Now concerning our conference,
I do have it finalized. It's going to be Todd Nybert
and Bruce Crabtree. We are going to do it Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday. So I'll have it scheduled in
the bulletin here in the near future. In Romans chapter 8,
look in verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect, who can in the court of heaven lay anything,
I like that, anything, just anything to the charge of God's elect
and make it stick, and make it stick. You know, we can be chargeable,
or we can be charged, you know, men can charge us, Satan can
charge us, but in God's court, who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect and make it stick. It is God that justifies, it
is God who justifies them, who declares them not guilty. I tell you this, that is not
a cold, dry doctrine to those who know what guilt is. If I
walked into a court this morning And I know that I'm guilty of
a crime. I've committed a crime. And I
walk into court. And the judge looks down at his
book, looks up at me and says, not guilty, justified, cleared
of all charges, nothing on the books. Absolutely nothing on
the books. I'm telling you, this would be
one happy man. This would be one happy man. And I would have
to look over at my advocate and say, you are good. You are good
because I know what I've done. I know I've sinned. And yet,
God says, not guilty. Justify. Now, the Bible teaches
us, it clearly teaches us that God is a just God. Look over in Psalm 97. Psalm
97. I could read a lot of verses,
but I'll just read a couple of them here this morning. In Psalm
97, verse 2, it says, clouds and darkness are round about
him, righteousness and judgment, justice are the habitation of
his throne. We cannot understand the gospel
of substitution until we understand the justice of God, until we
have some understanding of God's strict justice. The Word of God
teaches us that God is love, but it also teaches us that He
is just. Listen to this scripture. I wrote
this down in Isaiah 45, 21. Tell ye, and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And is there no God else beside
me? A just God, a just God and a
Savior. And it's in that order. A just
God. He'll be a just God first and
a Savior. There is none beside me. There's none compared to God.
There's none beside Him that can save. There's none besides
Him that can justify. He said, I am a just God and
the Savior. Now justification is a legal
term. I tell you this, if he doesn't
justify a person, and I'll get into this here in a little bit,
he'll never sanctify that person. A person has to be justified
and then he's able to be sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit.
But justification is a legal term. It means that God declares
His chosen in Christ to be sinless. Can you imagine that? You know
yourself. I know myself. I know my history. I know what
I am by nature. I know what you are by nature.
And yet when God looks upon you, and I'm talking about all those
who believe, all those whom God has chosen, when He looks upon
you, He sees you sinless. He sees you and declares you
not guilty. You're not guilty. You're not
guilty at all. That's amazing. But that's the gospel. There
is a reality that we need to lay hold of here if we are going
to enjoy salvation. I mean, if we really want to
lay hold and have some real joy in salvation and glorify God
in our salvation, we have to lay hold of this, that in Christ,
we are justified. In Christ, we have no sin. It's been put away. It's gone.
It's done away with. In Christ, every believer is
justified, he is perfectly righteous in God's sight. Perfectly righteous. It is written in Job 25. These
men knew something. How then can man be justified
with God? It's not how can I go to heaven
or how can I miss hell. How can a sinful man like myself
be justified with a holy God, with God who is holy? Or how
can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold, even the
moon, it shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man that is a worm,
and the Son of Man who is a worm, which is a worm. How? How can man, how can this man,
how can this sinful man be just with God? Well, the answer to
that question can only be found in the gospel of substitution. God coming into this world, becoming
a man and actually taking my place before God's The law demands
the death of the offender. It says the soul that sinneth
shall surely die. We were watching a little piece
on TV before we came over here on the death penalty. This lady,
I forget what state it's in, but they're ready to put her
to death. I think it's Tennessee. She's coming up now. She'll be
the first one since 1800 to put to death in that state. And they're
fighting now over this death penalty, whether to, you know,
some for it and some against it, trying to keep her alive.
I tell you this, God's law, there is no controversy. There is no
controversy. It says the soul that sinneth
shall surely die. And that's it. That's it. It doesn't matter what the human
race thinks. Because that's it. That's God's
law. And God's law is holy. God's law is right. And it says
the soul that sinneth shall surely die. God's law cannot tolerate
leniency. You want to stand before that?
