It goes to Romans chapter 3.
Romans chapter 3. If you've missed the messages
on Thursday night, I encourage you to go on YouTube or sermon
audio and listen to those because we covered most of Romans. Well, we covered Romans 1 and
Romans 2. Now we come to Romans 3. Now whenever God begins a
work in a sinner's heart, one by one God is going to strip
away every objection that that sinner has to the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace. When I stand here and preach
to you, every time I stand here, my objective is to take away
every objection that you have. That's my goal. I may not be
able to do it, but God can do it. God can make it effectually
in the heart so that the objections that we have by nature are all
taken away. Today I want to show you man's
objections and God's answer. For the child that God saves,
He makes all our objections vain so that He shuts us up to Christ
alone. That's why He brings to nothing
our objections. He shuts us up to Christ only. You'll watch a man who listens
to the gospel with enmity in his heart, And he'll go from
listening to the gospel with enmity in his heart to joy. You'll see joy on his face. God's
taken away all his objections. That's what I want to see happen.
That's what I want to see happen. Now, at the end of Romans 2,
Paul declared that God's salvation is not by the works of the law. It's not by our works. but it's
by God saving Jew and Gentile by circumcising our heart, by
giving us a new heart, bringing us to rest in Christ and trust
Christ, bringing us to worship God in the Spirit, not in the
letter, not outwardly. Our worship is in the heart. Everything that is done outwardly
is just Just the outward reflection of heart worship within. The sad thing is, men can copy
the outward reflection. They don't have an art worshiping
the God and Spirit. So, this is what Paul said, we
need God to come. He said, your circumcision, if
you're not keeping the law perfectly, And it's made uncircumcision.
It doesn't show anymore what true circumcision pictured. True
circumcision pictured God circumcising the heart, whereby we worship
God in spirit, bringing us to believe only on Christ for our
righteousness and our sanctification. And so the first objection and
answer that we have here, when men hear this, here's the first
objection, Romans 3.1. What advantage then hath the
Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? Now here's the answer. Much every
way. Chiefly because that unto them
were committed the oracles of God. The profitable thing about
being a natural son of Abraham was that God gave Israel His
oracles. They were the only nation in
the whole world that God gave the oracles of God. He gave them
the law and the prophets, which all declared Christ the coming
Messiah. Christ our righteousness, Christ
our sanctification, all in Christ the Lamb. He gave them that. Now, What prophet is it? This is what it would be like
saying. I tell you every time we gather here that salvation
is by the free and sovereign grace of God apart from our works. This would be like someone saying
then, well if it's by God's grace, what's the point of me coming
here? What's the point of me being
here? Much every way. Because God right here in this
place has given us the gospel. He's given us the truth. And
just like God didn't give all the nations around Israel the
truth, He's not given all people around us the truth. God did
this by free and sovereign grace. So there is an advantage to you
who are born amongst God's true Israel. Because God sent His
gospel to us. And you have this advantage.
Now, all men are going to be without excuse. We saw that in
Romans chapter 1. All men are without excuse. God's
given them the light of nature, the light of conscience. All
men have the law of God written on their heart by nature. Scripture says, so man's without
excuse for not bowing and believing God. But you and I who have the
gospel, oh much more are we without excuse because God's given us
the truth. It'll be much more, it'll be
much worse for you and I who have the gospel to not believe
on God in the day of judgment than it will be for those who
didn't have it. You understand that? He's given
you much advantage. Use this advantage God has given
you. I tell my children all the time,
I have good books for them to read that have the gospel in
it, I try to keep bulletins available for them, and I tell them constantly,
you need to read these things. You need to read these things.
I tell you all often, go on the website, all our notes are there,
all the bulletins are there, the messages are there, There's
much advantage. Take advantage of it. Use it.
Now secondly, here's the next objection men come up with. Romans
3.3, What if some do not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? Here's the answer. God forbid.
Yea, let God be true, but ever man a liar. As it's written,
that thou, God, mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest
overcome when thou art judged." God fulfilled every promise He
made to Israel. The promises He made to natural
Israel were earthly promises. Go back and read them. Every
one of them were earthly promises, and God fulfilled every one of
them. He brought them out of Egypt. He brought them across
the wilderness. He brought them right to the promised land. And they went in and spied it
out and they came back and it was by their own unbelief that
they didn't go in. God didn't make them not go in.
