Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 442, Praise Him, Praise Him. Let's
all stand together, number 442. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory, strength and honor. Give to His holy name like a
shepherd. Jesus will guard His children
in His arms. He carries them all day long. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. Rock, our hope of eternal salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who
bore our sorrows, love unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals loud with hosannas
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming. ? Over the world victorious ?
Power and glory ? Unto the Lord belong ? Praise Him, praise Him
? Tell of His excellent greatness ? Praise Him, praise Him ? Ever
in joyful song Please be seated. Good evening. We're going to
read Psalm 87 for our call to worship tonight. Psalm 87. I want to thank Michael and Robert
for their faithfulness to prepare and preach Christ Sunday. I've heard so many good reports,
and I look forward to listening to the messages. Your brethren
in West Virginia send their love, and I told them Sunday morning
in Cottageville, I said, I don't know if y'all have considered
this, but seeing how Jimmy is my nephew, a bunch of you folks
are now related to us. So that's a that's a good thing
and Carl and I believe we had a chance to go visit them in
Fairmont on Monday and they they love you all so much Wish they
could be here that they they send their send their love Psalm 87 His foundation, behold,
I lay in Zion a foundation. We have a city which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. That foundation's Christ. His
foundation is in the holy mountains. This is the holy mountain, this
is Zion, this is the church. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are
spoken of thee, O city of God, Selah. I will make mention of
Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and
Tyre and Ethiopia. This man was born there. The
Lord has a people among every tribe, nation, tongue, and people. And of Zion it shall be said,
this and that man was born in her. This is where the Lord births
his children into his family through the preaching of the
gospel. And the highest himself shall
establish her. The Lord shall count, and when
he writeth up the people, This man was born there, Selah. As well, the singers as the players
on instruments shall be there. All my springs, all the fountains
of grace are in thee. What a promise, what a place
for us to be able to come. Let's pray together. Oh, our merciful heavenly father,
we come before thy throne of grace, poor and needy. Lord, we don't have anything
and we can't do anything. Oh, how we pray that you'd be
pleased to send your spirit in power, enable us to plant our
feet on that foundation, the rock of ages, The precious stone,
the cornerstone, the one that you have laid. Lord, that in
him, in him, we would, we would experience the fountain of your
grace, the blessings of your mercy, the hope and assurance
of our salvation. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 268. 268 from the Hart Act. 268. How firm a foundation, ye Saints
of the Lord! It is laid for your faith in
His excellent Word. What more can He say than to
you He hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled. Fear not, I am with thee, O be
not dismayed, for I am thy Son. will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand, upheld by my gracious, omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not be overflow,
for I will be with thee thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee
thy deepest distress. When through fiery trials Thy
pathway shall lie, My grace all-sufficient shall be Thy supply. The flame shall not hurt Thee,
thy only design, thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake. Please be seated. By way of introduction, I'd like
to begin in 1 Kings chapter 10, and then we'll be moving to Romans
chapter 3. 1 Kings chapter 10. I've titled this message, Good
Answers to Hard Questions. Good Answers to Hard Questions. What kind of questions do you
have? And have you received a good answer to the questions concerning
your soul? Most folks aren't asking those
kind of questions. But the Queen of Sheba was, look
at verse 26 in chapter 9, and King Solomon made a navy of ships
in Ezeongaber, which is beside Eloth on the shore of the Red
Sea in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy his
servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea with the servants
of Solomon. And they came to Ophar and fetched
from thence gold, 420 talents, and brought it to King Solomon.
Now, from what I understand, Ophar and Sheba were in the same
area in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula. And so,
here's a picture of Solomon, a picture of Christ, sending
His servants, fetching gold, taking the message of the Gospel
down to the far reaches of the world, and the Queen of Sheba,
notices this navy. And she obviously has some encounter
with the servants of Solomon because she heard about him.
And look what it says in verse 1 of chapter 10. And when the
queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name
of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. So here she travels all the way
from Sheba to Jerusalem to bring her questions. These weren't
questions about worldly manners. These were spiritual questions.
The Lord had put on her heart a concern for her soul, and he
had sent to her messengers from Solomon. who told her something
about the name of the Lord. And she had some hard questions.
She wanted to know how can a man be right with God? How can God
be just and justify sinners? How can I have hope and assurance
of my salvation? These weren't the kind of questions
that the folks today are asking. Who's gonna be the next president
of the United States? Is World War III gonna break
out? What's gonna happen to the economy? What about the healthcare system?
All the questions that men consume themselves with, this woman had
questions concerning the name of the Lord. Who is God? And how can I be right with him? And she came to Jerusalem with
a very great train with camels and bare spices and very much
gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon,
she communed with him of all that was in her heart." These
weren't just the musings of curiosity in her mind concerning the things
of the world. These were the issues of the
heart. This had to do with eternal life. I want to know God. I want
to know how am I going to stand before a holy God. And Solomon told her all her
questions. He answered all her questions.
All the hard questions that she had, and there was not anything
hid from the king which he told her not. He gave her a clear, concise,
complete revelation of the gospel. And she went back home with her
questions answered. Oh, I pray the Lord will put
onto our hearts questions concerning our soul. Not the things of this
world. These things are going to pass.
You've heard me say before, it's not original. Troubles that can be solved with
money and time are not really troubles. And all the things
of this world will be eventually solved with either money or time. But there's one trouble that
you and I have that no amount of money, and all eternity won't
solve. I've got a sin problem. I've
got a need to be reconciled to God. I've got to have hope. I've got to have assurance of
my salvation. I've got to have peace with God. These are the hard questions.
These are the questions that matter. The only questions that
matter in the end Now, one of the things that the
Holy Spirit gave to the Apostle Paul was a wonderful way of declaring the
gospel by asking questions. If you'll turn with me in your
Bibles to Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. It's a rhetorical method of teaching
and preaching. It's a good way to preach. It's
a good way to teach. Ask a question and then answer
the question. And that's what the Lord does
here. He's asking the hard questions. The questions that He puts in
our hearts when He does for us like He did for the Queen of
Sheba and calls us to come to the wisest man that's ever been. One greater than Solomon is here
among you. And the Queen of Sheba, the Queen
of the South, the Lord told the Pharisees would stand in judgment
of them because the one she came looking for was the one standing
in their presence and they weren't interested. Lord, give me an
interest in Christ and give me some answers to my questions
and comfort my heart with hope, peace, forgiveness, everlasting
life. Look at verse 19 in Romans chapter
3. Now we know. Now we know. Here's a question. What do we
know? We know from the word of God
what our natural state is before God. What is our natural state
before God? We know. that whatsoever things
the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that
every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty
before God. Now that's my natural state before
God. That's your natural state before God. The judge of all
judges has dropped the gavel of his justice and he has declared
all men guilty. guilty. There's no recourse. There's no loopholes in the law.
There's no appeal. There are no exceptions. The
law shows no mercy. All men, naturally, born of Adam,
I was listening to the news recently and they were talking about the
crime of treason being a capital crime. If treason against our
country deserves the death penalty, how much more does treason against
God deserve the death penalty? And yet that's exactly what we
did when we stood in our Father Adam and said, no God, I'm going
to set myself on the throne of God. And everything in the law
of God says to the natural man, guilty. The wages of sin is death. God told Adam in the garden,
in the day in which you eat of this fruit, you shall surely
die. And you know, those that are
under the law, and that's how we come, we come into this world,
under the law. Those that are under the law,
the law says to them, guilty. Never for a moment have you and
I been able to satisfy one jot or tittle of God's law. Every
word of his law stands in judgment of us. And every word of it says guilty. Guilty. You know that's your state. Another question that men have
is, what about all the sickness and the sorrow and the suffering
that's in the world? What's the reason for that? Sin. There was a time when there was
no sickness, there was no sorrow, there was no suffering. Man walked
in innocence, in perfect union with God and enjoyed his presence
without any problems. Heaven on earth, the garden. And when we sinned, all these
things came into the world and came into our experience. And
the rebellion against God is so much worse than the world
thinks it is. Our sin is so much worse than
we think, than the natural man thinks it is. But you know that
the law says guilty. Man struggles with what, how
could a holy God, how could a loving God allow so much suffering and
so much sorrow in this world? And our question is, why isn't
there more of it? Why isn't there more of it? And
the reason is because God restrains the evil of man, and God restrains
Himself. God's a God of mercy. With the
rebellion that we are guilty of before the law of God, hell
ought to be our sentence. And it ought to be instant. And
it's not. But you know, those that are
under the law, Guilty. Guilty. That's all the law says
is guilty. Not only have we forfeited the
blessings of God, but we've set ourselves at enmity with God,
and we are by nature opposed to God. And that God doesn't
send His wrath and judgment against us sooner and quicker than He
does. It's a testimony to His mercy. It's a testimony to His grace. The wonder of wonders is that
things aren't more evil than they are. The second question is, is there
anything that I can do to change my standing before God? If a person does have any interest
in spiritual things, the natural question that comes to their
mind is, what can I do to inherit eternal life? I've got to be able to do something
to atone for my sins. I've got to bring something to
God. What does God say? Look at verse 20. Therefore,
therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. No, nothing I can do. I can't
satisfy the demands of God's law. I can't bring anything to
God to atone for my sins. I can't justify myself. The law
says guilty and there's nothing I can do to satisfy the demands
of God's law. God requires absolute perfect
obedience to his law and he will not be satisfied with anything
less. These are hard questions, aren't they? These are the kind
of questions that most folks aren't asking. And if they get
anywhere close to asking them, they always come to the wrong
conclusions, don't they? They make the law their rule
of life and they think, well, you know, because I haven't murdered
anybody, I haven't actually physically taken someone's life that I've,
you know, I've at least I've kept that part of God's law.
They just don't know, but you know, you know, these are the
questions of life and death. These are the questions that
will determine the outcome of our souls, won't
it? Now, we know. We know these things
are true by the deeds of the law. No flesh shall be justified
in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. What's
the purpose of the law? The law has never saved anyone.
The law is holy. It's never made a single person
holy. The law's just. No one's ever been justified
by the law. And the law's good. And it's
never added an ounce of goodness to one single person. The law
brings the knowledge of sin. It makes sin, the scripture says,
utterly sinful. We look at the law, we see a
glorious picture of God's holiness and God's law keeper. Being guilty is not salvation. We don't preach the law in order
to try to get folks to feel guilty. The law of God's written on men's
hearts. They know the difference between
right and wrong. The law is a picture of Christ. It's Christ that brings
us to himself, isn't it? It was the testimony that she
had heard about Solomon and about his Lord that caused her to travel
all the way from Sheba to find out these hard questions. So being made guilty by the law
is not salvation. It's not salvation. Does that mean there's no hope
for me? If I'm guilty before God, by
the standard of God's law, and there's nothing I can do to satisfy
the demands of God's law, and the law of God only makes me
a sinner, is there any hope for me? But now, here's God's answer
to that question, but, Aren't you glad when when man says but
he's always trying to excuse himself, isn't he's always trying
to justify himself. Well, yeah, but Goats are always
budding aren't they? but when God says but That's
that's the time to pause say wait a minute. What is God? What
is God budding? God's budding something. I want
to know what it is. I want to know what he's changing and here
it is but now The righteousness of God without the law is manifested. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Christ is the one who's been
made known. Here's our hope. Flee to Christ. He's God's Savior. He's the only
hope that we have. And what glorious hope He is.
He says He's been made known. God who at sundry times and in
divers manners had spoken to our fathers by the prophets,
that's what the rest of this says, being witnessed by the
law and the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us
by His Son. The express image of His glory. the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Everything we're ever going to
know about God, we're going to discover it in the glorious person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And where is he made known? This
book is not a rule book for Christian living. It's not precept upon
precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little, so
that we can find out how to live a better life. It's a revelation
in the volume of the book it is written of me. And the entire
message of this book is a revelation. The law of God, the righteousness
of God without the law has been made manifest by the law and
the prophets. Where do I go? This Queen of
Sheba said, is there a reliable source of truth? You know, I've
had wise men come from all over the world. I mean, she was obviously
a woman of means and power and influence, and I'm sure that
these questions had been haunting her for some time, and she had
probably investigated them with every wise man and priest and
prophet that every religion of the world had to offer. And what is she saying? Is there
a reliable source of truth? Yeah. Solomon told her, yeah. The law and the prophets. God has given to us a revelation
of Christ in His word. And there is hope for me. I don't
have to be under the law. I don't have to be judged by
the law. There's a Savior who has Himself satisfied the demands
of God's law and presented Himself before God for all my righteousness. There's my hope and the revelation
of Him is made known in His Word. Don't you love it when Peter's
talking about experiencing that mount of transfiguration and
he sees the Lord, he said, we didn't bring to you fables that
we made up, cunningly devised fables, we handled the word of
God. He's talking about Christ. We saw him, we handled him, we
ate with him, we talked with him. And we saw the veil of his humanity
taken away and the radiance of his glory. And we heard a voice
from heaven, an audible voice from heaven. It said, this is
my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. He's the
word of life. And then the next verse he says,
but we have a more sure word of prophecy. We've got something
better. I was talking to a brother recently
and he was saying, well, what was it like? to for the disciples
to walk with the Lord, to talk with him, to look into his eyes,
to fellowship with him. And it would have been a marvelous
experience and we long for that day when we see him as he is
and we're made like him. But according to what he's told
