Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 35 from the hardback temple, number 35.
Praise my soul, the king of heaven. Let's all stand together. Praise my soul, the King of heaven. To his feet thy tribute bring. Ransom healed, restored, forgiven. Evermore his praises sing. Alleluia. Praise the everlasting King. Alleluia. Praise the everlasting King. Father like, he tends and spares
us, well our feeble frame he knows. In his hands he gently
bears us, rescues us from all our foes. Alleluia, widely yet
his mercy flows. Alleluia, Widely yet His mercy
flows. ? Angels in the height adore
him ? ? Ye behold him face to face ? ? Sun and moon bow down
before him ? ? Dwellers all in time and space ? ? Alleluia,
praise with us the God of grace ? Hallelujah. Praise with us the God of grace. Please be seated. So thankful we have a God of
grace, aren't you? A throne of grace that we can
come to boldly with confidence. We're going to read from Psalm
15 for our call to worship tonight, if you'd like to turn with me
there in your Bibles. Good evening. Today's Wednesday. Tomorrow's Thursday. And the
next day is Friday, the day we've all been looking forward to. Six o'clock for pizza, if you
want to do that, and we'll start services at seven. Donny Bell
is not going to be able to come so Right now I'm going to I had
him scheduled to preach Friday night and Saturday afternoon
so I'll preach Friday night in his stead and And we'll just
have one message on Saturday after lunch so make the A day
a little shorter on Saturday. All right. Let's read this psalm together.
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in
thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and
worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. That
only applies to a believer who's in Christ. Speak the truth about
who we are, about who God is, about how God saves sinners.
Walk uprightly in Christ, having fulfilled the law. Verse 3, he that backbiteth not
with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up
a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is
contemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. What a difference
believers have in their relationship with other believers versus the
unbelievers of this world. He that sweareth to his own hurt
and changeth not, he that putteth not out his money to usury nor
taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall
never be moved. Let's pray together. Our gracious and merciful heavenly
father, what hope we have in knowing
that we can come before thy very holy presence and have confidence
Confidence in knowing that the law's been satisfied, sin's been
put away, your people, because of the perfect, finished, accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, are righteous in thy sight. Lord,
we pray that you would increase our faith and give us more hope
in Christ. We know, Lord, Outside of him,
we have nothing to bring to you but our sin. And we thank you
that you've separated it from us as far as the East is from
the West and that you remember it no more. That you're looking
to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as the covering of our
sin. Lord, we pray that you would
give us faith to look to the same thing you look to. We pray
for this weekend, and we thank you, Lord, for the men that are
coming, for the brethren that will be joining us from other
congregations. And, Lord, we pray your blessings
on the worship. We pray that you would meet with
us and that you would cause us, Lord, to know thy presence and
thy power. We pray that you would speak
to our hearts, pray for the messages the pastors would prepare and
ask Lord that you would just fit them perfect for our needs
and that you'd be glorified in them. Pray for safe travel of
our friends and our brethren and Lord, we pray for our lost
friends and family members that we've invited and ask Lord that
you would be pleased to save them and cause them Lord to have
their hope in Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. We're gonna sing hymn number
249 from your hardback hymnal. The hymn, Just As I Am. We don't
do it very often because of I think the bad memories or how the song,
his hymn was abused in religion. Anyway, there's really nothing
wrong with this hymn. We did make a few minor changes and if you
can look at those now, First line at the very end, you could
line through for me and put by thee, would make the hymn sing
better. And on the last line, the last verse, verse five, on
the second line over on the right-hand page where it says because, it's
okay those words, but if you change because to Christ is,
it makes the hymn stronger. So let's stand together, we'll
sing hymn number 249, just as I am. ? Just as I am without one plea
? But that thy blood was shed by thee ? And that thou bidst
me come to thee ? O Lamb of God, I come I come. Just as I am and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark blot, to Thee whose blood can cleanse
each spot, O Lamb of God, I come. I come. Just as I am, though
tossed about With many a conflict, many a doubt Frightings and fears
within Without, O Lamb of God, I come I come. Just as I am poor, wretched,
blind, sight rich as healing of the mind, yea, all I need
in thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come. I come. Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Christ is thy promise,
I believe. O Lamb of God, I come. ? I come ? Please be seated. Christ is thy promise, I believe. That's a good change, Tom, thank
you. The spirit and the bride say,
come, come. Charlotte Elliott, who wrote
that hymn, was having dinner with some friends of hers that
had invited her over for the purpose of their pastor speaking
to her about her soul. And it was kind of an arranged
witnessing situation, I guess. And so during the dinner, the
pastor asked Ms. Elliott, what was the state of
her soul? Had she come to trust Christ? And she made it clear to him
that she didn't want to talk about it. A few days later she
saw him in town and she said to him, she said, the question
you asked me the other night has been haunting my mind and
my soul. She said, I don't know how to
come to Christ. How do I come? And he just said to her, just
like you are. Just like you are. Don't try
to fix anything. don't try to clean some uh...
