Christianity is unique because it revolves around the death of its founder. No other religion seeks to glorify death in such a manner, albeit Christ’s death was essential for the glorification of the Church. Man has always struggled with his terminal sinful condition, and righteousness was never attainable until Christ’s ascension. Because of this, we (the church) are now seated in a lofty position of spiritual authority, which took eons to instigate. Join Carl now as he pries open the doctrinal door, identifying the key tenets of justification, glorification, sanctification, and righteousness.
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast (below)…
Friend today we’re talking about the difference between being justified and glorified. Now you might say who cares Pastor? But what I’m about to share today is rudimentary orthodox Christian doctrine and these are facets of the faith that you must be aware of friend! The focus of our discussion will be Romans Chapters 6-8. Here the Apostle Paul reveals the vacillation between the flesh and the spirit, our various temptations, God’s limitless grace and our bondage to sin, overcome by Christ’s monumental sacrifice.
Friend let’s start our broadcast today with Deuteronomy 32 which is such a powerful passage that mentions God’s righteousness. Deuteronomy 32:4 (KJB), “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: For all his ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is he.” Wow…Friend God’s righteousness is immutable; He is the Rock upon which we stand. He is someone to stand on, He is stable, He never changes, He can be trusted and He is for you, not against you friend. God is not a respecter of persons, He is fair, He is the ultimate definition of fair. What He has done for one He will do for another. God’s always faithful friend, He’s faithful to you even we you may not think so, according to His nature revealed in His laws and covenants.
Give God another chance friend, don’t quit on Him as He has never quit on you once. God’s completely above unjust or deceitful treatment. All of His ways are upright. Did you know that in the NT the English words for righteousness and justice are translations of the very same word; they in fact mean the same thing. You see friend, you’ve already been justified by Jesus Christ if you’ve repented and received Him into your heart. The book of Romans clearly shows that God requires a man of perfect righteousness to gain entry into heaven, but none can be found on this earth. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and there is none righteous no not one. This is our dilemma of falling way short of God’s perfect standards.
Only Christ was perfectly righteous and as you’ve entered into the Body of Christ, then you are righteous too. If the head is righteous then the Body is too. Perhaps all of God’s moral attributes can be encompassed in these two aspects: His holiness and His love. It’s interesting that God’s love was not mentioned until the book of Deuteronomy, which means ‘second law.’ Perhaps God wanted to establish His holiness first, before He wanted to reveal His love to us. Friend, God is Holy and mentioned as his most central attribute in scripture. God will never compromise with evil nor will He be party to evil.
Now some people get upset when they read 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die.” Hey I wasn’t in the Garden of Eden in the first place, so why should I die because of what Adam did? I wasn’t even there when it happened! Well believe it or not that’s your rebellious heart talking. Let me put it to you another way, is it fair for Jesus to become sin for you? Is it fair for Jesus to become a curse for you? No it is not.
Myer Pearlman once said, “The outstanding event and central doctrine of the NT may be summed up in the words, Christ died (the event) four our sins (the doctrine).” Christianity is unique friend in the sense that it revolves around the death of its founder, not about how wonderful He was. Christ’s death was consistently spoken of throughout the OT, whether it was the offering of Isaac, or the Passover Lamb or the Levitical sacrificial system or the brazen serpent, all these events point to the coming Christ who would lay Himself down for all humanity, once and for all sacrifice for our sins. As a result we became righteous in His sight, because of what He did, not what we did.
Friend this truth (that we are righteous and justified by Christ) was the very foundation of the Protestant Reformation and we should never forget that. Let me share a doctrinal term real quick here, “Regeneration.” Regeneration has to do with the heart. It’s what occurred on the inside of you when you came to Christ. Regeneration speaks of life coming into you at salvation but justification in contrast refers to your right standing with God as a result of His sacrifice. The truth is for all those attorneys out there, justification is really a legal term which pictures us the sinner before the bar of God ready to receive condemnation for the sins we’ve committed, but instead of being condemned God judicially pronounced us as ‘not guilty.’ We are no longer guilty, because Christ took our guilt or shame or reproach on the cross. Justification therefore includes two things; it delivers us from God’s wrath and makes us righteous before Him. Praise God!
