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 this message. I'm going to be
preaching from the book of Galatians, the New Testament epistle that
the Apostle Paul wrote under inspiration of the Holy Spirit
to the churches in the area or the region known as Galatia.
So Galatians chapter 2, I'll begin with verse 19. It's Galatians
2, 19 through 21, and the title of the message is, How Righteousness
Comes. How Righteousness Comes. And
the Apostle Paul wrote in this portion of Scripture, he says,
For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live
unto God, Verse 20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. And then verse 21, this
is where I got the title of the message today. I do not frustrate
the grace of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Now, how does righteousness
come to a sinner? That's the same as the question
of questions that can only really be answered by the gospel. And
that is, how can a sinner, a sinful person, be righteous in God's
sight. How is that possible? Well, he
tells us, it's not by the law, which means it's not by the works
of man, but it comes by Jesus Christ. And I wanna give you
several things to think about here, how righteousness comes. Now, quite often people will
ask me if they hear many of my messages, they'll ask about this
thing of righteousness. I had a fellow ask me one time,
he says, you, or tell me one time, he says, you preach about
righteousness so much. Why? Why do you talk about righteousness? Well, I'll tell you exactly why.
And I'm gonna give you several things to think about and to
study in your own minds, consider, and go to the scriptures. First
of all, the concept The truth of righteousness is one of the
lost truths in today's religion, even today's religion that comes
in the name of Christianity. For example, if I were to ask
you what is the most vital, fundamental, important concept of the gospel,
what would you say? Most people would say the love
of God. But that's not so. Now listen to me. Understand
me and don't misquote me now. I'm not saying that the love
of God is not preached out in the gospel and it's not vital
and important. It is. But what I'm talking about
is something that is so fundamental to our understanding even of
the love of God. You see, you cannot understand
the love of God without righteousness. Understanding righteousness.
And then I want you to know this, when I speak of righteousness
here, when Paul's writing about this, he's not talking about
righteousness as men and women on this earth, sinful men and
women, see righteousness. In other words, this is not righteousness
as judged and defined by our own personal standard. Christ
spoke of that when he spoke of the Pharisees. He said, they
do indeed appear righteous unto men, But inwardly, they're full
of dead men's bones. They're dead. I'm not talking
about how you and I compare with each other. You may compare yourself
to me and come out looking really great. When I speak of righteousness,
I'm talking about God's standard of righteousness. And in God's
standard of righteousness, we have to define righteousness
this way. Righteousness is perfect satisfaction
to God's holy law and inflexible justice. Nothing less will qualify
for righteousness. You hear me quote Acts 7, those
of you who listen to this program regularly, you might hear me
quote Acts 17 and verse 31 quite often, where it talks about how
God, in the verse 30 there, it talks about how God commands
all men everywhere to repent on this basis. Verse 31, because
He has appointed a day in the which He will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, not a
man that you picked, but one that God ordained, whereof he
hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him
from the dead." And right there you see that the standard of
righteousness is not any man. It's not me. It's not your preacher.
It's not the deacons. It's not the elders. It's not
the most moral, sinful human being in the whole world. It's
Jesus Christ the righteous. And if you wanna, technically
speaking, according to the standard of God, Jesus Christ was the
only person that ever lived on this cursed, fallen, sinful earth
that could be called righteous in himself. In himself. Now God's people can be called
righteous, but not in themselves. It's only as they stand in Christ.
So that concept of righteousness is very important. Another thing
you need to consider is this, that the heart of the gospel
is defined in scripture as the righteousness of God. Paul wrote
in Romans 1, 16 and 17, another set of verses that you hear me
quote all the time. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation,
unto everyone that believes, to the Jew first, the Greek also,
He says, for therein, verse 17, is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith, that's the preaching of the gospel, to faith, that's
the faith that God gives his elect people to receive it, come
to Christ, from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall
live by faith. That's the heart of the gospel.
In the scripture, you'll see the word just, or justice, The
Old Testament and the New Testament, the same word as right and righteous. God must be a just God. Let me
give you three things to consider here before we get into these
verses. The main issue in the salvation
of sinners is the glory of God. Now what is the glory of God?
The glory of God is the working out, the manifestation, the display
of all of God's attributes, who He is, working consistently together
in the salvation of His people. In other words, God never denies
Himself to save sinners. He always remains to be who He
is and His attributes, we can talk about His power, God's infinite
power. We can talk about His wisdom,
His knowledge, He is omniscient, His holiness, and His righteousness. So God, and we can also talk
about His mercy. His love, His truth in all of
these things, His grace. You see, these are all attributes
of God. And His glory is the display,
the working out, the manifestation of that which identifies and
distinguishes Him as the one and only unique God. There's nothing like God. There's
no one like God. There's no one even to compare
to God, you see. Now the Bible says in Romans
3.23 that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of
God. In other words, in our natural
state as being sinners, there's no way with anything we do, think,
say, or do that we can measure up to the glory of God. So here's
the glory of God. We fall short in everything we
do, even the best efforts to obey God fall short. We don't
measure up. So the main issue in salvation
is the glory of God. Secondly, the main issue in the
glory of God is righteousness. Now, you say, well, how can you
say that in the main issue in the glory of God, love? No. Now understand what I'm saying
now, and don't misquote me. Love is a vital part of God's
glory. But you see, God cannot show
love apart from righteousness. His love is a righteous love. That's why He hates sin. That's why the Bible even says
He hates the workers of iniquity. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Don't try to water that down.