don't try to think well i got no more i got to have an experience
i've got a feeling calm just like you are and that's when
she wrote that him so the spirit of the bride that's
how we come we come just like we are nothing in our hand only
to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ we cling, trusting Him
for all our righteousness. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 14. Psalm 14. You remember in 1 Samuel 25,
David was fleeing from Saul and He needed some supplies to provide
for his men. And he had watched over the flocks
of a man by the name of Nabal. And so when he was in need of
Nabal to supply his men with some provisions, Nabal refused. And David set out to kill Nabal. Well, Nabal had a wife. Her name
was Abigail, who ended up becoming David's wife. And Abigail stopped
David before she got to her husband. And she pleaded with him not
to exercise his wrath against Nabal. And she made this statement. She said, May all the enemies
of my Lord be like that son of Belial, Nabal." So she pronounced a curse on
her own husband. Within just a few days he had
a stroke and died, and God killed him, and David didn't take matters
into his own hands. But that statement that she made,
David being a type of Christ, and Abigail being a type of the
church, and Nabal's name means fool. that's what it means and
uh... and her statement was made all
the enemies of my lord be like that son of the mail and uh... all will be all will be all fools
are cursed to die Chapter 14 of the Psalms in verse
1 says, the fool hath said in his heart, the next two words
are in italics, which just simply means they're not in the original
text. So the accurate reading would be the fool has said in
his heart, no God, no God. all rebellion against God is
going to be put down all rebels are going to be destroyed all
foolishness is going to receive its due reward and all the enemies
of Christ will become like that son of Belial, Nabal, the fool. Now If we were to leave those
two words in the text, there is no God, and I've read several
commentators on this passage of scripture, and they all leave
it in there, and they all interpret this passage of scripture as
talking about the foolishness of atheism. I read a survey, 2016 was the
latest one I could find, and in 2016, 90% of the population of America
believed in God. I know that in our irreligious
society, becoming more and more irreligious and men are getting
a little more educated and in their education they become more
foolish and standing in rebellion against God. We rarely, rarely
run into an atheist. Sometimes you'll talk to agnostics,
well I don't know if there's a God or not. And it certainly
is foolish for a man to think that he can outsmart God and
it is the most foolish thing to make that stand or that declaration
that there is no God. Though it may be hard to find
a true atheist, religious people are practical
atheists. Religious people are practical
atheists. They pretend to worship a god
but deny that god that they worship the essential nature of god. They deny him his deity. They
worship a God who is subject to the will of man. They worship
a God who they stand in judgment over saying that he doesn't have
the right to choose whoever he wills. They deny him his sovereignty
and they will say, oh, there is a God, there is a God. and
they'll even pretend to be worshiping that God. But they're practical
atheists. They deny, they deny the truth
of what God, of who God is. They stand in judgment of him.
