Well, good morning, everyone.
I'm going to deliver a message this morning. It's a second part,
part two, on the subject justification
from eternity. And as I begin the message this
morning, once again, I want to make myself clear on a major
point. Make sure that everybody understands that the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ is the focal point of everything. Everything
in time and everything in eternity. Even before time, God was looking
to the cross and what Christ would accomplish there by his
obedience unto death. When God chose a people, he chose
them in Christ based on what Christ would do for them at the
cross. When God justified them, he was
seeing the righteousness Christ would bring in and accomplish
at the cross. And even in eternity future,
the song of the saints will be worthy as the lamb that was slain.
So the cross was not only the focal point in the beginning,
it always has been and always will be throughout eternity.
As I said, I want to speak this morning on the subject justification
from eternity. And I'd like to begin by revisiting
a message that I delivered a few weeks ago. The title of the message
was Christ our surety. The surety ship of Christ in
that everlasting covenant of grace is such an important part
of understanding how that God the father was able to view his
elect as justified from all eternity. I now will make a few statements
concerning Christ's assurity for the elect of God. It is indeed
freely confessed that all sinners, elect as well as non-elect, deserve
the vengeance of eternal condemnation as truly and as much as any who
actually suffer it. The devils themselves not accept
it. But then to say that there ever
was anything like a possibility of the elect of God suffering
condemnation, in my opinion, is to deny the eternity of Christ's
suretorship. It would call into question its
binding force of law and the efficacy of his suretorship prior
to his death. To say that there was a likelihood
of any of the elect suffering the wrath of God would be to
make void the covenant and the counsel of Almighty God. It would
also make it impossible to account for the salvation and justification
of any of those Old Testament saints who died before Christ
suffered. And in doing so, would draw over
portions of scripture, a thick cloud, and being able to understand
a difficulty in understanding their state, the Old Testament
saints, and what happened to them during that dispensation. When the Son of God, as the surety
of His people, when He gave His bond and His oath to His Father
in the everlasting covenant of grace, in which God the Son freely
surrendered Himself to suffer in the stead of God's elect,
and to take on the full punishment of their sins, and the Father
accepted this promise, in that very instant, the elect's obligation
and their liability to suffer for those sins that belong to
Christ alone. He took on that obligation. He
willingly took on that obligation of surety for. It follows, therefore,
that if the elect were ever liable to suffer the wrath of God for
their sins, that at whatsoever time the elect were liable to
suffer, at that time Jesus could not have engaged as their surety.
to suffer for them. And consequently, if God's elect
were ever liable to suffer for their sins until Christ suffered
for them, this would mean that they, the elect, were delivered
from their liability to suffer by the death of Christ. In other
words, if the elect of God, if they were liable to suffer for
their sins, they were under God's wrath until the death of Christ. If they were liable there, they
would have been, at that time, released from that liability
by the suffering of Christ. Now, if this be the case, as
some would suggest, this would mean that Christ did not engage
to be the surety of God's elect until the time of his death.
If this be the case, that is, that Christ did not assume the
responsibility of surety for his elect until his death on
the cross, then my friend, every just idea of the eternity of
Christ's suretyship ceases to exist, if he did not take on
that responsibility until the death of Christ. But the question
is, is the eternity of Christ's suretyship fully acknowledged
in scripture? Or where is the validity and
the efficacy of Christ's surety ship prior to his death? And
how did any of those Old Testament transgressors who died before
Christ's death ever escape damnation of hell? were none of all those
millions saved and justified before God, who had departed
out of, before God, those who had departed out of this world
during the 4,000 years before Christ's crucifixion. Surely
there were some who entered heaven during that period of time, some
of those Old Testament saints. And on what ground did some of
those Old Testament saints enter heaven? It was not due to their
own works, for scripture says, by the deeds of the law, no flesh
living could be justified before God by their works. It was not
by the actual sufferings of Christ, for that had not taken place
before those Old Testament saints died. The only way you can account
for the salvation and justification of all those Old Testament saints
is by Christ's eternal engagement as surety in that everlasting
covenant of grace. He engaged himself as their surety
to suffer for them in the fullness of time, and on this ground alone,
those Old Testament saints rose to immortal glory. Now, if such
of the elect as died before the death of Christ had so complete
an exemption from all liability and responsibility to suffer
the divine displeasure for their guilt as to be exalted to heaven
and actually placed in the bosom of God's eternal love, can there
be any reason why the whole election of grace should not, on the very
same ground, which is the surety of Christ, have the very same
exemption? Did not all the elect stand alike
related to Christ as their surety? Did he not engage at once and
alike for them all in that everlasting covenant of grace? How then can
any man think that Christ's engagement and surety produce more and greater
effects in favor of just part of God's elect, which would be
the Old Testament saints, than of the whole of the elect, the
elect after the cross? And how could any, in any sense,
any of God's elect be liable to wrath, the wrath of God, one
moment after Christ became their surety? Saying that the elect was liable
to wrath until the cross or until faith is unfriendly to the covenant
of grace of which the scriptures affirm. As we look at what King David
says in 2 Samuel 23 and verse five, where David says, although my
house be not so with God yet, he, or God, hath made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. For this
is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not
to grow. Now, if it was ordered in all
things, it most certainly includes in its nature the non-imputation
of sin to the elect. and the imputation of sin unto
Christ, and the transfer of all liability to suffer for it from
the elect to Christ their surety. And all of this, all of this
being imminent acts of the divine will or acts of God that only
take place in his divine mind. They must have been as complete
at the instance they pass God's eternal mind. The result is the
sins of God's elect in the eternal mind of God was not imputed to
God's people, but was imputed to Christ. And therefore, God's
son was the only person liable to suffer for those sins, the
sins of God's elect. If in all things in which it
was ordered and it was made sure, and if it contains all salvation,
All the elect must have been eternally secure from all liability
of wrath by the suretorship of Christ. And this occurred when
the everlasting covenant of grace was ratified by the joint oath
of the Holy Trinity before time. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. One of the scriptures that we'll
look at this morning is Numbers 23, 21. Some of you might not
have been here the last time I had the first part of this
message, and I used his scripture at that time, but I thought it
good to go over it again. In Numbers 23, 21, it says, he,
or God, hath not beheld iniquity or sin in Jacob, neither hath
he seen perverseness in Israel. And though these words were uttered
by a wicked man named Balaam, Yet God put these words in his
mouth according to Numbers 23 and verse 16. Therefore, there
is a sense in which they are strictly and literally true. We know that there is and always
was iniquity in the people of God. This cannot be denied and
that God with the eyes of his omniscience has always beheld
it. This all must be confessed. How
then hath God not seen sin or iniquity in Jacob? In order to
see this scripture aright, let us view Jacob in all of God's
elect as eternally chosen in Christ and standing in him from
everlasting. Let us also consider their sins
as imputed to God the Son and his righteousness as imputed
to them. In all of this, when God the
Son became their surety in the everlasting covenant of grace
established before time in eternity. Then let us consider the divine
Father as beholding them in their covenant head, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and spotless representative before the world were made. And
then we shall not be at a loss for the true meaning of this
surprising portion of scripture. I believe that we shall clearly
see how it is strictly true that God hath not at any time seen
with the eyes of His holiness and justice the iniquity in Jacob,
nor perverseness in Israel. Eternal justification is the
only key to this text, I believe. I don't see any other way that
you can understand this particular scripture without doing harm
to the interpretation of it. and losing and hiding its glory,
and rendering the truth of it as doubtful, to say the least.
Now, it is clear that the subject that we're talking about this
morning might be a little unclear to even some believers, the subject,
which is that justification before God takes its rise, or justification
has its beginning, not when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and not even when Christ died upon the cross, but before the
foundation of the world. It takes its place in the very
eternal counsel of the Almighty God and the covenant there established
between the Holy Three. This covenant that was established
between the Holy Three before the world began, Some were then
chosen, chosen in the Son of God, and they were predestinated
to the adoption of children. Let's look at some scripture
that point us to the valid argument for this doctrine. Look at Ephesians
1, beginning at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according that he
hath chosen us in him or in Christ before the foundation of the
world. That we should be holy and without blame before him
in love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
And even before the world began, Paul says, we were given grace
in Christ Jesus. Look at 2 Timothy, beginning
at verse one, I mean chapter one, verse nine. who have saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And then, of
course, we were viewed in Christ. We had that union with our Lord
Jesus Christ from everlasting. And this union with Christ is
therefore the ground of the conveyance are giving of every saving benefit,
which is received by the elect and bestowed upon them. We have
nothing in the way of saving mercy, but what was proposed
and declared before time. And that includes our justification.
