NO SEPARATION

Photo taken by B Smith from the kitchen patio

     300 - NO SEPARATION

     JULY 11, 1965

     PASTOR HENRY F KULP

Romans 8: 33 - 39 “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 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 thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, 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, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Last week we told you as we were considering who is it that can condemn us, and we said it is no one—and the devil, of course, is the great accuser and what a hopeless job he has. How can he accuse us? For every accusation he brings against us, he has to bring it against the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a hopeless job, according to the Scripture for two reasons—

First, it is Christ who died and bore our penalty. Notice a very wonderful verse, Acts 13: 39 “And by Him, that is by Christ, all that believe, not the folks who do the best they can, or the folks who join the church, but all who believe, and we have to hold it down to that, are justified, from (how many things?) all things.”

1/  Then the second reason why no one can condemn us is because Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God the Father, and He just keeps saying that He has died for what we are accused of.

2/  The devil is called an accuser in the Bible, but let us notice something when he accused Job before God. Job 1: 8 - 11 “And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.” 

Notice, he didn’t accuse Job to God until God mentioned Job, the devil wouldn’t dare do that. But God said, Have you seen Job? The devil replied, yes, but You have put a hedge about him and I can’t touch him, but if you let me touch him and take away all that belongs to him and he will curse Thee to Thy face, and notice, Job 1: 11. “But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.” God said, go ahead and do it, but don’t touch his body. He took everything he had in the world, and what did Job say? Did he curse God to His face? 

Job 1: 21 “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”  Don’t you see, the devil was proved to be a liar—he said, he will curse Thee to Thy face. But Job didn’t do it. One of the main things we learn about Satan in the Book of Job is that he is a liar, and when he accuses people, he lies, and you are going to find that people who bring accusations are liars, for they are following the devil’s program, whether they be Christians, or whether they be unsaved, when you bring accusations against people, you are lying, especially against a child of God, because Jesus Christ cleared that person from all charges.

3/  Then again God asked him if he had seen Job, and he said, yes.

 

Job 2: 4 - 6 “And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.”

 

But if you will touch Job’s body, he will curse Thee—then he says, Skin for skin. Just let me touch his body. He said, a man will give anything he has for his skin. God said, Yes, but don’t take his life. He left Job scraping himself for a little comfort on an ash heap with boils all over his body. I suppose Job at this time thought the boil was the worse thing in the world, and there was Job a wreck—a physical wreck. Yet in all that, Job did not condemn or blaspheme the Lord. Again Satan was found to be a liar. When he accuses the child of God of certain things before the Father, he is a liar.

4/  Colossians 2: 10 “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” It is so clear, and ye are complete, and that word, complete, is the word, perfect. 

Revelations 3: 1 - 3 “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” —Where he talks and uses the word, perfect—it is exactly the same word in the Greek.

5/  Now, let us look at Romans 8: 33 “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.” —now the way it should be in the original. I want to show you a good translation, WHO DARES ACCUSE US NOW, THE JUDGE HIMSELF HAS DECLARED US FREE FROM SIN. If anyone wants to point at your sin, they have to point at Him and who would dare to do that? 

I Peter 2:24 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” He bare our sins in His own body on the tree—who dared to accused Him? Yet He is the One to accuse, He took our sin, He suffered for it.

6/  Hebrews 10: 11, 12 “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;”  

Notice the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, contrast it with the work of the priests in the Old Testament. They had to stand daily, doing the same sacrifices over and over again—they couldn’t take away sin, but this Man, the Man Jesus Christ, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down on the right hand of God. Notice, He sat down because the work was done. As an Intercessor He is seated. That should thrill your heart. He doesn’t have to work up a lather. Did you ever go into a court room and notice the defense attorney, as he gets all steamed up, and works up a lather as he tries to defend his client? Jesus Christ doesn’t do this. He is seated. Why? Because all the accusations are taken care of by Him.