us, it's expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away,
the comforter will not come. Those disciples didn't have him
24-7. You do. You do. You wake up at three o'clock
in the morning and you have concerns on your soul for issues of life
and death, and he's there. He's there. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't slumber. He said,
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I'll walk with you and talk with
you and reveal myself to you by my word. And when you gather
together for public worship, I'll be there, and I'll manifest
my grace and my glory to your heart, and I'll comfort you and
speak to you. Have you had that experience? This is not just some doctrine. We're not just trying to get
accurate answers to hard questions so that we can have some doctrinal
stability. I need to know Christ. Lord,
I need for you to make yourself known to me. I need you to speak
to my heart. I need you to speak peace, and
no one else can do it. No one else can do it. The preacher
can't speak peace to your heart. Your husband, your wife can't
speak peace to your heart. He's the only one that can, and
he does, and he does. No one's ever come to him who's
poor and needy, broken, Lord, I've got to have you." And they've
never been turned away. Not one single time. He's witnessed by the law and
the prophets. And I know that there's a whole
lot of folks that would stand shoulder to shoulder with us
and say, yes, the Bible is the word of God, cover to cover,
word for word. And yet they don't believe the
gospel. And that's why the scripture says, and this is the word. This
is the word, which by the gospel is preached unto you. If the
gospel of God's free grace and the glorious person of Christ
is not being preached, the Bible's not being preached. The word
of God's not being preached. Witnessed by the law and the
prophets, profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. These words are not by private
interpretation, but holy men of God wrote as they were moved
by the spirit of God. We're not trying to prove to
anybody that the Bible is the word of God. We're just declaring
that it is. It is. And if the Lord gives
you faith to believe it, you'll know it is. Now, I just say this about those
who would say, well, you know, it's a book and it's been, you
know, been written by men and maybe have a lot of, you know,
maybe it contains the word of God, but to say it is the word
of God. Listen, a God who's powerful
enough to speak the world into creation. And everybody knows
in their conscience. I told you all about a man I
met some years ago, a year or so ago, an Indian man, and he
had a PhD in philosophy, and he was older than me, and he
said to me, he said, I'm still struggling with the same old
question that I asked in college when I was working on my degree
in philosophy. I said, what is that? He said,
well, did God create us or did we create God? That's my question. You know that man's lying to
himself. He's lying to himself. He knows
God created him, but he doesn't want to have to bow to that God.
And so he plays with these philosophical questions as if he's wiser than
God. Man knows there's a God. We don't
have to prove the existence of God. We don't have to prove the
truthfulness of God's Word. We just declare it and believe
it. God, by His grace, enables us
to bow, and here's the source of our hope, the Word of God. Lord, where else are we gonna
go? You alone have the words of eternal life. We know and
are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. These are the kind of hard questions.
These are good answers to hard questions, aren't they? This
is God's answer. And all these other questions
that we deal with in life are insignificant compared to these
questions. Look at verse 22. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ. How am I going to be righteous
before God? How am I going to have a righteousness before God?
Only if my righteousness is in Christ. He is my righteousness. He is my life. He doesn't show
us life. He's not showing us the way. He is the way. He's not giving
us words of wisdom so that we can discover life. He said, I
am life. I am life eternal. There's no
life outside of Christ. So what does he say? Even the
righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto
all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. Who is salvation? Who is this
salvation for? Who is it for? It's for everyone
that believes. And let me say this, believing
is not the cause of your salvation, it's the evidence of it. That's
a very important distinction. You're not gonna obligate God
to save you because you believe. But if you believe, faith is
the evidence of things hoped for. It's the, there's my hope. I do believe and I can't not
believe. I can't not believe. The Lord is just, he's given
me faith and I have to believe. I have to. And I want to. He's given me a desire to believe
on Christ. To everyone that believeth. Everyone. There's no difference. Who's it for? Jew? Gentile? Rich? Poor? Black? White? Male?
