You're with me. If you would
now to Romans chapter nine, Romans nine, some very deep, very critical,
worthy of pondering. Eternal questions are asked in
the scriptures, especially in the book of Romans, especially
in the book of Romans. We're going to look at one of
them tonight. I want to be brief. I'm going to try to be, I'm always
brief, I think, but I'm going to try to be extra brief because
I want to hammer one point and be done. I have been so burdened
to tell this. This is so important. It is so important that God's
people know this. It's just so important. We're gonna look at one of these
questions tonight, and it's in Romans 9, verse 14. It says, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? He immediately answers the question,
God forbid. That means no. No. Is there unrighteousness with
God? That's a deep question. That
is a deep question. Sometimes we read these questions
and we don't ponder what they're saying. We just read that and
you think, well, I know the answer to that. No. And you move on.
And we don't ponder what the question is asking. But we need
to. We need to ponder these questions. That deserves an eternity of
pondering. And we need to do that because
our eternity hangs on these questions. Our eternal souls hang on these
questions, literally. We know that our Lord chose to
use the hands of men to pen this scripture. He used prophets,
He used apostles. So sometimes, even though we
know that this is the inspired word of God, Sometimes our mind
reads the word thinking, well, Paul is the one who said that.
Paul is saying that. No, God is the one who is saying
that. God is the one who is asking
that question. And this is a question that he
has recorded forever for sinners to ponder, really ponder. Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Now let's look at a few questions that he asked that
led up to this one that we're looking at tonight. In Romans
8, if you look at Romans 8 verse 33, it says, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Think about that. Ponder what
that's saying. What that means is, who shall
say to one of God's elect, you committed sin? Who shall say
that? Now verse 34 says, who is he
that will condemn for sin? Who will condemn for sin, but
verse 33 says, who is he that will even accuse? Who is he that will even say,
where is one person who will even say you did it condemned
or not condemned? You did it. No matter what, the
crime is known or it's said to have been committed by you. That's
what it is to be charged. You'll hear that on the news
sometimes. Well, he's charged with, what that means is he's
accused of, I wanna tell you a story that'll
help us really enter into what this is saying. I knew a young
man, a long time ago. He was older than me. He was
quite a bit older than me. He was old enough for this to
happen to him. I was young, but anyway, one night he had too
much and he got behind the wheel and he hit somebody. and he committed
vehicular homicide. That's what he was charged with
and that's what he did. He committed vehicular homicide and he went
to prison for it and he served his time, served all of his time.
After that time was served, they let him go. They said his debt was paid and
he was free to go. All right. But even though his
debt to the law was paid, think about this. And this is an illustration
of the gospel and the truth. So try to read between the lines
here. Even though his debt to the law was paid, he still did
it. Right. He still did it. And people
still knew that he had done it. And they still talked about the
fact that he had done it. I'm talking about it right now. Even though legally, legally,
his debt was paid to society. He was still laid to his charge. Does that at all bring a weightier. regard to the question that God
has asked, who will lay anything to the charge of my elect? Who will even accuse? There is
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. But who
will even accuse one of God's people of having done anything
worthy of being condemned? Look at verse 35 right here in
Romans 8. It says, who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Ponder that. Hold your place
right here and turn to Psalm 5. 5 verse 4, it says, for thou art
not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall
evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. David said, Lord, I know that
you hate sinners. That's strong language, isn't
it? Verse six, he said, you're going to destroy them all. Verse four, he said, they're
not going to dwell with you. You're going to cast them out. Knowing that he hates all workers
of iniquity. It doesn't just say workers of
iniquity. It says all workers of iniquity and knowing that
that's what we are. We know that, don't we? Doesn't
it make us want to ponder the question a little more deeply
that he says, who shall separate us from his love, knowing what
he hates and knowing what we are? Shouldn't we ponder the question
a little more, who will separate us from his love? How can that
be said? How can it be said that in Christ,
no one will ever charge us, never accuse us. of committing sin,
and even though we know what we are, nothing will ever separate
us from His love. All right, this is why the question
is asked in Romans 9, is there unrighteousness with God? Go
with me back over there to Romans 9 now. I'm sure you've heard of cities
and whole countries in different parts of the world that are known
for having a corrupt government. You know, there are places, and
it's just kind of commonly known, they have a corrupt government,
corrupt officials, a corrupt law enforcement, known for taking
bribes, turning a blind eye to justice. When that's known to be the case,
the people can't have any assurance in the law that they're under. They can't have any trust in
the ones who are ruling over them. If you go to a police officer
not knowing if he's going to do right or wrong or uphold the
law, you can't trust him. You can't trust that. There's
no stability. There's just chaos and change. You cannot have faith in something
when you know that there's even a possibility that right is going
to be done away with and wrong is going to reign. Now, what is said right here
in Romans 9 verse 14, this question comes right after what's said
in Romans 9 verse 13, alright? It says in Romans 9 verse 13,
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Verse 11 says, the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve
the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. God said, I've not loved and
I've not blessed the naturally rightful heir. I've loved and
I've blessed the unworthy, undeserving, unowed sinner. Now, this is important. This is so important. I thought
and I thought and I thought of how could I stress to you all
and to myself how important this is. And I don't know how to do
it other than to say this is so important. This is so important. It doesn't matter if a person
is hearing the gospel for the first time or if they've been
under it for 50 years. This is so important. We must
know how God justifies His people. God justified His people. Period. That's established. We'll set that right there. God
justified His people. But I'm telling you, we do not
want to go meet God not knowing how God justified his people. We do not. We do not. I know that this is deep, especially
for a Wednesday night, but this is such a critical issue. This is the critical issue of
the gospel. This determines whether or not
we know the gospel. This issue right here. Let's
let it be known that God justified His people. God justified His people. That
means saved them, made them worthy again and made it right again.
