It's Time for Some Good News | Part 2

When God forgives you say, that's good, could it get any better?

Yes, it does. Now what is grace? What is grace? May I give you a definition of grace? Would you listen to it very carefully?

Listen to every word of it. It's the kindness of God shown to one who does not deserve it and can never earn it. Now let me give it to you again. Grace, grace is the unmerited favor and kindness of God shown to one who does not deserve it and can never earn it.

And may I tell you something already? If you're saved, you're going to be saved by grace or you won't be saved at all. Now the good news is the grace. In Romans chapter 3, Paul has been telling us about the bad news, about sin, wickedness, degradation, depravity, all of the things. He's been talking to the heathen. He's been talking to the hypocrite. He's been talking to the Hebrew. He's been talking to humanity. And he has summed it up in Romans chapter 3, verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

That is the bad news that makes the good news good. And so let's begin reading here in chapter 4, verse 1. It says then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found. For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath worth to glory, but not before God. For what, saith the scripture?

Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace. There's our word.

But of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Now actually, what we're going to do in our study today, we're going to see the gospel according the good news, the gospel. And that's what the word gospel means is good news.

We're going to see the good news according to three men. According to Abraham, according to David, and according to Paul. Now first of all, I want you to see the grace, the good news that was discovered by Abraham. What does salvation by grace do? And what did Abraham discover?

First of all, listen. Salvation by grace, it respects God's glory. Now look in verse 2. For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory. But not before God.

Now what that means is just simply this. That if Abraham could be saved by being good, he could boast about it. He could glory in his own salvation, but he could say nice things about himself. But that wouldn't be saying nice things about God.

But when Abraham believed God, he gave God glory. What does salvation by grace do? It respects God's glory. And I'll tell you what else it does. It receives God's gift.

It receives God's gift. Now look, if you will, here again in verse 3. It was counted unto him for righteousness. Now that word counted is used a number of times in this chapter, but if you look at it in the English, you wouldn't necessarily see it. Because the same word is translated imputed, and the same word is translated reckoned. Alright, now listen very carefully.

And it's all going to come together and make sense. Adam sinned was imputed to you. Adam sinned was put on your account.

You know, our son David is a missionary. Joyce and I sometimes want to give him a gift, and rather than sending him a check in the mail, we just say, David, we'll put a check on your account. We'll just add it to your account.

It's there. You can write a check overseas because we're going to put it in your account over here. Now we impute that to his account.

The only way you can write a check for it over there is because we put it on his account over here. It simply means just to charge or reckon or put on your account. Next time you go to the department store, don't say charge it, say impute it.

She won't know what you're talking about, but then you can witness to it. Just say impute it. Charge it to my account.

Put that on my account. Now that's what it means. Now Adam sinned was imputed to you. You say, I didn't vote for Adam. What Adam did didn't have anything to do with me. Oh, well, if Adam hadn't had any children, where would you be?

Think about it. Adam, when he sinned, became a slave of sin, and the son of a slave is a slave. And besides that, you then inherited Adam's sinful nature, and Adam's guilt was put on you. Let me give you a verse for that. Romans 5, verse 12.

That is, death was imputed to all men. We got it from Adam. Sin was imputed to you through Adam.

Got that? All right, now watch it. Adam's sin was imputed to you. Our sin was imputed to Jesus. That's what the gospel is all about. You're in chapter 4. Look, if you will, in verse 25 of chapter 4.

Look at it. It speaks of Jesus, who was delivered for our offenses. Not for his own sin, but for our offenses. Put down 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 21. God hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.

You see that? God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. Jesus was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

Thank God for that. But God made him to be sin for us. God didn't make him a sinner.

He was not a sinner, but God made him to be sin. Adam's sin was put on me. My sin was put on Jesus. Jesus carried my sin to the cross. In Leviticus, chapter 16, there's a ritual there. It's the story of the scapegoat.

Have you ever heard the term scapegoat? Well, in Old Testament times, God gave so many pictures and illustrations of salvation. And what they would do, they would take two goats and bring those two goats to the door of the tabernacle. One goat would be slain. His throat would be cut. The blood would be spilled out. And that would picture Jesus on the cross in agony and blood dying.

