Good morning, brethren. Let's
go to Romans. Go to the book of Romans. We'll
be looking at a number of scriptures there, and you can first go to
Romans chapter 3. There's a lot of people that
we meet, men and women, and you speak to them, and as we get
older, As we begin to feel our bodies age and break down, and
we feel the pains and sores and different things, it reminds us just how weak we
are. And it sets our minds on our
God and our maker. And we meet many who they can
look up at the sky, see the clouds in the sky, and look at the beauty
of the sunset, and say, I wanna be there, I wanna be with God,
I wanna be in heaven, I wanna go to heaven and be with the
Lord. And they believe that there's
a God, they confess that there's a God, and they want to go to
that place of rest. They want that. They believe
that God is and that there is a heaven. And they want to be
with him in heaven. But they're afraid. They're very
afraid. They're afraid of dying. And
they have a fear of dying. And standing before God in judgment,
terrified that they're going to come short. of what God requires
for them to enter into his glorious kingdom. And if they're afraid,
they know there's nothing I can do about it. And so often, as
they're confessing these things, they do nothing about it. They
just have this vain, empty hope that they'll go to heaven, but
they have no idea how they're going to get there because they're
troubled. They want peace, but they don't
know how to obtain it. And it's a complete mystery to
man. It's a mystery to man. Thankfully,
the Lord does reveal in his word, he makes known what that mystery
is, how a man can be justified with the true and living God.
Except our justification is not according to what man thinks,
because he looks at his works and thinks this is how God determines
his worth to enter that kingdom. And the Lord teaches us in his
word that's not at all what the Lord looks to. If we're judged
on our works, we all deserve hell. We all deserve the lake
of fire and the second death. And one of the reasons why man
is so afraid is because they've been told their whole lives that
heaven is for good people. Heaven is for good people who
do their best. They're trying their best to,
in whatever it is, they're just trying to be good, hoping that
this is what God is looking for and that God is pleased with
this. But the older we get and the
more mortal we feel ourselves to be and the struggles and the
trials that we go through when we feel our infirmities, and
the nearer we feel ourselves to death, the more honest we
become. And that's why they tremble and
fear and quake. The thought of death can make
us very honest with ourselves, but because it really does us
no good to lie. We know. We can fool ourselves
for a while. We can fool others indefinitely,
but we cannot fool the true and living God. And the younger we
are, the easier it is to feel like I've got an eternity of
life. I don't even have to worry about this right now. And so
we just keep putting it off. But as we near that day, it gets
harder and harder to put it out of our mind. The apostle John
said, if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart
and knoweth all things. And there's a blessed hope in
that, a blessed promise in that, because he knows Christ and he
knows all things, even though our heart condemn us. But also
we see in that, that if our heart condemn us, Well, God is greater
than our heart, and he knows our heart better than we do.
He knows all things, and so we're not going to fool the true and
living God. And then at the same time, as
there are those who are afraid, there's people who have no fear
and think they're fit, they're set. for heaven, and they have
no business being so confident because their hope is that, hey,
I've straightened up, I live a good life, I tell others how
to live a good life, I do my best to do good and live good,
and so I'm ready to stand before God. And they have no business
of having such a hope. There's a lot that we don't know
or understand about ourselves, about just how the depths of
our depravity. Even we that know ourselves to
be sinners know that we don't even know the half of it. That
we are, we offend and do things, we sin and trespass and commit
iniquity in ways that we don't even understand fully. And God
is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Let's see
this in Romans three. Let's start in verse nine. What then, Paul asks, are we
better than they? No. And no wise, for we have
before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
sin. And so that addresses one of
the things that we do as men. Some people look at others and
compare themselves against others to make themselves feel better.
