{"id":19106,"date":"2016-04-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-015\/"},"modified":"2016-04-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T05:00:00","slug":"soteriology-015","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-015\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 015"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[90],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19106","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-romans","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 015","sermon_date":"20160427","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3582,"sermon_slides":3584,"sermon_mp3":3585,"sermon_id":"427161854480","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":90,"chapter_and_verse":"5:16","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 15, Romans 5:16\n\nApril 27, 2016\n\nLet\u2019s open our Bibles to Romans, chapter 5 and verse 16.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re continuing to talk about soteriology, which is the doctrine of salvation.\u00a0 And we\u2019re in this section called the results of salvation, which is really a description of the blessings that you have in Christ; the moment you trust in Him your bank account starts to swell spiritually.\u00a0 And Dr. Chafer, Lewis Sperry Chafer said there\u2019s 33 blessings that we have.\u00a0 And we went through those really quick and I was just going to drill down on some of them.\u00a0 But we\u2019ve talked about sonship, eternal life, and last time we were together we talked about regeneration.\n\nSo let\u2019s pick it up here with justification.\u00a0 One of the blessings that we have in Christ is we have been justified before God.\u00a0 So what does that mean?\u00a0 The Greek word for justification is dikaio\u00f3<\/em><\/a> which is a forensic term; forensic means legal or evidential.\u00a0 So you want to think of justification just like a jury verdict, someone is accused of a crime, they\u2019re tried before a jury of their peers and if they\u2019re found not guilty then the jury foreman, or foreperson says, \u201cYour Honor, we find the defendant not guilty.\u201d\u00a0 So the moment that is verbally announced, this not guilty verdict is the moment the accused is very relieved.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 So in other words that\u2019s basically what happened to you the moment you trusted in Christ.\u00a0 You were justified before God, there was a forensic legal heavenly declaration of that.\u00a0 And the verdict was announced, \u201cnot guilty.\n\nSo let me show you where this phrase justification shows up in the Bible.\u00a0 If you have your Bible take a look at Romans 5:16, it says \u201cThe gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.\u201d\u00a0 So the last word in that verse is our word \u201cjustification.\u201d\n\nAnd then just going a couple chapters to the right, take a look at Romans 8:33-34, it says, \u201cWho will bring a charge\u201d see the legal terminology there? \u201cWho will bring a charge against God\u2019s elect?\u00a0 God is the one who\u201d what? \u201cjustifies.\u201d\u00a0 Now the key thing to understand about justification is it takes place\u2026 it\u2019s a declarative act at a point in time as opposed to something that takes place over a process.\u00a0 So justification is a declarative act at a point in time, not the result of a long arduous process.\n\nNow what I just said there may seem like basic and simple; you might be saying duh, tell me something I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 But what I just articulated there was the whole basis of the Protestant Reformation, when the Protestant churches said no to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and broke away.\u00a0 And the whole issue there, there was a few issues but one of the main issues was: was justification something that took place at a specific point in time or is it a process that goes on over a person\u2019s life, because the Roman Catholic hierarchy at the time, and still today, basically teaches that justification is a process. In fact, if you really get into Roman Catholic soteriology what you\u2019ll discover is it\u2019s a works oriented system where we, as human beings, play a role in the process through good works.\u00a0 God does His part, we do our part.\u00a0 And our view as Protestant Christians, based on the Scripture, is that\u2019s not what we believe at all.\u00a0 We don\u2019t believe justification is a process; we do not believe it\u2019s anything we contribute to other than receiving it as a free gift.\u00a0 It is a declaration of innocence announced from heaven the moment a person puts their personal faith in Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd the key thing I want to get across is it\u2019s a past event rather than something that occurs over a long period of time, as a person becomes more righteous through their own power.\u00a0 Now let me give you some Scriptures.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got several of them down there, some Scriptures that clearly communicate this.\u00a0 Take a look if\u00a0 you could at John 5:24, it\u2019s a verse I like to use a lot because it communicates so clearly the theology that we\u2019re trying to promote in this church.\u00a0 Jesus says, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has\u201d that\u2019s present tense in Greek, \u201chas eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.