Radio Broadcast Tuesday 02/22/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection P37 (02-22-22)

Jesus is God Who Justifies the Wicked

Let’s continue on with Taking a Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection.

Romans 4:5
⁵ However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Last week, I think at least to me, was one of the most important lessons that we’ve ever done since I’ve been a Christian. And as I think back on that and again, to see the unbelievable importance of the communication to people that there is either a God that is the true God that has been revealed to us in the scripture or there are god’s we just make up in our own minds. And it’s vitally important to know which one we have responded to. As we said last week, we talked through the book of Romans in the passages of Romans, where it is talking about the fact that to the man who does not work, but trusts the God, who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited to him as righteousness.

And I said, how many people have responded to a god that rewards the righteous, instead of the one who justifies the wicked? How many of us have been taught that obedience to the law is going to bring your justification and God will reward you for being good? Instead of responding to the God that says no, I justify the wicked because there are none good. If there are, as our engineer said last week, if God was in a business of justifying the righteous, He wouldn’t have anything to do. And that is a very true thing because there is none righteous. There’s no not one.

And many times, the impotency that is in our Christian experience because we have not responded to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the one who the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the one who said to Abraham, that you’re justified by faith, not by works. And that same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit revealed in the new testament. And understanding of who that God is and the same God who said, I didn’t come for the well, there aren’t any. I came for the sick. The God who said I came to justify the wicked, not to reward the righteous because there aren’t known righteous. There is none. No, not one. And we wonder what God we have responded to. That Christ, as He himself had to come and through his life, to fulfill the law. And then through his death, to uphold the law because we talked about without punishment for a violation of the law, you set a guilty man free. You have not upheld the law, you have violated the law. So Christ did not come to nullify the law. He came to uphold the Law. His life, fulfilled, the law. And his death upheld it. In other words, He did for you and me what we deserved. We talked about last week, that’s what it is to be sharing in his sufferings, in order that we may share in his glory. The sufferings of Christ belong to me. I can’t look at that and meditate on it and understand it without sharing in that suffering. Those blows that he took, I deserved. And by the same token not to see that His resurrection that I can also share in his glory because not only did he take my place at the cross, He took my place in the resurrection. And that’s why if Christ is in us, when Christ, who is our life appears, we will appear with Him, because with Him raised from the dead, I was also identified with him in his resurrection. Just like I had to identify myself with Him and in his cross. And that’s all a part of this work of God that He did on our behalf which alleviates us doing something for Him. But rejoicing for the rest of our lives and what he did for us.

And last week, we talked about important passages of scripture out of the book of Hebrews. If perfection could have been gained through the levitical priesthood for this it said, the basis of the law was given to the people. Why is there still a need for another priest to come? But where there’s a change of priesthood there, so must also be a change to the law. Now that former regulations and the law was set aside, it was weak and useless for the law made nothing perfect, and a better hope was introduced by which we draw near to God, and then it goes ahead to say that because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant and a guarantee is no better than the guarantor and the guarantor is Jesus himself. So how good is your guarantee? Now what is the guarantee?

Well it says, now beginning in chapter 7:23, there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing office, but because Jesus lives forever, that’s the guarantor. He has a permanent priesthood and therefore He, Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because He always lives to intercede for them. Who do we have? Who is our guarantor? The one who is always alive and is always interceding in our behalf, the one who is able to say, you completely.

Now folks that takes care of your eternal security. It takes care of your in Eternal inheritance. It takes care of this quite frankly mindless, I need to put it that strongly but it so I won’t put it that strong. It’s not mindless, it is a misinformed interpretation of scripture where by our eternal security is predicated on what we do instead of what He did, which is an absolute atrocity in His cross and His resurrection. We don’t mean it to be but that’s exactly what it is. Now, as this child of God it says, such a high priest meets our needs, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people, He, this priest sacrificed for their sins once and for all when he offered himself,

For the law appoints as high priest, men who are weak, but the oath which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever that ties into our inheritance. And if you folks want to look at that passage, and I’d certainly encourage you to, it’s Hebrews 7:26 and 28. And the reason it’s important to look at that is because it is a definition of Jesus Christ, our high priest who meets our needs, one who is holy, blameless, pure set, apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens, and perfect forever.

