Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I will be speaking to you today
from Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. The scripture
makes a very clear distinction. As you read God's Word, You will
see and I will see that the scripture makes a very clear distinction
between those who are God's people and those who are not God's people.
Very clear distinction and it uses this kind of language it
will say us and them, our and their. clear distinction, but
in verse nine of Romans chapter three, if you look with me at
verse nine, Paul asked this question, he said, are we better than they? Are we, this clear distinction,
are we better than they? He opened the verse by saying,
what then? That's how he opened, what then?
You have all these distinctions between the people that God chose
to save and the people that he did not choose to save. He said
in verse 9, what then? Concerning the people themselves
you compare both groups of people side by side, he said, are we
better than they? And then he answered his own
question. He said no. In no wise. For we have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin.
All under sin. Paul said concerning this issue
of salvation, concerning both the saved and the unsaved, and
that's who he's referring to when he talks about Jews and
Gentiles, Romans 2 says he's not a Jew which is one outwardly,
he's a Jew which is one inwardly, circumcisions of the heart. And
God has chosen to send that circumcision, that calling, that distinction
to Jew, Gentile, male, female, bond free, all manner of men
all over the world. But when he talks about Jew and
Gentile he's referring to those that the Lord chose to save,
the spiritual Jew, and those that the Lord chose not to save,
the spiritual Gentile. And he says concerning both the
saved and the unsaved, all of us are in the same boat. All
of us, all of us come from the same lump. Somebody will ask
the question, well, why would you say that Paul? Why would
you say that? Why wouldn't you say that God
chose the better ones? Why wouldn't you say that we
are better than they? Why wouldn't you say that? Verse
10, he said, because it is written in the word of God. There is
none righteous. No, not one. That's why. It's
written in the word of God. None. None. Why wouldn't you
say that the ones that God chose were good and the ones God didn't
choose were bad? Why wouldn't you say the distinction
is good and evil? He said, because the scripture
says there's none good. All are bad. That's what the
word of God says. That's a pretty clear statement,
isn't it? Pretty clear statement. It takes
the faith of God to believe that. God has to send his faith to
a sinner and the Holy Spirit has to cause a sinner to realize
I'm as bad as the word says I am and all of us are nothing but
sin before God, all of us are conceived in sin. But whether
we see that by faith or not that's a very clear statement, that's
a very clear verse. He said in verse 10, there is
none righteous Verse 11, he said, there is none that understandeth. There is none that even seek
God. Some will say, well, I seek God. What do you mean? There's none
that seek God. I seek God. The scripture says, no, no, no
man has ever sought God on his own. of his own doing, according
to his own will. No man. This is Isaiah 65 verse
one. God said, I am sought of them
that asked not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me. Behold me. unto a nation that was not called
by my name." That's the truth of how a sinner seeks God. That's the truth of the matter.
God says, behold me, look to me. That's what happens. No man
of his own will and of his own doing seeks God. God first says,
seek me. David said in Psalm 27 verse
8, when you said, Seek ye my face, my heart set
unto you, thy face, Lord, will I seek. When you told me to,
that's what David said, when you told me to, that's the moment
I did. It wasn't one second before that. That's the moment I did. If a sinner seeks God, then it
means God sought him first. If a sinner finds God, it means
God found him first. If a sinner loves God, it means
God loved him first. Because verse 12 says, all that
man has done on his own is gone out of the way. That's all man
has done. Man is just so prone to wander. So prone to wander, that's all
mankind is. Verse 12 says, they are all gone
out of the way. out of the way of God, out of
the way of his truth, out of the way of his holiness, out
of the way of his life. Verse 12 says, they are all gone
out of the way, they are together become unprofitable. You know what that word means?
Not good. It means not worth anything,
unprofitable. not worth anything. The word
actually means worthless, no value, no worth. Verse 12 goes on to say, there
is none that doeth good, no, not one. Can it be stated any
more clearly than that? That is as clear as it gets.
There was a rich young ruler who came to the Lord one time
and he said, good master, What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? And this is what the Lord said
to him in response. He said, why did you call me
good? Why did you call me good? He
said, there is none good but God. That's it. What he was saying was, if you
are calling me good, then you're calling me God. Because beside
him, there's none good. People say, you have heard this
I'm quite sure, many people say this, people will make statements
like this right here, they'll say well I believe there's a
little bit of good in everybody. Now I'm going to make a very
truthful statement here, I know this may sound like a hard statement,
I don't mean for it to be hard, I just want to tell you the truth
and tell myself the truth. People say, I believe there's
a little bit of good in everybody, the only problem with that is
God doesn't. Man is welcome to believe whatever
he wants to believe but it doesn't mean that he believes the truth.