They make him subservient to man. He really can't get his
way unless man lets him. He's subject to the will of man. And so that's foolishness. That's foolishness. The fool
has said in his heart, there is no God. In all foolishness,
the Lord will put down. That having been said, this Psalm
is quoted in Romans chapter three, describing the nature of all
men. It's not describing the atheist,
not describing the agnostic, it's describing the nature of
all men. We're gonna go to Romans chapter
three in just a moment. But my point is that foolishness
is not relegated to the atheist. It's not even relegated to the
practical atheist. Foolishness is everything that
stands in opposition to God. Foolishness is everything that
says, no, God. No, God, I'm not going to do
it your way. I'm going to do it my way. In other words, all sin,
all sin is rebellion against God and all sin is foolishness
and all sin will be put down, will be put down as that prophecy
of of of Abigail was so clear. May all the enemies of my Lord
be like that son of Belial, Nabal. They will be. And the believer
rejoices in knowing that all of his foolishness is going to
be like that son of Belial. All of his foolishness is going
to be put down. and has been put down. Let's read on. The fool has said in his heart,
no God, they are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together become,
you see that word filthy? It's the word stinking as in
rotting flesh. Now nothing stinks worse than
rotting flesh. And that's what Paul was talking
about in Romans chapter 7 when he when he made that declaration
we know that the law is spiritual but I'm carnal soul under sinned
when I would do good evil is ever present with me all wretched
man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death
this dead rotting corpse that I'm carrying on my back that's
the fool you see Here's what I'm trying to say in my way of
introduction this evening. We're not gonna read this Psalm
and spend our time pointing out there into the world and accusing
the atheist of being a fool. When the Lord made application
of this Psalm in the New Testament, he made it clear that this is
a description of all men. This is our rotting flesh. This is our foolish nature. And the foolish old man always
says no to God. You see, only the new man can
say yes. Only, that's why in order of
things, regeneration necessarily precedes faith. because faith
is responding to God by saying, yes, Lord, I come, I come. But in order for us to say yes
to God, he has to do a work of grace in our heart, giving us
a new nature, giving us a new heart. He's got to cause us to
come to him by giving us the new birth. That's exactly what
the Lord said to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, you cannot see the
kingdom of God. You cannot perceive of it. You
can't understand it. You can't come. You can't believe
it unless you're born again. You've got to be born of the
spirit. You've got to be born from above. You need a miracle. You need a new birth. You need for God to regenerate
you in order for you to say yes because your old man will never
say yes. Your old man's a fool. Your old
man's always gonna raise his fist against God. Your old man's
gonna always say no, God. Always. Only the new man can
say yes. Only the new nature can respond
in faith and come willingly. That's why the Lord said in Psalm
103, I will make them willing in the day of my power. You see,
until the day of his power comes in the miracle of the new birth,
we're not willing. Why? Because we're fools. We're
fools. We're born a fool. We'll live
a fool. And the only thing that's not
foolish is the perfect righteous nature that God gives us in the
new birth. So the fool, have said in his heart, no God,
not going to believe, not going to come, not going to submit,
not going to bow, not to the God who is. Now I'd be happy
to imagine a God of my own creation, I'll pretend to bow to Him, but
He's not going to be God. He's not going to be God, He's
going to be subject to me. I'm going to be God over Him. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. All the works of the old man,
all the works of the flesh are abominable. Yes. The scripture says the plowing of the wicked is
sin. Now that means when a man goes
out and plows his field, works hard, gets his plow hooked up
to his mule, and he's just tilling the ground. He's just working
the ground. He's doing what, you know, he's
being responsible, planting a crop, providing for his family. And
the Lord says the plowing of the wicked is sin. You see, everything
everything. God said in Genesis chapter 6
when I look down from from heaven and I looked into the heart of
man I saw that every imagination of his heart was only evil and
that continually. The old man is a fool. The old
man can do nothing but abominable works. There is none that doeth
good. None. What the Lord said to that
rich young ruler when he said, good master, what must I do to
inherit eternal life? And the Lord said, why callest
thou me good? There's none good but God. No one's good but God. I'll cause my goodness to pass
before you, Moses. And the Lord did, didn't he?