Because they say, well, at least I'm not as bad as that guy over
there. At least I try. This guy's just a wreck. His
whole life's a mess. And that's not me. And so we
compare ourselves to others to make ourselves feel better and
condemn others to make ourselves appear better. But again, God
knows our hearts and he knows what we are by nature. And every
sin deserves a just punishment. Every sin is worthy of death
and condemnation. We're all sinners, and none of
us should be boasting. What Paul's saying there is,
look, in chapter one and two, we've already looked at him,
not these same chapters, but he's already saying we've covered
the Gentiles, we've covered the Jews, and shown that all are
sinners. Whether you're without law or
you have the law, every one of us is a sinner before the true
and living God, who is holy, righteous, and perfect. Look
at verse 10 now, Romans 3.10, as it's written, there is none
righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way, they are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no not one. So the true and living God, by
his word, is telling us we're all sinners. Every one of us
in Adam is a sinner. We've all come short. Their throat,
verse 13, is an open sepulcher. It means it's a grave. And we
do. We know that there are many times
that we speak of dead things, things that cannot help, things
that do not edify, things that do not glorify the Lord. but
glorify our own flesh, magnify our fears and worries, rather
than exalt the sovereign, true, and living God, who has all things
in his control. With their tongues they have
used to seep the poison of asps, venomous snakes, 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? There is no fear of God before
their eyes." And we see this, how quick we are to condemn others. When someone doesn't agree with
our position, Where it's so easy for us to condemn them and to
justify ourselves. So that we're so quick to just.
to just put down others that don't see things the way we see
them and don't agree with us. And I see it especially in political
things, especially. And it's a constant war. And it's so easy to say, you
don't see it the way I see it. How do you not see this? What's
wrong with you? And to dehumanize them and just
say evil things about them. and condemn them while justifying
ourselves. And the Lord shows us in his
word, trust him, trust him. He has everything in control,
everything. There's a vision. If you've ever
been a manager, and you're a manager in a business, whether you're
the president, an owner, or you're a mid-level manager, or you're
a worker, There's visions that you see things and the higher
up you go, the more you see, you know, there's a reason why
they made that decision. All we see is these people are
nuts. They don't know what they're doing, but there's a reason why
they did that. There might be bills to pay or
things, you know, things that they have to meet. And so we
condemn others and we don't even always know what's going on.
We don't know how things are going to work out. We think we
know, but we don't. And so the Lord is saying to
his child, You trust me, you look to me, you believe me. Trust
me, I've got everything working for your good. You that love
me, everything's working for your good. It's according to
his purpose. And he is bringing it to an end.
The Lord is purposely bringing things to an end. But trust him,
don't get caught up in that and worry about that. You trust the
Lord. So the point of these things, at least what I would like to
emphasize here this morning, the point is, is that the Lord
by his scriptures and by his spirit is teaching us that we
are sinners. Yeah, we are messed up. We do
have corrupt ways of thinking about things. We have corrupt
ways about handling things, about fixing things. We are sinners,
and it's overflowing. It's all about us. It's within
us. It's about us. Like Isaiah said, woe is me.
I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. And that's what the scriptures
are showing us. We're all sinners, and it's showing us the abundance
of our sin. Was it Jeremiah who said, or
Job, that we drink iniquity like water? That's how easy it is
for us. That's how common sin and iniquity
is in every man, woman, and child. So we're full of sins, we're
a ruined man, is a ruined, corrupt sinner, dead in trespasses and
sins, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. And Romans 3.23 brings
us to see that all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. God is making us to see we've