Deal with the scripture as it is. Don't try to soften the blow. You see, God's hatred is not
an unjust or unreasonable hatred. His hatred is not like ours.
When we hate, it's sinful because it's selfish and proud and it's
a contemptuous thing. It's all based upon covetousness. But when God hates, all that
is is His righteous wrath, justice against sin. It's only right. But the Bible says God is love.
Yes, He is. But 1 John 4.10 says, herein
is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us. That's His elect people, His
chosen people. and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. That propitiation involves the
establishment of righteousness and justice against the sins
of God's chosen people. And that righteousness and justice
was carried out by Jesus Christ. So here's the third thing. The
first thing, the main issue in the salvation of sinners is the
glory of God. The main issue in the glory of
God is righteousness. Yes, God loves His people, but
His love is a righteous love. Yes, God is merciful to His people,
but His mercy is a righteous mercy. That was pictured back
in the Old Testament under the mercy seat, where the blood had
to be sprinkled. That blood means justice, payment
for sin. Yes, God is gracious, but His
grace is a righteous grace. We at Eager Avenue Grace Church,
we present this program and our media ministry under the title
of Reign of Grace. Reign of Grace is an evangelical
arm of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. Why do we
call it Reign of Grace? Well, we call it that because
one of my favorite passages of scripture is Romans 5.21. And
it says this, for as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might
grace reign, R-E-I-G-N, through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. You see, grace rules by righteousness. Righteousness established by
Christ. Grace doesn't rule by love. Grace is love. And grace
involves love, but it rules by righteousness. The main issue
in the glory of God is righteousness. And here's the third thing. The
main issue in righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ and what
he accomplished on Calvary as the surety and the substitute
of his people. Now that's why Paul says this.
Listen to this. He says, for I through, this
is Galatians 2.19. for I through the law am dead
to the law that I might live unto God. What he means by that
is this, the law has no legal binding hold upon him as to the
payment of its penalty or the fulfillment of its precepts. You see, if you're under the
law, if you're under the law, then you are obligated, legally
bound to keep that law. And any breach or break of that
law is sin and deserves death. That's why Paul wrote over in
Galatians chapter 3 in verse 10, he says, for as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. You see, if you're
trying to be saved, If you're trying to be righteous before
God now, and I'm talking about as the ground of your salvation,
you're right entitled to be accepted with God, to enter heaven's glory.
If you're doing that by the law, the Bible says you're under a
curse because it's written, cursed is everyone that continues not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. You're trying to do something you can't do. You're trying to
be righteous by the law. But you can't do it. But Paul
said, I threw the law and am dead to the law. Well, how did
he become dead to the law? To be dead to the law now means
that the penalty for all your sins are paid in full. And you already have righteousness. You don't have to establish one
of your own by your works because you already have it. Well, look
at Romans chapter 7 and verse 4. Paul explains the same thing.
Romans 7 and verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, you also
are become dead to the law, how? Now listen to this, by the body
of Christ. Now what is the body of Christ?
Remember he said in the Lord's Supper, this is my body, which
is broken for you, broken for his people. Speaking of his death
on the cross. In other words, my death to the
law came by Jesus Christ as my substitute. He stood in my place. My sins were imputed, charged,
accounted to Him. My debt to God's law and justice
that I owed because of my sin. I fell in Adam and I sinned against
God. My debt was put on His account,
reckoned to Him. And when he died, I died, he
says, you're become dead to the law by the body of Christ that
you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God. That's
the exact same thing that Paul is writing over here in Galatians
2, 19 and 20 and 21. when he says, I through the law
and dead to the law that I might live unto God. Now being dead
to the law, being under no obligation legally to the law as to the
payment of its penalty or the fulfillment of its precepts doesn't
mean that I can go out here and just break the law and get by
with it. No, sir. He says that I might
live unto God in Galatians 2, 219. He said in Romans 7 that we were
married to Christ, that is, united to Christ. That's believers now.
That's not everybody without exception. That we might bring
forth fruit unto God. We bear the fruit of His grace,
His love, His mercy. Now how did all that happen?
Look at Galatians 2.20. He says, I am crucified with
Christ. Now how was I crucified with
Christ? And by the way, how can any sinner
claim to be crucified with Christ? Well, it's not by looking at
a crowd and looking at them and say, smile, God loves you, Christ
died for you, won't you give him your heart? No. No, sir. That's not it. The only ones
who can truly say, I've been crucified with Christ, are those
who believe in Christ. who rest in Him for all salvation,
for all righteousness, who plead His blood. You know, the pleading
of His blood is equivalent to pleading His righteousness because
His blood is righteousness. His death on the cross. And that's
what Paul's meaning here. I'm crucified with Christ. Now
how am I crucified with Christ? Well, number one, He's my representative. just like the high priest of
Israel was the representative of that nation when he went into
the Holy of Holies. God appointed Christ, His Son,
to be the representative of the whole election of grace. Just
as Adam was the representative of the whole human race, the
whole human family in the garden, and he fell, we fell. Christ,
before that, was set up to be the representative of what the
Bible calls the whole election of grace. All whom God chose
and wrote their names in the Lamb's Book of Life before the
foundation of the world. Secondly, he's my substitute.