He allowed him to see his backside there on Mount Sinai after putting
him in the cleft of the rock. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only good man that there is. And the Lord is describing here
and it makes this clear in Romans chapter 3 as we'll see in just
a few moments that this is not as foolish as atheism is, as
foolish as practical atheism is in man-made religion. This is a description of all
men. all men in their rebellion against
God. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. Is there any? You see, that's
why God spoke audibly from heaven three times and said, there's
one. That's my beloved son. In him
I'm well pleased. He understands. He does righteousness. He doesn't do wickedness. They are all gone aside. They
are all together become stinking. You know, the child of God, he longs for that day when this
old flesh gets put back in the grave where it came from, doesn't
he? It's gonna return back to the
dust. It's gonna become Like that son
of Belial, Nabal. Why? Because he's foolish. But
we're going to see in this psalm, in the last verse, that the corruptible
is going to become incorruptible and the mortal is going to become
immortal and God's going to give even that old man a new body. A new body so that, look at the
last verse, oh, that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion
when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people. Jacob
shall rejoice. Jacob, that's your old man. That's
the fool. That's the supplanter. But now
the Lord says when the salvation of Christ comes, even Jacob's
going to rejoice. Why? Because Jacob's going to
get a new body. He's not going to be like that
old man. He's going to be a perfect body, a resurrected body. Jacob
shall rejoice and Israel, there's the new man, Israel, the Prince
of God shall be glad. All right, go back with me to
verse 3. There is, last part of verse 3, there is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Do they not have any knowledge?
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? No knowledge? Now, the scripture speaks of
transgression, sin, and iniquity. Transgression is a violation
of the law. That's what we do. Sin is what
we are. Iniquity, iniquity is those things
that men try to do in order to earn favor with God. And they're
not, they don't equal up. And God says, it's iniquitous,
it's sin, it's unrighteousness. And so the Lord says, do all
the workers of iniquity have no knowledge? Do they have no
knowledge of my holiness? Do they not understand that I
require absolute perfection and will settle for nothing less?
Do they think that their good works are somehow going to obligate
me to save them or going to earn them favor with me? Is that the
workers of iniquity have no knowledge of who I am? Do they have no
knowledge of how far short their works fall to satisfying the
demands of my righteousness? Do they have no knowledge at
all? See, our old man still raises his ugly head, doesn't he? We
still have thoughts of our iniquity being somehow evidence of our
salvation. We look to our work sometimes,
don't we? We're prone to. That Pharisee
is still there. That old fool, he's still there. And so the Lord says, do they
have no knowledge? Isaiah 59 verse 12 says, As for
our iniquities, we know them. We know them. You see, when we
speak the truth, we're able to say that in me, in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. No good thing. I know my iniquities, but the
Lord says of that Of that fool, he has no knowledge. He has no
knowledge of his sinfulness. He has no knowledge of the scriptures.
The fool doesn't have knowledge of the scriptures. You see, only
the new man can understand the Word of God. Many of us spent many years,
many years reading this book, studying this book, parsing the
verbs in this book, reading theology books, going to seminary. And then one day, one day the
Lord turned the lights on and the whole book was rewritten
overnight. It was just a different book.
We didn't, we didn't know it at all. We had no understanding.
Why? Because we were fools. Only the
new man can understand the word of God. Only the new man can
see the truth of who... That's why the Lord said to those
Pharisees, you religious men, you search the scriptures because
you think that in them you have eternal life. You think that
your knowledge of the Bible is going to somehow save you. Do
you have no knowledge? Does the fool have no knowledge?
No, he doesn't. He doesn't. What he can't see
is that these are they which testify of me. And when the Lord's
pleased to give you eyes to see, you realize this is about Christ.
