2nd Timothy, if you will. 2nd Timothy, verse 1, or chapter
1, verse 9. We're going to read this passage. It'll kind of be a backdrop.
We'll be looking at a few passages this morning. 2nd Timothy, chapter
1, A couple of familiar verses here
to us that we have dwelt upon many times under many different
topics that we've looked at. Well, the truth of God, for sure. 2 Timothy 1. I'm going to start reading verse
nine, read down to verse 10. Let's bow and have a word of
prayer before we begin the reading. Our gracious heavenly father,
what a privilege it is to be in your house today with your
people. What it is to have the privilege of being a child of
grace, to have our sins removed, to have our account cleared,
to have righteousness imputed unto us. Father, we thank You
for that. That by the work of Jesus Christ,
we have been made whole, we've been reconciled to God, and that
we have been given life eternally. Father Lord, we are filthy worms. We are sinners by nature. We are transgressors, wrathful
against God. We are carnal of mind. The flesh
profits nothing in us. And we do not deserve the grace
that you have given us in Christ Jesus. We do not deserve the
love and salvation that has been made ours because of Christ.
But Father, we are humbled today. We're thankful. to You for Your
mercy and Your grace. We're thankful for the time that
we have together this morning. Under the Word of God and I pray,
Father, that You would help me to minister the Gospel today
through my speech, through my teaching. Lord, may it truly
be a teaching to the heart by the Holy Spirit's power and not
from intellect, from vain speaking. Lord, I pray for each one that's
here that you might minister to them. I pray, Lord, that you
just might keep us faithful to you in all these days that we
are in. Lord, that you might help us
to be witnesses for you, to stand for you and your truth despite
the wickedness that's going on in our world. Father, we know
that you are the sovereign of all creation. that You control
all things, and by Your hand kingdoms rise and fall, leaders
come and go, and Lord, that even the wicked
You have made for the day of evil. And so we know that nothing
is spiraling out of control, out of Your hands, that nothing
is happening apart from Your sovereign will. So we look to
that, Lord, in assurance, knowing that all things will work together
for good to them who are called, to them who love the Lord. So,
Father, we just pray that you would help us experientially
to know that, as we talked about a few weeks ago, may your sovereignty
matter in our everyday lives. Father, Lord, again, we thank
you for this day and ask you to bless it. In Jesus' name,
we pray. Amen. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9 says
this, who has saved us, and if we go back, we'll see that we're
talking about the gospel, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's salvation, God's anointed one, who has made salvation for
his people. And in verse nine, he says, who
hath, past tense, saved, past tense, us, who is us, Well, us
here is speaking of those who are the children of God. Those who are the children of
God. Look at verse 1. Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise
of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved
son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ
Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve for
my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see
thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy
when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Gunas, and
I am persuaded that in thee also. Now, if you look there, you'll
see he's speaking to Timothy. And so whenever he uses the word
us, he would definitely be considering him and Timothy. But also he
speaks of the faith that is in Timothy's grandmother Lois and
in his mother Eunice. So he's speaking generally in
the fact that those who have faith the faith of Christ in
them, given to them, that those are the ones he is talking about. They have been saved. So he goes on, he says, who have
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
words. You notice there it's never about
works. Our being saved is not by our
works. Our being called is not by any
of our works. And as you look through the scripture,
faith is not by our works. Salvation is not by our works.
Grace is not by our works. Never, ever, ever does works
have a place in the salvation of Christ's people. who has saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according, now here it is, the saving, the calling
is according to His own purpose and grace. Salvation in all of
its aspects whether it be eternal, whether it be experiential, whether
it be initial and our being born from above, in our conversion,
in our perseverance, or in our glorification at the very end,
every aspect of our salvation, election, satisfaction, propitiation,
every aspect of our salvation was according to His purpose
and grace. It's according to His purpose
and grace. It's not according to anything
that's done in time by you. Salvation is never predicated
upon the act or condition of man, whether it be legal salvation
or experiential salvation. What do I mean by experiential
salvation? I'm talking about, in time, your conversion and
your daily walk, okay? Those things that we experience
by the teaching of God's Word, by the preaching of God's Word,
by the edification of the brethren. Even all of those things God
has predestinated and God has provided for in the work of Christ
Jesus. Everything that is needed for
our salvation. And some may say, well wait a
minute, you mean that we just sit on our laurels and do nothing?
