The NXR Podcast - DAILY TRUTH - Salvation Before The Cross

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, real quick, before we get started, I have a small request.

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00:00:19.680 Jesus said,

00:00:20.800 Man cannot live on bread alone, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

00:00:25.440 You're listening to Daily Truth.

00:00:30.000 If anyone is to be justified, it must be done not on the basis of merit in human effort or will,

00:00:35.580 but rather justified by God's grace.

00:00:39.440 It's going to have to be an unmerited favor.

00:00:42.420 It's going to have to be an undeserved love.

00:00:45.840 So we must be, if we are to be justified by God, it must be by grace.

00:00:49.820 Because all of us have fallen short of his standard.

00:00:51.860 It must be done as a gift.

00:00:54.300 Through what?

00:00:55.220 On what basis?

00:00:56.020 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

00:01:00.740 Now, what is it about the personhood and the work of Jesus

00:01:03.200 that makes it possible for you and I who are wicked

00:01:07.280 and deserving of punishment to be justified,

00:01:12.120 that is, declared righteous by grace?

00:01:14.960 Well, Jesus was put forward, verse 25,

00:01:18.500 whom God put forward as a propitiation,

00:01:21.500 means a pleasing sacrifice,

00:01:23.320 as a sacrifice for sin, a payment, an atonement that was satisfying of God's justice.

00:01:31.760 And God put Jesus forward as his propitiation by his blood, meaning by his life.

00:01:37.520 That's what blood is referring to.

00:01:39.240 It's the source of life by his very life.

00:01:41.740 It cost Jesus his life.

00:01:43.320 To be received, how is it that some people are recipients of this grace

00:01:47.600 that is afforded to us by the death of Jesus?

00:01:51.700 How is it that some receive this grace and others do not?

00:01:54.760 Well, justification is by grace alone, the free gift of God,

00:02:00.180 but it is received through faith alone.

00:02:02.880 So we're not saved by faith.

00:02:04.800 We are saved by grace, and there's a difference.

00:02:07.300 We are saved through faith.

00:02:09.460 Faith is the instrument which God gives us.

00:02:11.340 It's not something in and of ourselves that we conjure up,

00:02:13.660 that we muster up, right?

00:02:15.220 You cannot work yourself into this kind of trust.

00:02:20.780 this kind of belief. So faith is a gift, and it's a gift that God gives us to be used as the

00:02:27.480 instrument to lay hold of his gracious gift of justification, which is accomplished on the basis

00:02:34.160 of Jesus's blood, his life, his substitutionary death. Now, all of this, second half of verse 25

00:02:41.400 now, was to do what? It is to show, that is to prove, display God's righteousness, his holiness,

00:02:48.700 the fact that he is uncompromising, he is perfectly moral and good because in his divine

00:02:55.800 forbearance, that is in his patience, his long suffering, his slowness to anger, he passed over.

00:03:03.360 There it is. It's the same word that Nathan speaks. Very similar. The same word that Nathan

00:03:07.840 speaks to David in 2 Samuel chapter 12. The Lord has put away your sin. He has passed over. And

00:03:14.880 what does it say? Back to Romans 3, end of verse 25. In his divine forbearance, in God's patience,

00:03:21.360 he put away former sins. Former to what? Former to the cross, which would be what?

00:03:27.700 Old Testament saints. The sin of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David. David. Now, verse 26.

00:03:38.600 It was to show his righteousness at the present time.

00:03:44.220 Some translations say the proper time.

00:03:47.100 God had always planned to save a people for himself by grace through faith in Christ.

00:03:55.000 So that he, he being God, might be, and I love this, just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

00:04:03.040 Now, just meaning so that he might be uncompromising.

00:04:07.160 He might be holy and perfect and justifier, meaning the one who graciously declares other

00:04:17.460 people to be perfect, even though they don't deserve it.

00:04:20.900 So what did God desire to do?

00:04:22.380 And what did he desire to prove and show and display about himself?

00:04:25.380 God desired to be both just and justifier.

00:04:29.920 Another way of saying it, justifier, meaning declaring someone else righteous who doesn't

00:04:33.980 deserve to be declared righteous.

00:04:35.240 So it's done on the basis of what?

00:04:37.160 grace. So God desired to be just and gracious. And I've often said, and I'll say it once more now,

00:04:43.900 that the cross of Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the place where both the justice and

00:04:48.500 the mercy of God kiss. The death of Jesus and his atonement, his substitutionary work on the cross

00:04:56.620 for sinners is the way that God is able to deal mercifully with wicked men without compromising

00:05:02.560 his holiness and justice at the very same time. And this is how all people have been saved. So

00:05:09.420 it's kind of a cheat answer, but it is the Bible's answer. How were Old Testament saints saved? The

00:05:15.480 very same way that we are. It's as though the cross of Christ is this fountainhead that flows

00:05:23.400 into two separate streams, one forward and one back. The Old Testament saints were saved by grace

00:05:30.040 through faith in Christ, looking forward through the messianic prophecies. The very first one that

00:05:35.740 we have is all the way back in Genesis 3, that through the woman's seat, speaking of Christ,

00:05:43.380 that he ultimately, his heel would be bruised by the serpent, but he would crush the serpent's head.

00:05:49.100 How were Adam and Eve saved? Certainly wasn't obedience. They failed at that. How were they

00:05:53.920 saved. They had faith in the serpent crusher. Now, see, the difference between us is they looked

00:06:00.920 forward. We're looking back. And as they were looking forward, the mystery of redemption

00:06:06.640 was far more mysterious for them. But they still saw a Redeemer. And they placed faith in that

00:06:14.120 Redeemer. And through their faith in that Redeemer, they received grace and forgiveness.

00:06:20.160 No one has ever been saved any other way.

00:06:22.280 You and I, the difference is we're looking back

00:06:24.200 with more clarity because of the testimony of the apostles,

00:06:28.300 because Jesus has come in the flesh.

00:06:30.700 Thanks so much for listening.

00:06:31.940 But real quick, before you go, do us a small favor,

00:06:35.140 take a moment and leave us a five-star review

00:06:37.540 if you enjoyed the show.

00:06:39.140 This is undoubtedly the best way that you can help us

00:06:42.400 get this biblically faithful content

00:06:44.380 to as many people as possible.

00:06:46.540 Thanks so much.

The NXR Podcast - July 04, 2022

DAILY TRUTH - Salvation Before The Cross

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