You know, the average Christian today, I think many times even though we may know that we are heirs of God, many of us don’t realize what our inheritance is and we therefore are living in spiritual poverty.

And we’re going to pick up, we’re going to pick up in our lesson, where we left off last week in regard to our inheritance in Christ. Now, many of us are like, I think is a fascinating story, but it’s an illustration of the fact that here we are with an inheritance, a joint heir with Jesus Christ, and then, living in total spiritual poverty. There’s a true story, but right here, in Texas, and out in Texas, there was a farmer by the name of Mr. Yates. He was a land owner and he owned a lot of undeveloped land. He raised sheep on that property. But he lived in poverty back in those days. Why you could just own land by putting a claim on it? And if you kept the taxes up, why it was yours and he owned a ton of it out there. But the depression years hit and he came to a point where, as I said, he was raising sheep on that land. And he came to the point where he couldn’t even feed his family and he certainly could not keep the taxes up. It was in this particular state of being that the banks were going to foreclose on the property and reclaim the property which he at that particular point wouldn’t have really lost a lot except a financial obligation, outside of just having some land the sheep could graze on which was not providing any income hardly at all for him. So he was literally living in a destitute type of situation. And so to face this inevitable bankruptcy and foreclosure on the land that he did have a stake to, he was about to be foreclosed on when one day a person from an oil company came along and said, Mr. Yates, we think that there may be oil on this property and we would like to come and drill and see if there’s oil on it. And would you have any objection? Obviously in that state, say of course not. So they brought the seismographic crew in, and did a test on the property. Sunk the well down about 1,000 feet, which is a very shallow well incidentally, and they began drilling at that thousand and fifteen feet. They discovered the largest oil deposit at that time on the North American continent. It was a well that was on that property that was producing 80,000 barrels a day. Oil was selling for around three bucks a barrel. So you can see that overnight Mr. Yates was a billionaire. Now, when you think about it, how long had Mr. Yates been a billionaire? Well, since the very day that he owned the deed on the property. He just didn’t know it. He had been a billionaire since the very day that he signed the papers on that land and yet lived in destitution because he didn’t know the resources that were available to him. He was living above his inheritance on top of it, instead of letting his inheritance come to the surface.

Now that is exactly the way many Christians are living today. We have been made a joint heir of Jesus Christ, a son of the living God, and if we’re children were told in Romans 8:17, then were heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. And, and that is in, as much as indeed we share in his sufferings, in order that with and also share in his glory. In other words, we have come to the cross, identifying ourselves with the fact that we deserve to be there, but he came in our place and died. And therefore, we did not deserve to be raised from the dead, but He was raised on our behalf, so that we too could be raised in the newness of life, identifying ourselves with Him and His death, His burial, and His resurrection. Realizing what He did, we deserved and sharing in that suffering and also sharing in His glory of the resurrection, realizing it’s all him and none of us and we became joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Now, that day, God gave us everything that we would ever need to live rich full lives. But many of us have never discovered the riches of our inheritance in Christ Jesus.

Now, before the break, I read the passage in Hebrews and it’s an exciting passage because in Hebrews the 7 26 through 28 it says such a high priest meets our need that’s going to describe centers on exalted by the heavens and then talks about that He has been made perfect forever. Now, I want us to see something as to what happened to you in your inheritance, the very moment that you identified with Him, the very moment you stepped out of Adam into Christ, Christ stepped out of heaven and into you, you were made a child of the Living God and therefore, a joint heir with a joint heir with all that belongs to Him. Now. I want you to take a look at that. Jesus Christ, such a high priest who meets our needs, one who is holy. What did He do for us? Hebrews 10:10, by that one will, by this new covenant that we’re in today. we, you who are listening this broadcast right now, if you are in Christ Jesus, you have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus once and for all. If you’ve been made something once and for all, what does that mean? It’s eternal once and for all. Could you ever be unholy? No, because you didn’t have anything making yourself holy to begin with. He made you holy. He set you apart. He is the one who made you, what you could not make yourself.

Now, is that good news, or is that bad news? Well to the self-righteous, I don’t like that because I want to make myself holy. And so we walk around and think we’re going to make ourselves holy, by what we wear, the length of our hair, what we wear to compare all to everything else. You just go right down the line as to the mindset of the person who thinks they’re going to make themselves holy. But what they do instead of recognizing that if you are in Christ, you’ve already been made that way.

What God did you respond to folks? The god who rewards the righteous or the God who justifies the wicked? Well, it also says that Jesus such a high priest who meets our need is one, who is blameless. So not only is He holy so he made you holy through your identification with Him, but He is also blameless. So, what’d He do? Well, He made you blameless. Also, through our identification with him, Ephesians 1:4, He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Not only have you been made holy in his sight, you’ve been made blameless in His sight. Now you will notice who’s sight, that’s His sight. Not your sight you and I might not look holy and blameless to each other but you have been made holy and blameless in His sight, because of the one who took your blame set you apart because of Him being set apart. And through your identification with Him, you became holy, He gave to you who He was, He gave you the blameless status, the One who was blameless. He made you blameless. Romans 8:1 and 2 says, and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That means you’re blameless because of and through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of Life, set you free from the law of sin and death. No man could ever be justified to obedience to the law. But it was through the law that we became conscious of sin. Remember that? And therefore Christ through His work, came and upheld the law through His death, after He had fulfilled the law through His life. Now this high priest Jesus, such a high priest who meets our needs, one who is not only holy and blameless, therefore made you holy and blameless, but it says He is pure.

So what did He do for us? 1 John 1:7, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his Son purifies us from all sin. Now, what is walking in the light? Now some people come up and say, well that’s walking in obedience and obedience folks, light and darkness in the scripture is always lost and saved. And I’m not negating obedience, my friends, but that does not bring about anything. Obedience is a result of what He has brought about. It is not something we do in order for Him to bring about something. It is what we do as a result of what he has already done. Because the Christian life is not that we loved Him, but that He loved us first. So it is our love for Him that results in dependency upon Him, that then results in obedience to Him and it’s in that order. And we’re out trying to get people obedient. Until we get them in love and dependent, and that’s where the grace of God is totally paramount to obedience because obedience is not something you do. It’s a result of who you are. It’s a result of what He did now, so He made you pure. If we walk in the light that’s saved.

Folks, darkness and light is lost and saved. If we walk in the light, you’re in the light, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If you walk in the light, as he Christ Jesus is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. You and Jesus have fellowship with one another now. That’s not being in and out of fellowship that I’m in the light, but a sin so I go into darkness. Because there’s no way to get in darkness when you sin if you’re in the light because the blood of Jesus His Son purifies you from every sin immediately automatically. So, how could you ever get in darkness? So darkness is lost. It has nothing to do with being out of fellowship, which is also taught that you’re not going to find in the scripture that if you are in Christ. In the light as God is in the light you and God In the light have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son keeps on continually cleansing purifying you from all sin. So Jesus, such a high priest who meets our needs, one who is pure, what does he do? It purifies you from all sin? Anything to do with that folks? No. You’re just walking in the light that you are now in today, you can’t walk in darkness. Now, folks as a Christian where if you are going to sin, where are you going to have to sin, in darkness or sin in the light? That’s why it’s not as much fun. It doesn’t have anything to do at all with when you sin you go into darkness. You can’t go into darkness anymore. Darkness is lost. You have to sin in the light. But when you do, sin in the light, you have the assurance that God his Son continually keeps on purifying you from every sin imaginable. That’s your faith in Him and His blood, and that’s what enables you to have continual fellowship with Him. Realizing it, you’re in the light with Him. It’s not that you get in fellowship with Him as a result of being purified from all sin. It’s the fact that because you are in fellowship with Him, walking by faith, in the fact that He is continually purifying you from all sin, is what makes you fall in love with the God, who is doing this. Not that we loved Him and He loved us first. And then realizing I have a God that I can depend upon for everything in my life. And that’s what draws you to the heart of the love of God. And that’s what this man with a God like that, what do I need to be sinning for. It’s stupid and it’s what again brings about what we emphasize obedience which certainly is there, but it is not. Love is the emphasis, obedience is the byproduct.

We’re kind of bouncing off of Hebrews 7 in that passage of scripture of 7 26 and 28, and dealing with the fact that we have this high priest Jesus Christ, one who meets our needs, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens and perfect forever and showing that how through when we come to Christ by faith through our identification with Him that he made us all of those things. He is holy. He made us holy through that one sacrifice. He is blameless. He has made us blameless in his sight by that sacrifice. He is pure. He’s the one who threw His substitutionary death on the cross for us, his eternal life where He is constantly interceding on our behalf. He is constantly purifying us from every sin. He’s pure. He continually purifies us now. It says he was set apart from sinners.