And God doesn't. God does not at all believe that
there's a little bit of good in everybody. This is what God
said in Isaiah 64 verse 6. He said, all of our righteousnesses. And what that means is good,
goodness, good deed, good things. All of our righteousnesses are
filthy rags. in his eyes and his eyes are
the only eyes that matter, his are the only ones that matter. It does not matter what my eye
sees, I see people all the time and I can say and mean it in
a fleshly way, I think that's a good man or a good woman, I
like that man, I really think a lot of that person but my eyes
are not the eyes of judgment. What I see is irrelevant, God's
eyes are the only eyes that matter and it's critical that we know
that he says there's none good but God, there is not even a
little bit of good. in any man's flesh, any man's
sinful flesh. The only thing that the flesh
is, is completely, totally decayed with sin. That's all it is. It's all unprofitable. It's all
worthless. It's all ruined. Verse 13 says,
their throat is an open sepulcher. He compares the mouth and the
tongue of all mankind to an open grave, that's what a sepulcher
is, an open grave with a rotten body in it, the repulsive sight
of it, the stench of it, the awful, just awful. Verse 13 says,
their throat is an open sepulcher, with their tongues they've used
deceit, that means lies and trickery. It goes on to say the poison
of asps is under their lips. He said man spews out all of
that vileness like a snake spews out his poison. Where does all
that vileness come from? Man has all this vileness that
comes out of his mouth. Where does all that come from?
The heart. The heart. Our Lord said out
of the heart the mouth speaketh. Verse 14 says whose mouth is
full of cursing. That word cursing means cursing.
More specifically though it means blasphemy, all manner of blasphemy
against God. He said in verse 14, in bitterness,
that means murmuring and complaining, that's what man does, he blasphemes
God and he complains, that's what man does. Verse 15 says,
their feet are swift to shed blood, the mouth represents the
heart. The feet represent a man's actions,
what he does. And not only are men running
to sin against God, they run to sin against each other. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Verse 16, it says, 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. No fear of God because they don't
know what they truly are. They think there's a little bit
of good in everybody and God will see that and God will be
happy with it. They don't know the truth. They
don't know the truth of what they're gonna meet when they
go meet God. They don't know the truth of
their condition before God. They don't know the truth of
how he must and will punish all sin. Therefore, there's no fear
of God before their eyes. There is a way that seems right
to a man, a way of salvation, a way of peace with God. It makes
sense to him. Well, you do good and you be
kind to your neighbor. Our Lord said the end of that
way is death and destruction. It is death and destruction.
Everything that a man does from the time that it starts in his
heart to the moment that it ends in his actions, Everything that
a man does leads him to destruction. Everything. A man cannot lead
himself to the way of peace. He cannot. He does not know it.
He cannot find it. And the reason is because he
does not fear God. He does not fear God. The scripture
says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The
fear, Moses said, oh that they were wise and would consider
their latter end. What is a man's latter end? What
is a man's latter end? In the natural state, it is death
and destruction. All mankind in the natural state.
It doesn't matter who the man is, it doesn't matter where the
man is, it doesn't matter what the man has done. All men, the
end of every man standing on earth, no matter what he has
done with the life he's been given here, the end of every
single man is death and eternal destruction. Now, how do we know
that? Here I am saying all this. I'm declaring it as though it's
so. It is so. How do we know? How do we know? How do we know that that is the
only end that is coming to a man or a woman in their natural state
before God? How do we know? The law reveals
it. God's word reveals it. Verse
19 says, now we know that what things soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may
be stopped, every mouth. and all the world may become
guilty before God." Guilty, that word guilty translates subject
to the judgment of God that's what it means that all the world
may become subject to the judgment of God. The law was given because
Every man and woman is under it, that's why the law was given. Number one, because every man
and woman is under it, subject to it. And it was given, number
two, to prove the error of our ways, to absolutely prove the
error of our ways. We never would have known our
sin had the law not proven it to us. Never. Verse 20 says, Therefore, by
the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. Do we understand what that's
saying? Man thinks if I want to go to heaven, all I have to
do is obey the Bible. That's what man thinks. If I
want to go to heaven, all I have to do is obey the Bible. The
Bible says no man can obey the Bible because man is so infected
with sin. Therefore the commandments of
the Bible will never be the means of a sinner before God going
to heaven because he can't do it. The law, verse 20 says, therefore
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. The law will show us our sin. Every word in God's holy law
proves our sin against it. And sin cannot enter into heaven.
