To be justified means to be declared righteous. That is to say, God looks at me and says, Well, the fact is, you're not righteous, but I impute to you the righteousness of Christ. And therefore, clothing you, as it were, as Isaiah puts it, in the robe of righteousness, I now see you as righteous, because your unrighteousness is covered by Christ. That's a declaration. That's what justification means.
Welcome to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Even the most seasoned Christians, and certainly new believers, will come across Bible questions that they don't know how to answer. Maybe it's a question like, how should I confront someone in sin? Or maybe it's about world events and whether the Bible has anything to say about them.
Well, today on Grace to You, you'll hear John MacArthur answer some challenging questions from his local congregation. Maybe one or two questions that you have had.
So follow along now as the QA session begins. Paul says it's better to depart and be with Christ. And Jesus told the thief on the cross: Today you will be with me in paradise. When we depart from this earth, I know we're not given the new body right away, but are we in heaven? Then When we get to heaven, those that are in heaven, Do they know?
what's taking place here on earth.
Now if the answer is null Yeah. What? In Revelation six. It says And when he broke the fit seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God. and because of the testimony which they are maintained.
And they cried. cried with a loud voice, How long, O Lord, holy and true? Wilt thou refrain from judging. and avenging our blood. On those who dwell on the earth.
Okay.
Well just if you can just I got you. First of all, the first question that you asked is when we depart. Do we go immediately to heaven? And I think the answer Scripture gives is yes. I think it's clear.
from perhaps three passages. Uh one of them would be Philippians. A chapter. One Where he says in verse 23, I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ. That statement to depart and be with Christ leaves no room for anything in the middle.
to depart to be with Christ. And we know where Christ is. He's at the right hand of the throne of God on high, right? We see him in the vision of Revelation 4 and Revelation 5. And where is he?
He's the lamb in the midst of the throne. And John says that throne was in heaven because he was caught up to heaven to see it.
So to depart and be with Christ is clearly the promise. That is given to the believer. who dies. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Five.
Also, Says, and I think this is equally strong, verse 6 of chapter 5, 2 Corinthians, while we are at home in the body. We are absent. From the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. Verse 8, we are of good courage, and I say, prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:8. To be absent from the body, to be at home with the Lord. To depart is to be with Christ. And I think one other scripture perhaps that we could add to that. Would be the text of Hebrews 12:23, where you have the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are in heaven.
Hebrews 12, 23. Second question. The US, do they know what's going on on earth? And the answer to that question is they They know what went on. There's no reason to assume that all of a sudden they have had a blanked out memory.
Of the past. I think it's a selective memory because if they could remember evil, if they had the capacity to remember and cogitate with evil, they could. put themselves in a position where sin could influence them.
So I think what they can do at that point in time is to remember what occurred on earth, but they remember it with uh a pure mind so that it never degenerates into an evil thought. And what you have then in Revelation 6 are not people in heaven who are watching what's going on in the world. There's no reason to assume that they do that. In fact, all that we know about heaven is that we will contemplate the Lord and we will contemplate his throne and we will contemplate his glory and we will be face to face and we will know as we are known and the Lamb is all the glory of that place and so forth and so on.
So I don't believe that there's anything going on on earth that can in any way distract them from the preoccupation that they have with the living Christ.
So, that what you have in Revelation 6 are people who are focused on Christ, who are enamored with the glory of Christ, who are so overwhelmed with who He is that they are pleading with Him. To exercise the authority, to bring the world into harmony with His glory.
So I think that the vision that elicits the prayer is not the vision of the problems in the world, or even necessarily the memory specifically of their suffering, as much as it is the preoccupation with the right that Christ has to be all in all and to be fully exalted.
Okay.
Okay, thank you. You're welcome. I think you understand what I'm saying. I don't think people are in heaven looking down on earth. I don't think Hebrews 13, Hebrews 12, I mean, has any reference to that when it says we're compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses.
You know that passage, and you probably have heard sermons where you've got all the saints in heaven and they're in a big arena and you're down there running and they're watching you. And I don't think that's what that means at all. I think what you have there is a great cloud of witnesses, witnesses to what? Not witnesses of you, but witnesses to the validity of a life of faith as described in chapter 11. They are living In eternity, as witnesses to the validity and the benefit of a life of faith.
