Complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this evening. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to the epistle to the Romans in chapter
3. And by way of text, verses 24
and 25. The epistle to the Romans, chapter
3, in verses 24 and 25. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past through the forbearance of God being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, through the forbearance of God. I wish to speak very simply, for
as simply as one can, this evening upon these verses. But does not Paul lay forth in
this epistle the beauty, the excellency, and the all-prevailing,
conquering mercy of the gospel of free and sovereign grace here
to sinners. This epistle to the Romans was,
although it appears before us as the first of Paul's epistles,
as we have it in the Bible, was not the first to be written.
Indeed, it's thought that the epistles, both the epistles to
the Thessalonians at least, were written before this. However,
that of course does not mean that this epistle is in the wrong
place. It's in absolutely the right
place. because if we see the reasoning of Paul as you are
aware most of the epistles, the line of the epistles are reasoned
arguments two churches, two people in respect of the truth we can
see that this one sets the standard as it were for the others which
follow and here in the epistle to the
Romans Paul is writing and in this third chapter answering
several charges and several questions that are posed unto him and we
can see can't we a number of practical realities the fact
that the heart of man has not changed one iota since the period
that this was written and that really his need is the
same man is a sinner and he is in need of salvation through
the blood of the Lamb the third chapter commences with this question
what advantage then hath the Jew or what profit is there of
circumcision? much every way chiefly because
unto them were committed the oracles of God in other words
the truth came unto you Israel didn't it? it came unto you but
what have you done with it as it were? well for what if some did not
believe? shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect God forbid? you see we have to realise
that yes the truth came to Israel in the Old Testament in the necessity of salvation
through that Saviour that Messiah which was to come But they didn't all believe,
did they? They did not all believe. And it's the same today. The
Gospel is preached in its fullness and its freeness. It's been preached
this evening, I trust. And it proves to be a saver of
life unto life and a saver of death unto death. The Old Testament saints were
those of whom they lived and saw. that there was a saviour
coming and yes they knew who he was oh they did you know some
people talk as though the saints in the old testament didn't really
know what was going on they didn't really know what was happening
but we find that far from the truth our pastor preached from
this text do you think of the reality of this? just mention
this as an aside Job, here, in chapter 19, in verse 25, what
did he say? For I know that my Redeemer liveth
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. For I know that my Redeemer liveth
and He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. Job knew
where his trust lies. He knew where his trust lay and
he knew who was ultimately to be his saviour and who was to
be his justifier from sin. And that is what brings us to
this text, isn't it? Paul is reasoning here with the
Romans. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption. that is in Christ Jesus. But
before that he lays out a number of important truths. The Jews argued that they were
supreme. The truth had come to them. They
were better than anyone else. But we read, don't we? In verse
10 of chapter 3, as it is written There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. Friends, if we really understood
this, what does this mean? This means that man is totally
depraved. It means that he is unable to
do anything in and of himself. I remember hearing a sermon by
the late Mr Kenneth Howard. Some of you may have known him.
He preached a sermon, again from the book of Job, I believe. Canst
thou by searching find out God? And of course the truth is that
no, man by searching cannot find out God. Only by divine revelation
can a man or a woman find out God. but here Paul is stating quite
clearly what the situation is that there is non-righteous it
does not matter where we are born it does not matter what
family we come from we're all born in sin and we're
all shaped in iniquity and this was a very offensive
truth to those of whom received this epistle no doubt very offensive
indeed but it's a truth isn't it? there is none that understandeth
think of that we know that the natural man
receiveth not the things of God neither can he know them for
they are spiritually discerned It's a hard truth, isn't it?
The total depravity of man, but it is a truth. And you know,
friends, it must be preached. It's not preached much from pulpits
today. Men say prophesy unto us smooth things. Well, we believe
that, but we don't preach it. These things must be preached.
