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.
Now today I'm going to be preaching beginning in Romans, the book
of Romans chapter five. And I'm going to be talking about
in this message and the next message, and I don't really know
how many messages it's going to take to go through this, what
the Lord has laid on my heart. But the title is the power of
God's grace. The power of God's grace. And when we're talking about
the power of God's grace, we're talking about the power of God
Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ to save His people from
their sins and to preserve them unto glory. The power of God's
grace unto full salvation. Now, when we talk about grace,
and most people talk about it today, but I've mentioned on
this program before, and I know it's something that we all need
to consider, is that much of what portrays itself as the grace
of God today is no more than a cleverly disguised system of
works And people are deceived. Satan is a deceptive being, a
deceptive devil. And one of his main tools of
deception is false Christianity. Christianity that comes in the
name of Christ, but denies the doctrine of Christ. Specifically,
we could put it under the umbrella of the doctrine of grace, real
grace. What is grace? What does it mean? We call this program Reign of
Grace. Grace reigns. It comes from Romans
5.21. Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the media arm
of our church at Eager Avenue Grace Church. We preach the grace
of God. We believe salvation by grace. People today, one of the most
popular hymns is Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Scent. And I wonder
how many people who really sing that hymn, written by John Newton,
how many really believe in real grace? Sometimes we'll see acronyms
of grace, G-R-A-C-E, God's Riches at Christ's Expense. That's a
good acronym. Sometimes I've seen it as God's
righteousness at Christ expense. I think it's more attuned. Well,
what does grace really mean? Well, first of all, to understand
the reality of grace, we have to understand something, as the
Bible directs us, of who God is in His holiness and His justice
and in His righteousness and truth. as the righteous judge,
and who we are as fallen sinners who have nothing to recommend
us unto God. And that if God were to ever
give us, including myself now, what I deserve or what I have
earned, it would be eternal damnation. And until the Holy Spirit brings
you to that conviction that we have nothing to recommend us
on, even at our best. We are no more than sinners who
deserve and earn nothing but damnation. Until the Holy Spirit
brings you to see the reality of that sinful state and the
sinful nature, we'll never understand the amazing reality of God's
grace and the power of it. You see, there's nothing in salvation,
if salvation is by grace, there is nothing in salvation by way
of blessing, by way of means or instruments that I can say
I deserve that and I've earned it. Now that's the case. And then to understand grace,
we have to understand that no part of salvation is conditioned
on us. Because if it were, it would
fail. You see, salvation at no time,
at no stage, to no degree, is conditioned on the sinner. But
all of salvation, every part of it, every facet of it, all
the blessings of it, are conditioned on Christ alone And he met and
fulfilled those conditions completely. And what a true believer is brought
to experience by the grace of God, by the power of God's grace,
is the fruit, the result, the effect of what Christ accomplished. He's the vine, we're the branches. Now in light of that, I want
to say, and I want you to hear me very well here, that one of
Satan's greatest deceptions in false Christianity today is that
a sinner can be saved by the grace of God and then later,
because of unbelief or because of some sin or sins, that they
can be lost again, that you can lose salvation. Now, let me tell
you why that's not grace, you see. That places salvation and
the maintenance or the preservation of salvation conditioned on the
sinner. And listen to me folks, if it's
conditioned on you or if it's conditioned on me, it's a failure. First of all, the Bible teaches
us, look at Romans 5 and verse 21. Now listen to this. read
the bible don't cut me off you say you may be a part of a church
or denomination who believes well you can be saved and then
you can be lost and all that i'm telling you that satan's
deception i'm gonna tell you why and i know the i know the
uh... objection that people bring you
know they talk about once saved always saved well many people
who claim to believe once saved always saved don't really believe
salvation by grace because If once saved, you're always saved,
what's it based on? What's the ground of that salvation?
What's the power of it? The power of God's grace. I believe
once saved, always saved. If God saved you, I believe in
the eternal security of the believer because that's what the Bible
teaches. And I know the objection that comes. Well, if I believe
that, I just go sin all I wanna sin. It doesn't matter what I
do. Oh no. You're denying the power of God's
grace, both to save and to preserve His people unto glory. And I
want you to hear this now. There are whole denominations
who believe that you can be saved one day and then lost, and it's
a deception. But I wanna talk to you about
the power of God's grace. Well, look at verse 21 of Romans
5. Now, Paul up to this point had talked about God's grace,
that comes by Christ, conditioned on Christ who fulfilled those
conditions. And he says in verse 21, that
as sin hath reigned unto death. Now that's what sin brings, death. And let me say, all right, let's
read on and I'll come back. He said, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now that's one of the best definitions
of grace that you'll find in the Bible. But there's a lot
leading up to that. Now first of all, the issue of
God's grace is righteousness. That's what he says, grace reign
through righteousness unto eternal life. Not conditioned on you,
not conditioned on me, but by Jesus Christ our Lord. In John
chapter one, I believe it's verse 17, John wrote that the law came
by Moses, but grace and truth come by Jesus Christ. So grace
reigns through righteousness. Now what is righteousness? Well,
righteousness, now listen to me. Righteousness is not simply
what we call moral behavior. A person gives to charity. A person helps a poor person
or helps somebody who's sick. Now those are all fine things,
but do they make a sinner righteous before God? The answer is no. Righteousness is perfect satisfaction
to God's justice. That's what righteousness is.