There will be no sin there. If once the law exposes sin that's
proof that we're not worthy to go, we're not worthy to earn
it, we can't go. It proves to us that we will
never be good enough for God, that's what the law shows us. People have made this statement
before, how good do you have to be to stand in the presence
of God, to go to heaven and stand with God? Here's how good, as
good as God. He demands perfection. He demands
holiness, purity, righteousness. No man on this earth can attain
that. No man. We will never be good
enough to stand in the presence of God. That's what the Bible
tells us. That's what the Bible teaches
us. That is us, all right? That's our sin and that's God's
law. That's what we have here when
we look at this. Verse 21 says, but now. Now here's the part
we've been waiting for. If you've been waiting for some
good news, we've been declaring all this truth about man, all
this truth about man's sin, all this truth about God's law. If
you're ready to get to the good news of the gospel, here it is.
All right, here it is. The truth, it slays the flesh,
and then the truth of the word cries, but now. Every time I hear that word but,
I think, thank God. Thank God, here's a sinner's
hope. Here's a sinner's good news, all right? Paul said, we've talked about
the natural man long enough, let's talk about somebody else
here. Verse 21, he said, but now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested. Man, a man manifested, clearly
seen in the form of a man. The righteousness of God without
the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets that
means the Bible. The whole Bible. The law was
sent to reveal you to you and whenever I say you I mean me
also us. The law was given to expose us
for what we are. to reveal you to you, me to me. And it was sent to reveal somebody
else to us. Paul told the Galatians, the
law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. That's what he
said, the law. The law, do this and live, don't
do this and die, God's commandments, God's law, God's demands. He
said the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The law
exposes our sin and points us to Christ. The law does not expose
our sin to us and then point us back to ourselves, which is
what many people think it does. Well, you just need to look to
yourself and you need to go in. That's not what the law does.
It exposes our sin and points us to Christ, points us to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 21 says, 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. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory 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
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. Now what does all that
mean? I just read a mouthful. What
was he saying? What does all that mean? Justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. What does he mean by that? What
does he mean? God set Christ forth to be a
propitiation, that word means a bloody victim, a bloody victim,
a bloody covering, a bloody atonement, to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins. What does he mean? that in the
righteous work of Christ, he is both just and the justifier
of the soul that believes on Christ. What does he mean by
all that? Here's what it means. The law said die because of your
sin. Sinner, speaking to us, you must
die. That's what the law said. You
cannot fulfill what God requires. All you can do is sin against
what God requires. and God is holy. He's a just
God and He cannot and He will not, He will by no means clear
the guilty and you're guilty. He demands absolute righteousness
and perfection and holiness and sinlessness and anything that
falls short of the glory of that perfection is going to have to
suffer vengeance for all eternity. And he said, you've fallen short.
But God, but God, the just and the holy God is also a merciful
God. He is a merciful God. This just
God who will punish your sin is also a savior. Because you
are as sinful as you are and as ruined as you are, realizing
it or not, vile, wicked, corrupt, because you are what you are,
and because God is what he is, and because justice demands what
it demands, God sent his own son to you. God sent his own
holy, righteous, spotless, sinless son to you to hide you in the
secret of his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle. Just before that time of trouble
came, that time of judgment, just before the judgment fell,
God graciously hid you in the hiding place of his son. Christ
wrapped His righteousness around you and exposed Himself before
God with your sin on Him. And God unleashed His wrath until
there was no more wrath to unleash. He unleashed it all. And when
all of God's justice was satisfied with Christ's death, and God's
holiness was satisfied with Christ's righteousness, We were saved
in him. That's what it means. We were
saved in him. I did not save myself, you did
not save yourself, Christ saved us. If we belong to him, if we
are his people and the father gave us to him, he satisfied
the law for us. He satisfied the justice of God
for us. He paid the price of redemption
for us and then he set us free. He paid it and set us free. Verse
27 says, where is boasting then? It's excluded. By what law? Were we saved by the law of our
works? He said, no. By the law of looking to Christ,
our Savior. Faith, verse 28, Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith, looking to Christ,
everything he did, without the deeds of the law. Do we see that? We're justified by the faith
of Christ without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the
Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles
also? Yes, of the Gentiles also. I'm a Gentile. I'm so glad to
hear that. Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision
by faith and uncircumcision through faith, do we then make void the
law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
it. And what do we establish? Christ
accomplished it. He finished it. Not us, but Him. Till next week, may the Lord
bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.