Equipping Eve: The Great Exchange

Hello ladies and welcome to Equipping Eve, the show where we seek to equip you with fruits of truth from God's Word so that we can stand strong and firm on that Word, not just in an age of deception, as we've said in the past, that's part of it, but just in this age of a fallen world, you know, which has been that way nearly from the beginning, but we need to know God's Word and through that Word know our God, know His nature and His character and who He is and know our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ, and it is only by knowing that Word and knowing our God, the God who we serve, that we can persevere in a world that is dying and fallen and we can know by studying that Word that we, if we have been saved by Christ, are promised an eternity with Him where there is no more pain, no more tears, no more death, no more sin, but until that time we are in a world full of sin, we ourselves still sin, and yet God is good, He has saved us and He is sanctifying us, but we need to know what the Bible says so that we can continue to grow in Christlikeness and holiness and pursue the righteousness that He desires that we pursue.

So that's what we like to do here at Equipping Eve. We like to talk about the Bible. We like to talk about Christ. Is there a better topic? I don't think so. Sometimes we may take a show and look at some false teaching or some false teachers, but it is so important, ladies, that we not get caught up in looking at the false.

You can look at the false all day long, but if you don't know the true, you will be in a world of hurt because you cannot recognize, you can't truly distinguish the true from the false unless you are so buried in the truth of God's Word that the false just jumps out at you.

And so these ministries that constantly are pointing out the false to you, they're always writing and talking about the false teachers, ladies, I'm not here to tell you what to do, but I encourage you to reevaluate how much time you spend on those types of ministries and really pray about and ask God to show you how they are growing and edifying you or if they are growing and edifying you.

I'm not saying that so that you only listen to Equipping Eve. That's certainly not my point here at all. My point is to seek out teachings of the truth. Seek out godly men and their sermons. The internet is a wonderful resource where we can access those things for free, many of them.

And so let's take advantage of the good gifts that God has given us. And as a side note, completely unrelated, if you hear a bell in the background, I might have said this in the past, I don't know if when I've said it in the past if that section of audio hit the cutting room floor or not, but if you hear a bell in the background, that would be my kitty, Charlie, who insists on being in my office with me when I record and yet does not seem to know how to be quiet and it doesn't ever occur to me to take off his collar before I hit the record button.

So there you go. If you hear a bell while I'm talking, it's not an angel getting its wings. No, no. It's just Charlie. Okay, ladies. So what should we talk about today? Well, let's see. Let's open our Bibles, shall we?

Romans as a Series of Great Exchanges

Okay, let's open our Bibles, and let's talk a little bit about some of the teachings that we see in the Book of Romans. So I have recently finished reading a marvelous book that I actually highly recommend.

And that book is called In Christ Alone, Living the Gospel-Centered Life, and it's by Sinclair Ferguson. I don't think I had read anything in the past at length by Sinclair Ferguson, but he is a marvelous teacher of God's Word, and so I think I got a good deal on the Kindle book.

Anyway, it was sitting in my Kindle library, and I thought I'd pick it up and read it. And it's a really marvelous book. The chapters are short, which makes it very accessible. You can feel like you've read two or three chapters, and you really didn't necessarily have to sit and read for hours on end to get there.

And that's good for many of us who have a very busy life, and we feel like maybe we shouldn't just sit and read a book, but you can get through it kind of slowly that way, while still feeling like you've finished a complete thought, because you've finished a chapter or two.

Now the entire book is not about Romans, just to be clear. There is one chapter that stuck out to me that I wanted to pull from today for our discussion, and that I believe is chapter 7, called The Romans Exchange.

So again, the whole book is called In Christ Alone, Living the Gospel-Centered Life, by Sinclair Ferguson. Great book. Highly recommend it. The organization of it, the topics and the organization is a little confusing to me yet.

I feel like I have to go back and look at it again, but you know, he's far more distinguished and celebrated and accomplished than I am. So perhaps it was just my easily confused state that found it just a wee bit disorganized, but the content is fantastic.

So if you can get a good price on the Kindle version, I highly recommend it. Okay, so, as I said, this particular chapter on Romans stuck out to me. It's called The Romans Exchange, and in it, Ferguson talks about how the Book of Romans can be summed up in one word, and he says that is exchange.