all sinned and come short of his perfect holiness, of his
perfect righteousness. But God has a purpose. There's
a blessed, good purpose in making us to know. It's not just to
make us feel guilty and to feel bad about ourselves and to go
about with our heads hung forever. It's to bring us to hear the
Lord. It's to make us to stop boasting
in ourselves, to shut our mouths before the law, and to cry out
to the Lord. to ask him, Lord, how can a man
be just with you? In Galatians 3.22, I'll read
it, it says, the scripture hath concluded all under sin. When
you read the scriptures, you see, wow, even David, a man after
God's own heart, is a sinner. The man was a murderer and an
adulterer. He put a just man, a man who
had no business putting to death, he put him to death just to cover
his own And we see the sins of all the patriarchs. We see their
weaknesses and failings. We see prophets failing and being
removed from the ministry. We see all kinds of sins and
difficulties. And we see that man is a sinner,
that man is full of sin. but there's a purpose. And the
second half of that verse of Galatians 3.22 is that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. It's that we would hear the promise,
that we would seek God for that promise of life, of righteousness
by faith, not by our works under the law, not by condemning others
and boasting about what we've done and lying about what we've
done, but that we would seek that righteousness, which is
not by the law, according to my works, but according to faith. Faith, that's what the Lord is,
that's the blessed promise, that in Christ, he's provided full
righteousness, full satisfaction for his child. There's a promise to them that
believe, because our good works do not save us. This is a faithful
saying, Paul said to Timothy, and it's worthy of all acceptation. Everyone should hear this and
agree with it, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am chief. Not that Paul is the chief, but
that me. who agrees that this is why Christ
came to save sinners, even me, the chief of sinners, I'm the
worst one, because who knows my heart better than you? But me, myself. I mean, God knows
it better than me, but each one of us knows our own heart, and
we know the thoughts we think, we know the condemnation we have
of others and the judgment we condemn others with, and that
we ourselves are guilty of the exact same thing. We all stumble,
we all fall, done wickedly and thought evil in our hearts. And
who of us can stand before God boasting of our goodness? So
the Lord is making us to see that this is why Christ came
into the world. A lot of people think that they're
good people, that they're doing their best to do good and to
do the right thing, but that's not what pleases God. That isn't
what propitiates God. That isn't what satisfies his
wrath against us. He's provided the satisfaction
fully, freely, the Lord Jesus Christ Christ didn't come into
the world to save good people who are doing their best Christ
came into the world sent of the Father gave his life to save
sinners to save sinners those who are made to know my good
works are not cutting it and they're not gonna cut it and
And I don't want to stand before God in my righteousness. He's
provided the righteousness fully, freely in his blessed son. And God does that. He makes us
to see the preciousness of Christ that he's made precious to us
who believe, who have no righteousness of their own. That's not what
God's looking for. It's for you to puff up your mind and to psych
yourself up that this is going to happen, that God's going to
receive me. He's not looking for you to psych yourself up. He's teaching you. He's showing
his child, we're the sinner, and I'm the chiefest sinner.
And each one says, I'm the chiefest sinner because I know my heart.
And if God could save me, he could save you, brethren. And
so we're made to see the Lord is precious, not my works, his
work, his obedience. And so he saves sinners. If you
know someone who wants to go to heaven, do they know that
they are a sinner? Someone who says, I want to be
there, I want to be in that number. When the saints go marching in,
they say something like that. Do they know that they're a sinner?
They want peace with God, and they will hear God, and they
cry out, Lord, what must I do to be justified with you? It's probably because they know,
when they're honest with themselves, it's because I'm a rebellious
sinner. I've offended holy God. I've come short of your righteousness.
