Let's open our Bibles to Jeremiah
chapter 50. Jeremiah 50. If I don't write it down, it's gone.
I failed to give you an update on Brother Roy Dennison. He had
a biopsy on Wednesday. They want him to come back to
Lexington on Tuesday. They were giving him a chemo
pill that was enabling him to eat, but Sandy said, that's quit
working. He's not able to eat again. Let's just keep them in
our prayers. Jeremiah 50 now for our visitors,
we've been beginning in Genesis. Every Sunday we bring two messages
from a different book of the Bible working our way up here
to Jeremiah. I suppose technically I should
have brought two messages from Isaiah. I'm preaching through
that on Wednesday night. So if you'd like to hear two
messages from Isaiah, go to sermon audio, pick any two. And we'll
look at two messages from Jeremiah this morning. Now Prophet Jeremiah
prophesied for over 40 years in Israel. For 20 years he prophesied
that Babylon would come and conquer and destroy Israel. God was gonna
send them to Israel because of their idolatry and their wickedness.
Yet Jeremiah told the people, if you'll repent, God will deliver
you. And for 20 years, nobody believed
him. They even threw Jeremiah in prison
to try to shut him up. And it didn't work. He was faithful
to preach the message that God gave him no matter what. Then
for 20 more years, he prophesied during the time of the Babylonian
rule that Jerusalem had already been destroyed, Jeremiah the
weeping prophet. And he said, God's going to deliver
Israel. He's going to deliver. He's going
to destroy Babylon. And if you'll surrender to the Babylonians,
you surrender to their authority, you'll live. There's a good gospel
message there, isn't there? If you surrender to Christ, you
surrender, you lay down your arms, you'll live. And again,
nobody listened. They threw Jeremiah in jail again,
trying to shut him up. No wonder he's the weeping prophet.
He wept over the unbelief of Israel. You can't preach to people you
don't care about. They're unbelief, it made him
weep. He wept over the destruction of the city that he loved. He
wept over the destruction of the people because they wouldn't
believe. But despite that, he stayed faithful. He's faithful
to preach the message that God gave him. And the message of
the book of Jeremiah is that God's going to be gracious to
his chosen nation. God will bring salvation to his
people through Christ, our righteousness. Jeremiah is the one who tells
us that the name of the Messiah shall be Jehovah Sidkenu, the
Lord our righteousness. And he, the Lord our righteousness,
will make his people righteous through union with him. Jeremiah
is also the prophet that tells us this is the name wherewith
she shall be called, the bride of Christ. Those that Christ
came to redeem, her name shall be called Jehovah Sidkenu, the
Lord our righteousness. She's righteous. through union
with Christ. Her union with Him is so real,
she bears His name. God's going to make His elect
people righteous. God's going to justify His people
in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, then the title of the message
this morning is, what does it mean to be justified? To be justified
does not mean just as if I'd never sinned. When we say, just
as if I'd never sinned, it makes it sound like, well, I still
have sinned, but God's just pretending, just as if it's not there. No,
God deals with things as they really are. To be justified,
God calls a person justified, they're made without sin. They're made completely innocent. And we looked at this Wednesday
night, that transaction is done in justice, isn't it? God is
a just God and a Savior. God does not ignore the sin of
His people. That's why justification is not
as if I'd never sinned. No, God doesn't ignore the sin
of His people. He charged the sin of His people to His Son,
our substitute, and He punished Him fully for that sin. So the
father will never charge sin to his people because that sin
is already gone under the blood of Christ. Christ has already
been charged for it and he put it away with his blood. And Jeremiah
was faithful to preach that gospel. He would not compromise, didn't
matter how few believed. He would not compromise no matter
how hated he was. He wouldn't compromise, he was
thrown in jail. Now at this time, Israel's in bondage because they
refuse to listen to God's prophet. They wouldn't give up their idols.
So God sent them trial, punishment, correction to put them in bondage.
And even though they're in bondage, even though they refuse to listen
to him, Isaiah's got a message. He's faithful to preach the message.