So he goes as kind of his theme verse for that to Romans 5, so ladies, if you'll turn with me to Romans 5, very quickly, or slowly, as the case may be. Romans 5, verse 11, is what he points to, but let's back up a little bit to verse 8.

Romans 5, verse 8, Paul writes,. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.

For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

So what Ferguson notes is that this root word of the word reconciliation that we see in the New American Standard, which is what I've been reading from, that the root word for that actually means a change or exchange taking place.

And so when we see this word reconciliation, we're kind of looking at an exchange. So what are we talking about when we talk about reconciliation, when we see this idea of reconciliation in Scripture?

And it's not just here in Romans 5. If you look at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18, you see that Paul writes,. All these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

This work of reconciliation is a divine work of God, and it's a divine gift that God gives to those whom he saves. So reconciliation, again, what is it? How do we get this? Well, we just read in Romans 5 how we obtain this.

We obtain it through Christ. This is through Christ's work on the cross. If you go back to verse 6, while we were still helpless, verse 6 in Romans 5, while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Down to verse 10, if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Second Corinthians, if we jump back to that, chapter 5 and verse 19, we see that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

When Christ offered his own life on the cross as an atoning, substitutionary sacrifice for those who would believe, he brought about the forgiveness of sins for those who would be saved by him. And so, when we are saved, when God brings us to repentance and faith in Christ, we are imputed with the righteousness of Christ, and we are now reconciled to God.

That sin that has separated us from God because we have committed, we have obtained or incurred such a debt against God that we can't even begin to pay it back through our good deeds, but we are reconciled to him, that is made right with God through the work of Christ on the cross.

So that's what we're looking at when we talk about this idea of reconciliation. And so, Ferguson, in his book, writes that he sees the book of Romans as a series of exchanges, and he says that it starts all the way in chapter 1, which makes sense.

And he says that the first exchange is described in chapter 1 of Romans, verses 18 -32. And here he says that man has exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and that's what we see in these verses. So that's the first exchange that he talks about.

So turn to the beginning of Romans, Romans 1, verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them.

For God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore God gave them over, and the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. They exchanged, verse 25, the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever.

Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions. For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the women and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind and to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice.

They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. Wow, what a list. And although they know the ordinance of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Wow, we read those verses and we see the world in which we live, don't we ladies? Especially verse 32. Not only do they practice those things, they give hearty approval to those who practice them. And we see that more and more each day, especially here in America where my primary audience most likely is.

We see it more than we have in the past and it's a disturbing thing to some, but ladies, we can take heart and have hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and in our God who told us this would happen. And know ladies, as a side note, that God is sovereign over these things.

We see that here in these verses in Romans 1, 18 to 32, that God is sovereign over this. He gave these people over to their ungodly passions. And so we see in these verses the exchange that Sinclair Ferguson is talking about.

We see that they exchange the truth of God for a lie. They worship the creature rather than the creator. And we see this exchange where God gives them over to their lusts and they now exchange the natural for the unnatural.

And so we see this first exchange that Ferguson is talking about here in Romans 1. Exchange number two says, Ferguson, is the direct divinely ordained consequence of this, that God exchanged the privilege of man's communion knowledge of him for his righteous wrath against man.

So we just saw that in the verses that we read. And instead of knowing, trusting, and lovingly glorifying God, mankind by its ungodliness and unrighteousness drew forth God's judgment. So we no longer have communion with God, and we saw that exchange even in the garden.

But we exchange that for condemnation by God. That is what the sin of man has done. Ferguson writes, they, these people described in Romans 1, cannot see that the conscience hardening and body destroying effects of the rebellion are the judgment of God.

See, we often tend to think of God's judgment as a future act, you know, the great white throne judgment, and new heavens and new earth, lake of fire, things like that. And there is a future judgment coming, most definitely, the Bible describes that, of course.

But what we don't often consider is that the Bible describes in Romans 1 here is very clear that what we are seeing already is a judgment of God. People are already being judged. Nations are already being judged.