\u201d\n\nSee it doesn\u2019t say you\u2019re passing out of death unto life; the moment\u00a0 you trust in Christ you\u2019ve already passed \u201cout of death unto life.\u201d\u00a0 And \u201chas passed out of\u201d in the Greek is what we call in the perfect tense.\u00a0 The perfect tense is like slapping your fist down on a podium, it\u2019s a onetime act but the noise reverberates.\u00a0 So the perfect tense is a onetime action in the\u00a0 past with ongoing results, in this case ongoing benefits.\u00a0 And that is how \u201chas passed out of\u201d reads in the original Greek.\u00a0 So justification is something that already happened to you at the point of faith.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a process\u00a0 you\u2019re in at the present time.\n\nAnd then take a look at Ephesians 2:8-9, these are familiar verses, Paul says, \u201cFor by grace you\u201d what? \u201chave been saved,\u201d it doesn\u2019t say by grace you are being saved, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved; it is not of yourselves it is the gift of God; not as a result of works so that no one can boast.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cFor by grace you have been saved\u201d is a present tense verb with a perfect tense participle.\u00a0 And again it\u2019s communicating that same idea, a onetime action in the past with ongoing results.\n\nSee, these are verses that we all take for granted in the year 2016 but these are the verses that Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, the Protestant Reformers, stood on in their contest with the Catholic Church who was teaching no, salvation is a process.\u00a0 And they were saying no, it\u2019s not a process, it\u2019s a onetime act in the past.\n\nTake a look at the book of Titus just for a minute, chapter 3 and verse 5, the book of Titus chapter 3, verse 5, \u201cHe saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 Notice what it says: \u201cHe saved us,\u201d so justification is something that already happened to you, not something that is happening to you.\u00a0 And it happened to you when you put your trust in Christ.\n\nGo over to the right edge of the New Testament and take a look at 1 John 5 and verse 4, 1 John 5:4 says, \u201cor whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world---our faith.\u201d\u00a0 So you\u2019ll notice there that we have already overcome the world.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like I have to go out and be an overcomer, I automatically am an overcomer because I\u2019ve already passed out of death unto life at the point of personal faith in Christ.\n\nNow if you don\u2019t accept this you\u2019ll spend your whole life as a Christian with no assurance of salvation whatsoever.\u00a0 Am I really saved or not?\u00a0 Well, I for a fact know that I am saved because I know that justification is not a process.\u00a0 See, if\u00a0 you think justification is a process that we contribute to how do you know when the process is over?\u00a0 How do you know if you\u2019ve done enough?\u00a0 You see?\u00a0 So you spend the rest of your life with these nagging doubts, maybe I\u2019m saved, maybe I\u2019m not.\n\n1 John 5:12-13 by contrast says, \u201cHe who has the Son has life;\u201d does that sound like you\u2019re supposed to go through your Christian life wondering if you\u2019re a Christian?\u00a0 \u201cHe who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the son of God does not have life. [13] These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may\u201d what? \u201cknow that you have eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 So the Bible doesn\u2019t set up this assurance of salvation like the weather report, 75% chance of rain, and I always laugh at those people because they\u2019re wrong a lot of the time and they\u2019re dealing in possibilities, probabilities, that\u2019s not the biblical teaching on justification and the assurance of salvation at all.\u00a0 So justification is something that already happened to you in the past.\n\nTake a look at 1 Corinthians 6:11, notice the past tense here in justify, 1 Corinthians 6:11 says, \u201cSuch were some of you; but you were\u201d past tense, \u201cwashed, but you were sanctified, but you were\u201d what? \u201cjustified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ\u2026..\u201d\u00a0 So again justified there is placed in the past.\n\nAnd take a look at Romans 8:29-30, notice how this is all placed in the past.\u00a0 \u201cFor those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become<\/em> conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; [30] and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also\u201d what \u201cjustified;\u201d he doesn\u2019t say is justifying, \u201cjustified,\u201d so our justification is in the past tense just like our calling is in the past tense, our predestination is in the past tense, and our future glory is so certain that God can actually, if you go to the end there of Romans 8:30 our future glory is so certain that God places that in the past tense as well.\u00a0 [\u201c\u2026 and these whom He justified, He also glorified.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 Romans 4:5, here\u2019s a noun form in the past tense; Romans 4:5 says, \u201cBut to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.\u201d So anyway, you get the idea here.\u00a0 And that\u2019s really a key thing to understand about justification.\n\nSomething else to understand about justification is it\u2019s the exact opposite of condemnation.\u00a0 If justification is a verbal announcement of innocence the polar opposite of it would be condemnation.