Why? Because to come to verse 24, we have to know verse 10,
verse 11 and verse 12, don't we? See, the Gospel is not a
two-edged sword. We have to know the total depravity
of man, not just in the letter of it, but we have to know it
in our own souls. We have to know it by experience. Being justified freely by His
grace. So, What can we say? Well, we have
the condemnation, don't we, of the law upon the conscience. Verse 19, Now we know that what
things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth might be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God. therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is
the knowledge of sin you know many of the old preachers used
to speak of a law work upon the conscience I don't hear that
term very much today a law work upon the conscience and in the
heart a necessity to know that we have
broken the moral law and you know that is exactly what condemns
a man it is because he has broken the law it's not because he's
not accepted the offer as the fullerites tell us but it's because
he has broken the law it's a fact but this is offensive isn't it?
it's offensive And when God reveals these things to us, do we not fall at His feet as
dead as it were? We have nothing to say. We have
nothing to say. And we can see that we heap sin
upon sin. And we don't, as is professed,
get better and better I trust we don't live under the
dominion of sin. But we can see that our debt
just grows. We are in need of a mediator.
We are in need of a saviour. We are in need of being justified. Because God always deals with
man in strict justice. our sins must be paid they must
be accounted for and they are either accounted for in our own
person at the judgment or they are accounted for by the free
grace and the justification and the efficacious death of Christ
being justified freely by His grace to be justified to be made as the saying goes just as though
we had never sinned is this not the truth of Christ's imputed
righteousness we read of it didn't we at the end of the fourth chapter
God imputes the righteousness of His Son upon the believer to be justified and you know
this justification is an eternal justification eternal justification
is a doctrine again we don't hear of very much in fact most
of the professing evangelical world deny it but it's a truth
you know friends it's a wonderful truth that we are justified if
we are His before we are even born why? well you think of this justification justification is active and it
is passive it is active on the part of Christ who is the eternal
son of God who was the one who went before and it is passive
on the believer we are the recipients, yes all the Lords elect in time
will be brought into this present world and will be saved as it
were but their justification of Christ is it not in eternity? well it has to be well men say
well we were born the children of wrath even as others well
all that means friend is that we were born under the law as
in we are guilty of course under the law as others but we are
justified from eternity it's a wonderful truth a wonderful
truth there's an excellent treatise by Dr John Gill on this subject
and I would warmly recommend it to you but being justified
freely what does that word freely mean? it means without cause
without cause you know if the Lord deals with
you as a sinner And He reveals His love in your
soul. It's the first question you will
ask, is why me? Why me? Why me? Friends, it is simply the free
grace of God. It is what the text says. Freely,
without cause, by His grace. It's His mercy. it's his freeness it's his sovereign
will and his purpose and this is the wonder about this justification
isn't it? and this atoning death of the
Lord Jesus that it's absolutely efficacious that it's absolutely
right it's absolute imputed righteousness you know that we've got a much
better gospel to preach than anyone who believes in this view
of two wills in the Godhead much better, much better because the
preaching and the gospel that we believe in will be absolutely
guaranteed of success absolutely guaranteed of success because it will meet its purpose
God's word will not return unto him void but it shall accomplish
that which where unto it is set absolutely freely by his grace unmerited
favour and do we know something of this? Is this something that
is sweet to us? Is this something that is precious
to us, Thea, on this Lord's Day evening at Salem Chapel? To be justified? Are you anxious
to know, to see your title clear to mansions in the skies? To know yourself justified? before God through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus to redeem to redeem to win back as it were the preceding
text we read for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God you know we are all sinners in
Adam Adam is our federal head as natural men. We're not sinners because we
sin. We sin because we are sinners. That's the truth. But there is redemption that
is in Christ Jesus. There is the forgiveness of sin.
And this thing is a real thing. and it can be known you know I have no time for these
people that say there is no such thing as assurance now I would
qualify that because a lot of what is passed for assurance
today has to be said is for the most part presumption has to
be said in taking the professing world as a whole but you know
there is forgiveness within that He mayest be feared. There is
salvation. There is a real truth of Christ
being made known in the soul in the Gospel of His grace. Why? Because it is unto His honour
and unto His glory. He has declared that it is to
be so. But it's only to be found in
Christ Jesus. You see, we must preach an experiential
religion. And our experience must be the
Lord Jesus Christ, made known in the soul. You know, the Gospel
is a very simple thing, really. It is. It is a knowledge that
we are sinners. It is a knowledge of our sinnership.
