On One Condition: Christ -Part One

The pastor begins the Redeemer Foundation series by discussing the importance of the Gospel and the fundamentals of the Christian faith. He emphasizes that salvation is conditional, but that condition was met by Jesus Christ. He highlights the significance of God's Word in understanding His love and salvation plan. The pastor then gives a brief historical synopsis of the life, ministry, and work of Jesus Christ, emphasizing His perfect obedience and sacrificial death. He discourages unnecessary theological debates and urges focusing on the power of the Gospel for salvation. The pastor concludes by discussing four aspects of salvation: the power of the Gospel, the revelation of God's righteousness, the satisfaction of God's wrath, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness. He emphasizes that salvation is only through Jesus Christ. The following message is brought to you by the people of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. For more information, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org. And now, here's Pastor Jason Booth with the message. Today, we begin our Redeemer Foundation series. We're going to take the time to outline what we believe concerning the Gospel and the fundamentals of the Christian faith. We will begin with a study of the Gospel, the Gospel we preach, the Gospel we believe, here at Redeemer. And I think it's important for you to know where we stand as a church. There's only one condition. Salvation is conditional. But that condition was met a long time ago in the person and work of Jesus Christ, our great surety, our great champion. Hallelujah forevermore. We can't brag enough about Jesus. We can't brag enough about the work He's done. If you belong to God at all, you belong to Him through Christ. For any other way makes you a thief and a liar and a robber and you'll not get in. There is no other way. There is no other door. For Jesus said Himself, I am the door. So, admittedly, now there's no possible way for us to fully discern what is the infinite height and depth and width of God's righteousness, especially regarding His salvation in Christ. But God has loved His people enough to do something for us that we have no idea how important sometimes it really is. And we neglect it and we put it on the shelf and we don't look at it. But what has God done for us? He has given us His Word. And while we can't possibly comprehend all the great love that God has for His people, we can't understand His salvation plan. We don't understand all the ins and outs. We're human beings. But we can know what is helpful for us and needful for us to know through the pages of His Word because God has loved us enough to give us His Word. And now we can study that Word and study to show ourselves approved. So, the gospel, let's begin here. The gospel or good news of Jesus Christ, historically, is the account of the perfect life, sinless death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I wanted to share with you just a brief historical synopsis of the major bullet points of the gospel of Jesus Christ, His life, His ministry, His work. Christ came as a baby in a manger. He was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, raised by Joseph. He was confounding the temple teachers by the age of 12. He was perfectly and always perfectly fulfilled the law of God in every detail throughout His life. He preached the kingdom of God. He performed miracles. He was unjustly accused and condemned to die. He was beaten and hanged between two criminals. He died on a cross. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, resurrected on the third day, seen by His disciples and hundreds of others after He was resurrected. He ascended into heaven. He promised to return again one day. And before He left, He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit of God to be our Comforter who would abide with us forever. And hallelujah, we all know that that's the case even now. And we are comforted by the Spirit of God. The gospel work continues to reap the harvest that He completely purchased on Calvary's tree. So many of those things are theological facts. Many of those things are historical facts. But I want you to know that if you know Jesus in the full pardon of your sin, you're going to rejoice in hearing so much of that. Hallelujah, Jesus came as the Old Testament prophesied He would. He lived a perfect life. Can you do that? No, you can't. He lived a perfect life. There's much debate as to whether or not the life of Christ is something that's called the active obedience of Christ and His death is called by some theologians the passive obedience. And there's a whole argument in the church theological world about which part of Christ's life is the true saving virtue of His gospel message. Is it His life, His perfect obedience? Or is it His passive obedience? Or is it just the death that satisfies God? And I want you to understand that I'm not going to take an X-Acto knife to the life of Christ. I think sometimes theologians have way too much time on their hands that maybe they ought to be sharing Christ with a neighbor instead of arguing on Facebook. I've been guilty of that. And I'll tell you in my own life, the endless argument on social media and all of that stupidity is what the King James Bible would call vain jangling. It's a waste of time. Scholars don't want truth. And if you had a dollar for every time someone changed their mind on Facebook from a big old rip-roaring argument, you'd have zero dollars. Oh, we'll share the truth. I'll share the truth. But a victorious army need not stop and explain its actions. We will tell you the gospel. These are the terms of your surrender. The Lord is the victor. But theologians will argue and they'll say, well, is it the passive obedience of Christ that really matters? Or is it the passive obedience and the active obedience, all that He did versus what He allowed them to do to Him? And I say to you that He was found, as Philippians 2.18 says, found in human form. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. So here's what I'm telling you. His death wouldn't have been virtuous had He not fulfilled all righteousness. And He wouldn't have fulfilled all righteousness. Had He not done that, it wouldn't have mattered. All right? So, why are we straining this gnat or this camel? Swallowing the camels while we're straining our gnat. Why are we doing that? His death wouldn't have mattered a hill of beans had He not fulfilled the law of God and been perfect. He had to be a spotless Lamb. And so, I don't know why people argue. Here's what I tell everyone that wants to argue that. I say, He was obedient unto death. His very act of sacrificial life that He gave up in sacrifice, I should say, was in fact obedience to the Father and to the Father's plan. Again, salvation is conditioned on obedience, but not yours. He fulfills all righteousness. Far from being just ancient history, the gospel packs eternal import for our souls, beloved. Those of us who are saved by Christ's work, we understand that it's much more profound than just a list of facts. We know that. And if you know the Lord today, you understand that these things are real. That He came and He bled and He died for His people. And if you count yourself in that number by faith, then you have laid hold by His power and His enabling of a pearl of greatest price, of a treasure that no man can fully understand or apprehend the worth. He is far, far more lovely. More precious than silver, more lovely than rubies. So the satisfaction of God's wrath concerning His people is part of this. And I want to get into that. I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit. As we study today, it'll be made evident that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, the revelation of His righteousness. Thirdly, the satisfaction of God's wrath concerning His people. And finally, Christ's righteousness imputed to the elect. These are four aspects of salvation that I want to talk about today. Now, these will not exhaust the topic. Understand these are just four aspects that I want us to really focus in on today. Again, the gospel is the power of God, the gospel is the revelation of His righteousness, the gospel is the satisfaction of God, and the gospel is Christ's righteousness imputed to His elect. All of these facts concerning the gospel hinge on one condition and one condition only, and the only condition, the only name given among men whereby we must be saved, Jesus Christ alone. So let's take a moment and let's go to the Lord in prayer. And as we pray, we trust the Lord to bless our time together and to let us dwell richly in His word so that we can be comforted and edified today. Let's pray together. Almighty God, I pray that You'd fill me with boldness and power, the power of the Holy Spirit of God, to preach this word boldly, to boast loudly in Christ alone, leaving no room for the flesh. Heavenly Father, teach us from Your word concerning the good news of Your salvation in Christ today. And if it be Your will, save sinners and uplift the saints for Christ's sake and for Your glory. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. So firstly and foremost, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Romans 1.16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. First of all, the gospel is the power of God. It is the active force. The only way wicked, dead-born, sin-loving, God-hating sinners can be made right with a holy God is through the power of God. Jesus said it like this when He was healing people and forgiving sins and other things. People said, how is this possible? And He'd look right at them and say, with man, it is impossible. I wish we, as a church world, so many churchianities in this world, so many folk religions that claim to be and purport to be Christianity, I wish that God would send a true biblical revival, that some of these preachers would get saved and start telling people the truth about Jesus. And that is this, the preacher has an impossible task. What is that impossible task? I'm preaching to dead people, spiritually speaking, to come alive again, to be made righteous and holy in the sight of a holy God, the only God of heaven and earth. Who is sufficient for these things? But there's many men out there that go around saying, oh, you can just choose to be saved. You can make up your dead, sinner, evil, wicked, tilted, bent, distorted, corrupted, sinful will. You can just make up your mind with all those tools you don't have, and all that life you do not have spiritually, to just choose to be born again. I look around the room even now, and all I see are people who, apart from the grace of God, would be dead in their sins. Perhaps someone's watching online today, or this evening, whenever it might be that you're watching. You have no virtue in yourself. You have no ability to approach the throne of grace on your own terms. This is an impossible task! Unless conditions are met. And, beloved, the best news about the news I bring is that the redeeming work is done. The gospel isn't just the plea that you be saved. Yes, as a human being, I don't know who will be saved and who won't, and so I'm commanded to say to you, be reconciled to God. I'm commanded to have a burden for my brothers and love my neighbor. Paul said he wished he could be struck down for the sake of his brothers, according to the flesh. He had a real love for his brothers and his neighbors, and I want you to have that same kind of love. Many times, sovereign grace folks find themselves jaded and hardened, and they don't seem to be evangelistic, and I'm telling you, you have the best evangelism tools ever, because you're the people who honestly believe God will do His work. And so this impossible task, in my strength, becomes a certain reality when the power of God moves in on the scene. With man, beloved, it is impossible. With man, it is impossible for one sinner to tell another sinner to be right with God. It's like one person in the graveyard crying out to another next to him. First of