Radio Broadcast Monday 02/21/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection P36 (02-21-22)

A Righteousness From God

And so the law has no purpose without the punishment for the violation. When a criminal is convicted and put into prison and punished, the law is upheld. If a prisoner is convicted of a crime and let go free, the law is not upheld. You’re not upholding the law. The only thing that upholds the law is where the punishment is executed, that is commensurate with the crime.

So Christ in the preaching of grace, of the grace of God, whereby Christ paid that price, not with some lamb out there, not the blood of bulls and goats, but Christ was the only time in all of history, where the law was not only fulfilled by his life, but it was upheld by his death. Because he who knew no sin became sin for us and the one who deserved, no death took death for us, thus paying the price and the penalty for what we deserve to have taking it upon himself, and thus upholding the law that says, that the wages of sin, the violation of law, the violation of the law that said the wages of that is death and he took it therefor not notifying the law but upholding the law. So everybody says you preach the grace of God, you just make or nullify the law. No, you uphold it because you can’t obey it and I can’t either. But one did and could, and that was Christ Jesus and that life that he lived again, is get this clear, folks, that life that he lived is, what fulfilled, the law. He said, I didn’t come to abolish, I came to fulfill it and he did, he did it with a perfect life walking and perfect love. And love is the Fulfillment of the law. He fulfilled the law he did, so with his physical life. So that through his physical death, he could uphold the law (wages of sin being death) He canceled the law for you and me, who come to him by faith and his resurrected life that ushered in a new covenant. So that’s the whole plan of Salvation.

Now, it goes ahead to say that, Shall we say then that Abraham, our forefather, what did he discovered this matter? You can hear them say what did Abraham think about all this. Well, in fact, if Abraham was justified by works he had something to boast about but not before God. He might boast before you and me, but not before God. What does the scripture say? It said that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now, when a man works and folks, we’re just about to get to our lesson, when a man works his wages are not credited to him as a gift. You don’t go work all week and then your employer come and say I got a gift for you, your paycheck. That would be ridiculous, but it’s an obligation. However, to the man who does not work, but trusts God, who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited to him as righteousness. Folks, what kind of a God did you respond to, the God that saves Catholics, the God who saves Baptists, the God who saves Pentecostals, or the God who saves the wicked? Do you if you responded to the God who saves the good people, the ones who are 80% good, but just a little 20% bad, kind of a Brill Cream of a little dab’ll do me Lord? Or did you come to the God that justifies the wicked? Did you come to a God that says, no wonder God saved me as wonderful as I am; thank God that I’m not a sinner like that person over there? Or did you come to a God, that because of his own Holiness is not only proven and shut your mouth and made you accountable to God, but also a shut the mouth of the entire world, where there is none righteous, no, not one, and to recognize that fact that there is no one righteous, no, not one, that preacher you look at on Sunday, the radio minister that you listen to right now, no righteous, not one, not even close to it? That’s the God who saved the wicked and that includes you and me.

There are many people who have responded to a God that is not the God who justifies the wicked, but he’s a God who rewards the law-abiding and we respond to a God, who rewards the law-abiding. I want to tell you that God is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Nor is he God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. He’s some other God that has been created by a bunch of human beings. False straw God that one of these days will be burnt down in front of your eyes. That is not the we respond to. There is no God who rewards the law-abiding because there isn’t any law abiding. There’s only a God who justifies the wicked because that’s all he has to justify is the wicked. And when the Bible says that you’re in my heart’s are wicked and deceitful above all things and who can know them, and there’s none righteous, no, not one; that’s exactly what He means. And we can’t come to Christ thinking that we are deserving of salvation, because we’re only deserving of death. The wicked don’t deserve salvation. We deserve death. We don’t deserve eternal inheritance that we’re going to be talking about. We deserve eternal damnation. But he’s the one who came to justify the wicked. And to realize that that man who does not work, but trust Christ, the one who justifies the wicked is the one whose faith is credited to him as righteousness. That’s why people will come and say, what do I do? What do I do? You don’t do anything. If you don’t do anything, that’s when you’ve done something and that what you have done is say, I can’t do anything. That’s what you do is to come to grips with the truth, that I can’t do anything, but Lord, you did at all. And that’s when you come to him by faith. So his faith was a work. How ridiculous it would be to say that you’re saved by faith. It’s not a work. If it was a work, then it wouldn’t be a gift. It wouldn’t be a gift, it would be an obligation.

