I'm gonna ask you to turn with
me to the book of Romans chapter three, if you would. I pray this morning that the Lord
would give me utterance and that he might cause us all to understand
something of our desperate need. That's what we talked about in
the first hour out of Psalm chapter nine, encouragement, there that
the Lord gave to the poor and needy. If you're poor and needy,
you've got great hope that the Lord would do something for you.
That's who He came to save. He came to save sinners, poor
and needy. Oh, that God might show us something
of our desperate need of salvation and God's free grace in providing
it for us. And that's the message. That's
the message of the gospel. How God Save sinners. Only one way. You know, as a
young man, I strived to be good enough for God to accept me,
only to be disappointed time and time again, knowing and realizing
that I constantly fell short. Then there was a time in early
adulthood where I was convinced that I was good enough. And if
it's possible to become further lost, that's exactly what I did. But then I heard the message
of God's free and sovereign grace. I'll never forget when I heard
it. And for the first time, the first time in my life, I was
able to actually rest in the truth that our redemption is
free. Boy, that's a wonderful word,
free. We like that in everyday life,
don't we? and get coupons in the mail or
a notice on the computer, such and such, free, oh, that gets
our attention. But when it comes to salvation,
what is free? Well, it means without charge.
It means without cause. It means not under the control
or power of another. Free means not to be a slave,
to be no longer confined or imprisoned. And what a precious word that
word free is to me now. Now that I have been made free
from the bondage of sin. You see, we're sold under sin,
the scripture says, sold under sin. Our will is not free, men
say it is, but our will is in bondage to our nature. But in Galatians chapter five,
verse one, Paul wrote, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. See, that's what we were. We
were entangled with the yoke of bondage. And the reason was
our sin made us so. But now we're free. Those in
Christ are free. So a sinner is in one of two
conditions. They're either in bondage to
sin or they're free from that bondage. Now, which is it for
you? Here in Romans chapter three,
we won't read the whole chapter, but Paul asks here in verse one,
if any Jewish believer has an advantage over a Gentile believer. And then Paul follows up that
question with another question. He often did that. And he asked
there, is there any profit in being circumcised? We could say
it another way. Is there any profit to keeping
the law of God in order to be saved? Did the circumcision of
the Jews give them an advantage? And then Paul immediately answers
and he says, no, because friends, the only circumcision that profits
us spiritually is the circumcision of the heart. And it's then that
Paul in this glorious chapter, very plainly and simply and clearly
spells out that every sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, both
alike, are no different. One does not have an advantage
over the other. Look down at verse nine. Paul
asked, what then? Are we as Jews better than they,
the Gentiles? No, no, no, and no wise. For we have before proved both
Jews and Gentiles that they are what? All under sin. All of us under sin. And then
in verse 10, Paul begins to painfully describe the condition of us
all. Now, I don't know if it was painful
for him to say it, but it's sure painful for me to hear it. Remember,
Paul is writing these things under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. This is what God says about all
of us. This is what God says about all
who are under the bondage of sin. Now let's read a few verses
here, verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. It's almost as if Paul says,
if you didn't hear me say none, let me say it again, not a one.
None of us righteous. There's none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way, and that's their way. You know, there's a way that
seems righted to a man, but the end thereof is a way of death. Our way is not God's way. There's
a way, but it's not the right way. And we've all gone our own
way. And we are together become unprofitable. And again, there
is none that doeth good. No, not one. Pretty obvious Paul
is making the point here that none of us are good. None of
us are deserving of God's mercy and grace. He goes on to say
in verse 13, their throat is an open sepulcher, a grave. Out of our throats and our mouths
come dead things. It's a sepulcher. With their
tongues, they've used deceit and the poison of ash. Serpents
is under their lips, whose 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? had known the way of peace. There's
no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatsoever the
law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. You see, all the world, every
man and woman, ever born of a woman other than Christ, is guilty
before God, and therefore we have to shut our mouths. We can't
defend ourselves because we're guilty. Every mouth's gotta be
stopped. The whole world's guilty before
God. In verse 20, therefore, by the deeds or the doing of
the law, there shall no flesh, no man or woman, be justified
in his God's sight. Now look at this, for by the
law is the knowledge of sin. But 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 faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. Now, when Paul here says there
is no difference, he's not saying that all men and women are the
same in all respects. There are many variations of
men and women. You know that and so do I. There
are some who like Barabbas and those two thieves on the cross
that have sold themselves to iniquity all the days of their
life. And then there are others like
that rich young ruler. who endeavored to keep the commandments
of God from his youth up. There are some like the beloved
John who was always found with his head near the master's heart. And then there are those like
Judas whose heart was far from the Lord and betrayed his Lord
for 30 pieces of silver. Not all men and women are alike
in every respect. There are differences in the
characters and dispositions of men and women. There are women
who like Rahab that are harlots, and there are women like Mary
who just love to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus, taking in
every word He said. But there is no difference in
another way. There are some who've made their
families proud, and there are some who have broken their family's
hearts. But when Paul speaks about there
being no difference, he's not referring to these particular
things. And in verse 22, again, the apostle
is speaking about one thing, one thing only. There's one thing
in which there is no difference in any of us. And that can be
summed up in four words that we see here in verse 23. For
all have sinned. And that, there's no difference
in any of us. None. Because of our sin, we
have forfeited every claim of personal righteousness. Because
of our sin, none of us can offer to God a righteousness that He'll
accept. It's gotta be perfect to be accepted. We can't provide that which God
requires. Again, there's none righteous,
no not one. Why? For all have sinned. Any
sinner that is to be saved must be righteous by the imputation
of Christ's perfect righteousness. If my righteousness must be perfect
to be accepted, and there's only one who has that perfect righteousness,
then I must have his righteousness. How am I gonna get it? Freely. Freely is mine. He's the only
righteous man that's been born a woman, and that's because God
was his father. Whatever differences there may
be in men and women, and in their character, whatever differences
there may be in our dispositions, and there are many, we must all
be saved the same way, for there is no difference we have all
sinned. There's no difference as to the
gospel message by which sinners are saved. No difference. God uses one message, the message
of Christ and Him crucified, to save them that believe. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to do what? To save sinners. And
the Apostle Paul, who wrote the majority of the New Testament,
said, of whom I am she. No difference as to the gospel
message by which we are saved. Secondly, there's no difference
in a sinner's need to hear that gospel. Every single one of us,
whether we know it or not, have a need to hear this message. The only message that saves,
the only righteousness that saves. We've got to hear that same message.
We're all in need of hearing it. And thirdly, there's no difference
in the effectiveness of that gospel to those who believe it. Those who believe this gospel,
every single one of them shall be saved. Every one. That's right. And because we are all dead in
trespasses and sin. Now would you agree with me on
that? That's what the Scriptures say. We're dead. Dead in trespasses
and sin. Then we must all hear the same
Gospel message. We all have the same need of
hearing it. And the Gospel is effectual to
all who need it and desire it. Now that's good news. Why? For there is no difference. No
difference in any of us. Why? For all have sinned. God
saves sinners only one way, and I intend to be repetitive. There's
only one way for sinners to be saved, and it's not by keeping
the law. That's what Paul told us there
in verse 20. Look at it again. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, the doing of the law, there shall no flesh, No man, no woman
be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of
sin. Now we can't be saved by the
keeping of the law, simply because we cannot perfectly keep it.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in God's sight. You know, God never intended
for us to be saved by keeping the law. For if righteousness
come by the law, Christ is dead in vain, Paul said in another
place. Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you that are justified by the law, or
think that you are, because none can be. But if you think you're
justified by the law, then you're falling from grace. That's pretty
strong words. God gave this law for one reason,
so that we might know what sin is. That's why Paul said in Romans
7, verse 7, he said, nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Now don't make that
