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 fourth session
of our eight-part series of studies entitled, What is Salvation? Now, as I've stated in the previous
lessons, for the purpose of our study, I'm examining biblical
salvation under four headings I call the four realms of salvation. The first realm is the eternal
realm. That refers to the origin and
cause of salvation, or salvation purposed and planned. Secondly,
is the legal realm of salvation, which is the ground of salvation.
Salvation accomplished and secured. That's what I'm going to be dealing
with today. I dealt with part one of the legal realm last week.
Part two is today. The third realm of salvation
is the spiritual realm. Now that's the fruit of salvation
which is applied and experienced by those who are saved. And then
the fourth realm is the glorified realm of salvation. That's the
fruit of salvation which involves the completion and the perfection
of the whole of salvation in final glory in heaven. Now, it's
important for us to keep in mind that, first of all, all four
realms of salvation are of the Lord, by God's sovereign grace
and power. Secondly, all four realms of
salvation are founded upon and centered around the Lord Jesus
Christ as the salvation of His people. Christ has the preeminence
in all of salvation. And then thirdly, that all four
realms of salvation present salvation as totally by the sovereign mercy
and grace of Almighty God in Christ. Now today we'll consider,
as I said again, the legal realm of salvation. This is the second
realm. The ground of salvation. Salvation
accomplished and secured. Last week I concluded the lesson
with the following statement. Justification before God is the
work of Jesus Christ alone in place of all those whom God had
given Him before the foundation of the world. The entire work
of Christ in the place of His people as their substitute and
surety, God's people who are called God's elect, who are called
the church or His sheep, Well, the entire work of Christ for
those people is summarized in the Bible by this phrase, the
righteousness of God. Now, the righteousness of God
is what sinners need to be justified before God. You see, the righteousness
of man Even man's best will not do in this matter of justification
or making sinners righteous before God. The best efforts of the
best of men will always fall short because of sin. We've all
sinned and come short of the glory of God. However, there
is good news. Now, over in the book of Romans,
chapter 1, beginning at verse 16, the Apostle Paul wrote this. He says, For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. For it, that is the gospel, is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first, and also to the Greek, or the Gentile. And then
verse 17, now listen to this very carefully. Verse 17 says,
for therein, that is in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith as it is written, the just or the justified
shall live by faith. Now, what exactly is this righteousness
of God? And that's the thing you need
to consider as you consider your own salvation if you claim to
be saved. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. The gospel is the revelation
of the righteousness of God. Have you ever heard of the righteousness
of God? What is it? Well, over in Romans
chapter 3, beginning at verse 21, God the Holy Spirit speaks
as he inspires the Apostle Paul to write these words in defining
the righteousness of God. He says, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets. Now here's the righteousness
of God without a sinner's attempts to keep the Law. That was spoken
of by the Law of Moses and the Prophets, verse 22, even the
righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, that
is the faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all, as it's to be
preached to all, and upon all them that believe. It is imputed,
charged, accounted to all those who believe, for there is no
difference. And then verse 23, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And verse 24, being
justified freely, unconditionally, without a cause, by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Now this refers to
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the substitute and surety
of His people as He stood in their place having their sins
charged to Him, accounted to Him, imputed to Him in which
he became guilty, he was made guilty, subject, liable to the
just punishment against their sins. And he died and satisfied
the justice of God. Now this is what is called propitiation
in the Bible. Propitiation is satisfaction
to God's justice that results in a total removal of God's wrath
for all for whom it was done. We see a contrast between man's
natural inclination to seek to be justified by his own works
versus God's way of justification by grace in the parable of the
self-righteous Pharisee and the publican as recorded in the book
of Luke chapter 18 beginning at verse 9. The Lord Jesus Christ
begins, it says, He spake this parable unto certain, or certain
people, which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and
despised others. It says, Two men went up into
the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I'm not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And the Lord concludes the parable
with this commentary in verse 14. I tell you, this man went
down to his house justified, that's this publican, rather
than the other, the Pharisee. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
That term merciful. when the publican said, be merciful
to me. That could also be translated,
be propitious, from the word propitiation. It's a word closely
related to the Old Testament term, mercy seat, that refers
to the lid that was placed over the Ark of the Covenant in the
tabernacle, holy of holies. This is where the High Priest
of Israel went in on the Day of Atonement with the blood of
sacrifice from off the brazen altar. And it all signified salvation,
reconciliation, and fellowship with God restored on the basis
of the redemption price paid in full. Propitiation here means