7/  Now notice, Romans 8: 35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 

Now the question of our security comes up. No one can condemn us, but is there any possible way to separate us from God? Here Paul constantly talks of us being in Christ, and we are told we are in Christ and that Christ is hid in God. We are hid with Christ in God. The question is—is there any separation? Then notice, the list of things that Paul brings out. He starts out with tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, and so on. What a list! When Paul wrote this list, he had been through it all—everything had been tried on him—that is, everything. This is the devil’s plan in our age. Everything that is listed here the devil has tried, and he has never been successful—he has never separated a single soul from the Lord Jesus Christ, and do you know something He knows it—I am sure the devil knows it better than we do—the devil has a thankless job—the devil has a hopeless job. We titled our sermon last week—“The Devil’s Hopeless Task,” and here it is once again. He has tried everything here, and he has never separated one precious soul from God.

8/  Tribulation is the first thing that he tries. A better word for tribulation is simply trouble, and that brings it home, doesn’t it? It is a true translation of the word tribulation, and the devil brings trouble into your life. In the world, he uses religion, to the Christian he uses trouble, But let us notice what a helpless task he has. 

Notice, Romans 5: 3 where he says, trouble, or tribulation, worketh patience or endurance, so what he is actually doing is making you a patient, enduring Christian, so really the devil is working against himself. In the matter of Satan and what he is doing has been sort of a problem to me. Do you realize that he has been at work against the church for 2,000 years and the church is bigger than ever? More people love the Word of God than ever before. He is defeating his own purpose—he is working against himself.

9/  Notice the word, persecution. Think of the martyrs. I have read in history books that it is supposed that two million saints of God were killed in the Middle Ages when the church ruled the world. Two million of the Lord’s people were put to death. Let me ask you a question—did the devil crush the church out of existence? Certainly not. It grew by leaps and bounds—it is still here, the Gospel is still being preached. It is said wherever one is killed two more Christians spring up in his place. And I am sure this is what has happened down in Ecuador with those five boys who were killed by the Auca Indians. Now there is a church established among the Auca Indians, and there are those among those wild men who are now children of God. The killing, the persecution of those five boys boomeranged against the devil.

10/  Then notice the word, distress. And I believe the word, distress, is pain. How the devil, through religion—we have told you so often that the devil’s program is religion—has used pain. I have read of the Spanish inquisition, when they killed the Christians. They invented every manner of painful death. They weren’t satisfied with throwing a man into the flames, they weren’t satisfied with beheading him—they had to invent all manner of means of death that were painful. Sometimes a man was stretched on a form. His hands were tied above his head, and his feet were tied. Then they began to pull from each direction—his feet were stretched in one direction, and his hands were stretched in another direction, until the man’s whole body was stretched apart. Can you ever think of the pain, the suffering that man would go through? They invented every manner of pain. The devil did that through religious men, but the church is still here. He did not stop people from believing, he didn’t do away with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ—not at all. 

11/  But there is one thing I would like you to see here, when we talk about pain, persecution, distress, we must not forget that while we have been alive, more people have suffered for the name of Jesus Christ than at any time in the entire history of Christianity—in Russia, Korea, China, Spain and parts of Latin America, people have been giving up their lives for their faith in Jesus Christ. The devil may not have ever separated one soul from the Lord Jesus Christ by these tactics, but he has never given up, he is still at it.

12/  THIS SHOULD BE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MESSAGE—SEPARATED FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST, WHAT A THEME. THERE IS NOTHING IN HISTORY THAT CAN APPROACH THE LOVE OF GOD. IT IS ETERNAL LOVE. NOT BEING ABLE TO BE SEPARATED FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST, TELLS US THAT CHRIST IS NOT FICKLE. RELIGION MAKES CHRIST FICKLE. BUT TRUE CHRISTIANITY AS IT IS PORTRAYED IN THE BIBLE SAYS THAT CHRIST IS NOT FICKLE.

13/  Notice the word, famine. Whenever this subject comes up I think of Alan Gardner, a missionary to the lower tip of South America, a well-known infidel who made a journey through South America said that the natives at the bottom of the South American continent were of the lowest form of human life—hardly better than animals. That stirred some of the Lord’s people, among them Alan Gardner. He made three trips from England. Two were unsuccessful. The third was worst of all. Finally they gave him a little boat, and a few helpers with him, and he tried to land, but the natives drove him back. They had to live on the water. The natives refused them anything to eat, and they died of hunger. As Alan Gardner died, he inscribed on the little cabin of the boat, “Praise to the Lord for His faithfulness.” What is the devil going to do with folks like that? When he starves them to death, they die praising the Lord for His faithfulness. God has answered his prayer for those natives, and today there are scores of believers on the lower tip of South America. The devil hasn’t been successful in anything that he has tried.