But it is not an obligation, an obligation means you deserved it. We don’t deserve an ounce of it. And so when you and I come to Christ, we come by faith in The God who justifies the wicked, and to those people, your faith is credited as righteousness. He makes the wicked righteous. He makes the dead alive. He makes the evil holy and acceptable in the sight of God. Now folks, if that isn’t love, then I don’t know what love is. If that isn’t grace, then I don’t know what grace is.

And why people would want to still be trying to make themselves justified in the sight of God, to obedience to the law, with the full recognition that they never have been obedient, that God looks on your heart and not your actions, and comes to the end of themselves and receives Him who could for us, who couldn’t, I’ll never know. It’s only pride that keeps us from coming to the God who justifies the wicked.

As we were closing out teaching through those chapters in Romans we come to a very firm conclusion that instead of God as religion teaches, rewarding the righteous, He is the God who justifies the wicked. And our engineer was just talking at the break. He said, if God is the one who justifies the righteous He wouldn’t have anything to do. And that is very true. He wouldn’t have anything to do up there. But he is not the God who rewards the righteous because there aren’t any. He’s the one who justifies the wicked and that’s all of us. Now folks, that is the foundation for eternal security that we are talking about. Eternal inheritance when we understand that fact, it answers the question in regards to the inheritance that we have being eternal, and how we can walk in security of that.

Hebrews 7:11-12
¹¹ If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? ¹² For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.

In Hebrews 7:11-12 If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood for on the basis of it the law was given to the people. Why was there still a need for another priest to come one on the order of Melchizedek? Not on the order of Aaron. For, when there’s a change in the priesthood. There must also be a change of the law. So if perfection could have been gained through obedience to the law, why did there need to be a new covenant? Now, the answer to that is because no one could obey the law. That’s why we did need a new covenant, The new covenant that said their sins and lawless deeds I’ll remember no more because of what He did not because we do. And now it goes ahead in verse 18 for the former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless for the law made nothing perfect. And a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God.

It goes here to say by this oath, has become a guarantee of a better covenant. Now, do you catch that folks, a guarantee of a better covenant? Now folks, a guarantee is no greater than the guarantor. So what we are talking about is the guarantee and the faithfulness of the guarantor. Now, if the guarantor is Jesus, how good is the guarantee? Well, I think it probably, you would have to say is pretty good. It’s better then General Motors or AT&T or any of those guarantees. It is guaranteed by God himself. Now, what does He guarantee? A new covenant, your sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. Now that eliminates what if a guy walks away from God? What if this, what if that? It eliminates all that. He is the guarantor of a guarantee that your sins will no longer be held against you to all who come to God and believe that he justifies the wicked. To come to a God, not on my performance, but on His. Now when a person comes to God on that, he is a new creation. He’s not one who says, oh, whoopy, now, let me just go out and just keep in my own lifestyle. That does not work that way when you come to the God who justifies the wicked, to the right God, not the one you’ve made up, but the right one. So it says in Hebrews 7:23 going ahead now, there have been many of these priests since death prevented them from continuing in office, but Jesus lives forever and has a permanent priesthood. And he is able therefore to save completely those who come to God through him. Why is he able to save completely? Because he always lives to intercede for them. Is that good news? That is good news. I don’t know why we don’t preach and teach good news.

Now, let’s get to the introduction to our lesson. Then in Galatians, if while we were still under the law before Christ became the mediator of the new covenant, we were slaves to something and Galatians 3:21 tells us we were slave to the law. Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? It says absolutely not God forbid for if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would have certainly have come by the law. But Paul says, before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law locked up until faith should be revealed. So, under the law, condemned under the law. We are literally locked up under that law like a prisoner until faith in Christ is revealed. And once faith in Christ is revealed, we realized that we have now been freed from the thing that held us prisoner in order to walk in a brand new way of life. And that’s with the Holy Spirit of God, living in us, leading us, no longer a slave to the law. Now because we could not be justified by the works of the law and that’s spelled out in Galatians 3:11. Clearly, no one is justified before God by the law because the righteous will live by faith. We were slaves to the consequences of the law, the wages of sin is death. So if I when I am under the law, I am a slave to the consequences of the violation of the law, and that is death. Now what has changed? Well Christ has set us free from sins committed under the law. And as Galatians says, so that you are no longer a slave, but a son and since you are a son, God has made you and heir, and that’s not a air, but heir. So here we are an heir to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Galatians 4:7 tells us, you are no longer a slave, but a son and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. Child of God out there, do you realize that you are an heir, you are a child of the living God, and an heir of Christ Jesus?