reconciliation with God on the basis of the redemption price
paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is what Paul
wrote of over in Romans chapter 3. And it's what this poor sinful
publican was begging for when he cried, God be merciful to
me a sinner. You see, he wasn't just simply
asking for mercy as some see it today. He was asking for mercy
that was supported by justice satisfied in Christ. All of salvation
including justification before God is on the basis of Christ,
God with us, having paid the full price of redemption for
all the sins of all His people. Christ met all legal obligations
to the law and to the justice of God for all whom the Father
had given Him. And this is where we come to
the great gospel truths of substitution and imputation. Now let's first
consider substitution, the gospel doctrine of substitution. Jesus
Christ is the substitute and surety of his people. He stood
in their place and took their punishment, the punishment they
deserve and that they earned. Over in the book of Isaiah chapter
53 and verse 5, We read, but he, that is Messiah, was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. And then in verse six it says,
all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now, that's not all without exception,
but it's all whom He redeemed, all His sheep. And then, we see
this fulfilled as the Lord spoke over in John chapter 10, beginning
at verse 11, where He said, I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd
giveth His life for the sheep. You see, the truth of the substitutionary
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in the place of His people God's
elect, His sheep, His church, is at the heart of the gospel
of salvation by God's grace in Christ. Jesus Christ was not
a martyr and He was not simply a perfect example, though He
Himself was and is perfect. He was and is the substitute
who died under the wrath of God for His people. The question
comes then, how could God justly punish His holy, innocent, and
righteous Son for the sins of others? Think about that. Jesus Christ was and is the perfect
God-man. He never committed sin, never
knew sin. How could God justly punish him
for the sins of others? How could God save, justify,
and bless such a sinful people as we are based on the righteousness
of another? Wouldn't God be dishonest or
unjust to do that? Well, my friend, if we know anything
about biblical salvation, The glaring answer to that question
is absolutely no. God would not be unjust or dishonest
to do that. And here's where we need to see
the truth, the reality, and glory of the doctrine of imputation. Imputation. Now listen very carefully. The word impute means to lay
to the charge or to the account of. in the matter of the demerit
or debt of sin or the merit or credit of righteousness. We can
talk about imputed guilt, imputed sin, or imputed debt. And on
the other side, the positive side, we can talk about imputed
righteousness. Imputed has to do with one being
legally and justly charged with the responsibility and liability
of a debt owed or a debt paid. Now let me give you an example
of what I'm talking about. If you were a million dollars
in debt to a local bank, for example, and you found that you
were totally bankrupt. I mean without even one penny
to pay towards diminishing that debt. There is therefore one
million dollars imputed or charged to your account. And if you were
to go to the bank and cast yourself upon their mercy, you know it
would do you no good. You are in debt. The law says
you are legally responsible to pay that debt. Such debt would
be a real bondage, wouldn't it? Like being in a debtor's prison.
Now imagine you go to the bank president to beg for mercy. And
the bank president tells you, he says, well, let's look at
your account in the books. And he opens the bank's books,
he finds your name, and to his surprise, he says, look, there
is absolutely no charge here to you. You do not owe one million
dollars. Why? He says, because someone
came in and told us to put your debt on his account. He said,
charge it to me. I will pay it. And he did. It's paid, the whole amount. You owe nothing. Could you imagine
how relieved you would be? How free, legally, obviously,
the bank has no legal hold on you now. But how liberated you'd
feel in your mind and spirit, in your heart. But now the banker
speaks up. And he says, now hold on, I have
more information for you. That same person who had your
debt imputed to him and who paid your debt in full, has also placed
and given one million dollars into your account." And he said,
charge it to you. This is your money, which I earned
and give to you. You couldn't even describe the
joy and peace, could you, that you would have over that? And
not only having your debt paid, but in having a million dollars
imputed, charged, accounted to you. Now, it's the same with
the doctrine of imputation when it comes to the legal justification
of a sinner before God. Over in 2 Corinthians chapter
5, at verse 19. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
wrote on this subject. He's talking about God and sinners
being reconciled. And he says, this is how it happens,
to wit or namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation. He says, Now
then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech
you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. And here's the ground of it,
verse 21. For He, God the Father, hath made Him, Christ, God the
Son incarnate, to be sin for us. What does that mean? It means
the Father charged the debt, sin debt of His people, His elect,
to the account of Christ. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God charged the
merit of the righteousness of Christ to His people. And here
it is said that God does not impute trespasses to some people. He does not charge them with
sin or its debt. Who did God charge them to? To
Jesus Christ, the substitute and surety of His people. God
the Father made Him to be sin for us. That is His people. This
is the imputation of the debt of sins of God's elect to Christ.