It was by their own unbelief that they did not go in. If some
do not believe, brethren, Does it mean God's not able to bring
to pass what He promised? Does it mean God's not able to
bring to pass what He promised? Does it mean that Christ's blood
was not effectual to put away the sin of His people? Does it
mean that the Holy Spirit is not able to give us a new heart
and give us faith in Christ and draw us irresistibly to Christ?
Is that what it means when people don't believe the gospel? God
forbid. Let God be true, whatever man
a liar. As it's written, that thou mightest
be justified in thy sayings. This book tells us God's Word
and how God saves His people. And God is true. What God tells
you in this book concerning how He saves His people, it is the
truth. It's man who's the liar, not
God. It's man who's the liar. Man's
unbelief declares that man is a liar in the hardness of his
natural heart. I was just thinking of this just
recently. I'm trying to put a shed in my
backyard. Y'all knew this was going to get in the message somehow.
I'm trying to put a shed in my backyard and the township is
telling me I have to be further away from the creek to put it
in. Well, there's a... Kind of a loophole in this ordinance
that if you had a shed that was destroyed by a tree, you can
put another shed on your property. And I had a shed on my property
that was destroyed by a tree. But I can't find any record of
it. And I asked the man, I said, well, how about if I give you
my word and my neighbor gives you his word and the man I bought
the house from gives you his word? No, that won't do. We're
going to have to have something on paper. Why? Because we know
we're all liars. That's why God said, don't forswear
yourself, because it's going to come to a point where you're
going to have to have a contract to do everything. And that's
what we've got to have, because we all by nature know we're liars.
Man's unbelief declares the necessity for God to choose us from the
foundation of the world, because we by nature will not choose
God. That's what our unbelief declares.
Christ said, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. Our own belief declares the necessity
that God love us and sent His Son to be satisfaction for us. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Christ knew who He came to die
for. He came to die for those God
loves in Christ. And He laid down His life for
them. And He accomplished satisfaction for our sins. Christ did this. God did this in Christ. Man's
unbelief reveals the necessity that God must come to each one
through the preaching of the gospel and the Spirit of God
must rebirth us in spirit, giving us a new heart and a new spirit,
giving us the gift of repentance and the gift of faith and bringing
you and me with a new will that God gave in the day of His power. to believe on Christ and cast
it all into His hand and trust Him to be everything we need
in salvation. Our Lord said, you'll search
the scriptures because in them you think you have life. When
I was a lost man, you know why I went to these scriptures? I
was looking for something I could do to have life. That's the only
way I read the book. That's the only way natural men
read the book. But after God gave me life, Christ said, He
said, These are they which testify of Me. That's when I started
seeing Him. But in our natural state, He
said, You will not come to Me that you might have life. He
said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
And here's why, because that which is born of flesh is flesh. What we are by nature from our
father Adam is sinful flesh. Romans 8 says we hate God by
nature. We can't submit to God's Word
because we hate God by nature. He said you got to be born because
that which is flesh is flesh and that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit. There's wherein we worship God,
in that new Spirit that He gives us. Jesus therefore answered. He said unto the Pharisees, these
men who thought they were wise and thought they could save themselves
by their works. He told them he was the bread
of life. And they started murmuring amongst themselves because he
said he's the bread that came down from heaven. They said,
this is Joseph's son. We know his mother and father.
What is that? What is that? That's an absence
of faith. That's an absence of being able
to understand things spiritually. That's only looking at things
with the carnal eye. And that's all natural man can
do. And so Christ therefore said unto them, No man can come to
me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will
raise him up at the last day. It's written in the prophets,
they shall be all taught of God. God's got to come. and teach
you and me in our heart. And that's how He's going to
draw us through this gospel. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father. Christ said, He comes
to me. Every one of them do. What if
some do not believe? Do they make the faith of God
without effect? No! Because every one of them that
God teaches come to Christ. But those who don't believe,
so they don't change the faithfulness of God. You know what they prove? They're not the elect of God.