We see this all throughout history. If you read the Old Testament, you can see how nations were judged already. And so Ferguson makes that note that these acts of rebellion are the judgment of God. And he says, his, God's judgments are righteous.

If we will have ungodliness, then the punishment will come through the very instruments of our crime against him. In the end, we have exchanged the light of his presence for present inner darkness and future outer darkness.

And that's so true, and it's sobering to think about, especially when we consider those who we know who have not been saved and who are currently living in the darkness, celebrating the darkness, celebrating their sin.

And it ought to make us pray all the more that God would save those people according to his will, and that he would give us boldness and courage to speak the truth of the gospel to them, whether they are loved ones, coworkers, friends, neighbors, or complete strangers in the grocery store.

And ladies, just for some additional study for you, there is a sermon by John MacArthur. And I can't exactly think of the name of it. It just popped in my head now. A few years back, where he preached on Romans 1 and how it is the current judgment of God on, say, a nation like America.

And I will try to find that sermon and link to it at the Equipping Eve blog. So if you go there to look at the resources for this episode, hopefully we'll have a link up to that sermon as well, because as I recall, it was quite good, quite sobering, and yet encouraging to hear of the sovereignty of God in all things.

Justification, Propitiation, and the Second Adam

Okay, so moving on, the third exchange that Ferguson sees in the book of Romans is, he says, the gracious, unmerited exchange that God provided in Christ. Without compromise of his righteousness revealed in wrath, he writes, God righteously justifies sinners through the redemption he provided in Christ's blood propitiation for our sins.

And so he goes to Romans 3 for this. Romans 3, if you'll turn with me, to verse 21. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.

This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

And so we see that Christ took on flesh and through, as we said, his atoning substitutionary sacrifice, we are granted the gracious, unmerited righteousness of Christ. And we are justified through faith in him.

Verse 24, justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus. If you look at Romans 8, actually, before you get to Romans 8, go to Romans 5, verse 12, therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned.

For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who was a type of him who was to come.

Skip down to verse 18. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, that would be Adam and his sin and the fall, even so through one act of righteousness, there resulted justification of life to all men.

For as through the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. The law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So Christ came and as the second Adam, and his obedience and righteousness as opposed to Adam's disobedience and unrighteousness allows for the exchange of our original sin, our sin nature to be exchanged for the righteousness of Christ that is found in him alone.

Again, that's the imputed righteousness of Christ. So if you look at Romans 8 verse 3, we see what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin.

He condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And so we see that exchange that Christ in his humility came as a man, lived the life that we cannot live, so that he would die as a sinless, substitutionary sacrifice, bear the punishment and wrath of God that we deserve.

And when we are brought to repentance and faith in him, all of his righteousness is imputed to us and we are seen as reconciled and justified before God. Exchange number four, says Ferguson, is that which is offered to sinners in the gospel.

Righteousness and justification instead of unrighteousness and condemnation. Moreover, he writes, this Christ-shaped righteousness was constituted by his entire life of obedience and his wrath-embracing sacrifice on the cross where he was made a sin offering.

In addition to insisting on the fact that this divine exchange is consistent with the absolute righteousness of God, Paul stresses that this way of salvation is consistent with the teaching of the Old Testament.

And so we see back in Romans 3, in verse 21, Paul had written,. Apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. And I think it's really interesting that Ferguson here makes this point, that Paul is explaining that this way of salvation that we see in Christ is consistent with the teaching of the Old Testament.

Now, there are those teachers who say that those in the Old Testament and those in the New Testament era, including ourselves, are saved by a different way. That the Old Testament, they were saved by law, but New Testament, they're saved by Christ.

No, no, no, no, no. There is one gospel and one way of salvation. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, said Jesus. And John 14, 6, that includes those Old Testament saints.

They were looking forward to the promised Messiah. We, by God's grace, are able to look backward and see Christ and his work for us. Ferguson notes that Paul also insists, he says that we contribute nothing to our salvation.

It is all of grace. The sheer genius of the divine strategy is simply breathtaking. I love his language here and his description. It is breathtaking. And it is so important to note, ladies, that our salvation is all of grace.

