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's message is the third message in a series of messages
that are intended to accompany a new book that we're offering.
The title of this series, the title of the book is, What is
a Christian? A Biblical Study of the One True
Faith. And this book and this series
of messages is intended to be a guide for you through the Bible,
through the scriptures, in an exercise of self-examination
so that you can examine your faith. If you claim to be a Christian,
are you truly a Christian? Well, what does the Bible say?
That's what the issue is for these messages, this book. Can
I put my claim of being a Christian to the test of the Holy Bible,
God's inspired word? And will my claim hold up as
the Bible defines Christianity, what a true Christian is, what
a true Christian is not? Now, today's message is a follow-up
on the second message concerning this subject, the uniqueness
of true Christians, the uniqueness of true Christians. If we're
going to say that Christianity is truly the one and only true
faith, then we need to understand what is unique about it that
sets it apart from all religions, all the religions of man. And
so I'm going to continue this. I urge you, if you didn't hear
the last message, get it, get the whole series and get the
book. We offer it free of charge. So
there's no cost involved. But let's begin with this point,
the uniqueness of true Christians. And it has to do with what true
Christians believe. the doctrine of Christianity,
the faith of Christianity. The scripture says, examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith. Second Corinthians 13 5. That's
kind of like the foundation passage for all these messages. Am I
in the faith, the Christian faith? And here's something that's very
unique about Christianity. And that is this, number one,
Christianity teaches the one true and living God who is holy,
just, and righteous, and who cannot save, who cannot justify,
or forgive, or have mercy on sinners apart from His law and
justice being satisfied. Now that's the key, that's a
long statement, but let me make good on that from the scriptures.
Over in the book of Isaiah, chapter 45, Isaiah is speaking to the
people of his day in giving a stark contrast between the idols of
man and the true and living God. And in verse 20 he says, "...assemble
yourselves and come, draw near together, you that are escaped
of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot
save." Now he's talking about idolatry there. And those who
worship idols, they worship out of ignorance. They have no knowledge. And they pray into it. They set
up the wood of their graven image. He's talking about wooden images,
wooden replicas of people's imagination. And that's one thing you need
to understand. You don't have to bow down to a stone or a wood
idol or a metal idol or a statue to be an idolater. Because idolatry
begins in the heart and in the mind. But in verse 21, Isaiah
says this, this is the message from God to the people of Judah
of Isaiah's day, Judah and Jerusalem. He says, tell ye, this is verse
21, tell ye and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me. Now God is distinguishing himself
from idols. There's one true and living God.
He says, there is no God else beside me. And then I want you
to listen to this very carefully, underscore this in your mind,
underscore it in your Bible. How does God identify himself
as distinct from the dead idols that men worship? And here's
what he says, a just God and a savior. a just God and a Savior
he says there is none beside me verse 22 he says look unto
me look unto who now this just this one who is a just God and
a Savior look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the
earth for I am God and there is none else this is a description
of the one and only unique true and living God of the Bible.
He's the only God. And He identifies Himself. He distinguishes Himself as both
a just God and a Savior. Now that is important. What that
tells us is this, that in order for God to be a Savior of sinners,
He must be just in doing so. He must do right The Bible says
that God is a just God. That He is a holy God. He's a
righteous God. He's a righteous judge. He must
judge according to truth. He must punish all sin. He must punish sinners. God cannot
forgive sin. He cannot have mercy. He cannot
show love. He cannot be gracious apart from
His justice being satisfied. He must be both a just God as
well as a Savior. Now God is love. God is merciful. God is gracious. There's no arguing
that. But any notion or any idea or
any preaching that denies or ignores or challenges God's justice
in preaching His love and grace and mercy is false religion. I want to preach to you the love
of God, but I can't stand before you and say God loves you and
Christ died for you indiscriminately. I want to tell you that God is
merciful. He saves sinners. God is a merciful
God. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." But what is His name? His name
is a just God and a Savior. God must be a righteous judge
as well as a loving Father. And the proof of that is certainly
in the fact that He sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world,
His only begotten Son, to become a man, that is God in human flesh,
and live as a surety and substitute for his people and die under
his justice for their sins imputed, charged, accounted to them, to
him. That's how Christ died. That's
why He had to die on the cross. He didn't die just as a martyr.
