And in Romans chapter 8, let's
begin our reading in verse 28, reading through verse 39. Now for us, that's fairly short
reading, isn't it? Our text will not come from this
chapter this morning. Rather, it will come from the
prophet Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse 20. But we'll get to that
text in a little bit. Let's take care of our reading
and then when we begin again we'll turn to Jeremiah 50 and
verse 20. Our subject this morning is perfect
justification and perfect pardon. Now look carefully at these few
verses. These are some of the most wonderful
statements to be found in our Bibles. Verse 28. And we know,
Paul is saying that he knows, and the people to whom he's writing,
they also know, that all things work together for good. To whom? To everybody? No, indeed, not everybody. It defines the persons to whom
this statement belongs. We know that all things work
together for good to them. Here's the definition of them
in this statement. We'll have another one of those
in a little bit in our text in Jeremiah 50. To them who are
thee called. Almost always in our generation
when you hear it read, it just says who are called. They don't
even attempt to read it like it's written. You see, called
here is not a verb. It is a noun. It's describing
persons, not something the person is doing particularly. To them
that love God. Well, preacher, everybody loves
God. No, if you must have a universal
statement, you have to say everybody hates God, including you and
me. And if I'm not hating him now, God has performed a miracle
of grace in my soul, causing me to love him. Otherwise, I
still hate him. Now, the reason we think, we're
led to think that everybody loves God because everybody has their
own definition of who God is. But if we're speaking of the
God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
then that statement cannot be made. Men do not like a God who
is absolutely holy, who is altogether just, who hates sin. No. But here are a people who
are said to love God. Let's start one more time. To them that love God, to them
who are thee called according to His purpose, God calls them
on purpose. They are known as the called. Now the statement in verse 29,
though it's a period at the end of 28, we're still pursuing the
same object. We're still talking about these
persons that love God, that are the called of God, called according
to His purpose. Verse 29, for whom He did foreknow. The them has now become a whom.
For whom he did foreknow. And quite frequently in our Bibles
the word foreknow is not so much speaking of foreknowledge as
it is of God's loving us beforehand. This word conveys affection and
love. For whom God did foreknow. He also did predestinate. All of us by nature do not like
predestination. But you cannot love the Bible
and not love predestination. You cannot love God and not love
predestination because He's the God of predestination. Given our choice, we'd rather
have everything on the basis of chance, you know. Just maybe
I'll become a believer, maybe I won't. No, God doesn't settle
for such things. He does not work in that manner.
For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate. How long has God known His people
in this foreknowledge, this foreloving? Forever and ever. They've always
been His. In old eternity, he chose them
to be his people and he gave those people to Christ. But look
how this thing reads. If he did not foreknow you, he
did not predestinate you to become his child. He predestinated those
that he chose in the covenant of grace. God doesn't do anything
by accident or happenstance or anything like that. For whom
God did foreknow, He also did predestinate, and look what it
is to which His children are predestinated, to be conformed
to the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus, that He, the Lord
Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brethren. In other
words, if God had not begun this matter in the manner in which
He did, There would be no people belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ
if He left us up to ourselves and to our own choice. Now we
go a step further in verse 30. Moreover, this attaches us to
what we've just read and moves a bit further. Moreover, and
we're back to those persons called whom and them, whom He did predestinate
them he also called. This is the irresistible call
of God's grace in the gospel of Christ. And whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now that takes us from beginning
to end in the work of grace. And you would notice with me
in verse 30 that whomever God predestinated, those are precisely
the number of persons and the exact same persons that He has
said here to have called. He also called. Take another
step. Those that He predestinated and
called, them He also justified. When Christ died on the cross
as our substitute and our surety, our sins being laid upon Him,
justification was perfectly finished by Christ on the cross at Calvary. Therefore, the very persons that
God predestinates are the very ones that He calls, and the ones
that He predestinates and calls, those are the ones that He justified.
The next statement says, and whom He justified, them He also
glorified. This means that they'll be in
eternity with God in Christ. And there's no discrepancy. There's
none left behind. There's none too difficult to
save. There are none that God chose
and He couldn't get the job done. This is the God of our imagination
that operates in that manner. The God of the Bible does as
he pleases in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
men, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what are you
doing? God does as he pleases. All right? Look what the apostle says. We
have five questions that crop up in the next, down through
verse 35, beginning at verse 31. What shall we then say to
these things? What is my response to what we've
just read? What do I think about these things?