14/  Then we have the word, nakedness. That means poorly clad. Being cold. 

II Corinthians 11: 27 “In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” Then the word, peril is the word, danger. Then the word, sword—that is something like the secret police that they had in Russia, or had in Germany. You wouldn’t want to meet them, would you? But in spite of the secret police that were in Germany there are still believers in Germany. In spite of the secret police in Russia there are still believers in Russia.

15/  Now let’s notice, II Corinthians 11: 23 - 26 “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.

Did you ever notice the word, perils, that Paul uses? He uses it eight times in this chapter. Paul knew that peril never drives a soul away from Christ. In perils of water, robbers, mine own countrymen, the heathen, in the city, in the wilderness, in the sea. Then he says, in watchings often, in cold and nakedness. This is what the devil threw at Paul, but did he get anywhere with Paul, was he able to separate Paul from Christ? Certainly not. The devil has thrown this at the church, has he been able to do anything with the church? Has he separated the church from the love of God? Certainly not. 

No separation, what a wonderful truth.

AMEN

Ref: 07/11/1965 / 300 - NO SEPARATION / 2020

THE CONFLICT OF OUR AGE

Photo from Rich and Kathy's backyard

     315 - THE CONFLICT OF OUR AGE

     July 24, 1977

     Pastor Henry F. Kulp

Colossians 2: 1 - 4 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the my story of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.

Chapter two is quite different from chapter one. It is different in its approach, in its appeal. In chapter one he is very positive, he deals with the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and showing that Christ is unique in every way. Then he shows the uniqueness if His message which is called the mystery. But now in chapter two, he is very negative. He talks about the great conflict that takes place in this present day and age.

1/ Let us get an outline of the chapter.

Verse 1 - 8 the great conflict that rages in this age.

For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the my story of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.For I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the wold, and not after Christ.

Verse 9 - 15  the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.

For in him dwellers all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. and ye are complete in hi, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, inputting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and he uncircumcision of you flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was country to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of hem openly, triumphing over them in it. 

Verse 16 - 23 Satan’s great counter offensive. 

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, in trading into those things which he hath not seen, daily puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ form the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Tough not; taste not; handle not; Which are all to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.

2/  Now as we look at this great conflict of the age, we see something about the man Paul, about what he is like in his mind. Paul does not often say anything about himself. He is more concerned in telling us about his Lord and truths concerning the Lord. But on occasions he finds it necessary to reveal his inner life. He tells us that his concern for the people that he has led to the Lord Jesus Christ with the grace message. He wants them to see how great a conflict he has for them. I would, is THELL-O and it means desire. He says, I have a desire that we know what great conflict I have for you. Then the word, conflict is very interesting. It is the Greek word AGG-ON  from which we get our word, agony and it was used in those days in the wrestling match, or in hand to hand conflict. Then, notice, he uses the word, great in front of it. Then the words, I have for you, means I keep on having.  

3/ Some of you have a garden, and after you have prepared the ground, cultivated it, broken it open and sown seeds, you do not merely go back to your house and wait for the rest of the summer for the garden to grow. There is much to be done after the seed has been sown. I am told there is constant work in keeping a garden growing. Paul does the same thing—after he sows the seed of the Grace Gospel, he doesn’t just forget about it. But he writes to them—if it is possible he visits them, or he sends messengers to them. It is necessary for us to see that it is not enough just to sow the seed, the Gospel. That is why God has the local church. It is a necessary follow-up. You may lead someone to the Lord Jesus Christ, but this is not enough. You should try to get them involved in a local assembly where the Word of God is taught. You see people who are saved and then just sit down and study the Bible for themselves get into all sorts of error. They get side tracked so easily, and you see it happening time and time again. And here in the Lycus Valley, gnosticism had come in and Paul did not just want to see them saved, he wanted to see them delivered from this awful teaching that was being propagated here among the three churches in the Lycus Valley. Paul was worried about the danger of these believers being corrupted by false doctrine.