We don't have to do anything. That's not what I said. What
I said is that every part of your salvation was purposed by
God and given to you by grace. If you obey Christ now in your
daily experiential walk with Him, it is by His grace, the
Bible says, for it is God who worketh in you both to will and
to do His good pleasure. Does it say work out your salvation
with fear and trembling in the verse before? Absolutely it does.
But what is the basis for you working out your salvation with
fear and trembling? For it is God who works in you,
both the will and the do, His good pleasure. He who hath began
a good work in you will carry it out until the day of the Lord.
The one who began that work will finish that work. Faithful is
he who calls you, for he will do it. So every aspect, whether
it's the legal aspect that Christ did by dying on the cross or
whether it's the experiential aspect whereby Christ's Spirit,
He comes into you and gives you an enabling to do the works that
God has foreordained that you do. It's all of Him and it's
all of grace and it all was purposed by God who has saved us and called
us with a holy calling not according to our works, but according to
His purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus. So everything in that purpose,
everything as far as grace is concerned, and every aspect of
grace is given to us because of a union with Christ Jesus. Without a union with Christ Jesus,
there are no benefits from grace. Grace is bestowed on all those
who are in Christ Jesus. We'll see that more here in just
a minute. He says, Who has 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." That is a fact, a Gospel fact. God's salvation
is given to you as a gift. It's given to you as a gift in
your relation as being in Christ Jesus, you being in Christ Jesus
because of the Father giving a people to the Son to redeem. The Son standing as surety in
the everlasting covenant to be their salvation. And so God purposed within Himself
to save His people by electing as the Father, by redeeming as
the Son, and by applying as the Holy Spirit. And so we have a
3-1 God all at work on our behalf. But look what it says there,
which was given us in Christ before the world began. Every part of your salvation
legal and experiential, was purposed and by grace given to you, awarded
to you, imputed to you, laid to your account before the world
began. Now, if that's the case, and
I believe it is because the Bible says so, And it says it in more
than one place. In the mouth of two or three
witnesses, a thing is established. And we're going to see another
witness for that here in just a minute. The Bible says that this is true.
So if it is before the world began, then your salvation has
absolutely nothing to do with anything that you must accomplish. There are those that say that
you must accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior before He'll
save you. And if that's the case, then God lied right here. Some say that you have to deny
yourself, take up your cross and follow Him, otherwise you
cannot be His disciple. Now does the Bible say that?
Yes, but you've got to take that in what its context is. If you cannot be saved unless
you do that first, then God lied right here. Some say you have to repent of
your sins before God will save you. If that's true, then God
lied right here. And the Bible is a contradiction
to it said. Some say that you have to have
faith in Christ Jesus. You need to exercise your faith
in Christ Jesus, but you need to move your faith from the object
of yourself and move it upon the object of Christ Jesus before
He'll save you. If that's true, then God lied
right here when He said that He has saved you, called you,
not according to your words, but according to His purpose,
His grace, given to you in the union with Christ Jesus before
the world began. Some say you have to go through
a baptistry and be baptized to wash away your sins. That your
sins are not covered, that you're not saved until you've been baptized. I have friends and family that
believe that. But if that's true, then God
has lied to us right here, and the Bible is in contradiction
with itself. Election. Union with Christ all
took place before the foundation of the world. Before the world
began. But look at verse 10. It now
describes why some will say, well, if that's true, preacher,
and I hear this all the time. I have a lot of friends on Facebook
who are friends from school, friends from, you know, knowing
them around in my younger days as an Armenian, and they'll I
sometimes post on my Facebook when I make these claims, then
what's the point in preaching the gospel? If everybody's saved,
then why even preach the gospel? Why do we need to be born again
if we're already saved? Well, see, there is a legal aspect
to salvation. There is an experiential aspect
to salvation. We are saved legally. All the
paperwork is being done before the foundation of the world.
All of the transaction between the Godhead is being done before
the foundation of the world. Christ stands as the lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Christ entered into that
tabernacle not made with hands before the foundation of the
world. By the way, the tabernacle of the earth is made after that
tabernacle, not vice versa. But that tabernacle preceded
the earthly tabernacle. And the earthly tabernacle was
a type and foreshadow of Christ and him as our salvation. And the people of God as a congregation. Some are going to continue to
say, well, that still doesn't change the fact of why you need
to preach the gospel if everybody is saved. If they're already
saved, then why do you have to tell them the gospel? They should
believe it if they're already saved. That's because people
misunderstand the different uses of the word saved. The word saved is used in many
references. Sometimes the word saved is used
as it pertains to justification. We are saved in justification. We are saved in sanctification. We are saved in propitiation. We are saved by preaching of
the Gospel. How are we saved by preaching
of the Gospel? We are saved from wrong learning. So why is the Gospel needed?