You see, justification is one of those spiritual blessings
given us in Christ before this world was ever created. Look
at Ephesians 1 verse 3. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And all these
graces were purposed to us, not on the basis of any personal
merit or worth that might be in us, and not on any action
on our part, but strictly in, with, and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. They were given us due to what
Christ would accomplish for us when he went to the cross of
Calvary. In this message, we'll attempt
to answer some of the objections that individuals might have concerning
this particular doctrine of justification from eternity. One of the most
frequent objections raised by the Armenian free will religionists
and of those who oppose the doctrine of justification from eternity
is this. that none can be justified before
they actually exist, before they actually committed sin. When
I use the word Arminian or free will, some might not be familiar
with these terms. I'm talking about any religion
that holds the doctrine that Christ died for the whole world.
Everyone without exception. He died for the whole world.
everyone without exception, and that it is up to the sinner to
accept his death in order to make it effectual or effective.
In other words, salvation based on your faith or some other thing
that you do or might be done in you, they say. These free
will religionists say none can be elect before they have a being. None can be elect before they
are in existence. or before they believe. We remind
them that Paul teaches the Ephesians that they were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Look at Ephesians 1 beginning
at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, according that he has chosen
us in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world.
He tells us in Thessalonians that they were chosen unto salvation
from the beginning. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief for the truth. And he told Timothy
in 2 Timothy chapter 1 in verse 9, he says, who had saved us
and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. And if any, therefore,
are minded to argue against justification from eternity on the same ground
that one cannot be justified before they have a being, or
before Christ actually died, or before they have faith or
believed upon the Lord, then let us reason with them upon
two points. that we want to make. First of
all, the Old Testament saints, all of them, were justified before
Christ came and died on the cross. They were justified before their
sins were atoned for in the death of the Lord, before the great
sin bearer laid down that perfect and that everlasting sacrifice
for sin. In Romans Chapter four, Abraham's
a good example of one of God's elect being justified in the
Old Testament, dispensation. Other than by the grace of God,
there's just no way that one could be justified before God.
Noah, scripture says, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Look
at Genesis six and verse eight. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, divine favor. he had in the eyes of the Lord. And this was all before Christ
actually came and redeemed us and paid that sin debt on our
behalf. The second point is this. On
this side of the cross, Jesus indeed died for you, for God's
elect, and died for your sins before you actually had a being
and before your sins were actually committed. they were charged
to his account. The Lord died before those two
things occurred, before you were born and before you had committed
any sins whatsoever. Now, let's look at the free will
religionists who try to hang everything upon the love of God. We might ask them, when was the
love of God fixed upon the sons and daughters of men? Was it
when they were born? Was it when they were baptized?