\u00a0 So in the first Adam, which we\u2019re all physically born into, we are already condemned.\u00a0 In the last Adam, which we are spiritually born into, if we trust in the provision of Christ, we move from condemnation to justification.\n\nSo you might recall, I think it\u2019s John 3:18 that Jesus told people that look, you\u2019re condemned already if you don\u2019t believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and you haven\u2019t trusted Him for the forgiveness of your sins.\u00a0 [John 3:18, \u201cHe who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.\u201d]\u00a0 Now why would it say that?\u00a0 Because that is our position in the first Adam; we are automatically condemned.\u00a0 Justification though is for those who have trusted in Christ, the verbal announcement of innocent or acquittal.\u00a0 And so justification and condemnation are exact opposites of each other.\u00a0 And going back to Romans 5:16 you\u2019ll see the two juxtaposed. It says, \u201cThe gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in\u201d what? \u201ccondemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in\u201d what? \u201cjustification.\u201d\u00a0 So here\u2019s condemnation over here; here\u2019s justification over there, they are two polar opposites of each other.\n\nYou see the same terminology, we won\u2019t read it, but over in Romans 8:33-34; you\u2019ll see justification is polarized with condemnation.\u00a0 [Romans 8:33-34, \u201cWho will bring a charge against God\u2019s elect? God is the one who justifies; [34] who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.\u201d] So in Adam we are already condemned.\u00a0 In the last Adam, which we enter by faith in Christ, we become justified before God.\n\nSo what then is the basis of our justification?\u00a0 How do we gain, in other words, justification?\u00a0 And the Bible is very clear, it is by faith alone, by grace alone and not by works.\u00a0\u00a0 So notice Romans 3:28, it tells us how our justification is accrued to our account.\u00a0 Romans 3:28, Paul says, \u201cFor we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from\u201d what? \u201cworks of the Law.\u201d\u00a0 So no human work can justify the lost sinner before God.\u00a0 It\u2019s only by faith that he moves into this glorious aspect of our riches that we have.\n\nJustification is also by grace alone.\u00a0 What is grace?\u00a0 It\u2019s unmerited favor.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that we don\u2019t deserve.\u00a0 And you see this over in Romans 3:24, \u201cbeing justified as a\u201d what? \u201cgift by His grace\u201d so the Greek word for \u201cgrace\u201d there is charis<\/em>, and grace means you receive something from God you don\u2019t deserve.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it can\u2019t be by works because if you work for it you deserve it.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 So God won\u2019t give it on the basis of works, He gives it only on the basis of faith because when we receive it God wants us to\u00a0 understand that we have it through no merits of our own.\n\nAnd then Romans 3:20 very clearly tells us that justification is not by works, and notice Romans 3:20, Paul writes in Romans 3:20,\u00a0 \u201cbecause by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 So justification is a wonderful thing and how is it gained?\u00a0 The Bible is very clear: by faith alone!\u00a0 And that word \u201calone\u201d is such a big deal because the Protestant Reformers could have gotten along hunky-dory with the Roman Catholic Church if they just said faith, because the Roman Catholic Church at that time, and still teaches, that it\u2019s faith some and also works.\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t settle for just the word faith, they settled for the word \u201cwords,\u201d faith alone, and that\u2019s why when they argue these things in Latin the Latin word for alone is sola<\/em>.\u00a0 So the term they used is sola fide<\/em>, faith alone; sola gratia<\/em>, by grace alone; sola Christos<\/em>, by Christ alone; sola Scriptura<\/em>, based on the Scripture alone.\n\nAnd by the way, if all of that\u2019s true who gets the glory?\u00a0 Man or God.\u00a0 God, and so they also insisted on sola Deo Gloria<\/em>, to the glory of God alone.\u00a0 Want me to give those to you again?\n\nSola fide<\/em>, faith alone; I don\u2019t know if I can remember them all, I know there\u2019s five.\u00a0 Sola fide<\/em>, faith alone; it\u2019s a Latin expression.\u00a0 Sola gratia<\/em>, grace alone; sola Christos<\/em>, Christ alone; sola Scriptura<\/em>, based on the Scripture alone and sola Deo Gloria<\/em>, to the glory of God alone. \u00a0Again, we take these truths for granted but these guys, many of them lost their lives by fighting for these basic truths which they didn\u2019t invent; they saw these things in the Scripture based on the verses that we\u2019re going through here.\n\nNow one of the things I was confused on for a long time is the source of my justification.\u00a0 I thought that the source of my innocence is justification and that really is not true.\u00a0 Justification is the what?\u00a0 The announcement of our innocence.\u00a0 So justification is the heavenly jury verdict of innocent but what makes us innocent is not justification; justification just announces innocence.\u00a0 What makes us innocent is a different doctrine called imputation.\u00a0 Imputation means transfer.