Look at verse 10. What is now? The salvation, the holy calling,
God's purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, it is now made manifest, brought to
life, put forth, brought forth, shown, made light of, or should I say
brought into the light, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let me give you an example
here. I'm standing here, you guys. You guys can't see it. But I have a pocket knife in
my pants pocket. And it's been there ever since
I started this message. You didn't know that, though,
did you? You didn't know it was there. But it's been there ever
since. And it's truly there. It wasn't
fake. It wasn't just maybe there. It's truly there. I have a pocket
knife. And some will say, well, how
can you have a pocket knife when it's not in your hand? It's not
being seen. You can't see it. You can't know
it. You don't know nothing about it. Can't say that we have pocket
knives. We can't have trust that you
have a pocket knife until we actually see the pocket knife.
Some say, well, we can't actually have faith in Christ until Christ
actually has died. Well, that's not true either,
right? Abraham had faith about Christ being his righteousness,
right? But now it's made manifest. It was already there. It was
just hidden from your eyes. But it was there. You didn't
know it, but it was there. But at the time that I want to
reveal it, I make it manifest. Now you can see it. Now you know,
I've got a knife. That's what this passage is telling
us. To the child of grace, you have
always had salvation. To the child of grace, you have
always been justified before God because of Christ Jesus and
your union with Him, that being from election. And because of
that, it has been that way all along. Back in 1950, Mike Smith
didn't exist. But guess what? He was already
saved. Even though he had not even been
born yet. Or born again yet. Back in 1473, Brother Ed was
saved. Even though he had not been born
yet. Even though he had not been born again yet. Even though he
had not been converted to the Gospel. He was already saved. You say, well how can somebody
be saved when they don't know or haven't been born? Look with
me if you would, Romans. Another familiar verse, Romans
chapter 9. This is another reason why we
believe that salvation is not based upon conditions. Romans
chapter 9, starting in verse 8, actually verse 7. Neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. but in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Okay, so the
children of God, the promise of salvation, the promise of
eternal life, the promise of the inheritance, becoming a Christian
does not have anything to do with the seed in the flesh. That goes to the Jews, and that
goes to the Paedo-Baptists, who believes their kids are in covenant
relation because of their infant baptisms. It is not the children of the
flesh. See, the Presbyterians and the
Paedo-Baptists make the same mistake that the Jews make in
thinking that Because they are the seed of Abraham by the flesh,
they're going to be saved. Because they are the children
of a Christian, they are going to be saved and should be baptized. Because Abraham circumcised in
the flesh all those, even though they didn't make a profession
of faith, they were circumcised. Now, we should baptize. Well,
the thing is, is baptism is not the replacement for circumcision. Circumcision was a sign of the
cutting away of the flesh, and that is a type of being born
again, not being baptized. Being baptized is something completely
and totally different. So baptism isn't a sign of new
birth. Baptism is a sign of salvation
in Christ Jesus, His death, burial, and resurrection. But the paedo-baptists, they
think the same thing, that because they are our children, then they
too can be the children of the promise. But what does it say
here? That they which are the children of the flesh, these
are not the children of God, but the children of the promise
are counted for the seed. Someone may say, well yeah, the
Bible says that. This promise is to you and to your children. But the passage right after that
says, and to all that God calls. It's only the ones that God calls.
that are the children. For this is the word, but the
children of the promise don't count for the seed. For this
is the word of promise. At this time will I come, and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac. For
the children, being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil." See, the children hadn't even been born yet, and the decision
had already been made of who was going to be saved and who
was not going to be saved. Neither having done any good
or evil, not even being born, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. See, that's what we're talking
about back here in 2 Timothy. God has a purpose and grace,
and that's what salvation is according to. Salvation is according
to His purpose, according to His grace, not according to the
conditions that you must meet. It's given before the foundation
of the world, not in time, whenever you make some sort of a move
for God. salvation is holy by grace, that
it may be by grace, and not by you, not by words. God is not
going to share His glory with anyone. So it says here, so that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, there
that phrase is again, not of works, but of Him that calleth. So it's according to the according
to election of him that calleth. That's the same thing that it's
saying here, who has saved us and called us with the holy calling,
not according to our worth, but according to his own purpose,
his purpose in election. That is going to be what stands.