He didn't die just as an example. And He did not die just as an
expression of God's love to His people. Now, the death of Christ
on the cross is certainly the greatest and most glorious expression
of God's love to His elect people. But you see that expression of
love is only found in justice satisfied for their sins. Christ
had to pay the debt to God's law and justice for the sins
of His people, His church, His sheep, God's elect. Herein is
love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His
Son to be the propitiation, a just as satisfying substitute, sacrifice,
by death, the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of blood,
no forgiveness, no remission. So that's one unique thing about
Christianity. You see, false religion, they
have all kinds of gods, all kinds of characteristics, Much of them
are human, human characteristics. They're very arbitrary, but the
God of the Bible, He's unique. There's none like Him. He's a
just God and a Savior. Now, there's more about that
in the book, and I want to stress that the book goes into much
more depth and detail and many more scriptural references than
I do in these messages. But I want you to understand
that. Let me give you the second thing that's unique about Christianity. Christianity is not only unique
in what it declares and reveals about God as both a just God
and a Savior, He's a holy God, He's a just God, as well as a
merciful, loving, and forgiving God. all based upon the justice-satisfying
work of Jesus Christ in righteousness. That's what it's all about. You
see, the gospel is all about the righteousness of God in Christ,
and that righteousness is the work of Christ in His obedience
unto death to satisfy the justice of God for His people. Christ was made sin. He who knew
no sin, for us that we might be made or become the righteousness
of God in Him. Well, here's the second thing
that's unique about Christianity. It's what it says about man.
And true Christianity, because as from the Bible, reveals and
declares the absolute and utter sinfulness and depravity of man,
fallen in Adam, born dead in trespasses and sins, and who
must, therefore, be saved by God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ Jesus. That's unique about Christianity. Now, in other words, what I'm
saying is that Christianity just doesn't teach that man made some
mistakes or that man is imperfect. All those are true. Man's made
a lot of mistakes. I've made a lot of mistakes.
You've made a lot of mistakes. We're all imperfect. But what
the scripture teaches, what the Bible teaches, what true Christianity
teaches, is not only just we're imperfect and made some mistakes
and need a little help. No sir. Christianity teaches
that man by nature fell in Adam. We are totally ruined by the
fall. Ruined by the fall. That we are
totally depraved. That we cannot save ourselves.
All of these things. We quote passages of scripture
in the Bible like Romans chapter 3 and verse 23. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's true. What
does that mean? It means we've literally missed
the mark. What is the mark? The mark is
righteousness, perfect righteousness. And no matter how hard we try,
this is what total depravity, one of the things that total
depravity, see when you hear that term total depravity, Don't
just think of the worst of society. Don't think that that means that
everybody is as bad as we could be. That's not the case. But
it means this, we've all sinned and we've all come short of the
glory of God. We've missed the mark. And that
includes the best of us. The harder we try, the best of
us, we cannot equal and come up to the requirement of perfect
righteousness. That's what the glory of God
is. And therefore, we'll read in other passages like Romans
6 and verse 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages
of sin is death. What does that tell us? Well,
Christianity tells us this, that when it comes to earning working
our way as in a wage. All we can earn is death. You
see, salvation is a gift of God that means you cannot earn it,
you cannot deserve it. Now why is that? Well, as I mentioned
before, first of all, man fell in Adam into sin and death and
has no righteousness before God. The book of Romans chapter 5
and verse 12 teaches us. It says, wherefore as by one
man sin entered into the world, that's Adam, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned or literally all sinned. When
Adam fell, he fell as the representative of the whole human family and
therefore that sin is imputed to all of mankind Now you see,
that's the issue. We fell in Adam. Secondly, because
of our fall in Adam, being ruined by the fall, fallen man is born
spiritually dead and has no ability to work out a righteousness that
would measure up to what God requires. Over in the book of
Romans, chapter 3, it says, as it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. Now, that's not just talking
about some part of society that's immoral and irreligious. That's
talking about all of us. That's Romans 3 and verse 10.
As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. You can
use that to describe the best of us and the worst of us. On
down there In verse 19 of Romans 3 it says, Now we know that what
thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, that's God's sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So in other words, total
depravity, our fallen Adam teaches that among men, the best or the
worst, we have no righteousness before God. No righteousness,
we fell in Adam. And then thirdly, the third implication
of this is this, being spiritually dead, fallen man, now listen
to me, has absolutely no desire to seek or find righteousness
and underscore this God's way by grace in Christ Jesus. Back
up in the book of Romans chapter 3 and verse 11 it says not only
does it say in verse 10 there's none righteous no not one we
have no righteousness It says, there is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way, that is the way of God's grace. They are together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Do you see that? Man, now listen
to me, this is unique about Christianity. Man is incapable of doing good
according to God's standard of goodness. Now, we can do good
according to man's standard on this plane here on earth. We
talk about good people all the time. Well, he's a good husband,
she's a good wife, good father, good mother. Here's the point. Christianity teaches, and again,
this is unique to Christianity. Christianity teaches that you
can be the best father that has ever been in the history of mankind
or the best mother or the best husband, the best wife, the best
worker, the best boss, the best of everything. And it still is
not enough to make you righteous before God. Now that's what Christianity
teaches. You say, well, preacher, that's
awful. That's awful high. That's an awful high standard.
My friend, listen to me. That brings us to this third
thing. Here's what Christianity teaches. Salvation comes to sinful
men by God's grace, not by works. But it's by God's grace based
on the righteousness, not of men, but of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the merit, the merits, the values. the goodness
of his obedience unto death, and that righteousness, when
it comes to Christianity and a sinner saved by grace, that
righteousness becomes that person's by imputation. It's imputed. That means it's legally charged,
accounted, reckoned to his account. Now, it's also applied to their
hearts through the operation of the power of the Holy Spirit
who imparts spiritual life to God's elect in the new birth. That's why the Lord said you
must be born again. But look at a passage in John
chapter 12 over in verse 32. Listen to how this is connected.
