Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. Now today
I'm going to be preaching from the book of Romans chapter 3
and verse 23 is my main text. I'll go over some other verses.
Romans chapter 3 and verse 23. The title of the message is the
truth about sin. The truth about sin. Now, you
know, so often today, people who claim to be Christian and
claim to believe and to preach or to witness the Gospel, try
to reduce the message of the Bible, the message of the Gospel
and evangelism to easy formulas, quick formulas, repeating certain
verses of Scripture, repeating what they call the sinner's prayer,
And many times, that has a negative effect. And what I mean by that,
and I'm not just trying to be critical, but what happens is,
is that people really come to a misunderstanding of what salvation
is, what it's all about, what it involves, and what the Bible
teaches. You can repeat certain verses, like my text today is
Romans 3.23. And it says, for all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God." A very simple verse, very
easy to remember. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Many times people will hear that
verse and the next verse that they'll probably talk about is
in the book of Romans 2, Romans 6, 23, which says, the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. And certainly those are great
verses of scripture, beautiful verses, true verses, or verses
that relate the truth. But when people reduce the gospel
and evangelism to these specific formulas and these just repeat
after me and pray this prayer, it fosters, I believe, an easy
believism. In other words, a profession
of faith in Christ, a profession of Christianity, without true
heart, mind, and soul conviction, and without a real understanding
of what this book, the Bible, and salvation, the gospel, is
all about. And one of the greatest and most
misunderstood truths that's revealed in the Word of God is the truth
about sin. That's the subject today. We
say this verse or we repeat this verse, for all have sinned. Now that's a given. The Bible
teaches that all of us are sinners. All have sinned. And how does
that translate to your understanding. That's the question I want to
deal with today. For example, what is the remedy for sin? We
talk about salvation. What are we to be saved from?
The Bible says we're to be saved from sin. Over in the book of
Matthew, chapter 1 and verse 21, We see a verse of scripture
in which an angel of the Lord communicated to Joseph about
his wife Mary concerning the child that she would have. And
it says in Matthew 1.21, His name shall be called Jesus. Now the name Jesus means salvation. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Well, what is
the problem? What is this sin problem? What
does it involve? And many people, when they think
about sin, they think about great and gross acts of immorality. We are shocked at much of what's
going on in our day in acts of immorality, thoughts of immorality,
in murders and thieves. abuse, child abuse, wife abuse,
all of these things, homosexuality. These are all sins that I hope,
I'm thankful that they still shock our sensitivities, our
consciences, because it shows that we do have some sense of
right and wrong. But how are we to understand
the reality and truth of sin as it relates in the Bible? You
see, this is what this issue of salvation by the grace of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ is all about. The fact that we
need to be saved from our sins. When the angel said unto Joseph,
he said, his name shall be called Jesus. for he shall save his
people from their sins. What he's showing there is the
reality of sin because of who it took and what it took to save
me or to save anybody from their sins. This is a person. Salvation is in a person. Salvation
from sin is in a person. the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is
this person? What kind of person did he have
to be in order to save me from my sins? Well, he had to be both
God and man, perfect man, in one person. That's the incarnation
of Christ. God manifests in the flesh. Right after Matthew 121, when
he talks about His name shall be called Jesus, salvation, for
He shall save His people from their sins. In Matthew 123, it
goes on to say His name shall be called Emmanuel. It's a prophecy
from the Old Testament. which being interpreted is God
with us. God with us. Now, the fact that
it took an act of Almighty God in the person of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, as God in human flesh, to save me from
my sins, tells me something about the reality of sin, the truth
of sin, and how I'm to think about sin. And let me show you
what I'm talking about here back in Romans chapter 3. Now he says
in verse 23, as I've stated, it says, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. The word sinned there is
the most common word in the New Testament used for sin. And what
does it mean? Well, listen to what it means.
It means to miss the mark. That's what it means. Now, when
we think of sin, if we're gonna think about the truth of it,
the reality of it, and what it is to be saved from it, we've
got to think in those terms. Yes, we can think of the gross
acts of immorality and be appalled at them and say, that's a sinful
act. But if our thinking goes no further
than the grossest, most commonly committed acts of immorality
in society, the perverseness of society, the sexual sins,
the immoral sins, if our thinking goes no further than that, then
we have not seen the reality of what sin really is. That's
the truth. You see, sin in the Bible is
missing the mark. In fact, if you would do a study
of all the words, for example, that give us an idea of the reality
of sin, you might be amazed. As I said, this right here in
Romans 3.23 is the most common word used for sin, which means
to miss the mark. It means to fall short. That's
what he says there. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And what is the glory of God?
Well, in the Bible, the glory of God is seen and found in the
glorious person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what was His work? It says
in verse 23 again, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. And then look at verse 24 of
Romans 3, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. The glory of God is found in
the glorious person and the finished work of redemption of Jesus Christ
to save His people from their sins. That's where it's seen.