This is about God saving sinners like me. Like me. Have all the workers of iniquity
no knowledge? Have they no knowledge of how
God must be just and justify the ungodly, and how God in a
covenant of grace put His elect in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world as the head, as the bridegroom, He brought
with Him His body, He brought with Him His bride, and all that
He did, she did with Him. Have they had no knowledge that
we are justified in Christ? He was offered up for our offenses
and raised again because of our justification. Does the fool
have no knowledge? No. The fool doesn't have any
knowledge. Not of that. Only the new man
can have knowledge of that. Now the fool has no knowledge
of his own sinfulness. You really don't know anything
until you experience it, do you? You really don't. You can study
the doctrine of total depravity. You can recite the verses of
scripture. That's what we're talking about
here, total depravity. That's what the whole psalm is about.
That's what Romans chapter 3 is all about. But until the Lord
makes you to be a sinner, you really don't know what total
depravity is. You have no knowledge, no knowledge. Listen to what John said in 1
John Chapter 2, he said, you have an unction from the Holy
One. You have the Holy Spirit and
you know all things. He's talking to our new man,
he's talking to the believer now. You know all things. I have
not written unto you because you know not the truth but because
you Know it and no lie is of the truth. You see, only the
regenerated man, only the righteous man can discern the difference
between a lie and the truth. And the truth is that only the
new man can identify the old man. He's the only one that can
do it. You didn't know you had an old
man until you got a new man. They have no understanding. Why? Because they're foolish. And
the fool has said in his heart, no, God. 1 John chapter 3, you know, here's
the knowledge that the new man has. You know that he was manifested
to take away our sins and in him is no sin. In him is no sin. And Peter said in 1 Peter 1,
verse 18, and you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things such as silver and gold. You were not redeemed. You weren't
purchased. You weren't bought by something
you brought to the table. You know that. But with the precious
blood of Christ as with a lamb without spot. And without blemish,
you know that God requires a lamb. Each family, each man had to
have a lamb, didn't he? That lamb had to be without spot,
without blemish. And God said, when I see the
blood of that lamb, I'll pass by you. And you know that's the
only hope that you have for redemption. You know that you're not saved
by the works of the law, for we know that whatsoever the law
saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every
mouth might be stopped, and that all men may become guilty before
God." Purpose of the law is to say guilty, condemned. Purpose of the law has never
been to save anybody. Law can't save you. And we know, Paul said in 714
of Romans, that the law is spiritual. Nothing wrong with the law. The
law is holy, the law is just, the law is good, but the law
can't make me holy. The law can't justify me and
the law can't make me good because I'm carnal. I'm fleshly, I'm
foolish, sold under sin. That old man, he's got, all he
can do is raise his fist in rebellion against God and say, no God,
Oh, but we do know some things, don't we? We know some things. We know. We know that all things
work together for good for them that. Love God and those that
are called according to his purpose. Purpose of God and the calling
of grace. Causes the child of God to know
that he's working all things together for our good and for
his glory. And we know Him. Paul said, I
know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. And
the passion that we have is to know Him better, isn't it? That
I might know the power of His resurrection, the fellowship
of His suffering. The fool doesn't know any of
these things. That's what the Lord is saying. Look at verse
4. All the workers of iniquity have no knowledge who eat up
my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord. Who eats you up more than anybody
else? Who gives you more grief than
anybody else? Who's your worst enemy? It's that old fool, isn't it?
That old foolish man. It's always raising its fist
and rebelling. It's the fool that said in his
heart, no God. Verse five, there were they in
great fear. God has not given us the spirit
of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. That's a new man, isn't it? The
old man is still afraid, isn't he? Fear is still a very real
experience, that old man, isn't it? The wicked flee, as the scripture
says, when no man pursueth. And there's something about that
old man that's going to hang on to life. I've been to the bedside with
a lot of folks have died over the years and death is not pretty
and it's not easy. And it's, it's, uh, that, that,
that old man, he's gone. He's afraid to die. He's going
to hang on. What a blessing it is when God
gives us hope, gives us Comfort gives us confidence even in death
so that when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death
We fear no evil Knowing that God is with us It's a big difference
between watching a believer die and an unbeliever die big difference Seeing unbelievers cry out in
agony and fear and God gives his children dying grace, enables
them to trust Christ. They were in great fear. Who? The fool. For God is in the generation
of the righteous. You have shamed the counsel of
the poor because the Lord is his refuge. What's that old man
do to you? He shames you, doesn't he? The scripture speaks of our enemy,
Satan, being the accuser of the brethren, and he certainly is
that. But that's that foolish old man,
too, that's thinking, you know, if I could just be a little better,
if I could do a little better, if I could work a little bit
harder, things would be better for me. And the old man, he haunts
the new man. You have shamed the counsel of
the poor. The old man shames the counsel
of the new. The new man's poor. He's the
poor man. And the old man shames the counsel
of the poor. Who's the counsel of the poor?