The Lord Jesus Christ speaking here of his death on the cross.
And listen to what he says. He says, and I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, that is on the cross, he says, will draw
all men unto me. And this he said, signifying
what death he should die. Christ being lifted up from the
earth on the cross was to do what? It was to bring righteousness
to his people by his work. You see, Christ is the only righteousness
that sinners can have before God. It's the merit, the value,
the goodness of His work, nothing of ours. And He says if He does
His great work on the cross of establishing, working out a perfect
righteousness, He'll draw all men unto Him. Now the all men
there is not all without exception. Somebody asked me, how do I know
that? Well, all men are not drawn unto him. Being drawn unto him
is the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Regeneration
and conversion, and that brings me to another unique point concerning
true Christianity. A Christian is one who has not
only been justified before God, Based on the righteousness of
Christ imputed, he's also one who has been born again from
above by the power of the Holy Spirit. Born again from above
by the power of the Holy Spirit. You must be born again, Christ
said, or you cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven. And that
new birth is evidenced by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and
repentance of our own dead works and idolatry. Romans 10, four
says, that Christ is the end of the law, the fulfillment,
the finishing, completion, perfection of the law for righteousness
to whom? To everyone who believes. How
do you believe? Well, faith is the gift of God.
Now another unique point about Christianity has to do with worship,
obedience, and service. Now see, every religion teaches
some form of worship, some form of obedience, some form of service.
But what's unique about Christianity? Well, the worship, obedience,
and service that a Christian is to give unto God is motivated
by grace, love, and gratitude. And it's aimed towards God's
glory in Christ Jesus. So you have the motivation of
it and you have the goal of it. This is what's unique about Christianity. The motivation of it is not legal
threats of punishment. It's not mercenary promises of
earned reward. The motivation is grace, it's
love, it's gratitude. Thank you, Lord, for giving me
all that I have as far as salvation through Christ. I didn't earn
it, didn't deserve it, still don't earn it, still don't deserve
it. And so I serve him as a willing,
loving bond servant, not to pay my debt, My debt's already been
paid. Not to make myself righteous
before God in order to attain or maintain salvation. I have
a righteousness complete in Christ. And the goal of it is His glory. It's not to draw attention to
myself. It's not to brag on myself. It's the glory in Christ. God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul wrote about this in Romans
chapter 7. He says in Romans 7 verse 4,
he says, wherefore my brethren, you also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ. To be dead to the law means my
debt to the law is paid. The law has nothing against me
now. My sins have been taken away. They were charged to Christ.
He took my wrath, God's wrath that I earned, he took it. And
by his body, his death, he says that you should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
do what? Not produce fruit, not earn our
way into God's favor, but should bear, bring forth fruit unto
God. Verse five of Romans 7 says,
for when we were in the flesh, when we were unregenerate, The
motions of sin, the passions of sin, which were by the law,
did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. The main
issue that Paul is talking about there is his religious efforts.
The verse six says, but now we're delivered from the law that being
dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of
spirit and not in oldness of the letter. That's talking about
service and obedience to God, motivated by grace, motivated
by love. The love of Christ constrained
me. We serve God. We who are Christians serve him,
not for what we can get out of him, Because in Christ, He's
already freely given us all things, everything. The Bible says in
Ephesians 1.3, it says, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Everything, now think
about this. This is unique about Christianity.
Everything that God requires of me as to attaining, maintaining,
earning salvation is given to me freely, undeservedly by Jesus
Christ. Everything that God requires,
I find fulfilled in Christ. All the death that I've earned,
Christ took on the cross. All the life that I have never
earned or deserved, Christ is my life, He earned it. He died,
He was buried, He arose from the dead. I was ruined by the
fall, but I've been redeemed by the blood of Christ. And as
a result of His redemptive work, I've been regenerated, born again
by the Holy Spirit. Do you see that? Well, that's
unique. And so when we talk about this
salvation, When we talk about true Christianity, we're talking
about a sinner who has nothing to recommend himself to God in
and of himself. But he has Christ. He has righteousness. He's not guilty before God because
Christ took his guilt. The scripture said that Christ
was made a curse for his people. He died the just for the unjust. In other words, when God justifies,
what is it to be justified? It means to be not guilty. It
means to be declared righteous before God. Well, what kind of
people does God justify? Well, he justifies the ungodly. He doesn't justify people who
deserve to be justified. How does he do that? In a way
that his justice is satisfied. God is both a just God as well
as a savior. That's unique. I'll tell you,
the first time I heard those words, a just God and a Savior,
the Lord used it to get my attention. Because I had studied all kinds
of religion, all kinds of denominations that call themselves Christian,
and I'd never heard it before. A just God and a Savior. That's
what's unique about Christianity. Hope you'll join us next time
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.