God justified His people. But here's the question we need
to know the answer to. Was He just in doing it or not
just in doing it? Was he righteous in doing it
or unrighteous in doing it? His name is on the line. His
character is on the line. His holiness is on the line.
How was God just in justifying his people? How was God righteous Right? How was God right? How is this
right? How was God right in justifying
Jacob? How was God right in justifying
you and me? Because if his actions were unrighteous, You can't have any faith in that.
You cannot have any faith in that. There's no security in
that. If our hope of salvation is built
on a corrupt government, I speak in fear, but I speak in truth. If our hope of salvation is built
on a corrupt government, the whole thing is going to fall.
The foundation is going to crumble. So here's the question. Is there
unrighteousness with God? Here's the answer. God forbid. No, there is not. No, there is not. Shall not the
judge of the earth do right? rightly, righteously. God was
just in justifying his people and here's how he did it. God's
chosen but very sinful people had to meet his justice in a
sacrifice. The altar of that sacrifice was
the cross of Calvary. God's mediator, Christ, And God's people, us, all met
right there. Everybody came to the altar of
sacrifice right there. Christ came to the altar of sacrifice,
totally spotless, completely sinless, innocent, pure. We came to the altar of sacrifice,
totally ruined, completely sinful, guilty, filthy. All right. Now, so far, this is what we
have. We have the truth. That's what we have so far, but
we don't yet have the gospel. What I've told you so far is
the absolute truth. That's how Christ came. Christ
came to the altar of sacrifice there on the cross, worthy of
life. We came worthy of death. That's the truth, but we haven't
yet heard our good news. The good news is in how God justly,
rightly justified us. Knowing that Christ was perfect,
spotless, innocent, pure, and knowing that we were sinful and
vile and guilty and wicked. God looking on Christ in all
of his innocence, seeing all that purity and all that innocence and slaying him in it. Perfection,
purity. God looking on that and slaying
him in it and punishing him, making him to suffer, turning
his back on him, rejecting him, forsaking him, and all of that spotless perfection.
And then God looking on us in all of our guilty vileness after
beholding our wickedness and our sin, saying to us with a
smile on His face, you're free to go. Does that sound just to us? Does that sound just? God looking
at holy innocence and just And God looking at wicked vileness
and saying, I'm afraid of God. Does that sound just? Does that
sound right? Does that sound holy? Absolutely
not. That's the most unjust thing
that could ever be imagined. That is so unholy, that is so
unrighteous. Had God killed the innocent man,
and set free the guilty. That's unrighteousness. That's
unrighteousness. Had God killed the innocent man
and set the guilty ones free, that's unrighteousness. Just
like that young man who committed vehicular homicide. Had that
judge said, I tell you what, you go on home. I'm gonna pick
somebody else from the courtroom to go to prison. That's unjust. God forbid. That cannot be. That's corrupt government. And that's not what happened
on the cross. Not only is that not the gospel, that's not the
truth. That's a lie. That's a lie on God's holiness.
That's a lie on God's justice. And to believe that is to believe
that there is unrighteousness with God. And there's not, there's
not, God forbid. So what is the truth of the gospel? How was God just in justifying
us? What true grounds of salvation
can we put our faith in and put our trust in and go to meet God
in? What really happened? Here it
is. God made him, God made Christ,
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. Christ came to the altar of sacrifice
totally spotless, completely sinless, innocent, pure. We came to the altar of sacrifice
totally ruined, completely sinful, guilty, filthy, And as soon as
we all got there, Christ traded places with us. Completely traded
places. He made himself to be us. He made himself to be the bearer
of our sin inside and out. He was not the committer, but
he became the owner. And as the owner, he stood before
God in that filth and in that wickedness of all that sin we
gave to him. And in seeing the reality of
the condition of what Christ had been made to be when he saw
his son in what he had been made to be, God slayed him in it. God punished him. God made him
to suffer. God turned his back on him. God
rejected him. He forsook him. And then God
looked on us. And now being made to be the
bearers of Christ's righteousness, because he traded with us. being now the bearer of his righteousness
inside and out, inside and out. We were not the committers of
his righteousness, but we became the owners. That's amazing. And as the owners, we stood before
God in the innocence and in the spotless purity that Christ gave
to us. and in seeing the reality and
the condition of what we've been made to be. God blessed us in
it. God smiled. He said, well done,
welcome in. You're free to go. You are free
to go. I'm gonna close us with this.
Go to 1 Peter 2. First Peter 2, verse 20, it says, For what glory is it if when
you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently?
But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. For even here unto were you called
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that you should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins, because he removed him from us, should
live under righteousness by whose stripes you were healed, Or you
were a sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. In holiness, in righteousness,
in justice, God killed the guilty man. And he set free every soul
that had been made innocent. by that substitution and by that
sacrifice of Christ. You can go meet God with that.
What's your hope? It's that God punished the guilty
and set the innocent free in the sacrifice of Christ on the
cross. Because of that payment, because
of the payment Christ made, because it was so effectual, all that
sin is now completely gone. And the moment it was gone, God
the Father raised Him from the dead. Justice demanded it. The moment the sin was gone,
justice demanded He be raised from the dead. And because what
Christ did for His people was so sacrificial on His part, it
was so selfless and so giving and loving and kind, God the
Father has highly raised Him up and He is now rightly, justly
seated on His throne, and that's where He's gonna stay forever. All right, now understanding
just a little bit more of what our question was really asking,
here's the question one more time. What shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. God forbid. Holy and true are
all His ways. Let every creature shout his
praise. We're gonna sing that. Let's all stand together.