\n\nSo what has happened is the moment I placed my faith in Jesus Christ is the moment the righteousness of God was transferred to me and I received that completely on the basis of faith, completely on the basis of grace, completely not on the basis of any works whatsoever.\u00a0 I trusted in Christ and the righteousness of God is transferred to me and so God now looks at me, He looks at you as if we\u2019re just as righteous as Jesus Himself.\u00a0 And on that basis the announcement is given in heaven, \u201cnot guilty.\u201d\u00a0 So justification doesn\u2019t make you righteous, it just announces it.\n\nReally what makes you righteous is imputation which means transfer.\u00a0 And take a look at Philippians 3:9, if I was stuck on a desert island and I only had one verse I could take with me I would pick Philippians 3:9, because Philippians 3:9 explains Christianity better, probably than any other verse in the Bible, in my humble opinion.\u00a0 Philippians 3:9\u2026 now remember, earlier in the chapter Paul has talked about what he used to be, how he tried to gain favor with God as a Pharisee through self-righteousness.\u00a0 And then he came to\u00a0 a realization, and what was the realization?\u00a0 He counted these things rubbish, verse 8, which is the Greek word skubla<\/em>, which means dog dung or animal excrement, animal manure; that\u2019s how he began to see self-righteousness compared to what?\n\nVerse 9, \u201cand may be found in Him,\u201d who\u2019s \u201cHim\u201d?\u00a0 Jesus.\u00a0 Look at this, \u201cnot having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law,\u201d so the Holy Spirit got hold of Paul through conviction and he finally realized that he was not going to gain righteousness before God through his own efforts.\u00a0 And he had a lot of great efforts when you read earlier in the chapter.\u00a0 But he was going to receive it, not based on himself, \u201cnot having a righteousness of my own.\u201d\u00a0 Why is it not his own?\u00a0 Because it comes from God.\n\n\u201cNot having a righteousness of my own\u201d derived through the law, in other words my own works, \u201cbut that which\u201d comes on the basis of what? what\u2019s the last word in verse 9, \u201cfaith.\u201d\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we have in Christ, it\u2019s imputation.\u00a0 The moment you trust in Christ God\u2026 Martin Luther called it the great exchange, there\u2019s no better deal going, where our unrighteousness in a nanosecond is exchanged for the righteousness of Jesus. And God looks at you like He looks at Jesus Himself.\u00a0 Just the way God the Father, one member of the Trinity looks at God the Son, because you are found \u201cin Him\u201d not on the righteousness of your on but on the basis of faith, God the Father rather looks at you just like He looks at God the Son.\n\nYou say well, I don\u2019t deserve that!\u00a0 Well, of course you don\u2019t, neither do I; that\u2019s why it\u2019s acquired on the basis of grace, which means unmerited favor; sola gratia<\/em>.\u00a0 But it\u2019s yours!\u00a0 And we talk a lot about behavior modification today, trying to get people to change their behavior, and usually the way people go about it is they start picking at people and nagging at them, at all their bad qualities.\u00a0 But the Bible has the ultimate formula for behavior modification; it\u2019s seeing yourself the way God sees you, not how you feel about yourself, not what the world says about you, but how does God see\u00a0 you.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that when we start seeing ourselves the way God already looks at us we start acting our part more and more.\u00a0 Not that we become sinless but we start sinning less because we understand our position and we understand that when we go back into sin we are living out of harmony with our position.\n\nSo a lot of people will misstate the doctrine of justification, they\u2019ll state it this way: just as if I\u2019d never sinned.\u00a0 Have you ever heard people say that?\u00a0 And they look it as God is just taking away the bad things that we\u2019ve done, but that doesn\u2019t really capture the whole idea. He\u2019s adding, not just a subtraction it\u2019s an addition.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t look at us as if I didn\u2019t commit the sin I\u2019m thinking about committing; He doesn\u2019t just subtract that, He looks at it through an addition, by transferring something to my account called the transferred righteousness of Christ\u2026.imputation.\u00a0 So I receive that on faith and then I\u2019m justified before God, there\u2019s this verbal announcement that happens one time in the past and I\u2019ve changed from death unto life in a second; no process involved here at all.\n\nThis chart might help you, there\u2019s three transfers in the Bible, three imputations.\u00a0 The first is Adam\u2019s sin has been attributed to us, transferred to us, we\u2019re guilty in the first Adam.\u00a0 Romans 5:12 says that.\u00a0 [Romans 5:12, \u201cTherefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.\u201d]\u00a0 And everybody complains about that and says that\u2019s not fair but they never complain about the next two which are beyond fair, right?\n\nThen our sin is transferred to who?\u00a0 Jesus, that\u2019s transfer number 2.\u00a0 2 Corinthians 5:21, \u201cHe who knew no sin became sin.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 5:21, \u201cHe made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.