You don't contribute to it at all. Your good works are as filthy rags before the Lord. Now, when we are saved, we are given a new nature, new heart, new mind, new desires. We still sin, but we desire to serve the Lord and to pursue the righteousness that is found in him alone so that we may be sanctified and grow to look more and more like him.

But those works do not save us. Those works are a fruit of our salvation, not the cause of our salvation. And so you contribute nothing. Salvation is all of Christ. It was his perfect life and his atoning death on the cross that enabled us to be saved.

And it is God who brings us to repentance and faith. Now, finally, Ferguson comes to the last exchange that he sees, the fifth exchange. And he says this happens at salvation. This exchange occurs in us.

He says unbelief and rebellion are exchanged for trust and faith. And we really were just talking about that. I feel like we've been a little one step ahead of what I'm noting from the book here throughout the entire show.

But this exchange comes when we are granted new desires and a new nature. And so we see this exchange that is in us. And if we look at Ephesians 4 as a starting place, verse 17, Paul writes,. So this I say and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer as the Gentiles also walk, and the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.

And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard him and been taught in him just as truth is in Jesus.

Verse 22, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth, etc., etc.

If we turn to Colossians, which largely mirrors Ephesians, if you ever read the two side-by-side. Colossians 3, verse 1,. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry, etc., etc. If we look at 1 John, chapter 3, verse 14, John writes,.

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. And so important to see, ladies. In John, chapter 5, verse 24, our Lord Jesus himself says,.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. And so, not only is our inner man transformed upon salvation, so that we are given this new nature, new heart, new mind, new desires, we pass from death to life.

So we have an inner exchange, and we have a future exchange promised to us that we have passed from death to life, not even future, current, that we will live forever with Christ. And so, these are the great exchanges that Ferguson sees in the book of Romans.

I think you can see them quite clearly as well, ladies. And so, what should that do? That should spur you on to do some further study. Open the book of Romans, read through it, study through it, perhaps find a series of sermons that might help you to learn more about that book.

Stop and ponder Romans 5, and consider the great exchange that is described there. If you would like a study help on the book of Romans, there are a couple of great commentaries out there. A very accessible one is called Discovering Romans by S. Lewis Johnson, and our very own Mike Gabenderoth adapted that from the teachings of S. Lewis Johnson, who many of you know.

I appreciate and use SLJ's teaching quite often, and I appreciate the sermons that are available online as well. Johnson has since passed into glory. So, if you go to sljinstitute .net, you can access, I don't know if it's all of his sermons, but a lot of his sermons there, and so that's a great resource.

You can even get transcripts there as well. But Discovering Romans is a great book to help you study through Romans. If you want a little bit more, if you have even more time on your hands, then you can obtain the 14-volume set of Romans commentaries by Martin Lloyd-Jones, and this is really just his sermons through the book of Romans, and so it's quite lengthy, but it's a great, great resource as well.

I know some maybe don't recommend it because it is so detailed and in-depth, and of course there's repeat information from sermon to sermon, but it's a great commentary set as well. A great thing to just pick up and sit down and read if you ask me.

And you didn't ask me, but you're listening to me, so you're obligated to listen to my opinion as long as you have the podcast going. So there's that. So those are just two resources for studying the book of Romans a little bit further, but of course there are other commentaries and sermons available, and we always encourage you to maybe visit gty .org where you can hear John MacArthur's sermons through his 40-plus years of ministry, and of course his sermons on Romans are there as well, and they're very, very helpful.

And so we see in the book of Romans such great doctrine, such great theology. It's really the magnum opus of the Apostle Paul, and so it's such an important book for us to read, understand, study, love, treasure.

Of course we treasure and love and study, should, anyway, the entire Bible, the entire Word of God, and so don't neglect the whole counsel of Scripture for just one or two passages or one or two books, which can be so easy to do in women's ministries today.

They limit us to Proverbs 31, and that's about it. That's, you know, all us ladies need to know. No, no. No, no, no. We as daughters of the living King are called to know, understand, study, love, treasure, teach to our children and to other women the whole counsel of Scripture.

So do not neglect that Word of God that is so very, very precious to us. All right, ladies, until the next show, get in your Bibles, get on your knees, and get equipped. Thanks for listening.