God didn't try to teach them. Look at Romans 9 verse 6. It's not as though the Word of
God had taken none effect. Isn't that exactly what Paul
said in our text? What if some didn't believe, they make the
faith of God without effect? It's not as though the word of
God had taken no effect. For they are not all Israel which
are of Israel. He's going to tell us what that
means. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they
all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. Remember that? Here's what it
means. They which are the children of
the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word
of God's promise, at this time will I come and Sarah shall have
a son. You remember Sarah couldn't have
children. She was barren. And Abraham was too, he was old.
And so, they came up with the idea, we'll have one with the
handmaid. That must be what God meant when he said, He said,
I'm in Isaac, Sarah's going to have a child. And so he went
to Hagar. God said, that's not the child
of promise, that's the child of your flesh. That's the child
you produce by your flesh. You know there's a lot of people
in churches today who are children of the flesh. The preacher stood
up and he's changed the gospel and taken the offense out of
the gospel and brought God down below a man, an exalted man up,
and he calls men to come and make a decision for their little
helpless Jesus, and he's created a bunch of children of the flesh,
and they're not the children of God. God's children are those
that He gives life in the heart regenerating us just like He
created that life in the womb of Sarah. Those are the children
of God. Read on. Not only this, but when
Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by her father Isaac,
for the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. You see, Esau was
a child of Abraham, he was a child of Isaac, a child of Jacob, I
mean a child of Isaac, but he was a natural son, he wasn't
a son of promise. The son of promise was God's
elect, Jacob. And get this point now, this
needs to be understood. Men will say, God answers this
objection. He says, what shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? Men will say, that's not
fair. Listen to me. The amazing thing
is not that God hated Esau. We all, by nature, deserve to
be hated by God. The amazing thing is, God loved
Jacob. And God's not unrighteous to
condemn anybody because we've all sinned and come short of
the glory of God. But God chose whom He would before the foundation
of the world. God forbid there be unrighteousness
with God. This is what He taught Moses
when He put him in the cleft of the rock. He said, this is
my glory. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy and whom I will out harden. That's God's prerogative. He's God. He can do with His
own what He wills. So if a man doesn't believe,
it doesn't change the faithfulness of God, it just proves that man
is not God's elect. Now thirdly, here's an objection,
verse 5, Romans 3, 5. But if our unrighteousness commend
the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous
who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. Here's the
answer, God forbid. For then, how shall God judge
the world? For if the truth of God, here's
another objection, for if the truth of God hath more bounded
through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a
sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderously
reported, and as some affirm that we say, why not rather let
us do evil that good may come? He said, here's the answer, their
damnation is just. You see, natural men hear us
preach the gospel that where our sin abounded, God's grace
did much more abound through the righteousness of Christ.
That's our gospel. And when they hear this, And
like I just told you, here's what man's unbelief reveals. And I went through all those
necessities that God must work to save a sinner. And men hear
that and they say, well if that's the case then, why am I judged
as a sinner? If God's righteousness is commended
by my unrighteousness, why does He condemn me as a sinner? Why
not just do more evil so that good may come? You ever heard
anybody say that? I've heard people say that. I
know that I'm not supposed to sin, but I sin because this magnifies
God's grace. This shows how His grace abounds
over me. That don't come from God. Sinner,
never flatter yourself that you and I do one thing in our rebellion
to add to God's glory or to diminish it. We don't. God's glory is
not added to by our sin, by saving us from our sin. When a diamond
is laid against a black backdrop, that diamond may shine more intensely
against that black backdrop, but that black backdrop has not
given the diamond anything. It hasn't done anything for the
diamond. Now, our sin and rebellion that
God saved us from is the black backdrop. But we don't add anything
to God. We don't add anything to His
glory. God declares His righteousness
by His Son. Man's unrighteousness doesn't
add to that and it doesn't diminish it. The righteousness He accomplished
at Calvary for His people, we don't add to that by our sin.
God's truth shines forth of God Himself. It's of God that His
truth exists. He is the truth. Man's lives
do nothing to further and exalt the truth of God. Such objections
will bring man into God's just damnation. And it's just because
whatever God judges, it's always righteous judgment. Because it's
exactly what a man has earned by his own sin and unbelief.