harder than it is. How would any sinner know that
lusting after the things of another was sin if God had not said in
His law that we shouldn't covet the things of others? Thus coveting
the things, lusting after the things of the others is a sin
because God said so in His law. Why then did God give us His
law? For by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law was given to
show us our sin. The law was given to show us
our inability. The law was given to teach us
what sin is. The law was given to show us
sin is what we are. If there's no difference, if
we all have sin, how then can any be saved? Just one way, the
same way, and the only way. Look at verse 21 again. But now
the righteousness of God without the law was manifested." Now,
listen, that's not talking about a what or a how, that's talking
about a who. But now the righteousness of
God without the law was manifested. Who came into the world to save
sinners? He who is righteous, the Lord,
our righteousness. That's talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is that righteousness that
was manifested. It's talking about a righteousness
that was witnessed by the law and the prophets. Now when we
hear that term, that's talking about the Old Testament, specifically
the five books of Moses. And we've studied through three
of them now, and we have seen so plainly, by God's mercy and
grace to us, that all Those books picture and typify and testify
of Christ and of his obedience and of his Sufferings and his
death by which he brought in life and righteousness all the
scriptures for that matter Old Testament and new testify that
if God give us the eyes to see That that's the case. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only righteousness that any of us can have It's the only righteousness
God will accept. And that's what Paul's telling
us in verse 22. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe. Why must we have this faith of
Jesus Christ? Why must we believe in his righteousness
that is manifested without the law? Because Christ is that righteousness. Christ is the only one that can
provide the perfect righteousness that we must have in order to
be saved. Why? Because there is no difference. No difference in any of us. No
difference in you, no difference in me. No difference in Jew or
Gentile. No difference in John or Judas. No difference in Barabbas or
the Apostle Paul. No difference. Verse 23, for
all have sinned, and as a result of that sin, all of us come short
of the glory of God. Now, have you ever really stopped
to think about what it means to come short of the glory of
God? Did you know that man and women,
man and woman, were made for the purpose of glorifying God?
They're maker, they're creator. So first, because of man's sin,
man is not capable, he's incapable of glorifying God. We come short
of being able to worship and glorify God. And sin's the issue. And there's no difference in
any of us. And all of us, well, secondly, it also means that
all of us, the sinners that we are, have nothing in ourselves
to glory in. We come short of that too. All
of us have been, as the scripture says, weighed in the balances,
the balances of God's holy justice, and are found wanting. You know what that means? We've
come short. We still want. We're still in
need. We've come short in and of that
too. But I'm so glad, I'm telling
you, I'm so glad that Paul didn't stop there. He didn't stop there. Wouldn't it be just horrible
news to say that you've come short, that you've sinned and
come short of the glory of God? And that's it? I'm so glad He didn't stop there.
Is there any hope of redemption? Well, I'm glad you asked. Verse
24, being justified freely. There it is again. There's that
word, that blessed word. justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now you think
about that verse, not a very long verse. How are we justified? Freely. Remember what we said
freely was? Without charge, without a cause,
no longer under the control or power of sin, no longer a slave
to our sin, imprisoned by sin, no longer sold under the bondage
of sin. How was that obtained? Well,
it was without work, it was without merit, and it was without reward.
We are justified, and that word means rendered innocent. Rendered
innocent. How were we rendered innocent?
Freely. First and foremost, freely. Now
you think about it. I'm convinced that no sinner
will ever see the beauty of being rendered innocent until they
see that they're truly guilty. For there is no difference. You're
guilty, I'm guilty. All of us are guilty by nature,
by birth, and by practice. for all have sinned and all of
us come short of the glory of God. And I love all the things
here that Paul tells us in verse 24. We're not only justified
freely, we're justified without a cause in us, no reason in us
that we would be justified. How can that be? He tells us
only by his grace, only by God's grace. How can that be? Through redemption. through redeeming
us, through paying the price that we could not pay. That's
what redemption is. Where is that redemption found? He tells us right here in that
same verse. It's in Christ Jesus. And there
you have it. That's how God saves sinners.
Freely, by His grace, through Christ Jesus. There can be no
pardon, now listen, there can be no pardon without there first
being punishment. That's why the death of Christ
manifested God's divine justice in the highest degree. God is
so just that when sin was found upon His Son, who knew no sin,
but was made sin, made our sin, God's beloved Son must die. God's justice demanded it. God
is a just God and He can by no means clear the guilty. And you
know what that means? That means that Christ really
did take our sin upon Himself. You look at Calvary's mountain
and you see Christ hanging on the cross, that ought to tell
you immediately that Christ really took your sin upon Himself. And
when He did, He really became guilty. This is not just a play
on words, friends. He really took our sin and he
really became guilty and he really must be punished because of our
guilt, which was really ours and not his, but it became his. Justification rendered innocent
can only be obtained for us by believing that Christ was made
to be sin for us. And that by His substitutionary
sacrifice, His atoning sacrifice, we are made the righteousness
of God in Him. And you know what that means?