It isn't that they're sitting in an arena watching us do what we do. The glory of Christ would make us very disinteresting to them. And I think the only reason that they even pray about what's going on on earth is that Jesus Christ might have the fullness of glory and worship and majesty that he is due. And how long is he going to tolerate anything less when he's as glorious as he is?
Okay.
This is just theological. I don't know how much practical application it has to it, but I think I have a few. I have to hurry, I'm told. Between Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 and between those verses and 10.
Something happens after salvation. And it's denoted by the word created. God creates us unto good works. And then um Yeah. Ephesians 4:24, we're told to put on the new man.
created in holiness and righteousness. With uh and um So God created. Creates righteousness in men.
So, couldn't we say that at times when we're walking in the Spirit? And not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, the Christian becomes innately righteous and not just imputed righteousness? Yes. Yes, that's a very important question. What he's asking is: at the time of conversion, Is there only a forensic righteousness?
Or an imputed righteousness, or a declared righteousness, which is, by the way, what justified means. To be justified means to be declared righteous. That is to say, God looks at me and says, Well, the fact, the reality is, you're not righteous. But I impute to you the righteousness of Christ. And therefore, clothing you, as it were, as Isaiah puts it, in the robe of righteousness, I now see you as righteous, because your unrighteousness is covered by Christ.
That's a declaration. That's what justification means. But justification cannot be separated from sanctification. You are declared righteous in justification, and then the process of making you righteous begins to function. That you have put on Christ.
And yet you must put on Christ. We used to say it's becoming what you are. You are righteous in Christ, now act like it. And I think that's what sanctification is. I think that that process begins at salvation.
You're created unto good works, there is a life principle in you that produces those good works. And you have the ability in your fallen nature to resist that effort on God's part. And that's why there are commands in the New Testament for you to line up with the power of the Spirit and let him work that through you. But I am convinced clearly in Scripture that there is not just a declared righteousness, not just a forensic righteousness. but a real righteousness that is wrought in the heart of a believer.
There are a number of reasons for that. Textually, you can see frequently that salvation is even referred to by the word sanctified. That means to be set apart from sin. You're not only declared righteous, you are set apart from sin.
So, both those realities go together. Good question. Hi, Dr. MacArthur. My question comes from John 3, and particularly verse 5, where Jesus says, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
And my question is: what did he refer to when he said, One has to be born of the water, because I know it doesn't mean we have to be baptized to be saved. It's a good question. Through the years, there have been a number of different suggestions. In America, just before a woman has a baby, There's an expression that we use, we say a woman's water breaks. And I, when I was very young, used to hear people preach and say that what it means is you have to be born twice.
You have to be born of water. That is, that you're, you know, you're. In that sack of fluid in your mother's womb, and so you have to, and that water breaks, which means you have to be physically born.
So that Jesus was saying to Nicodemus, You have to be physically born first and then spiritually born. The problem with that interpretation is twofold. One, why would he tell a grown man he needed to be physically born? It was obvious he'd already passed that test. Secondly, Secondly, the Jews didn't call that water.
They didn't have that colloquial expression for that fluid we have, calling it water.
So you can't read some kind of Americanism back into that. Others have said it does refer uh to being baptized, but you have to remember that Christian baptism isn't even instituted until Acts chapter 2. What does it mean? Very simply, it is a reference to. The prophet Ezekiel.
And if you Remember, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a teacher He is a teacher of the Jews. In fact, in verse 1, it says he's a ruler of the Jews. That would put him in a very preeminent place. In fact, I believe the definite article is there, the ruler of the Jews.
And those who ruled over the Jews were in religious authority, not Political or military authority. And so, how would Nicodemus have understood it? Would he have understood it as Christian baptism? No. Would he have understood it as the physical birth and the water breaking?
No. How would he have understood it?
Well, the answer goes back to Ezekiel. And there was a very famous passage in Ezekiel that every teacher in Israel knew because it was the promise of the new covenant. And in Ezekiel 36, verse 25, God made this promise to Israel about a new covenant. He said, Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will be careful to observe my ordinances or my commandments.
Now, what Ezekiel is writing there is that the day is going to come when the Lord will wash your heart. He'll wash your life, he'll wash your inner man, he'll put a new heart in you, and he'll put his spirit in you.