Friend, you might be saying Pastor this is kind of heavy today, what are you getting at? Well to be honest, many people think they might be justified but struggle to believe that God Has forgotten their sins, but have I got a scripture for you, Hebrews 10:16–17 (KJB) “this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.“ Wow praise God, He remembers our sin no more and that’s a wonderful scripture to stand on. God knows all things certainly, but He chooses not to forget and we are grateful for that. So when God justifies the sinner who trusts in His saving Grace all evidence of sin and guilt is wiped out! Praise God! So what about sins after we are saved? Can a Christian sin? He sure can. Remember if we do, we have 1st John 1:9 to stand on, 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Friend, if you’ve messed up, repent today; ask for forgiveness, get off the mat and move on. Don’t wallow in the mire of your sin. Remember that Abraham believed and it was counted unto him for righteousness. It’s time to get right with God and believe again. Friend, justification is a gift. Romans 3:24 says, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Grace cannot be worked for, nor merited but remember for every sin the penalty must be paid as part of God’s justice and that penalty was paid for by Christ for us who literally became sin. So why friend do we still sin even if we are already justified? Because of the flesh! Right now, we’re comprised of flesh and blood, but when Jesus was raised from the grave, He was described as being ‘flesh and bone’, not ‘flesh and blood’, did you catch that friend? When Jesus was raised from the dead in His glorified body, He said to Thomas, Luke 24:39 (KJB) “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”
Friend, Jesus’ blood was spent, He’d delivered it to the Mercy Seat in Heaven, and His blood sacrifice was acceptable before God. What’s even more amazing is that Jesus passed through walls and His glorified body could eat food as well, because He ate breakfast on the sea shores of Galilee, with Peter and the crew, post resurrection. Friend when you receive your glorified body, you’ll no longer be able to sin, because your blood will no longer be pumping through your veins. You will be flesh and bone, just like Jesus and the glory of God will flow though your veins instead. You’ll also be able to walk through walls (wow!) that’s really exciting. We don’t know exactly how this will occur friend but we do know that our bodies go back to the dust when we die and it will also be transformed into this glorified body as I’ve discussed. Paul said the dead in Christ shall rise first, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, but he also said, in 1 Corinthians 15:50, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.” Therefore, the blood that currently flows through our veins and arteries will no longer be present when we enter God’s kingdom in the flesh, so you could say that our resurrected body will have a relationship to our earthly body, as a new plant is related to the seed from which it springs.
You see friend, man is comprised of spirit and soul, not just soul. The Greek word for spirit is pneuma. Soul translates the Hebrew word nephesh and the Greek word psuche. When we die our pneuma and psuche will both go to heaven or Hell. Luke 16 reveals that the rich man had regret and yearned for his brothers to be warned about the everlasting torment and fires of Hell. These are aspects of the soul. Friend, did you know that whether we’re talking about pneuma, nephesh, psuche or ruach, all four of these words basically mean ‘breath’ or ‘wind.’ In Jn 3:8 when talking to Nicodemus some scholars think this verse should read, “The Spirit breathes where He wills.” Friend like the trees in the wind we should bend and flow with the breath of the Spirit. This reminds me of the verse in 1 Corinthians 12:11 (KJB) “But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”
It’s often been surmised by most scholars that all living creatures have souls, but only man has a spirit, but a careful study of the Scriptures, especially Ecclesiastes 3:21 and Psalm 104:25-30 reveal that God granted a spirit and soul to the animal kingdom also. Man is in fact distinguished from the lower creatures by the quality of his faculties, not the number of them. Remember only we are created in the image and likeness of God friend but the animal kingdom is not. God is described as having a soul in Jeremiah, Isaiah and Hebrews. May I remind you that we’re created in His image and likeness. If you want to know what God looks like friend, take a look at yourself. In Romans chapter 6 Paul spends much time revealing our battle with the flesh, yet in chapters 7 and 8 he shows a response to this battle via the process of sanctification.
In chapter 6 we see the victory over sin’s power was achieved by faith and then chapter 8 of Romans introduces the Holy Spirit, a key ally in the battle of the flesh vs. the spirit. He basically reveals the law of God is powerless to overcome sin yet by having the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit we’re now able to overcome sin in this lifetime, as we choose to cooperate with Him. The Holy Spirit both created and sustains man. Every individual on this earth whether or not he serves God is sustained by the creative power of God’s Spirit. The truth is man owes his existence to the two hands of God and the Holy Spirit revealed in God’s word when God said, “Let us make man in our image.” Someone once described the Old Testament as the dispensation of the Father; Christ’s earthly ministry is the dispensation of the Son; and the time between the ascension and second Coming of Christ (which is now) the dispensation of the precious Holy Spirit and I agree emphatically with this assessment.
Friend, if you’ve been saved by the blood of Christ and filled with God’s Spirit, then sin is simply a choice and you have been empowered to resist sin and not give into the flesh because Christ Justified you with His blood. Once we die and go to heaven our potential to sin will no longer exist as our physical bodies will be glorified in the form of flesh and bone just as Jesus demonstrated after He was resurrected from the dead and I personally can’t wait for this wonderful gift. Friend, I realize this session was a bit heavy as we discussed several key doctrinal aspects of the Christian faith. Let me remind you that you are presently justified by the blood of Christ and friend, please choose Christ today if you have not. Place your trust in Him and you will never be disappointed. And then we discussed the fact that although our spirit man and soul are presently justified, but our physical bodies are not yet glorified. We still have sin nature flowing through us because our physical bodies are comprised of flesh, that’s still prone to fall on occasion, yet if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill these lusts of the flesh. Friend, if you’re a regular listener of this show, I would love to hear from you. We are very grateful for you, our precious listeners and we’re so very grateful for the financial provision you send to us, keeping this radio show on air.
Related keyword searches:
