Romans chapter four, in verse
25, which speaks of the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ for
his people, what he did for us. Paul declares this glorious truth. Speaking of our Lord says that
he was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our
justification. Now to the believer, this is
our hope and our joy. Our hope is that for Christ's
sake, when I stand before the Lord, holy God on his throne,
that I am received and accepted of him for Christ's sake, for
his righteousness, and that he has made me righteous. The psalmist captures our words
very well, saying, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. And that's a wondrous thought.
That's a great joy and comfort to the believer. Christ Jesus
was delivered for our offenses. This is the church's offenses,
those that believe on him. He was delivered for our offenses. When he went to the cross as
our surety, our Lord went through the veil. He went through death. He died leading the way, going
before His brethren as our Good Shepherd in that He made satisfaction
for our sins so that we have a lasting habitation in His body,
in Him forever. Forever. Nothing can take you
out of Christ's body. Nothing can take you out of His
hand. and our God being well pleased
with the satisfaction that his son made in offering himself
to the Father, we find that our God, we learn that God was propitiated
by the Lord Jesus Christ. His wrath was turned away from
us justly, perfectly, because Christ did all that was necessary
for us. He settled our debt with holy
God. He was therefore raised again
for our justification, for our righteousness, and for our acceptance
with Holy God. Now, until a man becomes a sinner,
he has no place in Christ. Only sinners. have a place in Christ. Until then, he's a wandering
vagabond in the earth, just like Cain. He has no habitation, no
place. Until a man confesses that he's
a sinner, he has no interest in Christ. He's not a sinner. He has no need of Christ. He
doesn't care about Christ. He has no want of Christ. Only sinners come to Christ,
and only sinners are made to rejoice in him for his salvation. according to this gospel that
Christ was delivered for our offenses and that he was raised
for our justification, it's for sinners. In Luke chapter 15,
the beginning of that chapter, we're told, then drew near unto
him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes
murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. He eats with them. Now who came
to Christ? Sinners. Sinners came to Christ. Who wanted to hear Christ? Sinners
wanted to hear Christ. Who complained about this? The
Pharisees and the scribes were the ones complaining. But wait,
aren't they the religious ones? Aren't they the ones practicing
religion? Good, moral, fine, upstanding
people? The Pharisees and the scribes?
The lawyers and the doctors? Aren't they the religious ones?
Yes. Yes, they are. They're the religious
ones. And yet, they complained that
Christ received publicans and sinners and ate with them. What
our Lord is showing us from the scriptures is that until a man
knows himself to be a sinner, he's not coming to Christ as
a needy beggar. He may come to Christ or a form
of Christ, But he's coming in his own righteousness, in his
own confidences. And he thinks that because he's
something in himself, he can stand before God, and God will
receive him. And he's going to complain, and
he's going to find fault with sinners who come to Christ trusting
him, and believing him, and resting in him, and wanting to hear him,
who come to Christ seeking mercy and forgiveness for Christ's
sake. And he'll find fault with them.
If he was a believer, he wouldn't do that. If she was a Christian,
she wouldn't say that. And we find fault with people
when they sin and fall grievously. And yet somehow we excuse our
own faults and our own falls and our own sin, even though
we do the same things. according to scripture. But we
always have a justification when it's us doing the fault and it's
with us doing the sin. We can always find some good
reason so as to quiet our conscience down and explain away our sin. But when it's someone else and
it bugs us, that we just can't forgive and we just can't let
that go. Because a believer would never do that. I'd never do that.
That's what we say. And yet we do. And the scriptures
show us that we do the very same thing. And so Paul here in Romans,
he spends a lot of time coming up to this chapter. He spent
a lot of time in the first three chapters showing that we're all
sinners. Every one of us is a sinner before
God. Every one of us. is in need of
God's mercy and forgiveness. And without that, through the
Lord Jesus Christ, we have no place before him. We have no
need for Christ, no desire for Christ, no want for him, if we
don't see that we're sinners. And yet Paul is showing us that
every one of us is a sinner. We're sinners by nature, and
we're sinners in word, thought, and deed. And even if we've never
done a certain sin with our own hands, we've thought it in our
hearts. And we're all guilty before God
who knows everything, who sees everything. He knows our hearts,
and we're only kidding ourselves if we think that we're righteous
and perfect before holy God. And he faithfully shows us, he
declares in his word that we are sinners because we've got
to know it. We've got to be made to know
I'm a sinner. And I'm a sinner today just as
I was back then in this flesh. This flesh isn't any better.
I've prettied it up. I've made it smell a little better
with some perfume, some religious perfume. And I've done things
a little different so as to hide it and disguise it. But the reality
is I'm still a vile, wretched sinner in this flesh. I still
need Christ just as much today as I needed him back then. And
the Lord's showing us that. And so we have a high thought
of ourselves, and we therefore judge others and condemn others,
but we're the same. We're the same. Look back in
Romans 1, Romans 1, picking up there in verse 21. I'm not going
to go through this whole chapter. Verse 21, Paul says, because
that when they knew God, this is speaking of us in Adam, when
they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. And this is our nature in Adam. We're born with foolish hearts.
and vain ideas and foolish ideas. And we puff ourselves up and
we build ourselves up as though we're something. And the truth
is, we are all corrupt and vile by nature. We're all sinners
in thought, word, and deed. And we try to justify ourselves.
And the more we try to justify ourselves, the more foolish we
are before God. We build ourselves up, and the
reality is we're not up here. We're actually further down.
We're just digging a hole. We're further down in the things
that we do in trying to justify ourselves. And the problem isn't
that we need more religion. That's what I thought. I need
some more religion. I've got to get more religious.
I've got to try harder here. But it isn't that we're not religious
enough. In verse 23, they changed the
glory of the uncorruptible God into an image, an image made
like to corruptible man and to birds and so forth, to creative
things. We made God like unto ourselves. And we thought he was altogether
like us. But his ways are higher than
our ways. And his thoughts are higher than
our thoughts. And by nature, we will not hear
him. And we don't believe it by nature until we're made by
his grace and power to see what we are in ourselves. And so man is an idolater by
nature. And by nature, we're lustful. We're perverted. We have things
wrong. We pervert the truth of God.
And it comes out in our sexual sins. We see it not only in society,
but in our own hearts and in our own thoughts. Again, we may
have never done certain things, but we've thought them. And it's
gone through our hearts. And we see what vile, wicked
sinners we are by nature. And we need His grace. We need
His mercy. We need his salvation, and we
won't hear it until God makes us to hear it. Who knowing, verse
32, the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure
in them that do them. That doesn't describe you and
me, does it? It does. It does. We're not better
than these sinners listed here. And Paul goes on to list a whole
host of the works of the flesh. Just as he described it in Galatians
5, these are the works of the flesh which man turns to to get
his way, to satisfy himself, to bring justice. If he feels
he's wrong, he turns to anger and adultery and murder and strife
and divisions. That's what we do by nature.
And we accuse others and condemn others while justifying ourselves. And we provoke one another more
and more in that. And the natural man in religion,
I know, we squirm. I blush to say it. I'm blessed
to say it, I'm ashamed to say it, but I'm just as wicked in
my heart as these men here described in this chapter. We're all sinners. You know, I had to put away some
t-shirts last night and I was folding the t-shirts and they're
getting older. My batch of t-shirts is getting
older and so some of them have some stains and some discoloration
and I tried to separate those t-shirts out. I have a pile that
goes into one area that I'll just wear and work in. And then
I have another area that I'm okay going outside the house
in. I'll go out. I like t-shirts.
They just feel comfortable to me. It's a bad habit to get into,
but I'm stuck with it for the most part. But I picked up the
t-shirt and in the better light of this morning, I noticed this
thing had some spots and some stains that weren't as visible
to me as it was when I was folding it and putting it in the good
drawer. And I began to fold it up and put it back. And I was
going to select a new one. And I said, no. No, I'm not going
to do it. Why did I do it? Because I'm
coming to church. I wanted to look nice and be presentable,
even though it's on the inside here. I thought, maybe I should
put on a better looking shirt. You know what's more sinful than
coming in a dirty shirt, thinking that because I'm coming in a
clean shirt, that that makes me more acceptable to holy God?
And that's what we do. We fix our ways. We change our ways. I want to
come nice. I mean, we're talking about serious
things here. So I come because I can, but it's not because I'm
here in the suit. It's not because our clothes
are nice that God receives us. He receives us for Christ's sake,
for Christ's sake. And so I just put the dirty shirt
on and I'm wearing it because I just know what I am by nature. Just that little thing shows
my heart and how I judge things and think of things according
to the flesh and not according to the spirit. And so it shows
that we're all sinners. It shows that we're all sinners.