There's not going to be any exceptions. And so in verse 10 he says, But
this is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel. See, the preaching
of the gospel is to bring life and immortality to light, not
to life. Okay? The preaching of the Gospel
is not to bring you life, but to bring you light that there
is life already. It's to bring you light that
you have immortality because of Christ Jesus. And not in this fleshly body.
This fleshly body is still flesh. It's still experiencing corruption. And one of these days it will
die. But we're talking about the life that is in us. The life
that is in us is eternal life. What does eternal mean? No beginning,
no end. Right? What does immortal mean? Never dying. It never goes away. Forever. So here we have laid before us
a foundation that salvation and the calling of God and the union
with Christ, all parts of salvation there, election, union with Christ,
is all part of our salvation. And that is before the world
began according to His purpose and grace. Now, just to bear
witness that this is true, Ephesians chapter 1, we've read it a billion
times. Ephesians chapter 1 says the
exact same thing. Verse 3, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ according as
He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. How is it that God loves us? It is because He sees us in Christ. How is it that God can accept
us? It is because He sees us in Christ. How is it that God cannot destroy
us because we are in Christ. How is it that God, in while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us? And that dying was a
visual showing of God's love for us, for God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son. How is it that God can do that?
It's because before the foundation of the world, we were made holy
and without blame before Him. We stand before Him
holy and without blame. Why? Because of our union with
Christ Jesus. 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 hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath
abounded towards us, and all wisdom and prudence having made
known unto us the mystery of His will, according to the good
pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself." Again, this is going
right along with what 2 Timothy said. Salvation is all wrapped
up in the purpose and grace of God alone. It's not in any outward
work that we do, any condition that we meet, anything that we
have to shore up because Christ didn't do it all. It's all according to His purpose.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of time, you might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in Him, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His
own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory who first
trusted in Christ Jesus." Brethren, you see that it is
all before the foundation of the Word. So whenever free will preachers
offer salvation to everybody and invite everybody to by their
faith act upon Jesus Christ, whenever these preachers say
that faith is part of the sinner coming and making the decision
for Christ so that they can get saved, they are denying the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. Whenever they are inviting men
and women and children to come and exercise their faith to get
saved, to be born again, to be adopted as sons, to receive the
Holy Spirit, they are preaching a false Gospel. Now, this isn't
about me standing up here pointing fingers at other churches to
make our church look good. This is a warning, because this
theology of freewillism, this theology of decisionism, easy-believism,
is prominent in our country. I would be safe to say that out
of, I'm just guessing, 60 churches here in Joplin, maybe more, that
out of 60 churches, there's probably three that may be preaching the
truth that we're preaching here today in the surrounding area. And those are just the kind of
ones that I know. There may be more, I don't know. But I know the vast majority
of churches on every corner in the United States preaches a
free will gospel. Matter of fact, every one of
us here at one point in time was searching for the truth and
all we could find was free will gospels. Looking for a place that taught
the gospel as we see it in the Word of God. Preaching the gospel that we
know by the prompting and the teaching of the Holy Spirit comes
from God that honors God and not man. Why is that? It's because we've
been given spiritual lessons in heavenly places. We know these
things. But brethren, listen, there are
those that are out there that are preaching a free will salvation. They are preaching a universal
invitation to all men and women that can be saved anytime you
want if you'll just believe, if you'll just receive, if you'll
just come forward, if you'll just pray a prayer, if you'll
just be baptized, if you'll just join a church, whatever the condition
is, they say you can't be saved unless you follow one of those.
