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Monday, September 1, 2014

P1 - My grand-daddy's sermon justification



Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Introduction: 
The Reverend Boaz Obed Smith was born January 1, 1900 and having been converted to saving faith in Jesus Christ as a young man. Having then felt that God was calling him to preach His word, the then young Boaz Smith enrolled in a three year Bible certificate program at was was then called "Philadelphia School of the Bible". Upon his graduation, the ambitious young preacher and his wife Louise would minister for 30 years in various churches throughout South Eastern, KY.  By the mid to late sixties, following Louise's passing, Reverend Boaz Smith would do various sorts of Bible studies and pulpit supply for roughly another 20 or so years in rural South Western Pennsylvania. This beloved man of God was my paternal grandfather, otherwise known as "Grand-daddy". Having passed away in 1983, my Grand-daddy left an amazing legacy of 60 years of preaching, ministry and evangelism. Several months ago my dad gave me all of my Grand-daddy's sermons. These wonderful sermons, radio transcripts and letters have proven to be a treasure trove. Included in the collection are my grandfather's notes that he took when attending Philadelphia School of the Bible (now Philadelphia Biblical University) back in 1927. 

I will ever cherish this collection, being that I barely knew the man I called "Grandaddy". However I felt it necessary to begin sharing a little bit with the readers of this blog his writings and words as both a tribute and a carrying on of the legacy of a man who lived what he preached and preached what he lived. Today's post features an excerpt from a sermon he preached sometime in the mid-1950's on a chilly October night. The subject of the sermon is on the truth we looked at yesterday: "Justification by Faith Alone". The title of the message is "justification". May you get an immense blessing out of it.


A Sermon on "Justification"
by Reverend B.O Smith
"I want to speak to you tonight on a doctrine that is most precious if understood. So many people misunderstand the doctrine of "justification". The word occurs three times in the book of Romans. "That God might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Here is God's problem to solve: How can God remain a just and a Holy God, and still receive sinful people to Heaven when they die? Because He is Holy, He had to hate sin, and Because He is love, He had to love sinners. The love of God had to pay a fine to the Justice of God. That fine was paid by the death of Jesus.

Man sinned and thereby is utterly corrupt, and sinful, and depraved. There is none good, no not one. None righteous, no not one. No good in anyone that God will accept. Justified freely. Freely is mentioned in (John 15:25) and means: "without cause". God looked down and found none fit to take to Heaven. 

God created man perfect. He created everything perfect. God made him perfect but Satan knew God's holy nature, and that (if provoked), God would need to strike sin in every appearance. So Satan figured: 'if I can seduce Adam, then God will strike him and I'll have the universe all to myself'. 

But instead of God striking lightening when Adam sinned, God came to seek Adam. Satan was correct in assuming that the acid of judgment must fall upon sin and do its destructive judging work, but God's acid of wrath did not start to burn on Adam when he sinned. Instead, God's voice was heard in the garden. There was absolutely nothing in man that could recommend him to God. Absolutely nothing. No one deserves heaven but the Lord Jesus Christ. Every man deserves hell. But a great number of people, all of which who deserve hell, will fill up heaven instead because the grace of God decided they should go there instead. Isn't that wonderful? 

Justified freely by His grace. Nine times in the New Testament you find this word translated. It means in John 15:25 "without a cause". God said that absolute perfection is the only thing that will take us through. Not partly perfect, but total perfection. Christian can be expressed in three phrases: 'I deserve Hell; Jesus took my Hell instead of me taking it; there is nothing left for me but God's Heaven. 

Justified freely by His grace. If God had taken Adam and Eve after they sinned in the Garden of Eden, and sent them immediately to the Lake of Fire, they would had gotten what they justly deserved. If God had not moved towards them but allowed them to raise children, and eventually the earth to have been eventually inhabited with sinners so corrupt, and yet would had brushed them all aside into Hell, God would had been just. The angels would still had sung: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty." God owes absolutely nothing to man."

Closing thoughts:
We will stop there today and continue this message in tomorrow's post. As any good Gospel preacher knows, you begin with the bad news in order to get to the good news. Rejoice today in the loving grace of God that saves sinners who so convinced by His grace freely respond and receive His legitimate offer of salvation to them. More tomorrow....