It is to know what Paul is speaking of in verses 10, 11 and 12. And then it's to know what he's
speaking of in verses 24 and 25. It's only to be found in
Christ Jesus. You know, there's a wonderful
hymn that's found in our hymn book at 96. We sang it with the
friends at Ripley this afternoon. Redemption found. translated
by John Wesley. We don't approve of John Wesley's
theology but here he translated an excellent hymn. Now I have
found the ground wherein my anchor hope shall firm remain, the wounds
of Jesus for my sin before the world's foundation slain, whose
mercy shall unshaken stay while heaven and earth are fled away. Where is our hope? Where does
it lie? Is it fixed upon Christ? Or is it in something else which
will only prove to be a false prop in the end? Verse 25, I must venture on,
the time is going. Whom God hath 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 now if you have a Bible with
a margin in it you will see that word set forth is translated
as foreordained again this ties in wonderfully in what we see
in verse 24 doesn't it? he hath foreordained a propitiation
here we can see the eternal nature the predestinating power of the
gospel do we glory in the truth of predestination?
Do we glory in the truth that God has foreordained our steps? He has foreordained
He has predestinated us in Ephesians to be conformable to His image
and I believe it was preached here not long ago that word in
the original Greek means marked out beforehand it's a wonderful
statement isn't it? to mark out beforehand I thought
upon that in Ephesians 1 having predestinated us to the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself to Himself marked out
beforehand this is a wonderful and a comforting
truth a blessed reality to anyone who knows the total depravity
of their own heart to anybody who knows that they cannot do
anything spiritually for themselves that there is one who goes beforehand
and marks out his people and brings them unto the... I love this phrase here it's
wonderful Polang language adoption of children you know if you know the adoption
of children you'll prove this that if you're adopted into God's
family it's a far greater belonging than any natural family isn't
it? because they are people of whom
you can converse on the things of truth with those of whom you
feel that union with those of whom although all the Lord's
people walk a separate pathway in a sense of course they all
walk the same pathway in the respect that they are each brought
to Christ and the knowledge of Him and to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself He purchases His people and he makes them his own and
again does this not prove what our text is saying in verse 5
according to the good pleasure of his will his will not our
will but his will well there goes the doctrine of free will
in respect of Paul and what he has to say about it who God hath
set forth to be a propitiation that word propitiation, we can
use a number of words to explain it some call it an appeasement
so I don't really like that term but a satisfaction yes, a satisfaction because the
holy law again it must be settled, mustn't it? the debt must be paid it must be paid and again you can see the truths
of the gospel all coming together the son had to come he had to
suffer he had to bleed and he had to die for his people through faith in his blood you
know if your religion doesn't contain blood it's no religion
at all we have to know the blood of sprinkling upon the conscience,
don't we? it's the blood of Christ made
precious to us might say here that the whenever
we read of that word the blood particularly in this context
we think of the atonement don't we? that fits in so well with
propitiation because an atonement is a covering it's a covering well when we cover something
quite often we can make a mess of it can't we? but not so with
God because this is a perfect covering to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins passing over covering you see that's the truth of the atonement
and again is it not a limited atonement? Do we not glory friends
in the truth of particular redemption? I'll tell you something, I can't
hear anything else but particular redemption and I must have the
doctrines of grace preached and traced out in my own soul. I
don't know about you but we must hear these truths because they're
wonderful and because we love them I trust to declare His righteousness
well this is the truth isn't it? His righteousness now the
end of verse 4 chapter 4 I'm sorry Verse 23
we read, 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 offences and was raised again for our
justification. We should have read verse 22,
And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness justification, imputed righteousness
all these truths, do they not come together? but the doctrines of grace are
much more are they not? than a logical system the doctrines of grace are something
that is made real to His people and they are made real to us And you know the doctrine stands
eternal. Just make this point. We often say, and it's right
that we do, that true religion consists of doctrine, practice
and experience. But the doctrine is that which sets the standard,
as it were. all through experience and all through practice flow
from the doctrines. An example of that would be this
we're here at Salem Chapel and if the Lord will next year it
will have existed for 200 years. Now I hope and I trust and I believe
that the truths that are contended for from this pulpit are the
same from when it was originally built the doctrine stands the
same but what about the people? friends,
I'm not being flippant I mean it reverently there's not one
of us here living from 1814 it's not one of us here living
from the turn of the century 1900 the people have come and gone
the experiences of the saints they've come and gone haven't
they? but they were all saved in Christ
They all held to this doctrine and the experiences that they
had of God's love in their souls all came from the same doctrinal
truths that I trust that we preach today. And it's not just the
doctrinal truths, it's the emphasis of these doctrinal truths. You
know, if we love the doctrines of grace, we'll preach the doctrines
of grace. And we will emphasize these things
in our preaching. Because are they not? Are they not what the Lord has
taught us by experience? That we must have these things.