Righteousness includes the complete payment for all sin. That's what it means. And in
ourselves, we have no righteousness. Romans 3 and verse 10, there
is none righteous, no, not one. That's all of us by nature. Man
has no righteousness by nature, Man cannot work a righteousness
by his best efforts to be good. That's why Christ had to come
and do his work. And here's the thing, being born
dead in trespasses and sins, having fallen in Adam, being
born dead in trespasses and sins, we don't want righteousness God's
way. Why do people desire salvation conditioned on themselves because
we're spiritually dead. We don't want that which is freely
given that we don't deserve and don't earn it. People today,
they want to believe that they're saved because they rose above
the crowd of unbelievers and made the right decision for Christ.
That's not what the Bible teaches. Now it's true that anybody who's
saved has chosen Christ. Anybody who is saved has accepted
Christ, believes in Christ, repents. But that's not righteousness,
you see. You're believing, you're accepting,
you're decision. Christ is my righteousness. In
the Old Testament, He's called the Lord our righteousness. That's
of His people. But look at what the scripture
says back in Romans 5 and verse 12. Listen to this. It says,
wherefore, this is Romans 5 and verse 12, wherefore, as by one
man, that's Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by
sin, because God told Adam in Genesis chapter two about the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the day that you
eat thereof, you shall surely die, or die and thou shalt die. And death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned, or literally
all sinned. We all sinned in Adam. We fell
in Adam, ruined by the fall. And therefore we're born spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. That's why we have, Christ said
you must be born again, didn't he? Or you cannot see or hear
the kingdom, enter the kingdom of God. Why must I be born again? I must be born spiritually from
a blood. All the flesh can produce is flesh. And in that state of
spiritual deadness, there's nothing that I can do in seeking to make
myself right with God that would equal righteousness. So where
can I find righteousness? Well, look over at Romans 5 and
verse 18. The Apostle writes, Therefore,
as by the offense of one, that's Adam, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation. That's all whom Adam represented.
Even so, by the righteousness of one, who's that? That's Jesus
Christ. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men under justification of
life. Now that all men, there's not
all without exception. Just like the all men in Adam's
case, that's all who fell in Adam. Well, who is that all? Well, it's all who are born in
sin, dead in trespasses of sin. Well, the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. In Christ, the all men
refers to all for whom he died who come to justification of
life. There's the qualification. What
is it to be justified before God? It's to be not guilty. It's
to be declared righteous before God. How can I, who am a sinner,
be declared righteous before God? Only as I stand before God
legally in Christ. My sins, having been imputed,
charged, accounted to Him, His righteousness, imputed, charged,
accounted to me. And the righteousness in which
I stand before God is something that I had absolutely nothing
to do with. If I had anything to do with
it, it wouldn't be righteousness. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. We missed the mark. I can tell
you, here's what I'm saying, now listen to me very carefully.
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but my believing is not my righteousness. Christ is. Now I'm not just splitting
hairs there. I'm telling you about the power
of God's grace. Look at verse 19 of Romans 5. He says, For as by one man's
disobedience many, or literally the many, were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one shall the many be made righteous. Who
are the many that were made sinners? All who fell in Adam, evidenced
by their being born dead in trespasses and sins. who are the many that
are made righteous, all for whom Christ died, who when he died,
we died, when he was buried, we were buried, when he arose
again, we arose again, evidenced by spiritual life given in the
new birth, and what's the evidence of that? We believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We rest in him for all salvation. Verse 20, he says, moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound, But where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Why did God give the law? The question that comes up there
is this. If salvation is in no way conditioned
on what I do or what I choose or what I decide, but conditioned
on Christ alone by the grace of God and something I cannot
earn or deserve, then why did God give the law back in the
Old Covenant? Well, he gave the law that the
offense might abound. What does that mean? That means
he gave the law to expose their depravity and sinfulness. To
show them that the impossibility of being saved, of being forgiven,
of being blessed, of being made righteous by their works. But
where sin abounded, Most commentators will say that the picture there
is like drowning in a sea of sin. Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. God's grace is powerful, you
see, to take care of the sin problem. But verse 21 tells you
how. How does grace do that? Well,
some people say, well, God loves you. and Christ died for you,
now you make the difference. That's not what it says here.
That's what preachers tell people today. And if you'll live a good
life and live a Christian life, you'll stay saved. No, that's
not what it says here. Now, again, that's not denying
faith and perseverance and all of that, but those are the fruit.