That means His righteousness really is my righteousness. And
that means that I am innocent. I'm really innocent. My righteousness
is not just pasted on like a postage stamp. Oh, there's my righteousness.
No, it's really mine. Made righteous, the righteousness
of God in Him. You know, a person's put on trial,
they're brought before a judge, and one of two things is gonna
happen. They'll either be acquitted or they'll be condemned. They'll either be justified or
they'll either be found guilty. And it's not possible that any
one of us should be acquitted on the ground of our not being
guilty. For there is no difference. For
all have sinned. We are all guilty. We've all
broken the law of God and we've broken it over and over and over
again. Thousands of thousands of times.
We can't even count the number of
times we've broken God's law. Matter of fact, let me say it
this way, we've never kept the law one time. Not perfectly,
not as God requires. So it's not possible for any
of us to be declared just on the ground of our own personal
obedience to the law. For to be just through our own
obedience, we've got to be perfect. Can't do it. Perfect we've not
been. We've broken the law and we continue
to break it. And by the works of the law,
it's clear that we cannot be just, we cannot be justified
by the deeds or the keeping of the law. That's what he's telling
us here, so plainly and so simply. But the God of heaven, the God
of our salvation has purposed a way, and I use that word intentionally. He didn't make a plan. I hear
about the plan of salvation. I know what folks mean by that,
but you know, we make our plans and plans get altered and changed
and plan on going on vacation. Something comes up and we can't
go and we make our plan. Plans can be frustrated and thwarted,
but God's purpose can be. When God purposes something,
it shall come to pass. Even as I have thought, so shall
it come to pass. As I have purposed, so shall
it be. God's purpose cannot be altered. The God of heaven, the
God of our salvation purposed a way that He can be just and
yet declare the innocent, you and I, to be innocent. Declare the guilty to be innocent.
And it's called the gospel. And it's good news for such sinners
as we all are. Now look at verse 25. Whom God
has set forth, speaking of Christ, whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through faith, propitiated payment, propitiation
through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness, His
righteousness. Might wanna underline that. His
righteousness. for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. And it's by the way
of substitution. It's by the way of imputation.
Our sins are taken off of us and laid upon Christ, and they
became His. They really became His. We're
found in the Lord Jesus, not having our own righteousness,
which is of the law, of our own doing, of our keeping, no, but
having the righteousness, which is of God, by faith, believing
on Him. Not a hard message to understand,
but impossible to believe apart from God's divine intervention. You see, we didn't keep the law.
We broke it. We were therefore condemned.
But Christ came and He stood in our stead. He stood in our
place. He became His people's representative. He kept for them completely all
the law. He suffered the punishment due
our disobedience. He became our Savior, our substitute,
and our surety. And He obeyed the law perfectly,
and yet He was made guilty in our room instead, and that is
the gospel of which I speak. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, and that's what Christ did. And He imputed, God
imputed our sin to Him, and God imputed His righteousness to
us. And it's not just stuck on like
a post-it note. It really is ours. He was made
a curse for us. How do I know? Because it's written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And when He hung on
Calvary's tree, that's what was happening. He was becoming a
curse for us. And the wrath and the judgment
of God Almighty fell upon Him. It should have fallen upon us,
but there's no difference. All of sin, but it fell upon
Him instead. Now if you ask me how this can
be a just thing to do, I have to reply, Only because God determined
it. Only because God purposed it.
It's not possible that He should have determined anything that
was not just. For He's a just God. But He's
also a Savior. You know, our first fall wasn't
of our doing. Now I understand that we, within
our sin nature, have broken God's law in and of ourselves. We can't
blame it all on Adam. But our first fall was not our
doing, but the doing of one who stood as our representative.