I've done this sin and that sin, and I do these things. It's because
they've been made to know their own sin, their own heart, their
own wickedness. And so they feel that condemnation
and they begin to seek, Lord, how can I find forgiveness? How can I be just with God? I want peace with God. If they're
busy justifying themselves and talking about the good they've
done and blaming God for this problem or for that thing, then
they've not heard. They've not heard what the Lord
is saying when it says we're all sinners. The scriptures have
concluded it. They've made it plain and clear
to every one of us that we're all sinners. that we're all sinners. If that's how they talk, that
they're good and they're doing their best and that's their hope,
then they don't believe God. They haven't heard what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. The scriptures say it this way
in Romans 6 verse 23, Romans 6.23, that the wages of
sin is death. That's what we've earned by our
works. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Justifying ourselves before God
and boasting of our righteousness, that's not how we are justified
by God. That's not salvation. Christ
came for sinners. And He is made the confession
of the hope of the believer. He's made our righteousness unto
us. He is all our hope. He's the
one that we look to. He's all our hope. Turn over
to Romans 10. Romans 10, and let's pick up
in verse 6. And here's that phrase, but the
righteousness which is of faith. It speaks on this wise. There's
another kind of righteousness, not of your works, not of my
works. There's a righteousness of faith
that the Lord speaks of, and it speaks in this manner. Say
not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is to
bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the
deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead. In other
words, let's stop our boasting. Let's stop talking about what
we've done, and what you've done, and this guy did that, and he
should have done this, and I do it this way. Let's stop talking
about us. We're not hearing what the Lord's
saying there. What saith it? What does the righteousness of
faith say? Well, it's that the word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of
faith which we preach. that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And so The confession
of the believer, they don't talk about their goodness and how
consistently good they are and how they're teaching others to
be good. They talk about, I'm the sinner, but Christ gave his
life for me. a sinner. He shed his blood to
atone for my sins, to put them away, to obtain for me forgiveness
with God. So that God doesn't look at me
in my works, He looks at me in Christ. He looks to His Son and
He's delighted in His Son. He's well pleased with His Son
and all who are in Him. All who come to the Father in
Christ, God is well pleased with them. He's satisfied. He meets
with his child in Christ and blesses his child fully in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Pharisees hated Christ because
sinners. people worse than them in their
eyes, who they despised and saw them as filthy, vile, wretched
sinners, they entered the kingdom before the Pharisees in all their
goodness, in all their self-righteousness. Sinners, weak, poor, worthless
in the eyes of man, sinners, entered that kingdom, believing
the Lord, having that righteousness which is by faith, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord speaks of faith,
which he's brought for his children. And the spirit is poured out
upon God's child and turns their hearts away from their selves
and looking inward to behold the servant of God, to behold
him who obtained their their redemption and their forgiveness
and gives them life. To you that look to Christ, the
Lord gives great consolation and hope, great comfort, peace,
rest for your souls. Look at Romans 5. Go back to
Romans 5 in verse 8. Romans 5, 8. It says, God commendeth his love
toward us. How rarely do you hear that?
God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. God sent his son when none of
us were keeping the law. None of us were obeying the law
of God perfectly and keeping that law. We despised it. We
were enemies of God. We did our own thing. We did
our own way. We went our own way, the way
of unrighteousness. And that's when the Lord sent
his son to put it away. It's God's love that draws. the
sinner, for whom Christ died, to Christ. He brings us to Christ. It says in John 6, 44 and 45,
I'll read it. No man can come unto me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him. And I will raise him
up at the last day. You want to go to heaven? You
want to have peace with God? you come in Christ. And he says,
I will raise you up at the last day. You'll have a glorious resurrection
day in me. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. When it says that Christ died
for us back in Romans 5, 8, that us is well defined in scripture. There is no mystery of who that
us is for whom Christ loved and died for. These people are drawn
to Christ. Who are the us? They are the
ones who are drawn to Christ. Who are the us? They are taught
of the Father. to see that Christ is all. They
come to Christ, looking to Him, believing His righteousness. They believeth in Christ. Who's the us? They confess, Christ
is all my righteousness. You don't hear them. When you
ask them, what's your hope? They don't start saying, well, I'm
pretty good. I go to church regularly. I read
my Bible regularly. I'm a good person. I do my best
to please God. That's not the confession of
the believer. It's Christ is all my righteousness. I love
Him who loved me. I need Him. Lord, receive me
in Christ's righteousness. Don't look to my works. Look
to Him. As you say in your word, I shall
never be ashamed to come to the Lord, looking to Christ, believing
Him, resting in Him. They're said to love him. For example, I'll quote 1 Corinthians
2.9. But as it's written, I hath not
seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. In other words, he manifests
his mercy and grace in his child so that they do love him, they
hunger and thirst for his righteousness. They come to him crying, Lord,
save me. Help me, Lord. Deliver me of
my blindness, my spiritual blindness, and deadness, and coldness, and
lukewarmness, and just the filth that I am in his flesh. Lord,
save me and receive me in Christ. Bless me in Christ, for Christ's
sake. That's the confession of the child of God. They confess
Christ. Their whole confession is, He's
my righteousness. He's my hope. How do I know if
I'm saved? Who's your confession? Is it
your goodness or Christ's? Is it His righteousness or your
own? And from talking to my brethren
here, their confession is Christ. He's my righteousness. I don't
have anything to boast in. I have nothing to glory in of
myself. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed." You won't stand before God and Him say, what
were you thinking, trusting all your hope, putting it all in
Christ. What were you thinking? You won't ever be ashamed believing
in Christ. That's the one thing that God
receives is Christ his son and all who come to him in the Lord
Jesus Christ. So it's not our good works that
justify us. It's not because we're good and
trying to be good. That's flesh. That's all flesh
and those that are in the flesh cannot please God. But the faith and confession
of Christ is what the Lord gives in his people. He reveals that.