And what was Christ doing when He redeemed His people? He was,
as their surety and substitute, satisfying the justice of God
against them as He took their place. That's what it is to be
their surety. Their sins, the debt of their
sins, were imputed to Him. And in taking their place and
dying for their sins, satisfying the justice of God, He brought
forth righteousness by His obedience unto death that enables God to
be both a just God and a Savior, a righteous judge and a loving,
merciful Father. Now, that's called the righteousness
of God. And you might recall back in
the book of Romans chapter one, and verses 16 and 17, where Paul
says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the
Jew first and the Greek also. And he says, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. The righteousness of
God there is the entire merit work of the Lord Jesus Christ
in His obedience unto death as the surety and substitute of
His people to redeem them from their sins, to pay the price.
The price of His blood is the price of redemption. And in doing
so, He brought forth righteousness. Now the righteousness that Christ
worked out in His obedience unto death is the standard by which
we know we fall short. So here's what I'm saying. Here's
how you to view sin and look at sin. Think about sin in the
Bible. It's not just the acts of immorality
that men and women commit. Yes, those are sin now. And yes,
we're to stay away from them, we're to fight them, we're to
repent of them. But sin must be defined in light
of the glory of God in the fact that we all, all of us without
exception, the worst of us, obviously, but also the best of us, the
most sincere, most dedicated, most religious, even those who
try to be the most obedient, at our best, we fall short. We miss the mark. And here's
the point, if we're to understand the reality and truth of sin
and the fact that we all fall short, we are all, all have sinned,
is that it is impossible for any of us to work out by our
best efforts the righteousness that God requires for us to be
saved. Proof of that. His name shall
be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.
If I could work out a righteousness that hit the mark, then I wouldn't
need Christ. I wouldn't need grace. And what
did He say? Being justified. What is it to be justified? It's
to be not guilty. It's to be righteous in God's
sight. Well, how does that come? He says being justified freely. Now that means without a cause.
In other words, if I am justified from sin, if I'm justified before
God, there was nothing in me or done by me that caused that
to happen. It's freely. It's unconditionally. Well, how did God do it? He says,
verse 24, being justified freely by His grace. It is totally,
completely, 100% a free gift from God. I didn't earn it, and
I didn't deserve it, and I still don't earn it. I've been a true
believer, a Christian, for over 30 years, been preaching the
gospel for over 30 years. I still don't earn it, and I
still don't deserve it. It's still all of grace. But how can God be God? How can He remain just and holy
and give me this redemption, this free gift, and still be
just in doing so? He must be. Well, He says, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. It's all on the basis and ground
of what Christ accomplished in his obedience unto death to save
his people from their sins. Now, as I said before, this word
for sin here, for all have sinned in the past tense, which literally
means all having sinned, is the most common word in the New Testament
for sin, which means to miss the mark. There are other words.
You'll see the word, for example, the word transgression. Sin is
transgression of the law, John said in 1 John 3. To transgress
means to break the law. We're all lawbreakers. You say,
well, I'm trying to keep the law. Well, that's okay. But my
friend, you're trying to keep the law will not save you. You're
trying to keep the law will not pay for your past, present or
future sins. You're trying to keep the law
will not make you righteous before God. You still fall short. I still fall short. I'm not just
pointing the finger at you. When I talk about you fall short,
I'm saying I fall short too. All have sinned. So think about
your best efforts to keep the law. On your best day, you still
fall short. You still transgress the law
of God. Another word for sin is trespass. You've seen the word trespass.
And that means to cross the line. If you go into a, A piece of
property, and you might see a sign that says, no trespassing. That
means you can go no further legally. Adam, when he fell in the garden,
what did he do? He missed the mark. He broke
the law. He crossed the line. God said
to Adam, he said in Genesis chapter two, in the day, he says, you
can eat of all the trees of this garden except one, the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. And he said, in the day that
you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And Adam broke the law. Well, when Adam sinned, I sinned.