Some say that that would be unjust for God to do that because Christ
did no sin and knew no sin. But they fail to see the reality
of real substitution and what it is to be a surety. A surety
is one who willingly takes responsibility for another's death. We see an
illustration of this in the book of Philemon. A slave named Onesimus
had robbed and fled from his master Philemon. But in the providence
of God, Onesimus was led to the apostle Paul who preached the
gospel of Christ to him, and he was converted to Christ. So
Paul interceded with Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, and over
in the book of Philemon, verse 18, It says, Paul writing to Philemon,
he says, If he, Onesimus, hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught,
put that on mine account, and verse 19, he said, I, Paul, have
written it with mine own hand, I will repay it, albeit I do
not say to thee how thou owest unto me, even thine own self
besides. Well, Paul said, put his debt
on my account, I'll repay it. That's imputation. Now, should
Philemon have written back to Paul and said, Paul, I can't
do that because it would be illegal, unjust, or dishonest? Well, no. Well, in the same way, the Lord
Jesus Christ willingly stood as surety for his people and
willingly took the whole responsibility for all their sins. This great
truth of imputation goes even further. It says that as our
sins were imputed to Christ, we are made the righteousness
of God in Him. And this speaks of the imputation
of righteousness to all God's elect in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is God legally and justly
declaring the reality of righteousness to His people in Christ. You see, to be in Christ is to
be in Him first by God's electing grace when He chose His people
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Secondly, by God's
redeeming grace when Christ died for their sins and established
righteousness for them. And thirdly, by God's regenerating
grace when they are born again by the Spirit and brought to
faith in Christ. All who are in Christ are completely
cleared of all the guilt of their sin. Their debt to God's justice
has been paid in full by Christ in His obedience unto death for
them. It means that they cannot be condemned for sin and they
cannot be charged with sin as to be condemned. Romans chapter
8 and verse 33 says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. All who believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ have been made the righteousness of God in Him.
And all of this according to the power and the goodness and
the grace of God in Christ. The reality of being justified
before God is that we who are in Christ are truly cleared of
all guilt, forgiven of all sin, and truly stand righteous before
God in His sight. Even though we're still sinners
within ourselves, Paul expressed this so clearly in the book of
Romans. In Romans chapter 6, he makes the point that those
who are saved are dead to sin. What does that mean? It means
they're justified in Christ. We're dead to sin's power to
condemn us. But in Romans chapter 6 verses
12 through 13 he wrote, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof, neither
yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. The reality of being justified before God is the non-imputation
of sin to us and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to
us. So that we can say with the Apostle Paul in Romans 7 and
verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. But
he went on to say in verse 1 of chapter 8, There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The Apostle Paul
was claiming and proclaiming the righteousness of God in Christ
for his complete salvation before a holy God. Now you need to be
aware that there are many today who attack this great truth of
imputation by claiming it's a legal fiction. They portray it as God
declaring one righteous when he's really not righteous. But
that's a serious misunderstanding of the legal realm of salvation
and the reality of justification before God based on Christ's
righteousness imputed to His people. Remember, God the Father
punished His holy, harmless, undefiled, sinless Son based
on sin imputed. And that was no legal fiction. And then God accepts and receives
sinners into His fellowship based on Christ's righteousness imputed. And that's no legal fiction.
David described it as Paul quoted him in Romans chapter 4. He described
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. David didn't see it as a legal
fiction, but as blessing from Almighty God in Christ. As the
substitute insurative of his people, the Lord Jesus Christ
died and satisfied the justice of God against them, and as a
result, God is both a just God and a Savior. Think about these
things of the legal realm of salvation. Always keep this distinction. The work of Christ on the cross
is the ground of the justification of His people. It's the ground
of salvation. The work of Christ in the new
birth, which we're going to talk about next time in the spiritual
realm of salvation, is the fruit of what Christ accomplished on
the cross of Calvary to put away the sins of His people. You see,
imputed sin is a reality, for when it was laid upon Christ,
He became legally guilty and indebted to the law of God for
the sins of His people. He was made sin. imputed righteousness
is a reality, for God accepts eternally all his people through
the merits of Christ's righteousness charged accounted to them. So while today we've concentrated
on the legal realm of salvation, or the ground of salvation, seeing
salvation accomplished and secured by the work of Christ for us,
in the next lesson we'll examine the spiritual realm of salvation,
the fruit of salvation, or salvation applied and experienced in each
one of God's people. I hope you'll continue throughout
this eight-part study and if you would like a free copy of
today's program or the entire eight-part study entitled, What
is Salvation? It's available upon request in
an attractive package set along with a complimentary booklet
of the same title. I hope you'll join us next week
as we continue exploring this vital subject, What is Salvation? 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
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today and may the Lord be with you.