Let's go to our Lord before we
begin. Our Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you that
you've brought us here. We're thankful that You continue to provide everything
we need, that You continue to keep the gospel preached to us,
keep us in faith, looking to Christ. Lord, we thank You that
You're a gracious, holy God, that You save according to Your
justice. We're thankful, Lord, In Christ,
You're just to be merciful to Your people, and that You shall. Lord, we pray today that You
would be pleased to reveal Yourself, one of Your lost sheep. Lord,
we want to expect it. We want to expect that that's
what You'll do from Your Word. And we pray, Lord, that today
might be the day You'd call out one of Your lost sheep. And for those that believe you,
we pray, Lord, you'd increase our faith. Today, increase our
faith. Make us see a little bit clearer
and a little bit more and cast our care more upon Christ Jesus.
Thank you for your continuing mercies to our bodies and the
natural things we need. And Lord, we pray now you'd be
exalted in the message. Forgive us, Lord, of our sins.
Forgive us for not being more diligent in reading Your Word
and coming to You and praying with thanksgiving about everything.
Lord, make us more diligent to do so. We ask these things in
Christ's name. Amen. Alright, Romans 30 verse 31. Romans 3.31, Paul said, Do we
then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. We were here just about a month
ago and we saw in the context that Paul has declared there
is none righteous, no not one. Jew or Gentile, none righteous,
no not one. He established that so clearly
from Romans 1 to Romans 3. The law was given to declare
us guilty. The law was given to shut our
mouths. Paul declared plainly that Christ alone is the righteousness
of His people. He alone is the... He came and
obeyed God, made of a woman, made under the law, and obeyed
God until the death of the cross, and He fulfilled all righteousness. He established the law for His
people. So, verse 21, Romans 3, 21, He
said, Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, by His obedience. And that righteousness is unto
all and upon all them that believe. Unto all and upon all them that
believe. For there is no difference. We
have to be saved this way. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Now, Paul declared after this,
he declared that all boasting is excluded by the law of faith. This was his conclusion. Verse
28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. To be justified is to establish
the law. We conclude a man is justified,
he's counted by God to have established the law One way, and that's through
faith in Christ. The Pharisees accused Paul of
making void the law by preaching the gospel of Christ. This was
their common accusation when they arrested him at Jerusalem.
This is what they said, this is the man that teaches everybody
against the law. And they accused him of preaching
and making void the law because he preached Christ established
the law for his people. This is what we're accused of
being anti-law, antinomian against the law. And so knowing that,
the Spirit of God moved Paul to ask this question in verse
31. Now he's totally shown here Christ is the righteousness of
his people and we're justified through faith. He says, do we
then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. And he's stating plainly, we
do not make void the law through faith. Through faith, believing
Christ is the only way we establish the law. That's what he's declaring.
Only through faith does a believer come before God and be counted
righteous before God, before the law of God. And yet many
preachers, despite this context, clearly being to set forth, were
justified through faith alone. That's the only way we establish
the law. Many preachers get to verse 31
and they say, see, believers are still under the law. That's not what the Lord was
declaring through Paul. It's evident that the Spirit
of God means that we establish the law only through faith in
Christ. And the way it's evident, chapter
divisions are unfortunate in some instances, and this is one
of them. But if you just keep reading, it's evident that's
what Paul means because Abraham is the one he uses as the example. Let's read it together, verse
31. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid,
yea, we establish the law. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath failed? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath were of the glory. But
not before God, for what saith the scripture, Abraham believed
God, and it was counted or imputed unto him for righteousness. Now
to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of
debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. The reason it's evident that
the Spirit of God is using Paul to say that the only way a sinner
can establish the law is through faith in Christ. The reason that's
evident is because he holds up Abraham and Abraham lived 430
years before the law of God was given at Mount Sinai. If the
law at Sinai Not only we're not justified by the law at Sinai,
but if the law at Sinai is the believer's rule of life, Abraham
didn't have it. Believers walk by faith constrained
by the love of Christ. That's the rule we're under.