We must have them preached. And we must therefore preach
them to others. whom God hath set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood. In our justification we read
that we are justified by faith. Well, faith isn't the cause of
our justification, is it? It's the effect of it. Again,
we come back to that which God has done. and He gives His people faith for the remission of sins that
are passing over 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 and now we come to this,
don't we? Where is boasting then? it is
excluded the Jews like to boast that they
had the truth the Gentile world didn't but you know there's a wider
application to this where is boasting then? you know perhaps
you have been accused as I have have been bigoted and narrow-minded
and all this sort of thing And people give the impression
that we believe that we're better than others. It's not the case
at all, friends. Trust, it's not the case at all.
No. We can't boast in anything save
the cross of Jesus Christ. That's it. We've got nothing
to boast of. Nothing to boast of at all. Therefore,
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. When the Lord justifies a sinner,
he is free from the law. It's another most offensive doctrine
to people, isn't it? Well, they'll say them people
down at Salem Chapel, they're antinomians. They live without
the law. Friends, God's law is a higher
law than the moral law, the law of grace. The law says, pay what
you owe. The gospel says, give, give,
give. That's the law that we adhere
and that we hold to. And you know something else?
God's people, they're not mercenaries, are they? No, they're not mercenaries. What spirit have we come through
those doors this evening? Have we come in a spirit of bondage? We have to come because it's
the Sabbath evening and this is what we do. Or have we come
because we love Christ and we love to hear His Word preached?
That is the difference, isn't it? The Gospel is that wonderful,
that higher law. Free from all and free from the
condemnation of the law if we are in Christ Jesus this is the
wonder and the eternal truth that are found within this portion
and upon our hearts I trust to declare his righteousness
for the remissions of sins that are past now if the penalty is paid if we are made just then the
penalty is paid isn't it? there is another hymn that exemplifies
this tremendously Augustus Toplady was excellent upon this point
and he said if thou canst my discharge procured and freely
in my room endured the whole of wrath divine, the whole of
Robin payment God cannot twice demand first at my bleeding shorty's
hand and then again at mine if it's paid it's paid friends you may get down at times
you may feel and you may know and you may mourn your sins it's good that we do mourn our
sins But what do we read? If we sin, then we have an advocate
with the Father. Repentance towards sin is not
a once in a lifetime experience, is it? It's continual if we feel
our sin. But we have an advocate with
the Father. And you know there will come
a day when the Lord will wipe away all tears from our eyes. You know, it's not true what
people say that they'll be weeping in heaven for all those of whom
have gone to hell or those of whom we've not managed to witness
to or any such thing no we don't read of that in Revelation it
says that God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes all tears
all anxieties we live in a world of sin and
woe and the only real light is the gospel men may have their systems but you know we may argue one
is better than the other but it's only the gospel that breaks
the chain and it's only the gospel that will make men happy there's
a lot of foolishness going on at the moment in London isn't
there? there's a big idol in this country at the moment and
in a few weeks it will have passed the past people will go about their normal
business they won't be any happier or enriched for it will they?
in their hearts because there's only one true source of happiness
only one true source of joy and that is to be justified freely
by his grace Do we know what it is to know this? If we have this, then we know
this, then we have everything. If we don't know this, regardless
of what else we do have, in essence we have nothing. Being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, 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 past through the forbearance of God. Well, I'll leave it there this
evening. May the Lord have His blessing. Amen.