4/  Now he had this conflict for those at Colosse, for those at Laodicea, and for as many that have not yet seen my face. The noun, my face, means more than just looking at Paul’s face. It is the Greek word, PROSS’ – O – PON. Immediately, you recognize the preposition pross, an old friend of ours, and it means face to face, and this, of course, is a key. It means face to face teaching. It is not possible for him to teach them face to face, and so he is writing them this epistle. He is at least 1,000 miles away. Actually, he only knew personally, the pastor, Ephrapis, who came to Rome to see him, Philemon and Onesimus, and perhaps a few others. Those who had come to Ephesus. But most of them he does not know personally and they do not know him. But he says, I can’t teach you face to face, but I am going teach you through this letter.

5/  These folks in Colosse, many of them were standing true, but they were facing gnosticism—a great enemy that has swept much before it, and Paul is saying, I am here in Rome in prison and there is a conflict in me concerning you. Paul wanted the people at Colosse and in the Lycus Valley to have victory as they faced the enemy.    

6/  I would like to show you an illustration or something I believe is very important. 

Exodus 17: 11—13 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. but Moses hands where heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under hm, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Huyr stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Israel was beginning their march in the wilderness. They had met Amalek, a strong enemy, and there was fighting down in the valley. Joshua was leading the host of the Lord, and in verse 10, we learn that up in the mountain we have Moses, Aaron and Hur. There was victory down in the valley, but it was not Joshua who got the victory, it was Moses and Aaron and Hur on the mountain who got the victory. When Moses’ hand fell. Amalek prevailed, and when Moses’ hands were uplifted and stayed up, God’s people prevailed. It is very hard to hold your hands up for very long. Try to hold your arm up for five minutes, and you will understand the predicament that Moses was in. Moses had something to do that he couldn’t possibly do. You will find it almost an impossible feat to keep your hand up. Yet, to get the victory it had to be done. And praise the Lord, Moses had two helpers who held his hands up. As long as his hands were raised, Israel got the victory, and this is true in the Lycus Valley. They were able to stand true because Paul was in conflict for them. He was fighting against the power of darkness and evil that they might prevail there in Colosse. I am convinced there is not a great preacher anywhere but that folks are praying for them. If you are not praying for me, my ministry, I am sure I will be valueless. We need helpers in holding our hands up to get the truth out.

7/  Verse 2, That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together inn love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of god, and of the Father, and of Christ;

Paul wanted three things in their hearts. (1), that their hearts might be comforted, and I think the best word in English we can use here is the word, encouraged. As they faced the enemy they needed to be encouraged because there was so much that was discouraging about them. (2), Their hearts were to be knit together in love. That doesn’t need much exposition from me. We need to love one another and that goes with encouragement. Love unites. We do not just need love in marriage, we need it in the local assembly. 

Remember, I Corinthians 13: 1, 3 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a thinking cymbal. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

We are nothing if we don’t love. (3), He wants us to have full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery. Now we are getting down to the heart of the matter. What is the mystery? It is the one that is revealed in Colossians 1: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: …and this is the great conflict of our day—Error VS the mystery. Legalism VS the mystery.

8/  Some of you have asked me, and I am surprised, what is the mystery. What do you mean, Christ in you the hope of glory? The mystery is more than just one thing. Here in Colossians 1: 27 he only reveals one little facet of it. Christ in us the hope of glory. 

9/  But let us look at this fact—Christ in us the hope of glory. Someone came to me and said someone pointed out to them John 14: 20  In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. At what day is He talking about? When the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost? Not at all. What is the teaching in this 14^th chapter? We need to go back to John 14: 1 - 3 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Here He is not talking about the Rapture, but He is talking about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep that in mind that is the thought all the way through here. Jesus Christ is coming back to earth. 

10/  Now He says, When I go away, and He is going to come back, He will send the Comforter, and that, of course, was on the Day of Pentecost, the believers were empowered by the Holy Spirit. With that in mind, let us look at verse 20—At that day ye shall know that I am in my father, and ye in me, and I in you.— what day? The Day of Pentecost?  Of course not. The day of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when the nation is born in a day. Then ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. Then verse 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. We will make our abode with Him. 

That’s when you loved Me, that means the nation. One needs to distinguish between the coming of the Comforter and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in this portion of Scripture. But, we, today have Jesus Christ dwelling in us here on this earth at this present moment, and this is the hope of glory.

11/  Of course, the mystery is more than this. Ephesians 3: 6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

It is a joint body made up of Jew and Gentile—no special nation, but one new man. It is the setting aside of Israel, the bringing in of the Gentiles and it is one new body and one becomes a member of this body by being baptized into the Body of Christ. 