\u201d]\u00a0 It\u2019s not saying that He became a sinner, it\u2019s saying He became the sin-bearer and stepped out of eternity into time and basically paid the consequences for our sin.\n\nAnd then little ole me and little ole you comes along at some point and we trust in the provision of Jesus Christ and then the third transfer happens, this is the one I\u2019m talking about, Philippians 3:9, where Christ righteousness is transferred to us, God looks at us just like God the Father looks at God the Son, through transferred righteousness.\u00a0 [Philippians 3:9, \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.\u201d]\n\nSo the first one, transfer, we cover under hamartiology, the doctrine of sin.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to explain that.\u00a0 The second one we cover under Christology, the doctrine of Christ, I\u2019m trying to explain that.\u00a0 And the third one is what we\u2019re highlighting here, that we cover under soteriology, the doctrine of salvation.\u00a0 So three great transfers in the Bible: Adam\u2019s sin to us; our sin to Christ; Christ\u2019s righteousness to us.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a pretty astounding truth, isn\u2019t it?\n\nLet me shift to another one, I\u2019ve got a little time left.\u00a0 Another aspect of our riches that we have is the forgiveness of all pre-cross sins.\u00a0 The forgiveness of all pre-cross sins.\u00a0 So what you have to understand is Christ\u2019s death, 2000 years ago on the cross didn\u2019t just deal with sin future, from the time He died, it didn\u2019t just deal with sins yet to be committed, it dealt with sins that had already been committed from the very beginning.\u00a0 Every sin the human race has ever committed, past, or will ever commit, against God has been atoned for because of the atoning death of Christ.\n\nTake a look at Genesis 15:6, and this is the way it reads, I think in the New King James Bible, it says, \u201cAbraham believed God and it was\u201d what? \u201ccredited to him as unto righteousness.\u201d\u00a0 Now this is 2000 B.C., Christ would not die for another 2,000 years, Abraham believed in the provision of God and he received the righteousness of God on credit.\u00a0 You say well, what is credit.\u00a0 Well, we all know what credit is because we like those credit cards.\u00a0 We love credit because credit gives us goodies now and payment when?\u00a0 Later.\n\nSo what exactly did Abraham receive?\u00a0 He received a benefit that wouldn\u2019t be paid for, for another 2,000 years.\u00a0 See?\u00a0 So that is speaking of, that\u2019s talking about the death of Christ took care of all pre-cross sins. \u00a0A couple of verses on this, take a look at Acts 17:30, Paul, on his Mars Hill speech makes an issue out of this, Acts 17:30, Paul says, \u201c\"Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.\u201d \u00a0How in the world could God overlook all the past times of ignorance, all of the past sins against Him?\u00a0 Because Christ\u2019s death didn\u2019t just pay for sins eternally future but sins going all the way back into the past.\u00a0 That\u2019s how Abraham could receive the whole package on credit.\n\nTake a look at Romans 3:25, you\u2019ll see the same truth, Romans chapter 3 verse 25 says, \u201cwhom God displayed publicly as a propitiation\u201d now you might remember what propitiation means, it means satisfaction of His wrath, His wrath is satisfied in what Jesus did.\u00a0 \u201cwhom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.\u00a0 This was to demonstrate His righteousness,\u201d watch this, \u201cbecause in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.\u201d\n\nSo how can God pass over \u201cthe sins previously committed\u201d?\u00a0 Because the death of Jesus Christ doesn\u2019t just cover sins future from the time of His death; it covers sins past.\u00a0 So that is how Abraham, who believed God, was able to receive the righteousness of God on credit.\u00a0 In other words, payday someday; just like using your credit card, you get a benefit now, payment later.\u00a0 Payment would not be rendered 2,000 years future from the time of Abraham to the atoning death of Jesus Christ.\n\nSo that\u2019s an astounding thing that\u2019s happened with the death of Christ.\u00a0 Now this raises a very interesting question that people like to ask and I don\u2019t know if I have the answer to it but I\u2019ll at least introduce it to you.\u00a0 What did people have to believe in the Old Testament to be saved?\u00a0 And how were people saved exactly in the Old Testament?\u00a0 Well, the basis of their salvation, just like the basis of our salvation, is the cross of Christ, the payment that Christ rendered 2,000 years ago.\u00a0\u00a0 The means of the folks in the Old Testament, Noah, Daniel, Job, Abraham, the means is by faith.\u00a0 \u201cAbraham believed God and it was\u201d what? \u201ccredited unto him as righteousness.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 15:6]\u00a0 The object of the faith is God.\u00a0 \u201cAbraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteous\u00adness.\u201d\u00a0 So the basis of everyone\u2019s salvation in every age is the cross; the means is always faith, the object is God.\u00a0 What is debated is what did Abraham have to know?\u00a0 What did he have to understand?\u00a0 What was the content of what he believed?\n\nAnd when you get into this topic what you\u2019ll discover is there\u2019s two views on this.