251 – THE CHRIST WHO IS ENOUGHOctober 28 1962
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
Romans 5: 1-3 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
We have been bringing you some wonderful doctrines out of the Book of Romans. Now this morning we want to bring to you the glorious doctrine or teaching of justification. It might be good if we take a moment and talk about the Book of Romans. The first two and a half chapters show us the complete ruin of the human race that it is sold under sin. The last half of the third chapter, and the entire fourth chapter shows us that redemption—salvation is the work of God provided for us in Christ Jesus, through His death on the Cross at Calvary. But now, starting with the fifth chapter, we have God addressing the believer only.
1/ And, so, we see that God starts by talking to the believer about His justification. It tells us that we are justified by faith. Unless you understand what the word, justification, means, you are not on solid ground in the Christian faith. It is absolutely impossible for you to have strong convictions about your faith. In fact, there are many differences between those who call themselves Christians because of the failure to know, believe, comprehend, the meaning of the doctrine of justification.
2/ And of all those who believe that it is possible to be saved at one time and then fall away from salvation and be lost have no idea whatsoever of the meaning of justification. And then secondly, those who believe that it is impossible to have full assurance of salvation—to know that you are saved, and be sure you are saved, they, too, have no true conception of justification.
3/ We have told you many times, that the word justification and the word, righteous, come from the same root word, they mean the same thing. But now let’s understand from another portion of Scripture what it means to be justified.
Colossians 1: 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
This verse gives us a commentary on the doctrine of justification, for here we read, in the body of His flesh through death—this is talking about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ—to present you holy—now, be sure to mark that word holy— h-o-l-y— for that’s what you are in God’s sight. Whatever you may have been, whatever you are at this time, the Lord Jesus Christ died that He might present you holy to God. And that means to be holy without sin. Without sin, that is justification. Not only are you presented holy, but unblameable, that means that no one can blame you. If you are honest, you will say that I have done so many things that I could be blamed for. That is true. But the Lord Jesus Christ has taken your blame that you might be presented to the Lord unblameable. Now remember, Jesus has to present you justified holy, unblameable, unreproveable in God’s sight.
4/ Now, as we look at Romans 5: 1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
We realize that it is not necessarily the fact that we are being justified by faith—the best rendering will be, having been justified by faith. The Greek does not bring out that we are in the state of being justified, but it points to an event in history that has justified us. We are already justified.
Here in the Book of Romans, Paul presents a five-fold picture of justification.
Romans 8: 33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
He tells us we are justified by God. Then in Romans 3: 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: We are justified by grace.
Then in Romans 5: 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
We are justified by His blood. Then in Romans 4: 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
We are justified by the resurrection, and then of course, fifthly, Romans 5: 1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
We are justified by faith. I would like to examine these different aspects of justification this morning.
JUSTIFIED BY GOD
1/ Romans 8: 33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
This morning I want to act as a prosecutor. I’d like to announce to the unsaved, that there is a very definite case against them, and then I would assure the believer in Jesus Christ that there is no case against them. First of all, to the unbeliever, the papers are hereby served upon you. It is impossible for you to escape. God is the plaintiff and in His procedure against you, God does have something against you. Do not be deceived by the over-sweet nonsense that passes through some folk’s minds that they think that man is a recipient of God’s love just so he does the best he can. If we are going to deal with God, we have to deal with Him according to the Bible, and how the Bible presents Him. We have no right to remodel God according to our own specifications. We must take God as He reveals Himself to us in His Word.
2/ Romans 8: 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Now notice, first of all, God is the judge. God is on the bench. We are before God. No one can condemn apart from Him. Your neighbor’s condemnation does not matter in this court. Satan’s condemnation does not matter in this court. It is the One Who is on the bench. It is the One Who is in the Judge’s place Who has the power to pronounce sentence, and what does He say? Here in verse 33 He says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Recognize this, God, then, the Judge has justified us. He has pronounced us as culprits—JUST.
3/ Now the devil is the accuser. Revelations 12: 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
In this last book of the Bible the devil is called the accuser of the brethren. But though he may cry out in his anger and hatred against the believer, he—the believer–can never be hurt. Yes, he speaks the truth when he announces that we are sinners, and the sins that we have committed. You can rest assured that the devil will not forget anything you have done, or are doing. He is the accuser. But what does God say to his accusations? God, the judge says, JUSTIFIED. The Great One, of all the universe has passed the verdict. We are justified.
4/ The devil has a hopeless case. Why? Because the sentence is already delivered. The devil can accuse for all the ages to come—he can bring up my sins and magnify them, but I have nothing to be afraid of because the sentence is already passed. The judge has delivered His decision and it is JUSTIFIED.
5/ The only way the devil can get victory is to get God to change His decision. And God would have to say, Well, I’ve already justified that soul, but I change my decision, I condemn that soul. Can God do that? I want you to turn to another portion of Scripture.
Malachi 3: 6 For I am the Lord, and I change not.
I know God is dealing with Israel here, but we have one of the attributes of God. He cannot change. What Satan has to do is get God to change, and there is no change in God’s nature. He said, I am the Lord God, I change not. He has justified us, and the devil can rant and rage against us and bring all the charges He wants, but God’s decision stands justified. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to present us holy. So, we are justified by God the judge.