That would be dying for us. But then Aaron, the high priest, would take both hands and lay his hands on the head of the other goat, the live goat, called the scapegoat, and confess the sins of the people upon the head of that goat. And then that goat would be led out into the wilderness, never to return, picturing our sins being carried away by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. And when Aaron laid his hands on the head of that goat, the sins of the people of Israel were being placed, imputed, charged, reckoned upon the head of that goat, picturing our sins being laid upon the Lord Jesus.

Now, watch this. Adam's sin was imputed to you. Your sin was imputed to Jesus. And now, thank God, Jesus' righteousness is imputed to us.

That's the gospel. His righteousness is imputed to us. Notice verse 3. It says, "...which Abraham believed God, and it was counted, reckoned, imputed unto him for righteousness." Now, that is the grace that Abraham discovered. Second thing, not only the grace that Abraham discovered, but the grace that David described.

Abraham discovered it. David described it. Now begin reading in verse 6. For even as David also described it, it says, "...the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

Now, you have to understand, as they would read this, they would think of Abraham as the greatest of saints. They would think of David, perhaps, as the greatest of sinners. Because David had committed a terrible, horrible, egregious sin. David had committed adultery. And in order to try to cover that adultery, David had committed murder.

It's a dark and dirty tale. He had just broken God's commandments. And David was worthy of death. But God brought him to a place of repentance. He received the grace of God. And that's what Paul is quoting. It's Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2. Here's what David, after he'd experienced the grace of God, he wrote this, "...blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man in whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Now, you see, there was nothing David could do.

I mean, he deserved death. But the case was hopeless apart from God's amazing grace. That's verse 6, "...even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works." There wasn't anything David could do.

He was hopeless. And God put on his account righteousness. Now, I want you to see how he describes that righteousness. Because this will make you happy if you understand it. First of all, iniquity is forgiven.

Do you see that? Look at it, saying, "...blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven." Now, in order for God to forgive your iniquity, God has to pay the price. There are no free pardons, not in heaven. If any sin is forgiven, the one who does the forgiving is the one who bears the penalty. Now, let's suppose that Bobby stole ten dollars from me. And he comes back and he is so smitten, he says, Pastor, I stole ten dollars from you, and I don't have it to give it back. And I say, all right, Bobby, I forgive you. Now, the minute I forgive him, what happens? It costs me ten bucks.

It costs me ten bucks. You see, somebody pays. So when I forgive that sin, at that moment, I absorb the penalty. That's what Jesus was doing on the cross. God is not overlooking that sin. God himself is paying the price of that sin, and by sovereign grace, he is being saved. Somebody wrote these words, I owed a debt I could not pay. Jesus paid a debt he did not owe.

I owed a debt I could not pay. Jesus paid a debt he did not owe. Iniquity is forgiven, but it's even better than that. Sins are covered in the word. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, verse 7, and whose sins are covered.

You know, even if I forgave him, I would still know that he had done it. But when God forgives, God forgets. God says in Micah, chapter 7, verse 19, I will cast all the sins into the depth of the sea. There are depths in the ocean that nobody has yet probed. As the mountains are high, the depths are deep.

There are places where the pressures are so great that nothing can even sink there. It's as dark, as ink, as black as midnight. And that's where God has put your sins. God says in Isaiah, chapter 38, verse 17, thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

I love that. I've thought about that often. If my sin is behind God's back, and that's where they're going to stay, can God ever see my sin again? Well, my sin's back here. Suppose He turns around to see where they are. They're still back here, no matter where He lives.

He looks. My sins are behind His back. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.

Now, I can measure North Pole to South Pole, but you can't measure east from west. No, it just goes on and on and on and on. You see, David says, oh, my iniquities are forgiven. Yes, hallelujah. But my sin is covered. It is gone. It is buried in the depth of God's forgetfulness. Well, you say, that's good.

Could it get any better? Yes, it does. Now, I want you not to miss this. Look in verse 8. Not only does He forgive you sin, not only does He cover your sin, don't miss this.

Look in verse 8. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord, are you ready for this, will not impute sin. God, when you get saved, will never put sin on your account again. He will not impute sin to you. Now, you say, well, Pastor Rogers, what if I get saved and then I sin again?

Did I hear you say, what if? You know, some people have the idea, well, if I'm living right when I die, I'll go to heaven. If that's what you're counting on, you're going to hell. Well, you say, well, I was pretty good when I listened. I wouldn't trust the best 15 minutes I ever lived. You're going to get me to heaven.