Christ leads us, the Spirit of God leads us, and he does it
through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. That's how
we walk. But we established the law one
way, just one way, the same way Abraham did through faith in
the Lord Jesus, through faith in the Lord Jesus. Now, first
of all, Abraham certainly didn't establish the law. He did not
establish the law by his works because God will not share his
glory with another. He says there, Verse 2, if Abraham
were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before
God. Do you see? Is it evident to
you that Paul, when he said we establish the law through faith,
is it evident to you that he say we are justified through
faith? Because he just goes right into
talking about Abraham here. And instead of using the word
establish, he uses the word justify. But that's what he's talking
about. If you could establish the law, you'd be justified. You'd be righteous. So they're
the same thing. It's what he's talking about
here. He said, if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof
the glory, but not before God. God won't share his glory. And
if Abraham was justified, if he established the law by his
works, he would have certainly had room to boast and would have
boasted. but not before God. God won't
share His glory. We've seen this from Isaiah 42.8. He said, I'm the Lord. That's
my name and my glory. Will I not give to another? Not
to anybody. He said in Isaiah 43.7, we're
going to see today. He said, everyone that's called
by my name, I have created him for my glory. I formed him. I've made him. Paul said, this
is why Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. So it wasn't by his works or
he would have room to boast. God will not share his glory.
Now secondly, Christ established the law for his people. He did. Now I know you know this, I know
you've been taught this. But this is our gospel, and we
don't tire hearing this. And besides that, if God saves
a sinner, this is how he's going to save them. It's this message
of Christ's glory in establishing the law for his people. That's
why he sent him forth. Christ, because He established
the law for His people, therefore God our Savior gave Abraham faith,
He gave him life, and He gave him faith, and through faith
He imputed the righteousness of Christ to Abraham. That's
how everybody that God saves, that's how they're made righteous.
Verse 3, for what saith the Scripture, Abraham believed God. And it
was counted or imputed, reckoned unto him for righteousness. It
simply means he believed God and through faith God imputed
the righteousness of Christ to him. What saith the scripture? That's the question. What saith
the scripture? Well, it says Abraham was given faith in Christ
the same way all God's people, chosen, redeemed people are given
faith. Christ came and preached the gospel to him. That's the
first thing Christ came and preached the gospel to Abraham. Look over
at Galatians 3 and verse 8. Abraham is saved the same way
everybody's saved. He's considered the father of
the faithful. And the way he's saved is the
way God saves all His people. Galatians 3.8 says the Scripture
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, that's
me and you, his elect among the Gentiles, preached before, see
that? He preached God would justify
the heathen through faith, so he preached before the gospel
unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith,
they're blessed with faithful Abraham. Christ is the one mediator
between God and men. He's the prophet, priest, and
king. Always has been. So he came,
whether he used a man or not, we're not told. But he came to
Abraham in Ur of Chaldea, in a heathen, idolatrous land, and
he preached the gospel to Abraham. And he told him that in Abraham,
Because Christ was coming through his lineage, and Christ would
save his people, that in him all nations would be blessed.
That is, all God's elect scattered in all the nations would be blessed
through Christ who was coming through Abraham. And Abraham
believed God. Well, he's a dead sinner. How
did he have faith to believe? Look at Ephesians 2. Ephesians
2, it said, what sayeth the scriptures? So we need to look at the scriptures
and see what the scriptures say. What do the scriptures say? However
Abraham was given faith, that's how all God's people are given
faith. Ephesians 2 verse 1 says, and you hath he quickened. who
were dead in trespasses and in sins. Where in time past you
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in time past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God But God, who
is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us even
when we were dead in sins. God loved His people even when
we were dead in sins. How could God love His people
even when we were dead and walking after the lust of our flesh and
trespassing against God continually? How could He love us? Same way
He loves you now. Now that you believe, He loves
us in Christ, in the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it says, and because He loved us, and is rich in mercy, even,
verse 5, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ, by grace are you saved. And what He's declaring
here is, is even when we were dead in sins, whenever God quickened
Christ and raised Him, He raised us. If you read on, that's what
he says there in the immediate context. He said he raised us
up together, he made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
So He quickened us and raised us in Christ. When Christ arose,
we sat down in Christ at God's right hand because Christ had
redeemed all His people and all His people were in Christ. Well
then how these dead rebellious sinners that we are, how are
we going to be brought to faith? Then He came and quickened you
and He gave you faith. Look down at verse 8. He says,
for by grace He said there He did this that in the ages to
come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness
toward us through Christ. Well, over 2,000 years later,
He came to you, He came to me, and preached this gospel to us,
and the Spirit of God regenerated us. Verse 8, for by grace are
you saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We're His workmanship. We're
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained that we shall walk in them. Remember what Scripture
says? It says, some believed and some believed not. Who believed?