And so Paul is a faithful minister showing us all that all are sinners
in need of the Savior of sinners. Look at Romans 2 verse 1. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the
same things. He just doesn't even qualify
it. He just tells us we do the same things. Whether we realize
it or not, we're doing the same things. And a lot of times, as
we're condemning another for the sin that they're doing, it's
very likely that we have the greater sin, because we're doing
the same things and judging them. We don't see it in ourselves,
but we see it in them, and we condemn them. And so who has
the greater sin if such a thing could be said? we that are judging
and thinking ourselves to be righteous before God. But we
are sure, verse 2, that the judgment of God is according to truth
against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this,
O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the
same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? And so once
a man turns to religion and he quiets his conscience down, what
happens? We forget what we are by nature. And we start growing in stature
because of the things that we do, the works we do, and how
we change our language. And we think God is well pleased
with us because We've made changes, and now we can spot sin in other
people. And we can condemn them, point
out their sins, and tell them how to live better because, hey,
I've arrived now, so I can do better. And so all we're doing
is justifying ourselves and condemning ourselves in the process. And
so we think we're righteous before God, and we cease to come to
Christ, then, as sinners. And we come, instead, as one
confident. And it's the Lord who must deliver us from that.
I'm thankful that when I was 19 years old and I started cleaning
up the outside of the cup and whitewashing and fixing everything
up, that the Lord was gracious to put me down. Because I really thought that
I was just about up to the top of the summit and that I had
fixed everything and got everything right. And only by his grace
and mercy did he strip me down and humble me and make me to
see, you're not anywhere near close to righteousness. And I
was actually further away than when I had first started and
began. In Luke chapter 18, look there,
Luke chapter 18. And in verse 9, we're told that our Lord spake
this parable, this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves
that they were righteous and despised others. And we need
to hear that. This describes our generation
today just as it described our Lord's generation. Man hasn't
changed. Two men, verse 10, went up into the temple to pray, the
one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. This man had achieved a righteousness
in works that allowed him to boast before the true and living
God. And he didn't see himself as
a sinner. He didn't see himself as a sinner
who needs the grace and mercy of God continually. And so he
began to despise others. As he was achieving those things
in the law, he began to despise others who were not achieving
those things in the law and doing those things. And so he didn't
want anything to do with those people. Doesn't the scripture
speak of that? Come not near me. I'm holier
than thou. Don't touch me. Don't rub up
against me. Don't come near me. Don't breathe on me. You're going
to pollute me. You're going to pollute me. And
so we stand out and judge others who are not like us. But the
publican, it says, verse 13, standing afar off, would not
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast,
saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. You know, there's a
picture, a lot of pictures in this publican. He stood afar
off. The Pharisee got as close up
to God as he could, believing he could. But that publican stood
afar off. And that left room between him
and God for a mediator, a mediator, someone to come between me and
my sin and holy God, a mediator. And this publican could not look
up to heaven. For shame of his sin, he would
not look up to heaven but smote upon his breast. And that's where
the fountain of our sin is. The blackness of this heart is
here in this breast. And he beat upon that fountain
of sin. Out of the heart comes all manner
of wicked things. Adulteries, fornications, thefts,
idolatry, it comes out of the heart. It's what we are by nature,
anger and wrath and malicious speech and tearing people down. It comes out of this heart. And he beat upon that, crying,
God, be merciful to me, thee, sinner. Thee, sinner. I know
in your Bibles it says, a sinner. But if you look it up, it's a
definite article thee. I'm thee, sinner. Thee, chief
of sinner. the chief of sinners, and he
didn't see the Pharisee, he wasn't worried about the Pharisee, he's
the sinner. And he's seeking, God be merciful to me, Lord.
God be, and that word is propitiate. God be propitiated. Find a propitiation
for my sin, Lord, that you would be merciful to me. Find a ransom
for my sin, Lord. Please put it away from you that
you may be merciful to me and gracious and receive me. for
my propitiation's sake, for Christ's sake. He's the ransom. He's the
propitiation that our God has found and provided for sinners,
for sinners. And our Lord says, I tell you
that this man, the publican, the sinner, went down to his
house, justified, rather than the other, for everyone that
exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. He went down. We're either going
to die in this world itself, or we're going to die in the
next. We're either going to be humbled here by the Lord's grace
and power, stripping us down of all our self-righteousness
and our works, or we're going to be abased when we stand before
him and cast down into hell. But you that die now to self,
you that are nothing now in yourselves, the second death hath no more
power over you. For you stand righteous and whole
in the Lord Jesus Christ. in Him and Him alone. And so
man doesn't come to Christ until he's a sinner. And that's what
the scriptures show and we know it in our hearts. That's when
we come as needy beggars when the Lord shows us I'm a sinner. I'm the sinner. And I need His
grace. I don't know what everybody else
is doing, but I need His grace and mercy. I need the forgiveness
that He gives to sinners in Christ. Are you a sinner? Once you're
a sinner, you can't do anything but have Christ. You must have
Christ. And He receives all that come
to Him for mercy and forgiveness. You'll find it in Him. Sinners
find forgiveness in Christ. The problem is no one's a sinner.
