ground, Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for me. His righteousness imputed, charged
to me. But now, that's not, it doesn't
stop there. There's a blessing, a miracle,
that comes out of that redemption accomplished. by Christ alone
on the cross, with no contribution from me or you, there's a blessing. And what is that? Verse 14 of
Galatians 3, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Now, what's he talking about
here? Well, the blessing of Abraham. He'd been talking about Abraham
here. Paul the Apostle was inspired by the Spirit to use Abraham
as an example of a sinner saved by grace who was brought by the
Holy Spirit to be born again and to faith in Christ. And that's
the blessing of Abraham. The blessing of Abraham is salvation
by the grace of God, according to His mercy, His love, His grace,
based on redemption accomplished, justice satisfied, imputed righteousness. That's what Abraham had. And
out of that blessing came spiritual life given by the Holy Spirit
in the new birth. And he says it here, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. What's
the promise of the Spirit? It's the promise of Christ and
salvation in Him, where we are brought by the Spirit to believe
in Him and to repent of our dead works. That's what happens in
the new birth. A sinner is brought providentially
under the preaching of the gospel, wherein the righteousness of
God is revealed, just like it was to Abraham, and the Holy
Spirit empowers it by giving spiritual life, ears to hear,
eyes to see, a new heart, a new mind, and shows that sinner his
sin. I'm a sinner, I don't have anything
to recommend myself unto God. Even my best is not good enough
to save me or keep me saved. I have nothing by which to make
claim on God's goodness or mercy or salvation. I'm a sinner. And to show that if God were
to damn me, he'd be just in doing so, I must take sides with God,
even against myself. But there is hope. And that hope
is only to be found in the glorious person and accomplished, finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, redemption accomplished, His
righteousness given, imputed to me. And that's what happens. And he talks about receiving
the promise there. Back over in the book of John
chapter one, he tells us about sinners who receive Christ. He starts out in verse 11, he
says, Christ came unto his own and his own received him not.
That's all men by nature. Some say, well, that's just talking
about the Jews. I know this, that if left to
ourselves, to our own desires, naturally, our own wills, which
preachers today will tell you, you got a free will, well, you're
a free agent. You can make decisions. But my
friend, left to ourselves, we will never make the right decision
in salvation. We will never choose God's way
in Christ. We'll always want to go our own
way and corrupt the way of God's grace in Christ. And so he says,
he came into his own and his own received him not, but look
at verse 12. But as many as received him, received Christ. Have you
received Christ? To them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Now
that word power there doesn't mean ability. The word power
there means the right. In other words, if you claim
to be saved, if you claim to be a Christian, if you claim
to be a child of God, what right do you have to make that claim?
Well, here it is. He says, to them that believe
on his name, believe on Christ. as He is identified and described
and singled out and distinguished in the Word, the God-man who
brought forth righteousness through His redemption by His blood,
which secures the entire salvation of everyone for whom He died
and was buried and rose again. But look at verse 13 of John
1, which were born, not of blood, that is, not of physical birth,
nor the will of the flesh, that's the works of the flesh, nor of
the will of man. It wasn't based on your free
will decision. If you receive Christ, if you
will receive him, if you desire to receive him, God has made
you willing in the day of his power. Somebody asked me one
time, well, does God drag sinners to himself against their will?
No, he changes their will by the power of the Holy Spirit
through the preaching of the gospel, nor the will of man, but the
will of God." That's how that comes on. And that's the blessing
of Abraham. That's the new birth. That's
salvation. The blessing of Abraham includes
the new birth, but it includes everything in salvation. It includes
a sinner who was chosen by God before the foundation of the
world, justified based upon the imputed righteousness of Christ,
a sinner who's redeemed by the blood of Christ on the cross,
and a sinner who has been born again by the Holy Spirit. Christ
said, you must be born again. or you cannot receive the kingdom
of heaven. That's redemption accomplished, 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
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 317-07. Contact us by
phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.