Well, once again, we're still
in the book of Romans. Not making a whole lot of speed
in getting through it, and that's fine, because that means we're
stopping to take our time. And there's some of it that we
skip through, like the first 20 verses of chapter 3. But now
we've come to a section of Scripture that we can slow down a little
bit, and take concern for our Lord
and His teachings of Scripture. In our last study, we jumped
right through to verse 20 of Romans chapter 3, and we covered
down to verse 26. Our study last week was our propitiation. Propitiation was our subject
matter. You remember last week, I brought
out propitiation means mercy seat. It means something that
was done for His people. It was where the Lord accepted
the blood, the blood of His Son. Not the blood of bulls and goats,
as it was pictured in all those years and all the sacrifices
that were brought in the temple, but what they pictured, and that
would be the perfect righteous blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was a picture of that. He
was our payment, our propitiation. Our mercy seat, the seat of mercy,
the one that we bring our sacrifice to, and the only sacrifice that
is acceptable to God is the perfect sacrifice of His Son. We finish
with verse 27, which says the just and the justifier. For our
Lord was just. He was without sin. He is the
spotless Lamb of God, as we read in last week's study. He is the
substitute, and his substitutionary death justified all for whom
he died. He who knew no sin was made sin,
made the sins of those who belonged to him, those who God the Father
gave to him before the world began. He was made to be their
sin. He took their iniquities upon
himself. And I point it out and I'm stressing
it because that's you and I. This is the grace of God to us.
We didn't do anything to deserve that. There's nothing in this
flesh that we can say, oh, he owes me. There was a time when
we thought God owed us something, wasn't there? I'm a good guy. I haven't hurt anybody. God owes
me to be gracious to me. Well, that's not what the word
grace means. Word grace means unmerited favor, doesn't it?
That means He was gracious to us because He loved us despite
our wickedness. And He was made our sin that
we would be made righteous in ourselves? No. Folks, it doesn't
get any better than it is right now in this flesh. Our righteousness
is either in Him or we don't have any at all. This body who
stands before you is nothing but sin from the top of my head
to the bottom of my toe. And I need to be reminded of
that because that's the grace of my Lord and His love for me
and saving me despite myself. And I'm sure each and every one
of you who know God Almighty in the face of His Son, the Lord
Jesus, feel the same way. We are brought to know the worms
that we are before a thrice holy God. Can we ever not stop saying
that? A thrice holy God. That means
He is perfect in every way. And the only way for us to be
in His presence is to be as perfect as He is. And this is what a
propitiation is. God taking what you and I deserve
upon Himself, upon His Son. It's only by the sacrifice of
His Son that God would accept that sacrifice and it's a perfect
sacrifice of his son. We finished with verse 27, the
just and the justifier. Our Lord was just. He was without
sin. He is the spotless lamb of God
and his substitutionary death justified all for whom he died. All those the father gave him
before the world was are seen as just before God. Lot was just. Did you know that? That's what
it says over in 2 Peter chapter 2. He calls him just Lot. What
was just about Lot? Did you know Lot fought the angels? They had to go and get him and
pick him up and take him out of Gomorrah. He liked being in
Gomorrah. That's where he was. He liked
being there. And all that wickedness that
was going on around him, I don't know whether he was, I'm sure,
I don't think he was involved in it, but it was okay. Isn't
that what the world has come to today? It's okay. It's all
right. Let them do what they're doing.
I don't have to be participating in it. I'm going to stay right
here in it. That would be like going down here to the church, Seventh-day Adventist church
or the Mormon church and saying, it's okay. It's okay for me to
be here. I know they're preaching the
wrong thing, but it's okay for me to be here. No. God's people
can't stand that. You can't have any of that. If
you belong to the true and living God, you've got to have Him and
Him alone. Nothing else will do. These false
Jesuses who are trying to do something for the world, I don't
want nothing to do with that. That's even worse than the idol
that I make myself to be. In 1 Peter 3, verse 18, we read
these words, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Justified
means justice has been met. Our unjust condition was justified
by the substitutionary death of our Savior, the just one.
That's right, Roger, we're justified in Him. It's just as if we had
never sinned. It's just as if we won't sin
again. Even though we know we will in
the flesh, our Lord has paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
but He washed it white as snow. This is so important to a dead,
lost sinner. We cannot appease the justice
of God in this flesh. And I'll use my grandmother as
an example of that. My Grandma Reeves. Grandma and
Grandpa Reeves lived in a poor little home in Arkansas. It was
built up on slate, on a slate pier, post. They would stack up slate rocks
and build up, and they built a house on top of that. And the
old windows where the weights on the side, you had to lift
the window up in order to do it. They had the weights on the
side down on the wall. In fact, there wasn't even sheetrock on
the wall when I was a little kid. I remember, you could see
those weights going up and down. They were in the wall, but there
was nothing covering them up. And Grand Marie, she worked. She worked hard. I can't ever
remember seeing her sit down other than to sit there and break
the beans, you know, the string beans. break the ends off of
them, pull the strings out of them. She was always cooking, going
back and forth between the well, bringing water into the house.
She was always doing something. One of the sweetest ladies I
ever knew. She worked hard. She worshipped
on Sundays. And I don't remember what it
was they worshipped there. But she was in my eyes good in
all worldly sense. In all worldly sense, she was
good. Yet if she knew not the true
and living God according as he is revealed in his holy word,
her goodness was an abomination to God. This is what God is stating by
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit inspired
Paul to write these words, look back at verses 19 and 20 of Romans
chapter 3. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become, what? That's including my grandmother.
That's including my mom. That's including my children.
That's including me, my wife. That all the world may become
guilty before God. 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. Folks, our salvation is by His
grace. That means unmerited. But it's
through faith in Him. Through faith in Him. Faith is
a gift from Him, and the law of faith is the teachings of
faith. Look over, if you would, at verse 27-31. Where is the
boasting? It is excluded. That means shut
out. It means put away. By what law? Of works? No. If it was by the law of works,
then we could boast, couldn't we? Abraham wasn't boasting. Abraham couldn't boast in a righteousness
of taking his son up unto the mount and to sacrifice his son. But he could boast in this. He
could boast that God is true to His Word. He can boast and
give God all the glory for being true. Yay, amen. Nay, by what law? Of the works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God, which shall justify
the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. Folks, our salvation is by His
grace, unmerited grace, but it's through faith. Faith in Him,
and faith is a gift of Him. It's the law of faith. In other
words, the teachings. That's what that word means.
It means teachings. We do not believe because of
something in our flesh. We believe because He has in
the day of His power, the day of His love, given us a new heart
that believes this is the teachings of faith. John Gill wrote these
words. He says, Not by a law requiring
faith, nor as if the gospel was a law, a new law or remedial
law, but rather a law of milder terms. The word law here answers
to the Hebrew word, and I don't know Hebrew, so I can't tell
you what these little marks mean, sound like, but it answers to
the Hebrew word that, and which signifies any doctrine or instruction,
and oftentimes it means the doctrine of the gospel. And he gives us
an example of that in Isaiah chapter two, verse three. And
many people shall go and say, come ye and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will, and here's that
word, teach us of his ways. And we will walk in his paths.
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, that's the same word
there, teach, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. John goes on to say this, and
here particularly, the doctrine or the teaching of a sinner's
justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ. That's
what that's talking about. By what law? The law of the teaching
of faith. According to which doctrine,
the most unlikely persons are justified, even ungodly persons,
the worst and the vilest of sinners, and that without any consideration
of works, by faith only, which is freely given to them, and
by faith in Christ's righteousness only. So that there is not the
least room for boasting and creature, but all their boasting is where? In Christ, who is made unto them
righteousness, and by whom they are justified." End of quote.
So, we read in Romans chapter three, verse 27, where is the
boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but of the law
of faith. Therefore we conclude that, amen. Now notice that. It's not talking about the Jews
only. Remember, throughout chapter two and chapter three, the Lord
is using Paul to declare unto us that it's not just the Jews. God's gospel, God's good news
is for all mankind. From every tongue, from every
nation, Throughout all time, Gentile and Jew alike, a man
is justified by, notice he didn't say Jewish only, a man is justified
by faith without the needs of the law. The conclusion stands
firm, that justification is by faith without the works of the
law. That's what we read in verses 29 through 30. Is he the God
of the Jews only? Is he not also the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also. seeing it as one God, which shall
justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through
faith. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. He is the God of both, and he
justifies both in the same way through faith in his Son, the
Lord Jesus. In verse 31, we read, do we then
make the law through faith? Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. The law is abolished as a covenant
of works. It is fulfilled by Christ and
its administration, and it is destroyed as a yoke of bondage.
But the law remains unchanged. It remains unchanged in the hands
of Christ, where it is honored, where it is established, and
where it is fulfilled. Hold your place here in Romans,
and turn over to Matthew chapter 5, if you would. Matthew chapter
5. We're talking about the law being
honored, the law being established and fulfilled in Christ, as it
is in all that is required of us To fulfill, to stand before
God, to honor the law of God, it is all in Christ Jesus and
in Him alone. Look at verse 17 of Matthew chapter
5. Think not that I have come to
destroy the law of the prophets, I have not come to destroy, but
to what? Fulfill. Why would the Lord need
to fulfill the law? Could not be for Himself, could
it? Our Lord is perfect in everything, was He not? But He had to come and fulfill
the law for somebody, for you and I. Verse 18, For verily I say unto
you, Till heaven and earth pass one jot and one tittle, shall
then no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break
one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whosoever shall
do and teach them the same shall be called the great in the kingdom
of heaven. For I say unto you, that except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,
ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. It is established in our substitute. He who knew no
sin fulfilled the law of righteousness for all of his chosen people
of every nation, every tribe, every tongue throughout all time.
They are called the elect of God. Oh, to grace, how great
a debtor I'm constrained to be. Grace, grace, and more grace,
folks. That's what our substitute is
all about. shining His grace in our hearts
so that you and I will spend an eternity with Him, crying
out, Hosanna! Glory be to our Savior. Grace,
grace, grace. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 29, we
read these words, that no flesh should glory in His presence.
And then in verse 31, that according as it is written, He that glory,
let him glory in the Lord. Amen.