No one's a sinner. Even in jail, you can't find
sinners. They're all there for being framed. But the truth is,
we are sinners in need of His grace. And then this brings us
to what the Lord is showing us. He strips us down. He humbles
us to know that we're sinners unworthy of eternal life. And he gives us the gospel, that
we might learn the gospel and know the gospel. The sinners
must hear the gospel. That's how he saves his people.
That's how he gives the knowledge and the understanding of what
we are and who Christ is and what he has accomplished. Sinners will hear the gospel.
They want to hear the gospel. And sinners rejoice in the salvation
of God through Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners. That's who the great physician
came for, for sinners. Them that are sick, them that
are diseased, them that are dead in trespasses and sins, that's
who Christ came for, for sinners. Paul and Barnabas, if you turn
over to Acts 13, Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas had been declaring
Christ to the Jews when they got to a place called Antioch
in Pisidia, somewhere in Greece there. or Asia, I don't know
one of those areas, but they were there and they were declaring
the gospel to the Jews. The gospel that we preach today
they were declaring to the Jews. They were showing how that according
to the scriptures Christ is the promised seed. He was born of
David and he is the promised seed and that he is the Savior,
even this Jesus Christ. And they declared that he was
slain by the Jews in Pilate and was crucified on a tree. They
said all that. You read those verses in the 20s, 23, 27, 28,
29. They're declaring that very truth, Acts 13. They're declaring
that very truth. And they declared that he died
on the cross and rose again. Verse 30, that he rose again
from the dead, and in conclusion of what our Lord did, what God
wrought for them in Jerusalem, it says in verse 38 and 39, And
this is just like we read in Romans 4.25, Be it known unto
you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things, all things from which he could not
be justified by the law of Moses. declared that everywhere he went,
right here in Romans 4.25, who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. This is the gospel. This is what we must know. And
there is no sin that is so great that it cannot keep you from
Christ. It's not your sin that keeps you from Christ. Sinners
go to Christ and find relief of their burden in Christ. It's
not sin that keeps us from Christ. That separates us from the Lord.
But it's also our sin through the gospel that we hear Christ,
and need Christ, and desire Christ, and come to Christ because we're
sinners. And he's the savior of sinners. Sin won't keep you,
won't prevent you from Christ. It's your self-righteousness.
That's what keeps sinners from coming to Christ. They're righteous. They got this. I'm OK. I'm doing
better now. I fixed things. I put away my
bad things. That's what keeps people from
coming to Christ, is thinking that they're something when they're
nothing. And so we see there that our
God is declaring to us the gospel, because all who come to Him for
their righteousness, who have no righteousness in themselves,
they find peace and forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so, our Lord is making us to know this truth, and He declares
this salvation that is through faith, right? We preach Christ.
That same gospel is the gospel I preached to you. Christ Jesus,
the Son of God, laid aside His glory and took upon Him the likeness
of this flesh and came and went to the cross willingly. bearing
the sins of his people and put them away forever by the death
of himself as the sin bearer, as the surety of his people,
having made satisfaction unto the Father for our sins. And He obtained our righteousness,
obtained our forgiveness and our righteousness, and is raised
again for our justification, declaring to us that God is satisfied,
God is well pleased with all who come to the Father through
Jesus Christ the Son. And we know that by faith because
God has given us His Spirit. It's a testimony that you are
the Lord's, that he has forgiven you, that he has put away your
offenses, and that you are justified in Christ. Otherwise, you wouldn't
believe it. Otherwise, you wouldn't trust
him for all your righteousness. But if he's your hope and your
confidence, you have the Spirit of God, you are his. Praise God. Thank God for that, because not
all men have faith. Because faith is not of the flesh,
it's of the spirit. And so the Lord brought these
Gentiles there in Antioch of Pisidia to faith. They rejoiced
when they heard that Paul and Barnabas were preaching the word
to them, turning to them. They rejoiced in him. And all
that were ordained to eternal life believed. And that brings
us to the final point, which is once you're a sinner, Once
your sinner and you come to Christ believing that He is your righteousness,
stay right there, brethren. Stay right there. Trust Christ. Don't be moved off from Him. Don't think that you're ever
going to graduate beyond Him. We always need Christ. That never
changes. We're sinners who are saved by
His grace. and we stay right there in Him.
We're His body. He's our head, and that doesn't
change. My finger doesn't walk off from
this body and do its own thing. It's a member of my body, and
we're members of Christ's body. We stay right there in Him to
the praise, glory, and honor of His name. Amen.