Christ is the counsel of the poor. He's our hope and salvation. And what's the old man do? What's
that foolish man do? He wants us to look somewhere
else other than Christ, doesn't he? And he shames the counsel
of the poor because the poor man has the Lord as his refuge. And he's the only refuge we have.
And he's the only refuge we need. The only refuge we've got. Oh, that the salvation of Israel
will come out of Zion. And that's where the salvation
of Israel comes. It comes out of Zion. And here's our cry,
Lord, I've got a foolish man. I've got a stinking corpse on
my back. You see, that old man serves
the new man too, doesn't he? He drives us to Christ. He causes
us to realize our need for Christ. We're always crying, oh, that
the salvation of Israel. You came here tonight, I hope. Lord, save me. Lord, might your
salvation help me. Help me, Lord. I've got the avenger
of blood pursuing me. I need a city of refuge. I've
got this old foolish man who's always rebelling against you. And he's always shaming me. Oh, that the salvation of Israel
will come out of Zion. And the child of God isn't just
crying for the salvation of Israel to come out of Zion now to help
him in his walk of faith, but he's crying for the salvation
of Zion to come. Come, Lord Jesus, even now come. Isn't that what John said? That's
how this whole book concludes, isn't it? We're always hoping. Today be the day, tonight be
the night. The Lord Jesus Christ would return
and take us home. Oh, that the salvation of Israel
will come out of Zion. When the Lord bring it back,
the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel,
Israel shall be glad. Now turn with me to Romans chapter
three. we open this service without
him just as I am. I read an article recently, a man
was making comments about the statement that, was it Festus
that said to Paul, almost thou persuadest me to become a Christian,
there in Acts 27, and And he wrote an article on that
passage of scripture saying that, you know, there's a lot of people
that are almost persuaded to become a Christian, but there's
things that they're not willing to give up. There's things that
they're not willing to do in order to be saved. And, you know,
it sounded like you clean up your life and then you won't
have that problem, you know, of almost becoming a Christian.
It wasn't a good article at all. When the Lord's ready to persuade you to become
a Christian, you know, what Paul said, oh, I wish that you would
be holy, not persuaded by me, persuaded by the Lord. Verse
10 of Romans chapter 3, as it is written, and here it is from
Psalm 14, there is none righteous, no, not one, There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are all together
become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. No, not one. There's only one
good man. Their throat is an open sepulcher."
Now, oftentimes, the Lord uses the anatomy of the body to describe
spiritual things. And so what the Lord is saying,
He's saying here, their throat is an open sepulcher. He's saying
the same thing that Genesis chapter 6 says. When God looked into
the heart of man, he saw that every imagination of it saw it
was only evil and that continually and now the picture is a man
opens his mouth and God's looking down his throat and what's he
see? Death, death, a fool. He's describing all of us. It's
that old man. It's what we are. Their throat
is an open sepulcher. With their tongue they have used
deceit. The poison of asp is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery in their
ways and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear
of God before their eyes." No fear of God. Now we know. that whatsoever
things the law saith that saith to them that are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God." What's the solution to this problem? The
law? Cleaning up your life? Becoming
a better person? Is that the solution? No. No. The law can only say guilty.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. All
the law does is make you more sinful. But now, Romans chapter 10, Paul
said, they are ignorant. Remember, this is knowledge.