Was it when Christ died? Was it when they believed and
were baptized? Was it when they loved God? Was
it then that God set his love upon his people? God gives us
the answer to this question in Jeremiah 31 in verse three, where
it says, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness, have I drawn thee." God's Word says that we're
accepted in Him, in Christ. In Him, said Paul. In Ephesians
1, beginning at verse 5, where it says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He, God, hath made us accepted in the Beloved,
in Christ, from everlasting. Now, this love that God has for
His elect, it was manifested in Christ as He gave Himself
for us upon the cross. That's when it was manifested
to us. God's love for His elect was manifested and worked out
at the cross. Therefore, as God loved His people,
And as they were in Christ, so God acquitted His people as they
were in Christ, as He put them in Christ. And all of this was
on the merit of the Son of God coming and dying for their sin. For justification takes its rise,
first and foremost, takes its rise or its beginning, first
and foremost, in the mind and in the will of Almighty God and
finds its substance or value. in the Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. Justification has in it two blessed
articles of the gospel, two blessed parts that are considered and
contained in this gospel that we believe. Number one, that
the sins of the elect, all the sins of all the elect, were imputed
to our surety. They were charged to his account,
the Lord Jesus Christ. They have been made the light
upon the Son of God. The God-man mediator became responsible
for the sin-debt of all of God's elect as He stood as their surety. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse
21. For He, for God, hath made Him
Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin. And He made full satisfaction
on their behalf and paid their sin-debt in full as He went to
the cross. Secondly, as we speak of the
two blessed articles of the gospel, the righteousness of Christ is
imputed to those who were chosen in Him, in Christ, and appointed
to everlasting life. Look at 2 Corinthians 5, 21b. It says that we, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. So we see that the
sins of God's elect were imputed to Christ as surety and the righteousness
of Christ was imputed to all of God's elect who were chosen
in the Son of God in that everlasting covenant of grace even from old
eternity. Let's also consider for a moment
the argument that we must have actual existence. or we must
have been born and have actual existence in order to be justified
before God. Consider the case of Adam and
the human race. Consider that Adam's sin was
imputed to the race as seen in two facts, that all are born
in sin and that all are subject to physical death. And Paul,
in the end of Romans 5, ties the knot between Adam and all
those he represented. In verse 18 of Romans 5, therefore,
as by the offense of one, speaking Adam, Adam sinned, judgment came
upon all men to condemnation. In the first half of verse 19
of Romans 5, it says, for as by one man's disobedience, speaking
of Adam, many were made sinners. Now this too was before the elect
personally existed. or actually and personally had
committed any sin or done any evil. And it is a truth that
whatsoever is done by a federal head and representative is put
to the account of those in whose behalf he acted. And that's speaking
of Adam as federal head of all mankind. Thus, Paul teaches us
that we sinned in Adam in Romans 5.12. Wherefore, it says, is
by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so
death passed upon all men that all have sinned. By the same
token, what is done by Christ as a federal head of the election
of grace is imputed or reckoned unto the elect. Therefore, for
justification from eternity to stand, it must be that Christ
in the decree of God before the world was, had our sins imputed
and charged to his account. And he was ordained to be slain
as our surety for that debt. We can see how this would give
rise once again to another objection or to this question. How can
justification be from eternity if condemnation by the sin of
Adam came after that and in time? Would the latter, or condemnation
by the sin of Adam, not nullify and supersede the former or justification
from eternity? Since condemnation in Adam occurred
in time and after our justification, which was before time. These
are just things and objections that are out there. The answer
is no. It does not nullify. As an illustration,
let's look at something here. There was a secret election of
Gentiles, which did not appear in older ages or times. A secret,
a secret election. Those Jews of old, they knew
that God had chosen them as a nation, but the Gentiles were not as
far as being chosen as a nation. There was a secret election of
Gentiles, and it did not appear until older ages or times. Look
at Ephesians 3, 9. And to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. And that secret election of Gentiles
was hid in God from the beginning of the world. though it was not
made manifest for century after century prior to the manifestation
in the calling of the Gentiles by the gospel. Before that, they
worshiped idols and they served all manner of false gods, but
their election stood because it was of God. Now, a man may
live as a pauper, and this is something everybody's familiar
with, a man may live as a pauper, thinking not to have a dime unto
his name, though that man will inherit in time a fortune. He is secretly rich before he
comes to the knowledge of it, and he lives as a poor man until
he learns of that inheritance. When he does, when does he have
the inheritance? It is when the rich heir sits
down and makes out his will and puts it down that his inheritance
is to go to so-and-so. But it is actually not realized
until it is conveyed and the knowledge of it given to the
one that receives the inheritance. In other words, Our justification
before God based on the righteousness of Christ worked out at the cross
remains only in the mind and purpose of God and is only experienced
in the mind of each one of God's elect when he brings each and
every one of them to faith and repentance by the preaching of
the gospel. Another argument is of those who would hear this
sermon and say, you have ignored the heavy emphasis. emphasis
which the New Testament puts upon justification by faith or
by believing that our pastor talked about this morning a little
bit, which they contend would show that none are justified
until they do and actually believe and until they exercise faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Such who might believe this sort
of thinking, I think, might have more to do, I fear, with free
will than with free grace. But we must consider what is
meant by justification by faith, whether it is cause or whether
it is effect. We must remember that justification
by faith is the knowledge and the perception of our experiencing
our justification before God. It is the knowledge or the perception
of it imparted when the Spirit of God has quickened us and has
enlightened us. Our justification is not secured
by our believing, but it is manifested to us by the faith which God
deals us, the regenerated elect. One receives the comforting knowledge
or perception of that gracious privilege of being justified,
and this comes when our hearts are open by God, and our minds
are enlightened by the preaching of the gospel. We must bear in
mind, too, that faith is not of men. It is not our contribution. It is not our part. It is the
gift of God. We believe by the grace of God.