Hebrews 9:15
¹⁵ For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Hebrews 9:15, For this reason Christ is a mediator of a New Covenant old one fulfilled new and now introduced that those who are called may receive the promised, (look at this word, it doesn’t say temporal inheritance, it says eternal inheritance) now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. Folks, I hate to say this. I hope it is not and critical toward people, but it is critical toward what people teach. The reason people teach you can lose your salvation is quite frankly because they don’t understand what salvation is to begin with. If they’ve ever responded and maybe they have, but we get messed up with teaching but one way or the other, if you have responded to the God, who justifies the wicked, then why would you think he would stop justifying them if you did a wicked deed? Or even thought you could walk away from the God who justifies the wicked? That would be a wicked thing to do. Wouldn’t it be to walk away from God? What did he do? Well, you’d still be justified of that wicked deed. And as a matter of fact if Christ is alive living in you, and any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, why would a new creation want to walk away from his life? And so, it does not make any sense. But the reason that it is proclaimed and makes sense to the person proclaiming it is, because salvation, through faith alone has never made sense to them.

So we respond to a God who rewards the righteous instead of responding to a God who justifies the wicked. And when you’ve responded to a God who justifies and rewards the righteous, you’ve responded to another god. Folks, that is not the god of the Bible. And I’m saying that because of the warning to you, that you can’t be saved by a false god anymore than you could be saved in idolatry. Because a false god is idolatry, and when you’re responding to a god who rewards the righteous instead of justifies the wicked, you have responded to a false god, an idol, someone you have created or that someone else has created. And you’ve responded to what he’s created. It seems like we’ve seen the ultimate expression of those in the Jones tragedy and the tragedy in Waco, but, and those look like the extremes, but my friends in mainline Christianity, many times, although it doesn’t go to the those extremes, the same type of teaching they’ve just gone farther with it. That’s all and many times the backgrounds that they came out of was what set the foundation for what they ended up in is the fact that you’re saved by keeping the Sabbath you’re saved by keeping the law. That is heresy. You’re not responding to a God that saves the wicked. You’re responding to a god who rewards the obedient. There aren’t any obedient. You could be sitting in church on Saturday every day of your life and it wouldn’t make any difference anymore to a chicken sitting in the hen house. You’re not going to become a Christian sitting in church when you sit there on Saturday, or Sunday, or Tuesday, or when you sit there. God doesn’t justify and reward the righteous. He justifies the wicked and no one clearly will ever be justified through obedience to the law. And folks, it doesn’t do you any good to say, well, I understand, so we’ll get rid of nine of them. But I want to hang onto the one or to get down to say well I’m doing okay.

On most of them God’s grade is on the curve. I got a 60% grade average or percent. There you have it folks. Don’t, you understand? The law silences the mouth of every single person on the face of this Earth. No one will be declared righteous in his sight through observing a law. I don’t care what day you’re worshiping on, or how many of the laws you think you’re obeying, because you’re not. And we have to understand that and I’m saying, what I’m saying is compassionately as I’m saying it, and as passionately as I’m saying it, because of the destruction that it is doing to people. If we don’t respond to God, the Father God, the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Triune God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who declared, even before the cross, that you’re going to be justified by faith. And what God are we responding to the god of some man, the god of some domination?

Are we responding to the true God? The one who justifies the wicked? Or have you responded to a god that you think rewarded your righteousness? Now folks that tells us very clearly that when you have come to Christ by faith, you become an heir of Christ. Jesus is a mediator of a brand new covenant. And to those who are called receive a promised eternal inheritance, not a temporal inheritance, but an eternal inheritance. He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. That’s what he did for all of the saints. Prior to the cross, and that was the effect of the cross for all of the saints, from that day forward, Christ is a mediator of a new covenant. Everyone who receives Christ, Christ in his fullness, Christ is your life. Christ is the God who looked down with mercy and seeing us in our total destitution, and did for us, what we could never do for ourselves. Not the god who rewards the righteous because no one is righteous, but The God who justifies the wicked and you come to Him by faith. My friends, and you’re going to be born again of the Spirit of God, and when you are, you become a Son of God and therefore an heir to the eternal inheritance promised to you by the guarantor Jesus Christ.

We’ve responded to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That was the God of the old testament. Who’s that? That’s the one who Abraham believed in and it was credited to him as righteousness. No one was made righteous in the sight of God, through obedience to the law in the old testament. There wasn’t anybody obedient to him. He’s the God, who justifies the wicked, not rewards the righteous. Why? There are none righteous. No, not one.

Now, when we come to Christ by faith, that says, you’re no longer a slave because the law made you a slave, but you have now become the participant and an eternal inheritance. That settles the issue of eternal security. It settles the issue of eternal salvation. It settles the issue period. When you have been given a promised Eternal inheritance, that means that your inheritance is eternal. In the Greek, that means eternal.

And there’s nothing to argue about anymore. It is an eternal inheritance when you have the son, you have eternal life. When did Life begin? When you have the Son. What kind of life do you have? Eternal life. How can you walk away from eternal life? How can you walk away from it? How can it walk away from, when you have something eternal? It’s yours. Eternally. Now, why don’t we understand that? Why is that so confusing? Because we’ve not responded to the God who justifies the wicked. We responded to the god who rewards the righteous. It’s about time we got her eyes on the right God. And it’s about time, we ask ourselves the question, which God did I respond to? Because folks, the answer to that question, quite frankly, determines whether you today are recipient of an internal inheritance as a Son of God or whether you’re walking in supposition, and in wishful thinking.

Romans 8:17
¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Now, in Romans 8:17, it says, for if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if and that word then in as much as indeed, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. My friends, if you are going to be, if you are in Christ, you’re going to share in his sufferings. Well, we can look at that a couple of ways people say, oh, who does that mean? I’m going to suffer. Well, it may but you see my friends, you take a look at that for a moment if you deserved death. And you were living 2,000 years ago and you deserved through your own sin to be hanging on a cross and beaten half to death and a crown of thorns jammed down on your head, instead of His. In seeing soldiers banging Him on those thorns and blood flowing down on His face and body beaten as the scripture says as no man. Not the pretty face that you see on the crucifixes. But beaten to the point of totally being unrecognizable. A crown of thorns on his head. A spear in his side. Nail prints, nails, driven into his hands and feet, and laid there to suffocate to death and to die. Now, when I asked you. If you knew that that man was doing that for you, do you think you’d have suffering in your own soul? Do you think you would be standing there saying ho-hum? What’s the next picture? Wonder what’s on TV or do you think that you would understand looking at that there for the grace of God, hang on, I deserve to be up there? I share in his suffering when I realize that I was the one who died on that cross. But through his love for me. He went there instead. And in so doing, I share in his suffering. I also understand that as a child of God, and just as Jesus went into a religious world totally contrary to what he was going to be teaching, because the religious world then, as it is, today is still trying to justify itself and keep itself justified through our works rather than by faith in the one who did work. Still looking at God, who is rewarding our deeds instead of justifying, our stupidity. Still in that same environment today. If we’re going to be proclaimers and walking in the newness of life that has been given to us in Christ Jesus and walk in accordance to the grace of God, we’re going to experience rejection from the establishment just like He did. Rejection from the establishment, just like Paul did. Rejection from the leaglists, just like the entire Christian community did in their early days, most of whom ended up being persecuted even to the point of death by them. Kicked out of denominations such as Martin Luther. And many other people throughout history, whenever you stand up for the very simple truth, that it is all Jesus and it is none of you, self-righteous human being.

There’s only two kinds of righteousness. Righteousness that is from God. Now, there is a righteousness from God, apart from the law that has been made known. Or self righteousness. God’s righteousness is imputed. Man’s righteousness is putrid. And in the eyes of God, even though we’re righteous in her own site, it is putrid to God. The only righteousness that God sees is that which is given to us through his Son, Jesus Christ. Now again to walk in that and to experience that is to share in the sufferings of God. But also, if I’m going to share in the suffering as to the fact that I should have been on that cross. I tell you when I think of that fact that I should have been there, but He went there instead. I also have to look to three days later so that I can share in his glory because I realized that just as I should have been on that cross. I also had nothing in and of myself to be resurrected. He died on the cross for me. And he was resurrected for me. So I not only share in his sufferings for me at the cross, I also share in the glory of the good news that he was raised for me.

Thank you so much for tuning in to Classic Christianity with Bob, George. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We truly hope that today’s message has inspired you to walk a life of faith in the Lord.