This foolish man, he has no knowledge. and being ignorant of the righteousness
of God, they go about trying to establish their own righteousness,
not knowing that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
But man doesn't know that by nature. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. David in Psalm 14 was speaking
of Christ. He's the salvation that will
come out of Zion. He's the only hope that the fool
has, the only hope that the fool has. And all the prophets and
all the law pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
that believe for there is no difference for all have sinned. And this, I know you've heard
me say this several times in the past, I'll say it again.
This is, to me, this is the clearest definition of sin in all the
word of God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. What in your life falls short
of the glory of God? Everything, doesn't it? God says
it's all foolishness. It's all wickedness. It's all
sin. There's but one that's righteous. There's but one that's faithful.
There's that one that's good. And our only hope is that salvation
would come out of Zion and that God would give us faith to put
our hope and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
His people. He bought them with the price
of His precious blood, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. I love that word. God has become
propitious. Now, that just means that all
the wrath, all the wrath that God rightly deserves to have
in His holy nature against our sin, against that fool, was expiated
at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fire was quenched. The sword was wet with the blood
of Christ and God was satisfied when he saw the travail of his
soul. And the Lord Jesus Christ is our propitiation. There's
no wrath. There's no anger. There's nothing
but grace and mercy and love that God has for his people who
say, Lord, I'm a fool. I'm a fool. You've described
to me, there's no goodness in me. There's no righteousness
in me. There's no hope of salvation
in me. I need the Lord Jesus Christ. to make you propitious,
whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Where is boasting
then? Where is boasting? Where is it? There can't be any boasting.
What did we bring? Nothing. We were the fool who
said no to God. It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law
of faith. Therefore, we conclude. that
a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Now faith
is just depending upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is what that
little baby does when he just lies in your arms and trusts
you for everything. Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, the Gentiles also,
seeing it as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith
and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
the law. Trying to keep the law for the
purpose of saving your soul, It is the most God dishonoring
thing. It is the most shameful thing
that the foolish man can do. You see, back to verse 1, the
practical atheist who is trying to save his own soul, who believes
that there is a God and is doing works in order to earn favor
with that God, is really worse off. than the person who declares
himself to be an atheist, who says there is no God. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. We, through faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, what we're saying is God's law is holy. God's law
is justice. God's law is goodness. And I
can't keep it. I can't keep it. Not one bit
of it. I need the Lord Jesus Christ
to keep the law for me. I need Him to present Himself
for all of my righteousness. Because outside of Him, I'm a
fool. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word and we're thankful for your Holy Spirit and we pray,
Father, that you would make us to understand and to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Number nine, let's stand together. Yeah. ? Is not that I did choose thee
? ? For Lord that could not be ? ? This heart would still refuse
thee ? ? Hast thou not chosen me ? ? Now from the sin that
stained me ? ? Has cleansed and set me free ? Of old thou hast
ordained me, that I should live to thee. ? Your love had no beginning
? No cause in me was found ? That you should choose to save me
? A sinner strongly bound ? But grace not earned or sought for
? Was purpose for my soul For me salvation wrought, for Christ
paid the dreadful toll. ? T'was sovereign mercy called
me ? ? And taught my opening mind ? ? The world had else enthralled
me ? ? To heavenly glories blind ? ? My heart owns none before
thee ? ? For thy rich grace I thirst ? this knowing if I love thee
thou must have loved me first. I meant to let you all know that
you know Lorraine Hudson has been caring for her failing father
for several years now. He's just right at the very end
of his life. So remember Lorraine and John
and Brandon as they, he's in their home. I went by there today
and saw him. It's one of those experiences
I just shared with you about. And also Jake broke his hand
this week and had to have surgery and plates put in. Surgery went
well and he and Libby are back home. So, it was his right hand
and he's left handed. So, I guess he had broke it once
before and had surgery. He said there was some pins in
there they had to move. So, anyway, I wanted you all
to know about that. So, see you Friday night. Thank you.