I  Corinthians 12: 12, 13 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 

AMEN

Ref: 07/24/1977/ 315 - THE CONFLICT OF OUR AGE / 2020

ARE YOU DRESSED FOR ETERNITY?

Photo taken by B Smith from her living room window

     266 - ARE YOU DRESSED FOR ETERNITY?

     March 1, 1964

     PASTOR HENRY F KULP

Romans 3: 21 - 25 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 

Paul, in Romans up to this point, has shown the condition of mankind as being totally depraved. Now he brings in the remedy, and notice the remedy in verse 21 the righteousness of God. And he shows how sinners can have the righteousness of God, not human righteousness, because God isn’t going to save you just to make you better. He makes you a new creation. He makes you righteous.

1/  You know, in the 21st verse He says, Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. There is one witness of the righteousness of God in the Old Testament that I want to show you. Isaiah 61: 10 and this is a beautiful verse. And here God says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for He hath clothed Me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.

Notice what happens. Notice, God throws His righteousness about the sinner. And you are clothed with His righteousness. If you are dressed for eternity, you have to be dressed in the righteousness of God. If one is saved, he is already dressed for eternity in the righteousness of God. 

With this thought in mind, let us notice, I Corinthians 1: 30 But in Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness. Christ is our Righteousness. We are clothed with Christ Jesus, for Christ is the Righteousness of God. So Christ becomes the answer to our sinful condition, in as much as He becomes the robe of righteousness unto us.

2/  I am not going to be foolish enough to say that you don’t do some things that are good, there is none that doeth good, but you think you do things that are good. But, let me But, let me ask you honestly, are you willing to stand before God, robed in the things you have done, and the past year, the last ten years, the last twenty years, the last thirty years? I am sure you wouldn’t With that thought in mind, let me show you the most astounding and remarkable verse in the Bible. I John 4: 17 We read, Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgement. How can sinners have boldness in the day of judgement? This is truly astounding. But the answer comes back, as Christ is, so are we in the world, How can we be as Christ is? We are robed in His righteousness. He is righteousness unto us, and this gives us the right to stand before God with absolute boldness. If it were our own good works, we certainly could not be bold in the time of judgement.

3/  Even in the Old Testament, this truth is taught. Jeremiah 23: 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.  

Here Jeremiah is talking about the time of the restoration of Israel and he tells Israel that their God, Jehovah God, who is none other than Jesus Christ, is the Lord, our Righteousness, and in the Hebrew, the Lord, our Righteousness is Jehovah -Tsidkenu. When Israel is restored as a nation, Jehovah, Jesus Christ will be their righteousness, and in this present day, He is righteousness unto us. He has been made righteousness unto us. 

4/  Notice, at the end of the 22nd verse, we have four words that are important. There is no difference. Have you ever considered the things in which all men are alike as far more important than those in which men differ. All men, be they kings or beggars, civilized or savage, rich or poor, wise or foolish, cultured or illiterate—they breath the same breath. They all get hungry, they all become thirsty. They eat and they sleep, and they are smitten by the same diseases, and die at last the same death. They all have one human heart, they all have tears and grief, gladness, hope, fear, love. All are part of their life. But that is not what God is speaking of here when He says there is no  difference.

5/  Men have different opinions of what it means that there is no difference. Some say that it means there is no difference among men when it comes to being sinners. When God looks down upon the human race, He sees sinners, that is all that He sees. Some may be a little worse than others, but they are all sinners. Then there are those who think that it might mean something else. It may mean that God has no other way to save. There is no different way to save. God doesn’t save one man one way, and another, another way. He saves every man one way. The President can be saved by confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and the most humble man in our country can be saved the same way. There is no difference—all must be saved by grace.

6/  Then we come to Romans 3: 23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Notice, everyone has come short. Short of what? The glory of God. Let us for a few moments look at the glory of God. Acts 12: 23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.  

Here we read that King Herod failed to give God the glory and it caused his death. It is recorded, and Herod made an oration and the people cried out, it was the voice of a god, and not the voice of a man, and because he did not correct them and give the glory to God, the Angel of he Lord smote him dead. 