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So First Corinthians 6:11 says well, that’s what some of you were sinner, but you were washed. You were sanctified, now that kind of knocks out progressive sanctification, folks. You were sanctified, you were, you were justified, you were sanctified, you are glorified. That’s all done. It’s all by Him. You were sanctified, you were set apart. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the Spirit of our God. Now, folks, you can’t say, well, there’s progressive justification and you can’t say there’s progressive sanctification. It’s all in the same verse that’s in past tense. You were washed. You were sanctified, you were justified all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of our God.

Now what “is sanctified” mean? To walk around with a kind of sickly grin on your face with your head tilted over to one side, trying to look holy? No, sanctified is a very very practical word. It means to be set apart for the use in which you were created. A lightbulb has been sanctified when you turn it on, it was made to give light when you flick on the switch connected with the electricity. It gives light. You’re sanctifying it as you’re using it for the intelligent purpose for which it was created. You have a watch on your arm. You could use that watch and stick it on your ears as earrings, if you wanted to. It would look a little silly, but you could do so if you wanted to do it, but you wouldn’t be sanctifying it, you wouldn’t be using it for the intelligent purpose for which you were created. You look at the watch to see what time it is. You’re sanctifying your watch, you’re using it for what it was made for, to tell you what time it is. On Sunday mornings I see people sanctifying their watch after about an hour of teaching and maybe some of you are doing that right now, but that’s what you’re doing, if you’re using them for the intelligent purpose for which they were created. You have shoes. I guess that you could serve and pour water out of them and drink out of them if you were so inclined to do so. You wouldn’t be sanctifying and probably make yourself sick, but you wouldn’t be sanctifying your shoes. When you put them on and walk in, I’m here using them for the reason they were created. That’s what it means to be sanctified folks. It’s a very practical terminology again. You were set apart, from God, from the world. For sure. the very moment that you became born again. Now, you don’t sanctify yourself more, again, by what you wear and the color of your hair, or the length of your hair, or where you go to church, or what day you go to church or any of those things. You’ve already been set apart by God, to be used for the intelligent purpose for which He created you, a vehicle, a vessel through Him, holy in Him, whom the Holy Spirit lives and through whom he wants to use our bodies, in order to complete his work of Love here on this Earth. It’s already taken place. You’ve been washed. You were, you were set apart. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God that lives in you. Well, it says not only are you, holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, that’s what He is, and that’s what He’s made you.

But He has been exalted above the heavens. Well, what about us on that one? Well, look at Ephesians 2:6 God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. That’s already taken place in His sight. He’s not limited by time folks. He doesn’t live in the past, present or future. He just lives. He just is when he said I am. He didn’t say I was, or I is, or I will. He says, I Am the I Am. That means I’m just always there. So as far as God is concerned you are already seated with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Folks, can you comprehend that as far as God is concerned, this work has already been completed the very moment that you were justified by faith. You were sanctified, set apart. You were glorified, you’re already seated there as far as God is concerned, who sees everything at once. So, is that something again? Can you walk away from God? Well, can you walk away from where He is? Is he seated in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus? Yeah, you are already there. How are you going to walk away from that?

So folks, this eternal, this thing of eternal eternal life is exactly what it means, eternal. Your eternal inheritance is exactly what it means. It is eternal. This is all folks, the work of God. It has nothing at all to do with you and me. It’s everything that He did. Now there are those whose God or which God, you responded to. If you responded to a god, other than the one who justifies the wicked and responded to a god who rewards the righteous. I’m sorry. That is not God, you’ve responded to something else, to say, except the God of this universe. You’ve made up your own. You’ve been taught your own. But if you have responded to the God, who justifies the wicked, the One who says, no one will ever be justified in My sight through obedience to the law, because you can’t. If you’ve responded to the God who sent his own Son, who through His physical life, fulfilled the law, through his physical death, upheld the law, and through that death paid the price for you and me. Paid a debt He didn’t owe for you and I, to death, that we couldn’t pay. For the God who was raised from the dead so that you and I could identify with Him and share in His resurrected life. The same way, we share in his sufferings that Jesus, that Jesus is the One who gave you an eternal inheritance.

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.

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