Those are the effect. We're going to see that in later
messages. Those aren't the cause in the ground. How does grace
abound to take care of all my sin? Verse 21, that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The question that we have to
settle in this matter of the power of God's grace in this
matter of salvation, even in this matter of faith, is this,
how am I a sinner made righteous before God? How am I made righteous? I must be made righteous or I
cannot be saved. I must be made righteous or I
will not pass the test of judgment. Acts 17 31 tells us that, that
God has appointed a day into which he will judge the world
in righteousness. And what's the standard? Who's
the standard? By that man whom he hath ordained, in that he
hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him
from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is
the fruit of the righteousness that he worked out by his death
on the cross. and which is imputed, charged,
accounted to all his people, his church, God's elect. And
how do I know that he did that for me? When God the Holy Spirit
brings me under the gospel, the word of God's grace, and in the
power of God's grace brings me to faith in Christ and repentance
of my works and my sin. That's what the issue is. Unto
eternal life. Now that grace that saves a sinner
is the same grace that keeps and preserves the sinner. And
it's not simply saying, well, if I believe that, I would just
sin as much as I want to. Look at chapter six now. Verse
one, Paul asked this question, he anticipated, you know, a lot
of times people will bring objections to the true preaching of God's
grace And if this is the objection you bring, let me show you yourself
in the Bible. You say, well, if I believe that,
I just sin as much as I want to, it doesn't matter what I
do. No, look at verse one of chapter six. What shall we say
then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? Here's Paul's answer, verse two,
God forbid. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? You see, he's talking about not
just some idea or doctrine of grace, even though there is the
idea and doctrine of grace set forth here, but he's talking
about the power of God's grace, not only to save a sinner, but
to preserve that sinner unto glory. Grace is a beautiful doctrine,
but it's not only a doctrine, it's a dynamic. That means it's
a power. And that power brings a sinner
to see that God alone in Christ through righteousness is his
salvation. and continuing in sin, he says,
God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin? Now, how are
we dead to sin? If you're a believer, a sinner
saved by grace, how are you dead to sin? Does that mean that once
God saves you, you stop sinning? Well, if it does, then none of
us are saved. Now, let's be honest. And I've
had people say, well, they, you know, man, I think I've told
you before about The man who told me, he said, well, I'm no
longer a sinner. I don't sin anymore. And I asked
him this question. I said, well, if I could take
a, if I could record all your thoughts, not your actions, not
what people see, but all your thoughts for one day and put
it up on a screen in front of a congregation, would you stay
there in the audience and watch it with them? You'd be ashamed
enough to run out of the building, if you're honest. Now, some people
say, well, the thought is not sin, but Christ took care of
that in Matthew chapter five, beginning there at verse 21 or
22. You know, he said there, I think
it's Matthew five, 20 or 21, He said there, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
shall no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. And then he brought
forth the law that it's a sin not only to perform a sinful
act, to do a sinful act, but to have a sinful thought. You
see, even sinful thoughts, sinful motives disqualify us from having
any part of salvation conditioned on ourselves. Because nothing
we do, even at our best, equals righteousness. So how are we
dead to sin if we're saved? We're dead to sin's power to
condemn. Romans 8.1, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk
not according to the flesh but after the Spirit." Sin cannot
condemn. Why? Because sin cannot be charged
to a child of God. The book of Romans, it says,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. I believe that's Romans 8, 32
or 33. Who shall lay anything to the charge Who shall impute any sin to God? It's God that justifies. God
that declares that person not guilty. It's God that declares
that person righteous. Based on what? Based on their
faith? No. Based upon what Christ accomplished
on the cross in his death, burial, and resurrection. He says, who
can condemn us? He goes on there in Romans 8.
It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again and is seated
at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for us. You see what he's saying? If
you're a believer now, you have a righteousness that answers
the demands of God's justice. And you didn't have any part
in producing it or qualifying it, it's all Christ. And the
evidence that you stand before God in that righteousness in
Christ is salvation by God's word, the power of His grace
to bring you to faith in Christ and repentance. And so how shall
we who are dead to sin live any longer therein? Now in these
next verses, and I'll get to them in other messages, he's
gonna talk about how believers are dead to sin, how believers
are liberated from sin. and how the power of God's grace
in the heart, the new heart. He's gonna give him a new heart,
he says. We'll see that. He's gonna put his spirit within
his people. All who are made righteous before
God in the Lord Jesus Christ, based on his righteousness imputed,
God's gonna give them a new heart, a new dynamic, a new mind, a
new affections, a new will, and he's gonna cause them to walk
in his word and he's going to preserve them and he says they'll
never depart from me. And if you see somebody who claims
to be a Christian and they claim to believe the truth and they
depart, the Bible teaches they were never saved to begin with.
They just had an outward profession. And you can deny that all you
want, but what does the Bible say about the power of God's
grace? And we'll be talking about that
as we go through these scriptures. But here it is, verse 21, that
is, sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's
how grace reigns. That's why it's so amazing. A sinner like me, standing before
a holy God, a just God, righteous in His sight. How? Not by anything
I've done, or will do, or promised to do, or even been enabled to
do. It's all in Christ Jesus. And that's what the Holy Spirit
brings us brings his people to believe and to confess. 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, 31707, 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.