all, dead people don't cry out. Dead people don't make choices. Last time I checked, if anybody got mugged in the graveyard, it wasn't any of the residents who did the mugging. It's an impossible task, but what does the Bible declare to us? It declares to us that salvation is not just the message of the cross. Salvation, the gospel, is the very power of God unto salvation. When this word goes out, it doesn't go out with enticing words of man's wisdom. I've already said, uh, about 13, 14 times in this sermon. I've stammered over my words. I'm just a frail human being. If I don't get enough sleep before the next day at work, I'm going to be grumpy and cranky like everybody else. Not on my A game, just like everybody else. We're all getting the sniffles. We get sick. We get infirm. We're all just a hot mess. So when this word goes out in power, it doesn't go forth out of man's power or virtue, but the power of the gospel is in the spirit moving and testifying of Christ. And he does that in the preaching of the gospel. Oh my, it's God's power. The word power in the Greek also means strength, ability, or force. Oh, the world loves to use the word force. You know, Star Wars and all that. Let me tell you, there is a force at work in this world that no man can resist, and that is the power of saving gospel preaching. You want to be saved? You only want that because God gave you that desire. He birthed faith into you. He brought you alive. He quickened you. And now you trust Him. It's the power of God unto salvation. 1 Peter 1 and 5 tells us about the power of God. It's not just the power to save you, beloved. It's the power to keep you. For the Bible says, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Oh, I'm tired of people parsing the words. They'll say things like, oh, you can be saved initially, but final salvation depends on something in you. No. Why would you begin in the gospel only to try to complete or perfect your gospel life in the law? Why would you start with the freedom of Christ only to be bound up in the schoolmaster that is the old law? The law couldn't save you. The law can't sanctify a justified man. Only Christ who has become for us our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Salvation, the Bible says, is for everyone who believes. Now, it's very true. I want you to understand, that is a true statement, but it needs to be expounded so that we don't become confused, especially in a world like ours that is so laden with false gospels, half promises and half truths. 1 John 6 and 29 says this, Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. So don't confuse your belief in God as the salvation. Belief is not salvation. You're not saved by faith, by your faith. You are saved because God has allowed you to believe in Christ. Christ is the object of faith. Now, men can believe a lot of things in this world. For many years, we thought radium was a good idea to paint on the tips of watches because it glowed in the dark. And now you can see your pocket watch in the night time. Wasn't that a great idea? And the poor ladies that worked in the workhouses that painted these clocks, the hands and the numbers and the dials, they were told to lift the tip of their paintbrush to put a fine point on the tip of the paintbrush so that when they dipped down in the radium, they could paint with very fine lines. Isn't that lovely? Their jaws rotted off with cancer. So there is a way that seems right unto a man. But the end thereof is destruction. We have our good ideas. We put our faith in a lot of things in this world that lead to naught. But I'm glad to know that if your faith is in Christ, flesh and blood has not revealed that to you. Do you know him today? If you do, then you have encountered the very power of God. The power it takes to raise a spiritually dead man unto newness of life. The power that it takes to take a stubborn old sheep who still is dressed in the remnants of his old fallen flesh. The power to keep him in spite of his stubborn self. God doesn't just save you. The Bible says he keeps you. We just read that verse. We're kept by the power of God for salvation ready to be revealed. Hallelujah. He's a keeping God. He's not only just a saving God, but he is a keeping God. And have you noticed all the bragging goes to God. All the blame goes to us. And that's exactly how it ought to be. And to the Christian, that is a beautiful reality. Because it means that when we boast, we boast in the Lord. And we tell the truth about ourselves just like we tell the truth about God. He is altogether lovely. I am altogether undone. He's perfect. I'm just an old sinner that he saw in his mercy to save. Thanks be to God. There'll never be a thing that changes that until I leave this world and he comes again and he gives me a glorified body and then we can have another discussion. But while we're in this mortal realm, like we are right now, while you've got a pulse in your body, while you've got bones in your meat sack, know this, you're a sinner. And if you're saved at all, it better be by the power of God and not by the wisdom or so-called wisdom of folly filled man. 2 Timothy 2, 25b and 26. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil after being, listen to this now, after being captured by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2, 26. Salvation is likened unto being captured by him to do his will. So yes, everyone who believes will be saved. The question remains, who will believe? And the answer is those who are captured by God to do his will. Aren't you glad that you ran from him until he caught you? Aren't you glad that he came after you? You know, there's a song that I really like. It's a gospel song. It says, God held me close so I wouldn't let go. I love that. I almost let go. You know, there are times that you look in Psalm 73, Asaph talks about how he felt like just giving it all up, but then the Lord caused him to think of his own holiness, of God's holiness. And he entered into the sanctuary of God and God revealed unto him by His grace the truth of the matter. His feet didn't slip. Your feet won't slip. Listen now. God grants the repentance. Everyone who believes will be saved. And why will you believe? Because you have been captured by him to do his will. So says 2 Timothy. So it's clear from all of the passages that the gospel of God's work of reaping a harvest, gathering His people in, granting them repentance, which is a change of our minds concerning where righteousness comes from. You no longer look to your own works. You no longer say stupid things like, well, I'm a member of the church or I've done these things and I gave money to the poor. You don't think about those things as righteousness anymore. You realize that you're lost and undone and you look only to Jesus. And faith in Christ alone for salvation. These are the works of God. God awakens a dead sinner in the same way Christ raised Lazarus from the grave. What did Lazarus have to do with it? His only job was to step to when the Lord of Heaven declared Him, or commanded Him rather, to come out of that tomb. That's what you and I do when the gospel goes forth. We believe it because He gave us the heart of flesh to believe it. And then we say, Lord, we're following You now. And we're going to be stubborn and we're going to be sinful and You're going to have to chastise us and You're going to have to keep us on the path, Lord. You're going to have to grab us with their shepherd's crook and drag us back in line. You're going to have to send Christian folks to tell us when we're doing wrong. And Lord, You're going to send me to do the same thing to those Christian folks when they're in the wrong. And we're going to grab each other out of the ditches of life all the way to glory. But He's not going to let us go. Psalm 119 and 50. This is my comfort in my affliction that Your promise gives me life. Did you catch that? What's the promise? The promise that He'll be a friend that sits closer than a brother. A promise that He who began the good work will be faithful to complete it. What is my comfort in affliction? Not that I get healed every time I pray. I've been, you know, for all the talk of God curing gray hair, I see a lot of gray haired preachers. Well, those that are honest enough not to go to the hair dye store, I guess. God has yet to heal me of my gray hair ailment. But He's still God. And He's still my comfort. He let certain pains slip by that didn't used to happen at all. Now the weather changes and my hands and my knees know it before anyone else knows it. I think I'm better than a meteorologist with the barometric pressure. But my comfort in affliction isn't that I have this postmate relationship with God where I can just order up everything I want a la carte and I can demand it to be done and it happens. No, no, no. My comfort is that His promise gives me life. This body may fail. One day it will. But I know this, that in my flesh I shall see God. He is my comfort in the affliction of this old world. Ephesians 2, 4, and 5. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive. How did He make us alive? He made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. What is the condition of your salvation? Christ. His grace has done the work. His grace has gone your way. Why? He's done all the work. What did He say on Calvary Street? It is finished. Hallelujah. The gospel of God's grace is God's power to make dead sinners alive and new. Praise the name of the Lord. Secondly, the gospel is the revelation of His righteousness. Romans 3, 21 says this. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. So salvation is not God merely looking the other way concerning our fallen nature and our sin debt. People confuse this all the time. They think that God is just arbitrarily letting you slide by while sticking it to the other folks. The gospel is the revelation of the true righteousness required to one day stand in the presence of God Himself. Christ puts the righteousness that exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees on open display by living among humanity. And so the Lord doesn't just forgive us. The Lord pays our sin debt. This is why the Bible says He is just and the justifier. He can't be both unless He provides full satisfaction for the sins of His people. And then He rightly judges those for whom Jesus Christ did not die. This is why He is God. He is sovereign. And He is dread sovereign of this universe. And people do not give God the respect that He deserves in this regard. They want to go around thinking that Jesus died for every single man, woman, boy and girl and then heaven is just going to be the party of all the people that were smart enough to choose Him. That's not the gospel, beloved. To the believer, knowing that Christ's salvation is the righteousness. I want you to catch this. Romans 3 and 21. I'm going to read it again. Romans 3 and 21. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested. That means has been presented, has been shown. Salvation is the very righteousness of God. Salvation is the righteousness. And this means that we can say as Paul, Christ has become for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. However, for those of you who are still lost in sin, this talk about Jesus rings hollow for you. You have no hope of ever attaining God's standard of holiness in your own sinful flesh. And you stand to be eternally judged by the very law Christ fulfilled for His people. And so, I'm going to leave it right there today. We'll catch up the rest next week. And so, we've already talked about the gospel being the power of God and we talked about the gospel being the revelation of God's righteousness. Next week we're going to pick up with the gospel being the satisfaction of God. And then finally, we'll look at the gospel being Christ's righteousness credited to us. And we'll do that next week, Lord willing. You have just heard a message from Pastor Jason Booth of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. To learn more about the good news of Jesus, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org