The wages... You earn your wages, don't you?
The wages of sin is death. We earn death. But if we're saved,
it's all of God's grace. But a man that goes on making
these objections, Remember Paul said they're constantly learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, constantly
questioning everything and bringing up all these objections and never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And God will give
them just what they earned, eternal death. The sinner's unbelief,
our sin against God declares that we're all totally ruined
in sin. Let's read Romans 3.9. Are we better than they? Are
we better than they? You know, this is an objection
men will make. Men will hear you preach the gospel and they'll
say, so you're just saying you're better than those God passes
by. You'll hear this word and I've
clearly said that's not the case. I've clearly declared that we're
sinners. But men will hear this. God chose
by His free grace, not based on anything in us, simply because
He would. And their objection would be, what then? Are you
better than they? Are you better than those God
passes by? Here's the answer, no and no wise, for we have before
proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it's written, there's none
righteous, no not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They're all going out of
the way. They're together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat's an open sepulcher,
and with their tongues they've used deceit. The poison of asp
is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way
of peace have they not known. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. You want to answer to somebody
that says, or you just say in God's elector, better than everybody
else, there's your answer. No, here's what we all are by
nature. It's like God poured His Spirit
into him and told him what to write. Paul couldn't quit painting
us just as low and dark and as ruined as he could paint us.
Because that's how ruined we are. By our father Adam. How then can a man be just with
God? Now, this is the question. How then can a man be just with
God? How then can a man establish
the whole law in perfect righteousness so that God receives us? Well,
it's not going to be by our works under the law. It will not be
by any works we do whatsoever. Look at verse 19. Now we know
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law. Now get that statement. The only ones the Law is speaking
to are those who are still under the Law. God's people, Scripture
says, you're not under the Law, you're under grace. But if a
man wants to be under the Law and many confess that they're
still under the Law, well then here's what the Law says to you.
It says, It's given that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law was given to simply
give His people a knowledge of sin to shut our mouths in guilt. That's why the law was given.
And righteousness, how then is righteousness established? If
it's not by the works of our hands, how is the righteousness
of the law established for us? It's only by Christ Jesus, God's
Son. Read on, verse 21. Now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. This is the righteousness of
God without your obedience and without mine. without the law. And it's witnessed by the law
and the prophets. This is what all the Old Testament Scriptures
were talking about. Even the righteousness of God,
watch the next word, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. If your Bible says faith in Christ,
throw that thing away and get you one that says faith of Christ.
Because it's not by your faith in Christ that righteousness
is manifested. It's by Christ's own faithfulness. by His faithfulness in laying
down His life at Calvary for His people and justifying us
from our sin. There's where the righteousness
of God is manifested. Listen to this. And that righteousness
of God that is by the faith of Christ is unto all and upon all
them that believe. Now there he's talking about
our faith. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. What he's saying there is, it has to be that God imputes
freely Christ's righteousness to us because you and I cannot
establish the law by the works of our hands. Read this, those
that the righteousness of Christ is upon, they're justified freely
by grace through faith in Christ's blood. Watch this, Romans 3.24,
He talked about them upon whom the righteousness of Christ is
upon, because we've all sinned, but we're justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. Christ
set Him forth to be righteousness for His people. He set Him forth
to be the satisfaction of the law toward His people. through
faith in His blood. We're justified freely, freely
by God's grace. Now the first reason God saves
this way is that He might get all the glory. Look at verse
25. He did it to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past 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.
That's the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is God
sent His Son and because His Son bore the sin of His people
and He laid down His life under the justice of God, God is just
now. He's slain everybody He's going
to save when He slew His Son because we were all in Christ.
And now God is the justifier because He justified us all in
Christ. He's a just God and a Savior.
That's His righteousness. And that's where we got to be
brought. To see this thing is about God's glory. It's about
God's glory. And He's going to have His glory.