So, when Jesus talks to Nicodemus and says, You must be born of the water and the Spirit, Nicodemus knows immediately that he is saying, I am come to bring the fulfillment of the promised. New covenant. promised to and through Ezekiel, okay? See, his is the Jewish Old Testament context. And so it would be Actually, what the Apostle Paul calls the washing of regeneration.
The washing the internal washing of regeneration. and the renewing that comes. By the Holy Spirit, that's Titus 3:5, where you have both the water and the Spirit.
Okay.
Thanks. Good question. Are there degrees of sin as far as? I'm thinking of Uh lusting in your heart versus uh adultery.
Well, I think we would have to say that There are degrees of sin, yes. Just from the practical standpoint, I may entertain a thought of sin briefly. I may entertain that thought at length. I may allow that thought. Fight.
to become a deed, I may allow that deed to become a habit.
So, there certainly would be degrees of sin. And the Lord would say: the first time you have the thought, deal with it then. And if you continue to have it, deal with it. And if you start to do the act, deal with it. And if it's become a habit, deal with it.
I mean, at any point in the process, the Lord would want us to halt it and not carry it to the next degree. To the next expression. Yes, I believe there are degrees of sin. I believe sins of thought are an abomination to God because any iniquity, no matter how small, abominates God. But from the standpoint of practicality God will bless you if you cease from your sinning.
God, I'm sure, would be Grateful. If the thought of sin never became the act of sin. If it was dealt with at the point of the thought, you understand what I'm saying?
So from God's standpoint, It isn't, you can't just say, well, I thought the thought, I might as well do the deed. I did the deed, I might as well make it a habit. I don't think so. I I don't think so.
So God would be satisfied if you just stop over here. And not convince yourself that because you've thought the thought, you're as good as having done the deed, and you might as well let it run its course. No. And there's another component to that, and I think it perhaps is worth mentioning. Um And that is in Hebrews 10.
And here is a specific sin that. Certainly brings about a severe degree of punishment. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 29. How much severer punishment Do you think he will deserve Who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace? What's he saying?
Well, all All those who aren't saved go to hell. All those who do not come to God through Jesus Christ will go to hell. But the hottest hell and the severest punishment is reserved for those who knew the most fully the gospel and trampled on it. If a person um Rejects God. Never hears the gospel, doesn't live up to the light they have, is indicted on the basis of Romans chapter 1.
They will suffer punishment. But it won't be like the punishment of one who. has come to understand the gospel. Come to understand what Christ did, who he was. fully understand that and trample it under his feet.
That person will suffer the greater punishment.
So, I think there are degrees of sin from the practical standpoint, and there are definitely degrees. of punishment which would reflect back on the level of one's sin.
So I think the answer to the question is yes. And I think what God would want you to do in your life is to cease at whatever degree you have reached. and not let it go any more beyond that. And the wonderful Truth is God wipes out and blocks away. the past and remembers it no more.
So the sooner you cease, the sooner it's forgotten.
Okay.
Over here are we? Yes, I'm Pastor John, I have a question. The Trinity, how could there be three in one? Yeah. By the way, this is Stephen Kelly's daughter.
I know who that is. I know who that is. Honey. I haven't got the faintest idea. But there are three in one.
And it it's It's not something that I can understand in my... Puny mind. But God is one. In essence, and yet manifests himself at all times in three different persons. I've heard all kinds of.
kind of silly little descriptions of it like somebody said it's like H2O H2O can either be steam, water, or ice. That doesn't do it for me. But you understand what they're trying to say. The problem with that argument is it can't be. steam, water, and ice all at the same time.
That's the nature of God. And God is one of the things you want to learn about God is: God is beyond comprehension. You know, there are some things you just don't understand. You just can't understand them. And no matter how hard you try, you can't understand them.
And if you work at it harder and harder, you still won't understand them. And if you keep doing that, you'll find yourself under the bed saying the Greek alphabet. Because you're trying to unscrew the unscrutable. It's just impossible to understand, but God is three in one, and He's so far beyond us. That we can't fully comprehend what that means.
I know this. God is one. That's clear. The Lord our God is One, Deuteronomy 6.4. And at the same time, within the oneness of God.
The Father loves the Son. And the Son loves the Father. And the Spirit loves the Father and the Son, and the Father and the Son love the Spirit, and they work together in perfect harmony. And they're not just blended together because they talk to each other. How that Can be explained humanly, I don't know.
That's one of those things you just believe, okay?