\u00a0 The traditional view, and if you read through the Dallas Seminary doctrinal statement which was founded in the 1920\u2019s, the school that I graduated from, twice actually, I was happier to get out than to get in, they let me out twice so thank you Dallas Seminary, but the way the doctrinal statement reads is you are saved in the Old Testament based on a generic revelation of God.\u00a0 In other words, what you had to believe wasn\u2019t necessarily Christocentric or Messianic; you simply had to believe in whatever God had disclosed.\u00a0 So this is what Charles Ryrie, this is his view, my professor, J. Dwight Pentecost, this is the way he taught it to us. They get a lot of this from Hebrews 11, you might want to take a look here at Hebrews 11:30.\n\nAnything God revealed, whether it was about the coming Messiah or not you just had to express faith in that and that\u2019s what saves.\u00a0 So they like to quote, for example, Hebrews 11:30 which puts it this way, \u201cBy faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.\u201d\u00a0 So people say do you see Jesus there in verse 30?\u00a0 No, it\u2019s just faith in God\u2019s promise that the walls of Jericho would fall.\n\nNow the problem with that view is that the book of Hebrews is not a justification book.\u00a0 What kind of book is it?\u00a0 Sanctification book.\u00a0 The book of Hebrews is not there to tell folks how to get saved; it\u2019s written to a saved audience telling them how to continue on in faith.\u00a0 So I was always a little uncomfortable with how my teachers were using Hebrews 11 because Hebrews 11, they were using it in a justification sense, trying to explain how folks in the Old Testament were justified before God.\u00a0 And the book of Hebrews, that\u2019s really not its point.\n\nSo that leads to a second view as to how people in the Old Testament were saved, and the second view is more the direction that I lean.\u00a0 I really didn\u2019t know about this view until it was taught to me by one of my teachers, Dr. Elliot Johnson, one of our supported missionaries at this church is Jim Meyer, who has a ministry in the Ukraine, and if you talk to Jim he makes a good case in this second view.\u00a0 So people, according to the second view, in the Old Testament were not saved just based on some kind of generic disclosure by God.\u00a0 They were saved based on belief in a content which was Christological; although those in the Old Testament didn\u2019t know the name Christ but they knew that there was a coming Messiah.\n\nSo the basis of the second view is the book of Galatians, chapter 3, verse 16, take a look at that. It\u2019s interesting how all these key salvation passages are always 3;16, John 3:16, notice Galatians 3:16.\u00a0 It\u2019s talking there about the\u2026 it\u2019s commenting on Genesis 15:6, \u201cAbraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.\u201d\u00a0 Remember the promise that Abraham believed?\u00a0 He said through your body is going to come innumerable seed.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Old Testament says.\n\nNow that was quite a stretch because they were, Abraham and Sarah, they were a bit on in years, were they not?\u00a0 They weren\u2019t exactly in childbearing years.\u00a0 So that required faith for them to believe that.\u00a0 So the traditional view says Abraham just believed in this generic promise that from his body, Sarah\u2019s womb would be given life and there would come seed or descendants and Abraham, it seemed like an impossible promise but Abraham believed it anyway and the moment he believed it the righteousness of God was credited to him.\n\nSo the first view basically says that\u2019s all Abraham believed, a generic disclosure from God.\u00a0 But the problem is look at Galatians 3:16, it\u2019s very interesting, it says, \u201cNow the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.\u00a0 He does not say, \u2018And to seeds,\u2019 as referring to many, but rather to one\u201d seed.\u00a0 Now the noun \u201cseed\u201d is what you call a collective singular which simply means a noun that can be used in the singular or the plural.\u00a0\u00a0 So \u201cseed\u201d can be a bag of seed or it can be an individual sunflower seed.\u00a0 So it\u2019s what you call a collective singular, it can be used either way, singular or plural.\n\nIt\u2019s like using the word \u201chair.\u201d\u00a0 When someone says did you get your hair cut you can say well, which hair are you talking about?\u00a0 No, your hair, meaning collectively everything on your head because hair can be an individual strand or it can be everything on your head.\u00a0 It\u2019s like saying sheep, are we talking about one little cute cuddly fuzzy animal over here or are we talking about a flock of sheep.\u00a0 So seed is used in that way.\n\nAnd Paul, who wrote the book of Galatians makes a word play on this; he says yeah, it\u2019s true, Abraham believed in the promise of seed, plural, but Abraham also believed in the promise of a seed, a singular seed.\u00a0 Now who would that singular seed be?\u00a0 Jesus, who would be born from the lineage of Abraham.\u00a0 So this second view says wait a minute here, Abraham didn\u2019t just believe generically in the promise of seed (plural), what he actually believed when him and his wife were childless is a promise from God that from him and his wife would come innumerable seed (plural) but from that innumerable seed would come one seed and that one seed would be the Messiah and that one seed would pay the sin debt of the world.\u00a0 And Abraham didn\u2019t just believe generically in seed but he believed in a seed.\u00a0 That\u2019s what made him righteous.\u00a0 Do you see?