He is full of sorrow, but he still has hope in God. And that's
what I want for us this morning. I want every one of us this morning
to leave here with hope in Christ. No matter how great of a sinner
we are, we can leave here with hope in Christ, hope to be justified,
made without sin in Christ. So here's our first point. What
is justification? What does it mean to be justified?
Well, justification is for specific people at a specific time. Look
at verse 20 of Jeremiah chapter 50. In those days and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. And for the sins of Judah, and
they shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve. Now you notice this promise of
God, it's not for the Babylonians, is it? It's for Israel and for
Judah. The nation Israel is the nation
that God chose to make his people. And he dealt with Israel in mercy,
didn't he? God gave Israel the law. He didn't
give anybody else the law. God sent the prophets to Israel.
He didn't send the prophets to the Philistines. He sent them
to Israel. God gave Israel the priesthood and the sacrifices. God gave Israel the temple, the
tabernacle where the glory of God dwells. God gave Israel his
word. He didn't give that to anybody
else, did he? He gave it to the nation Israel because he chose
them to be his people. Now those Jews, those physical
descendants of Abraham, all they are is a picture. They're a picture
of true Israel, spiritual Israel. And if you look at Romans chapter
9, I'll show you that. I would imagine that's good news
for everybody here, probably none of us are of Jewish ancestry. Well, spiritual Israel doesn't
come from being a physical descendant of Abraham. Romans nine and verse
six, not as though the word of God had taken none effect for
they're not all Israel, which are of Israel. They're not all
spiritual Israel, which are the nation Israel. Neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in
Isaac and the promise son shall thy seed be called. That is they
which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children
of God, but the children of promise are counted for the seed. Now
look in Galatians chapter three. How can I tell if I'm one of
those children? How can I tell if I'm a true
spiritual child of Abraham? Galatians 3 verse 6 tells us, Even as Abraham believed God
and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore
that they which are of faith the same are the children of
Abraham. Those who believe God like Abraham
believed God, they're the children of Abraham. They are spiritual
Israel. And God promises that specific
people, those people that God gives Faith in Christ too. God's
going to save them from their sin. He's going to justify them
from their sin. God's elect are a remnant. That's
what he calls them here at the end of verse 20 in Jeremiah 50.
I will pardon them whom I reserve. That remnant God has reserved
for himself. He's chosen, elected them to
himself. And he'll justify them in a specific
day. He's going to justify specific
people, not left to chance, but specific people on a specific
day, the day appointed by God. Jeremiah says, in those days
and at that time. Well, when will God justify His
specific people on a specific day? First, God's elect were
justified before the world began when God chose them in His Son.
Romans 8 30 tells us that the people who are justified were
predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. They
were justified when God chose them and put them in His Son.
Second, God's elect were justified at Calvary when Christ shed His
blood to put away their sin. Paul says in Romans 5, 9 that
we're justified by His blood, by the blood that Christ shed
as a sacrifice for the sin of His people. And thirdly, God's
elect, these specific people, They're justified when we believe
on Christ. Paul said in Romans 5.1, therefore
being justified, how? By faith. We have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at Romans chapter four.
Justification. Let's be crystal clear on this.
Justification is not something that we can produce. Justification
is what we have by faith. by the faith of Christ Jesus. Romans 4 verse 5, But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Now today, today is the day of
salvation. Today is the day of justification. It has to be. because God's still
allowing his gospel to be preached. So today, you believe the gospel. Believe him today. Don't harden
your heart as Israel did, as the nation Israel did, the physical
descendants of Abraham. Don't harden your heart, but
believe God and do it right now. Come to him right now. Justifications
for specific people on a specific day. God's given us today and
promised tomorrow. Today's the day of salvation.
Secondly, to be justified. What does it mean to be justified?
To be justified is to be without sin. Look here in verse 20 again,
what he says here, those days and at that time, saith the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall
be none. And the sins of Judah and they
shall not be found. Now when God justifies his people,
he makes them without sin. In the new birth, God causes
a new man to be born. A man who's never existed before.