And we've just seen by the testimony of Scripture that while, yes,
it is true, the Bible calls us to repent, Yes, it's true that
the Bible tells us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes,
it's true the Bible tells us to be immersed in water. Yes,
it's true that the Bible says that after we have been made
disciples and been immersed in water that we are to join to
that local church so that we might grow in the grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we might be taught all things
that Christ has given to us to know and to learn. by the church
who is the pillar and the ground of truth. Yes, that is true. But it is not the cause of your
salvation. It is not the linchpin on which
God is holding salvation and trust until you reach that point
in time where you can have it. That is not the condition. There
is no condition. Those who preach these things
deny the sovereign choice of God in salvation. They ignore
the very everlasting covenant that saves. They ignore the everlasting
covenant of grace. An everlasting covenant isn't
an everlasting covenant of a proposition to save. The everlasting covenant
within the Godhead is not a covenant to make salvation possible. I
hear that from friends and people that I know. I hear that the
purpose of God is the plan of how God designed to do it. And
that was through us choosing Him, through us having faith
in Him, repenting of our sins and believing on Him. That was
His purpose, His purpose was that we do that. And so He purposed
the plan of salvation. The way of salvation. How we
are saved. And that is by faith. Our own
faith. Our exercising of faith. But
friends, that is denying the everlasting covenant. That is
denying and contradicting the clear testimony
of Scripture that the elect are from eternity, saved. And if saved, I would say justified. Now that word justification,
that's a big word, especially for many in today's society. Whenever I was young, justification
seemed to be a pretty big word that you hardly ever heard around
churches, even so much more today. How many times do you think Joel
Osteen has uttered those words from the pulpit? Or some of these other clowns
out there like Todd White and Furtick and all these other guys
that's out there and all these new modern churches that's popping
up everywhere. How many times do you think that
they deal with the doctrine of justification? What is justification? Well, brethren, listen. Justification
is the heart of the gospel. Justification is the very foundation
of the Gospel. It's the foundation of your salvation. Without justification, there
is no salvation. We are elected in Christ Jesus,
but for that to be a just action, God must justify the sinner in
some way. because the sinner will not be
able to meet the demands of God's holiness. Justification is extremely important. What we believe about justification
is extremely important. There are many brethren who are
divided on this issue. Even among sovereign grace believers,
Matter of fact, sovereign grace believers, they are divided into
three different camps. There's the camp that follows
after the Protestant Reformation, which has justification wrong. They say that justification is
by faith alone, and they attribute that faith as the faith that
you receive when you're born again by Christ, and then you
exercise that faith, and then once you exercise that faith
in Christ Jesus, then at that point in time, God justifies
you, declares you not guilty. And that was the heart of the
Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther, John Calvin, all
those Reformers, that was the heart of their quote-unquote
Reformation. But at the very heart of the
Reformation was a justification that wasn't according to Scripture.
When I first came to the Doctrines of Grace and began to see election
and sovereignty, I've said this before, I began to gather all
kinds of books to read on the Doctrines of Grace and things
like that. And in doing so, a lot of the books that were out there
are mostly from Protestants. I didn't see very many, in the
bookstores at least, that was before I come to know of all
these groups around that has historical writings that isn't
carried in all these bookstores. But in the bookstores, mostly
all you see is Protestant writings. They come from the vantage point
of Pato Baptists. that have come out of the Catholic
Church and still retained a lot of their Catholic influence.
And at the heart of that is justification by faith alone. And so as I began
reading these things seeing these things and I'm like, you know,
listening to what all they're saying, I still was finding it
hard because what I was seeing in Scripture was justification
that wasn't based in time on my faith. And I was trying to reconcile,
surely these guys have got to be right because they're preaching
the doctrines of grace. But the more I kept reading,
I read John Piper's huge work on justification. I might as
well throw that in the trash. I read all these men, Boyce,
I read Owen, I read Spurgeon, I read all these guys on justification,
and it just wasn't satisfying my heart and my mind from what
I was seeing in the scriptures. And I quickly began to see that
even among sovereign grace believers, there is a misunderstanding of
the things of justification. So that one that one group of
those who believe that justification is by faith and time when you
exercise your faith after being born again. The second camp are
those who believe that justification was declared upon us at the cross. That when Christ died, his blood
and his death, his resurrection, that that is the grounds and
the basis of our justification And that's true. The work of
Christ is the basis of our justification. But that's not when God declared
us just. Now I can go more with that group
of people than I can with the ones that say that God doesn't
do anything until you exercise your own faith. Given by God, that is. These
men at least acknowledged the fact that justification didn't
have anything to do with your exercise of faith. Justification
had to do with everything of the faithfulness of Christ on
your behalf. It's His faith that justifies. And we're going to see that in
our verses as we go forward. is based upon the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. But brethren, the declaration
of all that Christ did in His work was as He was a lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. He stood as that mediator,
as that substitute in the covenant of God before the foundation
of the world. God didn't have to wait for 2-3,000
years for Christ to be crucified to honor that for His people. To believe that for His people. We're going to look at that in
a little bit. But here we see in Ephesians that it is a blessing that is given to us
in heavenly places according as He has chosen us. The only
way that we can be without blame before Him in love, before the
foundation of the world, is for us to be justified. For us to
be in Christ Jesus. So, justification then is an
act of the eternal God Thus it is an eternal act of God. Justification is an act of the
eternal God. Thus it is an eternal act of
God. Because it is based in the everlasting
covenant of God. Now what does justification mean? Justification is a legal term.