\n\nNow how would Abraham ever get the idea that there was a coming seed, singular?\u00a0 If you go back to Genesis 3:15 you have the first Messianic prophecy in the whole Bible; it\u2019s a prophecy that God gave to Satan right after the fall and He said there is coming one from the seed of the woman, who\u2019s the woman, Eve, and that seed, singular, is going to crush your head.\u00a0 So this is what we call the protoevangelium, proto means first, evangelium means gospel, it\u2019s the first formal proclamation of the gospel in the whole Bible.\u00a0 And this is what Genesis 3:15 says, \u201cI will put enmity\u201d as God is speaking to the serpent, \u201cbetween you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; He\u201d that\u2019s an individual, right?\u00a0 \u201che shall bruise\u00a0 you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d\n\nIn other words, Satan, you\u2019re going to be able to inflict some momentary damage on him.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s meant by the heel being bruised.\u00a0 But He\u2019s going to do what to your head?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to crush it.\u00a0 Now if you had a choice would you rather have your heel bruised or your head bruised.\u00a0 Would you rather have your heel bruised or your head crushed.\u00a0 I would take the heel because I can get over the heel injury but if my head is crushed I\u2019m finished.\u00a0 So what it\u2019s saying is there\u2019s coming somebody, the name Jesus isn\u2019t given, but there\u2019s coming somebody who is going to deal a fatal blow to the devil.\n\nNow Eve, Adam, were standing right there when this prophecy was given so right then and there they are put on notice of a coming Messiah.\u00a0 Now go one chapter to the right, and take a look at Genesis chapter 4, verse 1, it says, \u201cNow the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain,\u201d that was their firstborn, and she said, \u2018I have gotten a manchild\u201d I am reading out of the New American Standard, \u201cwith the help of<\/em> the LORD.\u2019\u201d\n\nNow you see how I\u2019ve got \u201cwith the help of<\/em>\u201d italicized?\u00a0 When you see that in your study Bible, words italicized, what does that mean?\u00a0 It means they\u2019re added by the translator.\u00a0 Those words are not in the original Hebrew; they\u2019re added by the translator.\u00a0 And 99% of the time the translators are just trying to smooth over the translation to make it understandable for us.\u00a0 And 99% of the time they do a great job.\u00a0 Every once in a while they obscure the meaning and this is a passage that I think the meaning has been obscured by well-intentioned translators because since they\u2019re not in the original what you can do is just take \u201cwith the help of<\/em>\u201d out of the sentence and if that\u2019s the case what does it say?\u00a0 \u201cI have begotten a manchild, the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what she\u2019s actually saying.\n\nWhen Cain was born she thought she had given birth to the Messiah.\u00a0 Now talk about parental disappointment\u2026 I mean, not only was he not the Messiah but he was the world\u2019s first murderer.\u00a0 But in her mind she thought he was the Messiah.\u00a0 Now who gave her this idea that there was a coming Messiah.\u00a0 How did she even expect this?\u00a0 She expected it because she was standing right there when God uttered to the serpent the protoevangelium.\u00a0 So the whole human race, including the devil himself, is put on notice of this coming Messiah.\n\nAnd everything we know about Jewish oral tradition this knowledge was passed down from the generate, between the generations very quickly.\u00a0 Take a look at Genesis 5:28-29, this is Lamech, Lamech is happy that his son, Noah, has been born, Noah, from the Noah of the ark account, but this is what Lamech said when Noah was born.\u00a0 \u201cLamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. [29] Now he called his name Noah, saying, \u2018This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising<\/em> from the ground which the LORD has cursed.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now that word \u201ccursed\u201d you can track it backwards in Hebrew Bible, the only other place it\u2019s mentioned prior to this is Genesis 3:17 which is right after Genesis 3:15.\u00a0 And what Lamech is saying here when Noah is born is this guy, this one, this son, is going to remedy the curse.\n\nSo how did Noah get this idea that there was going to come one who was going to reverse the curse?\u00a0 Well, he got it because Adam and Eve were there when Genesis 3:15 was given and this Messianic knowledge was transferred to the generations through oral tradition.\n\nSo what I\u2019m trying to say is as you go through the Old Testament what you have, and the reason this is debated is it\u2019s not as clearly spelled out as we would like it to be spelled out, but when you put some of these facts together, like I\u2019ve been trying to do, what you discover is there was knowledge of a coming Messiah at some time.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t know his name, they didn\u2019t know the name Jesus, they don\u2019t know all the particulars that we know but they knew there was coming one who was going to deal fatal damage to Satan, who was going to rectify the curse, and when Abraham believed in the promise of seed he didn\u2019t just believe generically multiple seed were\n\ngoing to come from his body called the nation of Israel but he believed that this was part of God\u2019s Messianic program; through him would come an individual seed who would deal with the sin problem in fulfillment of Genesis 3;15.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Abraham exercised faith in and that\u2019s what saved him.\u00a0 See?\u00a0 And you get this from Galatians 3:16 where Paul is dealing with the nuance of the collective singular seed.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t just seed generically, it was the seed of an individual.\n\nAnd by the way,\u00a0 you go into Daniel 11, I don\u2019t have the exact verse, it\u2019s in Daniel 11 though, you\u2019ll find it there and it talks about the antichrist and it talks about he will oppose the desire of women.\u00a0 [Daniel 11:37, \u201cHe will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women\u2026\u201d]\u00a0 And oh my goodness, the TV preaches go crazy with this, the antichrist is going to be a homosexual and all these sort of interpretations.\u00a0 But what was the desire of women?\u00a0 What was the desire of every Jewish woman? \u00a0What was the desire of every Hebrew woman?\u00a0 Well it was the exact same desire Eve had, to be the mother of this Messiah.\u00a0 So when it says the antichrist will oppose the desire of women it\u2019s not making a statement about the antichrist\u2019s sexuality, homosexuality, transgender fluidity, it\u2019s not talking about that at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s talking about how the antichrist will oppose Christ and the euphemism given for Christ there is the one desired by women.\n\nWhere does this desire come from amongst these women?\u00a0 Well, they had this heightened awareness that there was coming some kind of Messiah and that\u2019s what Abraham believed and that\u2019s why he got saved.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what everybody in the Old Testament had to believe in order to be saved, they had to believe in a coming Messiah.\n\nSo there\u2019s a legitimate view out there which says they just believed in the generic promises of God; that\u2019s a very legitimate view.\u00a0 But there\u2019s another view, and I lean more towards the second view, that there was something far more Christological in nature that these folks had to believe.\u00a0 So the basis of salvation is the cross; the means is faith.\u00a0 The object is God but the content of what is actually believed is very debated.\u00a0 I\u2019ve given you the two major views on that.\n\nSo these folks in the Old Testament were looking forward to a Messiah that would come.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t know His name.\u00a0 We are saved the exact same way except we\u2019re looking not forward but what? \u00a0Backward, and we do know His name.\u00a0 So the content of what we believe has to be higher; I mean, we have to believe in the cross, we have to believe in the resurrection, and things of that nature.\u00a0 Did those people in the Old Testament believe all of that?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure they did, I don\u2019t know if they did or not because I\u2019m not sure how well they understood those concepts.\u00a0 But the more light you have the more what increases?\u00a0 Accountability.\u00a0 And we have all the light in the world because we have a historical record and we can look backward.\n\nSo we have to believe in the cross of Christ, in His resurrection, in His deity, we have to believe that He had the power to do what He claims He will do for us if we trust in Him.\u00a0 But the basis of personal salvation in every age is always faith.\u00a0 Those folks were looking forward to a Messiah that would come; we\u2019re looking backward to a Messiah that came but we\u2019re both equally saved on the basis of faith.\u00a0 Abraham received his riches on credit; it was yet to be paid for.\u00a0 We do not receive it on credit because it\u2019s already been paid for, because Jesus said what?\u00a0 \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\n\nNow if I haven\u2019t confused you already there\u2019s a false view floating around out there called the cross-less gospel where people today are saying well, you really don\u2019t have to believe in the cross, you really don\u2019t have to believe in the resurrection because Abraham didn\u2019t believe that.\u00a0 And I believe that\u2019s basically a false view; I think we do need to believe in the cross, we do have to believe in the resurrection because our threshold of knowledge is much greater than theirs.\u00a0 So we have to believe in the right Christ; we are looking backward to a Messiah whose name we know; we don\u2019t receive it on credit but we receive it on faith.\u00a0 They, by contrast, were looking forward to a Messiah that would come.\u00a0 They did not know His name, they didn\u2019t have all the particulars that we have and they received theirs, not on the basis of a paid package but on the basis of credit.\n\nAnother camp says they didn\u2019t have to believe a Christological focus at all, just the generic promises of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s a great view, I\u2019m not really in that camp, I\u2019m more in the Christological camp.\u00a0 So all of that to say that the death of Christ, not only does it justify us before God (and we\u2019ve talked a little bit about what that means) but the death of Christ paid for all future sins and all past sins as well.\u00a0 So I guess we\u2019ll quit talking there, it\u2019s 8:00 o\u2019clock.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t