What shall we then say to these things? Here's what the apostle
says. Here's what the Lord says we
should say. If God be for us, who can be
against us? It doesn't matter who's against
us. If God is for you, it doesn't matter. Verse 32, it also is
a question. He, God, that spared not His
own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, all the people we've
been describing since verse 28. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him? How shall God not with Christ
also freely give us all things? If God has given you a saving
interest in Christ, you are an heir and a joint heir with Christ,
and there's nothing that heaven has that's not yours. It all
belongs to us in Christ. There's no second blessing. There's
no higher ground. There's nothing any better. And
the believer can have nothing less than what is in Christ,
what is in Christ. Surely we do not think that God
would give His Son to die for me and then withhold from me
certain blessings that I'm not fit to have. We're fit for Christ
to die for us. And in that death, make us holy
and righteous before God. God keeps nothing back. Third
question is in verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Believe me, they'll be charged.
But they're not legitimate charges. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Here's the ground upon which
that question is raised. It is God that justifies. Now if God declares us in His
sight to be righteous and holy and just in Christ, who can change
it? It's irrevocable. It cannot be
taken back. It is God that justifies. Fourth
question, verse 34, who is He that condemns? It is Christ that
died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Surely not for a moment
do we think that the prayers of Christ can be refused, do
you? Everything he asked for, he must
receive. He's pleading his own merit,
his own blood, his own righteousness. Who is He that condemns? It is
Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God and also makes intercession for us.
Question number five, verse 35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? You mean you can be in Christ's
love and lose it? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, for your sake we are killed all the day long,
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For
I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature," my margin says, any other created
thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God. Where
is God's love? Which is in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. God's love is entirely in His
Son." Now, here's a little bit of what that means. We sometimes
imagine that we can love God and not be Christians, not be
in Christ. This tells us that all God's
love is in His Son. And if I do not believe and rest
and trust in Christ, then don't talk about God loving There's
not some indefinable way outside of Christ for people to enjoy
the blessings of God. It just isn't. They're all in
Christ, in Christ alone. Who shall be able to separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, Now let's see if we can find
that 50th chapter of Jeremiah. Our subject this morning is perfect
justification and perfect pardon. Now let's pause a moment and
plead with the Lord to come down here and deal with such a devil
as I am. I suspect we're all in the same
boat. Our plea is for Christ's sake. Lord, we open our Bibles
together this morning. This is first and foremost your
book. In your infinite wisdom, your
glorious, wonderful grace, you decided to create a world populated
with people. And in your infinite wisdom,
you wrote a book We call it the Bible. And at various times through
different people, over thousands of years, you sent messengers
to speak to those people who inhabit this earth and bring
them a message from you, which we now have in our Bibles. Lord, here we are, what seems
to be close to the end of time, We don't know. Nobody knows when
that is. But it seems like we're way down
the line from where this thing started. And in every generation
that has lived on the face of this earth, you've had a people,
every tribe and tongue and kindred and nation. Those people are
brought into contact with this book and its message. And yet,
if all we have It's what's written in the book. We're still dead
in trespasses and sins. Lord, you must come with that
voice that wakes the dead and make your people hear. Many people
profess to know you, profess to love you, and profess to serve
you, but that doesn't make it so. Show us this morning, if
you would, if it pleases you to do it, if it will honor you
to do it, You do nothing that does not honor and glorify Yourself. Lord, if it pleases You, speak
to our souls this day in that life-giving Word of the gospel
of Christ. Show us each and every one personally
and individually whether we even know the Lord Jesus, whether
we're in Him, whether He's in us. It's so easy to be confused. Lord, I think I'm in the right
place this morning in Jeremiah 50, but I could be wrong. But if this is a statement that
you'd publish to the depths of our souls, oh my, what a day
this would be. What a day of rejoicing. Lord,
capture our attention and speak to us, we pray, for Christ's
sake. Now our verse in Jeremiah 50
is verse 20. Jeremiah 50, 20. In those days
and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for and there shall be none. It's gone. And the sins of Judah They shall
not be found. And here's the explanation, the
last phrase. These are the Lord's words speaking
of Himself. For I will pardon them whom I
reserve. I don't know what kind of reservation
this is, but I want to be in it. God pardons them whom He
reserves. We often make reservations for
things and for one reason or another cannot keep them. But
this one doesn't work like that. This is God's reserving of His
people to enter into this blessed state of perfect justification
and perfect pardon. Our sins shall be sought for,
there shall be none. Now that's important. It either
has to be none or it doesn't matter. Because if we have just
one to answer for, we're done for. Do you understand that? I'm sure you do. I hope you do.