And that man has never sinned and he never will sin because
he's been born from new seed. He's been born from the seed
of the word of God. Now here is a glorious statement.
It magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ, his glory, and it magnifies salvation
in him. What Jeremiah is describing here
is a miracle. When we talk about salvation,
brethren, we're talking about a miracle. A sinner being saved
is a miracle. The Father, in a miracle that
we cannot understand, charged the sin of His elect to His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The holy, perfect, righteous
Son of God was actually made to be guilty of the sin of His
people. And the Father punished him for
it. In all of his fury, in all of
his wrath, in all of his justice, the father punished his son.
Christ, our substitute, suffered and he bled and he died. The law demands death for sin.
That's why Christ died, for the sin of his people. And now, the
debt's paid in full. It's paid in the blood, the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you want to know about the
power of the blood of Christ to pay for sin? The sin of God's
elect that was charged to His Son. God says it's gone. God says, I challenge you, look
for it. You won't find it. You won't
find the sin of His people because it's none. It doesn't exist. Someone, I can't remember who
it was at the conference in Lexington, was talking about there in Hebrews
chapter 11, all these patriarchs of the faith, that their sin
isn't mentioned. There's no mention of their sin. And Brother Todd
was sitting down there, he said, because there's nothing to mention.
It's gone under the blood of Christ. Now that is a glorious
salvation. And brethren, this is real. This
is real. If Christ died for you, your
sins don't exist. Not someday, right now. They do not exist. That's the
only way God can deal with you in mercy, is if your sin's gone. The only way God can accept you
is if your sin is gone. And that's what Christ did for
his people. And I'll show you two scriptures. First look at
Isaiah chapter 38. This is what we have in Christ. Our sin is gone. Isaiah 38 verse 17. Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it
from the pit of corruption, For thou hast cast all my sins behind
thy back. Now, what does that mean when
God says, I've cast your sins behind my back? What it means
is God's made the sin of his people to not exist. You know,
when something's behind your back, you can't see it, can you?
I don't know what's behind me. You all do, but I don't because
it's behind my back. Well, God's everywhere. God sees
everything, doesn't he? There's nothing behind God's
back he can't see, he sees everything. So if something is where God
can't see it, that means it doesn't exist. God does not see what
does not exist because the blood of Christ wiped out the sin of
his people. Now Jeremiah 31, here's another
one. Jeremiah 31 and verse 33. But this should be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I'll put my law on their inward parts and write
it in their hearts. And I will be their God and they
should be my people. And they should teach no more
every man, every man, his neighbor and every man, his brother saying,
know the Lord. But they shall all know me from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For
I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin
no more." Now, there's a statement in it. God says, I'll remember
their sin no more. God knows everything. God doesn't
forget anything. David said, if thou, O Lord,
shouldest mark iniquity, who'll stand? If God remembers my sin,
I'm a goner. So God says, I forgive the sin
of my people, and I won't remember their sin anymore. Now if God
doesn't remember something, the only way that can be is it doesn't
exist. Even God doesn't remember what's
not there. If Christ died for you, your sin doesn't exist. Now you and I are born in sin,
shapen in iniquity. We have a mountain of sin to
our credit. You'd think that a mountain wouldn't
be that hard to find. But God said, look for it, and
you won't find the sin of my people. And even though God says
don't, you won't find it, God says you won't find it. Well,
then I'm not gonna waste my time, look for it. But people still
do. I mean, that makes sense. We just wouldn't look for it
if God says we can't find it, but people will. And they won't
find the sin of God's people. And that's a comfort. What a
comfort to our hearts. Satan will look for your sin
to accuse you with it. But you cannot be accused of
sin Christ died for. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God to justify it. Your
enemies will try to find your sin so they can condemn you with
it. They're not going to be able to do it. Now if Christ died
for you, they're not. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather has risen again, who's even at
the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. They
won't be able to do it. Oh, here's one. How about your
conscience? You know, I read, God says, I
don't see your sin. I look at myself, that's all I see. Our
conscience tries to bring us back into captivity to the law
by always pointing out our sins, saying, oh, you better go keep
some of this law to please God. We really are our own worst enemy. God says you won't be able to
find your sin if you look for it, then why do we go looking
for it? Because our conscience is trying to bring us back to
captivity to the law, that's why. You usually, when somebody
is looking at their sin and saying, oh, look how great my sin is,
God never saved me, this is, I'm a lost cause. All they're
doing is using that for an excuse not to obey God and not to come
to Christ. They're using it as an excuse
not to submit themselves to their righteousness of Christ. Well,
when your conscience is looking for your sin and trying to bring
you back into captivity to the law, is there hope? Hebrews chapter
nine. Our Savior is going to take care
of that enemy too. Hebrews 9 verse 13. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God. The cure for our conscience is
the blood of Christ. Quit looking at your sin and
look to Christ. That will purge your conscience
from dead works. And then there's another one.