To understand glory by worldly glory we wouldn’t know very much about it. The only glory we know of is a glory to be famous or to be rich, or to be wise. I don’t know of any other kind of glory do you? And this glory is not lasting, for men lose this glory very easily. But notice, I Peter 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. Here it talks about His eternal glory. That is a glory that shall never end. I can’t comprehend it now, but I know this—I’ve fallen short of it, and so have you.

7/  Now notice, John 17: 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. The glory the Lord Jesus Christ gave up to come and save us. He didn’t only lay it aside, He gave it up. While He was on earth, He was without this glory. He had forfeited it, in order to become a curse for us, to be made sin, but when He went back into glory, back into the Heavens, His glory was given back to Him, and He was looking forward to that. He was the infinitely glorious One before He came into this world, but while He was on this earth, He was humiliated, He was even spit upon, He was hated, they even told Him to get out of their village. When Jesus cast the demons out of the swine, remember, they told Him they didn’t even want Him in their village. He came from the highest glory, and He came down here to have no glory at all, but to be despised of men.

8/  Now notice, verse 24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.—Justification without a cause. Let us look at the word, justify, or justification. The English definition of justification, falls far short of what the Bible really means. The English dictionary says to absolve, to acquit, especially in theology to declare free from the penalty of sin on the ground of Christ’s righteousness. That is not what the Bible really means by justify. We must see that the verb, justify, is not a mere synonym for forgiveness. It is true it included forgiveness, but it is much more than that. For example, take a man who has committed a great crime. The man against whom the crime was committed might freely forgive the criminal from the wrong that he has done, but that man is still guilty of the crime which he committed. Forgiveness does not take away guilt. Nor, does it have in it just the thought of pardon. The law may pardon a criminal, but that man is nothing more than a pardoned criminal. Justification is far more than that. Justified means completely righteous, without sin.

9/  Then notice, being justified freely. The word, freely is a remarkable word. It is a word which Jesus Christ used in John 15: 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. They hated me without a cause. There wasn’t any reason for people to hate Jesus Christ.They didn’t have a reason in the world. He didn’t come to hurt them, He came to do them good, but yet they hated Him. In other words, this Scripture should read, being justified without a cause in us.

10/  But then, let us look at this verse again, Being justified freely, or without a cause through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Redemption? Redemption means to pay a price. It is a word that means, purchased. We were purchased. Notice, Jesus Christ paid for all this that is ours—the righteousness of God—justification.

11/  There are three words in the New Testament, and we are not going to take time to turn to them this morning, that are translated, redemption. The first of the three words means a place where slaves are sold at market. It means to go into a market to buy.  Then there is another word, with the little prefix, “ex” before it, it means to come out. To go into a slave market, buy a slave, and bring him out of the market. Then there is another word, the third word, that is translated redemption, it means to go into the slave market, buy a slave, bring him out of the market and set him free. That is our salvation, Jesus paid that we might be brought out of the slave market and be set free.

12/  Let us look at this matter of salvation that is ours. Let us look at it in another portion of Scripture. Acts. 20: 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 

You see, the church of Jesus Christ has been bought. He bought it, He purchased it. When you go into the store in our city, you go to a counter and order something, and then you lay down the price of it—that is the purchase price—of what you want, and then it is yours. Jesus Christ came to this store, He came to this earth, and He laid down the price of us, He bought us, and it was His blood. Great red, rich round drops of blood. That is the purchase price, that is what the verse said. So at any rate, and so the redemption is in the blood of Jesus Christ.

13/  But I want you to notice in this portion of Scripture it doesn’t mention Christ. It mentions God, will you notice that—for Christ is God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. Who was it that died and shed His blood? It was Jesus Christ. Then Christ is God, this verse teaches the deity of Jesus Christ beyond any doubt, it was God who shed His blood.

14/  Then notice the word, grace, and actually it means everything for nothing. If any word can be called greater than any other word, I think I would say it would be the word, grace. I know the Bible says love is the greatest thing, in I Corinthians 13, but I think grace is love at work for sinners.

15/ Did you ever stop to think how much grace God has to save you and me? He has a super abundance of grace. He has enough grace to save the sinner who is way down on the human scale. He has enough grace to save the one who is up and out and doesn’t recognize it. He has a super abundance of grace—just for you.

AMEN

Ref: 03/01/1964 / 266 - ARE YOU DRESSED FOR ETERNITY? / 2020