You sinned because Adam represented before God the whole human family. So he trespassed. You'll see
another word in the scripture, iniquity. Iniquity means things
don't balance out. It comes from the word equal,
inequity. And it means no matter what you
do, you cannot balance the scales of God's justice. What you do
will not equal righteousness. What I do will not equal righteousness,
even at our best. Now that's how we're to think
about sin in the Bible. That's why he says back up here
in Romans chapter three, now listen to this. Here the apostle
Paul as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, was showing how
both Jew and Gentile were sinners. That if God were to give any
of us, Jew or Gentile, what we've earned and what we deserve, it
would be eternal damnation. And he says that the scripture
has proven that both Jew and Gentile, that they're all under
sin. That means they all miss the mark. And look at verse 10,
listen to this. He says, as it is written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. Now that's not just talking about
some segment of society that is criminal or perverted or immoral
openly among men. That's talking about all of us
by nature. You may have heard me say this
before on this program. Don't read the Bible. with the
except me syndrome. Don't look at that verse and
say, as it is written, there's none righteous, no not one, except
me. No, my friend, based on my best
efforts to keep the law of God, Based on my best efforts to love
everybody, based on my best efforts to be as charitable and as giving
and as kind as I can be, I am not righteous before God. Not
based on that. Now, I can say without embarrassment
that I am righteous before God, but not in myself. I'm righteous
in Jesus Christ. Over in the book of 2 Corinthians,
chapter five we read it says for he that is god the father
made him that is god the son incarnate jesus christ salvation
made him to be sin who knew no sin talking about christ for
us for his people for god's elect that we might be made the righteousness
of god in him in Him. You see, before God, I'm justified. God does not hold me guilty because
He laid that guilt upon Christ. You see, before God, I'm righteous. God declares me righteous legally
because Christ stands as my surety and my substitute. And so when
he says there's none righteous, no not one, what he's talking
about is what we are by nature. How we are on our own before
God. How we are as we're naturally
born. But you see, when God saves us,
He brings us to an understanding of the truth of sin that I have
no righteousness of my own. The only way that I can find
righteousness and be righteous before God is by virtue of the
merits of the redemptive work of Christ, His blood, His righteousness
imputed to me. In verse 11 he says this of Romans
3, now this is for the understanding of the truth of sin. He says,
there's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. The things that I'm telling you on the gospel, those don't
come naturally to us. We don't know these things are
natural. All we think and know is what
Cain, you remember Cain of old? He brought his works unto God
thinking that they would somehow atone for his sins and make him
righteous. Well, we don't understand the
reality of sin and of righteousness apart from God showing us in
His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. He says, there's
none that seeketh after God. Verse 12, they are all gone out
of the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no not one. Now that shows us
something more about the reality of sin. The reality of sin is
this. There are none of us who by nature
are righteous before God. We're all sin. We've all sinned
to come short of the glory of God. We're born that way. Somebody
said, well, we're not that way until we make our first choice
to sin. Let me tell you something. Has
there ever been anybody in the history of mankind who didn't
make the choice to sin? Why is that? It's because we're
born in sin. We're born spiritually dead.
So we don't have righteousness. Secondly, we cannot work one
by our best efforts to obey the law. And thirdly, we do not want
righteousness God's way. We wanted our own way, like Cain
of old, salvation by works. We want salvation, but not God's
way. Because you see, God's way does
not give us any room to brag. It doesn't give us any glory.
God's way gives Christ all the glory. And so in order to be
saved, what do we need? In order to be saved from sin,
we need, number one, redemption by the blood. We need a righteousness
established for us by a person who is appointed of God, who
is qualified and able, and who is willing. And there's only
one person in this whole universe who is appointed of God, who
is able to bring forth righteousness, and who's willing to do it, and
that's Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. There's no other way
of salvation. There's no other way of forgiveness.
There's no other way of righteousness before God. Jesus Christ. Secondly, we need to be literally,
in a spiritual way, raised from the dead. We need to be born
again by the Spirit. Now that's the fruit and the
result of Christ's redemptive work on the cross. We must be
born again. By nature, we're spiritually
dead. By nature, we have a conscience,
but it's defiled by legalism. It's defiled by guilt. You see,
we have to be given spiritual ears to hear the things that
I'm telling you. Do you believe them? Are they
real? Is this a conviction? If it is,
it's not me who convicted you, it's the Holy Spirit. We need
to be given eyes to see. The scripture talks about the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. Remember what it said here in
Romans 3, 23? We've all sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Now God in the new birth by the
Holy Spirit who comes from Christ to impart life, spiritual life,
He gives us spiritual eyes to see things that we didn't see. We didn't see their reality,
we didn't see their value. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that Christ
Alone is my only way of forgiveness, my only way of salvation, my
only way of righteousness. I'm justified before God through
Christ and His work on the cross, His blood, His righteousness,
and there's no other way. My works and my efforts had nothing
to do with that. You see, the obedience of a believer
doesn't save him. The obedience of a believer doesn't
justify him. The obedience of a believer does
not sanctify him or make him holy. The obedience of a believer
does not contribute one degree or iota to the righteousness
that he stands before God in. The obedience of a believer is
the fruit, the effect, the results of what Christ did. It's the
workmanship. God says that we are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. That's Ephesians chapter
two and verse 10. You see, salvation is by grace.
And why does it need to be by grace? Because we're sinners.
We come short of the glory of God. We miss the mark. At my
best, even as a Christian, I missed the mark. What does that tell
me? It tells me that even as a Christian right now, today,
I still need Jesus Christ as my salvation, as my righteousness,
just as much as I ever needed Him. As I grow in grace and in
knowledge, That doesn't mean I need him less. In fact, one
of the biggest parts of growth in grace is seeing that I need
him even more now than I ever did. Well, I hope this message
has helped you, and I hope you'll join us next week for another
message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive. Albany, Georgia, 31707. Contact
us by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website
at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.