You ought to. All right, let's work on this
one verse of Scripture this morning. And the first thing is to identify
when this is. It says in those days and in
that time. So what if it happens not to
be in our time? We're out in the cold. When is
this? When is it? It is speaking of
the day of the gospel of Christ, the sounding of that wonderful
sound called the golden jubilee, the trumpet of the gospel. It
is the glorious day of gospel grace by Jesus Christ. Here Israel is and Judah is. At the time of this prophecy,
if I understand it right, they're still in captivity. But they're
going to return to their homeland. But the real time in those days
and in that time is talking about God's spiritual Israel and spiritual
Judah. Let's not get hung up on the
literal so much when it comes to this matter of Israel. God's
people are made up of Jew and Gentile. Remember that in Galatians? We're told that very plainly.
So when we read this statement, in those days and in that time,
says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and
there shall be none in the sins of Judah and they shall not be
found. Now how on earth can this be? This free completely free, pardon
and mercy and grace. How can God do this? All right,
if you would turn with me to, and I'm going to severely limit
our turning this morning. I'm just going to try to not
wear you out. I'm turning to the book of Numbers
chapter 23. And I fudged a little bit. I
had me a marker there. Sometimes I forget that. The
23rd chapter of Numbers. Moses, Aaron are leading, by
God's grace, the children of Israel from Egypt through all
this 40 years of wandering and finally into the promised land. And here they are in the country
of a king by the name of Balak. The whole chapter is having to
do with this. Balaam, who is Some kind of prophet,
not the Lord's prophet, but a false prophet, and yet God uses him. God uses everything there is.
I mean, you know, everything here serves a purpose, and it's
His purpose. So this blind and crazy prophet
hires himself out to this king. The king wants him to pronounce
a curse upon the children of Israel. And so he does so, he
goes from one vantage point or viewpoint to another, looking
at the camp of the Israelites in the valley below from different
angles and perspectives, thinking that the change of location would
enable him to pronounce a curse upon Israel. And the end result
is all he's ever able to say about them is to convey blessings
upon them. So here we are in verse Oh, let's
see. Let me start at verse 19. I'll
start at 18. So Balaam took up his parable
and said, Rise up, Balak the king, and hear, hearken unto
me, you son of Ziphor. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Has God said,
and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He
not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment
to bless, and God has blessed. Oh, hallelujah, and I cannot
reverse it. Neither can we or a million other
people like us. Numbers got nothing to do with
it. You can get every human being on the planet, and it won't matter.
Shall he not make it good? Verse 20. Did I read 20? No, I didn't. Behold, I have
received commandment to bless, and he has blessed. I cannot
reverse it. Verse 21. Here's the statement
that concerns us. The one having to do with Jeremiah
50 and verse 20. He, the Lord, has not beheld
iniquity in Jacob. Why does God say this? Well,
obviously it has to be true, doesn't it? But how can God not
see iniquity in Jacob or Israel? Or us, for that matter? Because
God sees their sin under the blood of Jesus Christ. which means they're gone forever,
forever. But preacher, the Lord Jesus
had not even come and wouldn't come for several hundred more
years. What does that have to do with it? God has perfect and
infinite trust in His Son, that in what they covenanted each
one of the holy three in one to do, each would do. It's not
like making a bargain with us. He has not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither has he seen perverseness in Israel, and it ain't because
it isn't there, for it is." That's the same is true with us. You
know it and I know it. The Lord, His God is with Him,
and the shout of a king is among them. That king is King Jesus. My goodness, what a statement
indeed. God brought them out of Egypt. He has, as it were,
the strength of a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment
against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.
According to this time, it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel,
what has God wrought? That's not a question. That is
an exclamation point at the end of that statement. So that's
how it can be. God the Father has appointed
and anointed the Lord Jesus to be his people's surety and their
substitute on Calvary Street. And he deals with Christ. The
sins and iniquities that belong to us, they were conveyed, imputed
to him. His perfection, his righteousness
was imputed to his people. The third thing about this statement
about perfect justification and perfect pardon, blessed is the
poor sinner that can be seen and see himself in Christ, accepted
in the beloved. There's a statement in the Song
of Solomon, chapter 4 and verse 7, where the Lord Jesus is depicted
as saying to His bride, You are all fair, my love. There is not
a spot in you, not a one, not a one. The sin is gone, gone
for good and gone forever. Romans chapter 8 and verse 1
says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. If we're in Christ, Our sin is
gone, gone forever. And yet we know we're still sinners. And yet those sins are still
covered in that precious blood that put away our sins. In order
to live any sort of joyful life in this world, these things that
we have seen and are still seeing are essential to be known and
enjoyed. So when we come to the throne
of God, we do not come telling Him what we've done for Him. We remind Him of what He's done
for us in Christ. We don't come claiming to come
in holiness and righteousness of our own. We make it plain
that our standing before Him is in the righteousness of Christ.