Not only did He represent me before the justice of God, He
took my place. The death that I deserved and
that I earned was something that Christ did for
me based upon my sins accounted to Him. And that's how it happened. And then thirdly, he satisfied
the justice and the law of God. So I was crucified with him.
When he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he arose the third day, I arose. He right now represents
me and takes my place as my intercessor, ever living to make intercession
for his people. He says, Paul says, nevertheless
I live. I died with Christ but I live.
I'm a living being and I'm spiritually alive but yet it's not I but
Christ liveth in me. What he means by that is I'm
not the source of that life. I'm not the power of that life.
Christ is. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, in this human body, on this earth, I live by the
faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So,
verse 21, I do not frustrate, make void the grace of God. You
know, there are a lot of people who claim to be saved by grace,
but what they claim is grace is no more than a cleverly disguised
system of work salvation. Oh, I'm saved by grace. It's
all Christ. But you've got to be baptized
to be saved. That's making it void. But you've
got to be circumcised. That's what these false preachers
in Galatia were saying. But you've got to do this. You've
got to do that. Even saying, but you've got to
believe. If the saying, you've got to believe, means that what
you do makes the difference between heaven and hell, saved and lost,
then you're denying the grace of God. Yes, we must believe. If we don't believe, we're not
going to be saved. But it's not our believing that makes the
difference, it's what Christ did on the cross that makes the
difference. And I'm not just splitting hairs there. And then
he says, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. Now how does righteousness come?
Number one, by Jesus Christ. the God-man. He is the righteousness
of God. He is God manifest in the flesh. He came to this earth and took
on the likeness of sinful flesh without sin, walked this earth
in strict obedience to the law, perfect without sin, and when
He went to the cross, though He was made sin, But he was not
and did not become a sinner. He was not contaminated by the
sins of his people, wasn't even influenced by those sins in a
sinful way. He was influenced in the sense
that he suffered, he sorrowed, he had pain, he died. That's what he did. And he satisfied
justice. He brought forth righteousness.
It comes by Jesus Christ. Secondly, it comes by imputation. Over in Romans 4 and verse 6,
referring back to Psalm 32, the Apostle Paul wrote about King
David, listen to this. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. That's how it comes. It comes
by Jesus Christ. It comes to the sinner by imputation. That means a legal charging,
accounting, reckoning, transferring of righteousness to that person
for whom Christ died. If Christ died for you, what
does that mean? That means righteousness has
been imputed to you, charged to you. And it does that even
before you know it. because the scripture says it's
by Him and Him alone. For by one offering, He hath
perfected them that are sanctified forever. That's completion. Romans
10, 4, for Christ is the end of the law, the finishing of
the law, perfection, completion of the law. And it goes on to
say to them which believe, and that brings thirdly, righteousness
comes to the sinner personally by faith. In other words, what
I mean by that is not that the moment you believe righteousness
is imputed to you or the moment you believe you become righteous.
No, what I mean by that is when the Holy Spirit comes and brings
you under the preaching of the gospel and gives you spiritual
life, he brings you to Christ to realize in your heart, in
your mind, in your conscience that Christ is your only righteousness
before God. That's what that is. Romans chapter
nine speaks of how Israel sought righteousness by works of the
law, but they didn't attain it because they sought it by works
of the law. But those who receive it, receive
it by faith. They believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's not their believing that makes them righteous. It's
not their believing that imputes righteousness to them. That's
already been done. God did that before the foundation
of the world. Christ was the surety of his
people. But in the process of time, the
Holy Spirit, in the new birth, under the preaching of the gospel
wherein Christ is revealed as the righteousness of God, brings
that sinner to receive and believe in Him. And then we experience
righteousness in our conscience. That is, our guilt is cleared
by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the sprinkling of the
blood on the heart, the mind, the affections, and the will.
And so Christ, Romans 10, four again, Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Now that's what
Paul's talking about over how righteousness comes. Verse 21
of Galatians two, I do not frustrate the grace of God. If righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If I can be
made righteous by my works of the law, if righteousness can
come to me by works, then Jesus Christ did not have to come at
all. What He did was totally for nothing. That's why righteousness
can only come by the grace of God as a free gift as it is imputed,
charged, accounted to the people of God, to His chosen people,
and in time they receive it by God-given faith. God-given faith,
he that believeth. You see, he that believeth not.
You see, you know the difference there. So if you claim to believe
in Christ, but you add works to it, then you frustrate the
grace of God. Righteousness comes through him.
I hope you've enjoyed this program, 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, 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.