Female? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. It's for anyone. And it's not for everyone. It's for anyone. Whosoever will. I can fit myself into that category.
I'm a whosoever. Are you a whosoever? God's made
me willing. He's made me willing. In the
day of His power, I wasn't willing. And all of a sudden one day I
was willing. I can't explain it. Except that the Lord gave
me faith to believe. What is it that we believe? Well,
look at verse 23. For all have sinned. and come
short of the glory of God. I believe I'm a sinner. I believe I'm a sinner. I don't believe I can do anything
but sin. I don't believe I've ever been capable of having a
holy thought or bringing about a holy deed or speaking a holy
word that's acceptable. I can't do it. I can't do it. All have sinned, and here it
is, and come short of the glory of God. Now, you've heard me
ask this question. This is so clear to me. What
in your life falls short of the glory of God? You see, if God
has shown to you the One who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners, the Son of God, the sinless One,
the righteous One, the One who of Himself satisfied all the
demands of the Law, then you know that everything
in your life falls short of His glory. And that's what sin is. Sin is whatever falls short of
the glory of God. That's why the Bible says whatever
is not of faith is sin. The only hope that I have is
to be looking to Christ for my righteousness before God. What do we believe? We believe
that we're sinners. Look at verse 24. What else do we believe?
We believe that we are justified freely by His grace. The only way I'm going to be
justified in the presence of God is if he gives me free grace. Free grace. Have you ever heard
grace called unmerited favor? Now, you pull up to an intersection
and a homeless person is standing there begging and you roll your
window down and hand them a dollar bill. That's unmerited favor.
That's unmerited favor. But you take that same homeless
person who has murdered your only child and you give them
everything you've got. That's dismerited favor. Salvation is not unmerited favor.
It's dismerited favor. Because that's exactly what we've
done. We've taken the son of God And by our sins we put him
to death on Calvary's cross and God's given us everything he's
got. That's grace. That's grace. He's justified us freely by his
grace. What glorious grace it is. It's
not just unmerited favor. It's dismerited favor. It's God
showing favor on those who have hated Him and done despite to
Him. And He gives us grace to grieve
over that sin and to grieve over the one that we have put to death
on Calvary's cross as one who mourns over his only child. being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption. Now, what is it that we believe?
We believe that the only way we're going to be redeemed is
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't atone for my
own sins. A man by nature, that's what
religion is. Every other form of religion
other than free grace is man's attempt to atone for his sins. His conscience smites him. He
thinks that his sin is just the bad behavior that he's done.
He doesn't know what being a sinner is. But he knows that there's
a holy God, just like this Queen of Sheba. She knew that there
was a God with whom she had to do. And she knew she had a problem
with that God, and she had been doing everything she could to
try to atone for her sins, just like that woman with the issue
of blood spent all that she had on physicians and was worse off
than she was to begin with. Oh, if I could just touch the
hem of his garment, I'd be made whole. If I could just, if I
could just find my way to Christ. We believe that we are justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. God, the only payment that God
Almighty will take to satisfy the demands of His holy justice
for our sin is the sinless blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
bore in His body upon that cross all the sins of all of His people
and suffered the full wrath of God's justice. But you know what
was never made sin? His blood. His blood was sinless,
was pure, was perfect, and not a drop of it was wasted. And
it's the only redemption that we have. When I see the blood,
I'll pass by you. And we believe that. These are
good answers to the kind of questions that plague the soul of those
who are concerned for their soul. These are not the kind of questions
that the natural man is asking. Look at verse 25. Let me ask
this question. Who purposed all of this? And let me say this, there's
no grace without election. There's no grace without election.
If God didn't already settle all this before time ever began,
if there's not a covenant of grace whereby God the Father
promised to give to his son a bride, God the Son promised to redeem
that bride, and God the Holy Spirit entered into that covenant
of grace and promised to regenerate those whom were chosen of the
Father and redeemed of the Son, There's no salvation. Now I want you to see in verse
25, whom God hath purposed. You see that phrase set forth? Look in the margin of your Bible,
it's probably there. God hath set forth. That word is purposed. Our God is a God of purpose. He purposed all of this. And
he's purposed everything in your life and everything in my life.