You want to stand before a law that absolutely will not tolerate
any type, in any way, shape or form, leniency, not in the least
degree. By one act of disobedience, not
many acts, Adam sinned one time. Disobeyed God one time. It wasn't, you know, like you
and I do with our children. You do it again. You know, you
do it again. I want to get you. No, I told
you not to do that. Adam did it one time. That was it. Death. God said
to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. And he
did. That's God's law. That's God's
justice. That's his justice. It demands
the death of the sinner. And we all have sinned. We all
sinned in Adam. And we've all sinned personally. Willfully. Willfully. We've done it. Hell is eternal
because sinful man cannot satisfy God's holy law. Can't do it. Not only does the
law demand the death of the sinner because of sin, but it also demands,
listen, it also demands perfect obedience to His precepts. It
demands the death of the sinner, and it demands perfect righteousness,
absolute righteousness. The Scripture says, Be ye holy,
for I am holy. Have you ever read that and said,
it's not possible for me to be absolutely holy. But I understand
this, in Christ I am. In the Lord Jesus Christ I am.
Our Lord said this in Matthew 5, 48, Be ye therefore perfect
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. You see, He can accept
no less. He cannot accept any less than
perfection. And when He says this and when
the Holy Spirit applies it, you realize you can't do it. And
that's when we run to Christ. That's when we go to Him. God
requires absolute perfection in heart as well as in action.
But here's the wisdom of God. Here is where the wisdom of God
comes in. Substitution. I can't do it,
but God can do it. God can do it. Here's where the
wisdom of God comes in. We are lost. We are sinful. We are depraved. and therefore
unable to please God, unable to please God or satisfy His
law in any way, shape or form. Can't even begin to please Him. But all is not lost. God says,
look over in Job 33. These Scriptures really become,
they become more and more precious to me as I get older. Over in
Job chapter 33. I've learned that when doctrine
seems to be cold, dead, and dry, it's not the doctrine, it's the
person that's cold, dead, and dry. That's the problem. Here in Job, let me see where
I'm at. Job 33, go over here in verse
23. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show
unto man his uprightness." To show unto man, listen, God's
uprightness. God's uprightness. Then He is
gracious unto him and saith, deliver him from going down to
the pit. I have found a ransom. I have found a ransom for my
people. God found a ransom. You know
what that word means? God said, deliver him from going
down to the pit. I have found an atonement. I
have found an atonement is what I have found. And He found it
where? In His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God found it in Christ. God made
His Son to be our substitute, our representative, the representative
of a multitude of sinners that no man could number. Christ came
into this world, took upon Him flesh, became bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. He lived a perfectly righteous
life and thought, word and deed. To imagine that even His thought,
there was never even a thought of sin ever passed through His
mind. And you know that belongs to me. And you who believe, that
belongs to us. His perfect righteousness belongs
to His people. The death that the law pronounced
against us, our Lord submitted to, even the death of the cross,
it says. And he brought in this everlasting
righteousness. All that he did, he did as a
representative, he did as a substitute for someone else, a lot of someone
else's, a lot of them. And everything he did, now listen,
get a hold of this. Everything He did, we did in
Him, just like Levi paid tithes in Abraham. We did it. It's not like we did it. Before God, we did it. In Christ,
we did it. Everyone who believes in Christ
has given perfect obedience to God's holy law. That's right. Now to answer this question,
how can God be just and justify me, a sinful man? It is through, by and in, the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now I'm going to ask three or
four questions, see if I can get through this. When is a man
justified? When did God justify me? When
did I stand before God and He declare me justified? All those
whom God chose, all those whom He justifies,
He justified from eternity. He justified us before the world
was made. In the mind and purpose of God,
all His chosen were justified from eternity. Our justification
was accomplished before the world was made. Look over in Romans chapter 8.
We're in chapter 8. Look here in Romans chapter 8.
Look in verse 30. And I want you to notice, and you've
noticed this before. It's been pointed out time and
time again to this congregation. All these are past tense. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate And them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. This is all past tense. This
is already taken care of. This is already done. When did
this happen? Before the world was made. God
took care of this matter before the world was created. John Gill
said this, God's will to elect is the election of His people.
God's will to justify is the justification of His people.
God has always looked upon His people in Christ. He's always
looked upon them in Christ as righteous. He always has. Now that's beyond our grasp.
I know that. I believe it. But to be able
to wrap my mind around that is beyond my ability. In this flesh,
in this body, it's just beyond my ability. I want you to turn
over to Revelation chapter 13. When was our Lord crucified?
When was He crucified? Well, we know that He was crucified
around 2,000 years ago. But look here in Revelation 13
and verse 8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb
slain," when? Two thousand years ago? From
the foundation of the world. Christ, in the mind and purpose
of God, was already slain before the world was created. From the
foundation of the world. In the mind and purpose of God,
his son was slain, just as Abraham. You remember when God told Abraham,
take your son, your only son Isaac, and offer him up on that
mountain. He traveled for three days. I
tell you what, Abraham, Abraham slew him. Abraham slew his son. In his mind and in his heart,
it was done. Listen to what it says in Genesis
22, 12. And the angel, this is the angel,
and he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad. Abraham had that
knife drawn back. I mean, it was done. It was done
in his heart. It was done. And he said, Lay
not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto
him. For now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from
me. Does it not say? in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 3. Let me go back. Let's go over
here. I want you to read it. You and
I have read this time and time again, but we still need to keep
reading it. Look in 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 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, 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 acceptable."
Not acceptable. I wasn't made acceptable, though
I am. I was accepted. There's a difference. You know,
I can be acceptable and something can be acceptable and I don't
have to accept it. I may not want it. But if I accept
it, I take it. I proceed. He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. But now back up here in verse
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ That is according to chosen us before the foundation
of the world. What are those spiritual blessings? Justification. Sanctification. Wisdom. Righteousness. All that we need. All that we
need to stand in God's presence. We were given in Christ before
the world began. From the foundation of the world.
Justification is one of those spiritual blessings. That's what we have. And now,
we were justified from the foundation of the world. Now this, secondly,
we were justified when Christ died on Calvary's tree. In Romans 3 it says this, being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Christ didn't provide And listen,
he didn't just provide justification. If you and I would just believe
and then that's the missing ingredient and it activates it. It's like
this, you know, what I used to put a, it's an insulation on
a bearing and I put hardener on it and I had to put so many
parts of this hardener in with a resin to activate it. Without
it, it wouldn't work. Well, faith is not the activation
of justification. It's the will of God, the purpose
of God. It's a creed of God. Our Lord, when He died on the
cross at Calvary, He didn't make it possible, and then you and
I activate it by faith. He made it actual. He actually
accomplished our justification at the cross. Every one of God's
chosen were justified when Christ died for them. When He died on
Calvary's tree for His elect, they were justified in God's
sight. When He put away our sins, when
He died on the tree, He put away the sins of His chosen. Is that
not right? Well, then you have to be justified. There's nothing
there to condemn you. They're gone. He put them away.
They're all gone. And then thirdly, every true
believer is justified by the Holy Spirit in regeneration.
We were justified in eternity. We were justified when our Lord
died for us. And then we're justified in regeneration
when a sinner is born by the Spirit of God. You know what
happens? The blood of Christ is sprinkled on his conscience
and the Holy Spirit of God declares him justified. cleared of all
charges, justified. And then, listen, we are justified
in eternity. We are justified at the cross
when Christ died for us. We are justified in regeneration
when the Holy Spirit gives a new birth, sprinkles the blood of
Christ. And we are justified by faith. Romans chapter 5, when we believe,
in Romans chapter 5. Therefore, in chapter verse 1,
therefore, being justified by faith. Now listen, the one thing
about this group, this group has been taught well over the
years. We know this is not the act of faith that justifies us.
It's the object. It's looking unto Jesus. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the object of our faith, is the one who
justifies us. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is written in Acts 13.39, and by Him, by Christ, all that
believe are justified from all things from which you could not
be justified by the law of Moses. justified from the foundation
of the world, justified at Calvary, justified in regeneration, and
justified when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And faith
is justified by its works before men. It's by your works. That's what it says in James.
Not before God, but before men. Our work justifies our faith. That it's of God. It's a work
of God. in Christ. Now listen, this is
good news to a guilty sinner. To a guilty sinner. To be cleared of all charges
in the strictest court there is. God's. God's. To stand in that court I can't
even begin to imagine the horror of being standing there with
no advocate, no help, and to hear God say, guilty. Guilty. My, my, my. What it would be to hear Him
say, justified. No charge. No charge against
you. No sin. Totally gone. It's not as if
I've never sinned. It's no sin. It's gone. It's
gone. He put it away. When Christ died,
I died. You know, I sit at times in the
study and I just think of that thought. When he died, I died. That's a reality. I died. saw John Chapman die
that day. The law of God put John to death
that day. The wrath of God was taken out
on me that day. I suffered the hell of God's
wrath that day. And God's law is satisfied. And as far as God's
law is concerned, I died. This old boy has been put away.
And it's that new man that we'll look at next week in sanctification.
That's the man. That's the man that's born of
God. That's the man that's going to be with the Lord. That one
is born of God and has no sin.