He is talking about Abraham in
this twentieth verse, and he says that Abraham staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief. The promise of God was that God would provide a Savior. He promised that to Abraham.
And he staggered not the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able to perform. And therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him. but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses, and raised
again for our justification." I'll try to emphasize some truth revealed here in verse
25 of that fourth chapter of the book of Romans, where it
says, Who delivered us? Who was delivered for our offenses? Remember, this morning we talked
to you about that the authority of the Bible declares that Christ
died, Christ suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust. And we ask this question, well,
how do you know Well, and I remember saying, we know on the authority
of the Word of God. You say, but I believe that Christ
died for sinners. I believe that. But I can't realize that he died
for my sins. You remember me saying that? I know that Christ died for sinners. I know that's true. But I can't
realize that He died for my sins. Well, I think I said we're not
called to realize, to feel, or to experience. That's not what
we're called to do. We're called to believe the report. We're called to believe. Abraham
staggered not at the promises of God, but he believed. that God was able to perform
what He promised. Our authority comes from not
realization, not feeling, and not experience. These things
do come—realization and feeling and experience. But you can't
put realization in the place of Christ or feeling or experience. Our authority comes from the
Word of God. See, I know Christ died for sinners,
but I can't realize that. You're not called upon to realize
it. You've got to come back here because the Word of God says
that's what's so. See? So I believe God. So I believe God. Now you say, well, how do you
know it? The same authority that tells me that Christ suffered
for sins, the just, that's Christ, tells me He suffered the just
for the unjust. And I'm unjust. There's not a
just man upon the topside of the earth. That's where I live,
on this planet. So I must be one of those for
whom He died. So I believe God. I believe Him. My hope is built on nothing less. Not on my realization, not on
my experience, not on my feeling, but on what God said. That's what I'm talking about.
And I went on, if I remember right, and I said, the more clearly you can prove
me to be a sinner, the more clearly you entitle
me to the love of God and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
for sinners. For He died for sinners, and
I'm a sinner. So regardless of how many arguments
you put up to prove to me for whatever reason that I'm a sinner,
the more that you prove that you can put up against me to
prove that I'm a sinner, You're not doing me any harm, but you're
helping me. The more you do it, the more
you entitle me to the benefits of the doing and the dying of
the Son of God. I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner. Not because
I feel it. Not because I realize it. Although
I do feel it, I do realize it, I do experience it, but I know
that I'm a sinner because God says there's not a just man upon
the face of the earth for all of sin. And whether I feel it
or whether I experience it or whether I realize it, it's true
because God said so, not because I said so, because God said so. So I agree with God. I say, You're
right. You're right. I bow to it. I'm
hopeless and helpless and worthless. There's no good thing in me,
in this body of flesh. I'm nothing but sin from start
to finish. Now, if Isaiah, if he moans,
and groaned over the fact. And he did. He moaned and he
groaned over this fact. What fact are you talking about?
The fact that our righteousness is as filthy rice. He groaned
over that fact. If our righteousness is as filthy
rags, what must our sin be? If the best, if we could conjure
up the very best things that we ever thought and ever done and made a statement out of,
constitute them as a body, of our works. And God says, your
righteousness in my sight is as filthy rags. If that's so,
and it is so, what must our sins be? If our righteousness is such
an awful, terrible, terrible, terrible thing in God's sight,
what must our sin be? Now, a man is commanded by God to repent
of his sins, not only to feel regret and remorse
and sorrow for who he is, because he's nothing but sin. And all
of these acts out here is the product of that evil root in
his heart. It makes his nature evil. And he's called upon to repent.
Now, listen to me. A man has not really repented. A man has not truly repented
until he can repent even of his best deeds. That's what true repentance is,
is when a man can truly repent of the best things he's ever
done and consider them as filthy rags in God's sight. Now, this is so because of this
evil root that's in a man's heart. And because of that, there's
evil and wickedness in his nature. And everything that he does and
touches is poisoned by this root that's in his nature. Instead
of him going upwards, he's going downwards. He's on this sliding
board. He keeps going down and down
and down and down. Now, did you know that a man
cannot pray without sin? We do not hear or preach a sermon
without sin in it. That's true. I'm saying these
things in order that you and I might appreciate and be able
to thank God that in spite of who we are and what we are, God
has provided us with a sacrifice in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I said we cannot pray without
sin. I said we do not hear or preach
a sermon without sin. I said our repentance needs to
be repented of. Our tears need to be washed in
His blood. Oh, the exceeding sinfulness
of this thing called sin. If a man would be safe, if a
man would be wise, If a man would be holy, if a man would be happy,
if a man would be useful, if a man would be strong and victorious,
let him look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look ye unto me, all
the ends of the earth, and be ye saved. Let him look. Let him look nowhere
else. Don't let him look at himself.