As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. God ordained. If you believed, God ordained
you. to eternal life, and therefore he came forth, preached the gospel,
the Spirit of God quickened you, and he gave you faith. And then
our text says, through faith in Christ, God imputed the righteousness
of Christ to Abraham. Verse 3, Romans 4.3, Abraham
believed God, and it was counted, it was imputed, it was reckoned
unto him for righteousness. I pray that the Lord will give
us grace to look at what the scriptures say and believe what
God says in His Word about imputation. Not what tradition teaches, what
God says in His Word about imputation. God only imputes to a man what
the man has been made by a prior act. Now let that soak in. God only
reckons to a man. He only charges a man what the
man has been made by a prior act. It's always righteous imputation. It's always just. Whatever God
imputes is just. That's the whole point of the
cross is to declare the glory of God, His righteousness and
being a just judge. Now you consider Adam. Let's
go to Romans 5. Consider Adam. Adam sinned. He broke the one law in the garden
that God gave him. And therefore, by that prior
act, he was made sin. And so God imputed sin to him.
God came to him, called him out of the trees, and God charged
him with having broken his law. He imputed sin to it. Adam was
our head. He's the head of everybody that
would be born of him. And so when he sinned, we sinned.
And because he sinned, and because we sinned in him, God imputed
sin to all Adam's race. It's Romans 5.12. Romans 5.12.
Wherefore, as by one man, Sin entered into the world and
death by sin. And so, that is, for this reason,
God imputed sin to Adam and to all his race. It says, and so
death passed upon all men. For that, for in Adam, all have
sinned. We really sinned in Adam. Just
like Levi was in Abraham's loins and he paid tithes, when Abraham
paid tithes to Melchizedek, we were in Adam. And when Adam sinned,
we sinned. And so, for that reason, because
we were made sin by that prior act, God imputed sin to us. Now
the next verse tells us that. The next verse is illustrating
that. Listen to this next verse, verse
13. He said, for until the law, sin was in the world. What does
that mean? It means from Adam to Mount Sinai, God didn't give
another law. There just was that one law in
the garden. And until the law was given at
Sinai, sin was in the world. Men sinned against God. They
sinned against God. But listen to this next statement
and get this statement. This statement tells you how
God imputes. Listen now. But sin is not imputed
when there is no law. Think about that. Think about
what that means. God will not just arbitrarily
impute sin to you or righteousness to you. God will not impute sin
to a man unless he's been made sin by a prior act. Nevertheless,
here's his point, death reigned from Adam to Moses. God did impute
sin to them. How was God just to impute sin
to them? He will not impute sin unless
a man's been really made sin. And there wasn't a law. They
didn't break a known law like Adam did. So how was God just
to impute sin to them? That's what it means that death
reigned. How was He just to do so? Because of verse 12. Because in Adam, all have sinned. That's the point of that verse.
Is to show us we really did sin in Adam. And for that reason,
God imputed sin to us. When it says there that even
over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression, I know people say that means babies, but he's
talking about the fact that they didn't have a known law like
Adam had. God gave Adam a law and made
him know he gave him that law and said now when you break it
you'll die. They didn't have a known law like that. They didn't
sin the way Adam sinned. They sinned in a time when God
had given no other law. And he's showing the reason God's
just infused sin to them is Adam really made us all sin. Do you see that? Here's the good news, Adam's
a type of Christ in headship. At the end of verse 16 it says,
Adam is the figure of him that was to come. So look down at
verse 18. He says, therefore as by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation.