6/ You will notice that God is the source of our justification.
JUSTIFIED BY GRACE
1/ Romans 3: 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
We are justified by faith and grace means everything for nothing. It means we have justification gratis—that means for nothing, without a cause in us.
JUSTIFICATION BY RESURRECTION
1/ Romans 4: 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
This portion of Scripture should be translated because we were justified, that is because of the marvelous work for our sins was completed—the resurrection of Christ is God’s evidence that the work of the Cross is sufficient. The resurrection is the proof of our justification. If ever I am tempted to doubt my complete salvation, my eternal position in Christ—my righteousness—the fact that I have been forgiven and now I am as holy as God—I need only look away to the Cross of Calvary and the empty tomb, and I have the proof of my salvation.
2/ Maybe I can give you an illustration of what I mean. Suppose you bought an article in one of the stores on your charge account. The neighbors know you have not paid for it. The neighbor nags you because you still have this unpaid bill. You go and pay the bill, but still the neighbor nags you. Do you go and pay the bill again because of this malignant nagging of this neighbor? Of course you do not. What do you do? You tell him the bill has been paid and you flaunt the receipted bill in the face of the accuser.
3/ Thus it is in this case. When we are accused of our sins, that you are still a sinner, that you couldn’t possibly be saved, the enemy cries out, you are, too, terrible, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is our receipted bill. God is satisfied with the death of His Son instead of our death, and we have been saved by the work of Jesus Christ and the proof of our salvation is that God resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead, because He accepted His work on our behalf.
JUSTIFICATION BY BLOOD
1/ Romans 5: 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Here we have the ground of our Justification. God is the source, and here is the means whereby justification becomes ours. It is through the blood of Jesus Christ. And, of course, the blood of Christ means the sacrifice of Jesus Christ–The fact that He gave Himself for us. There are those who profess to believe in the death of Jesus Christ, who do not believe as it is set forth in the Word of God. They talk about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, it is true, but they picture Him as dying for a cause, dying as a martyr. They say that He has been true to His message by dying for it. But that is not the case. The very basis, the ground of our justification is the price of blood–the blood of Jesus Christ, when He gave Himself, for us.
2/ Psalms 49: 6 – 8 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
Here it says that they that trust in wealth and boast in the multitude of riches cannot by any means with their riches redeem a brother or give to God a ransom for him. In other words, to ransom means to buy. They can’t pay for the price of sin. For the 8th verse says, for the redemption of their soul is precious. That word precious is costly, and it ceaseth forever. It means that it must be left alone, because man cannot do anything about it, he is not to meddle, he is not to tamper with another man’s salvation, because the price of his sin is too costly. What is the payment of sin?
According to Romans 5: 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
It is the blood of Jesus Christ. That is the price, the cost of salvation, the cost of redeeming or buying a soul, and only Jesus Christ could do this for He alone had sinless perfect blood. So, the death of Jesus Christ was not the death of a martyr, it was not one who was dying to be true to His cause, but He was dying as a price—the price of salvation, the price of redemption, the price of sin—it is the precious blood of God that was poured out for us.
3/ Now faith, we told you, is broken up into two aspects: Objective faith and Subjective faith. Objective faith is when one has faith in an object, or a person, what they stand for, who they are, and what they have said, and so here we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
4/ Now notice the result of being justified by faith. We have peace with God. If there is one thing that man wants above all else it is peace. Man may say, I want money, if I only had money, I’d have what I want. No, that is not the case. Another might say, if I only had health, if I only had strength back, then I would be satisfied. No, the thing we need is peace with God.
5/ Then notice, access to God in verse 2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
It logically follows justification. It is sin that separates from God, and there is no reason why those who are justified should be barred from His presence.
6/ Now I want you to notice the difference in the old dispensation—the difference between the dispensation, which has been made old, which is found in the Book of Exodus, and that which we have in the New Testament.
Exodus 19: 12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:
Notice you who think so much of the Law. Here Moses went up into the Mount to get the Law from God. God was on the Mount. He was coming down to give Moses the Law. But God said to Moses, tell the people to stay away, tell them not to come near.
Do you remember what we have here in Romans 5: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
We have access. Well, they didn’t have it at that time. This is an entirely different picture. The Law separated, but faith in Jesus Christ gives us access.
7/ Moses, perhaps, didn’t fully believe what God said. God called him to come into the Mount and told him again about the people.
Exodus 19: 23 And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargest us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.
And Moses said, Lord, I had a talk with the people and I set the bounds, but notice what God said in Exodus 19: 24 And the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them.
He made him go back. He made him go back and tell the people again not to come. It would be their destruction. The Law says stay away from God, but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ says we have access right into His presence without fear. This is a wonderful, marvelous, matchless truth.
We pray that you have been justified, freed from every charge, that you might have peace with God–you might have access to God. The most wonderful thing in the world is to know Christ and to be saved.
AMEN
Ref: 10/28/1962 / THE CHRIST WHO IS ENOUGH / 11/21/2020
No comments:
Post a Comment