Alright um Go ahead. Hi, John. I just had a question. I was reading in Genesis and I'm coming across where It's kinda confusing to me. That I was wondering why different people had more than one wife.
Is it because they were in the Old Testament? And they weren't in the new yet? Or did God allow it? Was it sin? Yeah, it's always sin.
You go back to Genesis. And God designed one man, one woman, leaving, cleaving for life. That's always God's standard. In the Old Testament period. People who violated that suffered.
Read the rest of the story. I mean, look at the life of David. Look at the life of Solomon. Look at other people who had more than one wife. bigamists or polygamists.
And you will always see Trouble. Distress. Difficulty. But at the same time, There's a certain sense in which God was patient. With To put it in maybe terms you can understand.
The scripture is very clear about marriage. But God was very patient. in the early years. You know, the Apostle Paul talks about it in the book of Acts. He says there was a time.
That God overlooked to some degree these things. The times that God winked at that, just kind of looked away. There needed to be the Progress of Revelation. the full bloom of spiritual truth. And in the process of that unfolding, God was very patient.
And God was very gracious. And I'll tell you, just in case you think that's odd for God, take a look at your own life. You're not dead. Yeah. And neither am I.
And maybe our thing isn't polygamy, but there's a lot of other stuff for which we had every reason to be killed by God, right? Amen. If the wages of sin is death.
So the fact that in those early years when the world was filled with bigamy and polygamy, it starts right off in the book of Genesis. You see it right after God lays down his law and then the fall and then the mess. And what do you have? You have prostitution, incest, homosexuality, polygamy, all right in Genesis. And God is simply expressing what happens in the fall.
He never advocated it. There were times when he restrained his judgment. Oh, I see.
Okay.
That's all. Thank you. Yes, uh have a verse to uh that You can interpret uh For John. Chapter 20, verse 23. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them.
If you retain the sins of any You have been retained. They have been retained. Right. This is a verse that Catholic priests use to uh claim the right to forgive sin. Jesus said this, by the way.
on other occasions. Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew calls the keys to the kingdom to open and close the door and let people in and out. That was essentially the gospel, the saving gospel. And so I can say to a person, your sins are forgiven or your sins are retained, not ipso facto on my authority, but based upon how they respond to Jesus Christ. And Jesus is saying to them, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, And you become my witnesses, and he breathed on them really as a symbol of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2.
He was anticipating that great event. And he was saying to them, of course, when the Spirit comes and the death and resurrection has taken place and you are empowered with the gospel on the basis of how they respond to that gospel, you can affirm their sins either to be forgiven or retained. 'Kay. Thank you. What are the symptoms of being chastened by the Lord and how can you tell it's from Him?
What is chastening? It might be physical illness. It might be a loss of joy. David says, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Make Make these bones which literally ache.
Be healthy again. He was feeling physical pain. In Psalm 32, he says, My life juices are dried up. His blood flow was probably restricted. His saliva problematic.
The fluid that conducts the impulses on his nervous system affected as physiologically we know that trauma can do. It may mean it may be physical. It could show itself in that traumatic way. It may be the tremendous oppressive burden of guilt. We know that David felt that as he cried out against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
So, if God is chastening you, my personal conviction is if God is chastening you, He wants you to know it. And so, if you seek to know why these things are happening in your life, I think you'll know. But you're really the only one who can know, unless I know you're living in sin, and I can say to you, there's every reason to assume this is chastening. Look at your life. If I can't see that, then only you before the Lord God can know.
And I know what happens in my life if things are difficult and there are trials in my life. The first thing I do is do a spiritual inventory. And go through my life as carefully as I can to see if there's anything in my life that isn't right. If I get through that inventory and I can't, and I'm not holding on to a sin, you know. I may find some things, but I confess them, let go of them, and I'm not holding on to them.
Then I can assume that maybe this isn't the chastening. Maybe this is a strengthening. The only way ultimately to know that, unless your sin is widely known or obvious, is to do an inventory before the Lord.
Okay.
Good question. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. Today, you heard John Field Bible Questions from members of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.
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Now, for the entire Grace to U staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Keep in mind, Grace TU Television airs this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378. And then be here next week as John MacArthur helps answer the question, If God's will is so important, Why can't I find it? That's the title of John's upcoming study. Join us here for another 30 minutes of unleashing God's Truth.
one verse at a time. On Monday's grace to you.