There's a day, a day of judgment, when our sin is going to be looked
for. The books are going to be opened. They're going to be opened
in truth. And the judge of all the earth
is going to judge every man in righteousness by that man, Jesus
Christ. The all seeing eye of God's holiness
is going to search for your sin. And if there's a spot of sin
on you, just a spot, you're going to be damned. That's a terrifying thought. But now you listen to me. If
Christ died for you, you fear not. The Savior has finished
the transgression of his people. He's made an end of the sin of
his elect. And you know what he's going
to do? In that day, he's going to present his people to the
Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. To all seeing
eye of the judge will not see sin on God's people. all those
that Christ died for, and he'll say, enter into your rest. See,
it's God who says, God who says the sin and iniquity of his people
is gone. God says it doesn't exist. Now
you and I can't understand how that can be. But God deals with
things as they really are. God never pretends. He deals with things as they
really are. God does not own a pair of rose
colored glasses. You know what this is teaching
us? That the believer's union with Christ is so real. See how
Christ is all, it all hangs upon him. The believer's union with
Christ is so real that when the father sees his elect, you know
what he sees? He sees Christ. He sees his people
as righteous and as holy and as sinless as God himself. In Christ, we're holy and unblameable
in God's sight. Because our sin's gone. It doesn't
exist. And the whole point here is the
glory of Christ in salvation. You just come to Christ. He's
everything you need. Salvation in Christ is certain
and it's real. The transfer of sin to Christ
was real. The only way the Father could
have put His Son to death is if He was guilty of sin. It would
have been unjust for God to put an innocent man to death and
He didn't do it. He put a guilty man to death. And the transfer
of Christ's righteousness to His people is real. We are made not guilty in Christ. And you can look at your sin
if you want to. But I'm telling you when you
see it, you remember this, if Christ died for you, it's under
the blood. It's gone. And this is not just
a point of doctrine. This is the believer's hope and
confidence. Ever since Adam fell in the garden,
you know what man's been trying to do? We've been trying to cover
our sin. Adam, sin, and he realized he
was naked, he was ashamed, and he and Eve got busy, sowing fig
leaves, didn't they? Trying to cover their nakedness,
trying to cover their shame. Didn't work. They had their apron
of fig leaves on, but when God came walking in the garden, they
ran and hid in the bushes. They were still ashamed, their
sin wasn't covered. And you and I have been sowing
fig leaves ever since. When we look to the law and think,
oh, I'm going to keep this law. I know I can't keep it all, but
this one, that's kind of important. I think I'll keep that. All that
is is a fig leaf. We're sowing fig leaves. And
it will not cover our sin. Cannot do it. Because sin can't
be covered up. And even God does not cover up
the sin of his people. Jan's been doing some painting
at the house. She's fixing stuff up, shining stuff up, you know.