I mean the best, much less some bad ones. You know, we need to understand what sin is. The Bible says to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not to him unto sin. The Bible says whatsoever is not of faith to sin. The Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin. Do you think that your goodness is going to get you to heaven?

No. Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven. Blessed is the man whose sins are covered. And blessed is the man to whom God will not impute sin. If he were to put one half of one sin on your account, you'd die and go to hell. One half of one sin, he's a holy God. But God will not impute iniquity. Now, that doesn't mean you can sin and get by with it.

He'll carry you to the woodshed and beat the daylights out of you. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. That's really why we need to keep a short account with God. But God will never put that sin on your account. If God put that sin on your account, you'd have to get saved all over again.

But God will not impute sin. There was the grace that Abraham discovered. There was the grace that David described. Now finally, there's the grace that Paul discloses. Now look at it here, if you will, finally. Beginning now in verse 6. And this is the wonderful thing. He says, He means by the circumcision, the Jews, they were called the circumcision.

Or upon the uncircumcision also. Now what does all this mean? Well, what Paul is saying is this.

First of all, hey, folks, he's talking to you now. He's talking to Gentiles. And he's saying, look, Abraham discovered it.

David described it. But I want to tell you, it is for everybody. Not just for the Jews, but for the uncircumcised also, the uncircumcision. That's what he's talking about, the Gentiles. Now what he's saying is this.

Now listen very carefully. This salvation doesn't come by ritual. It doesn't come by ritual. You see, circumcision was a Jewish ritual that said, as he says in verse 11, it was a sign and a seal. But he said, when was Abraham saved? Before or after that sign and that seal? Before. Before. How does that apply to us today? Are you saved before or after baptism?

Before. The Bible doesn't say be baptized and believe. It says believe and be baptized. And the minute you believe, you're saved. Now some people say you have to be baptized in order to be saved.

Well, that's ridiculous. If you say you have to be baptized in order to be saved, you know what you do? You take the whosoever out of the Bible. A man in the desert couldn't be saved because no water. An airplane couldn't be saved. No place to baptize him. A man in a submarine surrounded by water couldn't be saved without drowning at the same time by opening the door. I'm telling you, listen, you'd have to say for whosoever shall believe and shall be near water and is fortunate enough to have a preacher of my denomination shall be saved.

Hey, that's silly. The Bible says it sweetly, plainly, sublimely. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. When Peter baptized the household of Cornelius, he said, can any man forbid water that these should be baptized who have received the gift of the Holy Ghost? They'd already received the gift of the Holy Ghost before they were baptized.

Listen to me, friend. What is Paul saying? We see it discovered by Abraham. We see it described by David. And then you see it disclosed by Paul. He is saying it is not by ritual. It is not by resolve.

It is by reception. You just receive God's amazing grace. Well, let me just tell you quickly another little story. He was so distraught. He lived in Paris. He was going to kill himself. He went down to the Seine River that runs through Paris and four times he tried to get enough courage to throw himself in the river Seine.

He couldn't do it. So he went and got some poison. And he was going to take the poison. Three times he put the poison to his lips, but he couldn't do it. So he said, I'll take a gun and I will shoot myself. And twice he took a gun and put it to his temples but could not release the truth. So he took the trigger and then somebody told him about Jesus. And William Cowper wrote these words.

There's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. That's the grace of God. That's the grace of God.

That's the good news. That's what Abraham discovered. That's what David described.

That's what Paul discloses. And, friend, that's what you need is God's amazing grace. Now, not going to be any peacocks in heaven.

Not going to be any boasters in heaven. Only those who have trusted the grace of God. Would you pray like this, Lord Jesus? I need to be saved. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin.

And save me, Jesus. I trust. I trust in your grace and your love. I believe you in your holy name.

Amen. We want to celebrate with you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page at the website. You'll find answers there that you may need about your newfound faith.

There's a response section. Share your testimony with us. Tell us how this message has affected you. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab Discover Jesus at the top of the page.

Again, lwf.org slash radio. Welcome to God's Forever Family. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of this message in its entirety, call 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title It's Time for Some Good News. This message is also part of the Insightful Foundations for Our Faith series. For the complete collection, all 27 powerful messages, call 1-877-LOVEGOD or order online at lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Today, remember what Paul discloses about the grace of God. It doesn't come by ritual.

Rather, it's received as a gift that only God can give. We're glad you joined us for the program today. Tune in next time for more real truth that never changes right here on Love Worth Finding.

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