Let him look to Him. The cry of the faithful witnesses,
years gone by and even now, the cry is Christ alone, Christ alone,
Christ alone. Look ye unto Him and live. Walk in Him. Abide in Him. Glory in Him. Live in Him. A man can look at the law of
God until the spirit of bondage overwhelms him with terror and
torment. There is no salvation in looking
at the law of God. He can look until the spirit
of bondage overwhelms him. A man may go about to establish
his own righteousness whereby he can boast of, brag
about, and sin, like the Pharisees of old, and also perish. like the Pharisees of old. A
man can weep until the fountain of his tears dry up. A man may
have all gifts, understand all mysteries, give all that he's
got to feed the poor, but that will do nothing to regain
the lost favor of God Almighty. Where can we gain this lost favor? Christ and Christ alone. We're called not to realize,
feel, experience. We're called to believe. Let
me read you something here. In the last part of the Bible, it
says this. Verse 11 of chapter 5 of 1 John. Listen to this, in light of what
I've said. Verse 11. Verse 10. He that believeth on
the Son of God. Remember I told you that if you turned over every
page of the written Word, you would not find a syllable
in the written Word that says that a man is saved by his realization,
saved by his experience. No. It tells him that this is
the record. This is the record. He that believeth
on the Son, he hath this witness in himself, but he that believes
not. See there? There's the believers
and the unbelievers. Two types of people living on
God's earth here. There are some that are believers,
and they're sacred things to God because God has made them
believers. And there are some here that
God's angry with every day. They're unbelievers. They've
offended God, and they've offered no restitution.
They go on their merry way. They're called unbelievers. They
don't believe God. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, made God a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son. What are we called on to do?
Called on to believe the record that God gave of His Son. His
name shall be called Jesus. for he shall save his people
from their sins. No other name given unto heaven
among men whereby we must be saved except that name. The most wonderful name, the
most wonderful name in the universe is the name of Jesus. His name
shall be called Wonderful, Mighty God, Counselor, Excellency, Prince
of Peace. This is a record God gave His
Son. I'm a sinner. I'm unjust. I believe. I believe the record
that God gave His Son. I trust Him. I trust Him. I want to put Him on in the waters
of baptism. I want to identify myself with
Him. That he died, I died. He was
buried, I was buried. He rose again, I rose. I want
to do the same thing. I want to identify with Him.
I want to go in the waters. I died with Him. And I was buried. I want to come back. I want to
identify with Him. I want to put Him on. I believe the record God gave
His Son of His Son. Listen to this, 11th verse, and
this is the record. Remember, this is the voice of
God. God doesn't trifle. You're not
filling in space. You're not like me. Don't have
nothing to say, try to fill in space. It's not like God. And this is the record. that
God hath, not wait until you die and find
out what God's done, He hath pastimes given to us. Who's the us? Those that believe
the record concerning God's Son. He's given to us eternal life,
And this life is in His Son. And he that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know, not realize, but you might know. How are you going to know
it? on this authority, God declares
it. That's how you know it. I don't have some mysterious
feeling about me that makes me feel that I'm some sort of a
mysterious saint, a mysterious good man that evil cannot touch,
and that I'm so good and holy that I cannot be contaminated
with poor sinners, thereby I know I'm a sinner. I know that I'm
a sinner because God says I'm a sinner. I know that I have
eternal life because God said, Whosoever believeth in his Son. hath eternal life. And if a man doesn't believe
that, he makes God a liar. He makes God a liar because he
doesn't believe the record. All right. These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may
believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence
that we have in Him. If we ask anything according,
not according to my will now, but according to His will, He
heareth us. Now back for just a second or
two in verse 25 of Romans 4. God declares here, He was delivered
for our offenses. And I read to you this morning
that He suffered for our sins. Our sins and our offenses are
one and the same thing. You say, what is an offense? Offense is the breaking of a
law. That's an offense. An offense
is the breaking of the law. It's a sin. It's a crime. It's something to cause anger,
and it's insulting. Who was delivered for our crimes
and our insults and our offenses, our sins? God delivered him. He gave of himself pure, spotless,
unblemished soul. He gave himself, loved us, and
gave himself for us. He declares here in Romans 4
and 25 that Christ died for our sins. And the same authority
that tells me I'm a sinner and unjust tells me also that Christ
died for me. Nothing can be plainer than this. Me being unjust, the just one
died for me. That's plain, isn't it? This
is the record. That's plain. If you're having
any problems tonight with believing the record, ask God to take away those obstacles
that you might understand, that you might hear and you might
see, and you might know something of peace with God and the peace
that passes all understanding. You'll find that if you call
upon Him and the desire of your heart is to know Him, if you
draw nigh, He'll draw nigh. It seems like a very simple thing
to me, but I know it's not. All the wise men of this world,
all their brains was put in one brain. They couldn't have come
up with this great scheme of redemption through substitution. Only God could do that. And the
whole world's baffled at it. And it's a mystery, a closed-in
mystery. And it can't be known except
by revelation. And God is pleased to reveal
His gospel to the hearts of His people. And we're living proof
that that's what He's done for us. We didn't learn it from a
book. is revealed to us. And when it
was revealed to us, we said, that's it. He died in my place. He's a man like I'm a man. God
took my sins and put them on Him. He paid the penalty. He
imputed His righteousness to me and I'm accepted in the Beloved.
I'm safe. My hope is sure and certain. Anchored within the veil, won't
move, it's in Christ.