She's going to paint a couple of rooms. You know the first
thing she did before she started painting? She started scrubbing
walls. I mean wearing herself out. Scrubbing those walls down, you
know. You know why? Because if there's dirt there,
she can paint over it. But you know what's going to
happen? It's going to bleed back through
and you're still going to be able to see it. If God just painted
over, He just whitewashed over the sin of His people, now it's
still there. It's just hidden under a coat
of paint. You know what would happen? Eventually it would bleed
through and we'd be condemned. I don't need whitewash. I need
blood. God wiped away the mountain of
sin, the sin of His elect through the blood of the sacrifice of
his son. It's the blood that makes atonement
for sin. It's the blood that washes us
white as snow. And that's why the sin of God's
elect cannot be found. It'll never bleed back through
because the blood has washed it white as snow. The blood of
Christ is all you need to be cleansed. Just come to him. The only thing you need is his
blood. Jeremiah here talks about the
iniquity of Israel and the sins of Judah. When he talks about
iniquity, that word means perversity. It's moral evil. That's our nature. We've got an evil, perverse,
sinful nature. And sin is the offense. Sin is
the sinful acts we commit because we've got that nature. It's the
breaking of God's law. You know, it's the blood of Christ
that takes care of both. You don't go to the blood for
one and the law for the other. It's the blood of Christ that
takes care of our iniquity, our nature, and our sin acts. The
blood of Christ pays for our acts of sin. And the blood of
Christ gives a new, clean nature in the new birth. So that in
Christ, we stand, stand before Almighty God with no sin at all. That's complete justification
in Christ our Savior. sin paid for, and a new holy
nature is given. Well, thirdly, what does it mean
to be justified? To be justified is to be pardoned. First, Jeremiah 50, look at the
end there of verse 20. For I will pardon them whom I
reserve. Now, you and I, living in the
country that we live in, we think of a pardon as a presidential
pardon. You know, some criminal that
Often the president's known in the past, maybe even worked for
him or something, helped him get elected. A criminal goes
to jail. And the president pardons the
criminal. And that criminal goes free. But the problem is this. Everybody knows there's a guilty
man walking the streets. Everybody knows it. The only
reason he's free is he's buddies with the president. He's guilty.
He's not in jail because he's buddies with the president. The
only reason he goes free is the president said we had to. We
don't want to, but we had to because the president said he
had to go free. There's a second problem with the presidential
pardon. When the president pardons one of his buddies, justice has
not been satisfied. This criminal, he's been hauled
into court. He's been tried before a jury
of his peers, and they sentence him. They say he's guilty. The
judge says, all right, come back in 30 days. I'll pronounce sentence.
And the judge sends the man to 30 years in jail. The judge just
dresses him down. You ought to be ashamed of yourself
doing that. You've hurt people. You've harmed people. You ought
to be ashamed of yourself. 30 years in jail, 30 years of
federal penitentiary. And about two years later, the
president just signs a piece of paper and says he's pardoned
and he goes free. Well, he goes free. But justice is not satisfied. The sentence hadn't been paid.
But justice can't do anything about it because the president
overrode justice. Isn't that the way you think
of a pardon? That's what I think. That's not the way God pardons
sin. When God pardons his people,
it's because he made them not guilty. When God says, let my
people go free, it's because somebody else paid the debt. Somebody else satisfied the debt
and they go free. The word pardon that's used here,
it means to forgive and it means to spare. Well, God forgives
the sin of his people. You know why? Because he punished
it in our substitute. That's why. And God spares his
people. You know why God spares his people?
Because he spared not his only son and put him to death that
we might live. He spared not his own son so
that we could be made not guilty in him. And the way God pardons
sinners, everybody's happy. That's why this pardon is sure
and you can count on it. When God pardons a sinner, people
say, I'm happy with that. There's an innocent man walking
the streets because he's been made righteous in Christ. When
God pardons a sinner, people say, I'm satisfied with that.
That's good. Justice has been satisfied. He ought to be walking
free. Christ paid the debt in full
and made him innocent. He ought to be walking free.