When it says their judgment came, that's added, but he's saying
all men were condemned by the offense of one. God imputed sin
to all men because of Adam's one transgression. Even so, by
the righteousness of one, the free gift, his righteousness,
came upon all men, and that is all who Christ represented, unto
justification of life. You see, God didn't He didn't
impute sin to us. until we were made sin by that
prior act of Adam sinning. And then he did, he imputed sin
to us, and it was a just imputation. Even so, when he imputes the
righteousness of Christ to you, it's just because Christ made
his people righteous. He made his people righteous. Verse 19, For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. We were made sin by the disobedience
of one, therefore God imputed sin to us. We were made righteous,
all those Christ represented were made righteous by the obedience
of one, therefore God imputes righteousness to us. That's how
God imputes. So, seeing this, that God only
imputes what a man's been made by a prior act, how was God just
to number Christ with the transgressors? That's what Isaiah 53 says, it
says he numbered Christ with the transgressors. How was he
just to do that? Christ went to that garden, a
just, sinless, holy, perfect man. He did not sin, he would
not sin. And he, the just, laid down his
life for the unjust. And the scripture says, he hath
made him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. Isaiah 53.6 says, all we like
sheep have gone astray, we've turned everyone to his own way,
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And for
that reason, Isaiah 53.12 says, God numbered him with the transgressors. God imputed sin to Christ because
He had been made sin by a prior act. God made Him sin for us
because He bare the sin of many. The purpose of the cross is to
declare God's glory. I have brethren that don't agree
with me on this and we don't divide over it because we both
want to see Christ glorified. And there's a big difference
between somebody rebelling against God and being the sinner and
what Christ did. What Christ did was obedience.
He entered covenant before the foundation of the world to be
the sin bearer of his people. And the whole purpose of it,
brethren, is to show how God is righteous. how He's just. That's His glory, to manifest
God's righteousness. Back in Romans chapter 3 verse
26, He said, this is the purpose of the cross, to declare, I say
at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. God is just, perfectly
just. God will not impute sin to a
man unless he has truly been made sin by a prior act, nor
will God impute righteousness to a man unless he's been made
righteous by a prior act. Listen to the scripture, Proverbs
17, 15. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination
of the Lord. You see, God is strictly just. If a man justifies one who has
been made sin by a prior act, or if a man declares one righteous,
who is guilty, both of them are abomination to God. That's how
strictly righteous God is. And since Christ was made sin
for His people, God was just to pour out the wrath that His
people deserve on Christ and He was made a curse for us. He
was made a curse for us. Christ redeemed His people from
the curse of the law. That's the best news a sinner
will ever hear. Due to Christ's obedience, due
to Christ establishing the law, due to Christ justifying his
people, God is just to impute righteousness to those he gives
faith in Christ. And when God imputes righteousness
to you, believer, God's not treating you as if you're righteous. Was
God treating you as if you was a sinner? Was that what imputation
was when he imputed Adam's sin to you? He was just treating
you as if you was a sinner. No, you were guilty. When He imputes
righteousness to His child through faith, He is just. And He is doing it because Christ
made His people the righteousness of God by His obedience. It will take God giving us faith
to bow to the Word of God and trust that that's what the Scriptures
teach. Let me give you a few more scriptures
on it. Christ made his people righteous by his obedience. Christ
established the law and all his people established the law in
him. And what I'm saying to you is, imputation is not God treating
a man as if anything. Imputation is God imputing to
a person what the person has been made by a prior act. I say
it that way because Adam himself sinned. But Christ did not. Christ went to the cross as the
spotless lamb, just like they brought that spotless lamb. And
God made Him bear the sin of His people. I don't have to know
how He did that, I just believe God's Word. But I can show you
from other Scriptures, and if you can see from other Scriptures
that this is how God imputes them, we have to bow to Scripture.
Look at Leviticus 17.3. Leviticus 17.3. And I say God has to reveal this
to us because even as believers, brethren, if we've always, you
know, believed a certain way and we see it in the Scriptures,
it still takes God to make you see it and bow to it. You know,
Leviticus 17.3. What man soever there be, this
was a law God gave so that when men sacrificed out in the field,
they would bring a sacrifice to the door of the tabernacle.
That was the purpose of this law. Now look what God says here.
He says, What man soever there be of the house of Israel that
killeth an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or that killeth
it out of the camp? and bringeth it not unto the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering
unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, blood shall be imputed
unto that man." Now why is God going to impute blood to him?
Look at the next word. Because he hath shed blood. He
hath shed blood. That's why God imputes blood
to him. And then he'll be made a curse. Then that man should
be cut off from among his people. You see that? You see that? Let me give you another scripture. In 1 Corinthians 4, in verse
1, God says, The Spirit of God gives Paul
this word to write, and this is the word impute, 1 Corinthians
4. He said, let a man so account,
that's impute, impute of us, impute to us as being ministers
of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Why? Because
that's what God made Paul by a prior act. He made him a minister
of Christ, a steward of the gospel. And God says, so impute to me
what God justly made me. Look over at 2 Peter 3.15. 2
Peter 3.15. 2 Peter 3.15. If you're familiar with this
word, 2 Peter 3.15 says, an account, that is, reckon that
the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. Why? Why impute, why charge the long-suffering
of God with ending in the salvation of all His elect? Because that's
what God's long-suffering is, by God. It shall result in the
salvation of all His people. You remember when, was it Elimelech,
wasn't he the one that was at the priest whenever David was
running from Saul and he came there and he ate the showbread?