Justification is a legal term that means to take one who is
guilty and to declare him, on the grounds of justice and righteousness,
not guilty. Okay? Zack can come and steal
something at a store. and go before a judge, and the
judge not find enough evidence, even though Zach actually did
it, can tell everybody, OK, well, I can't find enough evidence,
then we're going to deem you acquitted. That's what happened
with OJ Simpson, right? They presented
all this evidence, but it was in such a way And botched that
the judge said, I'm just gonna, there's, it looks like it, but
there's not enough evidence that strongly points to it. So he
was acquitted. He was justified of that wrongdoing. Although everybody in the world
thinks that he did it, thinks that he did it at least. But
according to that law, they couldn't find enough that they could say,
but that doesn't mean he's not guilty. In our justification, God, by
righteousness and justice, will not bend. He will not say, well,
yeah, to me he looks guilty, but I can't say he's guilty because
there's a little bit of bending in this area, a little bit in
that. No, God does not bend justice any. So that person either has to
be completely guiltless or someone who is completely guiltless must
substitute 100% in their stead. So justification is God laying
to the guilty's account someone who is not guilty. And then that
guilt is taken upon by the one who is not guilty. That's justification. is accounting one as not guilty. And the Bible says, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says
that we are all sinners by nature, that from the womb we are conceived
in sin. We are sinners and guilty of
sin, multiple sins. We are transgressors. But yet,
the gospel says that Christ took all of that and something took
place and it's called imputation. Not amputation, that's when they
cut off your leg or your arm. Imputation. Meaning that all
of the righteousness that is Christ, that's what's put to
your account. and all of your sinfulness is
put to Christ's account. Christ doesn't become sinful. He just takes on the guilt of
your sin and becomes sin for you. You don't become righteous
like Christ is, but you take on all of the righteousness that
He has done to your account. So God, whenever He views you,
He views you, because of Christ, as being not guilty. Not one
sin. Being laid in your account. At
all. And the Bible says that who shall
lay any charge to God's elect? Nobody. Nobody can lay a charge
of sin to God's elect. Now do we sin? Absolutely. I
sin every day. But there's nobody, whenever
it comes time to be judged before God, is going to be able to lay
any accusation of guilt to my account. Because every time a sin will
be brought up, my advocate, the surety Jesus Christ, will say,
pay for, pay for, pay for, bring it up, whatever it is, pay for.
That's an amazing thing to think. But was that given to us from
eternity? Or did it come to us at the cross?
Or did it come to us when we believe? Well, we just read that
salvation, being made blameless before God, all spiritual blessings
was given to us before the foundation of the world. I would put forth that there
has never been a time even though we in actuality are sinners and
are guilty and are continuing in the flesh to sin, that there
has never been a time before our birth or after our birth
that God has ever viewed His people in such a way. But He has always viewed them
in Christ Jesus. Justification is the imputation
of Christ's righteousness to those who have no righteousness.
Justification is a pronouncing a person righteous according
to law as though they have never even sinned. We've all used that
term, I learned it growing up. Justification is just if I'd
never sinned. That's what justified means.