To be justified is to be pardoned. Then lastly, what is it to be
justified? What does that mean? To be justified
is to be glorified. Look up in verse 17 of Jeremiah
50. Israel is a scattered sheep.
The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria hath
devoured him, and last, this Nebuchadnezzar," and this is
actually speaking of Nebuchadnezzar's son, as I understand it, the
king of Babylon, "...hath broken his bones." Now, God says, My
people are scattered. They're scattered by trouble
and trial. They're hated by the world. Their
sin is devoured. False shepherds or false prophets
have come in and devoured my sheep. The religious world has
broken their bones and God will deal with them. Verse 18. Therefore,
thus sayeth the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I
will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the
king of Assyria. God's going to deal with these
enemies of his. I want you to look in verse 19,
how he's going to deal with his people. And he says, I will bring
Israel again to his habitation and he shall feed on Carmel and
Bashan and his soul shall be satisfied upon Mount Ephraim
and Gilead. God says my people are scattered.
Their sin has separated them from me. But I'm going to remove
their sin. The sin that separates them from
me, I'm going to remove it. And I'm going to bring them home.
I'm going to gather them to me and bring them home. When he
talks here about Carmel and Bashan, that was the richest, most fruitful
parts of the country. God said, that's where I'm going
to bring my people. Well, that's a picture of heaven. God said,
my people are starving. They're oppressed in this world,
but I'm going to make them satisfied. When they awake in glory, in
the likeness of my son, they'll be satisfied. To be justified
is to be glorified. Now look over Romans chapter
eight. Let's see if this isn't what Paul tells us. Romans chapter eight. Verse 28. And we know that all
things work together for good. To them who love God, to them
are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, then he also called, and whom he called,
then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorified."
God's going to bring his people to glory, to be glorified in
Christ. is what scripture tells us justification
is. That's what it means to be justified.
I have one last question. What does that have to do with
me? What does that have to do with you? That's the definition
of justification. That's what God's word tells
us to be justified means. But what does that have to do
with you and me? Let me tell you. There is no sinner so great that
Christ cannot justify them. There's no sinner who's so black
with sin and so vile that the blood of Christ cannot wash them
white as snow. And that doesn't mean we're not
as great as sinners as we think. No, we're greater sinners than
what we think. The problem is worse than what we think. What
that is saying is the power of Christ to save His people is
enough. As you sit here this morning,
I don't care what you think you've done, what you think you haven't
done. We're all equally lost. We're all equally in sin and
shame and guilt. But there's no sinner that's
so great, the blood of Christ can't justify it. There's no
sinner who sins so much that the blood of Christ can't wipe
out their sin so that it cannot be found. The Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior. I wish I could find a way to show you how precious He is,
to make you come to Him. I know one who can, though. Now,
you listen to Him. Pray, God, and make this effectual
to your heart. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
is so great, He's so gracious, He's so merciful, He's so loving,
that He removes the sin of every sinner who comes to Him seeking
mercy. Now is that your hope? When you
hear that, you say, that's my savior, that's my hope. Then
you rest in him, you keep looking to him and you rest in him. Is
that your hope? That Christ is so great, he's
so gracious, he's so merciful, he's so powerful, he's forgiven
your sins. Is that your hope? If it's not,
if that's not your hope, then what are you waiting for? Come
to Christ. You come to him. He can remove
your sin and wash you white as snow. I suppose it's one thing to know
the definition of justification. It's another thing altogether
to be justified. I hope God, in his mercy and
grace, will justify the loss this morning. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we bow before you.
So thankful, how thankful we are that sinful men and women
such as we are can come into your presence accepted boldly,
knowing that we'll be accepted in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ and how we thank you for him, how we thank you for his blood
that he freely gave himself to be sacrificed for the sin of
his people, that he made his soul an offering for the sin
of his people, that we might be justified in him, made righteous
in his righteousness, in his obedience, Father, I pray that
you bless your word as it has been preached, that you cause
your word to take root in the heart of your people, that it
might cause us to look to and cling to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let him be glorified in our hearts, in our estimation. Father, reveal
to us your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as our earnest and fervent
prayer for His glory, for the sake of the glory of His name.