These are just things that that are part and parcel with being
believers, communicating with the God of heaven and earth through
this blessed One that is our intercessor and our mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus
bore all the sins of all His people on Calvary's tree, and
according to this book, He put sin away. by the sacrifice offered
one time once forever by the sacrifice of Himself. I'm telling
you, if the Lord Jesus died for you, you're His. Some of you
might not even know it yet, but I'll guarantee you, you will
before you leave this world. But I don't know who you are,
and neither does anyone else except God. So we preach the
gospel to all men without exception. not knowing who it is that truly
belongs to the Lord. You've heard some of the preachers
that we've had speak of looking for Christ's sheep. That's what
the gospel is for. It discovers them. It reveals
them. That's just how it works. But
the question still remains, who are these people that the Lord
is speaking about in that statement? I thought I had that written
down. Jeremiah 50 verse 20, For I will pardon them whom I reserve. What is this reserving? Reserving. Them whom I reserve. If you'll turn, this is only
the second time now. If you'll turn to Romans chapter
11, And if you don't want to turn, I won't be offended. If
you'd just listen, I'd be tickled pink. I can't find mine. Here it is. First part of Romans
chapter 11. What is this? Those whom I have
reserved. Beginning at verse 1 in Romans
chapter 11, I say then, Has God cast away His people? Has it proved more difficult
than God thought it would be? That's absurd, isn't it? That's
a crazy statement for any man to make. People do things like
that, but not God. Has God cast away His people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite. This is Paul speaking. I'm an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God
has not cast away His people which He foreknew. The Jews were
charging Paul in his gospel, well, if this is the true gospel,
where are the Jews? There were very few of them,
especially in that day. Don't you know what the Scripture
says of Elijah? How he makes intercession to
God against Israel? And here's what he said, Lord,
they've killed Your prophets, Dig down your altars, and I am
left alone, and they seek my life." And here's the reply. What says the answer of God unto
Elijah? Here it is. Here's our answer. I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then, Paul brings it
to his day and I'd urge you to bring that statement forward
to our day, even so then at this present time there is a remnant,
a reserve, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. That is, as generations of people
live and die are born into this world and leave this world, God
has a people in every one of those generations. And he's calling
and redeeming and saving every single one of his people as they
live on this earth. You and I, we're like a little,
gosh, I don't know if we're big as the top of a pin as far as
this whole globe this morning right in this one spot. You'd
have to magnify us several times to even see the building. That's
how big this world is. And God has a people from all
parts of it. All languages, all everything.
This says, even so then at this present time, there is a remnant
according to the election of grace. All right, the next thing. Obviously, we can't get all these
in, so if you'll turn to Galatians. Over to your right just a ways,
chapter 3, and just hang on to it for a minute. I borrowed a
statement from our reading this morning in Romans chapter 8,
in verse 35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Can anything come between Christ
and His people? And the wonderful answer is never,
never, never. It cannot be. What shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Well, there was a time that our
sins separated us. But if we've been born again
and brought to Christ in faith, they're gone. They're gone. Our Lord made one sacrifice for
sins forever on the tree. Well, what about the law? Everybody's
loving these signs about the Ten Commandments. How about the
law? Let me read you a little statement about the law from
Galatians chapter 3, okay? Verses 22 through 25. This is as simple as it gets. But the Scripture, you got me? Galatians 3, 22. But the Scripture
has concluded all under sin, we're all in the same boat, every
son and daughter of Adam, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith
came, we were kept under the law. Before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. The law was our schoolmaster
unto Christ. Would you carefully notice, if
you have the King James, the prepositional phrase, to bring
us, is not in the original. It's italicized and it should
not be there. Therefore, it reads like, I just
read it to you that way. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after
that faith has come, what happens to the schoolmaster? We're no
longer under a schoolmaster. Ah, but preacher, people have
to be under the law. No, they don't. No, they don't. They're under Christ. After that
faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. All right, let's go back to Jeremiah
and just revisit this statement. Maybe it might find lodging in
our memory. I suspect that not to take place
for me, but I have a better opinion of you. Your mind is better than
mine. Jeremiah 50 verse 20. All right,
let's see if we can digest it again. There's a special time. It's called in those days and
in that time. That's the day of the gospel,
the day of Christ in Him crucified. says the Lord, the iniquity of
Israel shall be sought for, there shall be none. They had plenty,
so do we. And the sins of Judah, they shall
not be found. The explanation, for I will pardon
them whom I reserve, whomever God reserved in old eternity. Those are the ones for whom Christ
died and God freely pardoned every sinner.