Just if I'd never sinned. That's how God looks at us. If
God ever looks at us as sinners, then it's justified to never
sin. Well, at one time you did sin, but now you don't. Now I
don't look at you that way. We're going to read some verses
about that also. John Gill says this about justification,
and I like what he said. He said, an act of God's grace
whereby He clears His people from sin, discharges them from
condemnation, and reckons and accounts them righteous for the
sake of Christ's righteousness, which He has accepted of and
imputes unto them." So justification is an act that begins and ends
in God. It takes place outside of time. You'll hear a lot of men say
that it's an imminent act of God. meaning that it's going
to happen in time. It's going to happen at some
point. God has purposed it and it will happen, so He considers
it even though it hasn't happened yet. And some will say, but it
doesn't happen until it does happen, whether it be the cross
or in time when you believe. But brethren, it's an act that
happens before the foundation of the world. Justification is
an act that happens internally within God. God is the Father who has elected
the people and has loved the people with an everlasting love,
has given them to the Son. Who is the Son? The Son is God
manifested in the flesh, the One begotten of God, to be the
Messiah, the Anointed One of God, the Servant of God, the
One who would come as the begotten of God, Son of God, to be Messiah
and Savior of His people. You shall call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. He is the Messiah,
the Anointed One. Anointed to do what? What's Christ
anointed to do? What does that mean? We use these
terms, but what do they mean? In the Old Testament, who was
anointed? The priests were anointed, right? The priests were anointed
to carry out their work of sacrifice. Who else was anointed in the
Old Testament? Kings were anointed. Remember whenever Solomon was
anointed? They poured the oil down over him. When David was
anointed, they poured the oil down over him. They were anointed
as king. Prophets were anointed. Isn't Jesus the prophet, priest,
and king? He is the true prophet. He is
the king of kings. And He is the great high priest. So everything that had to do
with the work of Christ and His ministry, He was the Anointed
One of God. The One who God had brought forth. The first creation of God. The
Son of God. The Man Jesus Christ. And to
that Man, the Father gave the people. And by the way, the Son
is the fullness of the Godhead. He is that invisible God manifested
in flesh. He is the image of the invisible
God. He is the exact likeness of His person. Jesus Christ is
God, fully God. He's not separate. He is fully
God. He is not a God. He is the God. The one true God. The Holy One
of Israel. He is Jehovah. He is Yahweh. The Bible calls Him the Everlasting
Father. The Mighty God. The Bible says that there are
three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Jesus is the one God in which
these three record bearers, fullness, dwell in. And this man, Jesus Christ, the
Bible says, is the only mediator between God and man. God gave
a people to this God-man in the purpose of God. God giving him
to this man, Jesus Christ. So it begins and ends in God. It's an act initiated by the
eternal will of God. It's based upon His grace and
purpose. It's consistent with His love.
And it's all for His glory. We read several passages back
in Ephesians about it being for His glory. The glory of His will. The glory of His purpose. It's
all about His glory. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Thee. It's for His glory. All of this God
purposed in Himself. So justification is an eternal
act of God. Tell you what, we'll stop right
there, brethren, and I'll pick up with this and continue with
this, Lord willing, next week. It's been about an hour now,
so we'll cut this off. We'll pick up Lord Willem next
week. We'll continue to look at justification
from eternity. We'll see about Christ being
our eternal mediator. Anybody have any questions or
comments? We're going to talk about justification
by faith. Don't worry about that. I'll
get there. Alright, anybody have any questions
or comments? It's time to have a word of prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, once
again we come before you and we are so grateful for the work
of Christ on our behalf. Thank you, Father, that before
the world began, you loved us with an everlasting love, that
you united us with union in Christ Jesus, And in Christ Jesus, we have everlasting life, justification,
sanctification, propitiation. We have glorification. Looking
forward to the day of that when our flesh is dissolved and a
new body is given to us. Looking forward to the end of
sin. So, Father, Lord, we just are
grateful today to be able to come and proclaim these truths
of the Gospel. Father, I pray that those who are here, those
who have been listening or watching, Father, I pray that by Your Spirit
that You might make these truths lodged in their mind and in their
heart, that it might be food for their soul, that it might
bring edification and building up of their most holy faith.
Father, I pray that You might minister to men and women by
the truth of the Gospel, that by it they've been fed today,
Lord, by Your sheep, by Your flock, Your foal. I pray, Lord,
that today they've been fed, that You've used me and allowed
me to minister the truth but Lord, that You have applied that
truth by the Holy Spirit, if it so be such. Father, Lord, we give honor and
glory to Jesus Christ because of Him, by Him, through Him are
all things. For His sake, for His glory,
we thank You for Christ Jesus who died, who rose, who lives
forevermore, who is seated even now on the throne of God, bringing
forth all the purpose of God, ruling and reigning until all
of His enemies are put under His feet, looking forward to
the day that He comes to receive His people unto Himself, to judge
the quick and the dead, to separate the sheep from the goats, the
wheat from the chaff. Father, we look forward to that
day when we will be with our Lord. I pray that all those that are
here today are saved by your grace, and that they'll come
to their knowledge of that salvation, that they'll be converted of
the gospel and believe upon you and be baptized, become members
of the church, Father, Lord, I pray that you might just continue
to help us each day to be witnesses of this very gospel. Thank you
for the food that we're about to eat. May it nourish our bodies
by it. For it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.