That's the first reason He saves this way. The second reason is
so that you and I cannot boast. Look at verse 27. Where is boasting
then? It's excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law
of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it as one God which shall justify
the Jew by faith and the Gentile through faith. He's saying this
is the only way to come. This excludes all boasting on
our part. Paul proved throughout the second
chapter that no sinner can be justified by his works. And God
gives us this justification accomplished by Christ through God-given faith
so that we have no room to boast about anything. That faith that
is preached, Satan is subtle. There is a faith preached whereby
it makes men depend on their faith. Faith's God-given. Faith is the conduit through
which we receive the justification accomplished by Christ. It's
the conduit through which we experience God's free justification
already accomplished for us. You get that? But this gift,
it's a gift of God, he says in Ephesians 2, by God's grace so
that no man can boast. And this is why God justifies
us through this gift of faith so that we can't boast. We can't
boast. He gets all the glory and we
can't boast. Now, God uses Paul to answer one more objection.
When religious, self-righteous sinners hear us declare this
gospel, this is almost always the charge. I'm talking about
religious, self-righteous, self-sanctifying people. This is what they always
say. You're an antinomian. You're an antinomian. You're
saying the law doesn't have to be established. Well, you're
saying you can establish it. Now, I'm saying I can't establish
it. That's right. But it's got to
be established. It's got to be established. I've
got to establish it. How am I going to establish it?
How am I going to establish the law? Verse 31, Do we then make
void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we established
the law. And you can write right there,
through faith. Do we make void of the law through
faith? That's what we're accused of. You're saying you make everything
be dependent upon just trusting Christ for everything. You don't
leave anything in the sinner's hand. You're making void of the
law through faith. No, I'm not. I'm telling you
it's only through faith that we establish the law. Because
Christ established it for His people. That's what faith lays
hold on. That's the righteousness faith lays hold on. It's not
by our works, it's by Christ's works. And I don't have time,
but in the next chapter, He doesn't stop there at the end of Romans
3. He goes on and He so beautifully proves this by saying, this is
exactly how Abraham established the righteousness of God 430
years before God gave the law at Mount Sinai. How can a man
obey the law if he don't even have it? The same way you and
I establish it, who do have it? Through faith in Christ. The
only way. The only way. I get so sick of
hearing sinners brag about how they've put away their sin and
how righteous they're living. You know what the book says about
our righteous living? Our very best righteousnesses
are all filthy rags. Paul said it's dung, that's what
it is. If you think you're living good and you're impressed with
yourself, you don't know God. I mean that as emphatically as
I can. We're taking all the ground away from sinners today. That's
so. God's going to bring you to see Christ established the
law. He's the only one who did. Didn't
He say that? He said, I didn't come to destroy the law. I came to fulfill it. I came
to fulfill it. What's filled full? What is filled
full? It means you can't put another
drop in it. And Christ so fulfilled the law,
you can't put another drop in it. So sinner, is that good news
to you? Is that good news to you? Is
righteousness established by another, by God, for you? Is that good news to you? Is
it good news to know that God comes and He's the one that quickens
the heart and He's the one that gives faith and He's the one
that brings you to Christ and that just as He did all that
for you, whatever else needs to be done in this world, He's
going to provide that for you because He's already given His
Son for you. If that's been made by God to
be good news to you. Believe on Christ and confess
Him in believer's baptism and thou shalt be saved. People will say, well that's,
you're preaching easy believism. Try it, see how easy it is. Try
it. God has to work it. And I pray
that's what He does for you. Amen. Let's stand together. We'll
take a short break. We'll come back at 11. Father, thank You for Your Word.
Thank You for taking every objection we have and answering it and
bringing us to the feet of Christ, taking the work out of our hands
and making us behold. The author and finisher of our
faith is Christ. The establishment of the law,
the righteousness of the law is Christ for us. Lord, we pray
today you bless this heart to the heart of some lost sheep
of yours and that you draw him to Christ and work this work
in his heart. We'll rejoice, we'll give You
the honor, we'll give You the glory, we'll praise You for it,
Lord. That's what we're here for. Just
vessels for Your purpose to be used of You that You might get
all the praise and the glory for working in Your people. We
thank You, Father. We praise You. We ask You to
forgive us of our sins. In Christ's name, Amen.