In Acts 18, 27, this is Paul speaking, and when he was disposed
to pass into Achaia, The brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples
to receive him, talking about receiving Paul, who when he was
come helped them much, which had believed through grace. And
Paul sums it up when he says in Romans 4.16, therefore, it
is of faith that it might be by grace. So salvation by faith
is nothing more or less than our salvation by the grace of
God. John Gill makes the same conclusion on adoption as on
justification. He wrote, and I quote, faith
is not the cause, but the fruit and the effect of our justification. Justification is antecedent or
appears before the act of believing, unquote. The reason why we're
justified is not because we have faith. The reason we have faith
is because we're justified before God. Faith is given by God. It is created in us for the express
purpose of believing. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
and the testimony of Christ revealed in the gospel. Remember, faith
is the fruit and effect of what Christ accomplished for us in
our place as our representative at the cross. The elect are justified
in their federal head and representative, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
justification is applied to the conscience of believers at conversion. And then the assurance of it
is sealed up in our hearts when grace enables us to believe the
testimony concerning what Christ has done for us in our place.
Consider, if you will, this notion of being justified by our faith.
This justification must be absolute and righteousness must be perfect. I'll say it again. Justification
must be absolute and righteousness must be perfect. That is, it
must be full and entire. And faith is never perfect. and
if faith were the essence of our justification, then justification
would be imperfect. Thus, justification should be
viewed biblically from three aspects. Firstly, as decreed
in the mind and purpose of God before the world was ever created
in the everlasting covenant of grace. In Romans 8.33, says who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, it is God that
justifies. Secondly, justification should
be viewed in the accomplishment and in the manifestation of that
covenant by God the Son in his death and in his resurrection. Romans 4 and verse 25, who was
delivered for our offenses, speaking of Christ, and was raised again
for our justification. or some say on account of or
because of our justification. And thirdly, justifications should
be viewed in the grace of faith as the Holy Spirit causes us
to experience our justification before God by the life and the
death of Christ. Second, Thessalonians 2 and verse
13. But we're bound to give thanks
always to God for you Brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chose you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Once we believe the gospel, once God's elect believe the
gospel, and we see how that we're justified before God, justification
is sealed up in us. But it took its rise in the eternal
counsel of the Almighty God. God decreed it before the world
was ever created. He made provision for it. In
the mind and purpose of God, Christ was the lamb slain before
the world ever began. And then, in closing, we see
our justification when our sins are put upon Christ and laid
to his account. And as soon as they are imputed
to Christ, as he stood before the Father, as our surety in
the everlasting covenant of grace, and that's when they were charged
to our surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, at that time. So soon
may God impute righteousness unto us and declare our justification. God justified all the elect in
eternity. before this world was ever created,
all based and conditioned on what His dear Son would do and
did accomplish at the cross of Calvary. God did not choose in
His eternal mind to justify the Old Testament saints in eternity
and then decide to wait and justify the New Testament saints at the
cross or at faith. No, my friends, all of God's
elect were justified at the same time. And that was in God's mind
even from eternity and all based on the righteousness of Christ
and the righteousness of Christ alone. I hope that this study
has been a little helpful to you. I know it's been helpful
to me. Amen.