Was it a limelight? Am I right? I can't remember.
Anyway, later Saul comes to him and Saul imputes treason to him. And he told Saul, he said, don't
impute treason to me. He said, I didn't know David
was on the run from you. I didn't know anything about
that. You see, he was saying that was an unjust imputation,
that was an unjust charge because he had not been guilty by a prior
act. He hadn't committed treason.
He didn't know at all. You see, the illustration in the Greek
lexicon is this, is if you impute $10 to your wallet, It's only just if there is $10
in your wallet. It's a counting term. It's what
it is. You impute what's fact, what's just, what's right. So here's the good news, Romans
7. Here's the good news, Romans
7. And this is how we establish the law, Romans 7. If you believe
on Christ, if you believe on Christ, Brethren, listen, you'll
have preachers say, well, God's just treating you as if you're
righteous. That is not what God says. You want to just be treated
as if you're righteous or do you want to know Christ made
you the righteousness of God? I want to know He made me the
righteousness of God. Look here, Romans 7, 11. He says,
you likewise, reckon, that word is impute, impute ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin. He's using the strongest language
that can be used. Impute ye also yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. That's how real it is. That's
how Abraham established the law. He believed God and God imputed
the righteousness of Christ to him because Christ made Abraham
the righteousness of God. Even before he'd gone to the
cross, as he's sure it is, the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, he made Abraham the righteousness of God. I'm
going to have to come back another time to the rest of this, but
here's what I want you to do. Go with me to Romans 10 and listen
to this right here. Romans 10. If you're sitting here today and
you've never believed on Christ, When God says somebody's righteous,
now he's not just saying you did a pretty good job or you
gave it your best shot. God only says somebody is just,
justified that they're righteous if they have totally, fully,
completely, thoroughly established the law. They have dotted every
I and crossed every T and they have no sin whatsoever. And here's
what God says. He says in Romans 10.9, If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. Isn't that so much better than
working to try to be made righteous? With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. I'll come back to the rest of
that, our text, another time, but here's the question. Do we
then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Truly, the
believer, that God has truly given faith to trust Christ,
Men can call us antinomian all they want to. We're the only
ones who really, really value how holy, just and good the law
is. Because we're saying, I can't
keep it and you can't keep it. Only God's Son kept it and it
takes God's Son doing it to establish it. No, we don't make void the
law through faith. We establish the law through
faith. And I'm telling you, that's what
he said up there in Romans 3. His righteousness is unto all
and upon all them that believe. We have to be saved through faith,
for there is no difference in any of us. We have all sin and
come short of the glory of God. You cannot establish the law
any other way than faith in Christ. And child of God, you that believe,
when God imputes to you righteousness, know this, trust the Word of
God. He says, you reckon yourself
also, because God does. He said, you reckon yourself
also to be dead indeed under sin, but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord, righteous by the obedience of Christ. That's
good news, brethren. Our gracious Father, we thank
you that you are just and holy, that you will not clear the guilty,
you will not condemn the just. Lord, we're thankful that You
sent Your Son, the spotless Lamb, that He willingly laid down His
life for His people, and that You established Your own law
in perfect justice and perfect righteousness. And we thank You,
Lord, for this good news that by Your grace and Your mercy
and Your Spirit, we have faith to believe Christ. You have made
it known in our hearts that we are righteous by the obedience
of Christ. Lord, we praise you and glorify
you. This is wisdom. to the highest. Lord, thank You, thank You for
revealing this to us. And Lord, if there be any that
don't see these Scriptures and don't understand, we pray, Lord,
for those that believe You, that just don't see this blessing
of imputation, Lord, help them to see it in Your Word and bow
to it. And for those that don't believe
You at all, those that Christ has made righteous. We pray,
Lord, today you'd bless this word to their heart and call
them to faith. We thank you for your mercy.
Thank you for your grace. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.