So, it became possible, maybe that's not the word, but it came
right that there should be a salvation, a redemption through a second
federal headship, even Jesus Christ the second Adam. As by
man came death, so by man also comes the resurrection from the
dead. Christ is the second Adam he's called. as by man's disobedience,
the sin of one man, Adam, sin came into the world, and death
by sin, and the race of God's people perished, well, the whole
world perished in trespasses and sin, but by the second man,
the glorious man, the God-man, Christ Jesus, grace reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life. And that's my hope and your only
hope that we have. So we need not question the justice
of God in this matter. The sovereign against whom we
have offended is the very one who purposed this glorious salvation. If the offended one is satisfied
to proclaim his justice and our being justified, We can be perfectly
satisfied that it's so. If God said it, you can count
on it. It's God who justified, so who
can condemn? It's God who acquits, who dare
accuse us? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? And all of this is given to us
freely, freely. I'm almost finished. Being justified
freely, God forgives us in Christ. Not on the account of our repentance. You can come to the front of
the church and you can cry until you have no tears left, where
just dust comes out of your eyes, and it won't save you. It's not
based on the ground of our resolutions. We can resolve to do good all
the days of our life, and we won't. It's not because of any
suffering on our part. It's not because of any merit.
It's free, without money, without merit, without anything of ours. It's only because God delights
to show mercy. We're justified, not by any debt
do us. We've never done anything to
indebt God. We can't indebt God. Not because God was bound to
justify us. Just freely, freely, without
cause, without reason, and only because of His abundant love
and rich compassion to us, He freely makes the guilty to be
pardoned and the unrighteous to be justified by the righteousness
of Christ alone. We're right back to that. And
that's what our dear brother Bruce rested in until the Lord
took him home this past Wednesday. I can't tell you how many times.
And he never talked about his love for Christ. He always talked
about Christ's love for him. We're ashamed of our love for
him. But thank God he's not ashamed of us and his love for us. You'll
find rest by looking to Christ, not by looking within, not by
works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to
his mercy, he saved us. by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. And friends, this pardon, this
justification, it's free to us. Don't you like that word? Don't
you like it more than when I started? But it wasn't free to our God.
It wasn't free to our Savior. Yes, He's sovereign, but God
never in His sovereignty violates righteousness, and it would be
a a sovereign act of unrighteousness if he passed by sin without awarding
to it the punishment that it deserves. The punishment that
he threatened. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sins, it shall die. God would by no means clear the
guilty. If this justification that is
free to us costs God his son, does that mean anything to you? You either pass by it Is this
anything to you? We're not justified freely without
redemption or justified by His grace without the intervention
of an atoning sacrifice, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, modern day religion and so-called preachers have
labored to get rid of these glorious truths. They leave it out. Salvation
has become all about something that we do for God, baloney,
baloney. And all it does is throw dirt
in the face of this glorious truth of substitution. But Christ
substituting Himself in my place and doing for me what I couldn't
do for myself is the very foundation and the head and the cornerstone
of the entire Gospel. And I don't hesitate to say that
the Gospel that religion and preachers preach today is another
Gospel. It's a false Gospel. which is
not another, just simply being some that trouble you. So look
at it one last time with me. Verse 24, every true believer
is justified freely by His grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. Verse 25, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, it's His
blood that washes us clean, to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness,
that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. And that leaves us with one question. Where is boasting then? What
are we going to boast about when we did nothing worthy? May God be pleased to make these
things so for His glory, our good, and for Christ's sake. Our dear Heavenly Father, Lord,
thank you for your word. Thank you for plainly showing
us in the scriptures that we are saved freely by your grace,
that grace that is found only in Christ. That by the works
and deeds of the law, we can do nothing to satisfy your justice,
to pay for one single sin. That it was the righteousness
of Christ and him only that was manifested to put away our sin
by the sacrifice of himself. Lord, enable us to truly worship
and be grateful and thankful for what Christ has done for
us. Enable us, let that be the motivation
of our worship and our praise and our all that we find ourselves
doing in the work of Christ. It's because of our love for
Him and what He's done for us. Make it so, Lord, we beg Thee
for Christ's sake. And in His name we ask these
things. Amen.