Oh, what comfort, what hope to be able to rest in a God who
is sovereign and has purposed everything, especially our salvation. Look what he says, whom God have
purposed. God purposed him. This was all,
this was all part of, this is all purposed by God. Is it possible
for God to be God? He has to be immutable. He can't
change. He's the same yesterday, today
and forever. He doesn't have a plan B. He doesn't get caught
off guard by something that we do. He said, I'm the Lord. I am the
Lord and I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. We have a God who doesn't change
And I'm so thankful as his purpose will be fulfilled Whom God hath purposed to be
a propitiation a Propitiation Now what was our original state
from verse 19? Guilty That's our original state under
the law. We're born under the law. God
says you're guilty. The law says you're guilty. And
the wrath of God must fall. The justice of God must fall
upon the guilt of sin. He cannot allow one sin to go
unpunished. And so now what does he say?
God has purposed to make Christ a propitiation. God has been
made propitious. That just means that all the
wrath, all the anger, all the justice was poured out on Christ,
on Calvary's cross, and God has no more. No more. He's got nothing for those for
whom Christ died but mercy and grace and love, compassion. It's all He's got for us. No
wrath. Christ is our propitiation. Through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins. Man by nature has a zeal for
God. He knows that there's a God and
he goes about, Romans chapter 10, trying to establish his own
righteousness. And now God says, here's the
hope that we have. This was all purposed of God. And here's how God maintains
his holy justice to punish sin and to justify sinners. How can
God be just? How can he maintain his justice,
his holy justice, and justify someone like me at the same time?
How can he do it? For the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this
time, his righteousness, his righteousness. Lord, I don't
have any righteousness. All I've got is sin. The gospel
declares the righteousness of God in the glorious person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and justifier of him
which believe in Jesus. Again, believing in the Lord
Jesus Christ is the evidence that we've been justified, not
the cause of it. He was offered up our offenses
and raised again because of our justification. Justification
was established by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
on Calvary's cross. Faith just is evidence that there's
where our hope is. Is there anything that we can
boast in? Is there anything that we can
boast in? Where is boasting then? Where is boasting? It's excluded. By what law of works? Nay, by
the law of faith. No boasting in faith. Faith,
contrary to what most folks think about faith, Most folks think
of faith as some sort of personal character quality. Lest you have
faith as a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of
heaven. A child has faith because he's needy. A child has faith
because he's weak. A child has faith because he's
afraid. A child has faith because he can't take care of himself.
That's what faith is. It's looking to Christ. It's
resting in Him. It's crying out to Him. Nay, by the law of faith. Therefore,
what do we conclude by all of this? What is our conclusion? Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Without the deeds of the law.
justified before God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why the Bible says,
for by grace are you saved. Grace is not unmerited favor,
it's dismerited favor. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourself, it's
a gift of God, not of works. So God, there's no salvation
apart from faith. Is he the God of the Jews only?
Who's this for? Is it just for the Jews? No, for the Gentiles too. Yes, the Gentiles also seen as
one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
the uncircumcision through faith. So it doesn't matter if you're
religious or irreligious, it doesn't matter. Faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ is the only means by which God saves sinners. Do we make void the law through
faith? Do we destroy the law? Do we make it void? No. No. We establish the law. We establish
the law. We're acknowledging the goodness
and the holiness and the righteousness of God's law. by our confession
that we can't keep it. And we're completely dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ for all our righteousness before
God. That's the only way the law is established. We love God's
law. We want to obey God's law. In
terms of our outward behavior, we want to live in a way that's
going to honor Him and be obedient to the things of God. We want
that. That's a work of grace that God puts in our hearts. We don't make void the law of
God. The law of God is established through faith. God has given us good, clear
answers. to questions of the heart. She
came and she told him all her questions and she didn't leave with anything
unanswered. Oh, I pray the Lord would answer,
put on our hearts first to have a concern for our soul and then
give us clear answers. and a good hope in Christ. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word and we pray that your Holy Spirit would cause
it to be effectual in our hearts. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 352. 352. 352. Let's stand together. 352. you Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the
tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Savior, hide, Till
the storm of life is past. Safe into the haven guide, O
receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, Thanks
my helpless soul on Thee. Leave, ah, leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed,
all my help from Thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain heart,
freely let me take of Thee. Spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. th th