He manifests faith in his child. That's a manifestation, a revelation
of his grace and mercy for that sinner. And we know, there's
no mystery, because they love Christ. They come to him confessing
him. And that's not of the flesh.
I mean, yes, there are people that can fool God and fool themselves. I mean, they can fool others,
but they know. Either you hope in Christ, or
you hope in your works. And you that hope in Christ,
rest in Him. Believe Him. Trust Him. Follow
Him. Continue to come in Christ, believing
Him. Because that's why the Father
sent Him, and He brings forth that confession. You know it,
because your heart, your mouth is going to speak what's in your
heart. If you start talking about your good works, that's what
your heart believes. But if you speak of Christ and how that
God raised Him from the dead, declaring my justification of
my sins, it's because that's what's in your heart. And if
that's what's in your heart, it's because the Spirit put that
in your heart. Otherwise, man just hopes in his works and just
has a... a wing in the prayer that he's
going to be saved. But you that hope in Christ,
it's a firm, it's a good hope. It's a good consolation because
we have nothing. And it's a walk of faith. That's
why we still see our sin and why we do tremble at times. But
the Lord keeps showing us it's not you, it's Christ. My son. And that's why he brings his
people back to hear his word, to be comforted, and to be grounded
and settled again and again in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
we do drift, don't we? We drift and we think, we start
looking at ourselves and looking at our works, but the Lord says,
settle down. I've provided everything for
you, my son. Thank you, Lord. He brings that
confession, that hope from his child. Look at just a couple
more and then we'll wrap it up. Romans 5.1. Here it is confirmed again. Therefore, Romans 5.1, therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. He manifests faith in his child
to comfort them, to show them, to reveal to them, to give them
that knowledge of what Christ has done for them. Look at Romans
8.1, Romans 8.1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. In other words, I'm not boasting
of my good works. I'm gonna tell you of what Christ
did for me. That's my hope. That's the confidence I have
and I've committed everything to him in Christ. It's all in
him. You that want rest for your souls,
you that look up and say, Lord, I just want that peace with you.
I wanna be with you forever. Lord, I know you are God. I know
there is no other God, but you, you that want peace, come in
the Lord Jesus Christ, look to him. Hear what the Spirit says
to the churches. Righteousness is in Christ alone. and he reveals that to his child
by faith, by faith. That's the one whom we confess
and believe that God has raised him from the dead, meaning I
shall be raised in him too and have a good, wonderful resurrection
in the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace, for your mercy, for
your comforting words to your child. Lord, we do get so troubled,
so mixed up, so worried looking at ourselves. And Lord, our sin
is vile. It is wicked. It is evil. But we are so thankful that you
have put away our sin in Christ and you call us to him and you
draw us to him. And you make us to see him and
what he's done. And you bring forth that confession
and that belief in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, that he is all
our righteousness. And Lord, you lead us in paths
of righteousness for your name's sake. And Lord, we trust you.
We know that you are our life, our hope, our all. Keep us ever
looking to him. Settle us and ground us in that.
that faith, that righteousness which is by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, bless our brethren, comfort
them. You know the trials and the sicknesses
and the difficulties that have come upon Scott and Johnny. Lord, bless them, help them.
And Lord, all the other unspoken things in our hearts, the worries
and the fears that we have, Lord, teach us by your word. Keep showing
us Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. Okay, brother.